Prisoner of war

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Austro-Hungarian POWs in Russia; a 1915 photo by Prokudin-Gorskii

Burial of a Japanese POW and a Russian convict in the permafrost of Gulag. Painting by Nikolai Getman provided by Jamestown Foundation

A prisoner of war (POW, PoW, PW, P/W or PsW) is a combatant who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict.

[edit] Ancient times

For most of human history, depending on the culture of the victors, combatants on the losing side in a battle could expect to be either slaughtered, to eliminate them as a future threat, or enslaved, bringing economic and social benefits to the victorious side and its soldiers. Typically, little distinction was made between combatants and civilians, although women and children were certainly more likely to be spared. Sometimes the purpose of a battle, if not a war, was to capture women, a practice known as raptio; the Rape of the Sabines was a notable mass capture by the founders of Rome. Typically women had no rights, were held legally as chattel, and would not be accepted back by their birth families once they had bore children to those who had killed their brothers and fathers.

Likewise the distinction between POW and slave is not always clear. Some of the indigenous people of the Americas captured Europeans and used their labour and used them as bartering chips; see for example John R. Jewitt, an Englishman who wrote a memoir about his years as a captive of the Nootka people on the Pacific Northwest Coast in 1802-1805.

[edit] Qualifications

To be entitled to prisoner of war status, the captured service member must be a "lawful combatant" entitled to combatant's privilege--which gives them immunity for crimes constituting lawful acts of war, e.g., killing enemy troops. To qualify under the Fourth Geneva Convention, the combatant must have conducted military operations according to the laws and customs of war: be part of a chain of command and wear a "fixed distinctive marking, visible from a distance", and bear arms openly. Thus, francs-tireurs, "terrorists", saboteurs, mercenaries and spies may be excluded.

In practice, these criteria are not always interpreted strictly. Guerrillas, for example, may not wear an issued uniform or carry arms openly yet are sometimes granted POW status if captured (although Additional Protocol 1 may give them POW status in some circumstances). These criteria are normally restricted to international armed conflicts: in civil wars insurgents are often treated as traitors or criminals by government forces, and are sometimes executed. However, in the American Civil War both sides treated captured troops as POWs despite the Union considering the Confederacy separatist rebels, presumably because of reciprocity. After the hunger strike by Bobby Sands and his Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) colleagues, the British government allegedly gave some POW privileges to IRA prisoners.

However, guerrillas or any other combatant may not be granted the status if they try to use both the civilian and the military status. Thus, uniforms and/or badges are important in determining prisoner of war status.

[edit] Middle Ages

See also: Prisoners of war in Islam

During the Middle Ages, a number of religious wars were particularly ferocious. In Christian Europe, the extermination of the heretics or "non-believers" was considered desirable. Examples include the 13th century Albigensian Crusade and the Northern Crusades.^[1] Likewise the inhabitants of conquered cities were frequently massacred during the Crusades against the Muslims in the 11th century and the 12th century. Noblemen could hope to be ransomed; their families would have to send to their captors large sums of wealth commensurate with the social status of the captive. In pre-Islamic Arabia, upon capture, those captives not executed, were made to beg for their subsistence. During the early reforms under Islam, Muhammad changed this custom and made it the responsibility of the Islamic government to provide food and clothing, on a reasonable basis, to captives, regardless of their religion. If the prisoners were in the custody of a person, then the responsibility was on the individual.^[2] He established the rule that prisoners of war must be guarded and not ill-treated, and that after the fighting was over, the prisoners were expected to be either released or ransomed. The freeing of prisoners in particular was highly recommended as a charitable act. Mecca was the first city to have the benevolent code applied (rather than what Mecca’s people expected: complete massacre). However, Christians who were captured in the Crusades were sold into slavery if they could not pay a ransom.^[3]

The 1648 Peace of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years' War, 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.^[4]

[edit] Modern times

Jan Kilinski leading a group of Russian prisoners of war following the Warsaw Uprising of 1794

During the 19th century, efforts increased to improve the treatment and processing of prisoners. The extensive period of conflict during the Revolutionary War and Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815), followed by the Anglo-American War of 1812, led to the emergence of a cartel system for the exchange of prisoners, even while the belligerents were at war. A cartel was usually arranged by the respective armed service for the exchange of like ranked personnel. The aim was to achieve a reduction in the number of prisoners held, while at the same time alleviating shortages of skilled personnel in the home country.

