End of Europe -- Confirmed, page-31

I don't think that is correct about Eisenhower.

https://www.quora.com/What-evidence...-starvation-of-the-Germans-after-World-War-II

What evidence is there about the Allies' and Eisenhower's death camps and starvation of the Germans after World War II?



7 Answers
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mce-anchor

Andrew Warinner, Code monkey, expat, utility infielder

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Let's be clear about this: there were no death camps for German POWs overseen by Eisenhower and there was no starvation by policy of Germans by the western occupying powers (the US, Britain and France) after World War II.

The accusation that over one million German POWs in US custody were starved to death after World War II comes from James Bacque, a Canadian novelist, in his book "Other Losses."

Bacque argues that in June 1945 there were 2.87 million German POWs being held by the US in the European Theater of Operations (ETO). Later US documents state that 1.8 million POWs were being held in the Communication Zone (COM Z) and that 900,000 fewer daily rations would be needed to feed German POWs in US care.

Bacque concludes from this apparent discrepancy that one million German POWs were starved to death while in US camps and a systematic coverup was carried out to conceal the deaths and policy.

In reality, there was no 'missing million' German POWs and Bacque willfully misinterpreted different accountings of POWs. COM Z was a subordinate command in the ETO, and when one looks at transfers of prisoners between the occupying powers and overall US figures there is no "missing million;" 3.1 million German POWs were held by the US, Britain and France, and all can be accounted for in records held by the Allies.

Bacque claims that the starvation of one million POWs was concealed by the designation of large numbers of German POWs as "Disarmed Enemy Forces" (DEF), a category that fell outside the Hague Conventions on the treatment of enemy prisoners and a violation of those international laws.

The Allies did designate large numbers of Germans who surrendered at the end of the war as DEF rather than prisoners of war for a variety of reasons. For one, there was no war; many troops surrendered at the end of hostilities. For another, in the eyes of the Allies there was no German government; the Allies recognized no German government institution as representing the German people and had taken over responsibility for creating a new German government themselves.

Disarmed Enemy Forces contained large number of Volksturm soldiers, formed at the end of the war, many of these were simply sent home and out of US custody, responsibility and accounting.

Other Losses was not well received and was harshly critized by many historians and its overall argument has not be taken up by any reputable historian.

Historian Niall Ferguson calculated the mortality rates of POWs held by different nations as follows:

Percentage of POWs that Died:

Russian POWs held by Germans: 57.5%
German POWs held by Russians: 35.8%
American POWs held by Japanese: 33.0%
German POWs held by Eastern Europeans: 32.9%
British POWs held by Japanese: 24.8%
British POWs held by Germans: 3.5%
German POWs held by French: 2.58%
German POWs held by Americans: 0.15%
German POWs held by British: 0.03%

However, that is not to say that Germany's surrender was followed by sweetness and light across the continent.

There was starvation in Europe after World War II. All the economies of Europe were more or less ravaged. Transportation networks - ports, railroads, marshalling yards, roads, rivers and canals - had been heavily bombed and in Germany in particular were largely non-functional. The war had caused the displacement of tens of millions and the deaths of tens of millions others. In short, in 1945, there was little food produced in Europe and great difficulties importing and distributing food within Europe. The post-war hunger and starvation was not the product of Allied policy but the consequences of the war.

Aside from the chaotic aftermath of the war, the US was not always punctilious in its treatment of German prisoners of war after the war. There was abuse and inefficiency in some POW camps run by the US and some reluctance to face up to it. But the abuses were exposed in US press reports and the Army made efforts to clean up its act.

The worst post-war sin the US, Britain and France can be accused of is complicity in the Soviet occupation in Eastern Europe.

As the figures above make clear, the war in the East was conducted by entirely different rules than the war in the West. But neither the US, Britain or France was responsible for Stalin's policies and could do little to moderate them.