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{{Short description|Military term for a captive of the enemy}}
{{Redirect|POW|other uses|POW (disambiguation)|and|Prisoner of war (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=
{{Use British English|date=
[[File:Serbian troops, now prisoners-of-war in Belgrade of Austro-Hungarian forces, 1915 (21780846970).jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.7|Serbian prisoners of war in [[Austro-Hungarian forces|Austrian]] captivity during [[World War I]], 1915]]
{{War}}
A '''prisoner of war''' ('''POW''') is a person who is held [[Captivity|captive]] by a [[belligerent]] power during or immediately after an [[armed conflict]]. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.{{efn|Compare {{OEtymD|prisoner|accessdate=10 October 2021}} – "Captives taken in war have been called prisoners since mid-14c.; phrase prisoner of war dates from 1630s".}}
Belligerents hold prisoners of war in custody for a range of legitimate and illegitimate reasons, such as isolating them from the [[enemy combatant]]s still in the field (releasing and [[Repatriation|repatriating]] them in an orderly manner after hostilities), demonstrating military victory
==Ancient times==
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For a large part of human history, prisoners of war would most often be either slaughtered or [[Slavery|enslaved]].<ref>Wickham, Jason (2014) The Enslavement of War Captives by the Romans up to 146 BC, University of Liverpool PhD Dissertation. {{cite web |url= http://repository.liv.ac.uk/17893/1/WickhamJ_May2014_17893.pdf |title=The Enslavement of War Captives by the Romans to 146 BC|access-date =24 May 2015 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150524213405/http://repository.liv.ac.uk/17893/1/WickhamJ_May2014_17893.pdf |archive-date= 24 May 2015 |df= dmy-all }} Wickham 2014 notes that for Roman warfare the outcome of capture could lead to release, ransom, execution or enslavement.</ref> Early Roman [[gladiator]]s could be prisoners of war, categorised according to their ethnic roots as [[Samnites]], [[Thracians]], and [[Gauls]] (''Galli'').<ref>[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/%7Egrout/encyclopaedia_romana/gladiators/gladiators.html "The Roman Gladiator"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126174158/http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/gladiators/gladiators.html |date=26 January 2020 }}, The University of Chicago – "Originally, captured soldiers had been made to fight with their own weapons and in their particular style of combat. It was from these conscripted prisoners of war that the gladiators acquired their exotic appearance, a distinction being made between the weapons imagined to be used by defeated enemies and those of their Roman conquerors. The Samnites (a tribe from Campania which the Romans had fought in the fourth and third centuries BC) were the prototype for Rome's professional gladiators, and it was their equipment that first was used and later adopted for the arena. [...] Two other gladiatorial categories also took their name from defeated tribes, the Galli (Gauls) and Thraeces (Thracians)."</ref> Homer's ''[[Iliad]]'' describes Trojan and Greek soldiers offering rewards of wealth to opposing forces who have defeated them on the battlefield in exchange for mercy, but their offers are not always accepted; see [[Lycaon of Troy|Lycaon]] for example.
Typically, victors made little distinction between enemy combatants and enemy civilians, although they were more likely to spare women and children. Sometimes the purpose of a battle, if not of a war, was to capture women, a practice known as ''[[raptio]]''; the [[Rape of the Sabines]] involved, according to tradition, a large mass-abduction by the founders of Rome. Typically women had no [[women's rights|rights]], and were held legally as [[Personal property|chattel]]s.
In the fourth century AD, Bishop [[Acacius of Amida]], touched by the plight of Persian prisoners captured in a recent war with the Greek Empire, who were held in his town under appalling conditions and destined for a life of slavery, took the initiative in ransoming them by selling his church's precious gold and silver vessels and letting them return to their country. For this he was eventually [[
{{Cite web
|title = Church Fathers: Church History, Book VII (Socrates Scholasticus)
|url = http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/26017.htm
|website = www.newadvent.org |access-date = 19 October 2015
|archive-date=
}}
</ref>
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According to legend, during [[Childeric I|Childeric]]'s siege and blockade of [[Paris]] in 464 the nun [[Geneviève]] (later canonised as the city's patron saint) pleaded with the Frankish king for the welfare of prisoners of war and met with a favourable response. Later, [[Clovis I]] ({{reign | 481 | 511}}) liberated captives after Genevieve urged him to do so.<ref name="Attwater">Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. ''The Penguin Dictionary of Saints''. 3rd ed., New York: Penguin Books, 1993. {{ISBN|0-14-051312-4}}.</ref>
King [[Henry V of England|Henry V]]'s English army killed many French prisoners of war after the [[Battle of Agincourt]] in 1415.<ref>"But when the outcries of the lackies and boies, which ran awaie for feare of the Frenchmen thus spoiling the campe came to the kings eares, he doubting least his enimies should gather togither againe, and begin a new field; and mistrusting further that the prisoners would be an aid to his enimies, or the verie enimies to their takers in deed if they were suffered to live, contrarie to his accustomed gentleness, commended by sound of trumpet, that everie man (upon pain and death) should uncontinentlie slaie his prisoner. When this dolorous decree, and pitifull proclamation was pronounced, pitie it was to see how some Frenchmen were suddenlie sticked with daggers, some were brained with pollaxes, some slaine with malls, others had their throats cut, and some their bellies panched, so that in effect, having respect to the great number, few prisoners were saved." [[Raphael Holinshed]], ''Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland'', quoted by Andrew Gurr in his introduction to {{cite book | last1 = Shakespeare | first1 = William | last2 = Gurr | first2 = Andrew | title = King Henry V | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 2005 | page = 24 | isbn = 0-521-84792-3}}</ref> This was done in retaliation for the French killing of the boys and other non-combatants handling the baggage and equipment of the army, and because the French were attacking again and Henry was afraid that they would break through and free the prisoners
In the later [[Middle Ages]] a number of [[religious war]]s aimed to not only defeat but also to eliminate enemies. Authorities in [[Christian Europe]] often considered the extermination of [[Heresy|heretics]] and [[paganism|heathens]] desirable. Examples of such wars include the 13th-century [[Albigensian Crusade]] in [[Languedoc]] and the [[Northern Crusades]] in the [[Baltic region]].<ref>{{cite book |title = Europe: A History |page = [https://archive.org/details/europehistory00davi_0/page/362 362] |author-link = Norman Davies |first = Norman |last = Davies |isbn = 0-19-520912-5 |publisher = Oxford University Press |date = 1996 |url = https://archive.org/details/europehistory00davi_0/page/362}}</ref> When asked by a Crusader how to distinguish between the Catholics and [[Cathars]] following the projected capture (1209) of the city of [[Béziers]], the papal legate [[Arnaud Amalric]] allegedly replied, "[[Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius.|Kill them all, God will know His own]]".{{efn|According to the ''Dialogus Miraculorum'' by [[Caesarius of Heisterbach]], Arnaud Amalric was only ''reported'' to have said that.}}
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The [[Aztec]]s [[Aztec warfare|warred]] constantly with neighbouring tribes and groups, aiming to collect live prisoners for [[Human sacrifice in Aztec culture|sacrifice]].<ref>Meyer, Michael C. and William L. Sherman. ''The Course of Mexican History''. Oxford University Press, 5th ed. 1995.</ref> For the re-consecration of [[Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan]] in 1487, "between 10,000 and 80,400 persons" were sacrificed.<ref>Hassig, Ross (2003). "El sacrificio y las guerras floridas". [[Arqueología Mexicana]], pp. 46–51.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/aztecs/sacrifice.htm |title = The Enigma of Aztec Sacrifice |publisher = Latinamericanstudies.org |last = Harner |first = Michael |work = Natural History |date = April 1977 |volume = 86 |number = 4 |pages = 46–51 |archiveurl = https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20230519060523/https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/aztecs/sacrifice.htm |archive-date = 19 May 2023 |access-date = 6 April 2010 |url-status = live }}</ref>
