How BRUTAL Was Life In A BRITISH Prisoner Of War Camp?

As the Allies stormed Normandy during D-Day and following other victories in the different theatres of the Second World War, they captured thousands of prisoners of war. Many of these were German and Italian POWs and between the US Army and the British, these prisoners were split in half. In Britain, initially there were only a few POW camps set up but as the Second World War turned against the Germans, more were created. Many Italian soldiers who were captured after the North Africa Campaign ended up making many of the camps. As time went on they were joined by hundreds of thousands of German POWs. But what were conditions inside the British POW camps like?
The conditions for the German and Italian prisoners were very good compared with camps in the Soviet Union. The Soviet camps had a death rate of around 35%, but the British camps had a death rate of around 0.03%. The prisoners were treated well and humanely, and they were also allowed to have some degrees of freedom. Most prisoners were pressed into work in agriculture and food supplies, but after their days work they were free to do many things. Many of the camps had entertainment venues and music halls where prisoners were encouraged to write their own plays and perform them. Concerts were held where the guards would bring their wives to watch, and despite there being strict rules, many prisoners were very happy to be imprisoned in Britain.
The conditions were much more relaxed, but there were a number of controls and guards were armed with truncheons incase there was trouble. If a prisoner broke the rules they would be held in solitary confinement. But after the end of the Second World War, 25,000 German prisoners decided to settle in Britain because they wanted to start a new life there rather than to head back to Germany. Some had even received money from their work on the fields. A number even married British women whom they'd met when they were allowed out for walks around the local area. Conditions inside British Prisoner of War camps were significantly better than most places during and after World War 2.
So join us today as we look at, 'What Life Was Like Inside A British Prisoner Of War Camp.' Remember to support our channel, please make sure to subscribe.
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[@61diemai]

I'm north German, born in 1961. One of the elder sisters of my mother got married to an RAF serviceman near Hamburg/Germany in 1947 and he took her home to Oxfordshire , where they lived their lives together until death parted them and also took my aunty a couple of years after my uncle. In my teenage years during the 1970s I often used to spend my summer holidays over there, my uncle and aunt had a few friends , that the after effects of war had somehow brought together. There was an English publican named Cyril , who was shot down as an RAF airman early in the war and spend the rest of the war in relatively free German captivity as a farm hand in Eastern Prussia , from were he had moved west together with the Germans fleeing the Red Army in 1945. He knew German curses from East Prussia , that I hadn't even heard of before and behind the bar of his pub he kept a sort of "German corner" displaying typical decorative items associated to Germany like beer mugs and clay Schnaps bottles. He was married to a Greek lady , who had to leave her home country during the Greek civil war during the later 1940's. Amongst the friends of my uncle and aunty there also were three German ex-POWs , one from Bavaria, one from Northrine-Westfalia and one from Dresden in Saxony , two of them were married to English ladies. The guy from Dresden was an ex-member of the Waffen-SS and he was married to a woman from Austria. Irony has it , that she had fled her homecountry to England after the German takeover due to having been a communist, so despite primal different political ideologies the two of them still fell in love and spent their lives together. It was in the summer of 1977 or 1978, if my memory serves me right , when my uncle and aunt and myself went over to this guy's house one evening, his name was Hans and he was a good friend of my uncle. We came to celebrate his reunion with his old mother, which had arrived from Dresden a few days prior. He did not see her since 1943 , as having been an ex-member of the Waffen-SS , he could not repatriate into the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany after the end of the war without the danger of probably being sent to a gulag in Siberia by the Soviets. And his mother in communist East Germany was not allowed to travel to a western country until reaching her retiree's age. Tragedy had it , that on arrival to Hans' house we had to learn , that Hans had just suffered a heart attack, he was upstairs in his bedroom, together with his wife and a doctor. All the rest of us were downstairs in the living room, Hans' old mother , who could not speak a single word of English , sat in an armchair and I, as a teenage boy , sat beside her on the armrest of that chair. She obviously liked to talk to me, since she must have seen me as a fellow compatriot in a foreign land. At one point the doctor came half way down the stairs and asked my uncle to come upstairs , as Hans wanted to talk to him as his good friend , which he did immediately. After a while we all heard Hans' wife starting to scream and sob upstairs and we all knew , that Hans must have passed. Hans' old mother, whom had seen her son again for the first time after about 35 years, sensed it as well and she grabbed me , shook me , beat me in agony and started to scream an sob into my lap as well , it was very hard for me to take as a teenage boy. Later I learned , that Hans, in his final minutes, made my uncle promise him to take care of his mother and to make sure, that she would have a save journey back home to Dresden/East Germany, which my uncle later did, off course. The poor old mother, she came to see her son after almost 35 years , saw him alive only for a few days and then finally had to bury him. It was really, really sad, just another one of countless tragedies caused by politics and wars.

[@overopensights]

Well done 61diamai, I wish you well and thank you for your story, Life can be hard both sides of the line. My Best wishes to you.

[@61diemai]

@@overopensights Thank you, all the best to you as well! These people , that I've had the honour to get to know during my younger years are clear evidence, that politics and wars were not able to destroy human feelings and behaviours after all.

[@davewright8206]

thank you for that post , very interesting and very human , giving people even more insight to the effects of war

[@61diemai]

@@davewright8206 Thanks for your interest.

[@carolecarr5210]

Dreisdan was fire bombed by the Allies & flattened.

[@brianf1132]

My grandfather was an Italian POW captured in North Africa. He eventually ended up on a British farm after he was transfered throughout Europe. He said he was treated very well when he was in England. Thank you for this video.

[@j0nnyism]

Local people tried to help the prisoners cheer up. Bringing them things that would remind them of their homes. They knew they would be homesick.

[@radomirratkovic9014]

Knew this guy who was born to Italian POW father and British mother in Manchester...Apparently Italians were free to go around while Germans and others were guarded very closely

[@2msvalkyrie529]

How were they treated ? The fact that they were desperate to surrender to US or British Army units rather than Russians tells you all you need to know.

