One of the facts of modern warfare is that a warring nation has to be able to do something with the soldiers that it captures on the battlefield. Depending on the situation, this can be something quite temporary or something more permanent, such as prisoner of war (pow) camps. For the Allies, these camps were generally in North America or the far reaches of the Soviet Union. The British and Commonwealth nations shipped their POWs off to Canada while the US set up many caps all over the US to house captured enemy troops. For the Germans, they had to keep them in parts of Germany and Poland where escape would mean a long and difficult route to freedom.

Thanks to Geneva Convention on the articles of warfare, there were certain rules and requirements for keeping POWs as fit as possible until the end of the war. For those captured and held in Germany, their living conditions deteriorated with Germany's state of affairs in the war. Some soldiers spent nearly 6 years behind barbed wire while for others, it was only a few months.

This book by Peter Doyle, details the life of these US and Commonwealth soldiers. It tells what it was like to be a captured, what he went through in processing, how he lived, the conditions of the camp, what he had to do to pass the time and how he was able to communicate back to his relatives.

It also shows the inventiveness of these men as the were supplied little and often had to resort to their abilities to make everyday items. It also briefly delves into escape. While movies make one think that this was on the mind of them all, the reality is that most just wanted to survive the war and find something to do to alleviate the continual boredom of incarceration.

In this the author does a superlative job, both with his prose, with period photos and with how some of these sites appear today. It is a fascinating look at a situation that one hopes men will never have to repeat. A book that will teach us all something and one that I highly recommend.

February 2009

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