During the [[early Muslim conquests]] of 622–750, Muslims routinely captured large numbers of prisoners. Aside from those who converted, most were ransomed or [[Muslim slavery|enslaved]].<ref>{{cite book|last = Crone |first = Patricia|date= 2004 |pages = 371–372|title = God's Rule: Government and Islam |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=w7VlOIivYnEC&pg=PA371 |publisher = Columbia University Press |isbn = 978-0231132909}}</ref><ref>Roger DuPasquier. ''Unveiling Islam''. Islamic Texts Society, 1992, p. 104</ref> Christians captured during the Crusades were usually either killed or sold into slavery if they could not pay a ransom.<ref>{{cite book |last= Nigosian |first= S. A. |title= Islam. Its History, Teaching, and Practices |url= https://archive.org/details/islamitshistoryt0000nigo |url-access= registration |publisher= Indiana University Press |year= 2004 |location= Bloomington |page= [https://archive.org/details/islamitshistoryt0000nigo/page/115 115]}}</ref> During his lifetime ({{circa | 570}} – 632), [[Muhammad]] made it the responsibility of the Islamic government to provide food and clothing, on a reasonable basis, to captives, regardless of their religion; however, if the prisoners were in the custody of a person, then the responsibility was on the individual.<ref>Maududi (1967), ''Introduction of Ad-Dahr'', "Period of revelation", p. 159.</ref>
==Modern times==
[[File:Het dobbelspel om het leven Rijksmuseum SK-A-2675.jpeg|thumb|Casting the dice for life or death, by [[Jan van Huchtenburg]]]]
In Europe, the treatment of prisoners of war became increasingly
In line with this development the treatment of prisoners of war became increasingly regulated in international treaties, particularly in the form of the so-called cartel system, which regulated how the exchange of prisoners would be carried out between warring states.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hohrath|first=Daniel|title='In Cartellen wird der Werth eines Gefangenen bestimmet', in In der Hand des Feindes: Kriegsgefangenschaft von der Antike bis zum zweiten Weltkrieg|year=1999}}</ref> Another such treaty was the 1648 [[Peace of Westphalia]], which ended the [[Thirty Years' War]]. This treaty established the rule that prisoners of war should be released without ransom at the end of hostilities and that they should be allowed to return to their homelands.<ref>"Prisoner of war", ''Encyclopædia Britannica''</ref>
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===French Revolutionary wars and Napoleonic wars===
The earliest known purpose-built [[prisoner-of-war camp]] was established at [[Norman Cross Prison|Norman Cross]] in Huntingdonshire, England in 1797 to house the increasing number of prisoners from the [[French Revolutionary Wars]] and the [[Napoleonic Wars]].<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1006782|desc=Site of the Norman Cross Depot for Prisoners of War
During the [[Battle of Leipzig]] both sides used the [[Alter Johannisfriedhof|city's cemetery]] as a [[Lazaretto|lazaret]] and prisoner camp for around 6,000 POWs who lived in the [[Burial vault (tomb)|burial vaults]] and used the coffins for firewood. Food was scarce and prisoners resorted to eating horses, cats, dogs or even human flesh. The bad conditions inside the graveyard contributed to a city-wide epidemic after the battle.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/fs1/object/goToPage/bsb10604517.html?pageNo=305 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190227060150/https://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/fs1/object/goToPage/bsb10604517.html?pageNo=305 |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 February 2019 |language=de |author-link=Johann Friedrich Rochlitz |author=Rochlitz |title=Collected Works vol 6 |date=1822 |page=305ff |via=Munich Digitization Center}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.leipzig-lese.de/index.php?article_id=393 |language=de |title=Die Aufzeichnungen des Totengräbers Ahlemann 1813 |website=leipzig-lese.de |access-date=21 April 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407051349/https://www.leipzig-lese.de/streifzuege/geschichte/die-aufzeichnungen-des-totengraebers-ahlemann-1813/|archive-date=
===Prisoner exchanges===
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[[File:Price Raid (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] prisoners of war on the way to [[Camp Ford]] prison in October 1864]]
[[File:Prisoner of war, from Belle Isle, Richmond, at the U.S. General Hospital, Div. 1, Annapolis.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Union Army]] soldier on his release from a [[Military forces of the Confederate States|Confederate]] POW camp, c. 1865]]
At the start of the American Civil War a system of paroles operated. Captives agreed not to fight until they were officially exchanged. Meanwhile, they were held in camps run by their own army where they were paid but not allowed to perform any military duties.<ref>{{cite book|author=Roger Pickenpaugh|title=Captives in Blue: The Civil War Prisons of the Confederacy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pWOfsOceCNUC&pg=PA57|year=2013|publisher=University of Alabama Press|pages=57–73|isbn=978-0817317836}}</ref> The system of exchanges collapsed in 1863 when the Confederacy refused to exchange black prisoners. In the late summer of 1864, a year after the [[Dix–Hill Cartel]] was suspended, Confederate officials approached Union General Benjamin Butler, Union Commissioner of Exchange, about resuming the cartel and including the black prisoners. Butler contacted Grant for guidance on the issue, and Grant responded to Butler on 18 August 1864 with his now famous statement. He rejected the offer, stating in essence, that the Union could afford to leave their men in captivity, the Confederacy could not.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/ande/historyculture/grant-and-the-prisoner-exchange.htm |title=Myth: General Ulysses S. Grant stopped the prisoner exchange, and is thus responsible for all of the suffering in Civil War prisons on both sides – Andersonville National Historic Site |publisher=U.S. National Park Service) |date=18 July 2014 |access-date=28 July 2014|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307202416/https://www.nps.gov/ande/learn/historyculture/grant-and-the-prisoner-exchange.htm|archive-date= 7 March
===Amelioration===
During the 19th century, there were increased efforts to improve the treatment and processing of prisoners. As a 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 [[treaty|conventions]] being adopted and becoming
===Hague and Geneva Conventions===
Chapter II of the Annex to the [[Hague Convention of 1907|1907 Hague Convention]] ''IV – The Laws and Customs of War on Land'' covered the treatment of prisoners of war in detail. These provisions were further expanded in the [[Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War (1929)|1929 Geneva Convention on the Prisoners of War]] and were largely revised in the [[Third Geneva Convention]] in 1949.
Article 4 of the Third Geneva Convention protects captured [[military personnel]], some [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla]] fighters, and certain [[civilians]]. It applies from the moment a prisoner is captured until his or her release or repatriation. Under the 1949 [[Geneva Conventions]], POWs acquires the status of [[protected persons]], meaning it is a war crime by the detaining power to deprive the rights afforded to them by the Third Convention's provisions.<ref name="JWEFS">{{cite web|url=https://guide-humanitarian-law.org/content/article/3/protected-persons/|title=The Practical Guide to Humanitarian Law: Protected Persons|publisher=[[Doctors Without Borders]]}}</ref> Article 17 of the Third Geneva Convention states that POWs can only be required to give their [[name]], [[date of birth]], [[Military rank|rank]] and [[service number]] (if applicable).
The [[ICRC]] has a special role to play, with regards to [[international humanitarian law]], in [[Restoring Family Links|restoring and maintaining family contact in times of war]], in particular concerning the right of prisoners of war and internees to send and receive letters and cards (Geneva Convention (GC) III, art. 71 and GC IV, art. 107).