Later, as 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 conventions being adopted and becoming recognized as international law, that specified that prisoners of war are required to be treated humanely and diplomatically.

[edit] Hague and Geneva Conventions

Specifically, Chapter II of the Annex to the 1907 Hague Convention covered the treatment of prisoners of war in detail. These were further expanded in the Third Geneva Convention of 1929, and its revision of 1949. Article 4 of the Third Geneva Convention protects captured military personnel, some guerrilla fighters and certain civilians. It applies from the moment a prisoner is captured until he or she is released or repatriated. One of the main provisions of the convention makes it illegal to torture prisoners and states that a prisoner can only be required to give their name, date of birth, rank and service number (if applicable).

However, nations vary in their dedication to following these laws, and historically the treatment of POWs has varied greatly. During the 20th century, Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany were notorious for atrocities against prisoners during World War II. The German military used the Soviet Union's refusal to sign the Geneva Convention as a reason for not providing the necessities of life to Russian POWs. North Korean and North Vietnamese forces routinely killed or mistreated prisoners taken during those conflicts.

[edit] The United States Military Code of Conduct

The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article or discuss the issue on the talk page.

The United States Military Code of Conduct, Articles III through V, are guidelines for United States service members who have been taken prisoner. They were created in response to the breakdown of leadership which can happen in an atypical environment such as a POW situation, specifically when US forces were POWs during the Korean War. When a person is taken prisoner, the Code of Conduct reminds the service member that the chain of command is still in effect (the highest ranking service member, regardless of armed service branch, is in command), and that the service member cannot receive special favors or parole from their captors, lest this undermine the service member's chain of command.

[edit] World War I

American prisoners of war in Germany in 1917.

During World War I about 8 million men surrendered and were held in POW camps until the war ended. All nations pledged to follow the Hague rules on fair treatment of prisoners of war, and in general the POWs had a much higher survival rate than their peers who were not captured.^[5] Individual surrenders were uncommon; usually a large unit surrendered all its men. At Tannenberg 92,000 Russians surrendered during the battle. When the besieged garrison of Kaunas surrendered in 1915, 20,000 Russians became prisoners. Over half the Russian losses were prisoners (as a proportion of those captured, wounded or killed); for Austria 32%, for Italy 26%, for France 12%, for Germany 9%; for Britain 7%. Prisoners from the Allied armies totaled about 1.4 million (not including Russia, which lost between 2.5 and 3.5 million men as prisoners.) From the Central Powers about 3.3 million men became prisoners.^[6]

German soldiers captured by the British in Flanders

Germany held 2.5 million prisoners; Russia held 2.9 million, and Britain and 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 was the act of surrender, when helpless soldiers were sometimes shot down. Once prisoners reached a POW camp in general conditions were 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. Conditions were terrible in Russia, starvation was common for prisoners and civilians alike; about 40% of the prisoners in Russia died or remained missing.^[7] Nearly 375,000 of the 500,000 Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war taken by Russians have perished in Siberia from smallpox and typhus.^[8] In Germany food was short but only 5% died. ^[9]

The Ottoman Empire often treated prisoners of war poorly. Some 11,800 British soldiers, most of them Indians, 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.^[10]

The most curious case came in Russia where the Czech Legion of Czech prisoners (from the Austro-Hungarian army), were released in 1917, armed themselves, and briefly became a military and diplomatic force during the Russian Civil War.

[edit] Release of prisoners

At the end of the war in 1918 there were believed to be 140,000 British prisoners of war in Germany, including 3,000 internees held in neutral Switzerland. The first British prisoners were released and reached Calais on 15 November. Plans were made for them to be sent via Dunkirk to Dover and a large reception camp was established at Dover capable of housing 40,000 men, which could later be used for demobilisation.

