PoWs in German hands by 20th Dec 1941

Baltasar · #1

Kriegstagebuch des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht, page 1106

Poles: 390.500 (16.517)
Frensh: 1.417.598 (36.221)
British: 61.116 (2.017)
Belgian: 217.407 (7.573)
Dutch: 22.134 (771)
Yougoslavs: 181.258 (13.559)
Russien: 3.350.639* (15.179)
other nations: 14

()= officers
* There's a remark at the end of the table, stating that due to errors, the total number of captured Russians (Sowjets) had to be reduced by about half a million. I couldn't figure out whether or not the half-million had been subtracted already. Also, the number of officers is very low when compared with other nations.

David Thompson · #2

Thanks, Baltasar. Those figures are very handy to have.

WalterS · #3

For those who reached prisoner-of-war camps alive, the chance of survival turned out to be not much better than one in three. Altogether, over three million Red Army soldiers out of 5.7 million died in German camps from disease, exposure, starvation and ill-treatment. The German Army itself, not the SS nor any other Nazi organization, was responsible for prisoners of war. Its attitude was reminiscent of Kaiser Wilhelm II's remark in 1914 that the 90,000 Russian prisoners captured at Tannenburg 'should be left to starve.'

Antony Beevor: "Stalingrad, The Fateful Siege: 1942-43," p. 59

Marcus · #4

Let's not turn this into yet another thread on the German misstreatment of Soviet POWs, thanks.

/Marcus

Baltasar · #5

Thanks David. I'll try to figure out if the number of the Russian/Sovjet PoWs is correct.

Is there a by month breakdown of PoWs in german hands available?

David Thompson · #6

Baltasar -- You asked:

Is there a by month breakdown of PoWs in german hands available?

If there is, I haven't seen it. That's why I was grateful for the figures you were able to find and post.

Jon G. · #7

Interesting figures. Not wanting to stir any controversy, but I wonder if the very low number of Soviet officers could somehow be connected to the infamous commissar order? The KTB is probably silent on that.

Does the KTB say anything about released POWs - French and other nationalities?

Baltasar · #8

Shrek, if it does, I didn't find it yet, which is hardly surprising. The KTB ist some 7,000 pages strong, give or take a few hundred.

Baltasar · #9

I read a little in the "Berichte des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht", but those reports are obviously mostly of propaganda value.

The report from 6th August 1941 mentiones 895.000 POWs in total so far. There're a lot of reports mentioning any number of pows between a few thousand up to half a million, but I couldn't find a official number in '41.