Prisoners-of-War and Their Captors in World War II

Description

During World War II, captured service personnel of all the belligerent powers found themselves incarcerated as prisoners of war. Although the number of POWs ran into the millions, comparatively little has been written about them. This timely collection examines individual prisoners' experiences, but also provides an overview and synthesis of some of the most heated debates in the field. Casting new light on the racial and ideological assumptions of captors, authors show how axis powers and the Japanese dealt with Black African and African American troops who were taken prisoner. Political considerations are shown to have proven weightier than, in many cases, heinous crimes against humanity. Also highlighted is the history of Italian POWs in allied hands, the treatment of axis prisoners in Britain and the complex story of Free and Vichy French servicemen fighting each other in Africa. This important book will be essential and compulsive reading for students and scholars of the Second World War and will signpost areas worthy of further inquiry for many years to come.

Bob Moore University of Sheffield Kent Fedorowich Lecturer in British Imperial and Commonwealth History,University of the West of England

"The collection of essays under review has many virtues, but is particularly welcome since it represents the first 'tranch' of POW research to be published in Britain in book form. Many more will hopefully follow." Cambridge Review of International Affairs "(an) important new work" History "Until recently, prisoner-of-war (POW) treatment has been one of the great neglected areas of modern international history. This collection constitutes a serious effort to showcase the work of eleven senior and junior historians from Britain, Canada, Australia and Japan, work which explores the relationship between military captives and captors in an international context. The result is most stimulating. [...] The editors have done a considerable service in assembling such an interesting and thought-provoking collection." The International History Review