Prisoner of War

Each country thought that they were going to crush their opposition especially Germany.  The Germans believed they had the best military and that they were so much more powerful than the rest. They were right to some extent but they failed to consider that they were fighting against three world super powers.  Germany was so confidant that there was eminent victory on the horizon that they didn't even build any POW camps  They didn't expect such a long arduous war.  When the first POW's arrived in Germany they had to build their own prison camps. By 1915 over a million french and British soldiers flooded in to German POW camps

 The prisoners would sleep in open fields surrounded by barbed wire and guarded heavily around the clock.  Soldiers just kept pouring in due to the fact that they were fighting a war on two fronts and towards the end of a war a third front.  For nearly 6 months every arriving prisoner would be building their own prisons.  Soldiers were outside for 24 hours a day and were only allowed a thin blanket to sleep in.  The constant exposure took a toll on the soldiers and the death rate of POW's steadily rose until the prisons were finished.  The death rate grew even larger once all the prisoners were confined to one area.  The camps were extraordinarily unsanitary which allowed Typhoid and Influenza to ravage through the camps.  It really is true that diseases killed more American troops then actual battle.  At one Austria-Hungary POW camp an average of 186 POW's died per day.  Over a four year period the total deaths would be over 100,000 soldiers.  At Totskoe Russian POW camp it is estimated that 25,000 soldiers died just from Typhoid.  The Germans began to recognize the problem and started to build disinfection vats and showers that would removed lice and other diseases.  Modern latrines also began to be implemented in the camps saving countless of lives from diseases.  
Some of the most famous pictures of any POW's is soldiers standing in masses behind barbed wire.  
But this is a complete misnomer if soldiers weren't eating or sleeping then they were working.  Only soldiers were allowed to fight by law officers were not allowed to be put to work and this law was mostly enforced by the International red cross.  The amount of work depended on the country.  France put their POW's through hell especially the German troops.  France was the first country to put soldiers to work on the front lines.  The work was brutal and the diseases tore through the front line camps.  The POW's would work under constant mortar and artillery fire.  Once the Germans found out about their own troops being forced to work on shell fire they began to force French and other POW's to do the same.  Before that the Germans forced labor was all the jobs the men that went to fight in the war did.  They worked in factories, farmed and mined.  Most of the troops were sent to small villages to do manual labor and they were forced to try to help save Germany from defeat.  The soldiers were sent to do jobs that Germany desperately needed done.  Germany ran out of man-power and subsequently Germany began to fold.  The English barely forced their POW's and by most accounts they were extraordinarily nice to the POW's.  The death rate of POW's in England was a mere 3%. German camps at one point or another reached 20%.  Nearly no soldiers were able to get out of work unless they were extremely sick.  It was very similar to Ivan Denisovich he wasn't able to get out of work because he felt awful.  His temperature wasn't high enough.  Even though as it turns out he most likely had cancer.   All in all as many as 10,000,000 soldiers were taken prisoner.  Over 600,000 Italian soldiers died in POW camps alone.  Romanians had the highest overall death rate.  29% of Romanians died while in German camps.         

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TTAA6_VAcg

Works Cited

"British Troops Blinded by Tear Gas." The Spiritual Pilgram. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2015. <http://www.kingsacademy.com/mhodges/03_The-World-since-1900/02_World-War-One/02_World-War-One.htm>.

"German POWs in French Prison Camp." The Spiritual Pilgram. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2015. <http://www.kingsacademy.com/mhodges/03_The-World-since-1900/02_World-War-One/02f_1918.htm>.

Jones, Heather. "Prisoners of War." British Library. British Library. Web. 18 Mar. 2015. <http://www.bl.uk/world-war-one/articles/prisoners-of-war#>.

"A long line of German prisoners near Amiens escorted by a handful of Australian guards." The Spiritual Pilgram. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2015. <http://www.kingsacademy.com/mhodges/03_The-World-since-1900/02_World-War-One/02f_1918.htm>.