|
The French Army was primarily deployed on the Western Fromt against the Germans during World Wwr I. As a result most of the POWs taken were Germans. The numbers were relatively small given the dimensions of the conflict. The number was small because the French Army was primarily on the defensive or involved in failed offensives after the War broke out (August 1914). And then after the short mobile phase of the war descended into trench warfare, POWs were no longer taken in large numbers. As the War progressed, the French began using German POWs for forced labor in war zones. It is difficult to tell just who began this practice. The French even made German POWs work in areas being shelled. The French forced German prisoners to work under shellfire for months on the Verdun battlefield. The German retliated in kind. These reprisals marked a significant escalation in prisoner of war mistreatment. The Allies transported some of the German POWs to prison camps in North Africa. The Germans retaliated and began using Allied prisoners on the Eastern Front. This led to POWs being held in horendous circumstances and unlike the general pattern, considable mortalities. Another problem was widespread food shortages in Germany. Germany was not self-sufficent in dood productiin and the Allied naval blockade made it impossible to imprt needed food supplies. The French were less depedent on nimprts, but as a result of the War there were food shortages, although not nearly as severe as in Geramny. Rehardless of shortages, the Geneva Convention required beligerant bcountries to feed POWs at the same level as their own militart forces. Rhe situation changed when the Allies laubched the war Winningb Hundred Days Campaign on the Western Front (August 1918). The Allies including the French began taking largre numbers of German prisoners.
Navigate the CIH World War I Section:
[Return to Main World War I POW Allied country page]
[Return to Main World War I POW country page]
[Return to Main World War I POW page]
[Return to Main World War I casualty page]
[Return to Main World War I page]
[Return to Main World War II POW page]
[Aftermath]
[Alliances]
[Animals]
[Armistace]
[Biographies]
[Causes]
[Campaigns]
[Casualties]
[Children]
[Countries]
[Declaration of war]
[Deciding factors]
-------[Diplomacy]
[Economics]
-------[Geo-political crisis]
[Home front]
[Intelligence]
[Military forces]
[Neutrality]
[Pacifism]
[People]
[Peace treaties]
[Propaganda]
[POWs]
[Russian Revolution]
[Terrorism]
[Trench warfare]
------[Technology]
[Weaponry]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Images]
[Links]
[Registration]
[Tools]
[Return to Main World War I page]
[Return to Main war essay page]
[Return to CIH Home page]
