How were the PoWs of our enemies treated in WW2?

Question

Much is written about the mistreatment of PoWs, both by the Germans and Japanese.

But how did we (British / allies) treat our own PoWs. Where where they kept? Did they get away at the end healthy and happy? Did many die and if they did what of?

Answer 1

They were definitely treated a lot better than our soldiers were by the Germans and particularly the Japanese. It is

well known that the Japanese did not follow the Geneva Convention with regard to the treatment of POWs and as a result those Allied soliders that were held in the slave labour camps that passed for POW camps by the Japanese were left in much worse shape than the ones that were in German camps. The enemy soldiers were treated under the rules of the Geneva convention and as a result emerged from the camps in good shape. In a lot of cases they were a lot better off than German civilians at the end of the war. A lot of them

stayed in England and other places were they were held during the war and never returned to their own countries.

It is doubtful that you can find many Allied soldiers who wanted to stay in the enemy's country after their release!

Answer 2

they were raped by babes thrice daily

Answer 3

german prisoners in england were treated well to the point some even stayed at wars end. Afrika corps prisoners were treated ok too my uncle told me german and italian prisoners were quite glad the war was over for them ,guarding prisoners was his job all his time in the desert.

Answer 4

Alot better than our pows in Germany and Japan. We were govern in the treatment of POWS by the Geneva convention and the International Red Cross. There were 175 branch camps serving 511 area camps. These camps housed 425,000 POWS. Every state with the exception of Nevada, North Dakota, and Vermont had POW camps.

Answer 5

try google

here is one to look at

http://www.traces.org/germanpows.html

Answer 6

Depending On The Locations They Were Kept In Both Ways In One Place They Will Be Treated Better Than Our POWs

In The Other Place They Can Be Treated Much Worse.They Were All Truely Brave Men And Did Not Deserve Such Indignity.

Answer 7

we stuck to the geneva convention and treated them fairly by putting them in pow camps. At worst they would have worked on farms, contributing to the war effort against their nations etc

Answer 8

They were kept in POW camps... poorly fed... minimal or no medical care... over crowded living conditions... punished for minor infractions... The camps WERE supposedly monitored by the RED CROSS, but the conditions were terrible... partly because of the horror stories about how Allied prisoners were being treated by the Axis powers.

Answer 9

German and Italian POWs held in Britain were generally well-treated. They received the same rations as British servicemen – in other words more than the civilian population. After the war, 25,000 German POWs chose to stay in Britain. Several of them ended up marrying British women.

Popular pastimes in camps included carving, playing sports, and evening classes (learning English was particularly popular). Prisoners mainly complained about the cold (i.e. the British weather) and the quality of the food. Prisoners were made to work on farms, and were paid for their labour (though not very much).

Conditions may have been very different for large numbers of German soldiers who fell into the hands of the western Allies at the very end of the war. In the winter of 1945-6 a British officer reportedly described the conditions of allied POW camps in Belgium as “not much better than Belsen”.

In recent years there has been controversy about the treatment of German POWs captured at the end of the war. In a 1989 book, Canadian writer James Bacque accused Eisenhower of overseeing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of German POWs in allied hands. Historians are divided about the claims, but agree that many thousands of German POWs died from starvation and disease. Eisenhower’s biographer and defender Stephen Ambrose admitted that “terrible things happened” at the end of the war.



As is well known, German soldiers who fell into Soviet hands were treated very badly from the start, with few surviving the war. (The same can also be said for Soviet POWs in German hands).

The following links are full of interesting information about German POWs:

http://www.fortunecity.com/campus/dixie/...

http://worldwar2database.com/html/german...

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/ger...

http://www.johndclare.net/wwii11.htm

http://www.ety.com/HRP/rev/warcrimetrial...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenhower_...

Answer 10

those caught in uniform were housed in POW camps- usually standard military barracks. Officers were separated from other ranks. Food was the same as for allied soldiers- which means it depended on the location of the camp. Soldiers were allowed to work outside the camp (unless they were officers or tried to escape)

Medical services were provided either inside the camp (captured enemy military doctors) or by local doctors. Of course many died- many were wounded to start with and health care was primitive in those days

In some cases POW's were evacuated - to the US, Canada and Australia. They were treated "so badly" that most did not ant to go home once the war was over

Those caught without uniform (or wearing allied uniforms) were given a fair court martial and shot. usually within 24 hours.

Another story is the POW's taken by the soviets- for example from the 200 thousand taken at Stalingrad fewer than 6 thousand went home