Sunday, November 15, 2020

World War 1 - Images submitted by Larry K.

Today we look at some photos and two film clips sent to me by Larry K.  I've added captions based on Larry's descriptions and my own observations.  We start with a picture of a German POW camp at Kassel.  It's bath time, and the well fed prisoners have matching towels.



  1. Merci Jerry, pour cette série de photo et de vidéo. Tu sais combien j'aime ce genre de série!
    Hier, j'ai terminé mon quinzième manuscrit. Il reste encore beaucoup de travail avant de le faire imprimer, mais le livre sortira début 2021. Je suis un homme comblé !
    Thank you Jerry, for this photo and video series. You know how much I love this kind of series!
    Yesterday I completed my fifteenth manuscript. There is still a lot of work to do before it will be printed, but the book will be released in early 2021. I am a happy man!

    1. Glad you like the series, Albert, and congratulations on the completion of your latest book!

  2. Germany had a huge and well-run agrarian economy and the Germans went through the entire war without food rationing, or their women being subject to call-up. Being an over-crowded island, Britain was dependent on food imports - hence the Battle of the Atlantic, when the German Navy attempted to cut off our shipping lanes and force us into starvation. The Merchant Marine lost 9,300 men - the highest death toll of any other branch of the military. Believe it or not, we still managed to get through the war without bread being rationed.

    All ranks of the German military, of all services, had to spend two years in a POW camp following the surrender. Kassel was liberated by the Americans, but fell into the British Occupation Zone. In 1946, the Labour government decided to ration bread in order to feed the POWs under British jurisdiction. As a result, the children in the poorest parts of Britain started to develop rickets and their teeth dropped out as a result of malnutrition. It is now a near-forgotten part of British history that popular resentment over this was so acute - and went on for many years - that it prevented the Labour Party from obtaining a full second parliamentary term and in 1951, the Conservatives under Winston Churchill were returned to office - and remained in power for 13 years.

    There is a lot of history behind those well-fed soldiers.

  3. The blog heading is WW1 but Calorman is describing WW2. What period is the photo?