# How Did the Allies Treat Enemy POWs in WWII? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 30, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-allies-treat-enemy-pows-in-wwii/687369 "2014-04-30T15:58:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-allies-treat-enemy-pows-in-wwii/687369/61 "2014-05-01T17:04:25Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Other than attacking transport, I keep thinking there must have been examples of POWs killed in camp by indiscriminate bombardment… but I can only find one example, based on Yes, that has also occurred numerous times during allied air raids on Germany. I don’t have the sources readily available, but I’ve read about this. There have also been claims that Germany used POWs as human shields. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-allies-treat-enemy-pows-in-wwii/687369/62 "2014-05-01T17:04:54Z")
Good thing we never captured any of [these German solders](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Arabian_Legion). After shooting at white men, we’d feed and house them. After whistling at white women, we’d cave their faces in. ---
**Author:** ![Blakeyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-allies-treat-enemy-pows-in-wwii/687369/63 "2014-05-01T17:18:43Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > It’s really a broader question: How many POWs were killed by friendly fire? Operation Chastise, the operation made famous by the book and movie The Dam Busters, killed more Soviet POWs than Axis troops. ---
**Author:** ![Uniqueorn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uniqueorn/32/2807_2.png) [@Uniqueorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniqueorn)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-allies-treat-enemy-pows-in-wwii/687369/64 "2014-05-01T17:39:04Z")
Family legend has it that Belgium POW camps were the worst (no experience with Soviet ones, though). Apparently, they were willing to let the POWs just about starve to death. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-allies-treat-enemy-pows-in-wwii/687369/65 "2014-05-01T17:45:42Z")
> [@Uniqueorn](#): > > Family legend has it that Belgium POW camps were the worst (no experience with Soviet ones, though). Apparently, they were willing to let the POWs just about starve to death. Belgian POW camps? No offense to the Belgians but they were overrun pretty quickly in 1940. How many German POW’s did they have and how long would they have remained in captivity? If you’re talking about post-liberation Belgium, I’d be surprised if they had any POWs. The country was too busy rebuilding after several years of German occupation to take on the responsibility for holding POWs. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-allies-treat-enemy-pows-in-wwii/687369/66 "2014-05-01T19:36:33Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > Actually, I’m Black, so it’s equal degrees of amusing and pathetic for a White Southerner to tell me that they have more “Black” anything than I do. Are you next going to tell how racism has affected you personally?Or better…. are you going to recount a teary-eyed reminiscence of your Best Black Friend (BBF) who stood by you through “thick and thin?” > > I like those. > I only hear about 1-3 of them daily.😃 **Shag’s** right though; would you have rather the US armed forces beaten and starved the German prisoners, lest we treat them well, and possibly better than some black people had it back then? It was 70 years ago. Let it go- there’s nothing you can do about it now, and dwelling on silly things like whether or not people in the South were institutionally racist back then isn’t doing anyone any good. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-allies-treat-enemy-pows-in-wwii/687369/67 "2014-05-01T20:05:03Z")
> [@bump](#): > > It was 70 years ago. Let it go- there’s nothing you can do about it now, and dwelling on silly things like whether or not people in the South were institutionally racist back then isn’t doing anyone any good. How the heck did we get off on it, unless Yankees are prejudiced? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-allies-treat-enemy-pows-in-wwii/687369/68 "2014-05-01T20:11:40Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > If you have the time for a longer read, I’d highly recommend [_War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War_](http://www.amazon.com/War-Without-Mercy-Power-Pacific/dp/0394751728) by John Dower who is quoted in the wiki article (Dower states that in “many instances … Japanese who did become prisoners were killed on the spot or en route to prison compounds.”[74) or [Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army](http://www.amazon.com/Soldiers-Sun-Rise-Imperial-Japanese/dp/0679753036) for an examination of how the IJA came to this state by bastardising and adapting a code (honorable surrender is in fact allowed in bushido) intended for a warrior caste to the masses; the IJA was in fact noted for how well it treated Russian prisoners in the 1904-05 Russo-Japanese War. The Japanese leadership was quite serious in the propaganda slogan it drummed endlessly into the civilian population from 1944 on: _ichioku gyokusai_, literally 100 million shattered jewels, figuratively 100 million die together. They were quite prepared for Japan to commit national suicide before surrendering. What struck me was the fairly recent documentary (I think on PBS, maybe Ken Burns) on WWII and the interviews with actual soldiers and marines where they admitted to having just killed the Japanese they captured rather than try and keep them prisoners. Not all the time, of course, but often enough. It’s horrifying to think of, but hard to know how we would act in the same situation. I’ve never had to fight, so I hope I would do better, but I think it’s naive to believe war doesn’t change you. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-allies-treat-enemy-pows-in-wwii/687369/69 "2014-05-01T20:26:54Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > What struck me was the fairly recent documentary (I think on PBS, maybe Ken Burns) on WWII and the interviews with actual soldiers and marines where they admitted to having just killed the Japanese they captured rather than try and keep them prisoners. Not all the time, of course, but often enough. It’s horrifying to think of, but hard to know how we would act in the same situation. I’ve never had to fight, so I hope I would do better, but I think it’s naive to believe war doesn’t change you. My Father told of he and his associates shooting at a parachuting Japanese pilot who had been bombing their tents and trying to kill them. They were somewhat annoyed at him. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-allies-treat-enemy-pows-in-wwii/687369/70 "2014-05-01T20:33:38Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > …and also the US who were known not to take.[Prisoners from Japan at all](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_mutilation_of_Japanese_war_dead). Good Lord. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-allies-treat-enemy-pows-in-wwii/687369/71 "2014-05-01T22:08:35Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > What struck me was the fairly recent documentary (I think on PBS, maybe Ken Burns) on WWII and the interviews with actual soldiers and marines where they admitted to having just killed the Japanese they captured rather than try and keep them prisoners. Not all the time, of course, but often enough. It’s horrifying to think of, but hard to know how we would act in the same situation. I’ve never had to fight, so I hope I would do better, but I think it’s naive to believe war doesn’t change you. The Pacific War was extraordinarily brutal on a level that most people don’t realize, I’m not trying to white-wash any of it at all. A couple of quick examples of what was fairly normal conduct: S. E. Morrison in his volume on Guadalcanal relates that in the aftermath of the First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal the stricken cruiser _Atlanta_ was taken in tow by the tug _Bobolink_. The crew of the _Bobolink_ went about machine gunning every dark head they saw afloat until Captain Jenkins of the _Atlanta_ begged them to desist lest mistakes be made. Russell Spurr’s _A Glorious Way to Die: The Kamikaze Mission of the Battleship Yamato_ relates how American aircraft went about strafing lifeboats and floating survivors. Regarding surrenders though, there comes a point in battle where one side has very clearly lost, further resistance serves no meaningful military purpose and any obligations of martial honor have long since been met. At this point the losing side surrenders en masse. **This never happened with the Japanese in WWII**. They would literally fight to the last man, which while it makes for great heroic tales almost never actually happens. Had Tarawa, Iwo Jima, or any of those other battles been fought against Germans there would have been thousands of prisoners taken as they would have surrendered en masse when the point of utter futility of further resistance was reached. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-allies-treat-enemy-pows-in-wwii/687369/72 "2014-05-02T02:42:21Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > I guess if I have to explain why treating **American citizens** worse than you treat your enemy is shameful behavior then we clearly see the world in a completely different manner. It’s pointless to explain to Southern Whites in my experience why their behavior and the behavior of their ancestors was reprehensible because they simply don’t believe that they did (or do) anything wrong. > > We’ll just have to disagree about how the situation was and leave it at that. On a related note. I read once where the German POW had escaped. Know how they caught him? He was on a bus in the back sitting under a sign that said “Colored Only”. ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-allies-treat-enemy-pows-in-wwii/687369/73 "2014-05-02T03:03:27Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > …and also the US who were known not to take.[Prisoners from Japan at all](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_mutilation_of_Japanese_war_dead). This statement is true, however it want because the US soldiers were murdering savages. The reason for that unofficial policy was the behavior of the Japanese soldiers themselves. The Japanese would surrender and have a hidden grenade on their person. When a Marine would attempt to make them a prisoner, the Japanese soldier would kill them both. This was true of Japanese wounded as well. A medic would attempt to aid a fallen Japanese soldier only to be killed when the wounded soldier detonated a grenade. Marines witnessing this behavior more than once finally had enough and swore to take no Japanese prisoners. Even the wounded were shot from a distance. A sad as it was, I can’t say I blame the Marines. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-allies-treat-enemy-pows-in-wwii/687369/74 "2014-05-02T07:36:12Z")
