German atrocities committed against prisoners of war during World War II
[3]: 56–63 Racial policies of Germany resulted in particular cruel treatment of the black soldiers from the French colonies (Senegalese Tirailleurs).
[12][13] Similarly, Nazi treatment of British colonial forces (mostly captured in North Africa) was worse than those of their European counterparts.
[16]: x It has been estimated between hundreds to over a thousand of Allied airmen were killed in various accidents shortly after capture, sometimes by civilians enraged by the bombing of Germany (see for example the Rüsselsheim massacre); many others were abused.
[18]: 79 By the end of 1941, over three million Soviet soldiers had been captured, mostly in large-scale encirclement operations during the German Army's rapid advance.
This order stated that all Allied commandos captured in Europe and Africa should be summarily executed without trial, even if in proper uniforms or if they attempted to surrender.
[36]: 750 [37]: 202 [7]: 196 "The March" refers to a series of forced marches during the final stages of the Second World War in Europe that were enforced on prisoners of war under German control, as Germans were falling back and tried to prevent the recapture of the POWs by the Allies (primarily, the Soviets);[38]: 40–42 many POWs, estimated at thousands, died during that event.
Many lower ranking prisoners from regions occupied by the Germans (for example, this affected Polish,[7]: 38–40 Soviet, Yugoslav, French[7]: 65 and later, Italian soldiers) were released from the POWs camps then immediately forced to sign up for labor contracts with German authorities; which technically did not violate international treaties as they were no longer POWs at this point.
Gerlach cites estimates of about 1% for British and US prisoners, 1–2.8% for French, 2–2.5% for Belgians, 2–3% for Dutch, 2–4% for Poles, 3–6% for Yugoslavs and 6–7% for Italians.
[43]: 297–303 Those who were among Soviet POWs fared terribly; as Moore noted "the treatment of Jewish prisoners of war on the Eastern Front was even more extreme than that meted out to non-Jews.
[44]: 261 A similar incident involved a few dozen Polish officers who were executed after having been recaptured during the failed escape attempt in 1943 from the Oflag VI-B.
[50]: xv–xvi Charles Rollings likewise noted that the Axis powers, as well as USSR, "ignored [Geneva] provisions to a great or lesser degree", particularly in the Eastern Front.
[8] Vasilis Vourkoutiotis noted that the German High Command consciously decided not to abide by the Geneva Convention, for example by failing to provide adequate food rations to the POWs.
[51] Simon MacKenzie noted that "Particular provisions of the Geneva Convention were regularly being violated" in Germany, particularly in the context of forced labor for non-Anglophone POWs.
[7]: 30, 33 He also observed that German atrocities "cannot be attributed to brutalization caused by long-term exposure to close-quarter combat as many of the incidents took place within days, and sometimes hours, of hostilities beginning.
"[52]: 179–185 On the other hand, Gerlach wrote that "German military treated prisoners, except those from the USSR, largely according to the international laws of war".
[20]: 235–236 Hitler and some of his close associates like Goebbels were more critical of the Geneva convention than more traditional officers in the German military.
In a number of cases, Hitler argued for abandoning of Geneva conventions (in particular, for commandos and airman), only for his arguments to be rebuked or quietly ignored by others.
