This study examines the relationship between British and American officials and
the fifty-five Wehrmacht general officers who were held as prisoners of war in the
United States during World War II. This relationship transformed as the war developed
and new national security concerns emerged in the immediate postwar era. As largely
evidenced by the records of the United States War Department and the British War
Office, the transformation of this relationship illustrates two important points.
First, despite some similarities, the respective priorities of British and American
authorities regarding their POW general officers differed significantly. British officials
consistently interrogated and eavesdropped on all of their senior officer prisoners,
primarily seeking operational and tactical intelligence to aid the Allied war effort. By
contrast, American officials initially had little regard for the value of Wehrmacht general
officer POWs.
Second, by the end of the war, admiration for the prowess of German officers
and the German military tradition in particular, coupled with anxiety about Soviet intentions and the strength of the Red Army, drove Washington into a collaborative
relationship with many of the Wehrmacht general officers in its custody. The evolution
of America's national security concerns in the years immediately following the end of
World War II impacted its policy governing the treatment of high-ranking prisoners of
war.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2009-08-869 |
| Date | 2009 August 1900 |
| Creators | Mallett, Derek Ray |
| Contributors | Krammer, Arnold P. |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
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