Prisoner-of-war camp
A
prisoner-of-war camp is a site for the containment of persons captured by the enemy in time of war. A
prisoner of war is generally a soldier, sailor, or airman who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. Some non-combatant enemy personnel, such as merchant mariners and civil aircrews, were also considered prisoners of war.
Following Burgoyne's defeat at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777 several thousand British and German (Hessian and Brunswick) troops were marched to Cambridge, Massachusetts. For various reasons, the Continental Congress desired to move them south. One of Congress' members offered his land outside of Charlottesville, Virginia. The remaining soldiers (some 2,000 British, upwards of 1,900 German, and roughly 300 women and children) marched south in late 1778 - arriving at the site (near Ivy Creek) in January 1779. As the barracks were barely sufficient in construction, the officers were parolled to live as far away as Richmond and Staunton. The camp was never adequately provisioned, and yet the prisoners built a theater on the site. Hundreds escaped
Albemarle Barracks owing to lack of an adequate number of guards. As the British army moved northward from the Carolinas in late 1780, the remaining prisoners were moved to Frederick Maryland, Winchester Virginia, and perhaps elsewhere. No remains of the encampment site are left. Located northwest of downtown Charlottesville, around "Ivy Farms."
The earliest known purpose-built prisoner-of-war camp was built at
Norman Cross, England in
1797 to house the increasing number of prisoners from the
French Revolutionary Wars and the
Napoleonic Wars.
* Norman Cross - Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England [
1]
Lacking a means for dealing with large numbers of captured troops early in the war, the U.S. and Confederate governments relied on the traditional European system of parole and exchange of prisoners. Both Union and Confederate prison camps had their share of atrocities resulting in starvation, disease, and death.
Union PoW camps for Confederate soldiers
*
Alton Prison -
Alton, Illinois [
2]
*
Camp Butler -
Springfield, Illinois [
3]
*
Camp Chase Prison -
Columbus, Ohio [
4]
*
Camp Chemung -
New York [
5]
*
Camp Curtin -
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania*
Camp Douglas -
Chicago, Illinois [
6]
*
Camp Randall -
Madison, Wisconsin [
7]
*
Elmira Prison -
Elmira, New York [
8]
*
Fort Delaware -
Pea Patch Island,
Delaware [
9]
*
Fort Jefferson -
Key West, Florida [
10]
*
Fort McHenry -
Baltimore, Maryland [
11]
*
Fort Warren -
Boston, Massachusetts [
12]
*
Gratiot Street Prison -
St. Louis, Missouri [
13]
*
Johnson's Island - Lake Erie,
Sandusky, Ohio [
14]
*
Ohio State Penitentiary -
Columbus, Ohio [
15]
*
Old Capitol Prison -
Washington, DC [
16]
*
Point Lookout -
Saint Mary's County, Maryland [
17]
*
Rock Island Prison -
Rock Island, Illinois - a government owned island in the
Mississippi River [
18]
Confederate PoW camps for Union soldiers
*
Andersonville -
Andersonville, Georgia*
Belle Isle -
Richmond, Virginia*
Blackshear Prison -
Blackshear, Georgia [
19]
*
Cahaba Prison (Castle Morgan) -
Selma, Alabama *
Camp Ford - near
Tyler, Texas [
20]
*
Castle Pinckney -
Charleston, South Carolina*
Castle Sorghum -
Columbia, South Carolina *
Castle Thunder -
Richmond, Virginia*
Danville Prison -
Danville, Virginia*
Florence Stockade -
Florence, South Carolina*
Fort Pulaski -
Savannah, Georgia *
Gratiot Street Prison -
St Louis, Missouri*
Libby Prison -
Richmond, Virginia*
Salisbury Prison -
Salisbury, North CarolinaBoer PoW camps for British
* Pretoria
* Waterval
* Nooitgedacht
* Barberton
British PoW camps for Boer
* Cape Town
* Simonstown
* Natal
British PoW camps for Boer - Overseas
* St. Helena
* Ceylon
* India
* Bermuda
* Portugal
The first international convention on prisoners of war was signed at the
Hague Peace Conference of 1899. It was widened by the Hague Convention of 1907. These rules proved insufficient in
World War I, and the
International Red Cross proposed a more complete code.
