| Show how america treats axis prisoners of war in concentration throughout U S good treatment pays dividends to captor nations HAT is our treatment of WHAT prisoners of war are officers overpaid do they have to work these and many other questions are being asked as the total of axis prisoners mounts As a matter of fact the prisoner problem has become a real one since the mass surrender of italians in tunisia after sicily capitulated gen eisenhower Elsen hower had on his hands the staggering total of axis prisoners quito quite a job for any mans army while it is true that prisoners are enemies of this country and many have been directly responsible for the loss of american lives they cannot be treated entirely as enemies but must be treated as soldiers rather than as criminals always with this thought in the background the treatment we accord enemy captives will in some measure at af least determine the kind of treatment given american soldiers who have been unfortunate enough to fall into enemy hands there are at least two other reasons for the good treatment of prisoners aside from humanitarian considerations one based upon a treaty made at geneva on july 27 1929 and the other a purely psychological one namely that war weary and underfed troops may be tempted to lay down their arms to an enemy who feeds them generously and gives them safe haven geneva conference at the geneva convention which was ratified by 37 countries which by the way did not include either japan or russia certain rules on treatment and behavior were formulated under the provisions of the geneva conference soldier prisoners are required to work but officers are not the amount of time a prisoner oner must work is based on the number of hours put in by free labor in the adjoining territory and one day a week is to be a day of rest food and clothing must be provided by the detaining army occupational classification is determined ter mined by the prisoners physical makeup for instance the prisoner who was formerly engaged as a clerk or teacher should not be put at hard labor this provision however has been largely ignored in axis countries where many a scholarly soldier grinds out a day that taxes his strength sorely in every concentration camp many different crafts and trades are plied by the prisoners but in no case do they work on projects directly connected with the war effort as a precaution against sabotage payment for labor is at the rate of 80 cents a day for the ordinary soldier here in the united states where we have some axis Imson prisoners ers scattered throughout the country in 22 camps the rate of pay for or officers ranges from 20 a month to 40 a month officers who have been assigned no work get paid anyway at the regular scale at some of the camps prisoners are kept within by double barbed wire enclosures armed guards pace back and forth outside to make sure that all is well fed army rations prisoners in the U S army camps are fed the regular army field rations in this respect they fare much better than general wainwright and his gallant band of defenders who laid down their arms on corregidor only after food and water supplies had been cut off the japanese diet consists mainly of rice and there is reason to believe that the heroes of bataan and corregidor have suffered considerably from malnutrition since they fell into enemy hands the japs evidently have nothing much better to offer for even the warriors of guadal canal and new guinea have been forced to rely upon rice as their mainstay kiska and attu aatu furnished mute evidence of the japs utter dependence pen dence upon rice as a fighting staple while the japanese government tentatively agreed to certain proposals from this country with regard to the treatment of prisoners their at A 4 4 4 am pictured here are some of the 2000 german prisoners of war who are housed at camp breckenridge ky they are marching to the mess hall german prisoners are closely guarded at all times for unlike the italians they refuse to play ball and are confidently arrogant most alost of them are glad to work to relieve the boredom of inactivity has been far from satisfactory A case in point was the shooting of the U S fliers who bombed tokyo with general doolittles Doo littles squadron which took off from shan gri la aircraft carrier hornet and who had the extreme misfortune of either being shot out of the skies or forced down for other reasons these prisoners it was later announced by the japs were shot contrary to all the rules of war as a deterrent to other american fliers who might engage in the bombing of japan this violation of the international rules of war has not however worked and japan may well tremble in its boots boats for the day of reckoning which is drawing closer with each dawn bombing perimeters peri meters are drawing closer to the heart of the japanese empire day by day the bulk of the work done by axis captives in the united states is agricultural this field of course offers the least opportunity for sabotage when captives engage in this work they do not in any sense compete with native labor but are simply supplementary to it farmers arrange with their county farm agent for the employment of prisoners the number is usually small and the prisoners are scattered over wide areas thus removing from this practice all element of hazard generally speaking axis prisoners with the exception of the jap of whom we have only a very small number are a contented lot they have better food clothing and shelter than they had under the nazi banner in a certain sense they have more liberties and for them the war is over |
