Prisoner of war

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Austro-Hungarian POWs in Russia; a 1915 photo by Prokudin-Gorskii

A prisoner of war (POW, PoW, or PW) is a combatant who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict.

[edit] Ancient times

For most of human history, depending on the temperament of the victors, combatants of the losing side in a battle could expect to be either slaughtered, to eliminate them as a future threat, or enslaved, bringing economic and social benefits to the victorious side and its soldiers. Typically, little distinction was made between combatants and civilians, although women and children were certainly more likely to be spared, if only to be raped or captured for sale as slaves.

[edit] Middle Ages

It was during the 7th century that the Islamic concept of Ma malakat aymanukum was introduced in the Qur'an.

During the Middle Ages, religious wars were particularly ferocious. Extermination of the heretics or "non-believers" was considered desirable. Examples are the Crusades against the Cathars and the Baltic people in the 13th century^[1]. Likewise the inhabitants of conquered cities were frequently massacred during the Crusades against the Turks in the 11th and 12th centuries, or during the Muslim and Ottoman Turkish incursions in Europe throughout the period.

Rulers and army commanders were frequently used to extract tribute by granting their freedom in exchange for a significant ransom in treasury or land.

The Treaty of Westphalia of 1648, which ended the Thirty Years War, is considered the first to establish the rule of releasing prisoners at the end of hostilities and allowing them to return to their homelands^[2].

[edit] Modern times

Jan Kilinski leading a group of Russian prisoners of war following the Warsaw Uprising of 1794

During the nineteenth century, efforts increased to improve the treatment and processing of prisoners. The extensive period of conflict during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815), followed by the Anglo - American War of 1812, led to the emergence of a cartel system for the exchange of prisoners, even while the belligerents were at war. A cartel was usually arranged by the respective armed service for the exchange of like ranked personnel. The aim was to achieve a reduction in the number of prisoners held, while at the same time alleviating shortages of skilled personnel in the home country.

Later, as result of these emerging conventions a number of international conferences were held, starting with the Brussels Conference of 1874, with nations agreeing that it was necessary to prevent inhumane treatment of prisoners and the use of weapons causing unnecessary harm. Although no agreements were immediately ratified by the participating nations, work was continued that resulted in new conventions being adopted and becoming recognized as international law, that specified that prisoners of war are required to be treated humanely and diplomatically.

[edit] Hague and Geneva Conventions

Specifically, Chapter II of the Annex to the 1907 Hague Convention covered the treatment of prisoners of war in detail. These were further expanded in the Third Geneva Convention of 1929, and its revision of 1949.

Article 4 of the Third Geneva Convention protects captured military personnel, some guerrilla fighters and certain civilians. It applies from the moment a prisoner is captured until he or she is released or repatriated. One of the main provisions of the convention makes it illegal to torture prisoners and states that a prisoner can only be required to give his or her name, date of birth, rank and service number (if applicable).

However, nations vary in their dedication to following these laws, and historically the treatment of POWs has varied greatly. During the Twentieth Century, Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union were notorious for atrocities against prisoners during World War II. Torture of prisoners was routine in conflicts in Korea and Vietnam. More recently, the United States has been sharply criticized by the international community for its mistreatment of detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Abu Ghraib, Iraq.

[edit] The United States Military Code of Conduct

The The United States Military Code of Conduct are rules for United States servicemembers who have been taken prisoner. They were created in response to the breakdown of leadership which can happen in an atypical environment such as a POW situation, specifically when US forces were POWs during the Korean War. When a person is taken prisoner, the Code of Conduct reminds the servicemember that the chain of command is still in effect (the highest ranking servicemember, regardless of armed service branch, is in command), and that the servicemember cannot receive special favors or parole from their captors, lest this undermines the servicemember's chain of command.

[edit] Qualifications

To be entitled to prisoner of war status, the captured service member must have conducted operations according to the laws and customs of war: be part of a chain of command and wear a uniform and bear arms openly. Thus, franc-tireurs, terrorists and spies may be excluded. In practice, these criteria are not always interpreted strictly. Guerrillas, for example, may not wear a uniform or carry arms openly yet are typically granted POW status if captured. However, guerrillas or any other combatant may not be granted the status if they try to use both the civilian and the military status. Thus, the importance of uniforms — or as in the guerrilla case, a badge — to keep this important rule of warfare.