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[[File:Illustration of the Decapitation of Violent Chinese Soldiers by Utagawa Kokunimasa 1894.png|thumb|Japanese illustration depicting the beheading of Chinese captives during the [[First Sino-Japanese War]] of 1894–95]]
To be entitled to prisoner-of-war status, captured persons must be [[lawful combatant]]s entitled to combatant's privilege—which gives them immunity from punishment for crimes constituting lawful acts of war such as killing [[enemy combatant]]s. To qualify under the [[Third Geneva Convention]], a combatant must be part of a [[chain of command]], wear a "fixed distinctive marking, visible from a distance", bear arms openly, and have conducted military operations according to the [[laws and customs of war]]. (The Convention
Thus, uniforms and badges are important in determining prisoner-of-war status under the Third Geneva Convention. Under [[Additional Protocol I]], the requirement of a distinctive marking is no longer included. ''[[Francs-tireurs]]'', [[militia]]s, [[insurgent]]s, [[terrorists]], [[Sabotage|saboteurs]], [[Mercenary|mercenaries]], and [[Espionage|spies]] generally do not qualify because they do not fulfill the criteria of Additional Protocol I. Therefore, they fall under the category of [[unlawful combatant]]s, or more properly they are not combatants. Captured soldiers who do not get prisoner of war status are still protected like civilians under the [[Fourth Geneva Convention]].
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===Rights===
Under the [[Third Geneva Convention]], prisoners of war (POW) must be:
* Treated humanely with respect for their persons and their
* Able to inform their next of kin and the [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] of their capture
* Allowed to communicate regularly with relatives and receive packages
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* Paid for work done and not forced to do work that is dangerous, unhealthy, or degrading
* Released quickly after conflicts end
* Not compelled to give any information except for name, age, rank, and service number<ref>{{cite web|title=Geneva Convention|url=http://www.ppu.org.uk/learn/texts/doc_geneva_con.html|publisher=Peace Pledge Union|access-date=6 April 2014|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070821130538/http://www.ppu.org.uk/learn/texts/doc_geneva_con.html|archive-date=
In addition, if wounded or sick on the battlefield, the prisoner will receive help from the International Committee of the Red Cross.<ref>{{cite web|title=Story of an idea- the Film| date=5 May 2008 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIwB-Y6FUjY| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211029/oIwB-Y6FUjY| archive-date=29 October 2021|publisher=International Committee of the Red Cross|access-date=6 April 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
When a country is responsible for breaches of prisoner of war rights, those accountable will be punished accordingly. An example of this is the [[Nuremberg Trials|Nuremberg]] and [[Tokyo Trials]]. German and Japanese military commanders were prosecuted for preparing and initiating a [[war of aggression]], [[murder]], ill treatment, and [[deportation]] of individuals, and [[genocide]] during World War II.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Penrose|first=Mary Margaret|title=War Crime|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/635621/war-crime/224687/The-Nurnberg-and-Tokyo-trials|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=6 April 2014}}</ref> Most were executed or sentenced to life in prison for their crimes.
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===U.S. Code of Conduct and terminology===
[[The United States Military Code of Conduct]] was promulgated in 1955 via [[s:Executive Order 10631|Executive Order 10631]] under [[U.S. President|President]] [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] to serve as a moral code for United States service members who have been taken prisoner. It was created primarily in response to the breakdown of leadership and
When a military member is taken prisoner, the Code of Conduct reminds them that the chain of command is still in effect (the highest ranking service member eligible for command, regardless of service branch, is in command), and requires them to support their leadership. The Code of Conduct also requires service members to resist giving information to the enemy (beyond identifying themselves, that is, "name, rank, serial number"), receiving special favours or parole, or otherwise providing their enemy captors aid and comfort.
Since the [[Vietnam War]], the official U.S. military term for enemy POWs is EPW (Enemy Prisoner of War). This name change was introduced in order to distinguish between enemy and U.S. captives.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE7DE1239F93AA25751C0A967958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all | work=The New York Times | title=War in the Gulf: P.O.W.'s; U.S. Says Prisoners Seem War-Weary | first=Eric | last=Schmitt | date=19 February 1991|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407051341/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/19/world/war-in-the-gulf-pow-s-us-says-prisoners-seem-war-weary.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all|archive-date=
In 2000, the U.S. military replaced the designation "Prisoner of War" for captured American personnel with "Missing-Captured". A January 2008 directive states that the reasoning behind this is since "Prisoner of War" is the international legal
==World War I==
{{Main|Prisoners of war in World War I}}
[[File:German POWs captured in Flanders by Brits2.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|German soldiers captured by the British in [[Flanders]]]]
[[File:US pow.jpg|thumb|American soldiers of the 11th Engineer Regiment taken as prisoners of war by Germany in 1917]]
[[File:Americans in German prison camp. A group of American prisoners in a German prison camp listening at . . . - NARA - 533544.tif|thumb|US POWs at German prison camp Rastatt, Germany 1918<ref>Years later Several ex POWS identified themselves (Ref: AMerican Legion Monthly Magazine September 1927)</ref>]]
[[File:Type of German prisoners captured in the new push (4688031177).jpg|thumb|German soldier of Infantry Regiment 120, POW 1 January 1918]]
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The [[German Empire]] held 2.5 million prisoners; [[Russian Empire|Russia]] held 2.9 million, and [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]] and [[French Third Republic|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 for POWs was the act of surrender, when helpless soldiers were sometimes killed or mistakenly shot down. Once prisoners reached a POW camp conditions were better (and often much better than in World War II), thanks in part to the efforts of the [[International Red Cross]] and inspections by neutral nations.
There was much harsh treatment of POWs in Germany, as recorded by the American ambassador (prior to America's entry into the war), James W. Gerard, who published his findings in "My Four Years in Germany". Even worse conditions are reported in the book "Escape of a Princess Pat" by the Canadian George Pearson. It was particularly bad in Russia, where starvation was common for prisoners and civilians alike; a quarter of the over 2 million POWs held there died.<ref>"''[https://books.google.com/books?id=PP7uMQdgv5AC&pg=PA240 Disobedience and Conspiracy in the German Army, 1918–1945] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225172617/https://books.google.com/books?id=PP7uMQdgv5AC&pg=PA240&dq&hl=en |date=25 December 2022 }}''". Robert B. Kane, Peter Loewenberg (2008). [[McFarland & Company|McFarland]]. p. 240. {{ISBN|0-7864-3744-8}}</ref> Nearly 375,000 of the 500,000 [[Austro-Hungarian]] prisoners of war taken by Russians perished in [[Siberia]] from [[smallpox]] and [[typhus]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1920/01/28/archives/375000-austrians-have-died-in-siberia-remaining-125000-war.html |title=375,000 Austrians Have Died in Siberia; Remaining 125,000 War Prisoner...—Article Preview—The |newspaper=New York Times |date=8 April 2012 |access-date=14 April 2012|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326032437/https://www.nytimes.com/1920/01/28/archives/375000-austrians-have-died-in-siberia-remaining-125000-war.html|archive-date=