[@sabinesteil4690]

This is very true. When my german father had to flee in the last days of the war as a 20 year old he and his fellow soldiers were desparate not to get captured by the russians because of the grewsome things they witnessed and heard about them. Said that he also told me how they( the german prisoners) were wipped badly. He had marks of that for the rest of his life. Also he was kept three weeks on a large guarded grasfield with thousands others with almost no food. Out of desperation they were eating gras and even tried to eat their leather shoes.

[@24934637]

@@sabinesteil4690 A few years ago I managed to acquire a whip of Russian origin, which is obviously very old. The guy selling it claimed that it came from one of the Gulags, but it could easily have been from a prisoner of war camp. At the end of the whip, the leather thongs are held together by a piece of copper that was originally a section of the 'driving band' of an artillery shell. IF used on a human, it would have caused horrific injuries!

[@robertomeneghetti6215]

That the consequence of how Germans treated Soviet prisoners, those they did not kill on the spot! You sow what you reap, saying used all over the world (in Germany and Russia too). Bye from Italy.

[@davidsigalow7349]

My father did his basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey. He told me that former Afrika Corps. POWs were being held there and permitted to work in the kitchens and mess halls. He said they were very tough and fiercely loyal to Field Marshall Rommel. He also told me that, one morning, the POWs trolled the Americans by putting salt in the sugar shakers, thereby ruining the morning coffee.

[@lisamoroney3036]

I live about 15 min away from Fort Dix, and a family member works there as a X-ray tech. Thnk you to your dad .

[@Matthew-hb9ff]

I was at Fort Dix in 2007 , on my way to Ft. Stewart Ga.

[@thomasjordan5578]

Salt in the sugar shakers, now that’s just too krool 😉

[@davidsigalow7349]

@@thomasjordan5578 He told me that the German POWs also put on a German Comedy Show, showcasing 500 years of Bavarian hi-jinks. It only ran about 15 minutes. (Just joking, of course.)

[@justinhealey2408]

@@davidsigalow7349 surprised it lasted that long

[@jon9021]

My dad’s friend had been a British prisoner of war & sent to a camp in England. He was only around 15-16 when he was captured in Normandy in 1944. He stayed after the war, and married a local girl. When I was I boy, I’d watch tv with his children. I can still see the pained expression on his face when we watched war movies, and we cheered the good guys (the allies), as they mowed down the Germans.

[@gardengnome3249]

Talk about opposites. My Dad was a prisoner of war in England and America. His very few recounts to his family were of a good and adventurous nature. When our family eventually got a TV we would watch a show called Combat. Every time a German sentry was hit from behind by an American soldier my Dad would comment "stupid Germans". He was naturalized as soon as he could be 7 years after entering his new country and paying off his passage loan. He married my Mum in 1953 much to the dismay of my father's inlaws. He had no regrets the war ended or about who one. His new country was/is the best in the world. His words.

[@RRaquello]

I had a cousin who went to Germany with the US Army in the early 70's, and he returned with a German wife. I remember one time we were all watching Hogan's Heroes and she got upset about how stupid they made the Germans look, LOL. I was very young at the time so didn't think much of it, but I remember my father laughing. His nickname for the German bride was "The Stormtrooper". And she looked like one too. Kind of a Steffi Graff type.

[@Mackeson3]

My family were farmers (I was too until I retired, working on the family farm) and they had German POWs working for them. They got on very well with them actually although language was the biggest barrier. The vast majority of them were 'Glad to be out of it' as you might say .

[@JPriz416]

A family fried was from Italy and joined tyhe U.S. army. he was stationed in Boston Guarding prisoners of war. One of the prisoners he was guarding was his own brother who was in the Italian army. There were some amazing stories told when we were together.

[@TheSticlizard]

I would really like to hear the rest of the story of guard guarding his own brother. I think it would be very interesting.

[@JPriz416]

@@TheSticlizard I wish I could give you more to this story. The brothers name were Nick our family friend and frank Sullo. They both have long passed and a lot has slipped my mind. I'm not sure if their story would of been in one of the Boston newspapers from back then. I think most of the guys our countries fought against didn't want any part of the war. they were forced into it.

[@kevinverduci7600]

my grandfather was a army guard. they paid Nazis for farm labor. he never carried his rifle when he had to watch any work duties he left it in the truck. they had movie night they could go in town and go to the movies they had a band with brass instruments. and most amazingly the Nazis could go to schools like college classes and night classes and if you wanted to transfer your credits Berlin University would transfer them so you could have a good degree when you leave. which many immigrated in America after a war. there were true stories of prisoners that went home as dentists and lawyers because they finished their college in America for free. I hope I didn't babble but I really enjoy this topic thanks

[@TheSticlizard]

@@JPriz416 Thank you for replying. That is a story that is missed. I'm retired Navy and joined in January 1973. There were still service members in that fought in WWII. Always asked them about there service including Korea and we were still in Vietnam. I did the fall of Saigon in 75 as a helicopter crewman. I'm not one of those guys that hang around the military clubs, commissary or VA. When I do have business around there and see an old timer I make it a point to talk to them and really ask about their service. They have some of the best stories. Really heartfelt and humorous. I haven't wasted one minute of my time listening to them. Our country's best. Love them all. I really mean it when I say Thank you for your service.

[@justhimo2728]

I remember one general of British he says what is the point if we end their own souls then we will be bad like the Germans before the war but let make the world's know how we treat them with kindness and respect that is make me cry 😔 look how the humanity and love makes us be friends the past is gone we must forget it and think to the future.

[@hirepgym6913]

My dad was a guard in a RAF POW Camp for German Airmen and Submarine crew he spent more time breaking up fights between Australians, Czechs, Poles down the local pub

[@jed-henrywitkowski6470]

Because Americans were to busy doing what we do best... liberating!

[@thotspecialforces1341]

@@jed-henrywitkowski6470 by liberation do you mean blowing up small villages and planting your flag

[@alexlanning712]

@@jed-henrywitkowski6470 Lol

[@scottbruner9987]

There have been probably, hundreds of videos and documentaries on POW camps in Germany and the Soviet Union. Thank you very much for the first one I've ever seen about British camps. Can you please do one about American camps?

