Prisoners: A Novel of World War II by Burt Zollo. Academy Chicago Publishers (http://www.academychicago.com), 11030 South Langley Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60628, 2003, 275 pages, $22.50 (hardcover).

In the months following the Normandy invasion in June 1944, the German army began its long retreat east. As it did so, an increasing number of German prisoners of war (POW) fell into Allied hands. Because resources were earmarked for Allied forces prosecuting the war—to end it as quickly as possible and thus save lives—the care of tens of thousands of German POWs became a low priority. Undoubtedly, the fact that many of them suffered and died in captivity gave rise to James Bacque’s stunning accusation, appearing in his inflammatory book Other Losses in 1989, that Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower deliberately tried to starve to death and otherwise murder German POWs. Reputable military historians quickly examined Bacque’s assertions and concluded, convincingly, that no such policy and no such massacre ever existed. Now comes Burt Zollo, a former US Army soldier who served at one of those POW camps near the end of the war, to write a fictionalized account of such a camp. By doing so, he gives credence to the ridiculous charges of an Allied policy of deliberate starvation.

Zollo’s story line is lackluster: “Sandy” Delman, a young American soldier and Jew working at one of the POW camps, is so outraged by the treatment of the Germans that he decides to take action, going straight to Lieutenant Colonel Nelson, camp commander, to propose a plan. Delman suggests taking a convoy of trucks—driven by German POWs—to supply depots near the front and requisitioning food and supplies directly. Nelson’s requests for food, clothing, and medicine have gone ignored by higher-ups who, apparently, are content to let the prisoners die of neglect. Indeed, Zollo has one high-ranking officer exclaim, “I don’t have to feed and clothe [expletive deleted] Nazis” (p. 160). Nelson agrees to Delman’s scheme, but one of the POW drivers—an SS officer masquerading as an enlisted man—engineers an escape and takes a hostage (coincidentally, Delman’s best friend). Delman tracks down the escapee alone, settles the score with the SS officer, rescues his buddy, and gets a convoy load of supplies back to the camp. Of course he receives no credit for his actions. It seems the Army is like that.
Prisoners is barely worth a review and certainly not worth reading, but I thought it necessary to call attention to the underlying fallacious premise regarding the American “policy” of murdering prisoners. That was simply not the case.

Col Phillip S. Meilinger, USAF, Retired
West Chicago, Illinois

Disclaimer

The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.

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