The [[Ottoman Empire]] often treated prisoners of war poorly{{Citation needed|reason=The deaths of British soldiers before they were captured and their deaths due to their conditions during the siege are not related to the Ottoman attitude towards the prisoners. British officers did not accept surrender.|date=October 2023}}. Some 11,800 British soldiers, most from the [[British Indian Army]], became prisoners after the five-month [[Siege of Kut]], in [[Mesopotamia]], in April 1916. Many were weak and starved when they surrendered and 4,250 died in captivity.<ref>British National Archives, "The Mesopotamia campaign", at [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/firstworldwar/battles/mesopotamia.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010072018/http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/firstworldwar/battles/mesopotamia.htm|date=10 October 2017}};</ref>
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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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.royal.gov.uk/ImagesandBroadcasts/TheQueenandtechnology.aspx |title=The Queen and technology |publisher=Royal.gov.uk |access-date=14 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509195352/http://www.royal.gov.uk/ImagesandBroadcasts/TheQueenandtechnology.aspx |archive-date=9 May 2012 }}</ref>}}
While the Allied prisoners were sent home at the end of the war, the same treatment was not granted to [[Central Powers]] prisoners of the Allies and Russia, many of whom had to serve as [[forced labour]], e.g. in France, until 1920. They were released after many approaches by the [[ICRC]] to the [[Allied Supreme Council]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/57JQGQ|title=Search results – Resource centre|work=International Committee of the Red Cross|date=3 October 2013|access-date=9 April 2010|archive-date=19 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100719030032/http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/57JQGQ|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==World War II==
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{| class="wikitable sortable"
!colspan=2|Category!!rowspan=2|Percentage of<br />POWs that died
|-
!Captives!!Captors
|-
| Chinese||Japanese||Almost 100%<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/pow/pow-jap.html|title = World War II – prisoners of war POWs Japan|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405203135/https://histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/pow/pow-jap.html|archive-date= 5 April 2023}}</ref>
|-
| USSR||Germans||57.5%
|-
| Germans||Yugoslavs||41.2%
|-
|Germans||USSR||35.8%
|-
|Americans||Japanese||33.0%
|-
|Germans||Eastern Europeans||32.9%
|-
| British||Japanese||24.8%
|-
| French||Germans||4.1%
|-
| British||Germans||3.5%
|-
| Germans||French||2.6%
|-
| Americans||Germans||1.2%
|-
| Germans||Americans||0.2%
|-
| Germans||British||<0.1%
|}
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The [[Empire of Japan]], which had signed but never ratified the [[Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War (1929)|1929 Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/WebSign?ReadForm&id=305&ps=S |title=International Humanitarian Law – State Parties / Signatories |publisher=Icrc.org |date=27 July 1929 |access-date=14 April 2012}}</ref> did not treat prisoners of war in accordance with international agreements, including provisions of the [[Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)|Hague Conventions]], either during the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] or during the [[Pacific War]], because the Japanese viewed surrender as dishonorable. Moreover, according to a directive ratified on 5 August 1937 by [[Emperor Hirohito]], the constraints of the Hague Conventions were explicitly removed on Chinese prisoners of war.<ref>Akira Fujiwara, ''Nitchû Sensô ni Okeru Horyo Gyakusatsu'', Kikan Sensô Sekinin Kenkyû 9, 1995, p. 22</ref>
Prisoners of war from China, the United States, Australia, Britain, Canada, India, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the Philippines held by Japanese imperial armed forces were subject to murder, beatings, extrajudicial punishment, brutal treatment, [[Slavery in Japan|slavery]], [[Unit 731|medical experiments]], starvation rations, poor medical treatment and [[Chichijima incident|cannibalism]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/japanese-troops-ate-flesh-of-enemies-and-civilians-1539816.html|author=McCarthy, Terry|title=Japanese troops ate flesh of enemies and civilians|newspaper=The Independent|date=12 August 1992|location=London|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230512013235/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/japanese-troops-ate-flesh-of-enemies-and-civilians-1539816.html|archive-date= 12 May
According to the findings of the [[International Military Tribunal for the Far East|Tokyo Tribunal]], the death rate of Western prisoners was 27.1
No direct access to the POWs was provided to the [[International Red Cross]]. Escapes among Caucasian prisoners were almost impossible because of the difficulty of hiding in Asiatic societies.<ref>''Prisoners of the Japanese : POWs of World War II in the Pacific'', by Gavan Daws, {{ISBN|0-688-14370-9}}</ref>
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Germany and Italy generally treated prisoners from the [[British Empire]] and [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]], France, the U.S., and other western Allies in accordance with the [[Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War (1929)|Geneva Convention]], which had been signed by these countries.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cicr.org/ihl.nsf/WebSign?ReadForm&id=305&ps=P |title=International Humanitarian Law – State Parties / Signatories |publisher=Cicr.org |access-date=14 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205211218/http://www.cicr.org/ihl.nsf/WebSign?ReadForm&id=305&ps=P |archive-date=5 February 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Consequently, western Allied officers were not usually made to work and some personnel of lower rank were usually compensated, or not required to work either. The main complaints of western Allied prisoners of war in [[Wehrmacht|German]] POW camps—especially during the last two years of the war—concerned shortages of food.
[[File:American POWs AF Museum.jpg|left|thumb|Representation of a "Forty-and-eight" boxcar used to transport American POWs in Germany during World War II]]
Only a small proportion of western Allied POWs who were [[Jew]]s—or whom the Nazis believed to be Jewish—were killed as part of [[the Holocaust]] or were subjected to other [[antisemitism|antisemitic]] policies.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/jewish-american-pows-europe#:~:text=An%20estimated%209%2C000%20American%20Jews,of%20both%20pride%20and%20peril.&text=Around%20500%2C000%20American%20Jews%20served,risk%20should%20they%20be%20captured.|title=Pride and Peril: Jewish American POWs in Europe|website=The National WWII Museum |date=26 May 2021 |access-date=21 April 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405180657/https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/jewish-american-pows-europe|archive-date= 5 April
A small number of Allied personnel were sent to concentration camps, for a variety of reasons including being Jewish.<ref>See, for example, [https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=295291169228827 Joseph Robert White, 2006, "Flint Whitlock. Given Up for Dead: American GIs in the Nazi Concentration Camp at Berga"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070611020900/http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=295291169228827 |date=11 June 2007 }} (book review)</ref> As the US historian Joseph Robert White put it: "An important exception ... is the sub-camp for U.S. POWs at [[Berga, Thuringia|Berga an der Elster]], officially called ''[[Arbeitslager|Arbeitskommando]] 625'' [also known as ''[[Stalag IX-B]]'']. Berga was the deadliest work detachment for American captives in Germany. 73 men who participated, or 21 percent of the detachment, perished in two months. 80 of the 350 POWs were Jews."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Inskeep |first=Steve |date=30 May 2005
[[File:Pow telegram.jpg|thumb|Telegram notifying parents of an American POW of his capture by Germany]]
