How were POW's really treated in WW2 and why does it seem like canals were really important in WW2?

Are you asking how the Axis treated the Allied POWS?

The Germans generally abided by the Geneva Convention when dealing with the Western Allied Prisoners of War. Of course many Allied POWs tried escaping, and did not love their living conditions, but for the most part they were treated with some modicum of civility and decency. Until escapes happened, then the Germans would lose their temper and make all sorts of threats, and sometimes kill the recaptured escapees. In Germany POW Camps were called Stalag (which is short for Kriegsgefangenen-Mannschafts-Stammlager, with the word Stalag being a contraction of Stammlager. Basically a loose translation of “Prisoner of War Camps”). The Germans did send some Allied prisoners to Concentration Camps, specifically to work in factories, such is at Buchenwald, but the vast majority of western Allied POWs were sent to Stalags. Each Wehrmacht (Military) Branch had their own Stalags, where captured Allied troops from the same services would be sent. So in the case of the famous “Great Escape”, that was a Stalag meant strictly for Allied Airmen, and was run by the German Luftwaffe (Air Force). Usually the type of Stalag would be denoted with a number after it, and in the case for Airforce it would be something like Stalag Luft III.

Once Allied POWs arrived to the Stalags, they were then separated by Nationality (with separate quarters for Americans, British and Commonwealth, French, Belgian, later in the war Italians etc…), and then separated by Enlisted / NCO personnel and Officers. Either shortly before or shortly after a POW had settled in to their new camp life, they were brought in to the Commandant’s Office for light questioning and interrogation (usually by a specially trained Intelligence Officer, or in some cases SS and Gestapo). They asked such questions about their units numbers, figures, movements, operations etc… All in an attempt to gather further intelligence that could then be used in the war effort. Later on they would also try to bribe or coerce POWs to spy for them against their own comrades; to learn of planned escapes, or strikes etc…. The vast majority of POWs only gave their Name, Rank, and Identifier Number (which, per the Geneva Convention was allowed). Per the Geneva Convention enlisted personnel could be made to work (in humane conditions), but officers were exempt from work. The Germans usually abided this section of the Geneva Convention, although in some cases, like in Stalag Lufts with an overwhelming Officer class (since many shot down pilots were mostly officers) , were made to do some light menial work alongside the enlisted personnel. The Germans also (usually) allowed Red Cross packages and parcels to be handed out to Allied POWS. The Germans allowed the Allied POWs the ability to play sports, have clubs (such a choir and theater), have their own gardens etc… The Germans allowed and moderately trusted the highest ranking POW to command and have control and decorum over his lower ranking soldiers. Now obviously this was not some Boys Club, being captured and interned in a Nazi POW Camp was not ideal, BUT it was FAR better than being captured and interned in a Japanese POW Camp (there were some instances, specifically if captured by the SS or the Waffen SS, where the Allied POWs were mowed down [such as the Malmedy Massacre], but in the larger picture these incidents were rare).

Now the Germans treated Slavic POWs completely differently than their Western Allies. The Slavic / Eastern European POWs were also separated by nationality (like Polish, Serbs, Soviets etc…), and either sent to Stalags or Concentration Camps. The Slavic POWs were completely separated, usually by a razor wire fence and Machine Gun nests from their western Allied brethren, and were also separated from the Civilian internment and Concentration Camp population. Later in the war the Germans separated Slavs even further down to ethnic lines, and tried to pull soldiers from POW camps to form foreign units; such as Vlasov’s Army (Russian Liberation Army, under a captured Soviet General). These Slavic POWs, specifically the Soviets and the Poles were treated as subhuman. They were not afforded the same luxuries nor respect that was given to the western Allied POWs. They were rarely, if at all, given Red Cross parcels. They were not fed to the same standards. And because usually there were many many more Soviet and Polish POWs (as compared to western POWs) their living conditions were cramped, over crowded, sparse, and disease and lice were rampant. Dying of diseases (cholera, typhoid fever etc…) and starvation was a normal occurrence in Slavic Camps.

