Barbed Wire Disease

[Doug Johnson]

I would consider that the research for this book was fairly narrow which has caused some errors (in fairness, if the author had done in depth research the book would probably never have been published) e.g. there is mention of the two prisoners shot at Limburg which caused great concern, however, research, which can be found on this forum, reveals that neither was actually at Limburg and whilst I would never really say that shooting of any PoW was justified, in both of these cases it was understandable. Again there is mention of the two prisoners allegedly bayoneted at Güstrow where the inspector visited the camp and found no evidence of it. Further investigation would have revealed that the cases occurred in work camps and at least one of the bayoneted prisoners was reported as having arrived back at Güstrow a few days after the inspector had left!

Some of the conclusions I would also disagree with but, in my opinion, the biggest mistake is in the title! I only purchased the book as I tend to try to acquire works on PoWs and this was low down on my list as the title indicated it was of a particular limited aspect of PoW history and had been covered before. I would suggest however, that this is the best book on PoWs published so far. Forget Jackson and Moynihan (both are out of print, overpriced and overrated), and despite my misgivings about the narrowness of the research, the depth of the research in that limited area is extensive and very well referenced and is therefore a very useful addition to any PoW researchers library. Remarkably though, in connection with the title, Barbed Wire Disease: A Psychological Study of the Prisoner of War by A L Vischer; Bale; London; 1919, does not appear to have been consulted and does not appear in the bibliography.

Doug