Behind the Wire: The Prisoner of War Experience

Capture

Over 170,000 British and Commonwealth servicemen became prisoners of war during World War II. The experience of capture was traumatic — the shame, the uncertainty, and the sudden loss of agency marked the beginning of ordeals that would last years. Conditions varied enormously depending on the captor, the camp, and the stage of the war.

European Camps

In German camps (Stalags for enlisted men, Oflags for officers), conditions were generally governed by the Geneva Convention, though this varied considerably. Red Cross parcels supplemented meagre rations, and many camps developed rich cultural lives with theatres, orchestting, and educational programmes. Escape attempts became an obsession for some — the Great Escape from Stalag Luft III in 1944 being the most famous, though 50 of the 76 recaptured escapees were executed on Hitler's orders.

Far East Camps

Japanese camps were an entirely different reality. Japan had not ratified the Geneva Convention, and POWs were subjected to systematic brutality, starvation, and forced labour. Of the 50,000 British POWs in Japanese hands, over 12,000 died — a mortality rate of 25%, compared to 4% in German camps. The construction of the Burma Railway alone killed over 12,000 Allied POWs.