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American POW´s to Russian Gulag´s 1945?

Discussion in 'Information Requests' started by Kai-Petri, Dec 20, 2002.

  1. Kai-Petri

    Kai-Petri Kenraali

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    I found this a bit irritating, as I thought it was just some accidental cases, nothing else.Could it have been a bigger thing with hundreds of US POW´s transferred to Russia to speed up the slow action by the US to transfer Russian POW´s to Stalin??
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    The pool of foreign prisoners of war included hundreds, if not thousands, of Americans. What happened to these American G.I.s is a chapter in our nation's history that has, for too long, gone unwritten.

    The disappearance of Americans into the Gulag was intentional. If it were a mistake, it would have been corrected in diplomatic channels decades ago. The very nature of Clandestine Operations means they are not accidents. They are not acknowledged and never revealed.

    Only the Soviets kept POWs incommunicado after the wars ended.

    In World War II, perhaps 6000-7000 American POWs went from Nazi Prison camps to the Gulag, partially because the Western Allies would not forcibly return Russian POWs who had fought for Germany against Stalin. Stalin could not exact vengeance on those he considered traitors, so he took a measure of revenge against the soldiers of those who denied him his will. American POWs of the Nazis, became hostages of the Communists.

    http://www.usvetdsp.com/story29.htm
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    I read elsewhere on these possibilities but only it being mentioned. Has someone more information on this?Is it just a hoax?

    :eek: :confused:
     
  2. Doc Raider

    Doc Raider Member

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    Years ago, a US veteran who was in a German POW told me that his camp was liberated by the Soviets, and that they basically showed up, put some of the GIs in a truck, and took them away. The Americans showed up later, and he never heard from some of his buddies, who's hometown he new, again. He said one family was told thier son was MIA. I've heard supposed stories of this, mainly just rumors passed down from vets, for years. Could have just been a paranoia-driven rumor during the war that still hasn't died in 60 years. But I guess it does make sense. Stalin may have figured he'd be fighting us before too long anyway.

    I also actually heard on the news years back that Yeltsin (probably when drunk,) actually admitted to Bush that the Soviet Union used to have American POWs from Korea and Vietnam. He later withdrew his statement, (probably once he sobered up). I suppose he may have let something slip under the influence of Vodka, or maybe he was just bullsh**ing like a normal drunk. I tend to believe it, I guess.
     
  3. Kai-Petri

    Kai-Petri Kenraali

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    Thanx for the information Doc!

    I have been searching the net for the info and I have found some new stuff.But we´ll see if the truth will ever be known...By now Uncle Stalin does not seem so kind to anyone anymore, right?

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    To ensure that Churchill and Roosevelt would live up to their side of the bargain to return the Russian soldiers to him, he retained "bargaining chips" in the form of American and British soldiers. If Churchill or Roosevelt reneged on their end of the bargain, Stalin would do the same.

    Stalin learned what was happening and retaliated. He permanently "retained" the American and British soldiers whom he still held as bargaining chips. What did he do with them? He carted them to the Soviet Union where they lived the rest of their lives in the Russian gulags. How many American and British soldiers? Over 20,000 Americans and over 30,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers ! In fact, as the authors of Soldiers of Misfortune point out: "Starting in 1945, the Soviet Union became the second-largest employer of American servicemen in the world."

    (Published in 1992 entitled Soldiers of Misfortune: Washington's Secret Betrayal of American POWs in the Soviet Union by James D. Sanders, Mark A. Sauter, and R. Cort Kirkwood.)

    Must get me one next!

    Unfortunately, however, they were forgotten, because they were abandoned by their own government — the same U.S. government that starts out every new war with "Support the troops."

    http://www.fff.org/freedom/0895a.asp

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    Well, now I understand why the allied were so strict on sending the Cossacks and Russians back-they wanted their own guys back! What a **** game!
     
  4. Kai-Petri

    Kai-Petri Kenraali

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    Top U.S. officials, from Roosevelt to Bush, made the determination to write off America's missing sons, secretly held hostage in the Soviet Union...

    After the war, American and British authorities breached that agreement by secretly permitting Soviets to remain in the West. Stalin learned about the deception and retaliated by holding 23,500 American and 30,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers captive in the vast Soviet gulag system.

    About the Authors

    James Sanders, an investigative journalist (and former police division commander) lives in Williamsburg, Virginia. Emmy Award-winning journalist Mark Sauter, military reporter for Tacoma's Morning News Tribune and a former Army officer, has won national awards for his stories on U.S. POWs in the USSR while at KIRO-TV, the CBS-affiliate in Seattle, Washington. R. Cort Kirkwood is a Washington, D.C. based journalist whose editorials on the POW/MIA issue for the Washington Times were nominated for a 1991 Pulitzer Prize.

    http://www.geocities.com/snetterton2/Soldiers.html
     
  5. Kai-Petri

    Kai-Petri Kenraali

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    Here´s some "interesting" info...
     
  6. bigiceman

    bigiceman Member

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    The archived information is great Kai, did you also mean to add something new?

    That sure is a *&%* job that the Allied troops were held hostage and never returned. I wonder if we ever could have satisfied Stalin? Would the thousands of returning service men have poisoned the political atmosphere even more?

    I wonder how long this had gone on before it became politically impossible to change? At what point had the prisoners been kept so long that the Russians would never return them? I also wonder how many administrations after Eisenhower leaned about them? What a crappy situation. Did the book say where they would have been buried and would there be any interest in recovering the remains? With today's forensic science many could be identified.
     
  7. Kai-Petri

    Kai-Petri Kenraali

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    No, got nothing new at the moment on the subject. However it´s interesting to see how naive the western allied were compared to the Russians who were preparing to take advantage of the situation by any means needed! Especially sad for the soldiers who ended up in the Russian camps...
     
  8. PzJgr

    PzJgr Drill Instructor

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    I do not see why the western allies did not make it public as to what the Soviets were doing. Perhaps some international pressure could have been used to get the Soviets to release the Americans. That would have been worth continuing the war in my opinion.
     
  9. bigiceman

    bigiceman Member

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    I think that if the public knew it would meant the call for open warfate with Russia. Patton already hated the Russians, think what a stink he would have made about them having Americans hostage. I wouldn't have put it past him to start a drive into the Russian held areas without authorization.
     
  10. TA152

    TA152 Ace

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    I don't know for sure since I was not around back then but there seems to have been alot of apathey at the end of the war for "justice" for a lack of a better word. Many nazis were able to leave the country and go to South America or the USA and Japanese war criminals got off for the most part. Seems like the survivors of the war just wanted to put it behind them and get on with their lives and not pursue any retribitutration to the losers, except for the Russians. They kept their Germans up to 1955 and few survived.
    Seems to be the same way after Korea and Viet Nam. Our government does not want to force the Chinese or Russians to account for the POW's it took into their country for interigotion and execution.
     
  11. bigiceman

    bigiceman Member

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    The focus of our animosity switched so quickly from the Germans to the Russians that a lot of the Germans that were given a free pass were being wooed for their knowledge so it could be both kept from the Russians and also used against them. The Japanese on the other hand were not dealt with so severly for other reasons. The most prevelent one that I have heard is to help with keeping the peace in occupied Japan. There were probably others.
     
  12. Kai-Petri

    Kai-Petri Kenraali

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    Wonder if anyone has seen anything new on the missing Western Allied POW´s?

    Gulag Study
     
  13. Kai-Petri

    Kai-Petri Kenraali

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    Wonder if anybody got more data now? Thanx for any new info!
     
  14. dsarmstrong

    dsarmstrong New Member

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