What were the conditions for prisoners of war in World War 2?

Answer 1

The conditions of prisoners varied widely from nation to nation. All nations took prisoners, although often battlefield conditions were such that many who wished to surrender did not survive the attempt. Overall POW's main complaint would be lack of variety/quantity of food. Many would also complain of bordom, others of too much work. USA: Prisoners from Germany and Italy were generally well treated once they reached the USA. Food was plentiful by European standards. Work was limited and tolerable. Very few Japanese prisoners were taken. Battles with the Japanese were usually fights to the death, on both sides. USSR: Probably the harshest overall treatment of prisoners. They brutalized all whom they captured. German military prisoners were starved, worked to death, and brutalized in every conceivable way. Women prisoners were abused sexually. Civilians captured were murdered casually. Those POWs who did survive, were for the most part not released until ten years after the war, in 1954 and 1955. Tens of thousands were never released - there are reports of large numbers still in camps as late as 1960. Britain: Generally similar to the USA situation although support for the POW's was not as generous due to a lack of resources. Few were kept in the British Isles. Most were sent to camps in the USA or Canada. Germany: Prisoners taken in the western European campaigns were generally well treated. In fact, despite some movie Propaganda to the contrary, American and British POW's in Germany had no higher mortality rates than German POW's in their opponents camps. In some early campaigns, such as France, Germany did not even bother with POWs. The surrendering French were just disarmed and told to go home. Russian and Polish POWs were a different story. Millions were starved or otherwise brutalized. Interestingly however, almost a million Russian POW's joined the German army, mostly in non combat roles. Those doing so doubtless got better rations, although most Russian POW's were killed by the Soviets after the war, as traitors. Japan: American, British and Dutch prisoners were harshly treated. Some were executed, food was sparse, labor often hard. The Japanese were also harsh against POWs from China. France: It was an occupied country during the war and of course had few POW's. However after the war, they did hold many German POW's. Many were badly treated. For example about five thousand German POW's were worked to death in French coal mines. Many German POWs, to escape the terrible conditions volunteered their extensive military expertise to the French and enlisted in the French army or foreign legion. Thus you find many German names in the French forces fighting in Vietnam in 1950 to 1954.

Answer 2

Deplorable at best. Sanitary conditions provided in prison compounds were at a level that would be ranked as unacceptable by any nation. Neither the CSA or the USA could be ranked as superior. Both failed to
provide for the essential and basic human needs of the intered.

Answer 3

The conditions were appaling for anyone who was a POW in the hands of the Japanese.Japan did not sign the Geneva Aggrement,which meant if you were a pow of Germany or Italy during the war, you were expected not to be beaten during your stay , to be given medical treatment if sick or injured,red cross packages to be given to all prisoners.Also the Japanese had a belief that if a soldiers unit was captured or retreated, suicide was the best way out.Allied soliders-sailors-marines who were defeated at Singapore/Bataan-Corrigedor/Wake Island in 1941-early 1942 were treated horribly.The combined Filippino/Americans who surrendered at Bataan were marched many miles with no water to drink-putrid food to eat-not too many breaks.Those that dropped out of the formation were beaten with rifle-butts to the head, bayoneted multiple times or even run over by Japanese vehicles.The prison camps under Japanese control were horrible.One camp put Allied POWS to work on building a railway bridge on the river Kwai,even though the prisoners were starving, had no medical supplies to treat those that had malaria-berry/berry-dysentry and beat the pows for no reason what so ever.

Answer 4

They weren't great. :/