My mother, A German POW, held in an open air prison camp for years after the war, if still alive, would have much to dispute with your simple minded assessment of post war prison camps. Many prisoners held in American camps in the USA were, without doubt, considered paradise to those being held in Germany, France, England, or worse, Russian prisons."German POWs in the US complained to Swiss authorities that while being taken to their POW camps, they were awakened by porters offering them coffee on the train and this disturbed their rest. That's too damn bad. Others complained at being forced to sit in chairs in the passenger coaches. That was uncomfortable. Given that most German troops in Germany were transported in freight cars, this is a little much. Once at the POW camps, a standard complaint was American white bread which the Germans said was like cake and bad for them. So was starting World War Two you jackasses."
It wasn't just the Russians who carried on wholsale rape and torture of German Prisoners. It wasn't just the Russians who treated German POW's worse than anything allowed in the Geneva Convention. I supposes a small moldy slice of white bread and a half pat of butter a day for five years, with a cup of occasional potato soup, amounting to less than 1000 calories a day, constitutes fair and humane treatment. I suppose my mother being raped by an American Staff Sargent, resulting in the birth of my brother, contitutes wonderful treatment legitimate, and humane treatment? I suppose Eisenhower ordering food to be destroyed that was meant for the prisoners is ok. I suppose that ordering the records of all prisoners destroyed, was ok? Even holocaust victims can still trace their families to the camps through meticulously kept German records. I suppose Eisenhower refusing admittance of the Swiss Red Cross to the POW camps, was ok?
My mother married an American GI after her release, because there was no home for her to return to, since it had been bombed to hell three different times. The German economy was left intentionally in shambles and further destroyed by the Marshall Plan. It wasn't until it appeared that Russia was going to take over Europe with their over 4 million man army, compared to our less than 50,000 men in country, that America began to make serious changes in strategy.
Either way, the POW's in country were treated worse than vermin and millions died after the war at the hand of Americans, or by the direct non intervention or direct refusal to allow Germany to rebuild. It was US policy to make the Germans suffer. OK I get it; they caused their own demise. Once a combatant stops being a combatant, they deserve at a minimum, by law, at least half the occupying military ration. That was 2500 calories for an American Soldier. Now, it is considered inhumane treatment to yell at a POW, heaven forbid you make them lay naked on each other or put a pair of underwear on their head.
My mother lived outside in an open camp. no latrines, no shelter, no baths, no decent clothing, not even a friggin bed. At least American POWs had barracks to live in. That is not asking for anything, but a simple note to let you know that your short sighted opinion leaves much to be desired. My mother was drafted into the army. there was no choice. They confiscated her new car she had purchased, for the war effort. Who was she to stop the NAZI war machine? Sha had a degree in agriculture, they took her and made her work as a RADAR operator. Oh, I am so sorry Mr. NAZI, I already have a job, please come another time or I'll catch you on the filp side. Have a nice day. Is that what you think the average German had in mind when Herr Gestapo politely knocked on their door? When I visited my grandfather in the early sixties, in Karlsruhe, Germany, he had just gotten running water in his apartment. There was just one common bath for the entire building. In the house I lived in, we had but on pot bellied stove for heat, and an outhouse for our latrine facilities. We used a chamber pot inside. That was in 1962, Mannheim, Germany.
That is how far into hell we bombed that country.
My family, ( My American Father's side ) has served this country in every War since the late 1800's, with the latest being killed in Afghanistan. I don't know what you friggin agenda is, but no one makes out in war, except maybe you. The only "Jack-ass", is the one who treats the subject with such disdain and contempt.