[@deniseatkins9407]

My uncle was in Burma prison camp he was 13 stone when he went to war and 9 when he came home. I have seen a picture of him on his repatriation photo and he has wild eyes. He said the film bridge over the river qui made it look like butlins

[@justhimo2728]

now how old he is ? ofc if he alive 😁 lol

[@deniseatkins9407]

No he's no longer here he died about 20 years ago of a heart attack

[@justhimo2728]

@@deniseatkins9407 I'm so sorry 🌷😔 my prayers to him , I know it you will send this sad comment to me😣💔

[@jeremywade9287]

My uncle was on one of the ships (HMS Indomitable) which brought back ex POWs of the Japanese, having been a medic (sorry can't remember his proper title) he met a lot of them and heard of what happened in the camps.

[@chrissheppard5068]

He would have been a lot less than 9 stone when he got out of the camp....the Brit government would not let them travel until they had put weight on them as they did not want the Brit public to know what had happened as even then they were in the process of getting the japs in our sphere of influence. Many ex jap POWs complained that civ pop did not understand what they had been thru.

[@johnbeaumont7599]

My mother who was born in Peckham and also lived during the blitz, was moved to Hounslow which was close to Heston Airport. Her parents had a half acre bock of land there which she moved to. During that time they were asked if they would take in three German Prisoners of war to work on their property to grow vegetables. So every day they would turn up with an army guard with a rifle, they would be left there all day working in the garden, while the army soldier would sit out the front of the house with my grandfather chewing the crud. At the end of the day they would be marched back to the camp. My mother always said the three Germans said it was the best thing that happened to them to be captured by the British. Another story that could be told is what my father did during the war or any other war as a matter of fact. My father never mentioned this but I asked mother after he passed away what did dad do during the war. What happens to all the soldiers who passed away in battle and livestock, someone has to clear the mess up, father had a medical problem so was not allowed in the front line, this was his given job with other fellows, not a very pleasant job to do to remove decomposing bodies and livestock. The thing that I have never gotten over is how the Australian Government look after their returned servicemen compared to the UK which I think is disgusting. I was born in 1951, I was born and bread in Chelsea when it was a working class area, not a yuppy place like it has been become. In 1972 we were forced to live in Shepherds Bush, I will not go into that any further, but you can guess why I emigrated to Australia. I am still ENGLISH, not British, but the way Britain is becoming I am considering becoming an Australian citizen. John.

[@davidnickels3325]

My uncle surrendered to the Germans during the Ardennes Offensive and was a POW in Germany for almost 5 months. He was fairly well treated by and large and he said a lot of the hardships he faced were the same as those faced by the guards. No one had food, medical supplies were scarce, Another uncle, who was younger, worked stateside on a big farm, and they had a lot of German POWs there captured in Tunisia. The prisoners did farm work, but it was the same work done by my uncle and everyone else. It was hard but honest and the POWs were well treated. In the 1990s my uncle reconnected with one of the Germans who he had become friends with during and after the war, but lost touch with in the 50s after he returned home.

[@WillyEckaslike]

. No one had food, medical supplies were scarce,...and thats why the conditions of the camps on liberation were so bad...allied terror bombing of food meds and transport links

[@THEJR-of5tf]

My father was wounded in Stalingrad and shipped out, after convalescence he was sent to Italy where he was captured by the Americans. He was with hundreds of others sent to Florida where they worked clearing the ground that became Cape Caneveral. In 1945 he was sent to the UK to be repatriated. he met my Mother, they Married in 1946. The rest as they say is history. Both my Parents have passed, but the stories they told remain.

[@davewilson4058]

I was a boy in Southern England and got to know many Italian P.O.W's working on the Railway. We used to pop into their mess hall at Christmas and watch them have their church services and sing Carols. They were always pleased to see lots of children, especially over Christmas. i think it helped with curbing homesickness for them, The German's were not so friendly and although they could walk round our town in their patched clothes, they were mostly, with a very few exceptions, rather aloof and formal in their manner. I only remember one just after he parachuted into our road during the air battles. He was very young and rather scared, but he quietly sat in one of our neighbour's kitchen, drinking a cup of tea and eating a slice of cake, while he waited to be taken to a camp. I don't remember him saying anything, but he smiled at us in a friendly way when he left. I'm now 87 and I often wonder how he fared and hoped he got through O.K.

[@perceblue3976]

They were more like holiday camps than prison camps. After the war many of the German POWs married British girls, remained in Britain and never returned to Germany. These POWs were used to replace and build homes that were previously bombed and destroyed, hence the description, Jerry built houses.

[@georgeflanagan5201]

Jerry-built goes back to the 1840's at least so no. Possibly linked to Jerry/jury rigged ships i.e. damaged ships with temporary repairs to the rigging. Another theory says it came from the walls of Jericho that tumbled down in the biblical story.

[@SickKangaroo]

Jerry-built, 'slightly, badly, or unsubstantially built' was used at least 60 years before the second world war and it had nothing to do with German POW's

[@steffenritter7497]

Anyone who lives in the Fort Smith, Arkansas, area has likely met men with a pronounced German accent. They were housed at Fort Chaffee. These men would be very elderly, today, but they had served in the Afrika Korps. After the war, many stayed in the US.

[@hankw69]

My NCO leadership course was taught in a renovated POW camp for Italian prisoners. It was on Upper Heyford RAF in 1989.

[@lindsayclubb]

One of my father's friends commanded a POW camp, I think he said it was in Wales. Apparently relations between guards and prisoners were generally good with only the occasional incident giving rise to friction. However what astounded the camp guards was how the Germans chose to celebrate the end of the war. Apparently they got hold of the camp cat which they had treated with affection while hostilities were underway, they killed it and then carefully dissected it, hanging the dissected remains on the camp fence by the entrance. My father's friend had been completely baffled by this behavious ... he said he had found the Germans he came across to be, in the main, friendly and polite (more like the English than perhaps any other people in Europe) but then there was their dark side ... something a Brit could never quite understand.

[@UnluckyLunkhead]

My grandparents invited a couple of German POWs to visit (Merseyside), they became great friends and after returning to Germany my grandmother went over to see their families. I still have a trinket box they fashioned out of packing cases as a gift, it looks professionally made with inlay strips.