On 13 December 1918 the armistice was extended and the Allies reported that by 9 December 264,000 prisoners had been repatriated. A very large number of these has been released en masse and sent across Allied lines without any food or shelter. This had created difficulties for the receiving Allies and many released prisoners had died from exhaustion. The released POWs were met by cavalry troops and sent back through the lines in lorries to reception centres where they were refitted with boots and clothing and dispatched to the ports in trains. Upon arrival at the receiving camp the POWs were registered and “boarded” before being dispatched to their own homes. All commissioned officers had to write a report on the circumstances of their capture and to ensure that they had done all they could to avoid capture. Each returning officer and man was given a message from King George V, written in his own hand and reproduced on a lithograph. It read as follows:^{[citation needed]}

The Queen joins me in welcoming you on your release from the miseries & hardships, which you have endured with so much patience and courage.

During these many months of trial, the early rescue of our gallant Officers & Men from the cruelties of their captivity has been uppermost in our thoughts.

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.

[edit] World War II

[edit] Treatment of POWs by the Axis

Germany and Italy generally treated prisoners from the British Commonwealth, France, the U.S. and other western allies, in accordance with the Geneva Convention (1929), which had been signed by these countries.^[11] Nazi Germany did not extend this level of treatment to non-Western prisoners, such as the Soviets, who suffered harsh captivities and died in large numbers while in captivity. The Empire of Japan also did not treat prisoners of war in accordance with the Geneva Convention.

New Guinea, 1943. An Australian POW about to be beheaded.

When soldiers of lower rank were made to work, they were compensated, and officers (e.g. in Colditz Castle) were not required to work. The main complaint of British, British Commonwealth, U.S. and French prisoners of war in German Army POW camps, especially during the last two years of the war, was the poor quality and miserly quantities of food provided, a fate German soldiers and civilians were also suffering due to the blockade conditions. Fortunately for the prisoners, food packages provided by the International Red Cross supplemented the food rations, until the last few months when allied air raids prevented shipments from arriving. The other main complaint was the harsh treatment during forced marches in the last months, resulting from German attempts to keep prisoners away from the advancing allied forces.

Soviet POWs in German captivity

In contrast, Germany treated the Soviet Red Army troops that had been taken prisoner with neglect and deliberate, organized brutality. The first eight months of the German campaign on their Eastern Front were by far the worst phase, with up to 2.4 of 3.1 million POWs dying. Soviet POWs were held under conditions that resulted in deaths of hundreds of thousands from starvation and disease. Most prisoners were also subjected to forced labour under conditions that resulted in further deaths. An official justification used by the Germans for this policy was that the Soviet Union had not signed the Geneva Convention. This was not legally justifiable, however, as under article 82 of the Geneva Convention (1929), signatory countries had to give POWs of all signatory and non-signatory countries the rights assigned by the convention.^[12] A month after the German invasion in 1941 an offer was made by the USSR for a reciprocal adherence to the Hague conventions. This 'note' was left unanswered by Third Reich officials ^[13].

According to some sources, between 1941 and 1945, the Axis powers took about 5.7 million Soviet prisoners. About 1 million of them were released during the war, in that their status changed but they remained under German authority. A little over 500,000 either escaped or were liberated by the Red Army. Some 930,000 more were found alive in camps after the war. The remaining 3.3 million prisoners (57.5% of the total captured) died during their captivity.^[14] According to Russian military historian General G. Krivoshhev, 4.6 million Soviet prisoners were taken by the Axis powers, of which 1.8 million were found alive in camps after the war and 318,770 were released by the Axis during the war and were then drafted into the Soviet armed forces again.^[15]. In comparison, 8,348 Western Allied (British, American and Canadian) prisoners died in German camps in 1939-45 (3.5% of the 232,000 total).

On 11 February 1945, at the conclusion of the Yalta Conference, the United States and the United Kingdom signed a Repatriation Agreement with the USSR.^[16] The interpretation of this Agreement resulted in the forcible repatriation of all Russians (Operation Keelhaul) regardless of their wishes. The forced repatriation operations took place in 1945-1947.^[17] Many Soviet POWs and forced laborers transported to Nazi Germany were on their return to the USSR treated as traitors and sent to the gulag. The remainder were barred from all but the most menial jobs.