[edit] Alternative definitions

Some groups define Prisoner of War in accordance with their internal politics and world view. Since the special rights of a prisoner of war, granted by governments, are the result of multilateral treaties, these definitions have no legal effect and those claiming rights under these definitions would legally be considered common criminals under an arresting jurisdiction's laws. However, in most cases these groups do not demand such rights.

The United States Army only uses the term Prisoner of War to describe friendly soldiers who have been captured. The proper term for enemy prisoners captured by friendly forces is Enemy Prisoner of War or EPW^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] World War I

American prisoners of war in Germany in 1917.

About 8 million men surrendered and were held in POW camps until the war ended. All nations pledged to follow the Hague rules on fair treatment of prisoners of war, and in general the POW's had a much higher survival rate than their peers who were not captured.^[3] Individual surrenders were uncommon; usually a large unit surrendered all its men. At Tannenberg 92,000 Russians surrendered during the battle. When the besieged garrison of Kaunas surrendered in 1915, 20,000 Russians became prisoners. Over half the Russian losses were prisoners (as a proportion of those captured, wounded or killed); for Austria 32%, for Italy 26%, for France 12%, for Germany 9%; for Britain 7%. Prisoners from the Allied armies totaled about 1.4 million (not including Russia, which lost between 2.5 and 3.5 million men as prisoners.) From the Central Powers about 3.3 million men became prisoners.^[4]

Germany held 2.5 million prisoners; Russia held 2.9 million, and Britain and France held about 720,000, mostly gained in the period just before the Armistice in 1918. The US held 48,000. The most dangerous moment was the act of surrender, when helpless soldiers were sometimes gunned down. Once prisoners reached a camp in general conditions were satisfactory (and much better than in World War II), thanks in part to the efforts of the International Red Cross and inspections by neutral nations. Conditions were terrible in Russia, starvation was common for prisoners and civilians alike; about 15-20% of the prisoners in Russia died. In Germany food was short but only 5% died. ^[5]

The Ottoman Empire often treated prisoners of war poorly. Some 11,800 British Empire soldiers, most of them Indians became prisoners after the five-month Siege of Kut, in Mesopotamia, in April 1916. Many wery weak and starved when they surrendered and 4,250 died in captivity.^[6]

The most curious case came in Russia where the Czech Legion of Czech prisoners (from the Austro-Hungarian army), were released in 1917, armed themselves, and briefly became a military and diplomatic force during the Russian Civil War.

[edit] Release of prisoners

At the end of the war there were believed to be 140,000 British Prisoners of war in Germany, including 3,000 held in Switzerland. The first British prisoners were released and reached Calais on 15 November. Plans were made for them to be sent via Dunkirk to Dover and a large reception camp was established at Dover capable of housing 40,000 men, which could later be used for demobilisation.

On 13 December 1918 the armistice was extended and the Allies reported that by 9 December 264,000 prisoners had been repatriated. A very large number of these has been released en masse and sent across allied lines without any food or shelter. This had created difficulties for the receiving Allies and many had died from exhaustion. The released POWs were met by cavalry troops and sent back through the lines in lorries to reception centres where they were refitted with boots and clothing and dispatched to the ports in trains. Upon arrival at the receiving camp the POWs were registered and “boarded” before being dispatched to their own homes. All officers had to write a report on the circumstances of their capture and to ensure that they had done all they could to avoid capture. On a more enlightened note, each returning officer and man was given a message from King George V, written in his own hand and reproduced on a lithograph. It read as follows:

The Queen joins me in welcoming you on your release from the miseries & hardships, which you have endured with so much patience and courage. During these many months of trial, the early rescue of our gallant Officers & Men from the cruelties of their captivity has been uppermost in our thoughts. We are thankful that this longed for day has arrived, & that back in the old Country you will be able once more to enjoy the happiness of a home & to see good days among those who anxiously look for your return. George R.I.