[@Wotsitorlabart]

Bert Trautmann was a German paratrooper who saw a lot of action during WW2. During that time he was captured by the Russians and the French but managed to escape both times. He was again captured this time by American troops who following interegation marched him out of a barn with his hands up. Fearing they were going to shoot him he made a dash for it. Running across fields he dived over a fence only to land at the feet of a British soldier who looking down at him came out with the immortal line "Hello Fritz, fancy a cup of tea?" The rest is footballing legend. Shipped to England Trautmann at war's decided to remain there and would eventually become a celebrated goalkeeper for Manchester City - famously playing an FA Cup Final with broken neck. He also received the OBE for work in Anglo-German relations.

[@bertplank8011]

Trautman was German jewish.

[@rdf8312]

@@bertplank8011 BS, do you really think he would have been a paratrooper if he was Jewish? He would have ended up in a different "camp" back in Germany......

[@richstrasz6653]

When mentioning POW football teams joining local leagues I was surprised no mention of Bert Trautmann , a German Paratrooper POW - goalkeeper , who was eventually scouted by Manchester City and played for them until 1964, making 545 appearances,. Most famously in the 1956 FA cup final when Trautmann, diving at an incoming ball, was knocked out in a collision when hit in the neck by a Birmingham City payer. Trautmann came round and played the rest of the match, it was later discovered he had dislocated five vertebrae in his neck.

[@marcioreis2648]

Very informative video, what a difference an upbringing makes.

[@jinnbuster4753]

Where I lived in the UK, there was a prisoner of war camp. Every morning the British guards opened the gates and most of the german prisoners marched out to work on the local farms. In the evening they all came back. Nobody guarded them during the day. They even gave the local kids rides on the tractors. None of them tried to escape. At the end of the war, a lot of them did not want to go back to Germany.

[@ripping6900]

Canadian POW camps were like heaven for many Germans. The brutal Russian front or outdoor work in the pristine Canadian wilderness. Easy choice.

[@minuteman4199]

I lived in a village in Canada where there were apartment blocks that were originally built to house POWs

[@jgoose8109]

I stayed on an old Italian POW camp at March in Cambridgeshire. Spent a couple of summers there doing fruit picking, around 1980 . It still had shower blocks outside each hut, and a mess hut. Also a swimming poll, bar , tennis courts and a T.V room. Only 12 to a hut too. but it was a lovely place

[@johnminshell6532]

We kids used to go into the woods to help the Germans POWs at work , they made us Toys and shared there lunch with us Bread and Cheese from the Farmer , My Dad went mad when he found out and saw the toys , because he was shot and badly injured in WW1 . Many POW, who worked on the English farms married farm girls and never went home . I knew one lady farm worker who married a German Pow , the farmer gave them a small cottage with a garden , he never went home .

[@donlum9128]

RIP the 3 POW bomb disposal men. They died doing the right thing for mankind.

[@fredflintstoner596]

Mrs Richards: "I paid for a room with a view!" Basil: (pointing to the lovely view) "That is Torquay, Madam." Mrs Richards: "It's not good enough!" Basil: "May I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past?..." Mrs Richards: "Don't be silly! I expect to be able to see the sea!" Basil: "You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky." Mrs Richards: "I'm not satisfied. But I shall stay. But I expect a reduction." Basil: "Why?! Because Krakatoa's not erupting at the moment ?"

[@alexbowman7582]

Some prisoners spent years with their guards many becoming friends and after the war some would visit their former guards/inmates for holidays. Some former British POW’s were told by their former German guards now friends that they had seismographs to monitor tunnel digging and would allow them to be dug for a while before finding them.

[@nmm5214]

The power of true forgiveness has the ability to make friends.

[@nmm5214]

Truth has the ability to dispel lies. And the German people were lied to by the Nazis. But many have since found out the truth and are intent to destroy Nazi ideology. As Nazi ideology was allowed to be spread after WW2.

[@robbabcock_]

Good stuff! It's remarkable how well the Allies treated prisoners for the most part.

[@321scully]

They should have had some of the treatment the jewish people had to endure.

[@markpaul8178]

@@321scully right on brother!!!

[@WildBikerBill]

I believe both the British and Americans saw good treatment of Geman POW's as their best insurance that British and American POW's would be treated well by the Germans.

[@secretagent86]

My wife’s father was a prison guard in England in Ww2. Prisoners were well treated

[@edwardgilmour9013]

Several thousand Italian POW were sent to Australia; A couple of dozen escaped from a camp on the Nulabor rail crossing; no one went after them; they all returned within a week. All Italian non-fascists were freed in 1943 to work on farms; repatriated 19467 & 47 back to Italy. Migrated back to Australia in the 50's & 60's

[@ThePlataf]

I was at school with a girl whose dad was a POW in Victoria. He loved it so much that he wrote to his wife in Italy telling her that they'd live in Australia after the war, and they did. They never returned to Italy. An Aussie soldier was a POW in Germany and used to do forestry work. Every day, a local fraulein used to smile and throw him cigarettes, strictly forbidden, but the guards turned a blind eye. Gradually, they started throwing notes to each other, and fell in love. They married and settled in NSW.

[@am4793]

My grandfather was from the a British commonwealth colony and served in the Royal Navy. When the North African campaign moved to Italy, RN sailors took charge of large numbers of German and Italian prisoners. He said that the Italian POWs were easy to manage and were often friendly. Granddad said the older Wermarcht German POWs were okay and they were soldier's soldiers. But he found the younger soldiers and officers arrogant and full of crap. The youngsters grew up in Nazi Germany and they were warped. The German officers were arrogant, class conscious and racists. Granddad was just an ordinary sailor who was converted into prison guard and made to look after and confine POWs. The German officers would not tolerate instructions from anyone not an officer without coercion. Granddad busted the noses and teeth of dozens German officers and he enjoyed it.

[@stephenrandall3551]

I was born and brought up in Chairborough Road in High Wycombe. There was a POW camp at the top of the road. After the war it was taken over by the local council and used to house homeless families.

[@davidwhite8633]

I remember being taken up to Rowler Farm near Croughton by my mother in 1945 where my father was billeted . Italian POWs from a nearby camp were sent there by the lorryfull most days to work in the fields . Some of my earliest memories.