In the Pacific War, the Empire of Japan had never signed the Third Geneva Convention of 1929. The Empire, however, violated international agreements signed by Japan, including provisions of the Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907), which protect prisoners of war (POWs).

Prisoners of war from China, the United States, Australia, Britain, Canada, Netherlands and New Zealand held by the Japanese armed forces were subject to murder, beatings, summary punishments, brutal treatment, forced labor, medical experimentation, starvation rations, and poor medical treatment. No access to the POWs was provided to the International Red Cross. Escapes were almost impossible because of the difficulty of men of European descent hiding in Asiatic societies.^[18]

According to the findings of the Tokyo tribunal, the death rate of Western prisoners was 27.1% (American POWs died at a rate of 37%),^[19] seven times that of POW's under the Germans and Italians^[20] The death rate of Chinese was much larger as, according to the directive ratified on 5 August 1937 by Hirohito, the constraints of international law were removed on those prisoners.^[21] Thus, of 37,583 prisoners from the UK, 28,500 from Netherlands and 14,473 from USA were released after the surrender of Japan, the number for the Chinese was only 56.^[22]

[edit] Treatment of POWs by the Allies

According to some sources, the Soviets captured 3.5 million Axis servicemen (excluding Japanese) of which more than a million died.^[23]. According to G. Krivoshhev, the Soviets captured in total 4,126,964 Axis servicemen, of which 580,548 died in captivity. Of 2,389,560 German servicemen 450,600 died in captivity.^[24] One specific example of the tragic fate of the German POWs was after the Battle of Stalingrad, during which the Soviets captured 91,000 German troops. Of the German troops captured in Stalingrad, many already starved and ill, only 5,000 survived the war. The last German POWs (those who were sentenced for war crimes, sometimes without sufficient reasons) were released by the Soviets in 1955, only after Joseph Stalin had died.^[25] See also POW labor in the Soviet Union, Japanese prisoners of war in the Soviet Union, Italian prisoners of war in the Soviet Union, Romanian POW in the Soviet Union.

German soldiers taken POW by the Polish Independent Highland Brigade during the Battle of Narvik of 1940

During the war allied nations such as the U.S., UK, Australia and Canada tried^{[citation needed]} to treat Axis prisoners strictly in accordance with the Geneva Convention (1929).

Japanese prisoners sent to camps in the U.S. faired well, but many Japanese were killed when trying to surrender or were massacred just after they had surrendered. (see Allied war crimes during World War II in the Pacific)

Towards the end of the war, as large numbers of Axis soldiers surrendered, the U.S. 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 various Rheinwiesenlagers. Controversy has arisen about how Eisenhower managed these prisoners. [2] (see Eisenhower and German POWs). Many died when forced to clear minefields in Norway, France etc. How many died during the several post-war years that they were used for forced labor in France, the Soviet Union etc is disputed.

See also List of World War II POW camps

[edit] Post World War II

U.S soldier taken as a POW by Chinese forces and shot in the head with his hands tied behind his back during the Korean War.

North Korean POWs being guarded by a U.S. Marine during the Korean War

During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, the Indian Armed Forces captured more than 90,000 Pakistani soldiers in East Pakistan (which became an independent nation following the war)^[26]. It was one of the largest surrenders since World War II. India originally wished to try some 200 of them for war crimes for the brutality in East Pakistan, but eventually acceded to releasing them as a gesture of reconciliation.

Regardless of regulations determining treatment to prisoners, violation of their rights continue to be reported. Many cases of POW massacres have been reported in recent times, including October 13 massacre in Lebanon and June 1990 massacre in Sri Lanka.

During the 1990s Yugoslav Wars, Serb forces committed many POW massacres, including: Vukovar, Škarbrnja and Srebrenica massacres.

