Prisoners of war in World War I

Between 7–9 million soldiers surrendered and were held in prisoner-of-war camps during World War I.^[1] All nations pledged to follow the Hague Conventions on fair treatment of prisoners of war, and the survival rate for POWs was generally, though not always, much higher than that of combatants at the front.^[2]

German prisoners in a French prison camp during the later part of the war

The conditions of the POW camps were, in general, 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. However, conditions were terrible in Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Starvation was common for prisoners and civilians alike. About 15–20% of the prisoners in Russia died, and as did 8% of Russians imprisoned by the Central Powers.^[3] In Germany, food was scarce, but only 5% died.^[4][5][6] Soldiers that surrendered were not always taken as POWs, as they were sometimes gunned down by the prevailing army instead.^[7][8]

25–31% of Russian losses (as a proportion of those captured, wounded, or killed) were to prisoner status, for Austria-Hungary 32%, for Italy 26%, for France 12%, for Germany 9%; for Britain 7%. Prisoners from the Allied armies totalled about 1.4 million (not including Russia, which lost 2.5–3.5 million soldiers as prisoners). From the Central Powers about 3.3 million soldiers became prisoners; most of them surrendered to Russians.^[9]

While the Allied prisoners of the Central Powers were quickly sent home at the end of active hostilities, the same treatment was not granted to Central Power prisoners of the Allies, many of whom served as forced labour, e.g., in France until 1920. They were released only after many approaches by the Red Cross to the Supreme War Council.^[10] German prisoners were still being held in Russia as late as 1924.^[11]

Living conditions

 

1915 painting depicting prisoners of war in Germany harvesting hay

The conditions at the camps were variable. While those put to work in agriculture fared well, other forms of work were dangerous to POWs, such as the digging of the Rouvre tunnel near the Étang de Berre in France, the demining of battlefields in France in 1919, comparable to those of the Russian gulag on the construction site of the railway line from Petrograd to Murmansk. This extreme situation was, however, not motivated by a punitive desire, but rather by the inorganization and negligence of the authorities.^[12] Article 7 of the Hague Convention provides for "treatment of prisoners in terms of food, clothing and bedding equivalent to that of the troops of the government which captured them". In fact, the prisoners' rations were conditioned by the supplies of each country. The prisoners of the Central Powers affected by the Allied blockade (Germany and Austria-Hungary) suffered from hunger like the rest of the population. The French prisoners benefited from packages from their families which alleviated the deficiencies. From July 1916, the French government sends weekly collective packages of 2kg of bread per prisoner.^[13] Russian prisoners deprived of this assistance particularly suffered. In France and the United Kingdom, countries little affected by shortages, prisoners' rations remained more satisfactory. The prisoners were struck by epidemics, typhus and cholera, especially at the start of the war, a period of unpreparedness for the unexpected influx into Russia and Germany. Subsequently, sanitary conditions improved.^[14]

The number of prisoners who died during the war would be 751,000 (8.7% of the total), including 478,000 Austro-Hungarian prisoners, 122,000 Germans, 38,963 French in Germany.^[15] 411,000 prisoners died in Russia (the majority of them Austro-Hungarian),^[16] and more than 100,000 Italian prisoners out of 350,000 in Austria-Hungary.^[17]

The overall mortality rate would be around 17.6% among captives in Russia, 7% in Austria, 5.3% in France, 3.5% in Germany.^[16] 122,000 German prisoners died among the 933,000 held by the Allies during the war, an average rate of 12.4%, varying from 1.92% in the United States, 3.03% in the United Kingdom, 9.4% in France, 37% in Russia and 39% in Romania.^[18] These differences are mainly due to differences in material conditions but also in the average duration of captivity, short in the United States, longer in France where the last prisoners were released at the beginning of 1920, in Russia where repatriations hampered by the civil war were continued until 1922. The high mortality rate in Russia is mainly due to climatic conditions, the unpreparedness of the authorities in the face of an unforeseen influx (lack of accommodation at the start of the war), not to a desire for persecution,^[19] that of Italian prisoners due to malnutrition in Austria affected by an extreme food shortage due to the refusal of the Italian government to send relief.^[17]