[@davidmilne6024]

Former German PoW left £384,000 in his will to Comrie a village in Scotland. In gratitude of the kindness he was shown, when he was a POW.

[@AlaskaErik]

My father was from Czechoslovakia and was forced into the German navy late in the war. He turned 18 a month before the German surrender and surrendered to British forces just days before the war ended. As far as I know, all his time in the British POW camp was spent in Germany. He did tell me the camp commander was a poofer and asked him to be his boy toy. My father declined, apparently with no consequences.

[@icecoffee1361]

Where the German prisoners shown what had gone on in the concentration camps? Great episode 👍🏻

[@niallreid4360]

My great grandfather was a POW transport driver in Aberdeenshire, he would often tell me stories of him driving pows to and from potato farms and at the end of the day he would be given extra potato's from the POWs

[@mrtecsom6951]

It was generally reciprocal the way the axis pows were treated virtually to the letter of the law of the Geneva Convention in the UK. Allied pows in Germany were treated well , obviously there were a few notable exceptions , the 50 RAF officers murdered by the Gestapo by way of example and the atrocities committed by Germany were virtually all involving the SS and not the camps run by the Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht

[@robertwilcock7112]

As a ten year old kid in 1943, I used to get cigarettes on my dad's account and then go and trade the cigarettes with the German prisoners for their badges.

[@noddygreenacre3018]

I metal detect in Cornwall, the Italians worked on farms near Launceston, I found a 1942 Italian coin

[@sandranatali1260]

Both my parents were german speaking, so they were allowed to have POW'S work on our farm. Many of prisoner as the years passed wanted to stay in America. They couldn't believe how the people live here, they wished their country was like the US, but they knew it could never happen as long as Hilter was in control. Dad said they loved American comic books, and learned to speak english from them. Mom and Dad would help them using the comic books to learn english. They were hard workers and had pride in their work. Dad said they didn't speak well of Hilter and worried about their families.

[@TheWuschelMUC]

Did you ever read "Who's in charge here?" by Hans-Helmut Kirst? It is set in a British camp for German POWs in Egypt, which is run according to somewhat democratic standards. I do not know if the book had a real-life background.

[@ammie8659]

Nothing was as brutal as a Japanese prisoner of war camp.

[@catpainblackudder01]

Eden camp museum is well worth a visit, plenty to see...

[@lindenwatson846]

One German POW ended being one of Britains best ever full back's in their national football team that won the World Cup, the movie is called? Sorry can't think of at present. His name was Bert Trautmann

[@denisrobertmay875]

Bert Trautmann was a goalkeeper. He played for Manchester City (and other teams). He famously "broke his neck" and played on in an FA Cup Final. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_Trautmann

[@mrtecsom6951]

Although anything but perfect I think the telling fact is that after the war ended axis pows were offered the opportunity to stay behind and become British citizens and around 10% volunteered to do so. Some were because their homes were behind. the iron curtain but most weren’t.

[@tommyfred6180]

one of my relatives had Italian POWs working on her farm on the west coast of Scotland from 1943 on. she never had a days trouble from them and two of them stayed on after the war and married local girls. the local mill used some German POWs with not problems. she would tell a story that i don't think is true in any way. that the guards at the camp lost the keys to the front gates. because they never bothered locking them. when a new commander arrived to take over the camp and found out the gates could not be locked. he indented for a new padlock and it arrived in 1947. two years after he asked for it and just in time for the camp to close down. i would love this to be true. but i suspect its just a silly story. however the camps do seem to have been a very lowkey afairs in most of Scotland.

[@michael1968-m9b]

Another great video and great content

[@robertchubb1518]

I remember as a child the farmer that brought the cattle through Barrow Green Road in Oxted in Surrey...had been a gunner in Normandy..my Grandfather knew him well (having been taken prisoner by 90th Light at El Alemein ) Some locals would moan about the cows (shitting) on the road to which the old German was always apologetic..... Because my Grandfather had been treated well by both Germans (and Italians..both in the Western Desert and Italian mainland) my Grandfather always liked this man due to their experiences The Old German said...they had the best gun of the war..(the mg42) He said he was always amazed they took him prisoner...he shot that gun..and the troops just kept on coming..and he mowed them down.... Then he ran out of ammo......AND....they took him prisoner.. Honestly...this is a true story..and I remember this German farmer from my youth...l was around 10/11 years old (Only edited because “it” decided to call “Herman” rather than what I stated as being “German”” Please read what you have WRITTEN...PLEASE....before submitting..it’s not just bad US/English spelling....it makes much more of what you are saying corrupted...just be careful) My Grandfather was...and he was just a lowly rank in the British Army...but the stories..... Mmmmm......and that’s W.H.Y. I joined the British Army......

[@LeifEriccson43]

A small slice of humanity during one of the worst conflicts in human history.

[@Lassisvulgaris]

There's also the story in Ian Cobain's book "Cruel Britania: A Secret History of Torture", which covers the not so sunny side of PoWs in Britain....

[@iriscollins7583]

No wonder food and other rationing lasted so long. I remember seeing an old film, where a German was complaining about the fact that he had to work. I won't tell anyone what my remark was, To my fellow viewers. Nice to allow the education, and pay for it, It's more than British citizens were entitled to. Age 15 thrown onto the labour market, factory or office fodder no training, you had to train on the job. If you didn't like the job, many just stuck to it, probably for the rest of their working life. I trained myself through books, I taught myself Double Entry Bookkeeping. Wages , etc. I had to wait until after I retired to get any Qualifications, just to prove to myself what I had done. Too busy working before.

[@BHuang92]

Next video should be how "pleasant" Soviet gulags were.......

[@vapekin9190]

Or life in general in the USSR

[@Fredericamonserrat]

Basta ! The Soviet army saved your asses!

[@johnathanlamey8777]

Some of these prisoners were sent to Jamaica.... Hanover Street and Gibraltar Camp, Mona, Kingston.

[@LetsTakeWalk]

"It vas horrible. I vanted some koffee in ze morningkt mitt ze horrible fisch undt khips breakfast, but zey only head TEA."

[@rickkennett8505]

Mein gott!

[@timeandnourishment1961]

Und nasty, soggy chips, not crisp... und light brown!

