After German Field Marshall Erwin Rommel’s North African Army surrendered on May 13, 1943, the Allies held approximately 275,000 prisoners of war. During 1945, 15,000 of these prisoners lived and worked in Idaho, with Rupert serving as the base camp and more than twenty branch agricultural camps established across the state. The first prisoners were Italians who arrived by train at Rupert in May 1944, and four months later 500 German prisoners arrived. In Idaho Falls, a camp of 250 prisoners was placed on the property known as the Westbank Hotel, and 500 additional prisoners were housed at Tautphaus Park in a large log exhibit building. Their labor supported the local economy by preventing crop loss, increasing production, and reducing the labor shortage. They were bused to the fields in the morning and returned to camp when the day’s work was done. In the Idaho Falls camps, prisoners cut and harvested potatoes, thinned and harvested sugar beets, and hauled dirt to fill holes and cover lava along the west side of the present greenbelt. Farmers contracted for laborers through the U.S. Army and paid the prevailing local wages for similar work. The prisoners of war were paid 80 cents a day, with the balance going directly into the U.S. Treasury. Some prisoners spent as much as two years in these camps. In late fall of 1946, they were moved back to the main camp at Rupert, transported by train to New York, and returned to their native countries, although some found American sponsors that allowed them to return to Idaho Falls and become U.S. citizens.