ON A LITTLE ROAD SURROUNDED by pine trees and quaint houses in Anniston, Alabama, you can find a number of headstones that mark the final resting places of German and Italian soldiers who were held as prisoners of war.

From 1943 to 1946, German and Italian soldiers from the North African Campaign were brought to Fort McClellan as prisoners of war. More than 400,000 Axis soldiers were held as prisoners in camps throughout the United States, and some 3,000 were interned at Fort McClellan, which was widely regarded as a model camp.