The time came to 1918, the war had ended for half a year, and the Paris Peace Conference was still under negotiation.
The Allied Powers, headed by Britain, France, and the United States, submitted the "Draft Peace Agreement" to the German delegation three times, but were rejected by the German delegation because the conditions were too harsh.
As time goes by, the German delegation has fewer and fewer bargaining chips, and the Allied Powers have made fewer and fewer concessions. France and Belgium have begun to rebuild behind the scenes, but Germany is still devastated.
After the Southern African Expeditionary Force withdrew from Europe, nearly 450,000 German prisoners of war captured during the World War were handed over to the management of British troops still in France. At its peak, there were more than 1.95 million German prisoners of war held in Allied prisoner of war camps.
This includes not only German soldiers on the Western Front during the World War, but also German soldiers who were sent to prisoner-of-war camps from other places after the Germans laid down their weapons.
If all 1.95 million people were handed over to the Southern African Expeditionary Force, it would be a huge human resource, but if it were handed over to the Allied Powers, it would be a huge burden.
1.95 million people had to eat, drink and sleep, which was a disaster for the current management level of the Allied Powers.
In order to better manage prisoners of war, the Allied Powers sent all German prisoners of war to the Rhine River for detention. There were nearly 200 prisoner of war camps densely distributed along the 350-kilometer-long Rhine River. By this time, the British Expeditionary Force had been disbanded, and the French
The U.S. military has also been disbanded in large numbers. Only the United States still has sufficient troops, so the prisoner-of-war camps are mainly managed by the U.S. military.
The US military's management of prisoner-of-war camps is very rough. Usually, the US military will use barbed wire to encircle a piece of land in any area along the Rhine River. This is the prisoner-of-war camp prepared by the US military for prisoners of war.
It should be noted that there are usually no buildings, no tents, and no medical staff inside the barbed wire fence. Each prisoner of war camp only has a deep ditch as a toilet, and nearly 10,000 people were imprisoned in it like a flock of sheep.
Under normal circumstances, prisoners do not receive any living supplies, including water supply, during the first three days after arriving in the prisoner of war camp.
There is not even a basic water supply, clean drinking water is not even a thought, and the wounded cannot be effectively taken care of. In the late period of the World War, the German army's material supply was insufficient. Many German soldiers were malnourished, so unhealthy German prisoners of war often
He would die tragically within a few days of being sent to a prisoner of war camp.
Even if they can survive the first few days after entering the prison camp, the tragic fate of the prisoners of war has just begun.
The food provided by the US military to prisoners of war is not high-end canned food produced in southern Africa, but egg powder, milk powder, biscuits, chocolate, coffee, etc. produced in the United States.
These foods require a large amount of drinking water to be fully absorbed by the body. With the drinking water supply strictly controlled, such foods quickly drained the prisoners of war of water, and many suffered from severe constipation.
Even with this kind of food, the prisoners are not adequately supplied. A normal person needs about 1,200 calories a day to maintain life, and a working person needs 2,000-3,000 calories. However, the prisoners in the prison camp receive less food every day.
It can only provide about 400-900 calories, which is simply unable to meet the basic needs of maintaining life.
After the prisoners entered the prisoner-of-war camp, the US military did not provide them with a suitable place to live, not even the simplest tents. The per capita area of the prisoner-of-war camp was about 3 to 5 square meters. After several consecutive rainy days, the prisoner-of-war camp
The inside became a big quagmire. The prisoners of war who did not have the proper tools had no choice but to improve their accommodation conditions by themselves. They used tableware and cans as shovels to dig holes, and used cardboard from food packaging boxes as building materials, bit by bit.
Dig a hole in the ground to protect yourself from wind and rain.
These caves are usually 1.5 to 2 meters below the surface, with the opening about half a meter wide. Small caves without support are extremely dangerous when it rains at night. They often collapse due to water seepage. Many prisoners of war are buried alive in the caves. No one knows that there are
No one has made relevant statistics on how many German prisoners of war died as a result, and no one has tried to dig out the dead buried in the ground.
The living people still have too much time to take care of themselves and cannot provide enough help to their companions.
As time passed and winter entered, the conditions in the prison camp did not improve in any way.
The prisoners still lived in the holes they dug with their own hands, and the food they received every day was still only a pitiful amount. Winter came, and the prisoners had no clothes to keep out the cold, so they could only hide in the holes like mice and live a hard life.
At this time, to make matters worse, the influenza pandemic returned in the United States. Basic defense supplies were lacking in the prisoner-of-war camps. A large number of prisoners fell ill in large numbers. During the peak period, more than 150 corpses were transported every day.