Polish PoW camps for Red Army PoWs (1919-1922)
Tuchol
Since autumn of 1920 thousands of captured Red Army men have been placed in the camp of Тuchol. These POWs lived in trenches. Famine, cold and infectious diseases killed tens prisoners daily. In the winter 1920/1921 PoWs had a death rate of about 25% which was attributed to malnutrition, poor sanitary conditions, lack of fuel and medicines and physical maltreatment by the polish supervisors.
«From the moment of opening an infirmary in February, 1921 till
May 11,
1921 there was registered epidemic diseases 6491, not epidemic 12294, 2561 deaths» (
W.Rezmer, Zbigniew Karpus, G.Matvejev «Red Army POWs in the Polish POW camps 1919-1922», p. 671).
Lieutenant colonel I. Matuszewski, the head of the II department of the Polish Joint Staff, informed the military minister of Poland in the letter on
February 1,
1922, that 22 thousand of PoWs were lost in the camp of Tuchol in all time of its existence. (
«Red Army POWs...», p. 671)
The
Third Geneva Convention (1929) established the certain provisions relative to the treatment of Prisoners of War. One requirement was that PoW camps were to be open to inspection by authorized representatives of a neutral power.
* Article 10 required that PoWs should be lodged in adequately heated and lighted buildings where conditions were the same as their own troops.
* Articles 27-32 detailed the conditions of labor.
Enlisted ranks were required to perform whatever labor they were asked and able to do, so long as it was not dangerous and did not support the captor's war effort. Senior
Non-commissioned officers (sergeants and above) were required to work only in a supervisory role.
Commissioned officers were not required to work, although they could volunteer. The work performed was largely agricultural or industrial, ranging from coal or potash mining, stone quarrying, or work in saw mills, breweries, factories, railroad yards, and forests. PoWs hired out to military and civilian contractors were supposed to receive pay. The workers were also supposed to get a least one day a week of rest.
* Article 76 ensured that PoWs who died in captivity were honourably buried in marked graves.
The
Cowra breakout, on
August 5 1944, is believed to be the largest escape of POWs in recorded history and possibly the largest prison breakout ever. At least 545
Japanese POWs attempted to escape from a camp near
Cowra,
Australia. Most sources say that 234 POWs were killed or committed suicide. The remainder were recaptured.
Allied PoW camps
*
List of POW camps in Australia*
List of POW camps in Britain*
List of POW camps in the United States*
List of POW camps in Canada*
List of POW camps in USSR*
List of POW camps in IndiaAxis PoW camps
*
List of POW camps in Germany and German occupied countries (Stalags), also see [
21]
*
List of POW camps in Italy*
List of POW camps in Japan*
List of Japanese HellshipsU.N. PoW camps
The International Red Cross visited U.N. POW camps, often unannounced, noting prisoner hygiene, quality of medical care, variety of diet and weight gain. They talked to the prisoners and asked for their comments on conditions, as well as providing them with copies of the Geneva Convention. The IRC delegates dispersed boots, soap and other requested goods.
* Koje-do Island - a prison camp where 3,200 North Korean officers were held. In May 1952, Chinese and North Korean prisoners at Koje Island rioted and took Brigadier General Francis T. Dodd captive.
Communist PoW camps
In the communist PoW camps, U.N. prisoners suffered starvation and the deprivation of sleep, food and medical care; many endured various levels of torture. Communist guards often retained relief packages and food for themselves.
While these PoW Camps were designated numerically ie: Camp 1, Camp 2, etc, by the communists, the PoWs often gave the camps a name.
