nsive of 1918, copies of the order had been circulated among "the German rank and file on the battlefield", and it was, said a British source, intended to "nerve the German soldier to fight strenuously to the last ‑ to die rather than be taken prisoner. Many German soldiers were found to be in absolute terror as to what would happen to them in captivity."
In their letters and cards, PoW's frequently talked about their life in and outside British camps. Their relatives and friends ‑ even with censorship of their soldiers' mail ‑ would soon have realized that stories of British brutality to PoW's ‑ was untrue.
A prisoner in a
camp hospital in the UK wrote to a friend in Berlin, '"I always underestimate
England", he said, "the treatment is excellent, from the first moment of my
captivity I have been treated splendidly'" He finished by saying, "You need not
worry, As I write, so it is."
During the last months of the war, many civilians in Germany were suffering terrible hardship. A prisoner in Shrewsbury camp in the UK, had relatives in Kiel, who still managed to send him a food parcel. He wrote back to them, "Send me nothing more, for I live ten times better than you do!"
German Prisoners Working in France
No release for German prisoners
While Allied prisoners of war in German camps were released very soon after the Armistice and most were home by Christmas, the same could not be said for prisoners held by the Allies. Many enemy PoW's had to work as forced labor until 1920 on reconstruction and other tasks. And even then, they were only released after "many approaches by the I.C.R.C. to the Allied Supreme Council." Some German prisoners of war held in Russia did not get their freedom until 1922. The two postal items shown below, confirm the late release of enemy prisoners of war.