Camp Swift: From Military Training Camp to POW Housing to Texas Army National Guard
By Brad Weber
Camp Swift, named after World War I veteran Major General Eben Swift, was established in 1942 on 52,191 acres just 3 miles north of Bastrop, Texas, and southeast of Elgin bordering State Highway 95 on its western end. Within the original camp’s borders was Lake Bastrop.
It was primarily a U.S. Army infantry training replacement camp between 1942 through 1947. Although capacity was estimated at 40,000 officers and men, as many as 44,000 occupied the camp at one time and approximately 90,000 men came through the camp for training during World War II.
In July 1940, a little over a year prior to America’s entry into World War II, the Military Affairs Committee began reviewing possible training base locations in the vicinity of Austin, Texas. Less than a month after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Army declared its intent to build a military reservation near Bastrop.
The government purchased large tracts of land for the base for prices as little as $4 to $5 an acre. Engineering surveys were done in the summer of 1941, when Congress authorized the construction in Bastrop County. However, the base project was not funded.
District Congressman (and later President) Lyndon B. Johnson was a major proponent of getting the base established. After the Japanese attack, contracts were authorized to begin construction on Jan. 19, 1942, with Col. C.R. Hazeltine heading the project. As a result of the construction, Bastrop County’s population tripled in size.
Lt. Col. James Kurtz of the 8th Corps was the first Commanding Officer at Camp Swift. With General Order #1 by Lt. Col Kurtz on May 3, 1942, Camp Swift was officially opened and brought into operation. On July 15, 1942, the first unit, 95th Infantry Division, arrived for training at Camp Swift. The following are the divisions and regiments that were stationed and trained at Camp Swift during World War II:
2nd Infantry Division (“Indianhead Division”)
2nd Air Base Security Training Group
5th Headquarters Special Troops of Third Army
10th Mountain Division
85th Infantry Regiment
86th Infantry Regiment
87th Infantry Regiment
95th Infantry Division
97th Infantry Division
102nd Infantry Division (“Ozark Division”)
116th Tank Destroyer Battalion
120th Tank Destroyer Battalion
126th Engineer Battalion
576th Anti-Tank Battery
604th Field Artillery Battalion
605th Field Artillery Battalion
616th Field Artillery Battalion
There were approximately 2,750 buildings at Camp Swift including barracks, warehouses, support buildings, training facilities and recreational facilities. Camp Swift had its own 750-bed Station Hospital, with a nurse-training program housed there as well. It also had its own churches, fire department, swimming pools, theaters, power and telephone communication systems, water mains, sewer lines, and wastewater treatment plant. Over 40 miles of paved roads were installed at the cantonment. There were even facilities for the 6,400 horses and mules of the 10th Mountain Division.
Camp Swift published its own newspaper ‘The Camp Swift Baron” which was offered free of charge to all soldiers stationed there.
Arrival of the POWs
In addition to the training facilities, a Prisoner of War Camp detention compound was built in 1943. The first POWs arrived on July 14, 1943. It housed approximately 4,800 German POWs that were mainly captured in Africa from General Erwin Rommel’s famed Afrika Korps and later German soldiers captured in Normandy during the D-Day invasion later in 1944. It is estimated nearly 9,000 POWs were incarcerated there during the war. The POW Camp remained in operation until 1946, when the last of the troops were sent back to Europe.
At the time, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad’s Katy Division had nearly 81 planned military installations on its route, which included Camp Swift. The railway was the primary means of troop transport in and out of Camp Swift as well as the main transport of the German POWs to the Prisoner of War Camp there.
The Katy established a station for the camp in January of 1942, naming it Dunstan after Col. Edwin V. Dunstan who was a Quartermaster of the 8th Corps Area. A railroad spur was built from the Katy main rail line northeast across State Highway 95 and into the camp. These trains could be as a long as 26 cars bringing troops and POW’s in and out of Camp Swift.
The 2nd Infantry Division was returned from Europe after the German surrender in May 1945. It was to be reconditioned at Camp Swift and prepared for shipping out to be part of Operation Olympic, the planned invasion of Japan. While the 2nd was on furlough, the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan and hopes ran high that the war would soon come to an end. The 2nd Division was assembled on Aug. 14, 1945, to announce that the Japanese had finally capitulated, thus cancelling their plans to deploy to the Pacific.
Notable personalities that visited Camp Swift during this time included future President Lyndon B. Johnson, Texas Gov. Coke Stephenson and future Gov. John Connelly, Medal of Honor recipient General Jonathan Wainwright, Frank Sinatra, and burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee.
The Texas Army National Guard takes ownership
After the conclusion of World War II, the buildings and much of the property of Camp Swift were sold in excess at auction in early 1947. The base was taken over by the Texas Army National Guard and now occupies 11,700 acres of the original base. Much of the former land was subdivided and developed for housing, some for commercial use, two Boy Scout camps, a public park, and a correctional institute.
REFERENCE SOURCES:
“Camp Swift, Texas and the Katy” by Stephen Hester, The Katy Flyer, December 2007
“When the Afrika Corps Came to Texas” by Arnold P, Krammer, Southwestern Historical Quarterly, January 1977.
“Never the Same: How World War II Transformed Bastrop” by Robbie Sanders, Texas Heritage Magazine, Vol 1, 2019.
Austin American and Austin Statesman articles, 1944-1951, February 27, 1942 (pg 7), March 31, 1942 (pg 16)
The Bastrop Advertiser articles, 1942 – June 4, 1942
WEBSITE LINKS:
The Portal to Texas History, search page, Camp Swift https://texashistory.unt.edu/search/?q=%22Camp+Swift%22&t=fulltext&sort=
Index of Texas Archeology, An Archaeological Inventory of Camp Swift, Bastrop County, Texas (2001, PDF) https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiXr5Wl8fmEAxVo8MkDHedQCHg4ChAWegQIBhAB&url=https
%3A%2F%2Fscholarworks.sfasu.edu%2Fcgi%2Fviewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D1126%26context%3Dita&usg=AOvVaw1vCDQ1HlU7PywdOIimFaSk&opi=89978449
Texas Military Department, Camp Swift https://tmd.texas.gov/camp-swift
The Historical Marker Database, Rural Farms and Communities Before Camp Swift https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=187575
Index of Texas Archeology: An Oral History of Camp Swift: 2004 Interviews https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1642&context=ita
https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/ita/vol2006/iss1/13/
Humanities Texas, When the Afrika Korps Came to Texas”: World War II POWs in the Lone Star State https://www.humanitiestexas.org/news/articles/when-afrika-korps-came-texas-world-war-ii-pows-lone-star-state
Famdom, Military: Eben Swift https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Eben_Swift