World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseCamp Carson was established primarily in El Paso County outside of Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States after the US entry into WW2, using land purchased by the city of Colorado Springs. The land, which was donated to the US Army, was 5,533-acre (about 22 square kilometers) in size, and it cost US$36,500. The US government purchase an additional 29,676 acres (about 120 square kilometers) of nearby private land to bolster the size of the new Army camp. The the construction's peak, nearly 11,500 workers were employed. The completed camp housed 35,173 enlisted men, 1,818 officers, and 592 nurses. Mules were often see at the camp as they were often employed to tow artillery pieces. During the WW2 period, the camp trained over 100,000 soldiers and saw the activation of 125 units of various sizes, the first major unit being the 89th Infantry Division. A number of foreign units trained at Camp Carson, including a Greek infantry battalion and an Italian ordnance company. It also had the capacity to hold 12,000 prisoners of war; at the height of this role, the camp housed 9,000 Axis, mostly Italian and German, prisoners. Most of the prisoners were employed in nearby agricultural and logging industries. In 1954, the base was upgraded to fort status and was renamed Fort Carson. The base was expanded to its present size of 137,000 acres (about 550 square kilometers) in the 1960s. It remained an active military base through the time of this writing in 2017.

Camp Carson Interactive Map

Photographs

Camp Carson Timeline

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