Prisoners of war in World War I
During World War I between 7–9 million soldiers surrendered and were held in prisoner-of-war camps. Approximately 10% died in captivity.
While the Allied prisoners of the Central Powers were quickly sent home at the end of active hostilities, the same treatment was not granted to Central Power prisoners of the Allies, many of whom served as forced labour, e.g., in France until 1920.
Key statistics
Between 6.6–9 million soldiers surrendered and were held in prisoner-of-war camps during World War I.25–31% of Russian losses were to prisoner status, for Austria-Hungary 32%, for Italy 26%, for France 12%, for Germany 9%; for Britain 7%. Prisoners from the Allied armies totaled about 1.4 million. From the Central Powers about 3.3 million soldiers became prisoners; most of them surrendered to Russians.
All nations pledged to follow the Hague Conventions on fair treatment of prisoners of war, and the survival rate for POWs was generally, though not always, much higher than that of combatants at the front. Starvation was common for prisoners and civilians alike. Soldiers that surrendered were not always taken as POWs, as they were sometimes gunned down by the prevailing army instead. Conditions were worst along the Austrian-Italian front, as well as in Bulgaria, Russia, Romania, and the Ottoman Empire.
Mortality rate
Estimates of the total mortality rate are usually given at the range of 750,000-751,000, which in turn is reported as between 8.7% to 10% of the total.In total numbers, the deaths included 478,000 Austro-Hungarian prisoners, 122,000 Germans, 38,963 French in Germany. 411,000 prisoners died in Russia, and more than 100,000 Italian prisoners out of 350,000 in Austria-Hungary.
About 8% of Russians imprisoned by the Central Powers died. Estimates of mortality rate of prisoners held in Germany have been given at between 3.5% to 5%. In Austria, it was higher, at 7%.
Mortality rate of German prisoners held by the Allies has been estimated at 12.4%. Mortality rate of all prisoners held in France has been estimated at between 5.3% to 9.4%. The overall mortality rate among captives in Russia has been estimated at 15–20%; more specific estimates have been given at 17.6% and 37% of the Germans. The mortality rate for German POWs held by other allies also varied significantly, and have been reported as varying from 1.92% in the United States, 3.03% in the United Kingdom, 9.4% in France, 37% in Russia and 39% in Romania.
The mortality rate was higher in states with less developed state structure, food shortages, and history of enmity between combatants. These differences are mainly due to differences in material conditions but also in the average duration of captivity, short in the United States, longer in France where the last prisoners were released at the beginning of 1920, in Russia where repatriations hampered by the civil war were continued until 1922. The high mortality rate in Russia is mainly due to climatic conditions, the unpreparedness of the authorities in the face of an unforeseen influx, not to a desire for persecution, that of Italian prisoners due to malnutrition in Austria affected by an extreme food shortage due to the refusal of the Italian government to send relief.
Living conditions
The conditions of the POW camps were, in general, satisfactory, thanks in part to the efforts of the International Red Cross and inspections by neutral nations.The conditions at the camps were variable. While those put to work in agriculture fared well, other forms of work were dangerous to POWs, such as the digging of the Rove tunnel near the Étang de Berre in France, the demining of battlefields in France in 1919, comparable to those of the Russian gulag on the construction site of the railway line from Petrograd to Murmansk. This extreme situation was, however, not motivated by a punitive desire, but rather by the inorganization and negligence of the authorities. Article 7 of the Hague Convention provides for "treatment of prisoners in terms of food, clothing and bedding equivalent to that of the troops of the government which captured them". In fact, the prisoners' rations were conditioned by the supplies of each country. The prisoners of the Central Powers affected by the Allied blockade suffered from hunger like the rest of the population. French prisoners benefited from packages from their families which alleviated the deficiencies. Starting in July 1916, through the Red Cross, the French government provided collective packages of 2kg of bread per week to French prisoners. Russian prisoners, deprived of this assistance particularly suffered. In France and the United Kingdom, countries little affected by shortages, prisoners' rations remained more satisfactory though prisoners were struck by epidemics, typhus and cholera, especially at the start of the war, a period of unpreparedness for the unexpected influx into Russia and Germany. Subsequently, sanitary conditions improved.