David Bilton has put together a readable, popular history, complete with hundreds of period photographs that better explain a little-covered aspect of the Great War experience. His chapters are enlivened by the voices of his subjects and sources, making it a quick read. The book is aimed at the popular market rather than an academic one but even academics will find value in the sources and references made.

Western Front Association

The authors interest in the First World War was ignited by his grandfather's refusal to talk about his experiences, first in Gallipoli and later on the Western Front. As a result we benefit through books, in this one bringing together an amazing sweep of photographs and comprehensive text revealing much about the plight of prisoners of war both military and civilian.

Military Historical Society

This work is a compilation of photographs with extended captions, but it also comes with a very useful text. It is an almost-impossible task to compile a work on this subject, but the author has managed to pull it together. In doing so, he has included first-hand accounts of conditions and treatment, which varied from hospitable to brutal. The Germans took prisoners on all fronts and nationalities included British, French, Belgian and Russian but also Chinese and Indian and North African troops. This very neatly fills a gap in the history of WWI and tells a history, which is often mentioned only in passing reference.

Gun Mart, April 2017 – reviewed by John Norris

As featured in.

The Daily Mail 14/2/17

A continuation of the popular ‘Images of War’ series, this book looks at Allied POWs in German hands during the First World War. An unusual, but well-documented subject, especially from a photographic point of view, as there appears to be at least 300 images of varying quality in this book. Many of the images are staged in an effort to give a false impression to the enemy of how well the POWs are being treated. In some cases this was true, but life was pretty tough in a German POW camp made worse by disease, a lack of food and poor medical care let alone general abuse.
Much thicker than previous ‘Images of War’ books reviewed by Military Modelling, the author has taken great care to not only show what life was really like in captivity but also what it was like to be captured in the first place. What is quite surprising is the number of POWs whose war was not actually over because they were retained on the front lines in support of the German war effort. One fascinating chapter called ‘Camp Life and Death’ presents the numbers of POWs the Germans were copying with. By the end of the war soldiers from 13 countries made up of 36,954 Officers and 2,374,769 Other Ranks were being held by the Germans and 111,879 interned civilians. The arrival of Red Cross parcels made life a little more bearable for the British, but not all nations received them and the likes of Russians were left begging for handouts.

The true hardship of POW life can never be represented in black and white photographs but this book by retired teacher, David Bilton goes a long way towards trying.
Highly recommended and thanks again to Pen & Sword for our copy.

Military Modelling Magazine