[edit] World War II

Red Cross parcel sent to British POW in Germany

German soldiers taken POW by the Polish Independent Highland Brigade during the Battle of Narvik of 1940

Germany and Italy generally treated prisoners from the British Commonwealth, France, the U.S. and other western allies, in accordance with the Third Geneva Convention (1929) which had been signed by these countries [2]. Nazi Germany did not extend this level of treatment to non-Western prisoners, who suffered harsh captivities and died in large numbers while in captivity. The Soviet Union and the Empire of Japan also did not treat prisoners of war in accordance with the Geneva Convention.

When soldiers of lower rank were made to work, they were compensated, and officers (e.g. in Colditz Castle) were not forced to work. The main complaint of prisoners of war in German Army camps, especially during the last two years of the war, was the poor quality and miserly quantities of food provided, a fate German soldiers and civilians were also suffering due to the blockade conditions. Fortunately for the prisoners, food packages provided by the International Red Cross supplemented the food rations, until the last few months when allied air raids prevented shipments from arriving. The other main complaint was the harsh treatment during forced marches in the last months resulting from German attempts to keep prisoners away from the advancing allied forces.

In contrast Germany treated the Soviet Red Army troops that had been taken prisoner with neglect and deliberate, organized brutality. Soviet POWs were held under conditions that resulted in deaths of hundreds of thousands from starvation and disease. Most prisoners were also subjected to forced labour under conditions that resulted in further deaths. An official justification used by the Germans for this policy was that the Soviet Union had not signed the Geneva Convention; this was not legally justifiable however as under article 82 of the Third Geneva Convention of 1929; signatory countries had to give POWs of all signatory and non-signatory countries the rights assigned by the convention.

German POWs were used for forced labour under conditions that resulted in deaths of hundreds of thousands. One specific example of the Soviets cruelty towards the German POWs was after the Battle of Stalingrad during which the Soviets had captured 91,000 German troops. The prisoners, already starved and ill, were marched to war camps in Siberia to face the freezing bitter cold. Of the troops captured in Stalingrad, only 5,000 survived. The last German POWs were released only in 1955, after Stalin had died.

In quantifiable terms, between 1941 and 1945 the Axis powers took around 5.7 million Russian prisoners. Approximately 1 million were released during the war, in that their status changed but they remained under German authority. A little over 500,000 either escaped or were liberated by the Red Army, 930,000 more were found alive in camps after the war. The remaining 3.3 million prisoners (57.5% of the total captured) died during their captivity. The Soviets captured 3.155 million German soldiers, of which 1.185 million (37.5%) died. In comparison, 8,348 British or American prisoners died in German camps in 1939-45 (3.5% of the 232,000 total).

By contrast, allied nations such the U.S., UK, Australia and Canada, tried to treat Axis prisoners strictly in accordance with the Geneva Conventions. This sometimes created conditions for POWs better than those their fellow soldiers enjoyed at home. The lower rank prisoners were used for work on farms and road maintenance and were compensated for their work as required by the Geneva Convention. In addition, as word spread among the enemy about the conditions of Allied POW camps, it encouraged surrenders, which helped further Allied military goals. It may have raised morale among the Allied personnel when the usefulness of this approach was accepted by reinforcing the idea that this humane treatment of prisoners showed that their side was morally superior to the enemy. At the end of the war in Europe, the victorious allied nations were not able to treat all prisoners in accordance with the Geneva Conventions - something which had been expected from Germany during the war, though, even with the millions of POWs captured.

Korean POWs being guarded by a U.S. Marine during the Korean War

In the Pacific War, the Empire of Japan did neither sign nor follow the Third Geneva Convention of 1929. Prisoners of war from China, America, Australia, Britain, Canada, Netherlands and New Zealand held by the Japanese armed forces were subject to brutal treatment, including forced labor, medical experimentation, starvation rations, and poor medical treatment. No access was provided to the International Red Cross. This treatment resulted in the very high death rate of 37% in Japanese prisoner of war camps. Escapes were almost impossible because of the difficulty of men of European descent hiding in Asiatic societies.^[7]

[edit] Post World War II

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[edit] Numbers of POWs

This is a list of nations with the highest number of POWs during World War II, listed in descending order. These are also the highest numbers in any war since the Geneva Convention, Relative to the treatment of prisoners of war (1929) entered into force 19 June 1931. The USSR had not signed the Geneva convention. ^[8]

[edit] List of notable POWs

List of POWs that attracted notable attention or influence by this status:

A Pakistan stamp shows the 90,000 POWs in Indian camps following its surrender in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. This stamp, released with the aim of raising the POW issue at a global level in securing their release, is one of the very few stamps issued by a nation about its POWs.