* Camp 1 - Changsong - near Camp 3 on the Yalu River. [
22]
* Camp 2 - Pyoktong - on the Yalu River. [
23]
* Camp 3 - Changsong - near Camp 1 on the Yalu River. [
24]
* Camp 4 - north of Camp 2
* Camp 5 - near Pyoktong. [
25]
* Camp 6 - P'yong-yang
* Camp 7 - near Pyoktong. [
26]
* Camp 8 - Kangdong
* Camp 9 - P'yong-yang.
* Camp 10 - Chon ma
* Camp 11 - Pukchin
* Camp 12 - P'yong-yang- (aka. Peace Camp) was located in the northwestern vicinity of the Capitol. Nearby were several other camps including PAK's Palace.
* Bean Camp - Suan
* Camp DeSoto - P'yong-yang locale - The camp was near to Camp 12.
* Pak's Palace Camp - P'yong-yang locale - Located in the northern most area near the Capitol, this camp was so-named after a notorious interrogator, Col. Pak. The camp was near Camp 12.
* Pukchin Mining Camp - between Kunu-ri and Pyoktong - (aka. Death Valley Camp).
* Sunchon Tunnel - - (aka. Caves Camp) Site of a massacre of prisoners.
* Suan Mining Camp - P'yong-yang
* Valley Camps - Teksil-li
Vietnamese Army PoW camps in South Vietnam
By the end of 1965, Viet Cong suspects, prisoners of war, and even juvenile delinquents were all mixed together in Vietnamese jails and prisons. After June 1965 the prison population steadily rose until by early 1966 there was no space for more prisoners in the existing jails and prisons. In 1965 plans were made to construct five PoW camps, each having an initial capacity of 1,000 prisoners. Each camp would be staffed by Vietnamese military police, with U.S. military police prisoner of war advisers also assigned to each stockade.
Prisons and jails*
Con Son National Prison
*Chi Hoa National Prison
*Tam Hiep National Prison
*Thu Duc National Prison
* plus 42 Province jails
Camps*Bien Hoa camp - in III Corp area was opened May 1966
*Pleiku camp - in II Corps area was opened August 1966
*Da Nang camp - in I Corps area was opened in November 1966
*Can Tho camp - in IV Corps area was opened December 1966
*Qui Nhon - opened March 1968 (for female PoWs)
*Phu Quoc Island - off the coast of Cambodia opened in 1968
Viet Cong PoW camps in North Vietnam
*Alcatraz - North Central
Hanoi*Briarpatch - 33 Miles WNW of Hanoi
*Camp Faith - 9 Miles West of Hanoi
*Camp Hope - Son Tay, 22 Miles WNW of Hanoi
*Dirty Bird - Northern Hanoi
*Dogpatch - 105 Miles NNE of Hanoi
*Farnsworth - 18 Miles SW of Hanoi
*
Hanoi Hilton - Hoa Lo, Central Hanoi
*Mountain Camp - 40 Miles NW of Hanoi
*Plantation - Northeast Hanoi
*Rockpile - 32 Miles South of Hanoi
*Skidrow - 6 Miles SW of Hanoi
*Zoo - SW suburb of Hanoi
Afghanistan and Iraq wars (2001-?)
The United States has refused to grant prisoner-of-war status to many prisoners captured during its
2001 invasion of Afghanistan and
2003 invasion of Iraq. The legality of this refusal has been questioned and cases are pending in the US courts. A recent
U.S. Supreme Court decision seems to have given all prisoners under US control POW status. This is under dispute. Other captives, including
Saddam Hussein, have been accorded PoW status. The International Red Cross has been permitted to visit at least some sites. It has been alleged that many prisoners are held in secret locations or by friendly governments. Known sites include:
*
Abu Ghraib prison - 32 km west of
Baghdad, Iraq*
Bagram Air Base - near Charikar in Parvan,
Afghanistan*
Camp Delta -
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
