Camp Fannin served as an internment camp, with the first prisoners of war from Germany's Afrika Korps arriving in October 1943. By early 1944, the military had designated it a prisoner of war base camp that administered a number of smaller branch camps in East Texas. Because of a wartime manpower shortage on the home front, and at the request of local representatives, the War Department allowed prisoner of war labor to be used in East Texas forestry and agriculture. During its existence, the camp processed many thousands of prisoners of war and held more than 1,000 at this location. After the prisoners of war were repatriated, the camp closed on May 10, 1946.