"So the current situation is that no one knows what happened in the prisoner-of-war camp on the Rhine. The German government is negotiating with the Allied Powers and has no ability to provide help to the prisoners of war. As long as the "Peace Negotiations" are not signed for one day, Germany and the Allied Powers will be in a state of war.
, the tragedy that is happening in the prisoner of war camp will not end." As the director of the Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, Stoudemire has a relatively full understanding of the situation in the prisoner of war camp.
"This is not surprising. Americans have a tradition in this regard. If you look at how they treat the Indians, you will know how low the bottom line of the United States is." Rock is not surprised at all. Having been born in two generations, Rock knows
I can’t finish the dirty stuff about Americans in another 3 million words.
"What's interesting is that the US military claimed that they implemented humanitarian management of the prisoner of war camps. The number of prisoner deaths in the prisoner of war camps was almost the same as the normal level in Germany. There is really no bottom line." Stoudemire now also realizes the true face of the Americans, but these
It cannot be said. After all, the United States is also a member of the Allied Powers, and the relationship between the United States and the British Empire——
Alas, it’s hard to put it into words!
"About?" Rock seriously doubted. It would be crazy if it was almost the same. After the end of the world war, 1.95 million prisoners were imprisoned in prison camps. Just count how many people died and you will know. Even if the Allies did not count, Germany
The government will always keep statistics.
"The Americans say this. You must know that they will also release some prisoners of war home, but I am afraid no one knows the true situation of how many people were released home and how many were buried on the banks of the Rhine." Stoudemire
It is not optimistic. The United States now claims that there are still about 1.5 million prisoners of war in prisoner-of-war camps. It is true that some prisoners of war have been released home, but no one knows the specific number.
Even the current German government probably doesn't know how many German soldiers died during the World War, how many returned home, and how many disappeared.
After all, the German Empire has been destroyed. The Weimar government that was just established after the World War is facing such a devastated mess. The "Peace Agreement" has not yet been signed, and the Weimar government has not even been recognized by the Allied Powers. Under this situation,
The efficiency of the Weimar government can be imagined.
Roque also had a headache. If he had known that the Southern African Expeditionary Force would withdraw, Roque would have directly released all the prisoners of war controlled by the Southern African Expeditionary Force. This would at least reduce the occurrence of some tragedies.
Don't forget that the British government's current attitude towards Germany is extremely ambiguous.
On the one hand, Britain hopes to get more compensation from Germany, but on the other hand, it does not want to weaken Germany too much. Therefore, from the British standpoint, it hopes that those German prisoners of war can return home as soon as possible.
For the French government, the more than one million prisoners of war in the prisoner-of-war camps represent more than one million young adults in the labor force. The French government probably hopes that all those prisoners of war will die in the prisoner-of-war camps, so that Germany will forever lose the opportunity to launch wars in the future.
ability.
"What did your Relief and Rehabilitation Administration do?" Rock was very interested in Stoudemire's work. In fact, it would be more suitable for Rock to do this job, but with Rock's status at the end of the world war, it was obvious that Rock
It is impossible to hold such a position.
To put it bluntly, the position of Director of the Relief and Rehabilitation Administration is too low and not worthy of Roark's status.
"You just said, relief, revival -" Stoudemire rolled his eyes. Rock was questioning the content of Stoudemire's work.
"How to revive?" Rock's purpose is definitely not to laugh at Stoudemire. Finding more opportunities for enterprises in southern Africa is Rock's ultimate goal.
The "relief" here is not charity. The required supplies have to be purchased with money from the British and French governments. Of course, it is the same in Germany. If you don't have money, you just use things in exchange. Although Germany has only been established for many years, those Junckers in Germany
The nobility has existed for hundreds of years. Since Prussia unified Germany in 1871, Germany has hardly missed any important war, so Germany still has its heritage.
As for "revival", this part is more complicated. Rock is more interested in post-war reconstruction. Southern Africa can provide building materials, human resources, and funds for reconstruction. These are all European
Urgently needed.
Not only Germany is in urgent need of it, but the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire are also in urgent need. It can be said that apart from the United States, all the participating countries in the world war also need it, including Japan, which made huge profits at almost no cost.
External capital investment.
No one complains about having too much money.
"I have a plan that requires the participation of you, Henry, Sidney, and all of us. How about it? Are you interested?" Stoudemire is not good at commanding operations, but he is still very visionary in business investment, otherwise he would not have been able to do it all the time.
Hug Rock's thighs tightly.
Stoudemire was once Stoudemire's thigh, but just over ten years later, Rock has become Stoudemire's thigh. It's really a great change.
"Of course, let's talk about it." Roque is the most powerful capital representative in southern Africa. Such a thing will definitely require Roque's participation.
