1. Experiences of
Australian WW1 POWs
Use the information in this powerpoint to complete
the activity on the last slide.
2. POWs of the Turks
The first Australians captured by the Turkish where
the 32 crew members of the AE2 Submarine, a
Submarine attacked and sunk by the Turks in the
Sea of Marmara on 30 April, 1915.
The Turks captured other Australian soldiers from
Gallipoli, the Sinai Desert, and in Palestine.
3. How did the Turks treat
Australian POWs?
All up, the Turks captured around 217 Australian
Troops.
More than 25% of that number died when they were
imprisoned in the camp.
Conditions in Turkish camps were very poor.
There wasn’t much food and it was hard to get access
to a doctor if you became sick.
Prisoners were forced to work on the construction of a
railway 1100 kilometres away from the camp.
Prisoners suffered from malnutrition and diseases like
typhus, malaria and meningitis.
4. POWs of the Germans
During the war (from 1914 until 1918) Germany took 2.5
million prisoners.
From the middle of 1916 onwards more than 3800 of these
were Australian troops on the Western Front.
8% of those soldiers died when they were prisoners of the
Germans.
5. How did the Germans
treat Australian POWs?
German POW camps had similar problems to those of the
Turkish
There was a lack of sanitation (sewerage), the housing was
poorly built and not enough food was provided to the
prisoners.
POWs who disobeyed German officers were set to Fort
MacDonald, a prison known as the ‘Black Hole of Lille’, in
northern France.
Here they were put on starvation rations, subject to beatings
and forced to work in dangerous conditions building dugouts
and loading shells near the German battle lines.
6. The Role of the Red
Cross
During the war, the Australian Red Cross Society
supplied nearly 400 000 food parcels and over
35 000 clothing parcels to Australian POWs.
The International Red Cross kept and updated
lists of those who were imprisoned – so they
knew where POWs were located, and how they
were faring.
7. Repatriation
At the end of the war, the Central Powers quickly
allowed their POWs to be returned to their home
countries.
In comparison, the Allied Powers were much
slower in returning their POWs.
France conditioned to use POWs as forced
labour until about 1920, and Russia until 1922.
8. Activity: What was it like
to be an Australian POW
according to Source A, B
and C?
SOURCE A
“The [Kut –
Mesopotamia] garrison
included nine mechanics
of the Australian Flying
Corps. Only two would
survive the nightmare
march. “We were driven
along like beasts,” one
of the survivors recalled,
“to drop out was to die.”
Three-quarters of those
who left Kut died in
captivity, many while
building a railway
through the Taurus
Mountains.”
SOURCE B – Quote from
Australian War Memorial
Website
