"A Pro-Nazi US Army Unit in WW2." Topic

Old… but still interesting…

" know it sounds like the reverse of a Quentin Taratino movie, but it is true: During World War II, the Army intentionally formed a unit chockablock with fascisti and their suspected sympathizers. What a sensible idea — much better than kicking them out into society and losing track of them.

This is all discussed in the new issue of Army Lawyer , where Fred "Three Sticks" Borch has a fascinating article about PFC Dale Maple, a brilliant young man who was born in San Diego in 1920 and who graduated from Harvard with honors but then, because he was bad, was found guilty of treason and sentenced to be hanged by the neck until dead.

Young Maple spoke many languages. But his favorite, alas, was German. At Harvard he got kicked out of ROTC for being vocally pro-German when that just wasn't cool, according to a separate article on him that I just read. Stymied in his hopes to do post-graduate work in Berlin, which was busy with other things at the time, he enlisted in the Army in 1942. The Army had just the place for him: the 620th Engineer General Service Company, which despite its innocuous name was actually a holding unit for about 200 GIs of suspect loyalty, many of them German-born. The unit, which was not given weapons, was located in Camp Hale, Colorado, which is far from any port, but happened to next to an detachment of German PoWs on a work party…"
More here
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Amicalement
Armand

Should have sent them to the Pacific…

German POWs here in the States volunteered to fight for America in the Pacific. It didn't happen.

German POWs here in the States volunteered to fight for America in the Pacific. It didn't happen.

Fascinating, do you have a source on this?

-Will

Much like the reverse of the mighty Nisei I too would have sent them to the pacific.

I'm interested too to read something about you have said mandt2!…

Amicalement
Armand

This is interesting.

I would distinguish this case from the Nisei, as I have never read of any of the Nisei who volunteered for US Army service having any record of fascist or Imperial Japanese sympathies … they were simply of Japanese ancestry. In fact I believe they were all vetted specifically on these points, and any recorded expressions of sympathy for the "other side" or even travels to the "home country" pre-war could disqualify them from service.

But still… if you can't get comfortable sending 'em to fight one way, send 'em to fight another.

That is, after all, what they did with Charles Lindbergh. In the late 1930s he moved his family to Europe. He made many high-profile expressions of support for Germany, and was even given a medal by Goering! As war broke out in Europe he returned to the US and was a high-profile opponent to US involvement in the war in general, and to Roosevelt's policies favoring the British in particular. But when war came to the US, even though he was not accepted into the military, as an expert aviation consultant to industry he was sent to the Pacific, where he participated in as many as 50 combat missions!

It is an interesting case of allowing someone who expressed political sympathies with "the other side" pre-war, to prove his patriotism and make a contribution to the nation's cause during the war.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

Interesting indeed…!

Amicalement
Armand

is not the only example of using of "bad boys" in the US Army….i don't now if it's known and accepted with historical evidence in English languages sources…but it seems that for the Sicily campaign they recruited, very succesfully, "Cosa Nostra" mafiosi to lead the way

…but it seems that for the Sicily campaign they recruited, very succesfully, "Cosa Nostra" mafiosi to lead the way

It is a bit odd, but it seems that the "gangsters" of the 1920s and 1930s were not lacking in patriotism for the American cause in the war.

Not only were the mafiosi recruited for the Sicilian campaign, but Meyer Lansky, a notorious jewish New York gangster, was recruited by US Naval Intelligence into a cooperative alliance to counter Nazi agents and sympathizers up and down the East Coast.

-Mark 1

I think that top US Gangsters like the ones you mentioned and Mafiosi with roots, Sicilian code and able to influence Sicilian populations where and still are two different things.

It is a bit odd, but it seems that the "gangsters" of the 1920s and 1930s were not lacking in patriotism for the American cause in the war.

If the US lost the war they would have to bribe a whole new set of officials.

The Italian Fascist government tried to crush the Mafia in Italy and Sicily. The mobsters in the US had plenty of connections there, and took advantage of the opportunity for some payback.