The P.O.W. Experience In Photos: Russians

[Guest Rick Research]

1-- Capture

2-- Disarmament & field interrogation

3-- Removal from the front

4-- Transport

5-- Camp

6-- Release

4: Tsarist prisoners of war being marched into the interior by Hungarian guards. Undated, but probably early in the war from the Russian troops' state of dress and equipment.

[Guest Rick Research]

4: Transport by rail. Even in 1915, the terrible condition of Russian troops is seen in this photo, taken in Hungary.

[Guest Rick Research]

5: But the war did not end in 1915... it dragged on and on.

No date on this photo of Russian POWs taking a tea break at camp-- were they new arrivals from the collapsing Eastern Front, or did years of captivity make them look like Napoleon's retreating forces must have, in the winter of 1812/13?

[Guest Rick Research]

5: No, in the FIRST war, at least, Russian prisoners fared better than their troops in the field: better fed and better housed.

Somewhere in Germany, 1917, Russian POWS and German guards-- two Germans former members of the Karpathenkorps from their cap insignia.

[Guest Rick Research]

6: For some, "For you the war is over" did NOT mean happy homecomings.

A Russian NCOs' cemetery, late spring or early summer 1918, in a German speaking area of the Central Powers.

Released from their service to the ex-Tsar by death, in the safety (again, how different from the next war) of a POW camp.

[John]

Really nice post Rick. Not much modern interest in this field, which is a shame. Nice pictures too. Its a shame they didn't fare so well in WWII....

[Guest Rick Research]

I've got various POW photos from WW1-- these have always appealed to me. Will post separate topics by country. (I've actually got LUCKY British/Allied officer prisones of the Turks, among others).

[Ulsterman]

Here's mine:

[Ulsterman]

and another:

[Bob Hunter]

Rick & Ulsterman, thanks for an interesting post.