Prisoners of war in World War II

Prisoners of war during World War II faced vastly different fates due to the POW conventions adhered to or ignored, depending on the theater of conflict, and the behaviour of their captors. During the war approximately 35 million soldiers surrendered, with many held in the prisoner-of-war camps. Most of the POWs were taken in the European theatre of the war. Approximately 14%, or 5 million, died in captivity.

Early in the World War II, Nazi Germany, overwhelmed by the number of POWs, released many, though some became used as forced labor. As the war progressed, POWs became strategic assets, increasingly used as forced labor, or considered an important leverage for reciprocal treatment. Within a few years of the war ending, most of POWs were repatriated, though notable exceptions persisted, with Axis POWs in Chinese and Soviet camps held into the 1950s.

The mortality rate was disproportionately high in the Eastern and Pacific theaters, where atrocities, forced labor, and starvation were common, especially for Soviet and Chinese captives under Axis powers and German POWs in Soviet hands. Axis POWs were treated very well by the Western Allies and very harshly by the USSR. Western Allied POWs generally experienced better conditions than most other belligerents, although their treatment by the Japanese was harsh.

Post-war trials, including the Nuremberg Trials, prosecuted violations of POW treatment, though public awareness of such crimes emerged much later, particularly in Germany, while in Japan and the USSR the issue is still mostly ignored. WWII POWs have been selectively depicted in popular culture, often romanticized in Western media through escape narratives like The Great Escape, while harsher realities, such as Axis and Soviet treatment of captives, remain underrepresented.

## History

[edit]

Italian soldiers taken prisoner by the Allies during Operation Compass (1941)

Most prisoners, after being captured, spent the war in the prisoner of war camps. In the early phases of the war, following German occupation of much of Europe, Germany also found itself unprepared for the number of POWs it held. As a result of that, as well as for political reasons, it released many (particularly enlisted personnel) on parole (as a result, it released all the Dutch, the Danes,[1]: 90–92 all Flemish Belgian, all Greeks, nine-tenths of the Poles, and nearly a third of the French captives; some, however, like Poles, were almost immediately forcibly conscripted as laborers).[2][1]: 288 Later prisoners became valuable and were kept as guarantee of good treatment of the prisoners' kept by the other side, or directly used for hard (forced) labor. A small number were exchanged in prisoner exchanges, primarily between Italy and Germany and the Western Allies (approximately 6,000 Italian, 14,000 German, and 12,400 Allied POWs were exchanged in such a fashion).[2]

The majority of POWs were released by the late 1940s.[1]: 381–482 In most places they were warmly received by the populace, major exceptions included France, where society "preferred to forget about them", and the USSR, where they suffered from much discrimination.[1]: 488–489, [488] The last POWs of WWII were Germans and Japanese released from the USSR camps in 1956; some Japanese were held in China until 1964.[1][3]: 192, 196 A few exceptions include stories such as András Toma, considered the last POW of WWII released from captivity, who was discovered living in a Russian psychiatric hospital in 2000 and was returned to Hungary some fifty-six years after his capture.[4][1]: 483

## Number of POWs

[edit]

"Card of Capture for Prisoners of War", an American POW-related document

In mid-90s Simon MacKenzie observed that "Obtaining an exact figure for the number of POWs [in WWII] is made virtually impossible by the inexactness or unavailability of the records kept by many of the belligerents".[2] In some cases, where entire countries surrendered (for example, Belgians), most if not all soldiers who were not killed in action were captured at some point during the fighting, but many were quickly released unofficially; while others were imprisoned for years. Different estimates may or may not count all such groups as POWs.[5]: 187 [1]: 11 Likewise, German and Japanese soldiers held after their countries surrendered at the end of the war have often not been categorized as prisoners of war (see Japanese Surrendered Personnel, Disarmed Enemy Forces and Surrendered Enemy Personnel.).[2][6]: 322 [7]

MacKenzie cites the figure of 35 million following the 1960s estimate by German historian Kurt W. Böhme [Wikidata].[2] That estimate was considered conservative by MacKenzie, and has been repeated in more recent works (such as by Christian Gerlach in the mid-2010s).[8]: 235 Bob Moore, who in his monograph focused on the European theater, gave an estimate of "more than 20 million", which he considered inflated with the number of Axis troops that surrendered after the war.[1]: 1

