P. O. Box 1142

The post commanders were: • Col. Daniel W. Kent (1 July 194221 October 1942) • Col. Russell H. Sweet (21 October 19421 February 1943) • Col. John L. Walker (1 February 194318 July 1945) • Col. Zenas R. Bliss (18 July 1945September 1945) == Operation Paperclip ==

P.O. Box 1142 was one of a number of secret internment facilities commissioned by the United States with the goal to exploit the German scientists recruited as part of Operation Paperclip in Europe. In order to prevent scientists specializing in rocket and other sensitive technologies from falling into Communist hands, the United States became determined to prevent the Soviet Union from seizing scientists with this information prior to the end of the war. The U.S. Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency was responsible for sponsoring the operation and took a specific focus on the scientists who had worked on Hitler's V2 Rocket program. == Interrogation process ==

As many of the former prison guards and interrogators at P.O. Box 1142 have started to grow old and information became declassified, the substantial amount of intelligence learned at P.O. Box 1142 has started to come to light. Between 1942 and 1946, the military interrogators at the camp questioned more than 3,400 prisoners, more than 500 of whom were scientists who came to the United States as part of Operation Paperclip. During these interviews, significant information regarding German advances in rocketry, jet technology, weapons systems, and acoustic torpedoes was discovered. The United States was able to take this information and develop an effective acoustic torpedo countermeasure. The former interrogators say they did not use physical torture, but they did use psychological tricks, like threatening to turn the prisoner over to the Soviets. == Later reception ==

In 2001, the German historian Sönke Neitzel found about 150,000 pages of interrogation reports and bugged room conversations made in Trent Park and Fort Hunt. He analysed them together with Harald Welzer, a social psychologist. They published several books about their results: • Abgehört: Deutsche Generäle in britischer Kriegsgefangenschaft 1942–1945. Ullstein, Berlin 2005 (edited by Neitzel) [English: ''Tapping Hitler's Generals: Transcripts of Secret Conversations, 1942–1945''. Frontline Books, 2007. . • »Der Führer war wieder viel zu human, viel zu gefühlvoll«: Der Zweite Weltkrieg aus der Sicht deutscher und italienischer Soldaten (2011) (edited by Neitzel, Welzer and Christian Gudehus). [English: "The Führer was again far too humane, far too sensitive": The Second World War from the perspective of German and Italian soldiers]. • Soldaten. Protokolle vom Kämpfen, Töten und Sterben. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2011 (written by Neitzel and Welzer) [English: Soldaten: On Fighting, Killing and Dying. Simon & Schuster, 2012]. • Another member of the research group, Felix Römer, wrote Kameraden. Die Wehrmacht von innen. Piper, Munich, 2012. ==See also==