Now the Japanese treated the Allies (the Soviet Union did not fight against Japan in World War II until the last months of the war, so in this sense Allies means American, British, Commonwealth, Australian, Dutch, French [ After November 1942] etc…) as subhuman. The Japanese viewed surrender as utterly cowardly, and as unmanly act. Surrender was against their Bushido Code. One lost their manhood if they surrendered, and were thus not a man, but an animal – and animals were to be treated as such. The Japanese were barbaric and cruel towards the conquered civilian populations, specifically the Chinese. However, they were particularly cruel towards the Allied POWs. It also did not help that the Prisoner of War Camps and Operations were overseen by people that were viewed in the Japanese Military as unfit for Combat – which was a big slight against their honor. So many POW guards were specifically cruel and harsh, because they felt a sense of shame and dishonor for being a guard and not a frontline soldier. Also, many of the POW guards were not Japanese but Koreans and other Asian nationalities, and so they felt the need to prove themselves to their Japanese commanders. In some places, like in Singapore (Changi Prison specifically), the Japanese allowed Indian former Commonwealth soldiers to guard British POWs; so many took out their pent up aggression and anger in acts of vengeance . This was a volatile mixture that would to a lot of barbaric brutality and deaths.

When the American territory of the Philippines finally surrendered after a bitter fight, the Japanese had captured a large number of American Army, Marine and Naval personnel as well as Filipino Army personnel. For the first few weeks these POWs were kept where they were captured. However, the Japanese decided to move these men elsewhere, to a new camp - Camp O’Donnell (a former US / Filipino Army Base). To get there these POWs were loaded on to trains, and then offloaded, and forced to march almost 70 miles. 70 miles of marching in scorching heat, with little to no food, virtually no water, and with Japanese soldiers yelling and screaming. If you fell out of line to vomit, use the bathroom, try to catch your breath, or were just too exhausted to continue, the Japanese soldiers would either impale you with his bayonet, shoot you, or beat you to death. There was not stopping. There was no rest, no respite. This horrible incident would become known as The Bataan Death March. During The Bataan Death March roughly 8,000 men perished (the real figures vary, from very conservative estimates close to 6,000 and liberal estimates well over 10,000).

The Japanese would perpetrate similar atrocities throughout their 1942 advances in Asia and the Pacific. After the fall of the British territories of Malaya and Singapore, the British and Commonwealth soldiers were also interned and kept were they were captured. Then they were either marched off to camps, put on rail cars and shipped elsewhere, or loaded on to overcrowded ships (where the men would be locked in the cargo holds, with the hatches bolted shut, and little to no food or water given, for days or weeks at a time. These ships would earn the moniker “Hell Ships”). The British and Commonwealth’s Bataan Death March equivalency was the building of the Burma Railroad, and Bridge over the Kwai River. Building the railroad and bridge, specifically in a place known as “Hellfire Pass” was both physically and mentally exhausting work. Not to mention the British POWs were treated horribly by the Japanese, again with little to no food and water – so much so, that maggoty and moldy rice was considered a good day’s meal. The construction of the Burma Railway costs around 13,000 Allied casualties.

The Japanese were notoriously horrible to Allied POWs. They would beat them, starve them, think of devious ways to torture them (such as locking “bad” prisoners in a metal shed left in an open field in the sweltering heat sun – known as “Hot Boxing”), let POWs succumb to malnutrition and disease, and or just outright execute them. Receiving Red Cross parcels or any luxuries was a pipe dream of the starving and lice-ridden jaundiced POWs. The Japanese did not abide by the Geneva Convention with its treatment of POWs. Not at all.

Many Allied POWs chose to risk escape rather than be locked up. If re-captured they were usually summarily killed (if lucky). If the POW was not recaptured usually 10 to 50 other POWs (who were innocent of the escape / escape attempts) were executed in his place. Many of the escaped POWs would join local resistance / gorilla forces. There were a few of these operating a kind of gorilla and underground war in the Philippines – and were invaluable to the war effort, especially when “Dugout Doug” (as the captured American serviceman not lovingly referred to their former leader, who was evacuated from the Philippines, instead of going in to captivity with his men) came back a few years later to fulfill his promise that he would be back to liberate the Philippines.

After the war, many of the German and Japanese Commandants and Camp Guards faced War Trial Tribunals and many were sentenced to death, but most got minor prison sentences or a slap on the wrist and were let go.