Consequently, the estimates of the number of prisoners by country or origin or capture can vary as well.[2] With regards to nationality, some estimates include:

By country of origin:

* American POWs taken in all theaters: 103,918[9]: 4 (2%[9]: 4 of total). Out of that, 95,532 were held by Germans and 21,580[10]: 3 -26,943[9]: 4 by Japanese.
* British and the British Commonwealth POWs taken in all theatres: 353,941[9]: 4 (9%[9]: 4 of total); including at least 15,000 Indian soldiers from the British Indian Army in German and Italian hands.[1]: 348 Out of that total number, 142,319[9]: 4 -169,000[1]: 114 were captured by Germany and Italy. In mid-1943 Italians held 70,000 British troops (about 40,000 British and the rest from the Commonwealth territories).[1]: 138 Japanese held 21,000[9]: 4 \- 21,726[10]: 3 Australian, 50,016[9]: 4 [10]: 3 British, 1,691[10]: 3 Canadian, at least 60,000[3]: 66 Indian and 121[10]: 3 New Zealand prisoners.
* Belgians: majority of the Belgian army numbering between 600,000-650,000 has been captured by the Germans; 225,000 were sent to POW camps while the rest were released. Within a year, 108,000 Flemish Belgians were released as well.[5]: 187–188 [1]: 99–113
* Chinese POWs: the total number is unknown,[8]: 235 but it has been estimated that "tens of thousands" have been captured every year of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945)[11]: 360
* Danish POWs: while Germans quickly captured the Danish army following the German invasion of Denmark, the Danes were quickly released. In 1943 about 10,000 Danish soldiers were arrested again and imprisoned in Germany, but most were again released quickly.[1]: 90–92
* Dutch POWs: while Germans quickly captured the Dutch army (c. 300,000 soldiers) following the German invasion of the Netherlands, the Danes were quickly released. However, over 10,000 were taken into custody later in several German actions. A small number of soldiers from Free Dutch Forces was also subject to becoming POWs in Germany upon capture at various stages of the war.[1]: 92–99 37,000 from the forces of the Dutch colonial empire were held by Japanese.[10]: 3
* Filipino POWs: held by Japanese: at least 60,000[3]: 76–77
* Finnish POWs: held by the USSR: 900 during the Winter War;[12] 2,377[13]-3,500[13] during the Continuation War
* French POWs: held by Germany: estimates vary from 1,500,000,[9]: 15 1,800,000[14] to 1,900,000[1]: 61 following the fall of France, including about 100,000 colonial auxiliaries.[1]: 330–331 15,000 (12,000 French and 3,000 colonial auxiliaries) were briefly held by the Japanese following the Japanese coup d'état in French Indochina in March 1945.[3]: 169, 200 [15][16]: 61 German prisoners of war after the Battle of Stalingrad (February 1943)
* German POWs: held by the USAs: 11,000,000 total (with 1,600,000 captured by the Americans, and 2,400,000 by the British).[17]: 67 425,000 in the USA territory;[18] more than 400,000 in British and Commonwealth territory;[19] 2.8 million held by Western custody by April 30, 1945[20]: 185 (and close to 7 million in the months after the war[21]); approximately 3,000,000 held by the USSR.[22]: 246 Small numbers were briefly held in France until the fall of France.[1]: 68 5,000 have been transferred to the custody of Free French in 1943, effectively as hostages to prevent Axis executions of Free French and French Resistance members; that number grew significantly to over 200,000 in as the war progressed.[1]: 190, 194, 291–292
* Greek POWs: Following the capitulation of Greece, the whole Greek Army numbering around 430,000 men was declared to be prisoners of war, however almost all were almost immediately released. Some Greeks joined the Allies-affiliated Greek Armed Forces in the Middle East; an estimated 2,000 were subsequently captured and treated as British auxiliaries.[1]: 288–289
* Hungarian POWs: around 280,000 were held by the USSR[1]: 477
* Italian POWs: estimate of Italian POWs before the Italian surrender: 700,000.[23]: 92, 94, 96 Out of these: held by USSR: 65,000.[24]: 275 154,000 were held in Britain[25] and 400,000 have been held by Britain in various locations by the time war ended.[23]: 89 [1]: 194 A small number initially, then over 50,000 later, were sent to the United States;[1]: 156, 190 others in various parts of the Commonwealth (such as India, Australia, South Africa and Kenya).[1]: 154–155, 184, 186–188 Close to 20,000 if not more have been captured by Greeks during the Greek-Italian War in 1940.[1]: 287 15,000 have been transferred to the custody of Free French in 1943; that number later increased to over 35,000.[1]: 190, 194, 291 An estimate for the number of new Italian POWs following the surrender was at 1,300,000;[23]: 97, 103 most - approximately one million - were interned by the Germans following Italian surrender;[26]: 146 [23]: 103 They were not recognized as POWs by the Germans.[1]: 6 A small number was interned by the Japanese.[3]: 64, 244 An estimate of one million Italian POWs still held by various captors by the time war ended in 1945 has also been given.[1]: 182 Early in the war British also captured "many thousands" of Italian colonial troops; who were quickly released after being assessed as having little military value.[1]: 14
* Japanese POWs: 35,000-50,000 held by the Western Allies;[27]: 61 560,000 to 760,000 were held by the USSR after Japan surrendered[28]
* Norwegian POWs: while Germans quickly captured Norwegian army following the German invasion of Norway, the Norwegians were quickly released. About 1,500 were arrested in 1943; about 1,000 were held until the end of the war. Small number of Norwegians fighting for the Allies in exile were occasionally captured as well throughout the war.[1]: 90–92 Polish prisoners of war captured by the Red Army after the Soviet invasion of Poland (1939)
* Polish POWs: all POWs after invasion of Poland: estimates range 650,000[29]-1 039 800[29] with the lower estimates based on number of soldiers held at POW camps and the higher, for all soldiers as well as similar groups (ex. policeman) taken into custody (many were quickly released). Out of these: 420,000-694,000 held by Germany (many were quickly released then forced to become forced laborers[2]), and 125,000,[30] 190,000[30] or 452 500[29] held by the USSR following the Soviet invasion of Poland. More Polish soldiers would be captured later in the war as Poland created several armies in exile; for example, 60,000 were captured after fall of France.[9]: 15 15,000 Polish partisans taken into custody after the Warsaw Uprising were recognized as prisoners of war and deported to POW camps.[1]: 294
* Romanian POWs held by USSR: between 100,000 to 250,000[31]Starving, emaciated Soviet prisoners of war in front of a barrack in the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria
* Soviet POWs: held by Finland: 64,000;[8]: 236 held by Germany: 5,700,000[32]-6,200,000;[32] held by Romania: 91,000[8]: 236 A small number (few dozens) were held by the Japanese following the 1939 border clashes Khalkhin Gol (at that point, however, USSR was not a WWII participant).[3]: 40
* Yugoslav POWs: approximately half of the Yugoslav Army had been captured by the Germans, resulting in approximately 350,000 Yugoslav POWs shortly after the German invasion of Yugoslavia; however about half of them were nearly instantly released (however, most were forced to become laborers shortly afterward[2]). Shortly afterward, Germans released more prisoners, retaining only the Serbs (about 130,000).[1]: 273–274 Due to the infighting in Yugoslavia, over 100,000 partisans opposed to the victorious, communist aligned groups were taken into custody by their opponents near the end of the war.[1]: 281–282