When I was in grade 3 (early 60’s) I remember the teacher mentioning that there had been a POW camp in the Don Valley not far from Toronto in WWII. He also mentioned that sometimes the guards would beat up some prisoners when they got bad news from the war front. I also recall reading about some German POW’s who escaped from a camp in Alberta(?) and made it to the USA border, only to have the USA enter the war not long after. I think in some notes I read about the Iwo Jima battle, there were memoirs of the local inhabitants of the island - mentioning that the Imperial officers came around and told them they would be slaughtered and their women raped if the Americans landed. They were even given grenades so they could try to take as many Americans as they could with them when feigning surrender. Presumably the Japanese troops were given the same pep talk. I imagine the US troops were as different, foreign, and menacing to them as their troops seemed to us. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-allies-treat-enemy-pows-in-wwii/687369/75 "2014-05-02T07:46:18Z")
> [@bump](#): > > **Shag’s** right though; would you have rather the US armed forces beaten and starved the German prisoners, lest we treat them well, and possibly better than some black people had it back then? > > It was 70 years ago. Let it go- there’s nothing you can do about it now, and dwelling on silly things like whether or not people in the South were institutionally racist back then isn’t doing anyone any good. No, I’m going to guess that nevadaexile would have been happy if southerners had been willing to extend to their fellow Americans the same courtesy they were willing to extend to enemy soldiers during a war. And it’s southerners who are always bringing up their “heritage”. So don’t blame the rest of us if we point out what their heritage really was about. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-allies-treat-enemy-pows-in-wwii/687369/76 "2014-05-02T11:22:37Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > On a related note. > > I read once where the German POW had escaped. Know how they caught him? He was on a bus in the back sitting under a sign that said “Colored Only”. He clearly hadn’t done his escaping homework… ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-allies-treat-enemy-pows-in-wwii/687369/77 "2014-05-02T11:30:19Z")
> [@obbn](#): > > This statement is true, however it want because the US soldiers were murdering savages. (snip) > > Marines witnessing this behavior more than once finally had enough and swore to take no Japanese prisoners. Even the wounded were shot from a distance. A sad as it was, I can’t say I blame the Marines. :dubious: There is a special place in hell for shooting injured and disabled people. I do blame the Marines who did so…and the soldiers, sailors and airmen of any nation who did so. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-allies-treat-enemy-pows-in-wwii/687369/78 "2014-05-02T12:03:49Z")
> [@obbn](#): > > This statement is true, however it want because the US soldiers were murdering savages. The reason for that unofficial policy was the behavior of the Japanese soldiers themselves. The Japanese would surrender and have a hidden grenade on their person. When a Marine would attempt to make them a prisoner, the Japanese soldier would kill them both. This was true of Japanese wounded as well. A medic would attempt to aid a fallen Japanese soldier only to be killed when the wounded soldier detonated a grenade. > > Marines witnessing this behavior more than once finally had enough and swore to take no Japanese prisoners. Even the wounded were shot from a distance. A sad as it was, I can’t say I blame the Marines. Cite, please. I can’t seem to find that particular excuse used in the stories I’ve read about the “souvenirs” taken by American troops. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-allies-treat-enemy-pows-in-wwii/687369/79 "2014-05-02T13:32:15Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > No, I’m going to guess that nevadaexile would have been happy if southerners had been willing to extend to their fellow Americans the same courtesy they were willing to extend to enemy soldiers during a war. > > And it’s southerners who are always bringing up their “heritage”. So don’t blame the rest of us if we point out what their heritage really was about. Nor are we courteous to folks who type “southerners” instead of “Southerners”. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-allies-treat-enemy-pows-in-wwii/687369/80 "2014-05-02T14:16:31Z")
How about Southers. Is that acceptable? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-allies-treat-enemy-pows-in-wwii/687369.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-allies-treat-enemy-pows-in-wwii/687369.md?page=5)