Information on conditions in the stalags is contradictory depending on the source. Some American POWs claimed the Germans were victims of circumstance and did the best they could, while others accused their captors of brutalities and forced labour. In any case, the prison camps were miserable places where food rations were meager and conditions squalid. One American admitted "The only difference between the stalags and concentration camps was that we weren't gassed or shot in the former. I do not recall a single act of compassion or mercy on the part of the Germans." Typical meals consisted of a bread slice and watery potato soup which was still more substantial than what Soviet POWs or concentration camp inmates received. Another prisoner stated that "The German plan was to keep us alive, yet weakened enough that we wouldn't attempt escape."<ref>Ambrose, pp 360{{full citation needed|date=September 2021}}</ref>
As the Red Army approached some POW camps in early 1945, German guards forced western Allied POWs [[The March (1945)|to walk]] long distances towards central Germany, often in extreme winter weather conditions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.b24.net/powMarch.htm|title=Death March from Stalag Luft 4 during WWII|website=www.b24.net|access-date=26 October 2019|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170705073356/https://www.b24.net/powMarch.htm|archive-date= 5 July
=====Italian POWs=====
{{main|Operation Achse|Italian military internees|Massacre of the Acqui Division}}
In September 1943 after the Armistice, Italian officers and soldiers in many places waiting for orders were arrested by Germans and Italian fascists and taken to internment camps in Germany or Eastern Europe, where they were held for the duration of the war. The International Red Cross could do nothing for them, as they were not regarded as POWs, but the prisoners held the status of "[[Italian military internees|military internees]]". Treatment of the prisoners was generally poor. The author [[Giovannino Guareschi]] was among those interned and wrote about this time in his life. The book was translated and published as ''My Secret Diary''. He wrote about semi-starvation, the casual murder of individual prisoners by guards and how, when they were released (now from a German camp), they found a deserted German town filled with foodstuffs that they (with other released prisoners) ate.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}}. It is estimated that of the 700,000 Italians taken prisoner by the Germans, around 40,000 died in detention and more than 13,000 lost their lives during the transportation from the Greek islands to the mainland.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.anrp.it/le-porte-della-memoria/|title = Le porte della Memoria|access-date = 12 November 2006|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406111751/http://www.anrp.it/le-porte-della-memoria/|archive-date=
=====Eastern European POWs=====
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[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 192-208, KZ Mauthausen, Sowjetische Kriegsgefangene.jpg|thumb|Naked Soviet prisoners of war in [[Mauthausen concentration camp]]]]
The Germans officially justified their policy on the grounds that the Soviet Union had not signed the Geneva Convention. Legally, however, under article 82 of the [[Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War (1929)|Geneva Convention]], signatory countries had to give POWs of all signatory and non-signatory countries the rights assigned by the convention.<ref name="art%2E%2082">{{cite web |url= http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/WebART/305-430083?OpenDocument|title= Part VIII: Execution of the convention #Section I: General provisions |access-date= 29 November 2007}}</ref> Shortly after the German invasion in 1941, the USSR made Berlin an offer of a reciprocal adherence to the [[Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)|Hague Conventions]]. Third Reich officials left the Soviet "note" unanswered.<ref>Beevor, ''Stalingrad''. Penguin 2001 {{ISBN|0-14-100131-3}} p. 60</ref><ref>James D. Morrow, ''Order within Anarchy: The Laws of War as an International Institution'', 2014, p. 218</ref>
====Romania====
=====Soviet POWs=====
Between 1941 and 1944, 91,060 Soviet prisoners of war were captured by the [[Romanian Army]]. Until August 1944, 5,221 Soviet prisoners died in Romanian camps mainly to disease during winter. The POWs were treated according to the 1929 Geneva Convention, which was ratified by Romania on 15 September 1931. Initially, the prisoners were held in five POW camps in [[Vulcan, Brașov|Vulcan]], [[Găești]], [[Drăgășani]], [[Alexandria, Romania|Alexandria]] and [[Slobozia]]. By 1942, the number reached 12 camps of which 10 were in Romania, and two in [[Transnistria Governorate|Transnistria]] at [[Tiraspol]] and [[Odesa]]. As the frontline moved further away, the captured prisoners were given to German POW camps, and then they were transferred to Romanian ones after requests from the Romanian authorities.<ref name="Dutu1">{{cite web|url=https://alesandrudutu.wordpress.com/2015/11/25/prizonieri-de-razboi-sovietici-in-romania-1941-1944/|title=Prizonieri de război sovietici în România (1941–1944)|language=ro|first=Alesandru|last=Duțu|date=25 November 2015}}</ref>
[[File:Bess7.JPG|thumb|left|Soviet POWs escorted by a Romanian cavalryman in 1941]]
In the winter of 1941/1942, the conditions of the POW camps were unsatisfactory, leading to the deaths of prisoners due to various diseases. The conditions were improved in 1942 when, by order of Marshal [[Ion Antonescu]], the organisations leading the camps were to permanently control how the prisoners were accommodated, cared for, fed, and used. Due to some problems that arose with the food allowance in 1942, it was decided that the prisoners were to be fed like the Romanian troops, with an allocated 30 [[Romanian leu|lei]] per soldier per day.<ref name="Dutu1"/>
In accordance with Article 27 of the Geneva Convention, the POWs were used in various productive activities. In return for providing work, the prisoners were granted payment and accommodation, as well as free time for cleaning, rest, and religious or other activities by their employers, according to the contracts signed with the commanders of the prison camps. The main workplaces for prisoners were in agriculture and industrial enterprises, but also in forestry, civil works, and in service of the POW camps.<ref name="Dutu1"/>
For correspondence with their families, the prisoners were provided with postcards. However, most of these were not used as the POWs feared reprisals from the Soviet authorities upon learning that they were prisoners in Romania. The punishment of POWs in the Romanian camps was applied following the regulations of the Romanian Army. Executions by firing squad were few. The escapees who were caught and did not commit any acts of sabotage or espionage were tried by [[court-martial]] and sentenced to prison terms from 3-6 months to several years. After 23 August 1944, the Soviet POWs were handed over to the Soviet headquarters.<ref name="Dutu1"/>
=====Western Allies' POWs=====
[[File:Bucharest Day 2 - Institutul Teologic (9337908278).jpg|thumb|The {{ill|Bucharest Faculty of Orthodox Theology|ro|Facultatea de Teologie Ortodoxă a Universității din București}}, the former Normal School used as Camp No. 13 during the war]]
The first Americans were captured in Romania following [[Operation Tidal Wave]]. The airmen were interned at first in the court of the Central Seminary in [[Bucharest]], with the wounded airmen taken to the no. 415 Hospital in [[Sinaia]]. After Marshal Antonescu's visits, a new camp was to be set up, and the prisoners were to be treated according to the Geneva Convention. In September, all 110 POWs were transferred to the villas belonging to the Brașov and Giurgiu City Halls at [[Timișul de Jos]], in the newly established Camp No. 14 (''Lagărul de prizonieri nr. 14'').<ref name="Dutu2">{{cite web|url=https://alesandrudutu.wordpress.com/2015/08/02/1943-1944-prizonieri-de-razboi-americani-si-englezi-in-romania/|title=1943 – 1944. Prizonieri de război americani și englezi în România|language=ro|first=Alesandru|last=Duțu|date=2 August 2015}}</ref> The excellent living conditions at the camp earned it the nickname "gilded cage", with the prisoners describing it as "probably the best prison camp in the world".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://historia.ro/sectiune/general/prizonierii-americani-in-colivia-de-aur-de-la-2317030.html|title=Prizonierii americani în "colivia de aur" de la Timișu de Jos|language=ro|first=Alexandru|last=Armă|access-date=29 March 2024}}</ref> The treatment of the Allied POWs was overlooked by Princess [[Catherine Caradja]], who was nicknamed "The Angel of Ploiești" by the airmen.<ref name="reunion">{{cite web|url=https://www.iar80flyagain.org/operatiunea-reunion-i/|title=Operatiunea Reunion (I)|language=ro|website=iar80flyagain.org|date=28 October 2022}}</ref>
