Camp Flint

At the onset of World War II, the U.S. Army's Western Defense Command and Fourth Army sought to secure the strategically important railroad through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. On December 9th 1941, soldiers of the 32nd Infantry Division arrived in Auburn at Camp Flint, a base of operations for providing static defense of the railroad's vulnerable infrastructure. In February 1942, the 754th Military Police Battalion arrived at Camp Flint and assumed the railroad security duties of the 32nd Infantry Division, which departed in March of 1942. Two hundred German prisoners of war were transferred to Camp Flint from Florence, Arizona, to provide support at DeWitt General Hospital in June 1945. There were more than 500 POWs when the camp was at its peak. Additional security fencing and guard towers were added to the site to secure the POW camp. Although the hospital was closed in December of 1945, German prisoners remained at Camp Flint through February of 1946.

Auburn, California · United States