Between 4,000,000 and 5,000,000 prisoners have been taken on both sides
since the beginning of the war. The latest exact figures on the subject
were published in the Summer of 1917, when the Central Powers held
2,874,271 prisoners, and the Entente Allies held a total of 1,284,050.
Germany alone had 1,690,731 prisoners, including 17,474 officers;
Austria-Hungary, 1,092,055; Bulgaria, 67,582, and Turkey, 23,903, a
total of 2,874,271, of whom 27,620 are officers. This total was made up
of the following nationalities:
Total In
Number. Germany.
Russian 2,080,699 1,212,007
French 368,607 367,124
Serbian 154,630 25,879
Italian 98,017
Rumanian 79,033 10,157
British 45,241 33,129
Belgian 42,437 42,435
Montenegrin 5,607
The British prisoners of war not in Germany were divided between
Bulgaria and Turkey.
The prisoners of the Allies, not including 40,000 Austrians and
Bulgarians captured by the Serbians and now in Italy or 20,000 Turkish
prisoners in Egypt, were distributed as follows:
Total In In In In
Number. Engl'd. France. Russia. Italy.
German 594,050 85,000 259,050 250,000
Austr'n 630,000 550,000 80,000
At the same time Switzerland was sheltering 26,000 interned war
prisoners, of whom 16,000 were French, English, and Belgian, while
10,000 were German. In addition, 7,000 relatives were visiting interned
men in Switzerland. Most of these interned prisoners will be released
by the new agreements, while other thousands will take their place.