In the spring of 1944, with the increasing number of American and British prisoners due to the [[Western Allied Campaign in Romania|restarted air campaign]], a new camp was set up in Bucharest.<ref name="Dutu2"/> Camp No. 13 from Bucharest was initially located within the barracks of the [[Michael the Brave 30th Guards Brigade|6th Guard Regiment "Mihai Viteazul"]], in a frequently bombed area.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://aircrewremembered.com/tichborne-lawrence-franklin.html|title=No. 40 Squadron Wellington X ME990 -R F/O. Lawrence Franklin Tichborne|website=aircrewremembered.com|date=October 2018}}</ref> It was later moved to the [[Normal School]] on St. Ecaterina Street. In June 1944, the non-commissioned officers were transferred to a wing of the {{ill|"Regina Elisabeta" Military Hospital|ro|Spitalul Universitar de Urgență Militar Central „Dr. Carol Davila”}}. After 23 August, at the request of the prisoners to be organised into a military unit, General [[Mihail Racoviță]] approved the transfer of 896 POWs to the barracks of the 4th [[Vânători (military unit)|Vânători]] Regiment. All Western Allied POWs were evacuated to Italy during [[Operation Reunion]] from 31 August to 3 September.<ref name="Dutu2"/><ref name="reunion"/>
===Treatment of POWs by the Soviet Union===
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[[File:RIAN archive 129359 German prisoners-of-war in Moscow.jpg|thumb|German prisoners of war being paraded through Moscow]]
According to some sources, the Soviets captured 3.5 million [[Axis powers of World War II|Axis]] servicemen (excluding Japanese), of whom more than a million died.<ref>{{cite web |last=Rees |first=Simon |url=http://www.historynet.com/historical_conflicts/8556717.html?featured=y&c=y |title=German POWs and the Art of Survival |publisher=Historynet.com |access-date=14 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071219031006/http://www.historynet.com/historical_conflicts/8556717.html?featured=y&c=y |archive-date=19 December 2007
German soldiers were kept as forced labour for many years after the war. The last German POWs like [[Erich Hartmann]], the highest-scoring [[flying ace|fighter ace]] in the history of [[aerial warfare]], who had been declared guilty of [[war crime]]s but without [[due process]], were not released by the Soviets until 1955, two years after Stalin died.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldwar2database.com/html/germanpow.htm |title=German POWs in Allied Hands – World War II |publisher=Worldwar2database.com |date=27 July 2011 |access-date=14 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120412040201/http://worldwar2database.com/html/germanpow.htm |archive-date=12 April 2012 }}</ref>
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====Polish====
[[File:Katyń, ekshumacja ofiar.jpg|thumb|Katyn 1943 exhumation; photo by [[International Red Cross]] delegation]]
As a result of the [[Soviet invasion of Poland]] in 1939, hundreds of thousands of Polish soldiers became [[Polish prisoners of war in the Soviet Union (after 1939)|prisoners of war in the Soviet Union]]. Thousands were executed; over 20,000 Polish military personnel and civilians perished in the [[Katyn massacre]].<ref name="Fischer">[[Benjamin Fischer (historian)|Benjamin Fischer (historian)]], "[https://web.archive.org/web/20000816221054/http://www.cia.gov/csi/studies/winter99-00/art6.html The Katyn Controversy: Stalin's Killing Field]", ''[[Studies in Intelligence]]'', Winter 1999–2000. </ref> Out of [[Władysław Anders|Anders]]' 80,000 evacuees from the Soviet Union in the United Kingdom, only 310 volunteered to return to Poland in 1947.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wajszczuk.v.pl/english/drzewo/czytelnia/michael_hope.htm |author=Michael Hope|title=Polish deportees in the Soviet Union |publisher=Wajszczuk.v.pl |access-date=14 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216171614/http://www.wajszczuk.v.pl/english/drzewo/czytelnia/michael_hope.htm |archive-date=16 February 2012
Of the 230,000 Polish prisoners of war taken by the Soviet army, only 82,000 survived.<ref>"''[https://books.google.com/books?id=H1jsgYCoRioC&pg=PA209 Livre noir du Communisme: crimes, terreur, répression] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225172617/https://books.google.com/books?id=H1jsgYCoRioC&pg=PA209&dq&hl=en |date=25 December 2022 }}''". Stéphane Courtois, Mark Kramer (1999). [[Harvard University Press]]. p. 209. {{ISBN|0-674-07608-7}}</ref>
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During the war, the armies of Western Allied nations such as Australia, Canada, the UK and the US<ref>Tremblay, Robert, Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, et al. "Histoires oubliées – Interprogrammes : Des prisonniers spéciaux" Interlude. Aired: 20 July 2008, 14h47 to 15h00. '''Note''': See also [[Saint Helen's Island]].</ref> were given orders to treat [[Axis powers of World War II|Axis]] prisoners strictly in accordance with the [[Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War (1929)|Geneva Convention]].<ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Dear |editor-first1=I.C.B |editor-last2=Foot |editor-first2=M.R.D.|title=The Oxford Companion to World War II |publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2005|pages=983–984|chapter=War Crimes|isbn=978-0-19-280670-3}}</ref> Some breaches of the Convention took place, however. According to [[Stephen E. Ambrose]], of the roughly 1,000 US combat veterans he had interviewed, only one admitted to shooting a prisoner, saying he "felt remorse, but would do it again". However, one-third of interviewees told him they had seen fellow US troops kill German prisoners.<ref>[[James J. Weingartner]], [http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/94.4/weingartner.html ''"Americans, Germans, and War Crimes: Converging Narratives from "the Good War"''] the [[Journal of American History]], Vol. 94, No. 4. March 2008 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101114112740/http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/94.4/weingartner.html |date=14 November 2010 }}</ref>
In Britain, German prisoners, particularly higher-ranked officers, were housed in luxurious buildings where [[Covert listening device|listening devices]] were installed. A considerable amount of military intelligence was gained from [[eavesdropping]] on what the officers believed were private casual conversations. Much of the listening was carried out by German refugees, in many cases Jews. The work of these refugees in contributing to the Allied victory was declassified over half a century later.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/how-britains-german-born-jewish-secret-listeners-helped-win-world-war-ii/|title=How Britain's German-born Jewish 'secret listeners' helped win World War II|first=Robert|last=Philpot|website=www.timesofisrael.com|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407045310/https://www.timesofisrael.com/how-britains-german-born-jewish-secret-listeners-helped-win-world-war-ii/|archive-date=
In February 1944, 59.7% of POWs in America were employed. This relatively low percentage was due to problems setting wages that would not compete against those of non-prisoners, to union opposition, as well as concerns about security, sabotage, and escape. Given national manpower shortages, citizens and employers resented the idle prisoners, and efforts were made to
Towards the end of the war in Europe, as large numbers of Axis soldiers surrendered, the US created the designation of [[Disarmed Enemy Forces]] (DEF) so as not to treat prisoners as POWs. A lot of these soldiers were kept in open fields in makeshift camps in the Rhine valley (''[[Rheinwiesenlager]]''). Controversy has arisen about how Eisenhower managed these prisoners.<ref>{{cite magazine| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,958673,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310191329/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,958673,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=10 March 2007 | magazine=Time | title=Ike's Revenge? | date=2 October 1989 | access-date=22 May 2010}}</ref> (see ''[[Other Losses]]'').
