WWI Photographs: German POWs, 1918

JF Ptak Science Books LLC   Post 1266

In the first image here  we are introduced to a small group of captured German soldiers displaying a wide range of emotions over a wide range of faces. In the second image we see German prisoners though not with any helmets,.while lastly is a group of Irish/U.K. soldiers with German soldiers' helmets with no Germans.

There were over 8 million soldiers taken prisoner during WWI, that in addition to the 21 million who were wounded and the 9.7 million killed:  38 million.  Plus 6.8 million civilians who were killed: 45 million.  And the numbers for civilians wounded are just, well, not reliable, as they were not really collected, or collectible.  At the end of it all, there were probably between 50 to 75 million soldiers and civilians killed or wounded or taken captive during the war...not including civilians who were killed by the hardships or starvation caused by the conflict.  Big, big numbers. (My post from yesterday looked at the population/percentages of these losses, here)

Image 1.(Original photograph available at our blog bookstore here.)

Detail: this shows struggle and age in a face that I reckon to be a mid-teen's, a child's face, hardened baby fat.

Detail:the older man isn't much more so, just beaten, exhaustion.

Detail:they look defeated and concerned, though the middle guy (who doesn't seem to quite fit in with the rest) looks as though he may be relieved. Maybe not.

In any event this is a grim photo--even the captor (Canadian?) looks non-committal.

In contrast is this photograph of uneven emotional display, showing American POWs in Germany in 1917:

Secondly is a photogravure showing a processional of captured German, taken circa. August 1918, and printed in 1919:

 

And the detail:

There were of course far greater collections of POWs, as seen in this picture:

The the last photo tells a different story (related more fully in an earlier post on this blog, here), a celebration of victory and survival:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Chris Hunt]

More fascinating photos!

What I find interesting about the POW picture is the soldier on the right. Such is the grip of hat-wearing in the culture of the day that he'd rather wear a heavy steel helmet than go bare-headed.

My dad served in the second war, and hated wearing his helment even when under fire. Though he was in Burma, where such headgear would have been hot as well as heavy.

[Ptak]

Thanks very much for sharing your father's Burma/helmet narrative, Chris. Interesting perspective that you've provided by a penetrating photo interpretation.

[Ltmurnau]

I have been checking this site almost every day for months now, and I want to tell you how fascinating it is - never boring, and always thoughtful.

I'd post this same message every week, but I think you get the idea!

Thanks so much for your site.

[Ptak]

Thank you so much for that compliment!