It's December, 1944, and the Nazis are on
the attack. You're a soldier in the Allied forces pushing
forward to liberate France, Belgium, and beyond. But progress toward Germany has slowed. You'd been at the front for just days1 when
the enemy launched a surprise assault. Now, you and your brothers-in-arms struggle
to hold a key crossroads in Belgium. Days of fighting become a blur of rifle fire,
shelling, and disorientation2. In your training, and on the transport across
the English Channel, and as you neared enemy lines for the first time, you couldn't keep
the thought of dying in battle from your mind. But here, surrounded by German uniforms—bright
white to blend with the snow—the reality of a different outcome sinks in. You are now a prisoner of war. You've heard that other Americans who had
surrendered just days ago had been slaughtered once in captivity. This time, at least so far, that doesn't seem
to be the case. Once you're past the line of rifles, hands
raised, an enemy officer approaches you. He says something to you in German, which
you don't understand, but then he adds, in English: "For you, the war is over."3 If you’d been part of the first days of
World War II’s Battle of the Bulge, it might have gone something like that. As it turns out, science fiction writer Kurt
Vonnegut had an experience of the sort. His tragicomic novel Slaughterhouse Five tells
a fictionalized account of his own experience as a World War II POW4. But if one of his Nazi captors ever announced
to Vonnegut that his war was over, they were mistaken, or disingenuous. After their capture, Vonnegut and his fellow
prisoners had a forced march of three days to a train depot5. From there, he was sent to work in a factory
in the city of Dresden. That location put the future author in the
firing line for the Allied bombing raids which would eventually level the city. He managed to survive. Some 25,0006 people in Dresden did not. It then became Vonnegut’s duty to gather
corpses for burning7. In World War II, your experience as a POW
depended upon where you fought8, and on which side. In the context of war, some of the most important
laws of civil society don't apply. But if the prohibition on killing is lifted,
couldn’t that invite warring powers to descend into unrestrained violence? International laws aim to prevent a slippery
slope into indiscriminate torture and slaughter9. The Geneva Conventions, written at a series
of international meetings, include rules to protect combatant POWs from the worst violations
of their rights10, although before 1949, they were less explicit about the rights of civilian
POWs. As spelled out before the start of World War
II11, provisions for POWs included: A ban on executing those who surrender
Adequate food, shelter, and medical care in a place out of harm's way
Freedom from torture or any requirement to share intelligence beyond the prisoner's own
identity Restrictions on the amount and nature of work
prisoners could perform But two of the major powers involved in World
War II hadn't accepted the Geneva Conventions. The Soviet Union wasn't a signatory at all12,
and Japan had signed but never ratified the treaty13. By 1942, Japan announced that it would abide
by the Conventions, with unspecified modifications14. The human rights record of the Imperial Japanese
Army and Navy often didn’t reflect the spirit or letter of the law. At Zentsuji, a model camp15 in the vicinity
of Hiroshima, conditions were difficult, but survivable, with privileges including religious
worship16. But in general, prisoners of war from the
United States and other Allies17 fared poorly in Japanese custody18. Slavery, beatings, starvation, and torture19
were common in Japanese prison camps20. Some Chinese, Russian, and American prisoners
of the Japanese died in macabre and callous medical experiments21. To at least some extent, cannibalism22 of
Japan’s enemies took place, and not always out of hunger23. A particularly brutal atrocity by the Imperial
Japanese Army was the shooting of live human beings in target practice24. Meanwhile, among the Allies in the Pacific
Theater, a take-no-prisoners approach became common early on. Allied troops often executed the Japanese
combatants they captured25, despite the Geneva Conventions. Disturbingly, at least some American and other
Allied service members seem to have been taken trophies from the bodies of the slain26, while
others tortured prisoners or murdered their compatriots27. Japanese service members were instructed to
fight to the death rather than surrender28, even if their situation became hopeless29. There was also a belief that Allies wouldn’t
accept surrender anyway, which was unfortunately sometimes true. If capture became imminent, Japanese soldiers
often chose suicide instead30. This may have further contributed to the Allies'
reluctance to take Japanese prisoners, since suicide by grenade might let them kill their
would-be captor, as well31. But Japanese POWs who survived capture could
be cooperative, providing valuable intelligence to the Allies32. The U.S. command encouraged this approach33. Many more POWs from Germany than Japan came
to the American camps34. But in Europe as well, Allied troops, like
their German adversaries, were at times guilty of killing combatants attempting to surrender35. And at least one interrogation facility in
London engaged in systematic torture36. During World War II, the United States held