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After the surrender of Germany in May 1945, the POW status of the German prisoners was in many cases maintained, and they were for several years used as public labourers in countries such as the UK and France. Many died when forced to clear minefields in countries such as Norway and France. "By September 1945 it was estimated by the French authorities that two thousand prisoners were being maimed and killed each month in accidents".<ref>S. P. MacKenzie "The Treatment of Prisoners of War in World War II" The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 66, No. 3. (September 1994), pp. 487–520.</ref><ref>Footnote to: K. W. Bohme, Zur Geschichte der deutschen Kriegsgefangenen des Zweiten Weltkrieges, 15 vols. (Munich, 1962–74), 1, pt. 1:x. (n. 1 above), 13:173; ICRC (n. 12 above), p. 334.</ref>
In 1946, the UK held over 400,000 German POWs, many having been transferred from POW camps in the US and Canada. They were employed as labourers to compensate for the lack of manpower in Britain, as a form of [[war reparations|war reparation]].<ref name="Renate Held 2008">Renate Held, "Die deutschen Kriegsgefangenen in britischer Hand – ein Überblick [The German Prisoners of War in British Hands – An Overview] (in German)" (2008)</ref><ref>Eugene Davidsson, "The Trial of the Germans: An Account of the Twenty-Two Defendants Before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg", (1997) pp. 518–519 "the Allies stated in 1943 their intention of using forced workers outside Germany after the war, and not only did they express the intention but they carried it out. Not only Russia made use of such labour. France was given hundreds of thousands of German prisoners of war captured by the Americans, and their physical condition became so bad that the American Army authorities themselves protested. In England and the United States, too, some German prisoners of war were being put to work long after the surrender, and in Russia thousands of them worked until the mid-50s."</ref> A public debate ensued in the
The "[[London Cage]]", an [[MI19]] prisoner of war facility in [[London]] used during and immediately after the war to interrogate prisoners before sending them to prison camps, was subject to allegations of torture.<ref name='Secrets'>{{cite news | first=Ian | last=Cobain | title=The secrets of the London Cage | date=12 November 2005 | url =https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/nov/12/secondworldwar.world | work =The Guardian | access-date = 17 January 2009|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404012234/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/nov/12/secondworldwar.world|archive-date=
After the German surrender, the International Red Cross was prohibited from providing aid, such as food or prisoner visits, to POW camps in Germany. However, after making appeals to the Allies in the autumn of 1945, the Red Cross was allowed to investigate the camps in the British and French occupation zones of Germany, as well as providing relief to the prisoners held there.<ref name="autogenerated2005">Staff. [http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/57jnwx?opendocument ICRC in WW II: German prisoners of war in Allied hands] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090426202233/http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/57jnwx?opendocument |date=26 April 2009 }}, 2 February 2005<!--Retrieved 12 August 2008--></ref> On 4 February 1946, the Red Cross was also permitted to visit and assist prisoners in the US occupation zone of Germany, although only with very small quantities of food. "During their visits, the delegates observed that German prisoners of war were often detained in appalling conditions. They drew the attention of the authorities to this fact, and gradually succeeded in getting some improvements made".<ref name="autogenerated2005"/>
POWs were also transferred among the Allies, with for example 6,000 German officers transferred from Western Allied camps to the Soviets and subsequently imprisoned in the [[Sachsenhausen concentration camp]], at the time one of the [[NKVD special camps in Germany 1945–50|NKVD special camps]].<ref>"Ex-Death Camp Tells Story of Nazi and Soviet Horrors" ''New York Times'', 17 December 2001</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Butler|first=Desmond|date=17 December 2001|title=Ex-Death Camp Tells Story of Nazi and Soviet Horrors|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/17/world/ex-death-camp-tells-story-of-nazi-and-soviet-horrors.html|access-date=30 December 2013|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230328012225/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/17/world/ex-death-camp-tells-story-of-nazi-and-soviet-horrors.html|archive-date=
The United States handed over 740,000 German prisoners to France, which was a Geneva Convention signatory but which used them as forced labourers. Newspapers reported that the POWs were being mistreated; Judge [[Robert H. Jackson]], chief US prosecutor in the [[Nuremberg trials]], told US President [[Harry S Truman]] in October 1945 that the Allies themselves,
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[[File:OkinawaJapanesePOW.jpg|thumb|A group of Japanese soldiers captured during the [[Battle of Okinawa]]]]
Although thousands of Japanese servicemembers were taken prisoner of war, most fought until they were killed or committed suicide. Of the 22,000 Japanese soldiers present at the beginning of the [[Battle of Iwo Jima]], over 20,000 were killed and only 216 were taken prisoner of war.<ref>{{cite book | last = Morison | first = Samuel Eliot | author-link = Samuel Eliot Morison | orig-year = 1960 | year = 2002 | title = Victory in the Pacific, 1945 |series=Volume 14 of ''[[History of United States Naval Operations in World War II]]'' | publisher = University of Illinois Press | location = Urbana | isbn = 0-252-07065-8 | oclc = 49784806}}</ref> Of the 30,000 Japanese troops that defended [[Saipan]], fewer than 1,000 remained alive at battle's end.<ref>[http://www.historynet.com/battle-of-saipan.htm Battle of Saipan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103221858/http://www.historynet.com/battle-of-saipan.htm |date=3 November 2012 }}, historynet.com</ref> Japanese prisoners of war sent to camps fared well; however, some were killed when attempting to surrender or were massacred<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/1495651/American-troops-murdered-Japanese-PoWs.html American troops 'murdered Japanese PoWs'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181019164056/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/1495651/American-troops-murdered-Japanese-PoWs.html|date=19 October 2018}}, "American and Australian soldiers massacred Japanese prisoners of war" according to The Faraway War by Prof Richard Aldrich of Nottingham University. From the diaries of Charles Lindberg: as told by a US officer, "Oh, we could take more if we wanted to", one of the officers replied. "But our boys don't like to take prisoners." "It doesn't encourage the rest to surrender when they hear of their buddies being marched out on the flying field and machine-guns turned loose on them." On Australian soldiers attitudes [[Eddie Stanton]] is quoted: "Japanese are still being shot all over the place", "The necessity for capturing them has ceased to worry anyone. Nippo soldiers are just so much machine-gun practice. Too many of our soldiers are tied up guarding them."</ref> just after doing so (see [[Allied war crimes during World War II#The Pacific|Allied war crimes during World War II in the Pacific]]). In some instances, Japanese prisoners of war were tortured through a variety of methods.<ref name=cnn19969623>{{cite news | url=http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9609/23/rare.photos/index.html| title=Photos document brutality in Shanghai| publisher=CNN| date=23 September 1996| access-date=8 June 2010|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406225846/http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9609/23/rare.photos/index.html|archive-date= 6 April
After the war, many Japanese POWs were kept on as [[Japanese Surrendered Personnel]] until mid-1947 by the Allies. The JSP were used until 1947 for labour purposes, such as road maintenance, recovering corpses for reburial, cleaning, and preparing farmland. Early tasks also included repairing airfields damaged by Allied bombing during the war and maintaining law and order until the arrival of Allied forces in the region.
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==Post-World War II==
[[File:Americanexecuted1950korea.jpg|thumb|A U.S. Army POW of the [[21st Infantry Regiment (United States)|21st Infantry Regiment]] bound and killed by North Koreans during the Korean War]]
[[File:志愿军战俘跪在韩国士兵面前.jpg|thumb|218px|Captured Chinese soldiers beg for their lives to a South Korean soldier, thinking they are going to be executed, 1951.]]
