Did Nazi Germany torture It's POWs?

[Toots]

I know they tortured their own people and used them for all sorts of illegal medical experiments not to mention the mass murders but I don't recall hearing that they ever tortured American Prisoners of war. I know the Japanese did but I don't recall whether the Germans did. We hold the Nazis up as the most evil the modern world has ever seen but I don't think even they stooped as low as the USA currently is doing.

[derby378]

1. I don't know about outright torture per se, but...

...I do believe the Nazis loaded African-American POWs into their artillery guns and fired them back at Allied forces.

I have no sources on hand to corroborate this. Can anyone help?

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. Complete bullshit

Never happened.

Never mind the mind-blowing stupidity of thinking that you could load human beings into WWII era artillery guns and then have them actually fire. The mythical quality of this laughable claim is enough, without resorting to the science.

The Russian POWs were viciously abused by the Wehrmacht. American and British POWs tended to be treated somewhat better. The Germans were fond of withholding food and making the US POWs go out and clean up the civilian dead after Allied air strikes, but that was the extent of it, for the most part (obviously, I'm not claiming that no US POWs were killed, only that it wasn't systematic, as it seemed to be on the Eastern front).

[derby378]

9. Yeah, that's what I've been hearing elsewhere, too

Whatever their atrocities, that appears to be a myth.

[AngryAmish]

17. During the Great Mutiny

Lots of the rebels/patriots (depends on point of view) were tied to the front of guns and then they were fired. It just blew them apart, not send them flying.

[Taxloss]

2. They behaved with inhuman brutality towards Russian POWs.

And Russia returned the favour. Torture, murder, starvation, you name it.

Brits and Americans fared rather better. But many were tortured.

[mrcheerful]

3. Yeah they did torture POW's

also they kept red cross care packages from POWS, When escapes or attempted escapes were made. The only people not expected to be forced to do labor were officers.

[Itchinjim]

4. Ask the Russians they starved and abused by the tens of thousands.

I think comparing the US to the Nazis is just a little over the top, not to mention just plain wrong. Posts like this do nothing but give ammo to the Freeps.

[shraby]

5. Look up Malmedy. They had a habit of

outright killing POWs instead of incarcerating them.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

14. We did the same thing, from D-Day until the war was over.

[JHB]

6. Who do you think coined the phrase "Ve haf vays of makink you talk!"

n/t

[alcibiades_mystery]

8. I believe Hollywood coined it

In the 1950's.

Just sayin'

[noonwitch]

10. Didn't the POWs sneak out in the tunnesl to commit sabotage?

You know, the french guy bribed the dunkoff who was supposed to be guarding them with his culinary skills, and they put a microphone in the coffee pot in the CO's office? You mean every thing on tv isn't true?

[joeybee12]

11. Yup--sent a lot of them to Berga--a slave labor camp...

...an interesting (although horrific) story that not many people know of.

[alcibiades_mystery]

15. Indeed

Berga was mainly for Jewish-American POWs, and was as horrible as you describe. However, I'd hesitate to say "a lot" were sent to Berga. It was actually a small number, relatively speaking.

[porphyrian]

12. Only one of the twins. The other was the control. - n/t

[Media_Lies_Daily]

13. They rarely tortured Allied POWs with the clear exception of POWs...

...from the Soviet Union. They knew that if they tortured POWs from the other Allies, they could expect the same treatment of their POWs held in Allied POW camps. But, the war on Nazi Germany's Western Front, as brutal as it was, was a LOT more civilized than what was happening on the Eastern Front.

The war on the Eastern Front was total...nobody was exempt, including civilians. The Germans murdered millions of Russian civilians on their way across Russian territory, and the Russians returned the "favor" on their way to Berlin in 1944-1945. The Germans and Russians took prisoners only to satisfy the need for slave labor, or selectively, when they needed intelligence on opposing forces.

[AngryAmish]

16. Gulag Archipelago

In the beginning where he was captured by the Nazis. Their camps were pretty bad. Then he got the the Gulag.