The War Behind the Wire: The Life, Death and Glory of British Prisoners of War 1914-18

by John Lewis-Stempel

On capture, British officers and men were routinely told by the Germans 'For you the war is over'. Nothing could be further from the truth. British Prisoners of War merely exchanged one barbed-wire battleground for another.

In the camps the war was eternal. There was the war against the German military, fought with everything from taunting humour to outright sabotage, with a literal spanner put in the works of the factories and salt mines prisoners were forced to slave in. British PoWs also fought a valiant war against the conditions in which they were mired. They battled starvation, disease, Prussian cruelties, boredom, and their own inner demons. And, of course, they escaped. Then escaped again. No less than 29 officers at Holzminden camp in 1918 burrowed their way out via a tunnel (dug with a chisel and trowel) in the Great Escape of the Great War.

It was war with heart-breaking consequences; more than 12,000 PoWs died, many of them murdered, to buried in shallow unmarked graves.

Using contemporary records - from prisoners' diaries to letters home to poetry - John Lewis-Stempel reveals the death, life and, above all, the glory of Britain's warriors behind the wire. For it was in the PoW camps, far from the blasted trenches, that the true spirit of the Tommy was exemplified.

Genres: History, World War I, War, Nonfiction, British Literature, 20th Century

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 20, 2014

Reviews

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

As my rating would suggest, I liked it; Lewis-Stempel writes well and he offered fascinating insights into the prisoner of war situation in WW1. But I had a few quibbles that—at least in my mind—held it back from a higher rating: (1) Though obviously true, I grated against the tacit assumption that Australian soldiers were "British" soldiers... They fought for Empire and King, yes; but they were Aussies, not Poms! Maybe it is just my historical naivety, but it bothered me. (2) At times it read like British propaganda, almost as if WW1 was simply a case of "Germans = bad" "British = good". (3) The regular interjection of German terms and titles made the narrative somewhat stilted—at least for me. But aside from those quibbles, 'The War Behind the Wire' offered some great insights into an element of WW1 I previously knew very little about.

[Dropbear123 · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75/5

Really good and highly recommend if into WWI. Covers the experiences of the POWs from being captured, the transportation to prison camps, the brutality they experienced, what they did to pass the time and what they did to resist in any way they could including escape. Finishes with the experiences of repatriation after the war and what happened in the 20s and 30s for the survivors. Mostly covers British but also includes some of the Dominions as well as occasionally Russian and French prisoners as well (when they interact with the British). The book emphasises the suffering (starvation, slave labour, beatings, poor medical treatment sometimes deliberately etc)

[Roger Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very interesting book dealing with a neglected topic of the history of the First World War namely the experience of British Prisoners of War. We have all heard of "The Great Escape" in connection with the Second World War but this volume tells about those who had gone before in the First World War in very similar circumstances. The tales of brutality and deprivation are heart breaking whilst the stories of ingenuity, survival and courageous escapes uplifting. The author has studied around 500 memoirs from POWs so has done his research and it shows in this gripping account. It does our country shame to read how badly the returning men were dealt with; pensions were refused to dependants on the slightest reason to avoid the cost. It also became politically expedient to fail to bring proper justice to the war criminals who had murdered and tortured our captives ignoring the international rules of war. It is hardly surprising that history was to repeat itself a mere thirty years later. In the modern age we should surely seek peace and union across Europe and the rest of the World not division?

[Ross Firth · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5 - very interesting subject matter with some very problematic execution. While the first chapters are filled with quotes from soldiers' diaries, were balanced and fair in their arguments, and (most importantly) filled with references, in the latter chapters Lewis-Stempel falls into two troubling behaviours:

1) Going on long, unwarranted anti-German rants that border on the hysterical and are certainly tiresome. Also, making very accusatory points without backing himself up with references (behaviour that would give my dissertation professor a heart attack)
2) Dropping his professional, academic tone in favour of a "five-pints-deep-at-the-local", profanity-filled discussion. While it may sound like I'm being facetious, sadly I am not.

At the point where Lewis-Stempel used both the s-- and f-- words for no apparent reason, I knew my rating of the book would suffer, and relegate it to being average.
It's just a shame that the fantastic 5-star opening chapters were undermined by the extremely inferior latter chapters
Tl:dr - great subject matter, shame about the writing

[Oscar Owen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very well researched and accessibly written work on what is a very under represented area of history. The constant undertones of ‘Britain = good, Germany = bad’ in the author’s arguments got a little tiresome towards the end and in a lot of places this had more than a faint whiff of pro-British, anti-German propaganda. It would, in my view, benefit from a examination of the other side as well although I take the point that this book is aimed primarily at the experiences of British prisoners. Lewis-Stempel has shown an ability for well researched and thorough investigation of sources and I am interested to see how he would handle a study of the experiences of German prisoners. On the whole though, an enjoyable read for anyone interested in this area and a good stepping stone into more detailed study of this area

[Shake n' Vac]

Having done a lot of Home-Front Great War research, and writing a little about a local chap that escaped from a POW camp (gaining the MM) and another that succumbed to influenza before repatriation, I was intrigued to find out a little more on the wider issue. I was aware of the salt mines and work parties etc, but the book was much deeper. Generally well written, JLS covers in separate chapters the process of capture, the route to the camps, life in the camps, resistance to it, making entertainments, escaping, the last days and freedom after the armistice, repatriation, and finally readjustment. A worthy read, that has moments from humour to pathos.

