How many Australian POWs died in German camps?

Many survived only because of regular Red Cross parcels. Of the 3,853 Australians captured by the Germans, 310 – about one in 12 – died in captivity.

How many Australians died in POW camps?

Hundreds of Australian civilians were also interned. By the war's end more than one in three of these prisoners – about 8,000 – had died. Most became victims of their captors' indifference and brutality.

How many Australians died in POW camps in ww2?

Of the 8,000 Australians taken prisoner by the Germans and Italians, 265 died during their captivity.

How many Australian POWs were captured by the Germans?

In all, 3,850 Australians were captured by the Germans on the Western Front between 1916 and 1918. Nine per cent of these prisoners died in captivity. A total of 395 Australians died during captivity in the First World War.

How many Australian POWs were captured by the Germans ww2?

About 8,600 Australians became prisoners of the Germans. They included 7,115 Australian soldiers captured in North Africa or Greece; 1,476 airmen, mostly bomber aircrew shot down over Germany in 1943–45; and a few sailors.

Australian Prisoners of War (Part 1)

How were Australian POWs treated in Germany?

Others, often starved and treated brutally, worked for months under shellfire close behind German lines. In camps in Germany conditions were better, but prisoners suffered increasingly from shortages caused by the British blockade. Many survived only because of regular Red Cross parcels.

What were the two most famous prisoners of war camps that Australians served?

The movement of Australian prisoners to Japan, Formosa and Korea began in 1942, continued during 1943, and was intensified in 1944 following the completion of the Burma-Thailand Railway. By early 1945 there were nearly 3,000 Australian prisoners of war in Japan.

How many Australian POWs died working on the Burma Thailand Railway?

The railway has entered the Australian consciousness as a byword for courage and resilience in the face of extreme hardship and cruelty. About 2800 Australians died building the railway.

How many Australians were sent to concentration camps?

At the peak of the war, Australia held more than 12,000 people in internment camps. Over the course of the war, internees included: 7000 Australian residents, including 1500 British nationals. 8000 people from overseas.

How did Australia treat POWs during ww2?

Australian authorities established “internment camps” to prevent its citizens from assisting the Axis powers (Germany, Japan and Italy) and to accommodate POWs transferred Down Under during the war. They also were believed to placate public opinion.

How many Germans German Australians were sent to internment camps?

During the First World War, Australia interned around 7000 people in camps throughout the country – of these, 4,500 were “enemy aliens” and British nationals of German heritage.

How did the Japanese treat the Australian POWs?

Japanese military discipline was sadistic, because they administered instant or Japanese punishment. This was carried out on their own troops, but when it was administered to prisoners it was particularly vicious and brutal. [Tom Uren, Straight Left, Milsons Point, NSW, Vintage Australia, 1995, 40.]

How many Australian soldiers had PTSD after ww2?

Results: Forty-nine veterans (45%) were found to have active PTSD 45 years after the war. The presence of PTSD was significantly associated with the taking of casualties (an indicator of severity of war stress as reported by the veterans themselves) and with combat stress as rated by their treating doctors.

Did the Japanese execute POWs?

The POWs who were accused of committing serious crimes or those who tried to escape were prosecuted at the Japanese Army Court Martial and sent to prison for Japanese criminals, many were executed in front of their fellow POWs.

What did the Japanese do to POWs in ww2?

The treatment of American and allied prisoners by the Japanese is one of the abiding horrors of World War II. Prisoners were routinely beaten, starved and abused and forced to work in mines and war-related factories in clear violation of the Geneva Conventions.

How many of the Australian soldiers who lost their lives in the war were brought back home?

Repatriation during the war

Service men and women of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) were being repatriated throughout the war. By the time the Armistice was signed in November 1918, some 93,000 personnel were already back home in Australia. Almost 75,000 of the men had been deemed 'unfit for service'.

Why did some German Australians voluntarily enter internment camps?

Some voluntarily went into camps so their wives and children could survive on a government allowance. Meanwhile throughout Australia there were many changes that affected Germans living in Australia.

Did Australia have Japanese internment camps?

1141 Japanese were interned in Australia, including naturalised subjects, Australian-born children and wives of Japanese residents. As part of pre-war planning, Australia had agreed to accept civilian internees of many origins from other governments.

How true is the movie Bridge over the River Kwai?

Although the film uses the historical setting of the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–1943, the plot and characters of Boulle's novel and the screenplay are almost entirely fictional.

How many Australians died at Hellfire Pass?

Starved of food and medicines, and forced to work impossibly long hours in remote unhealthy locations, over 12 000 POWs, including more than 2700 Australians, died.

Does the Death Railway still exist?

The Thai portion of the railway continues to exist, with three trains crossing the original bridge twice daily bound from Bangkok to the current terminus at Nam Tok.

How many POWs escaped during ww2?

However, for most POWs, there was little opportunity to escape. Of the 170,000 British and Commonwealth prisoners of war in Germany in the Second World War, fewer than 1,200 of them managed to escape successfully and make a 'home run'.

How much do POWs get paid?

Captive or POW Pay and Allowance Entitlements: Soldiers are entitled to all pay and allowances that were authorized prior to the POW period. Soldiers who are in a POW status are authorized payment of 50% of the worldwide average per diem rate for each day held in captive status.

What were German POW camps really like?

Prisoners were usually housed in one-storey wooden barracks which contained bunk beds (two or three high) and a charcoal burning stove in the middle of the room. Prisoners were generally given two meals a day – thin soup and black bread. Needless to say hunger was a feature of most prisoners' lives.

What did the Allies do with German prisoners?

After World War II, German prisoners were taken back to Europe as part of a reparations agreement. They were forced into harsh labor camps. Many prisoners did make it home in 18 to 24 months, Lazarus said. But Russian camps were among the most brutal, and some of their German POWs didn't return home until 1953.