• Yakov Dzhugashvili - Joseph Stalin's first son, was captured by Germans during WWII and killed in 1943.
• Ron Arad - Israeli fighter pilot, shot down over Lebanon in 1986. He is believed to be kept in an underground Iranian prison.
• Douglas Bader - British leg-less fighter pilot, squadron commander in Battle of Britain
• Leonard Birchall - The "Savior of Ceylon"
• E.R. (Bon) Hall - Australian Officer, prisoner of the Thai Burma Railway in WWII
• Winston Churchill - during the Second Boer War; escaped
• Charles de Gaulle - French general and political leader, captured at Verdun, POW 1916-18
• Jeremiah Denton - Awarded the Navy Cross for resistance in captivity during the Vietnam WAr
• Roy Dotrice
• Werner Drechsler - killed by fellow German POW's during WWII for informing on other prisoners
• Weary Dunlop - an Australian surgeon and legend among prisoners of the Thai Burma Railway in WWII
• Denholm Elliott
• Henri Giraud - French general, escaped German captivity in both World War I and WWII
• James Hargest New Zealand politician
• Heinrich Harrer & Peter Aufschnaiter escaped from India to Tibet
• Erich Hartmann
• Rudolf Hess
• Bob Hoover - American WWII pilot, test pilot and airshow performer; captured in 1944 and escaped from Stalag Luft 1
• Wilm Hosenfeld
• Alija Izetbegovic
• Andrew Jackson - Seventh President of the United States, captured in the American Revolutionary War as a thirteen-year old courier
• Harold K. Johnson U.S. Army Chief of Staff 1964; captured at Bataan (1942-45)
• Arthur Koestler - interned in a camp for enemy aliens at the beginning of World War II
• Tikka Khan - Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Army
• Yahya Khan - last president of a united Pakistan
• Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski - Commander of the Polish Home Army, and in the Warsaw Uprising
• Gustav Krist - Adventurer and traveler, Austrian soldier in WWI, captured by Russians in 1914. Interned in Russian Turkestan
• Desmond Llewellyn
• Jessica Lynch
• Charles Cardwell McCabe - a prisoner and chaplain at Libby Prison during the American Civil War
• John McCain - American political leader, captured in Vietnam
• Olivier Messiaen French composer
• François Mitterrand - French president, captured during WWII in 1940, escaped 6 times before arriving home in Dec. 1941
• W. H. Murray Scottish mountineer
• Airey Neave British politician
• A. A. K. Niazi - commander of Pakistan Army in East Pakistan who surrendered along with nearly 93,000 prisoners
• Friedrich Paulus - German field marshal, surrendered Stalingrad to the Soviets in 1943; outspoken critic of Hitler
• Patrick Reid
• Dick Rutan^{[citation needed]} - pilot of the Voyager round-the-world record-holding aircraft
• Jean-Paul Sartre - French philosopher and writer, POW 1940-41
• Kazuo Sakamaki - First POW captured by U.S. forces in World War II
• Ronald Searle
• Léopold Senghor - Senegalize writer and political leader, captured 1940 in France
• Gilad Shalit - Israeli soldier whose capture in 2006 sparked Israel's war against Hamas and later Hezbollah
• E W Swanton - captured by Japanese in Singapore; after war, was renowned BBC sports commentator.
• Floyd James Thompson - America's longest-held POW; spent almost 9 years in POW camps in Vietnam
• Josip Broz Tito - president of Yugoslavia, Austrian soldier in WWI, captured by Russians in 1915
• Mikhail Tukhachevsky - Soviet military leader and theorist, captured by Germans in WWI
• Charles Upham - Awarded the Victoria Cross twice.
• Laurens van der Post - South African writer and war hero, captured by Japanese 1942
• Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach - German anti-Nazi general captured at Stalingrad by Soviets
• Kurt Vonnegut - American writer; captured in the Battle of the Bulge and witnessed the Bombing of Dresden in World War II
• Jonathan Wainwright Commanding General US forces in Philippines; captured at Bataan (1942-1945)
• Louis Zamperini - American athlete, member of Olympic team, captured by Japanese 1943

