Quote:
Originally Posted by Homer
Taking a stab from WW2 US practice.
High Value prisoners (crypto/commo, special weapons, leadership, technicians, sub/bomber crew) would be a commodity and probably get a special high value camo for extended exploitation. This was the case with the camps at Fort Hunt or Pine Grove Furnace. Perhaps the initiation of tactical nuclear warfare causes the European allies to evacuate this class of prisoner to the US and Canada, swelling what’s already there.
Regular POWs would likely be backhauled through the supply system to the theater logistics heads- Antwerp and Bremerhaven on the central front or bandar abbas in Iran for example. At that point they could go back to the US and Canada to free up host nation forces and resources. This would require a legal opine as POWs are legally the responsibility of the country capturing them and not to be change custodians. Perhaps a broader definition of NATO as an entity under common command similar to the broader definition of British Empire that allowed UK captures to be sent to Canada in WW2. Otherwise, each nato member establishes their own camps- that would really strain some states.
POWs captured in austere theaters, for example in CENTCOM, Southern Europe, Norway, or at sea may be sent directly to conus or camps by logistic backhaul. This happened historically with Afrika Korps and some Italian POWs as there was less strain in holding them in North Africa.
Just my thoughts
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That all makes sense while central authority is maintained but as the war progresses and feeding prisoners becomes a burden (as there are elements of the population starving) I think that that will break down and, depending on the T2k timeline you're playing, that could well have been in 1998.
I think that a camp of starving prisoners on either side would become a security issue for the military forces guarding them and that may well lead to atrocities. I think that prisoners will be used as slave labour and it's a trope having Russian/Soviet guards executing POWs.
I therefore think that marauder bands of former POWs, or even community militia made up of former POWs, make sense in any T2k setting. About 10 years ago I ran a T2k campaign where the PCs were former POWs who had been recruited into a Foreign Legion style unit fighting on the Ukrainian speaking side in a Ukrainian civil war. It worked quite well as a game, though it would probably be in poor taste now.