How many POWs died in American hands in World War 2 as compared to POWs that died in German and Japanese hands?

Answer 1

the safety of a POW depended on when they chose to or were able to surrender. More than 3,000 of the 10,000 POWs taken on Okinawa were taken in the last three days of fighting, even as more than 4,000 Japanese died. A German soldier who surrendered in North Africa in 1942 was more likely to get decent food and shelter than the 250,000 men who surrendered on the Western Front in April-May 1945, when the Allies' POW intake system to process the Germans was crushed by the numbers of men who surrendered, leaving many without food or shelter in open-air fences. It took Eisenhower's direct intervention to clean up that mess. Just as Germans fought hard to give time for civilians to make it to the West to surrender to the British or Americans instead of the Russians, Germans who surrendered to the Americans or British were better treated than those who surrendered to the French or Polish units, who harbored bitter anger towards the Germans.

All of that said, Americans were better off in German captivity, where 75%-90% survived captivity (including Allied bombing). Only 51% of Allied soldiers survived Japanese camps. Out of the 28,000 Japanese taken by the Allies, only a few hundred were killed during the mass riot in Cowra, Australia. Very few Germans died once they reached an Allied Camp, but they were often under fire immediately after surrendering (for example, on D-Day 6/6/44) and many were killed while attempting to surrender. However, tens of thousands more Japanese and Germans died in battle, and many of those probably attempted surrender and were killed, so an accurate figure is hard to come by.

Only 17 Japanese and a few hundred Koreans survived the Battle of Tarawa out of over 5000. Generally, assuming that the Allies are not overwhelmed with prisoners and you're not talking about the end of the war in Europe, your chances of survival were marginally better falling into Allied hands than if you were captured by the Germans, and your chances with the Germans were much better than if you were captured by the Japanese.