World War II Wednesday – episode 3: Camp Ritchie

In the mountains of Maryland, just a few hours from Washington D.C., lay one of the US Army’s best-kept secrets during World War II: Camp Ritchie.

What looked like an ordinary military camp from the outside was in reality a highly specialized training facility for one of the war’s most unusual units – the “Ritchie Boys.”

These young men had an extraordinary story: They had fled from the Nazis from Germany and Austria, found a new home in America, and were now returning as US soldiers to fight against their former countrymen. Their weapon was not the rifle, but their minds, their language skills, and their intimate knowledge of the German mentality.

Starting in June 1942, the US Army transformed the former National Guard camp into the Military Intelligence Training Center. The secluded location in the Maryland mountains made it the ideal place for a school of a special kind – here specialists for military intelligence and psychological warfare were to be trained.

The instruction at Camp Ritchie was more intensive than at any university. The aspiring Ritchie Boys had to memorize the “German Order of Battle” – a detailed breakdown of all German divisions, their commanders, and areas of operation. They learned Morse code, aerial photo interpretation, and above all the art of interrogation. A particularly bizarre detail: US soldiers in German uniforms served as sparring partners for the exercises – even though the uniforms didn’t always fit properly.

Klaus Mann, the famous writer and son of Thomas Mann, also went through the training program and noted enthusiastically: “So many familiar faces! It’s teeming with old friends from Berlin, Vienna, Paris, Budapest; one feels like being in a club or regular café!” Indeed, Camp Ritchie had become a gathering point for European intellectuals who put their education and language skills in service of the Allies.

The first Ritchie Boys arrived in Normandy the day after D-Day. Their mission was clear: systematic interrogation of prisoners of war and defectors, usually in prisoner camps directly behind the front lines. With psychological tricks – such as threatening to turn uncooperative German soldiers over to the Russians – they got their countrymen to talk and provided the Allies with valuable information about troop strength, movements, and Wehrmacht morale.

Particularly remarkable was the work of Guy Stern, a Jewish refugee from Hildesheim who interrogated German generals as an interrogation specialist. His method was sophisticated: He posed as a German officer and used his perfect German and knowledge of German military traditions to gain the prisoners’ trust. This way he learned details about German defensive positions that gave the Allies decisive advantages.