By country of capture:

* number of POWs held by the British and Commonwealth: 400,000 Germans[19] (mostly in Canada[9]: 4–5 until the Normandy landings;[1]: 12, 154–155 that number has been also given for the number of Germans "held in Britain;[25] some have also been transferred to the American custody[1]: 156 ) and by the time war ended, 2,400,000 Germans).;[17]: 67 400,000 Italians[23]: 89 (at least 154,000 held in Britain[25] or Commonwealth territories such as India, Australia, South Africa and Kenya[1]: 154–155, 184, 186–188 ), as well as small number of Japanese troops (35,000-50,000 held by the Western Allies).[27]: 61 The Germans in British hand included 1,200 soldiers captured by the Dutch in 1940 and evacuated to Britain before the Germans overrun the Dutch.[1]: 92–93
* number of POWs held by Germans has been estimated at 11,000,000 (out of that, roughly 6,000,000 Soviet[32] and 5,000,000 were non-Soviet[8]: 235 )
* by mid-1943 Italians held 80,000 Allied troops troops (about 42,000 British and 26,000 from the British Commonwealth)[1]: 138 Australian and Dutch soldiers in Japanese captivity (Tarsau, Thailand 1943)
* number of POWs held by Japanese has been estimated at 320,000[9]: 4 to 350,000.[10]: 3 Approximately 132,000 of them came from the Western Allied nations (British Commonwealth, Netherlands and the USA).[10]: 3
* number of POWs held by the United States: 425,000 Germans (in the US territory),[18] and by the time the war ended, 1,600,000[17]: 67 as well as small number of Italian[1]: 156 and Japanese troops (35,000-50,000 held by the Western Allies)[27]: 61
* number of POWs held by the USSR: approximately 3,000,000 Germans,[22]: 246 65,000 Italians,[24]: 275 100,000-250,000 Romanians[31][dead link] as well as 560,000 to 760,000 Japanese (taken into custody after Japan surrendered)[28]

