During the Second World War, some 94,000 U.S. service members were captured by the Germans and became Prisoners of War (POWs). 1,121 of those men died in captivity as a result of disease, starvation, or brutality.

314 soldiers of the 12th Armored Division became prisoners of the German Army. Most of the men were captured during an extended battle in January 1945, near the town of Herrlisheim, France and the Steinwald Forest.