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

[edit] Numbers of POWs

This is a list of nations with the highest number of POWs since the start of World War II, listed in descending order. These are also the highest numbers in any war since the Geneva Convention, Relative to the treatment of prisoners of war (1929) entered into force 19 June 1931. The USSR had not signed the Geneva convention.^[27]

Prisoner nationality	Number	Name of conflict
Soviet Union	4 - 5.7 million (2.7 - 3.3 million died in German POW camps) [28] (ref. Streit)	World War II (Total)
Nazi Germany	3,127,380 taken by U.S.S.R. (474,967 died in captivity) [29]	World War II
France	1,800,000	Battle of France in World War II
Poland	675,000 (420,000 by Germans, 240,000 by Soviets in 1939; 15,000 Warsaw 1944)	World War II
United Kingdom	~200,000 (135,000 taken in Europe, does not include Pacific or Commonwealth figures)	World War II
United States	~130,000 (95,532 taken by Germany)	World War II
Pakistan	90,368 taken by India	Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

[edit] List of notable POWs

List of POWs that attracted notable attention or influence by this status:

A Pakistan stamp shows the 90,000 POWs in Indian camps following its surrender in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. This stamp, released with the aim of raising the POW issue at a global level in securing their release, is one of the very few stamps issued by a nation about its POWs.