[edit] See also

• Combatant
• Illegal combatant
• Disarmed Enemy Forces
• Laws of war
• War crime
• American Revolution prisoners of war
• British prison ships (New York)
• Prisoner-of-war camp
• MIA (means Missing in Action)
• The United States Military Code of Conduct
• Ma malakat aymanukum
• Katyn massacre
• Prison escape

Movies

• Blood Oath
• Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
• Stalag 17
• Danger Within
• Summer of My German Soldier
• The Bridge on the River Kwai
• The Great Escape
• The Wooden Horse
• The Brylcreem Boys
• Hart's War
• Prisoner of War
• The Great Raid
• Rambo: First Blood Part II
• To End All Wars

[edit] References

Other references:

• Full text of Third Geneva Convention, 1949 revision
• "Prisoner of War". Encyclopedia Britannica (CD Edition). (2002).
• Gendercide site
• "Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses in the Twentieth Century", Greenhill Books, London, 1997, G. F. Krivosheev, editor.
• "Keine Kameraden. Die Wehrmacht und die sowjetischen Kriegsgefangenen 1941-1945", Dietz, Bonn 1997, ISBN 3-8012-5023-7

[edit] Further reading

• Pierre Gascar, Histoire de la captivité des Français en Allemagne (1939-1945), Éditions Gallimard, France, 1967.
• McGowran OBE, Tom, Beyond the Bamboo Screen: Scottish Prisoners of War under the Japanese. 1999. Cualann Press Ltd
• Bob Moore,& Kent Fedorowich eds., Prisoners of War and their Captors in World War II, Berg Press, Oxford, UK, 1997.
• David Rolf, Prisoners of the Reich, Germany’s Captives, 1939-1945, 1998.
• Richard D. Wiggers "The United States and the Denial of Prisoner of War (POW) Status at the End of the Second World War," Militargeschichtliche Mitteilungen 52 (1993) pp. 91-94.
• Winton, Andrew, Open Road to Faraway: Escapes from Nazi POW Camps 1941-1945. 2001. Cualann Press Ltd.
• The stories of several American fighter pilots, shot down over North Vietnam are the focus of American Film Foundation's 1999 documentary Return with Honor, presented by Tom Hanks.
• Lewis H. Carlson, WE WERE EACH OTHER'S PRISONERS: An oral history of World War II American and German Prisoners Of War, 1st Edition.; 1997, BasicBooks (HarperCollins, Inc).ISBN 0-465-09120-2.
• Arnold Krammer, NAZI PRISONERS OF WAR IN AMERICA; 1979 Stein & Day; 1991, 1996 Scarborough House. ISBN 0-8128-8561-9.
• Alfred James Passfield, The Escape Artist; An WW2 Australian prisoner's chronicle of life in German POW camps and his eight escape attempts, 1984 Artlook Books Western Australia. ISBN 0 86445 047 8.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Prisoners of war

• Archive of WWII memories, gathered by BBC
• POWs of WWII and their experiences
• Current staus of Vietnam War POW/MIA
• Australian POW FX Larkin NX43393 AIF. Detailed web site and rich resources.
• CBC Digital Archives - Canada's Forgotten PoW Camps
• German army list of Stalags
• German army list of Oflags
• Changi A.I.F. Ski Club
• Colditz Oflag IVC POW Camp
• Lamsdorf Reunited
• Website (official) on New Zealand PoWs
• New Zealand Official History, New Zealand PoWs of Germany, Italy & Japan
• Essays on New Zealand PoWs of Germany, Italy & Japan
• Essay on Escapes of New Zealand PoWs