POW Treatment

[wizard2250]

The seems to be a number of different views on the treatment of POWs. Could there have been a difference in the way the injured were treated as compared to those captured otherwise? Seems from letters home that my pop was treated fairly although one has a subtle reference to 'telling it as it was'. My father spoke of a story told by pop that, when repatriated, he was offered a pension different from what he received if he submitted to a medical. Apparently the German doctors repaired his leg (quite well) which had been shot up ( along with a wound to the head which caused his capture ) and replied to the medical board that they could keep their money and he would keep his leg! He praised the work of the doctors and well, you know, if it ain't broke....don't fix it.

He was a POW from April 1917 to December 1918 spending all of 1918 in Switzerland.

Any thoughts on this?

shawn

[laughton]

Shawn:

Can you clarify if you are asking about TREATMENT at the hands of the ENEMY or FRIEND?

Richard of Canada

[wizard2250]

Richard,

Treatment solely based on that given to a captured soldier as compared to a captured & wounded soldier. I have read enough and heard enough to know that what was seen by soldiers would have been enough for one to hate the enemy with a passion. This being said, Pop received medical attention that basically saved his leg from amputation. While my dad remembers the story told as in my first post, it seems (to me) that a doctor is a doctor worldwide...the oath they take is universal so the treatment is the best they can offer under the circumstances. I am just trying to get a grasp on the war as a whole being looked at from an unbiased view.

I have researched the three family members seen in blue below and they all had different types of encounters during the war. Pat drowned in 1916...why?

Pop (Michael) was a POW, was in Gallipoli, and survived the war (quite tight-lipped about it all according to my dad). I have already seen (through different media) why he was like this.

Jim survived Beaumont Hamel, two gassings and the war, only to pass away in '23 with wartime-contracted tuberculosis. Was it the gas?

This post answer is long, I know, but I hope no one thinks I'm praising the ENEMY in general....I just want to know all the sides of the war. You can't learn if you don't research.

Hope this is the right answer to your question...(if I read it correctly)

thanks,

shawn

edit: I hope a moderator will reprimand me if my posts are out-of line or poorly worded!

[Doug Johnson]

Shawn,

It is difficult to generalise about treatment of PoWs as two men captured at the same time could have opposite experiences. Both unwounded and wounded PoWs had bad experiences and good ones and there does not appear to be any difference between them (and those not seriously wounded who usually ended up in camps rather than hospitals)

Treatment varied depending on circumstances such as;

When captured; those captured early in the war were more likely to have a bad time for a period before things got better. Partly caused by lack of preparedness on behalf of Germany who took far more prisoners then they ever imagined, and partly due to having the wrong people in the wrong places. There was serious anti-English feeling in Germany 1914-1915. A number suffered in 1916 –1917 by working behind the lines but not as much as those who were held behind the lines in 1918. Those working in mines suffered badly but those working on farms could have a relatively good time.

Where and by whom captured (even down to individuals); being captured was a dodgy time and unpredictable. There are horror stories and there are also good ones. A lot of the bad stories seem to relate to the Prussians but there are good stories as well (I am sure there are!).

Where sent; every camp was different in some way. Some were bad for a time and got better and some were bad most of the time, others were relatively good throughout the war. It should be noted however that few men spent any time in the parent camp, most being moved out to work camps and moved around quite a bit. Their treatment would then depend on their employer.

Food was generally bad throughout the war but not in all camps. In some camps the Brits survived on their parcels and never touched the German food (unless they were short of parcels). In other camps, a large proportion of the Brits ate the German food. Eating the German food was however a minority occupation unless they were on a farm where perhaps they ate with the farmer or his family.

The WO161 PoW interviews at TNA are full of individual stories of a small percentage of PoWs but they are a tremendously interesting resource. All the interviews are available on line at a price.

Doug

[wizard2250]

Thanks Doug,

I'll be sure to look up WO161 as well as any other POW interviews to try and compare stories from camps my pop was in with those of other soldiers who were in the same camps. I have a couple of names from his letters as well as a newspaper clipping with other names.

thanks again for the interest and info,

shawn

[Doug Johnson]

Shawn,

Do you know where he was?

If you use this site Herethen you can run through to find those at the same camp. The location/camp bit does not work so the easiest is to run through by regiment/corps. Once you find a name reference (this will not be the person who gave the report but someone mentioned in a report). You can go though to TNA web site and identify who gave the report by entering the name in the other keywords box.

Doug

[matteyre]

My grandfather was a pow at Loos on the 26th of Sept 1915, he was a wounded NCO , and spent some of his time in hospitals, and camp hospitals, mainly Hameln, Minden and Munster 1... he was maltreated and forced to work down the mines, and came home just skin and bone. I tried to upload his IRC record but the file was too big.

I suppose treatment varied from camp to camp depending on the regime... I have looked at the database, who do I contact to have his details put on? It would be good to find out if there were other 8th lincolns with him. He certainly met a lot of russian prisoners as he brought back carvings they had given him and learnt some of the language.