• Wajid Khan Canadian politician - formerly Pakistan-India War 1971 fighter pilot
• Floyd James Thompson - America's longest-held POW; he spent 9 years in POW camps in Vietnam (1964 - 1973)
• Ali Akbar Abotorabi Fard - Iranian cleric, was a POW in the Iran-Iraq War for more than 10 years
• Ron Arad - Israeli fighter pilot, shot down over Lebanon in 1986. Rumored to be in Iran, he is widely presumed dead.
• Douglas Bader - British leg-less fighter pilot, squadron commander in Battle of Britain
• Leonard Birchall - The "Saviour of Ceylon"
• Fernand Braudel - the famous historian, was a POW in World War II.
• Winston Churchill - during the Second Boer War; escaped
• John Cordwell - forged documents to help fellow English soldiers get out of Germany as part of the Great Escape
• Charles de Gaulle - French general and political leader, captured at Verdun, POW 1916-18
• Jeremiah Denton - Awarded the Navy Cross for resistance in captivity during the Vietnam War
• Roy Dotrice - British actor
• Werner Drechsler - killed by fellow German POWs during World War II for informing on other prisoners
• Weary Dunlop - an Australian surgeon and legend among prisoners of the Thai Burma Railway in WWII
• Yakov Dzhugashvili - Joseph Stalin's first son, was captured by Germans during WWII and killed in 1943.
• Denholm Elliott - British actor
• Henri Giraud - French general, escaped German captivity in both World War I and World War II
• Ehud Goldwasser - One of two Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah in 2006, sparking the 2006 Lebanon War--termed POWs by Hezbollah.
• Ernest Gordon - Author of "To End All Wars" and former Presbyterian Dean of Princeton University chapel
• E.R. (Bon) Hall - Australian Officer, prisoner of the Thai Burma Railway in World War II
• James Hargest - New Zealand politician
• Heinrich Harrer & Peter Aufschnaiter - escaped from India to Tibet
• Erich Hartmann - "The Blond Knight of Germany"
• Rudolf Hess - acted as Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party
• Bob Hoover - American World War II pilot, test pilot and airshow performer; captured in 1944 and escaped from Stalag Luft 1
• Wilm Hosenfeld - most remembered for saving Polish pianist and composer Władysław Szpilman from death in the ruins of Warsaw.
• Alija Izetbegovic - President of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was held as hostage for several days by JNA forces during the Bosnian War
• Andrew Jackson - Seventh President of the United States, captured in the American Revolutionary War as a thirteen-year old courier
• Stanley D. Jaworski - Polish POW freed by American soldiers
• Harold K. Johnson - U.S. Army Chief of Staff 1964; captured at Bataan (1942-45)
• Arthur Koestler - interned in a camp for enemy aliens at the beginning of World War II
• Tikka Khan - Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Army
• Yahya Khan - last president of a united Pakistan
• Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski - Commander of the Polish Home Army, and in the Warsaw Uprising
• Gustav Krist - Adventurer and traveler, Austrian soldier in WWI, captured by Russians in 1914. Interned in Russian Turkestan
• Dieter Dengler - a United States Navy pilot who escaped a Pathet Lao prison camp in Laos
• Desmond Llewelyn – went on to a notable acting career, most famously as Q in the James Bond film series
• Jessica Lynch
• Manda Manchiani - captured in 1941 during World War II, attempted escape multiple times then finally she was freed in 1945
• Keith Matthew Maupin - captured on April 9, 2004. Remains found March 30, 2008.
• Charles Cardwell McCabe - a prisoner and chaplain at Libby Prison during the American Civil War
• John McCain - American political leader and Republican nominee for president in 2008, prisoner for over five years in Vietnam
• Olivier Messiaen - French composer
• Dusty Miller - Executed for his faith during internment under the Japanese in Thailand in 1945.^{[citation needed]}
• François Mitterrand - French president, captured during WWII in 1940, escaped 6 times before arriving home in Dec. 1941
• W. H. Murray - Scottish mountaineer
• Airey Neave - British politician
• A. A. K. Niazi - commander of Pakistan Army in East Pakistan who surrendered along with nearly 93,000 prisoners
• Manuel Noriega - Ex-Panamanian dictor captured by US troops in 1990 then jailed for drugs trafficking offences. Only detainee in held by US authorities presently officially designated as a POW by the federal government.
• Friedrich Paulus - German field marshal, surrendered Stalingrad to the Soviets in 1943; outspoken critic of Hitler
• Donald Pleasance - English film and stage actor. Was shot down while serving in the RAF during WW2, taken prisoner, and placed in a German prisoner-of-war camp. He would later act in the film "The Great Escape".
• Eldad Regev - One of two Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah in 2006, sparking the 2006 Lebanon War.
• Patrick Reid - non-fiction/historical author
• Yevgeny Rodionov - Russian soldier captured by rebel forces in Chechnya and executed by beheading for refusing to convert to Islam
• Jerry Sage - OSI agent - WWII - Steve McQueen character was loosely based on him in the movie "The Great Escape"
• Jean-Paul Sartre - French philosopher and writer, POW 1940-41
• Kazuo Sakamaki - First POW captured by U.S. forces in World War II
• Ronald Searle - English cartoonist
• Léopold Senghor - Senegalize writer and political leader, captured 1940 in France
• Gilad Shalit - Israeli soldier whose capture in 2006 sparked Israel's war against Hamas and later Hezbollah
• William Stacy - lieutenant colonel of the Continental Army, captured during the Cherry Valley massacre; General George Washington attempted to orchestrate a prisoner exchange for Lt. Col. Stacy^[30] but was unsuccessful.
• James Stockdale - candidate for Vice President in 1992; decorated member of the U.S. Navy; POW in Vietnam
• E W Swanton - captured by Japanese in Singapore; after war, was renowned BBC sports commentator.
• Josip Broz Tito - president of Yugoslavia, Austrian soldier in WWI, captured by Russians in 1915
• Mikhail Tukhachevsky - Soviet military leader and theorist, captured by Germans in WWI
• Charles Upham - Awarded the Victoria Cross twice.
• Laurens van der Post - South African writer and war hero, captured by Japanese 1942
• Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach - German anti-Nazi general captured at Stalingrad by Soviets
• Kurt Vonnegut - American writer; captured in the Battle of the Bulge and witnessed the Bombing of Dresden in World War II
• Jonathan Wainwright - Commanding General US forces in Philippines; captured at Bataan (1942-1945)
• George Washington - first U.S. President, captured in 1754 by the French during the French and Indian War.
• D. C. Wimberly - POW in WWII from Springhill, Louisiana, past commander of American Ex-Prisoners of War
• Louis Zamperini - American athlete, member of Olympic team, captured by Japanese 1943

[edit] See also

• KIA – Killed In Action
• MIA – Missing In Action
• WIA – Wounded in action
• American Revolution prisoners of war
• British prison ships (New York)
• Combatant
• Disarmed Enemy Forces
• Geneva Convention
• Illegal combatant
• Laws of war
• Postal censorship
• Prisoner-of-war camp
• Prison escape
• The United States Military Code of Conduct
• War crime
• Civilian Internee
• Soviet POWs in German captivity

