the second camp, Lager-Ost ("East Compound") began in June 1941 to accommodate the large numbers of Soviet prisoners taken in Operation Barbarossa. It was located south of the railway tracks. In November 1941 a typhoid fever epidemic broke out in Lager-Ost, which lasted until March 1942, claiming some 40,000-50,000 victims. The Germans decided to treat the epidemic only when the first cases of disease occurred among German personnel. A total of 38,383 Soviet POWs were held Stalag II B. There were attempts to escape from the camp or its subcamps. German guards shot at those escaping without warning, and POWs captured after a chase were either murdered or sent to penal subcamps and later to concentration camps, mainly Gross-Rosen and Stutthof. In August 1943 the first American prisoners arrived, having been taken prisoner in the Tunisian campaign. From September 1943, also Italian POWs were brought to the camp. In April 1945 the camp was liberated by the Soviet Red Army. United States Army Official Report, 1 November 1945 The prison In August 1943 the Stalag was reported as newly opened to privates of the US ground forces with a strength of 451. The Hammerstein installation acted as a headquarters for work detachments in the region and seldom housed more than one fifth of the POWs credited to it. Thus at the end of May 1944, although the strength was listed as 4,807, only 1,000 of these were in the enclosure. At its peak in January 1945, the camp strength was put at 7,200 Americans, with some 5,315 of these out on 9 major Arbeitskommando ("Work Companies"). Description The camp sprawled over surrounded by the usual two barbed-wire fences. Additional fences formed compounds and sub-compounds. Ten thousand Russians were detained in the East Compound, while the other nationalities — 16,000 French, 1,600 Serbs, 900 Belgians — and the Americans were segregated by nationality in the North Compound. Within the American enclosure were the playing field, workshops and dispensary, showers, and delouser. At times more than 600 men were quartered in each of the three single-story barracks wide and long. Despite these extremely crowded barracks, conditions contrasted well with the Russian barracks which held as many as 1,000 POWs apiece. Barracks were divided in two by a centre washroom which had twenty taps. Water fit for drinking was available at all hours except during the last two months when it was turned