[@tomfrazier1103]

Camp San Luis near where I grew up in California had a few Italian P/Ws. One carved a large basalt boulder with a U.S. eagle carved in relief, you can see today. The National Guard camp was established in 1917. I inherited a lot of papers from an American Civilian couple whom returned home to Manila on Nov.10, 1941.

[@raynonabohrer5624]

There were German prison camps here in Oklahoma even. One was Mcallister Oklahoma. Fort Reno.Oklahoma . And I think a couple others.

[@vivians9392]

Also in Texas at Huntsville prison.

[@johnhehir508]

Many of the prisoners of war captured in the North African campaign were in fact Polish, not German, many were Polish wermacht soldiers that were later recruited to the polish free forces ,As many as 90,000 polish started world war 2 fighting for the Nazis ,And ended the war fighting against them, in total 500,000 poles fought for the Nazis,

[@RRaquello]

It's actually smart policy to treat prisoners well as it will encourage enemy soldiers to surrender. I'm sure this saved the lives of many allied soldiers on the Western Front. It does surprise me that they were still holding POWs in Britain two years after the war was over. From what I've read about the US, the policy was to send the POWs back to Germany as quickly as possible, though I don't know the date when the last ones were sent back. Maybe because in Britain the POWs were needed for labor.

[@shutup2751]

i always wonder what if germany treated soviet pows better and gave them the option to fight instead of starving all of them in open fields

[@itsapittie]

I don't know when the last POWs held in the US were repatriated but I've seen at least one grave at a former POW camp dated late in 1946.

[@rayjames6096]

How where these soldiers supposed to know how well or unwell they would be treated if they surrendered...everybody that knew how POWs were treated were POWs.

[@RRaquello]

​@@rayjames6096 C'mon, the Germans knew they were going to get treated better by the British or Americans than they would by the Russians. The German soldiers on the Western front gave themselves up in the hundreds of thousands towards the end of the war. They fought a hell of a lot harder against the Russians because they knew if the Russians caught them they were pretty much dead, while if the British or Americans caught them they'd go home when the war was over. They also knew they'd get treated shitty by the French, so they also preferred surrendering to the British or Americans than to the French. And from this film, it sounds like they were treated better by the British than by the Americans, because at least they weren't sent to some camp in Arizona, 5000 miles away from home. Also, from my reading, in the US, it was strictly Geneva convention and not much more, while here it sounds like the British were more generous. So for a German soldier, the preference who to surrender to would be, 1-British, 2-Americans, 3-French, and if it was the Russians, fight to the death.

[@rayjames6096]

@@RRaquello Well if the British, who think they're so damn much better than Americans at every damn thing, would have taken their share of the prisoners instead of pawning them off on the US then maybe they wouldn't have been in Arizona. I'm so sick of hearing how much you people think your better than us.

[@SuperEdge67]

Was the U39 the sub taken prisoner by Dad’s Army and forced to eat soggy chips by Captain Mainwaring.

[@cmasseylynch]

Fighting on the russian front? Or working on a farm in yorkshire with land girls and getting fed well? difficult choice...

[@roxannesharbono994]

My opa snuck across enemy lines to surrender to the British when he found out about the Holocaust and helped them. He said the British were good to him.

[@zen4men]

A German POW working on a farm in South Devon stayed with that farming family for the rest of his life.

[@Jd-fors]

I wonder if any of the ships the German pow’s were on were hit by U boats while crossing the ocean to Canada and the US.

[@blackpowder4016]

Yes. The RMS Laconia incident is probably the most notorious.

[@hiramabiff2017]

British POW camps were so brutal & prisoners were mistreated, that only ONE out of 170,00 German prisoners escaped back to Germany. So much for the title of this post.

[@gypsydildopunks7083]

Pickled figs and beans for breakfast is an atrocity.

[@geemeff]

Another great video bud👌👌

[@lemmy6782]

Italian prisoners of war that were camped near were I live in a UK coastal town were allowed to leave the camp go into the local town or work on nearby farms aslong as they were back by nine at night .a lot married local girls and stayed .

[@imperialcommisar5279]

This makes me happy:)

[@stingo492]

Some prisoners of war were also sent to Australia.

[@markmoody236]

Been to Eden camp about 4 times, is a really great place to visit and learnt a lot

[@renegade-master29]

Eden camp is that North Yorkshire if so I went there 30 years ago

[@effbee56]

Italian POW's were sent to Southern Rhodesia and Australia. Some migrated to these countries in the late Forties and Fifties. I know someone in rural NSW Australia where Italian POW's were working, with a large shed built of cob with a hand made plaque " Built by Italian P. of W."

[@itsapittie]

Conditions of confinement for POWs held in Canada and the US were pretty loose as everyone on both sides knew the probability of escaping back to Germany was effectively zero. In the UK it was at least a possibility and some escape attempts did occur.

[@billwilson3609]

The US kept U-Boat crews in camps out in the Southwest deserts. They noticed some rivers going south towards Mexico so hatched a plot to break out and take those to freedom. The sailors soon discovered that the rivers were dry most of the year so all but one returned to the camp. The fugitive hid out near the camp to collect food and water tossed over the fence by his campmates so he could sustain himself while searching for a suitable escape route. The Navajo camp guards had a good idea of when he would give up and return to the camp so began leaving the camp gate open at night. Didn't take long for him to show up one night walking to the gate. The guards waved him inside then closed the gate as he walked to his barracks. I don't believe he was punished since his prolonged stay out in the desert was enough punishment to endure.

