prisoners of war
Captured enemy combatants
Prisoners of war are captured enemy combatants held in custody during armed conflict.
International law, particularly the Geneva Conventions, establishes standards for their treatment—prohibiting torture, requiring adequate food and shelter, and mandating release after hostilities end.
The abbreviation POW is common: His grandfather was a POW in Vietnam.
The singular is prisoner of war.
- POWCaptured military personnel
- Hague ConventionsInternational laws of warfare
- missing in actionCombat status, fate unknown
- Geneva ConventionsWartime humanitarian treaties
- war crimesIllegal acts during conflict
stalag · Hanoi Hilton · bamboo cage · behind enemy lines · repatriation · come home · forced labor · Red Cross · Andersonville · concentration camps · Bataan · detention · torture · escape attempts · war · death marches · law of war · internment
- military historybattles, soldiers, campaigns, officers, battlefields
- Japanese Empireimperial expansion, Manchuria, Korea, Taiwan, China
- Union soldiersUnion infantry, federal troops, enlisted men, volunteers, privates
- wartimerationing, war economy, war bonds, war effort, evacuations
- Korean WarKorean War, 38th parallel, DMZ, demilitarized zone, armistice line
- prisonersinmates, convicts, felons, jailbirds, lifers
prisoners of warcaptors
Those holding prisoners
liberators · jailers · victors · escaped prisoners · guards
prisoners of warnon-combatants
People not engaged in warfare
civilians · refugees · displaced persons · hostages · political prisoners
prison, prisoner, imprison, imprisonment, prisons, prisoners, imprisoner