The Long Columns of Prisoners

The German advance takes prisoners by the hundreds of thousands. Gathered together, they are marched to the rear, then towards Germany, in endless columns on foot: files of exhausted, ill-fed men, walking for days on end under enemy guard, in the heat and dust of the crowded roads.

For you, the prisoner, the march poses choices of survival and of conscience. You may walk obediently in the column to avoid mistreatment and conserve your strength. You may try to escape on the strength of a passing wood, a village, a moment of inattention by the guards — at the risk of being shot. Or you may help others within the column (share water, support the weakest), at the risk of slowing down and drawing blows.

Fatigue, hunger and uncertainty about the destination make each day gruelling. The columns of prisoners, which sometimes cross the streams of refugees, are one of the striking images of the defeat. Escaping now, on home soil, is still possible; once in Germany, it will be all but hopeless.