## Laws of war

[edit]

Dormitory for French prisoners of war, reconstruction in a German museum (Freilichtmuseum Roscheider Hof)

While most major combatants signed the 1907 Hague Convention and the 1929 Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War, the Axis powers, as well as the USSR, ignored their provisions to a great or lesser degree.[9]: 4–5 (USSR did not sign the Geneva Convention[33] while Japan signed but not ratified it).[34]: 184 [1]: 16–23

## Treatment

[edit]

Main article: Lists of World War II prisoner-of-war camps

Barracks of the former Stalag X-B

Treatment of POWs varied significantly based on time and place.[2][9]: 103 Some were released - or killed - almost immediately after capture.[2][5]: 187 Many ended up in prisoner-of-war camps.[2][9]: 78–79 POWs on both sides were subject to significant propaganda; including attempts to enlist some POWs into fighting for the other side.[35]: 4, 6

Support from Red Cross was important in improving camp conditions and supplementing often inadequate rations and other necessities for the prisoners, particularly in the camps run by the Axis.[9]: 103

Mistreatment of POWs have been listed as the most infamous war crime of the Second World War".[35]: 4

## Mortality rate and atrocities

[edit]

See also: Soviet atrocities committed against prisoners of war during World War II, German atrocities committed against prisoners of war, German atrocities committed against Polish prisoners of war, and German atrocities committed against Soviet prisoners of war

Australian Leonard Siffleet, captured by Japanese in New Guinea, is photographed seconds before his execution by beheading ( 24 October 1943).

The death rate of prisoners of war in World War II was higher than that of prisoners of war in World War I. Christian Gerlach explained this due to "much higher prisoner numbers, more supply problems, politically motivated denial of food, hard labor and direct violence", including racism.[8]: 235, 237

The situation of POWs was easiest in the Western Front, and much worse on the Eastern Front and in the Asian and Pacific theater. On the Western Front, both sides (in particular, major belligerents – Germany, Italy and the Western Allies[1]: 151 ) generally treated one another according to the Geneva Convention, while the Convention was mostly ignored in the Eastern Front. In the Asian and Pacific theater, the Allies respected the Convention and treated Japanese prisoners humanely, which was not reciprocated by the Japanese.[2]

Approximately 14% (~5 million, not counting Chinese POWs) died in captivity.[8]: 235 Soviet POWs in Germany (approximately 3 million fatalities) and Axis and German POWs in the Soviet Union (approximately million fatalities, or one and a half accounting for all Axis POWs in the USSR) were among the most numerous victims.[2][8]: 235–238 [1]: 484–485, 488 There were also instances of mistreatment by Western Allies, although on a much smaller scale.[2] Among the Allies, after the USSR, the French had the worst record of treating the POWs.[9]: 4–5 Germany treated Western Allied POWs much better than those from the Eastern Front (in particular, Soviets).[8]: 236 Asian and Pacific Fronts saw difficult POW situation as well, as Japan's treatment of POWs – Western, Chinese, Indian, Filipino and others – was very harsh.[8]: 237 [9]: 4–5 Canadian POW camps have been recognized as among the most comfortable in the entire war.[1]: 160

## Aftermath

[edit]

Experience of mass captivity has been described as central to narratives of World War II, and formative, psychological experience for millions of soldiers affected by it, as well as their relatives. After the war, majority of POWs were repatriated, received starkly different treatment in various countries. In some, they were celebrated as returning heroes or honored as victims; in others, they were ignored or subject to discrimination.[35]: 4–9 [36]: 19–20

### Trials

[edit]

