Camp Sharpe
Camp Sharpe was a World War II military installation on the Gettysburg Battlefield that trained soldiers for psychological operations (e.g., morale operations)[4] in the European Theater of Operations (see Operation Cornflakes & Frontpost newspaper). Adjacent to Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp NP-2 in McMillan Woods,[5] Camp Sharpe used camp CCC NP-1 and was located "in a muddy hollow at the bottom of a slanting road".[6] A USO facility for Camp Sharpe soldiers was at the former Hill house on Chambersburg Street in nearby Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Camp George M. Sharpe | |
---|---|
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in United States | |
Camp Sharpe Location of Camp Sharpe in Adams County, PA | |
Coordinates | 39°48′58.723″N 77°14′8.916″W |
Type | Training facility POW Camp |
Site information | |
Owner | Department of Defense (during operations) National Park Service (after closure) |
Operator | United States Army |
Open to the public | Yes |
Site history | |
Built | May 1944 |
Built by | War Manpower Commission[1] |
Fate | Removed and land absorbed into the Gettysburg NMP |
Demolished | 1947 |
Events | World War II |
Garrison information | |
Past commanders | Capt. Laurence Thomas (1944-45) Capt. James W. Copley (1945-46) |
Occupants | 2nd-5th Mobile Radio Broadcast Cos., Psychological Warfare Division (1944-1945)[2] (several hundred soldiers,[3] |
After Camp Sharpe closed in 1944, USO operations were moved c. January 1945 to "the recreation center for the guards" of the Gettysburg POW camp.[7] The former camp was used for migrant workers in the summer of 1945.
Further reading
- Florian Traussnig: Die Psychokrieger aus Camp Sharpe: Österreicher als Kampfpropagandisten der US-Armee im Zweiten Weltkrieg, Böhlau 2020, ISBN 9783205210191
References
- "Tells How War Prisoners Are Treated Here". Gettysburg Times (38). 14 July 1944. p. 4. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
- Ford, Tom (12 January 2007). "Good Ol' Times: Readers Reminisce About Days Gone By". Gettysburg Times. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
- "Here and There". Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: Star and Sentinel. 22 July 1944. Retrieved 31 January 2010.
- Hutchinson, Peter. Stefan Heym: the perpetual dissident. p. 39. Retrieved 31 January 2010. (see also Stefan Heym)
- "Fire Company Has Trouble With Truck". 19 October 1946. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
- Edel, Leon. The visitable past: a wartime memoir. p. 22. Retrieved 31 January 2010.
- "Teen-Canteen gets USO Room to January 1". Gettysburg Times. 13 December 1944. Retrieved 1 February 2010.