"We have improvised": the Anglo-American alliance and Axis prisoners of war in World War II

This project assesses the dynamics of the Anglo-American relationship with regard to prisoner of war policies in Western Europe during the Second World War. Through an examination of government documents, particularly those of the Combined Chiefs of Staff, this study determines that American and British policies developed disparate trajectories as the war continued. Though Britain and the United States established a relationship of informality and generosity in the early stages of the war, public concern encouraged American policy-makers to embrace self-serving policies of prisoner detention, as Britain grew increasingly reliant upon American assistance. British attempts to motivate American aid through exhibitions of their harrowing experiences as a European state lost efficacy as the war continued. Ultimately, the culture of informality and integration established early in the war, contributed to the friction between the United States and the British Commonwealth in the late stages of the conflict.