The Fighting Had Stopped for Them - But Captivity Brought a Different Kind of War

The Fighting Had Stopped for Them - But Captivity Brought a Different Kind of War

When we talk about servicemen being captured during the Second World War, it can sometimes sound as though that was the end of their story.

In reality, for many men it was the beginning of another long and uncertain experience.

British and Commonwealth servicemen became prisoners across Europe, North Africa and the Far East. Some were captured during the fighting of 1940, others during later campaigns, while aircrew could find themselves prisoners after being shot down over enemy-held territory.

For those taken prisoner in German-controlled Europe, different types of camps were used. Stalags generally held other ranks and NCOs, while Oflags were intended for officers. Stalag Luft camps were administered by the Luftwaffe and mainly held captured Allied air personnel.

The journey into captivity could be difficult in itself.

After capture, prisoners could face searches, questioning and long journeys by train or on foot before reaching a more permanent camp. Once there, daily life often revolved around roll calls, food shortages, cold, boredom and the uncertainty of not knowing how long the war would last.

For many Allied prisoners held in Europe, letters from home and Red Cross parcels became enormously important. Men also found ways to occupy themselves with lectures, concerts, sport and other activities, helping to break up the monotony of camp life.

Some prisoners also turned their attention to escape.

Inside the camps, men produced maps, altered or made clothing, forged documents and dug tunnels. Britain’s MI9 also worked to help prisoners and escaping servicemen by providing information and specially concealed escape aids.

But there was no single POW experience.

Conditions depended on where a man was held, when he had been captured and which power was holding him. The experiences of prisoners in German-controlled Europe could be very different from those of men held by Japanese forces in the Far East, where conditions were often far harsher and death rates much higher.

And captivity was not something happening only abroad.

Britain eventually held German and Italian prisoners on an enormous scale. At the wartime peak, their numbers exceeded 500,000, spread among hundreds of sites around the country.

Over the next few posts, I want to look beyond the most famous escape stories and find out what everyday captivity was actually like - from the moment a man was captured to the routines of camp life, escape attempts, reprisals and, eventually, the journey home.

I also want to look at the other side of the story: German prisoners living behind barbed wire here in Britain.

☕ Have a cuppa and let’s discover history together.

Image: British Prisoners of War in Germany, 1940–1945. Imperial War Museums, HU 9261. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.