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Laghouat prison camp was a detention centre at Laghouat in Saharan Algeria, maintained during the Second World War by Vichy France and later by the French Committee of National Liberation. The camp was one of nine established by the French in the Sahara, primarily for dissidents, but from 1940 to 1942 it was used as an internment camp for British Empire servicemen,〔Simon Ball, ''The Bitter Sea: the struggle for mastery in the Mediterranean 1939—1945'', (p. 186 )〕 under the name ''Camp des internés britanniques Laghouat'' ("British Internees Camp Laghouat").〔'News from the Sahara' in ''Prisoners of War News'', vol. 3 (1942), p. 111〕 After the release of these men in November 1942, the camp was again used for North African internees, of whom many were Jewish. ==Internment camp for British and Commonwealth forces== From 1940 until shortly after the Allied invasion of French North Africa on 8 November 1942, Laghouat was used as a ''de facto'' prisoner-of-war camp for British Empire and Commonwealth prisoners, mostly captured sailors and airmen.〔Allan S. Walker, ''Medical Services of the RAN and RAAF with a section on women in the army medical services'' (Australia in the war of 1939–1945: Series 5. Medical, vol. 4: Australian War Memorial, 1961), p. 79〕 The internees at Laghouat included fifteen Canadians and seven men from the Dominion of Newfoundland, one of whom was held there for 472 days.〔''House of Commons Debates'', vol. 5 (Queen's Printer, Canada, 1987), p. 5,800: "The Minister will know that some 22 Canadians, including seven Newfoundlanders, were held as prisoners of war by the Vichy French at Laghouat, Algeria, during the Second World War. These prisoners of war have consistently been denied payments under the I976 Compensation for Former Prisoners of War Act... Jim Templeton of St. John's, who was shot down over North Africa and spent 472 days in the Laghouat prisoner-of-war camp..."〕 There were also South Africans among the internees,〔Maxwell Leigh, ''Captives courageous: South African prisoners of war, World War II'' (1992), p. 207〕 and the Royal Navy personnel included sailors captured after the running aground of HMS ''Havock'' off Kelibia, Tunisia, in April 1942,〔(IWM interview of John Laraway ) on 28 November 2001 at iwm.org.uk (web site of the Imperial War Museum), accessed 6 July 2013〕 and after the loss of HMS ''Manchester'' in August 1942.〔(Rear Admiral Nigel Malim CB LVO DL ) at marketrasenmail.co.uk, accessed 3 July 2013〕 One interned serviceman described the Laghouat camp as a "Beau Geste style fort based about a Saharan oasis". Those held were treated well, except that there was nothing to do and they were not allowed to leave the camp. In any event, "any escape was virtually impossible, given the expanse of desert that surrounded them".〔 Another internee wrote to the Red Cross in Scotland from the ''Camp des internés britanniques Laghouat'' : "Technically we are not prisoners of war but up to the present have not been able to find a difference. Unfortunately 30 to 40 per cent of the articles sent in the batch of parcels were missing."〔 In his book ''There and Back Again: a navigator's story'' (2004), former Royal Air Force navigator Douglas Hudson of 101 Squadron reports that over five hundred Allied prisoners were held in the camp. He tells of inhumane living conditions and the construction of an escape tunnel.〔James Douglas Hudson, ''There and Back Again: a Navigator's Story'' (Tucann Design and Print, 2004, ISBN 1873257228)〕 By chance, at the time of the Allied invasion of Algeria, Admiral of the Fleet François Darlan, the ''de facto'' head of the Vichy government, was in Algiers and quickly made a deal with the Allies, ordering all French personnel in North Africa to join forces with the British and the Americans.〔 The interned servicemen were quickly freed by United States troops who arrived at the Laghouat camp with a convoy of trucks in November 1942.〔R. B. Smedley, ''On a Pedestal'' (New York: Universe, Inc., 2005), (p. 151 )〕 Many years later, the Canadian former prisoners at Laghouat were denied pensions under the Compensation for Former Prisoners of War Act 1976,〔 and it was not until 1987 that the Canadian government agreed to apply the Act to those who had been held by the French at Laghouat.〔Jonathan Franklin William Vance, ''Objects of Concern: Canadian Prisoners of War Through the Twentieth Century'' (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1994), (p. 242 )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Laghouat prison camp」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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