Figure 1.-- Here we see some Soviet boys watching a long line of Red Army POWs being marched to a distant POW camp. Notice how few Germans there are guarding them. We see two German guards on a bicycle.

There was little transport available for the men who surrendered. There was little enough transport available for the advancing German troops. And the Germans did not waist the inadequate transport that they had on Soviet POWs. As a result, the captured men often had to walk a hundred miles or more to the areas designated as intermim POW camps. The Germans were unprepared for the dimensions of the Red Army surrenders. Huge lines of POWs moved toward the designated POW camps. Photographs show massive columns with only an ocassional German with a rifle guarding them. These were defeated men who wanted nothing more to do with the War. Many could have escped, but only a few did so. None of these men had any inkling of the horrors awaiting them. The German generals who watched the seemingly enfless lines of defeated soldiers, were sure that they had won the War. They could not believe that an army which lost so many men could survive. The camps that the POWs were headed for were camps in name only. There were virtutally no prepared facilities or food and supplied. A German officer observing this wrote, "The columns of [Soviet] prisoners of war moving on the roads make an idiotic impression like herds of animals. The guard details ... can only maintain some semblance of order ... by using physical force. Because of the physical exertion of the marches, the meager diet and poor conditions in the quarters in individual camps, prisoners of war often break down, are then carried by their fellow-soldiers or are left lying. The 6th Army has given orders that all prisoners of war who break down are to be executed. Unfortunately, this is done on the road, even in towns ..." [Lahousen, pp. 100, 142.]

Created: 11:08 PM 10/23/2011
Last updated: 12:40 AM 4/18/2016