If Germany had 5 million prisoners in WW2, why were their troops starving?

Wouldn't 5 million men, along with your own dead provide a bit of food? When you look at everything else they were willing to do and the fact that the majority of the soldiers would not have to know what they were eating, it doesn't sound too unrealistic in my opinion.

Moderate71 said:

If Germany had 5 million prisoners in WW2, why were their troops starving?....Wouldn't 5 million men, along with your own dead provide a bit of food? When you look at everything else they were willing to do and the fact that the majority of the soldiers would not have to know what they were eating, it doesn't sound too unrealistic in my opinion.

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Red:
Sure, if the troops are given to cannibalism, yes, 5 million prisoners is a lot of food.

Moderate71 said:

Wouldn't 5 million men, along with your own dead provide a bit of food? When you look at everything else they were willing to do and the fact that the majority of the soldiers would not have to know what they were eating, it doesn't sound too unrealistic in my opinion.

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Why would the germans resort to cannibalism? Germany suffered the same problems as rest of europe on food, their domestic production heavily damaged by war, farms that were not detroyed in bombing and fighting were often looted, leaving the remaining farms insuficient to feed their armies.

The us canada mexico etc kept european allies fed during ww2, as north america was almost unphased by ww2 domestically. The lend lease program supplied the british the french and other allies in western europe, and also supplied food and materials to the soviet union which the soviets considered spam a lifesaver as they had just had mass starvations before the war, and their farms being bombed or ravaged or taken by germans made things far worse.

Moderate71 said:

Wouldn't 5 million men, along with your own dead provide a bit of food? When you look at everything else they were willing to do and the fact that the majority of the soldiers would not have to know what they were eating, it doesn't sound too unrealistic in my opinion.

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International treaties.

In a great many cases, the prisoners eat better than their captors. There is no law about how you have to feed our own military, but there are a great many international agreements as to how you treat your POWs.

Also as part of these agreements, prisoners can grow their own food. And such food may not be taken from them. But you are still obligated to feed and take care of them.

As times get harder, people adapt. Most may find eating lice, roaches, rats, and weeds as disgusting. But when you are hungry, anything is food. Many even resort to "living cannibalism", where things like fingernails and hair are consumed from a living person.

Oozlefinch said:

International treaties.

In a great many cases, the prisoners eat better than their captors. There is no law about how you have to feed our own military, but there are a great many international agreements as to how you treat your POWs.

Also as part of these agreements, prisoners can grow their own food. And such food may not be taken from them. But you are still obligated to feed and take care of them.

As times get harder, people adapt. Most may find eating lice, roaches, rats, and weeds as disgusting. But when you are hungry, anything is food. Many even resort to "living cannibalism", where things like fingernails and hair are consumed from a living person.

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I’m guessing a treaty wasn’t the reason they didn’t resort to large scale cannibalism, though. I’m guessing they didn’t resort to cannibalism because it is, you know, cannibalism.

Skeptic Bob said:

I’m guessing a treaty wasn’t the reason they didn’t resort to large scale cannibalism, though. I’m guessing they didn’t resort to cannibalism because it is, you know, cannibalism.

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Cannibalism (other than the ritual kind) is rare. And generally only seen when all other resources have been exhausted.

Like say being at the top of a mountain range in winter where there is nothing else to eat. Or on a lifeboat, same thing.

Before people go that route, there are a great many other sources of food. From horses, dogs, cats, sparrows, rodents, amphibians, etc. You literally have to exhaust all other sources people that is what you are stuck with.

And it seems to be less of a problem with those in the military, because they are the military. More disciplined than the common civilian, and knowing that there is yet another legal system that will make shore work of them. The "Brothers in Arms" tends to look out for themselves, far more than the common civilian I think.

I read a biography many years ago, forget the name and author. But it was by a civilian survivor of the Great Patriotic War. One of the neighbors was selling "rat meat", and it was discovered it was really the flesh of dead German soldiers. He was not eating it, but selling it.

When the neighbors found out, they killed him and fed him to dogs. So even if true, this would be unwilling cannibalism.

And interestingly almost all of the Fallout games have similar storylines. Cannibalism is generally not part of the game, but in several sections you have individuals selling human flesh, but not consuming it themselves. From Iguana Bob in the original game, to Andale and the "Strange Meat Pies" of Fallout 3. The White Glove Society of Fallout New Vegas. And in 4 you have Longneck Lukowski who sells tinned meat made of irradiated humans. As well as "Mystery Jerky", made of human meat in the Nuka-World expansion.

Because they were still human enough, not quite robots yet

Moderate71 said:

Wouldn't 5 million men, along with your own dead provide a bit of food? When you look at everything else they were willing to do and the fact that the majority of the soldiers would not have to know what they were eating, it doesn't sound too unrealistic in my opinion.

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POWs? As I recall, the POWs - especially the Soviet POWs - were near starving themselves (the Nazis didn't even bother to capture Soviet officers - only for interrogation?). Very few Soviet POWs survived capture. & the deathcamp & workcamp inmates were barely fed @ all - I doubt that they had much meat on them, & their state of health (typhus, TB, other opportunistic infectious diseases, lice, general exhaustion, hunger, periodic assaults, standing @ attention for hours on end, etc.) - there wouldn't have been many calories there.

Nazi propaganda made a big deal out of Jewish people (Roma, Slavs, homosexuals, Communists, Socialists, union leaders & members, intellectuals & so on & so on) being rats metaphorically & actually. I don't know how effective that all was - but to get good Aryans to eat Untermeschen would be quite a trick, after all that effort expended on agitprop. I think it would have been a very, very hard sell.