# Russian POWs in Britain **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 9, 2010, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-pows-in-britain/563574 "2010-12-09T20:11:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-pows-in-britain/563574/1 "2010-12-09T20:11:04Z")
I was watching an All Creatures Great and Small special that took place shortly after WW2. In this episode James Harriot makes friends with a Russian POW from Siberia who is currently living in a camp in the Yorkshire Dales. At the end of the show he returns to Russia. Question 1: What was a Russian POW doing in Britain? Russian and Britain were on the same side in WW2. Were there some Russians who fought along side the Germans? Question 2: If there were Russians fighting against the Allies, what would likely become of them if they were returned to Russia. I can’t imagine that Stalin would be all that forgiving? ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-pows-in-britain/563574/2 "2010-12-09T20:28:17Z")
A lot of Soviets threw their lot in with Germany when it looked like the Wehrmacht was going to roll to an easy victory. Once they had, they were stuck with the decision since Stalin was not forgiving. Many Ukrainians saw the invasion as a liberation. At least, until the SS and gestapo began their activities. [Here is a good article on it.](http://www.feldgrau.com/articles.php?ID=54) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-pows-in-britain/563574/3 "2010-12-09T20:45:02Z")
A recent episode of the UK series Foyle’s War involved a Russian POW who was a member of the [Russian Liberation Movement](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Liberation_Movement) who didn’t want to return to the USSR because he knew that he’d be imprisoned or killed if he were. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-pows-in-britain/563574/4 "2010-12-09T22:32:31Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > A recent episode of the UK series Foyle’s War involved a Russian POW who was a member of the [Russian Liberation Movement](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Liberation_Movement) who didn’t want to return to the USSR because he knew that he’d be imprisoned or killed if he were. I’d be **very** suprised if a single one **did** return to the USSR was alive 5 years after the War was over. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-pows-in-britain/563574/5 "2010-12-09T22:36:44Z")
In the Bond movie [Goldeneye](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldeneye#Plot), double-oh-six seeks revenge upon the British government because they sent his parents back to Russia to their deaths. Here’s Wiki’s article on the historical background. > **[Repatriation of Cossacks after World War II](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betrayal_of_the_Cossacks)** > > The repatriation of the Cossacks or betrayal of the Cossacks occurred when Cossacks, ethnic Russians and Ukrainians who were opposed to the Soviet Union (such as by fighting for Germany) were handed over by British and US forces to the Soviet Union after World War II. Towards the end of the European portion of WWII, many Cossacks forces with civilians in tow, retreated to western Europe. Their goal was to avoid imprisonment by the Soviet Red Army, and hoped for a better outcome by surrendering t... ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-pows-in-britain/563574/6 "2010-12-09T22:46:14Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > I’d be **very** suprised if a single one **did** return to the USSR was alive 5 years after the War was over. Some were “rehabilitated” after a couple of decades in the gulags. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-pows-in-britain/563574/7 "2010-12-09T23:22:17Z")
Thanks for the responses, That is pretty much what I thought. I was confused because the show seemed to indicate the the prisoners were looking forward to getting back to Russia, which seemed a bit unbelievable to me. But the Russian did make a statement that he was going to be going back to **Russia** not back to his home is Siberia, so maybe that was meant to be a hint as to what he really faced. ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2010, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-pows-in-britain/563574/8 "2010-12-10T01:04:27Z")
According to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn most of the Russian POWs that Germany held went off to the various gulags after the war. The reasoning, as I remember him explaining it, was that as they had been outside of Russian control and exposed to no telling what sort of evil influnces, they were no longer to be trusted. Could be spies you know. Given that the above is true it’s hard to believe that those that actually took up arms against them would have been treated much better. ---
**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:** [December 10, 2010, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-pows-in-britain/563574/9 "2010-12-10T01:33:41Z")
I believe some of the soldiers defending Normandy when the allies landed on D-Day were Soviets fighting on the German side.