High Command Trial courtroom

First trials of Germans accused of crimes against prisoners of war took place in the Soviet Union while the war was ongoing.[37]: 10–11 Shortly after World War II, at the Nuremberg trials (in particular, during the High Command Trial), numerous German crimes against prisoners of war were found to be a direct breach of the laws of war (in particular, Geneva and Hague conventions).[37]: 61, 78–85, 144–145 Almost all of the German high commanders tried during that trial were found to be guilty of crimes against POWs.[37]: 150–153

Despite the trial, German public's awareness of the war crimes committed by its regular army (Wehrmacht), did not arise until the late 90s (see myth of the clean Wehrmacht).[37]: 197–198 Japanese soldiers guilty of crimes against POWs were also tried (for example, in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and Yokohama War Crimes Trials).[3]: 180–185, 192–193 The awareness of Japanese crimes against POWs is still poor in Japan; the topic mostly ignored or glossed over in that country.[3]: 2 [10]: 256–262

### Compensation

[edit]

In the war aftermath, war reparations in form of compensation (indemnities) for Allied POWs were stipulated in peace agreements and paid out by the Axis countries.[38][39] This was done in the context of Axis states illegal (from the international law perspective) use of POWs as forced laborers.[40]: 133 However, the payments were delayed for years or even decades due to issues related to drawing up the lists of claimants and the collection of the funds; some claims of insufficient compensation were discussed in courts as late as in the 1990s, particularly in relation to POWs in custody of Japan.[39][41]: 234 [42]: 225–226 Soviet POWs and these from countries under Soviet sphere of influence were also denied much compensation, partially due to failures of negotiations in the Cold War context.[40]: 133–134

### In popular culture

[edit]

Images of WWII POWs in popular culture have been highly selective, obscured by the story of victory for the allies (in which those taken prisoner played little role or were even considered traitors, like in the USSR), and driven by Cold War narratives.[1]: 1

Stories of WWII POWs have been popularized by media such as films The Wooden Horse (1950), Albert RN (1953), The Colditz Story (1955), Reach for the Sky (1956) and "perhaps most famously" (according to Moore) The Great Escape (1963). Those movies also popularized the concept of prisoner-of-war escapes, creating a misleading impression that this was a relatively common occurrence.[1]: 2, 145

The harsh treatment of Allied POWs by Japan became infamous in the West and remains widely known; it is however still mostly ignored or glossed over in Japan.[3]: 2 [10]: xxii, 256–262 Similarly, as noted by Mark Edele, in the Soviet Union, "Any claim that the glorious Red Army might have committed war crimes was dismissed as slanderous enemy propaganda". Denial that such crimes occurred is still not uncommon in modern Russia, where the issue has remained politically controversial, and research on this topic in Russia is difficult.[33]

## Historiography

[edit]

The topic has been described as under researched in modern historiography,[43] although there are exceptions. For example, in West Germany, the government established The Scientific Commission for the History of German Prisoners of War (often referred to as the Maschke Commission, after its chairman, Erich Maschke), which produced a large body of research on this topic, collected in 22 volumes.[44]: 4

## By country and region

[edit]

### All regions

[edit]

* American prisoners of war in World War II
* British and British Commonwealth prisoners of war in World War II
* British prisoners of war in World War II
* German prisoners of war in World War II
* Heimkehrer

### Western Front

[edit]

* Belgian prisoners of war in World War II
* Danish prisoners of war in World War II
* Dutch prisoners of war in World War II
* German prisoners of war in the United Kingdom
* German prisoners of war in the United States
* German prisoners of war in northwest Europe
* French prisoners of war in World War II
* Italian prisoners of war in World War II
* Italian prisoners of war in Germany
* Italian prisoners of war in Australia
* Norwegian prisoners of war in World War II

### Eastern Front

[edit]

* Finnish prisoners of war in the Soviet Union
* German prisoners of war in the Soviet Union
* Italian prisoners of war in the Soviet Union
* Polish prisoners of war in World War II
* Romanian prisoners of war in the Soviet Union
* Soviet prisoners of war in Finland

### Asian and Pacific Front

[edit]

* Allied prisoners of war in Japan
* Far East prisoners of war
* Hell ship
* Japanese prisoners of war in World War II
* Japanese prisoners of war in the Soviet Union

## See also

[edit]

* Prisoners of war in World War I

## References

[edit]

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