POWs by camp location

POWs in Canada

Further information: Ukrainian Canadian internment

This section is an excerpt from List of World War I prisoner-of-war camps in Canada.[edit]

Twenty-four known prisoner-of-war camps existed across Canada during the First World War. The ethnic groups arrested and detained in internment camps were Austro-Hungarians (mostly Ukrainians) and Germans. Austro-Hungarian Prisoners were mainly residents of Canada from Ukraine, part of Serbia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia. Since Ukraine, part of Serbia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia were then provinces of the empire of Austria-Hungary, many still had Austro-Hungarian citizenship and were considered to be resident enemy aliens. William Dostock, for example, who immigrated to Canada in 1910 from Austria-Hungary and was not yet naturalized was interned from 1915–1920 as an enemy alien.^[20]

POWs in the German Empire

Further information: German prisoner-of-war camps in World War I

This section is an excerpt from World War I prisoners of war in Germany § Conditions of detention.[edit]

From the beginning of the war, the German authorities found themselves confronted with an unexpected influx of prisoners. In September 1914, 125,050 French soldiers and 94,000 Russian soldiers were held captive.^[21] Before 1915, conditions of detention in Germany were very harsh and marked by temporary lodging and the absence of infrastructure. The prisoners slept in hangars or tents, where they dug holes to keep warm. The humid forts requisitioned to serve as places of detention led to numerous cases of pulmonary illness. The German authorities also commandeered schools, barns and various other types of shelters. Camps were established in the countryside as well as near the towns, which had consequences when epidemics of cholera or typhus threatened to spread to the civilian population.

Not all the camps were situated on German territory; a certain number were built in occupied territories, notably in northern and eastern France. They began to be developed starting in 1915 when the number of prisoners being held captive in Germany reached 652,000.^[21] According to official directives, each prisoner had to have use of 2.5 m².^[22] The camps mixed a large number of nationalities sharing the same quarters: French, Russian, British, American, Canadian, Belgian, Italian, Romanian, Serbian, Montenegrin, Portuguese and Japanese prisoners were found there, as well as Greeks and Brazilians. Equally, soldiers of various social origins rubbed elbows: workers, peasants, bureaucrats and intellectuals were among those held. The number of prisoners rose very quickly. From February to August 1915, it went from 652,000 to 1,045,232. In August 1916, it reached 1,625,000, jumping to 2,415,000 by October 1918.^[23]

POWs in the Ottoman Empire

 

British prisoners guarded by Ottoman forces after the First Battle of Gaza in 1917

The Ottoman Empire often treated POWs poorly.^[24] Some 11,800 British Empire soldiers, most of them Indians, became prisoners after the siege of Kut in Mesopotamia in April 1916; 4,250 died in captivity.^[25] Although many were in a poor condition when captured, Ottoman officers forced them to march 1,100 kilometres (684 mi) to Anatolia. A survivor said: "We were driven along like beasts; to drop out was to die."^[26]

POWs in Switzerland

This section is an excerpt from Prisoner of war camps in Switzerland during World War I.[edit]

During World War I Switzerland accepted 68,000 British, French and German wounded prisoners of war (POW) for recovery in mountain resorts. To be transferred the wounded had to have a disability that would negate their further military service or interned over 18 months and deteriorating mental health.^[27] The wounded were transferred from prisoner of war camps unable to cope with the number of wounded and sat out the war in Switzerland. The transfer was agreed between the warring powers and organised by the Red Cross.^[28] In all, 219,000 prisoners were exchanged.^[29]

Italian POWs

This section is an excerpt from Italian prisoners of war in World War I.[edit]

 