hundreds of thousands of enemy combatants in camps of various sorts37. Texas had the most POW camps, in part because
of its distance from the country's most vital manufacturing centers.38 America's POW camps
were a separate affair39 from the internment camps where Asian Americans40, including many
U.S. citizens41, were unjustly incarcerated. Although the U.S. didn't have a perfect human
rights record in the Second World War42, its facilities for POWs were much better43 than
those of either Germany or Japan—or the USSR, for that matter. In the U.S., official policy was fair44, and
even lenient, treatment45. At the opposite end for human rights, camps
of Nazi Germany remain in memory as symbols of the worst horrors imaginable. The concentration camps were already places
of slavery, suffering, and death before the war began, and they only got worse. In a Nazi POW camp, you would get far less
food than you needed to live46. If your stay was long enough, you might lose
half your body weight, taking on the appearance of a walking skeleton. There is an overlap between POWs and the Holocaust. If an SS officer thought you looked Jewish
or seemed otherwise somehow unacceptable47, you might48 be routed to slavery in a concentration
camp, which combined industrial goals with death49 by forced labor and starvation. These POWs joined the millions of European
Jews and other civilians, including Roma, gays, and the handicapped50, targeted for
genocide51. Despite one’s chances of being marked for
death upon arrival, overall fatality for POWs among the Allies on the Western Front was
lower than for other regions and belligerents52. On the Eastern Front, it was a different story. If you were a Soviet soldier or a Soviet or
Polish53 civilian imprisoned by the Nazis, death in the camps was a strong possibility. Hitler's forces took millions of prisoners
over the course of their invasion of the Soviet Union. Aside from a period of formal non-aggression,
which the Nazis failed to honor, Communists were one of the Third Reich’s stated foes. This stance provided an excuse to capture
almost anyone in the Soviet Union. And in the Soviet Union, as everywhere they
invaded, the Nazis added Jews and others—combatants and civilians alike, men, women, and children—to
their unimaginably long list of murder victims54. Germany was a signatory to the Geneva Conventions,
but once again didn't live up to its word. Since the USSR wasn't party to the Conventions,
Germany's stance was that these laws of war wouldn't apply there55. That violated the law, but no one could stop
the Germans' war crimes for good unless the Nazis were defeated.As a result, daily life
for Soviet POWs in German camps amounted to torture56. If the Western Allies’ rations as POWs were
meager, the Soviets' could be all but nonexistent57. The "Russian bread" fed to many prisoners
was made with ingredients like flour made from straw58, and could have no nutritive
value. All told, the Soviet Union suffered more than
8 million59 military and civilian deaths as prisoners of the Nazis60. Retaliation is no justification, but German
soldiers taken by the Soviets were another group of POWs with a very high probability
of dying in captivity, especially after the war61. And some Japanese prisoners of war ended up
living out their lives in the Soviet Union for many years after the war; many others
died in Siberian labor camps62. Many Australians, New Zealanders, Indians,
British, and Americans faced grim prospects in captivity by the Japanese63. The Philippines, which was then occupied by
the United States, came under attack immediately following Pearl Harbor. The combined Filipino and American forces
held off the onslaught for a time64.But in the end, they couldn't stop the siege. It was in that country that the Allied P.O.W.s
endured an ordeal that still evokes suffering: the Bataan Death March. Those captured, some already injured or sick65,
marched for five days in severe heat with little food or water66. Prisoners who tried to drink water without
permission were executed, as were civilians who gave aid to the prisoners67. Thousands of POWs died on the march68. At their destination, Camp O'Donnell, extreme
overcrowding, disease, and filth prevailed69. Some 50,000 Filipino soldiers entered the
camp. Of those, roughly half died over the next
eight months. Surviving American prisoners from the camp
were eventually transferred out of the Philippines, with some ending up in Japan, others on the
Asian mainland70. Horrific conditions on the transport vessels
killed some prisoners71. Others perished in slave camps after arrival72. Along with the suffering, some of the war's
most heroic moments came in the face of atrocities. Some prisoners succeeded in escaping73. Slave laborers would sometimes endeavor to
sabotage the material they made for the Axis74. About 100 U.S. military nurses were stationed
in the Philippines when Japanese forces attacked75. Only about twenty had the chance to evacuate. Those who remained not only became prisoners
themselves, but also provided medical care for a group of civilian internees in Manila. All 77 of these women survived their years
as POWs. Are there stories from World War II have been
especially meaningful to you or your family? Let us know in the comments. Also, be sure to check out our other video
called “Insane Torpedo-Armed Fast Attack Vessel - WW2 Speed Demons!” Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t
forget to like, share, and subscribe. See you next time!
