The camp was situated 1 1/2 miles west of Hammerstein,west Prussia on the east side of a highway leading to that city.
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 1/5 of the POWs credited to it. Thus at the end of May 1944, although the strength was listed as 4807, only 1000 of these were in the enclosure. At its peak in January 1945, the camp strength was put at 7200 Americans, with some 5315 of these out on 9 major Kommando Companies (work companies).