[@blackpowder4016]

It's true conditions were pretty lenient in North America but the US Army policy of allowing the Germans to discipline themselves led to over 100 murders of German POWs who enjoyed their captivity too openly for the ardent Nazis. The British were wise to segregate the Nazis on arrival. At least initially, the US Army only acted after an incident. In the end fourteen Nazis were hanged for the murder of fellow prisoners in US camps. Troublemakers were sent to special camps in the desert where conditions made escape practically impossible. Still, the death rate was only 0.15% in US camps - second-lowest behind the British. Compare that to 1.2% of Americans who died in German camps and 40% of Americans who died in Japanese custody. There was often friction between Italian and German prisoners. The Italians were happy to be out of the war. They made the best of it. Nearly all got trustee status and were allowed to work skilled jobs in town while German prisoners typically did agricultural work or manual labor. The Italians celebrated when news of Mussolini's overthrow came, much to the annoyance of the Germans. Japanese POW numbers were low so they went to special camps and were not mixed like Germans and Italians. Apart from one protest incident at a Wisconsin camp they gave no trouble. Many Japanese collaborated after discovering the stories they'd been told of American atrocities against prisoners were lies. POWs in the US were treated well in strict compliance with the Geneva Convention. When German prisoners arrived at one new camp only the guards' quarters were ready. The Germans were astonished that the guards slept outside in tents with the prisoners until the prisoner's barracks were finished. The guards explained Geneva Convention mandated equal treatment. All prisoners had access to free medical care, dentists, libraries, educational programs (English was the most popular), exercise/sports (soccer was popular), religious services, and could organize their own social activities. Many camps had bands or orchestras. Camp Carson had a 90-piece orchestra. They also got a clothing allowance. All prisoners got 10¢/day for personal needs. Their food allowance was 25¢/day - the same as US soldiers. At least one meal came with some form of meat, poultry, or fish. Meatloaf and sausage were popular as was American white bread. Some civilians grumbled POWs got fed better than many Americans. POWs who worked got another 80¢/day. Their accounts were maintained at local banks which distributed coupons for them to buy personal needs and small luxuries at the camp canteen. (No cash because it could be used to help them escape although sometimes farmers would give them cash bonuses for a job well-done.) Some POWs returned home with hundreds of dollars - a fortune in post-war Germany. Many chose to stay in the US which was permitted for non-Nazis. General officers got private quarters, up to $40/month pay and access to a car and driver. General Jurgen von Arnim, Rommel's replacement in the Afrika Corps, was something of a local celebrity in Jackson, MS because in summer he often had his driver take him into town so he could go to the movies. When asked why he would see the same movie over and over he admitted the main attraction at the theater was that it was the only air-conditioned public space in town. However, Germans often misinterpreted generous treatment as weakness or stupidity and often tested boundaries which could bring severe repercussions. More than one German was shot after taking one too many steps towards the fence despite being warned. Some of these were interpreted as suicides. Escape attempts from American camps were rare and often comical once the Germans learnt how lenient Americans were if no actual harm was done. The escape attempt rate was 0.044% which was the same rate as Federal prisons. Most were cases of trustees who went AWOL from camp. Some thirty men walked away from Camp Belzoni and were apprehended in town window shopping. When picked up they claimed they were just bored. Four prisoners from Camp McCain were caught eating lunch at a restaurant in town. They said they were tired of camp food. Some were more serious. At Fort Morgan, four prisoners went under the wire at night but returned before daybreak. One was caught by a sentry between barracks and shot when he charged the man. At Camp Clinton German prisoners dug a 100' tunnel using the Great Escape technique of carrying the spoil dirt in their trouser legs and dumping it around the camp. As in the Great Escape their tunnel was short. They were caught 10 feet from the fence. In December, 1944, twenty-five POWs escaped from Camp Papago Park in Arizona, one of the special desert camps for troublemakers. There were no trustees in these camps. Over time, the prisoners dug a 176 feet long tunnel without being detected. Once free, they found the vast distances, desert climate, and rugged terrain were insurmountable resulting in almost all returning to the camp on their own before being caught. One escapee turned himself in after seeing the camp’s planned Christmas menu. The prisoners told the guards their escape was more of a prank to honor their duty to escape. They realized there was no escape across the desert but at least one group attempted to float down the Gila River into Mexico on a raft only to find the river disappeared into a dry arroyo leaving them stranded. In any case, by that time Mexico was in the war and would have arrested them if Sonoran bandits didn't get them first. The strangest escape attempt of all involved a German pilot and the wife of a Delta cotton planter. The wife fell in love with Lt. Helmut Von der Aue during the months that he worked on their plantation. Von der Aue walked out of Camp Breckenridge and drove away with the planter's wife. They were arrested in Nashville, TN trying to steal an airplane to fly to Greenland. The most notorious escape was engineered by an American, Dale Maple, at Camp Hale, CO. Maple became a Nazi sympathizer though bright, graduating first in his high school class and cum laude at Harvard. He was booted out of the Harvard ROTC program for singing Nazi songs at meetings. He attended a Wellesley College party dressed as Adolph Hitler. The US State Dept. refused him a passport to go study in Germany based on his sympathies. So he tried to leave the country with the German Embassy delegation after Germany declared war but the Germans refused to take him. He then applied for a naval commission after learning his friend was killed at Pearl Harbor but was refused because of his history. He was assigned as a Private to the 620th Engineering Corps along with other Nazi sympathizers and German-Americans who were opposed to the war. They did non-combat duty and did not carry guns. Their specialty was making camouflage netting. During a leave of absence, Maple traveled to Camp Hale, donned an Afrika Corps uniform, and entered the camp with a returning work party. He tried to persuade the 200 prisoners there to come with him to Mexico. They refused, probably considering this guy a nutjob. In any case they were pretty happy campers being allowed to ski at Cooper Hill, Camp Hale being the base of the 10th Mountain division, as well as many other privileges such as owning pistols for target shooting, and keeping several barrels of beer and schnapps in camp. And the brothels at nearby Leadville were notorious. They got drunk together instead. Three prisoners eventually accepted his offer. Two showed up and the three drove down to Columbus, NM planning sabotage missions on the way which were never carried out. But none of them had papers or spoke any Spanish so they were refused entry at Las Palomas, Chihuahua. They tried to cross the border in the desert west of town on foot but were spotted (three gringos with packs). Mexican authorities arrested them and turned them over to FBI agents in Columbus. Maple was convicted of desertion and aiding the enemy and sentenced to hang. Maple's trial was a sensation in the US. After seven months Roosevelt converted his sentence to life in prison saying his life might be turned around if he saw the destruction and aftermath of Nazi tyranny. It was reduced to 10 years after the war and he was released in 1951. He died in 2001.

