Prisoner of war

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"POW" redirects here. For other uses, see POW (disambiguation).
German soldiers taken POW by the Polish Independent Highland Brigade during the Battle of Narvik of 1940
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German soldiers taken POW by the Polish Independent Highland Brigade during the Battle of Narvik of 1940
Jan Kilinski leading a group of Russian prisoners of war following the Warsaw Uprising of 1794
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Jan Kilinski leading a group of Russian prisoners of war following the Warsaw Uprising of 1794

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.

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[edit] Ancient times

In early times, combatants of the losing side in a battle were usually slaughtered to prevent them from becoming a future danger. Later it became recognized that they could become useful as slaves, to perform heavy labor thus freeing men of the winning side for service as soldiers. During an invasion of a territory, the victorious invader frequently treated civilian non-combatants in the captured region the same as combatants. Sometimes even women and children were slaughtered or enslaved.

[edit] Middle Ages

During the Middle Ages some religious wars were particularly ferocious. Extermination of the heretics or "non-believers" was considered to be 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 Year 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

During the nineteenth century efforts increased to improve the treatment of prisoners. A number of international conferences, starting with the Brussels Conference of 1874, nations agreed that it was necessary to prevent inhumane treatment of prisoners and the use of weapons causing unnecessary harm. Although momentarily no agreements were 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, both 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 alleged mistreatment of detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Abu Ghraib, Iraq.

[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 II

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. When soldiers of lower rank were made to work, they were compensated, and officers were not forced to work. The main complaint of prisoners of war in German Army camps was the poor quality and miserly quantities of food provided them. Conditions became worse during the last two years of the war, when even German civilians were suffering from reduced rations. Fortunately 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 Red Army prisoners with neglect and brutality. The Nazi Government regarded Soviet POWs as being of a lower racial order, in keeping with the Third Reich's policy of "racial purification". As a result Soviet POWs were held under conditions that resulted in deaths of hundreds of thousands from starvation and disease. Most prisoners were also subjected to enforced 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.

On the Soviet side, the claimed justification for the harsh treatment of German Army prisoners, and those of the forces of other Axis powers, was that thay had forfeited their right to fair treatment, because of the widespread crimes committed against Soviet civilians during the invasion of the Soviet Union. German POWs were used for forced labour under conditions that resulted in deaths of hundreds of thousands.

By contrast, allied nations such the U.S., UK and Canada, tried to treat Axis prisoners strictly in accordance to the Geneva Conventions. This sometimes created conditions for POWs better than in 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 allied nations were not able to treat all prisoners in accordance to the Geneva Conventions. Like in ancient times the German prisoners were used as slave laborer for an uncertain time and sent like an object from one custody power to an other to rebuild Europe.

In the Pacific War, Japan did not follow the Third Geneva Convention. American, Australian, British, Canadian and Dutch prisoners of war held by the Japanese armed forces were subject to brutal treatment, including forced labour, 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 white men hiding in Asiatic societies.[3]

[edit] Other wars of the Twentieth Century

During World War I both the Allies and the Central Powers followed the provisions of the Geneva Conventions, in general. Some exceptions occurred on the Eastern Front, in particular during the chaotic conditions that resulted from the Bolshevik Revolution

During the Korean and Vietnam wars, American prisoners were often beaten and tortured.

[edit] Numbers of POWs

This is a list of nations with the highest number of POWs 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. [4] All except one took place during World War II. Listed in descending order.

Prisoner nationality Number Name of conflict
U.S.S.R 4 - 5.7 million (2.7 - 3.3 million died in German POW camps) (ref. Krivosheev, Streit) World War II (Total)
Germany 3,127,380 taken by U.S.S.R. (474,967 died in captivity) (ref. Krivosheev) World War II
France 1,800,000 Battle of France in World War II
Poland 675,000 (420,000 by Germans, 240,000 by Soviets in 1939; 15,000 Warsaw 1944) World War II
U.S.A ~130,000 (95,532 taken by Germany) World War II
Britain (135,000 taken in Europe, does not include Pacific or Commonwealth figures) World War II
Pakistan 93,000 Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

[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.
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.

[edit] See also

Movies

[edit] References

  1. ^ "History of Europe, p.362 - by Norman Davies ISBN 0-19-520912-5
  2. ^ Encyclopedia Brittanica - prisoner of war
  3. ^ Prisoners of the Japanese : Pows of World War II in the Pacific - by Gavin Dawes, ISBN 0-688-14370-9
  4. ^ Clark, Alan Barbarossa: The Russian-German Conflict 1941-1945 page 206, ISBN 0-304-35864-9

Other references:

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.

[edit] External links

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