Other Losses

Other Losses, James Bacque, Little, Brown and Co. Canada, 1999

At the end of World War II, German soldiers were surrendering to American forces by the thousands. They figured that they would get better treatment under Dwight Eisenhower than under Joseph Stalin. The Germans were herded into barbed wire enclosures and left there to starve to death. There were no tents available from the US troops, no sanitary facilities, no water and little or no food. There is no way to know just how many Germans died in these camps, but a reasonable estimate is about 1 million deaths.

A person could say that this was the fault of "rogue" officers, and that Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of Allied forces, knew nothing about it. Every indication is that the orders to starve the German prisoners came directly from Eisenhower. He was also the sort of leader who read the daily logs of transmitted and received cables, so it wouldn't have stayed secret from him for long.

Another possible reason for the lack of food given to German prisoners (which included thousands of women and children) is because, just having finished a major war, there was a big food shortage in Europe. Not only did American farmers create a huge food surplus, there were also approximately 13 million Red Cross Packages already in Europe, which would have been a big help to the prisoners. There was no post-war food shortage. Also, the German railroad system was relatively undamaged, so if the Allies wanted to get food to any part of the country, it would not have been a problem.

A food shortage would not explain the huge difference in the American and French camps, and those run by Britain and Canada. The latter countries provided tents and medical care for their prisoners, along with a reasonable amount of food. Conditions were not lavish by any means, but those prisoners survived their captivity in good condition. On the other hand, prisoners in the American and French camps could best be described as "the living dead."

Conditions in the American camps defy description. There was no shelter or sanitary facilities. The ground was quickly turned into mud in which many prisoners stood, all day and every day, because there was not enough room even to lay down. Other prisoners had to dig holes in the ground for shelter. When the sides collapsed during rainstorms, the prisoners often were too weak to escape. Diseases like diarrhea and dysentery were rampant. Anyone on the outside caught handing food through the fence was shot by US troops. The status of some prisoners was changed from Prisoner of War to Disarmed Enemy Forces, which allowed the US to ignore the Geneva Convention. The International Committee of the Red Cross was not allowed anywhere near the camps.

It would be easy to justify the events in this book by saying something Like "After Hitler and the death camps, the Germans deserved it," but that would be wrong. Inhumanity is still inhumanity. I like to think that I know my way around post-World War II history, but I was floored by this book. It is extremely highly recommended and a must read.