Prisoners of War

World War II #30

by Ronald H. Bailey

Book 30 of the Time-Life World War II series. Compares the treatment of German, Russian, Japanese, and American prisoners of war, describes escape attempts, and recounts how prisoners endured their ordeals.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, Military History, War

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Valerie Sherman]

Heart-wrenching human stories from all sides, though I wish they had more about the experience of Russians and Germans in each other's camps. The book mentions in passing that these were the worst atrocities and lowest survival rates, but doesn't back up that assertion with tales to honor the victims.

[Jared]

Excellent account of the prisoner’s life on both sides of World War II. Conditions for each sides’ prisoners and attitudes towards them are told in detail. There is a chapter just on escapes which contains many of the great, well-known stories. The final chapter about the liberation of prisoners is fascinating as each nationality faced different circumstances returning home.

[Edwina Book Anaconda]

A very informative and, due to the subject matter, heartbreaking read.
Some of the photos I could barely glance at, as they were so horrific.

[Al Anderson]

Typically informative Time-Life World war II book.

[Jerome Otte]

Very interesting overview of what life was like for various groups of prisoners of war from World War II. This volume covers all aspects of POW life from daring escape attempts to brutal conditions to ingenious methods of survival behind "the wire". The main thing I learned, which I was woefully ignorant of until reading this book, was that there were many POW camps here on United States soil. Also interesting was the formation of a German army division made up of Russian prisoners of war that were desperate not to return to Stalin's ruthlessly controlled dictatorial Russian police state. When the US liberated their POW camps, they were temporarily housed in Allied camps. There, they were so desperate not to return to Russia that they staged uprisings in American POW camps.(Stalin hated POWs, saying that true Russians would never surrender, that POWs were traitors, and Stalin had a decisive way of dealing with traitors.)

[Marianne]

Very interesting overview of what life was like for various groups of prisoners of war from World War II. This volume covers all aspects of POW life from daring escape attempts to brutal conditions to ingenious methods of survival behind "the wire". The main thing I learned, which I was woefully ignorant of until reading this book, was that there were many POW camps here on United States soil where large numbers of captured German, Italian, and to a lesser degree, Japanese combatants were held, some near my own hometown! Fascinating reading for WWII buffs!

[Robert Snow]

Bought this Life Time series in the early 1980's on WWII, a volume came to the house every 2 or 3 months so I could take my reading. It was very informative and enjoyable read, I still use it for reference.