Movies

• Andersonville
• Blood Oath
• Empire of the Sun
• Escape to Athena
• Grand Illusion
• Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
• Stalag 17
• The One That Got Away
• Danger Within
• Summer of My German Soldier
• The Bridge on the River Kwai
• The Great Escape
• The Wooden Horse
• Uncommon Valor
• The Deerhunter
• The Brylcreem Boys
• Hart's War
• Tea with Mussolini
• Prisoner of War
• The Great Raid
• Rescue Dawn
• Missing in Action
• Rambo: First Blood Part II
• 1971
• To End All Wars

Songs

• Prisoners of War

[edit] References

Other references:

• Full text of Third Geneva Convention, 1949 revision
• "Prisoner of War". Encyclopedia Britannica (CD Edition). (2002). 
• Gendercide site
• "Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses in the Twentieth Century", Greenhill Books, London, 1997, G. F. Krivosheev, editor.
• "Keine Kameraden. Die Wehrmacht und die sowjetischen Kriegsgefangenen 1941-1945", Dietz, Bonn 1997, ISBN 3-8012-5023-7

[edit] Further reading

• Roger DEVAUX : Treize Qu'ils Etaient - Life of the french prisoners of war at the peasants of low Bavaria (1939-1945) - Treize Qu'ils Etaient - Mémoires et Cultures - 2007 - ISBN 2-916062-51-3
• Pierre Gascar, Histoire de la captivité des Français en Allemagne (1939-1945), Éditions Gallimard, France, 1967.
• McGowran OBE, Tom, Beyond the Bamboo Screen: Scottish Prisoners of War under the Japanese. 1999. Cualann Press Ltd
• Bob Moore,& Kent Fedorowich eds., Prisoners of War and their Captors in World War II, Berg Press, Oxford, UK, 1997.
• David Rolf, Prisoners of the Reich, Germany’s Captives, 1939-1945, 1998.
• Richard D. Wiggers "The United States and the Denial of Prisoner of War (POW) Status at the End of the Second World War," Militargeschichtliche Mitteilungen 52 (1993) pp. 91-94.
• Winton, Andrew, Open Road to Faraway: Escapes from Nazi POW Camps 1941-1945. 2001. Cualann Press Ltd.
• The stories of several American fighter pilots, shot down over North Vietnam are the focus of American Film Foundation's 1999 documentary Return with Honor, presented by Tom Hanks.
• Lewis H. Carlson, WE WERE EACH OTHER'S PRISONERS: An oral history of World War II American and German Prisoners Of War, 1st Edition.; 1997, BasicBooks (HarperCollins, Inc).ISBN 0-465-09120-2.
• Arnold Krammer, NAZI PRISONERS OF WAR IN AMERICA; 1979 Stein & Day; 1991, 1996 Scarborough House. ISBN 0-8128-8561-9.
• 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.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Prisoners of war

• The National Archives ADM 103 Prisoners of War 1755-1831
• The National Archives 'Your Archives'
• The National Archives 'Your Archives' - ADM 103 Prisoners of War 1755-1831
• Archive of WWII memories, gathered by BBC
• POWs of WWII and their experiences
• Soviet Prisoners of War: Forgotten Nazi Victims of World War II
• Current staus of Vietnam War POW/MIA
• Australian POW FX Larkin NX43393 AIF. Detailed web site and rich resources.
• CBC Digital Archives - Canada's Forgotten PoW Camps
• German army list of Stalags
• German army list of Oflags
• Changi A.I.F. Ski Club
• Colditz Oflag IVC POW Camp
• Lamsdorf Reunited
• Website (official) on New Zealand PoWs
• New Zealand Official History, New Zealand PoWs of Germany, Italy & Japan
• Essays on New Zealand PoWs of Germany, Italy & Japan
• Essay on Escapes of New Zealand PoWs
• Stoker Harold Siddall Royal Navy, captured on Crete 1941, and his life in Stalag VIIA
• Notes of Japanese soldier in a USSR prison camp after WWII