During the First World War nearly
200,000 members of the British Armed Forces were at some time
taken as a prisoner of war by Germany or one of her allies.
About 1,700 of these were men from the
Essex Regiment who were held by the Germans or the Turks.
At the start of the war both sides had
made preparations in many areas although neither had made
arrangements to cope with a large influx of prisoners of war
which meant that often existing buildings were adapted for use
even though sadly many were not really suitable for the role.
As the war moved on, both sides erected
some purpose built prisoner of war camps.
Life was harsh in a POW Camp although
those for officers tended to be better than those for the men.
The Geneva Convention
Both sides has signed up to the Geneva
Convention which specified some basic conditions which prisoners
should enjoy.
Checks on the compliance to the
convention in these camps were made by the German Red Cross and
from 1914 to 1917 by the American Embassy and then from 1917 to
1918 by the Dutch Embassy.
Although the Germans appear to have
complied with the Convention in general there is little doubt
that they used a system of punishment and bullying of prisoners
to individuals and groups which breached the Convention. There
is also evidence of deliberate breaches of the convention often
in retaliation for some perceived action to Germans in Allied
hands.
Bad treatment was no doubt made more
likely by propaganda about British ill treatment of prisoners
that was designed to make German soldiers fight to the last
rather than surrender. This propaganda was accepted by the
population at large meaning that prisoners were stoned by German
civilians while marching to and from camps and no doubt
maltreated by guards in revenge for supposed wrongdoings to
German Prisoners in Britain.
Records of the visits by the Red Cross
are available on the website of the International Committee of
the Red Cross although they tend to deal in general terms and
mention few specific prisoners.
An Average Day in a camp
The POW wakes up with a mug of substitute
coffee and perhaps a slice of bread.
Then a parade takes place where all
prisoners were counted and absentees accounted for. Should there
be anyone missing the parade was held until they were found or
it was established that they had escaped.
At about 12 noon the lunchtime meal,
which was usually soup, was served.
This was followed by the evening meal
which was often potato and salted fish in the early days of the
war but in later times was more of the same soup.
At dark it was back to bed until the day
began again.
Food
Although the food provided to the POW's
was poor quality it in part reflected the success of the allied
blockade which had made food scarce throughout Germany.
By 1918 the common meal was dry black
bread with weak mangel wurzle soup.
Red Cross Food Parcels
From 1915 the highlight of a POW's life
was the Red Cross food parcel which would arrive every two
weeks.
Each parcel contained 3 tins of beef, 1/4
pound of tea, 1/4 pound of cocoa, 2 pound of biscuits, 2 tins of
cheese, 1tin of dripping, 2 tins of milk and 50 cigarettes.
Working
The Geneva Convention allowed POW's to be
made to work although the tasks should not be excessive and
should have no connection with the operation of war.
Officers were given an exception to the
need to work.
The Germans made full use of this and
established Working Camps where prisoners worked in the camp or
in the surrounding area.
Skilled prisoner may have been asked to
undertake specialist tasks but the majority undertook
agricultural, manufacturing or labouring work.
The connection with the war effort was at
times blurred as almost any work contributed to the war effort
in some way but at times British prisoners refused to
carry out some tasks and suffered from beatings.
The luckier POW's who worked in farms
were billeted with a farmer and then lived on the farm. In most
cases a relationship grew which saw the POW have a comparatively
good and healthy life with freedom to work unsupervised.
In larger rural areas POW's were billeted
in communal buildings such as village halls and released daily
for work on the farms supervised by guards.
POW's who worked as labourers tended to
have a harsher life being billeted in communal buildings and
forced to complete difficult tasks for long periods. Unlike the
farm workers the food was of poor quality and health issued took
a toll on the POW's as their well being was not on the agenda of
their captors.
Some POW's were employed in the surface
coal mining where they were used to load and unload coal onto
the railway cars and lorries.
They were also used as unskilled labour
in the underground coal mines.
Men in the coal mines also lived under
guard in a central billet and like the labourers suffered due to
poor food and low concern for their welfare. If a man collapsed
or was ill then another POW from a POW Camp would be sent to
take their place.
Other common work was maintaining the
railways and road network, work in iron works, brickworks,
Forestry, coal yards, waste disposal and construction of
buildings.
Sickness
In the camps with so many people living
together, poor sanitation and poor food which when coupled with
hard manual labour in many cases it is not surprising that
illness and death was common amongst POW.
Entertainment
Life was very boring in the camps with
organised football and other sporting events took place on a
daily basis and games like chess and draughts were popular.
Many camps organised singing and drama
with even small orchestras being founded.
Guide to Research
Click here for a guide to researching POW