[[File:USVietPeace.JPG|thumb|right|An American POW being released by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong captors in February 1973]]
[[File:Hanoi-taxi-march1973.jpg|thumb|Recently released American POWs from North Vietnamese prison camps in 1973]]
[[File:
During the [[Korean War]], the North Koreans developed a reputation for severely mistreating prisoners of war (see [[Korean War POWs detained in North Korea#Treatment of POWs by North Korean and Chinese forces|Treatment of POWs by North Korean and Chinese forces]]). Their POWs were housed in three camps, according to their potential usefulness to the North Korean army. Peace camps and reform camps were for POWs that were either sympathetic to the cause or who had valued skills that could be useful to the North Korean military; these enemy soldiers were indoctrinated and sometimes conscripted into the North Korean army. While POWs in peace camps were reportedly treated with more consideration,<ref name="Three">{{cite web|date=April 1997|title=Chinese operated three types of POW camps for Americans during the Korean War|url=http://www.kpows.com/thechineseconnection.html|access-date=30 March 2013|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230419114222/http://www.kpows.com/thechineseconnection.html|archive-date= 19 April
The 1952 Inter-Camp POW Olympics were held from 15 to 27 November 1952 in Pyuktong, [[North Korea]]. The Chinese hoped to gain worldwide publicity, and while some prisoners refused to participate, some 500 POWs of eleven nationalities took part.<ref name="Adams, 2007, p. 62">Adams, (2007), p. 62.</ref> They came from all the North Korean prison camps and competed in football, baseball, softball, basketball, volleyball, track and field, soccer, gymnastics, and [[boxing]].<ref name="Adams, 2007, p. 62" /> For the POWs, this was also an opportunity to meet with friends from other camps. The prisoners had their own photographers, announcers, and even reporters, who after each day's competition published a newspaper, the "Olympic Roundup".<ref>Adams, Clarence. (2007). ''An American Dream: The Life of an African American Soldier and POW who Spent Twelve Years in Communist China''. Amherst & Boston. [[University of Massachusetts Press]]. {{ISBN|978-1-5584-9595-1}}, p.62</ref>
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At the end of the [[First Indochina War]], of the 11,721 French soldiers taken prisoner after the [[Battle of Dien Bien Phu]] and led by the [[Viet Minh]] on [[death march]]es to distant POW camps, only 3,290 were repatriated four months later.<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=zCVrzwEErzgC&pg=PA388 Trap Door to the Dark Side] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225172618/https://books.google.com/books?id=zCVrzwEErzgC&pg=PA388&dq&hl=en |date=25 December 2022 }}''. William C. Jeffries (2006). p. 388. {{ISBN|1-4259-5120-1}}</ref>
During the [[Vietnam War]], the [[Viet Cong]] and [[North Vietnamese Army]] took many [[U.S. prisoners of war during the Vietnam War|United States servicemembers as prisoners of war]] and subjected them to mistreatment and torture. Some American prisoners of war were held in the prison known to US POWs as the [[Hanoi Hilton]]. Communist Vietnamese held in custody by [[South Vietnam]]ese and American forces [[Côn Sơn Island#"Tiger cages"|were also tortured]] and badly treated.<ref name="south-viet">{{cite magazine|title=In South Vietnamese Jails|url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/10775|access-date=30 November 2009|last1=Thanh|first1=Ngo Ba|last2=Luce|first2=Don|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409075649/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1970/11/05/in-south-vietnamese-jails/|archive-date=
As in previous conflicts, speculation existed, without evidence, that a handful of American pilots captured during the Korean and Vietnam wars were transferred to the Soviet Union and never repatriated.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://articles.latimes.com/1993-08-29/news/mn-29122_1_korean-war |work=Los Angeles Times |first=Robert |last=Burns |title=Were Korean War POWs Sent to U.S.S.R? New Evidence Surfaces: Probe: Former Marine corporal spent 33 months as a prisoner and was interrogated by Soviet agents who thought he was a pilot |date=29 August 1993|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409184340/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-08-29-mn-29122-story.html|archive-date=
Regardless of regulations determining treatment of prisoners, violations of their rights continue to be reported. Many cases of POW massacres have been reported in recent times, including the murder of Israeli prisoners of war in the 1973 [[Yom Kippur War]] by their Egyptian
Indian intervention in the [[Bangladesh Liberation War]] in 1971 led to the [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1971|third Indo-Pakistan war]], which ended in Indian victory and
In 1982, during the [[Falklands War]], prisoners were well-treated in general by both sides, with military commanders dispatching enemy prisoners back to their homelands in record time following the end of the war.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/04/27/Falkland-Islands-a-gentlemans-war/9723388728000/|title=Falkland Islands: a gentleman's war|website=UPI|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517111554/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/04/27/Falkland-Islands-a-gentlemans-war/9723388728000/|archive-date=
In 1991, during the [[Gulf War]], American, British, Italian, and Kuwaiti POWs (mostly crew members of downed aircraft and special forces) were tortured by the Iraqi secret police. An American military doctor, [[Rhonda Cornum|Major Rhonda Cornum]], a 37-year-old flight surgeon captured when her Blackhawk UH-60 was shot down, was also subjected to sexual abuse.<ref>{{cite web |title=war story: Rhonda Cornum |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/war/5.html |work=[[Frontline (U.S. TV series)|Frontline]] |publisher=[[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] |access-date=24 June 2009|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406094130/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/war/5.html|archive-date=
During the [[Yugoslav Wars]] in the 1990s, [[Serb]] paramilitary forces supported by [[Yugoslav People's Army|JNA]] forces killed POWs at [[Vukovar massacre|Vukovar]] and [[Škabrnja massacre|Škarbrnja]], while [[Bosnian Serb]] forces killed POWs at [[Srebrenica massacre|Srebrenica]]. A large number of surviving Croatian or Bosnian POWs described the conditions in Serbian concentration camps as similar to those in Germany in World War II, including regular beatings, torture and random executions.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}
In 2001, reports emerged concerning two POWs that India had taken during the [[Sino-Indian War]], Yang Chen and Shih Liang. The two were imprisoned as spies for three years before being interned in a [[mental asylum]] in [[Ranchi]], where they spent the following 38 years under a special prisoner status.<ref>Shaikh Azizur Rahman, "[http://www.washtimes.com/world/20030727-104257-8893r.htm Two Chinese prisoners from '62 war repatriated] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728100329/https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2003/jul/27/20030727-104257-8893r/ |date=28 July 2020 }}", ''The Washington Times''.</ref>
The last prisoners of the 1980–1988 [[Iran–Iraq War]] were exchanged in 2003.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0DEFDC113EF937A25750C0A9659C8B63 |title=Threats and Responses: Briefly Noted; Iran-Iraq Prisoner Deal |author=Nazila Fathi|work=[[The New York Times]] |date=14 March 2003 |access-date=14 April 2012|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20221226173810/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/14/world/threats-and-responses-briefly-noted-iran-iraq-prisoner-deal.html|archive-date=
During the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine|invasion of Ukraine by Russia]], Ukrainian POWs have described being tortured by [[Russian Armed Forces|Russian forces]] using electrocution, beatings, and sexual abuse. Both sides of the conflict forced prisoners to be naked at times as a humiliating punishment.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ukraine / Russia: Prisoners of war |url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2022/11/ukraine-russia-prisoners-war |access-date=9 April 2023
==Numbers of POWs==
This section lists nations with the highest number of POWs since the start of World War II and ranked by descending order. These are also the highest numbers in any war since the [[Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War (1929)|Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War]] entered into force on 19 June 1931. The [[USSR]] had not signed the Geneva Convention.<ref>Clark, Alan ''[[Operation Barbarossa|Barbarossa]]: The Russian-Geran Conflict 1941–1945'' p. 206, {{ISBN|0-304-35864-9}}</ref>
{|class="wikitable"
! width=150|Army
! Number of POWs held in captivity
! width=150|War
|-
| style="color:#000;"| {{flag|Nazi Germany}}
|
*
*
*
* 1.3 million unknown<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stern.de/politik/geschichte/kriegsgefangene-viele-kamen-nicht-zurueck-3548272.html |title=Kriegsgefangene: Viele kamen nicht zurück|publisher=Stern.de – Politik |date=6 February 2012 |access-date=14 April 2012|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326033207/https://www.stern.de/politik/geschichte/kriegsgefangene-viele-kamen-nicht-zurueck-3548272.html|archive-date=
| [[World War II]]
|-
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{{further|War film}}
===Films and television===
{{columns-list|colwidth=17em|
* ''[[1971 (2007 film)|1971]]''
* ''[[Andersonville (film)|Andersonville]]''
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* ''[[Escape from Sobibor]]''
* ''[[Escape to Athena]]''
* '' [[Escape to Victory]]''
* ''[[Faith of My Fathers (film)|Faith of My Fathers]]''
* ''[[The Grand Illusion (film)|Grand Illusion]]''
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* ''[[Who Goes Next?]]''
* ''[[The Wooden Horse]]''
}}
==See also==
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* [[Johnny Hickman|John Hickman]], "What is a Prisoner of War For?" ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20070205204548/http://academic.sun.ac.za/mil/mil_history/scientia%20militaria.htm Scientia Militaria: South African Journal of Military Studies]''. Vol. 36, No. 2. 2008. pp. 19–35.
* [[s:Third Geneva Convention|Full text of Third Geneva Convention, 1949 revision]]
* {{cite encyclopedia |
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20171213205052/http://www.gendercide.org/case_soviet.html Gendercide site]
* "Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses in the Twentieth Century", Greenhill Books, London, 1997, G. F. Krivosheev, editor.
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* 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}}.
* Rivett, Rohan D. (1946). ''Behind Bamboo''. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. Republished by Penguin, 1992; {{ISBN|0-14-014925-2}}.
* George G. Lewis and John Mewha, ''History of prisoner of war
* Vetter, Hal, ''Mutine at Koje Island''; Charles Tuttle Company, Vermont, 1965.
* Jin, Ha, ''War Trash: A novel''; Pantheon, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-375-42276-8}}.
|