[@billwilson3609]

@@blackpowder4016 There were more unusual escapes by German POW's. One bunch in the Midwest managed to fabricate a hot air balloon and basket inside their camp. It took off one night with two POW's wearing dress suits and plenty of bottled beer as ballast. The wind carried them across the countryside as they drank beer then pissed over the side to maintain their elevation. Radar at an AFF training base picked them up so made calls to see who was flying in restricted air space. The two came up missing during the morning role call so was assumed it was them. News of that got out so they wound up being followed by a line of cops cars and those holding reporters. Their balloon eventually landed in a field where reporters took photos of the smiling POW's and amused cops standing by the basket. Then there was a POW whose large camp was near Richmond, Virginia. He noticed that guards didn't pay much attention to the civilian workers during shift changes so put on his new civilian clothes and walked out with a group of them. His main intent was to see more of the USA so started hitch-hiking rides. He was surprised that the USA had so many Germans and how easy it was for them to figure out he was on the lam from a camp. He was even more surprised that they were amused about his big adventure so provided lodging, meals and cash to help him along the way. He was taking in the sights of Chicago when he came across a bookstore ran by an old German. The old man offered him a job which he accepted. He stayed for years where he got married and started a family, then was given the store after the old man died. He was discovered sometime in the late 50's and deported back to West Germany. Chicago residents and civic leaders pestered the Federal Government enough that he was allowed to return 7 years later. Out West a ski resort had some guy show up that spoke broken English and knew everything about snow skiing and resorts. So they hired him with him staying there for the next 40 years with no questions asked. Then he was discovered to be an escaped German POW with the Federal Government deciding this time to leave him alone since he was liked by everyone and had stayed there all those years.

[@itsapittie]

@@blackpowder4016 Very interesting information! Thank you.

[@alleywatson]

Well researched and well made

[@lemmy6782]

Eden camps a great day out I was there only a few weeks ago it's only an hour away from me .

[@anggab96]

i’m begging your narrator to change up his cadence

[@billwilson3609]

The German POW's in US camps were given one bottle of beer each day. The POW's saved them for Saturday night to they could get a decent buzz by having seven. Some camps held a lottery where three winners had a unlimited number of beers to drink until they passed out.

[@Pugiron]

They were fed British food, which is a war crime.

[@glennduke5853]

Ha ha!

[@minuteman4199]

A lot of the POWs who came to Canada were used as labour in lumbering camps in the north. After the war ended quite a few chose to stay here. My father in law, who is German was about 13 when the war ended emigrated to Canada when he 18 in 1950.

[@greenr369]

Please do one on Edinburgh castle

[@skylongskylong1982]

Question according to U.K. War Office Records, 10,000, German, and Italian POWs decided to stay in Britain, marrying local girls after WW2 ? One ex Nazi paratrooper, became a famously admired goal keeper for I believe Sheffield Wednesday soccer club, and a Italian soldier started a chain of pizza restaurants In Wales. Check the info.

[@greenr369]

My grandad was stationed at Edinburgh castle looking after prisoners of war.He got on well with them.

[@ozegirl44]

My grandfather was assigned Italian POW's to work on his farm in Devon. He was a firm believer in E N U N C I A T I NG LOUDLY to make them understand English. Such a tried and true method of language acquisition. LOL

[@flashgordon3715]

German and Italian POWs had it better than the homeless in America. Camps could make life more bearable, but there are very bad cultural feelings for anything that resembles a "state run camp".

[@michaelsteiner6500]

After war ended pow about to send home but the good dit not. Cheers

[@justhimo2728]

a lot of men's of navy they was innocent workers they dosen't know anything about what happened in the land of Germany and the innocent ones who was in camps who really suffered from the bad ss Germans, I think the British army and us army was so nice in the end of war but what is make feel so angry is when some criminals nazi's escape from the law they was so evils and smart when they act like they innocent and the real thing is they was not I saw a lot of videos about the end of war and I saw a lot of them laughing so evil without remorse or respect.

[@admiralcraddock464]

I was born in a prefab house built by Italian POWs

[@alexandarvoncarsteinzarovi3723]

During WW1, Germanies POW camps had a medical staff, but some of the Allied forces lacked them,...as well as bathrooms,

[@j0nnyism]

There’s no excuse for mistreating pows they are just men fighting for their country. There’s also a propaganda role in treating these men humanely that the British were well aware of

[@deepat]

some vidoes on the crimes of the british empire would be good. be enough content for a whole channel

[@alexfrag]

camp 2 was not in Knustford?!

[@solvingpolitics3172]

It sounded like Disney world compared to what prisoners of Germany & Japan had to go through.

[@davelloyd-wide1556]

Looks just like the camp where i did my basic training in the fifties.✌️

[@WillyEckaslike]

i suggest people investigate Eisenhower's Rhine Camps to see the brutality of the allies

[@johnreed8336]

After 6 years of total war they were fair game . Ye have sown the wind

[@effbee56]

Not great but far lower death rates than Gulags of Soviet POW's under the.Nazis.

[@jensenwilliam5434]

Thank you for history lessons. Agin thank your time.

[@RT-mm8rq]

Compared to how the Germans treated Russian POWs I say British camps were a resort.

[@WillyEckaslike]

only because u dont know the real truth

[@RT-mm8rq]

@@WillyEckaslike I'm sure it wasn't a picnic, but hundreds of thousands of German POWs did not die at the hands of the British. The way the Germans treated Russian POWs is another story. Nor does history deny the cruelty of German POWs by the Russians during and after the war.

[@WillyEckaslike]

@@RT-mm8rq u have no idea so...the germans had 3 million russian prisoners and didnt have the resources to feed and supply them so asked Stalin to help...he refused stating that any soldier who surrenders is no longer a citizen...as for the western allies..go look for a book about Eisenhowers Rhine camps..Other losses James Bacque

[@WillyEckaslike]

@@RT-mm8rq while here go look and reed The Liberation of the Camps: Facts vs. Lies by Theodore J. O'Keefe

[@RT-mm8rq]

@@WillyEckaslike OK, Even if they didnt have food many were worked to death. This was not a simple war of political ideology, NAZIs did not even consider Russisns as humans. I believe they were considered " subhuman "

[@davewright8206]

3:50 on a ship (not boat)