During World War II, the War Department established a prisoner of war camp near Orchard Park southeast of Roswell that housed some 4800 German prisoners of war. On January 1, 1943, the first prisoners arrived from the “Afrikacorps,” Rommel’s men from the 8th Army. From 1943 to 1946, during their incarceration, the men worked as field hands on many farms in Chaves County and in the Artesia and Mayhill areas. In 1943, a 50-man detail worked on a flood-control project in Roswell by riprapping, or laying rocks, on the Spring River banks. On the north bank between Pennsylvania and Kentucky Avenues, the prisoners used different size rocks to make an iron cross on the bank. Some Roswell citizens were incensed by this and poured five yards of concrete over the prisoners’ handiwork. The concrete washed away over the years, and the Iron Cross is again clearly visible from this point.