Looking for Geneva Convention Reference

[Webstral]

I'm working on a piece on the presence of Pact and Pact allied soldiers in SAMAD based on their having been EPW. I know that a lot of Germans were housed in Texas during WW2 because EPW are supposed to be kept in a climate as similar as possible to the climate where they were captured. I can't find the specific reference in the Geneva Convention, though. Does anybody have sufficient familiarity to point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance.

[cavtroop]

You're looking for the Third Geneva Convention. Full .pdf here:

http://www.mineaction.org/downloads/...tion%20III.pdf

Skimming through, I can find nothing saying that prisoners of war have to be interred in a climate similar to where they were taken, just that

Clothing, underwear and footwear shall be
supplied to prisoners of war in sufficient
quantities by the Detaining Power, which
shall make allowance for the climate of the
region where the prisoners are detained.

and

Prisoners of war interned in unhealthy areas,
or where the climate is injurious for them,
shall be removed as soon as possible to a
more favourable climate

[Webstral]

Thanks, Cavtroop. I saw those, but as you have implied those two quotes don't address the issue of climate similarity. Certainly, my job explaining how 22 different nationalities/languages end up at Huachuca will be much easier if I don't have any climate restrictions in place. After all, it's hard to find an analog for North Korea anywhere in Arizona below 10,000 feet [elevation].

[Raellus]

I've never heard reference to climate restrictions for EPW placement in the Geneva convention (this, of course, does not mean that there are none). It just seems like something that I would have come across over the years in my forays into military history. A lot of German troops captured in Italy & France were held in the American Old South- a very different climate than western/central Europe.

[cavtroop]

Originally Posted by Webstral

Thanks, Cavtroop. I saw those, but as you have implied those two quotes don't address the issue of climate similarity. Certainly, my job explaining how 22 different nationalities/languages end up at Huachuca will be much easier if I don't have any climate restrictions in place. After all, it's hard to find an analog for North Korea anywhere in Arizona below 10,000 feet [elevation].

yeah, I've been poking around this afternoon, and can find nothing that says they have to be held in a similar climate.

of course, you could also say that due to the circumstances after the TDM, they POWs are lucky they're being treated by any of the rules of the Geneva Conventions

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by cavtroop

POWs are lucky they're being treated by any of the rules of the Geneva Conventions

....or even if there are any POW's still breathing....

[Webstral]

Originally Posted by Raellus

A lot of German troops captured in Italy & France were held in the American Old South- a very different climate than western/central Europe.

Germans taken in North Africa were kept in West Texas. Still, I don't know if that means all Germans taken in North Africa or some Germans.

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

....or even if there are any POW's still breathing....

Certainly, a lot of them are going to be taken out behind the tool shed and shot in the back of the head, figuratively speaking. I believe there was a long thread on this subject within the past couple of months. At any rate, I’m following up on the different option pursued by Fort Huachuca. Now that I’m thinking about it, though, the addition of some former EPW to the Shogun’s army in Nevada would living things up a bit.

[HorseSoldier]

I don't think there's any requirements under international law to keep prisoners in a similar climate. If I remember right, Afrika Korps and Italian prisoners from North Africa on the Commonwealth side were interned in Canada without any fuss (and probably much preferred by the prisoners to something more matching the environment of North Africa).

[Sanjuro]

There was a POW camp in Orkney which held a lot of Italians; they built this chapel.
http://www.orkneypics.com/webpage/page/page045.html
But when I did an internet search to find it, I found a lot of POW built chapels survive, many of them built by Italians.
I'd be willing to bet none of the Italian POWs were captured in a climate anything like Orkney- maybe they built the chapel to pray fro warmer weather?

[Webstral]

It seems like the consensus is that climate of the EPW camp is immaterial, so long as the EPW have proper housing, food, clothing, and care for the locality. Excellent.

[Legbreaker]

Japanese prisoners captured by Australians were kept in radically different environments to the hot, steamy jungles where they were caught. Instead of the balmy environment available in northern Queensland, they were kepts down south in the cold, cold countryside of southern NSW. There's a rather famous incident "The Cowra Breakout" which was made into a movie of the prisoners fabricating weapons from whatever was on hand and, you guessed it, attempted escape.
Most died either during the attempt, recapture or committed suicide after they failed. I suppose that's what happens when you are armed with baseball bats and broken glass going up against .303 rifles and machineguns.

[HorseSoldier]

If I remember right, there was a similar incident in Canada where Japanese POWs overpowered and killed some guards, escaped, and then just sat there waiting for the responding forces to shoot them. They apparently had no real aim in the escape attempt except to die in an appropriate manner.