Italian prisoners after the Battle of Caporetto

Around 600,000 Italian soldiers were taken prisoner during the First World War, about half in the aftermath of Caporetto. Roughly one Italian soldier in seven was captured, a significantly higher number than in other armies on the Western Front.^[30][31] About 100,000 Italian prisoners of war never returned home, having succumbed to hardship, hunger, cold and disease (mainly tuberculosis).^{[32][33]: 126} Uniquely among the Allied powers, Italy refused to assist its prisoners, and even hindered efforts by soldiers’ families to send them food.^{[33]: 130–31} As a result, the death rate for Italian prisoners was nine times worse than that of Austro-Hungarian prisoners in Italy.^[34]: 6

Return of the prisoners

The November 1918 armistice provided for the repatriation of Allied prisoners without reciprocity. This lack of reciprocity is a violation of Article 20 of the Hague Convention of 1899, which reads: "After the conclusion of peace, the repatriation of prisoners of war shall be carried out as quickly as possible".^[35] The English prisoners were repatriated in November, and the return of the French prisoners ended in mid-January 1919. German prisoners were held in France until the beginning of 1920. The release of Austro-Hungarian and German prisoners in Russia, as well as Russian prisoners in Austria-Hungary and Germany, was provided for by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. This return was quite slow (500,000 Austro-Hungarians out of 2,000,000) and the Russian Civil War delayed the repatriation of some of the prisoners from Russia until 1922. The October Revolution and the Civil War also delayed the return of Russian prisoners from Germany.^[36]

See also

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Prisoners of war in World War I.

• Joint War Organisation
• Lists of World War II prisoner-of-war camps
• Medal for civilian prisoners, deportees and hostages of the 1914-1918 Great War
• War crimes in World War I

References

1. Oltmer 2006, p. 11.
2. Phillimore & Bellot 1919, pp. 4–64.
3. "Максим Оськин – Неизвестные трагедии Первой мировой Пленные Дезертиры Беженцы – стр 24 – Читаем онлайн". Profismart.ru. Archived from the original on 17 April 2013. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
4. Speed 1990.
5. Ferguson 1999, Chapter 13.
6. Morton 1992.
7. Blair 2005.
8. Cook 2006, pp. 637–665.
9. Ferguson 1999, pp. 368–369.
10. . Icrc.org. Archived from the original on 19 July 2010. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
11. . Time. 1 September 1924. Archived from the original on 13 November 2007. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
12. Sumpf 2014, p. 144.
13. Cochet & Porte 2008, p. 357.
14. Sumpf 2014, p. 138.
15. Médard 2010, p. 233.
16. Sumpf 2014, p. 137.
17. Schiavon 2011, p. 183.
18. Cochet & Porte 2008, p. 847.
19. Sumpf 2014, pp. 139–145.
20. "Internment Camps in Canada during the First and Second World Wars". Library and Archives Canada. 11 June 2014. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
21. Hinz (2006), p. 92.
22. Hinz (2006), p. 94.
23. Hinz (2006), pp. 93-128-320.
24. Bass 2002, p. 107.
25. "The Mesopotamia campaign". British National Archives. from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2007.
26. . Stolen Years: Australian Prisoners of War. Australian War Memorial. Archived from the original on 8 January 2009. Retrieved 10 December 2008.
27. Wilkinson 2017, p. 121.
28. Foulkes 2016.
29. Auriol 2002, p. 16.
30. Gorgolini, Luca. "Prisoners of War (Italy)". International Encyclopedia of the First World War. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
31. Caredda, Giorgio (1994). "Soldati e prigionieri italiani nella prima guerra mondiale". Studi Storici. 35 (1): 251–254. JSTOR 20565610. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
32. "Il trattamento dei prigionieri di guerra". itinerariagrandeguerra.it. Itinerari Della Grande Guerra. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
33. Gibelli, Antonio (2007). La grande guerra degli italiani. Milano: Bur. ISBN 978-88-1701-507-3.
34. Mark Thompson (2009-08-06). The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919. Faber & Faber. pp. 6–. ISBN 978-0-571-25008-0. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
35. "Convention (IV) respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land and its annex: Regulations concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land, Article 20". ICRC Database. The Hague. 18 October 1907.
36. Oltmer 2006, p. 269.

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