[Jim O]

I would dispute some of the above as the Soviets took about 91,000 prisoners at Stalingrad alone (many of whom were not reptpatriated until 1955) and only about 6000 survived. That means that over 90% perished. Using math like that, or even close, I find only 423,168 deaths out of 2,389,560 (less than 20%) somewhat hard to fathom, even if Stalingrad prisoners were treated worse than others. It's also likely that of 1.1 million "missing", many were KIA.

That photo was shocking, but it's also clear that it was due to being caught unprepared, not intentional (this is not to say that atrocities were not committed by US and other Allied forces as clearly they were). Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that even if fed, men would die under those circumstances. Winning the war was the priority at that time and personnel and resources were needed for that first. This does not excuse those conditions in any way, they were atrocious. It does, however, offer some explanation.

I know for a fact (from personal conversations with war veterans including my father) that many Japanese, German, and Italian POW's brought to the US and held here were treated in accordance to the Geneva Convention, fed well, and paid for their work. Japanese POW's earned more than the pittance that they were paid to serve in Imperial Japan's armed forces and many were sent home with a tidy sum of money by Japanese standards. I remember in particular my father recollecting that the POW's he observed working on the bases where he was stationed in Florida were issued pith helmets of some sort for sun protection. He believed it was required by the Geneva Convention. In contrast, GI's performing similar duties had their regular hat and that was all.

I know this has gone off topic, but while that site may be "objective" it leaves some implications that I believe are unfair.