German PoWs, 1945-1948

[Owen]

With the subject of German PoWs on my Remagen thread in mind I found this article.
U.S. (and French) abuse of German PoWs, 1945-1948
I'll comment more later.
Off to work now.

[the_historian]

Tried three times to answer this, Owen, but keep getting locked out the minute I hit 'save.'
Not something I can trot out an answer to in three minutes or so, unfortunately, so I'll abbreviate it.
BULLSHIT!

[Owen]

Gordon, which bit is bullshit ?

Read another article or too.
Eisenhower's German POW Death Camps - A US Guard's Story

Is the Abuse of POW's Under American Control Unprecedented?

1% of PoWs dying isn't very high is it?
I'm sure the Russian PoWs of the Germans would have like a death rate that low.

I remember someting in the paper years ago about this.
(Might have been the Daily Mail.)
Not something I've looked into much before.
I see the Rhine Meadows even gets mentioned on here.
Massacres and Atrocities of WWII in the Axis Countries

[the_historian]

I'd say all of it, Owen, but I was particularly referring to the bit about Germans in Britain being 'slave labourers'...who were adequately fed, clothed and housed, given work on farms which the owner had to apply to the County War Agricultural Committee to get a work party , and then PAY for it to be there.
I can't speak for American and French practise since I haven't studied it, but this just seems to be so much propaganda. I mean, the guy seems to think a camp housing thousands of PoWs can be thrown up in no time, in a war zone, with material shortages and fighting not so many miles distant.
Thousands of Allied PoWs died from sheer neglect in German camps in WW1 and there's no mention.
Does he quote from ICRC reports anywhere? I couldn't see them if he did.

[von Poop]

Originally Posted by Owen D

Eisenhower's German POW Death Camps - A US Guard's Story

Having looked up the Paranormal/conspiracy credentials of the 'Jeff rense' this site's attributed to I'd certainly be very cautious about anything on there.
It's a long way from Metelmann's account, and I took him as an honest reporter of his particular situation in US captivity before his return to the UK & Germany.

[Owen]

I'm trying to find other stories but seem to get neo-Nazi sites and other very dubious sites.
Such as..

..edited as they are denial sites.


I'm not trying to put blame on the US Military at all.
Just some hard facts.
Don't seem too many out there.
After liberating Western Europe and doing their best for those liberated people's I'm sure the health and welfare of those that had been the caused it all wasn't exactly top of the list of priorities.

The wiki article seems about the best one ther eis.
Rheinwiesenlager - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[von Poop]

It's always a shame when looking on the web for the actuality of any small grubby events of the allied war (which, of course, there were, in such a huge conflict).
The smallest incident has nearly always been hijacked and magnified by the denial & Nazi-fan community so checking the source of every site becomes essential, tedious, and increasingly difficult as their sophistication/obfuscation skills increase. Comparitively remote and isolated crimes are grabbed as some sort of justification or balance for the mass organised slaughter of the nazi plan.

I reckon Wiki's slowly reaching a kind of maturity, quality is climbing and errors declining of late. (Interesting 'discussion' page on that one... The internet... approach with caution...)

[Owen]

I suppose I should have looked into this rather better than the rush job before going to work.
I was also reading about the 2000 German PoWs killed lifting minfields in France as if it was some sort of crime.
With that much unexploded ordinance left lying around it's hardly likely to be cleared away with no casualties.
As that campsite at Remagen is on the site of one of those Rhine Meadows guess whose brain will be working overtime sat outside our tent with some German wine & beer.
Wonder if the site is haunted?

[von Poop]

I don't know mate, worth considering. This Wiki page James Bacque - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia seems to get to the origin of the discussion and has good links to all sides of the story, along with the original article that probably began the debate:
James Bacque: Did the Allies Starve Millions of Germans?
Weird & quite unconvincing site, on a quick scan one glaring thing in the article is the bald statement/assumption that the Morgenthau plan was carried out... which it wasn't. (Why do conspiracy sites always use the same 'style'? That yellow and pink is kind of typical)

Remember these chaps clearing mines in Denmark, fascinating article, and quite refreshing after some of the sites relating to this 'controversy' I've just waded through:
Missing Links Think Tank German Mine Clearing in Denmark 1945-47

[Owen]

That Bacque chap gets shot down in the first link, the one Gordon said was bullshit.