[Stewart Cotterill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had wanted to read this book as the fate of Imperial POWs in WW1 is an area that I know next to nothing about.

I was completely unaware of the degrading treatment of British POWs in WW1 at the hands of the German military and civilians. I was taken aback at the hatred that the Germans as a people felt towards the British in particular.

You can see through the experiences of the men in WW1 how the savagery of WW2 took place. There was a thin veneer between the two experiences.

God bless the men who died in those camps under Imperial German rule.

[Susan Arra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting...

[Jeba Shikdar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very lucid and informative, I learnt so much about a prisoners of war who had been marginalized in our historical knowledge

[Caroline Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like Six Weeks, this history of the 1914-18 prisoners of war is stitched together with empathy and (where appropriate) humour. There’s a great sense of personality injected into John Lewis-Stempel’s telling of this story - and it’s personality that makes this book so readable – it never feels like he’s writing about a faceless mass of men, rather he has a great knack of bringing the voices of individuals off the page and making them matter.

I realised, as I read, how little I knew about this subject – the treatment of the men on the trains, the 1914/15 typhus epidemic, the strikes by those forced to work in mines and quarries and factories, and all the escape attempts. (ALL the escape attempts!) We read so much about the grimness of the Western Front, but this is an area that is rarely explored and I was surprised by the depths of the grimness endured – and the humour and determination that survived it. The author quotes Sergeant Parsons of the 11/Rifle Brigade: ‘If I got another chance to go to the front, I would willingly, but I should never be taken prisoner again.’ It seems to sum up the attitude of many men. But prisoners found ways to keep on carrying on; I particularly enjoyed the chapter on camp pastimes – all the pets and cricket and improvised dinner parties, the choral concerts and comedy sketches, the lectures and classes and lending libraries. All of this hobbying would read like some comic cliché of condensed ‘Englishness’, were it not all true. The book is subtle and thoughtful in its exploration of the psychological impact of living behind the wire (‘a mould so thick, so gaudily green’) – and of how the experience continued to affect these men long after they left the wire behind. A line which will stick with me is that of Lieutenant Horace Gilliland: reflecting on the experience of being back in civilian society he observes that it is like watching ‘dancers through the window when you can’t hear the music.’ What an eloquent image.

This is a book about courage and optimism and dogged persistence. It’s amusing, entertaining and also terribly sad. John Lewis-Stempel writes, ‘In the best of times in the camps men had found the best of themselves. Guts, humour, pride, comradeship.’ This account makes that ‘best’ shine.

[Brendan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was very surprised by this book. Before reading it, I had assumed, on no particular evidence, that in WW1, the Germans treated prisoners of war reasonably humanely. This book has disabused me of that. The treatment meted out to British (and other Allied) POWs by the Germans was shocking. The author does not say this explicitly but there is a clear case that it was a pre-Nazi testing out of the horrors that emerged in WW2. Prisoners were cruelly mistreated, and thousands of them were killed. The non-commissioned were made to work as slaves, and in conditions that were in violation of the Geneva agreements. For reasons of political expediency, nothing serious was done after the war to bring the worst perpetrators to justice. For some reason, very little is known about this aspect of WW1.

[Joanne Parkington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic, breathtaking, sobering & heartbreaking ... the use of actual memoir's make's this World War One book standout from the crowd ... sometime's painful to read but alway's able to stir up enormous pride ... the bravery of these boy's is outstanding ... to be able to retain that dark, wicked British sense of humour even in the most dire of situation's, to be able to survive with nothing more than that & your wit's, to get through the long period's of captivity, starvation & daily brutality by using sheer bloody mindedness, the absolute refusal to give in & the downright stubborness of the stiff upper lip. A highly recommended read.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant and moving book telling the story of British First World War prisoners that we should know about but have allowed to fade from memory, if it was ever told. You'll be hard pressed upon finishing not to be filled with admiration the British officers and troops who faced up to a brutal camp regime - just as hellish as in the trenches - with stereotypical stiff upper lip and humour and plotted to harass the guards and escape with amazing courage and panache. Enjoyed the extracts from POW diaries and letters. Felt a little sad reflecting that every single person featured is no longer with us.

[Vilune Skabickaite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great book full of true facts and incredible stories from PoW lives in camps. Some stories shock other make you lough. A book which brings quite a lot of emotions.

[Nicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I start with the positives: the book was well researched and had some detailed accounts of POWs from the first world war. There was no doubt in my mind that British POWs were treated appallingly by their German guards etc. However, this is really not surprising to me since war is not a gentleman's past time. Although, the Hague convention stressed prisoners should be well looked after it is no surprise that they were not. There really are no rules when it comes to war.The downside of the book for me was I found the historian a bit annoying. He mentioned on a number of occasions how there were some acts of kindness by the Germans but doesn't give much detail. Also, he mentioned that British men were more likely to he treated unfairly compared to French and Russian POWs because they prevented Germany from winning the war. I'm not sure whether I agree with this argument since many 1000s of Russians failed to survive the war. I have read many books on the first world war and found this book one sided and a bit stilted in places. There was hardly any mention of how German POWs were treated by the British. Also, there was no mention of the female POWs has if they did not exist. I liked the last chapter on how the POWs were treated on their return to Britain. It always makes me angry how we expect our men/women fight for our country but they are not looked after correctly on their return home.