Best WW2 Prisoner of War books and movies

Discover some of the best WW2 prisoner of war books and movies to learn more about the trials and tribulations of captive Second World War servicemen.

WW2 Prisoner of War books to learn about World War History

Image: Somewhere in a German stalag, a British POW passes his time in captivity with a good book (IWM (HU 20960))

Second World War literature and films are full of prisoner of war stories. In fact, some of the most iconic movies, non-fiction books, and novels tell the tales of POWs.

WW2 prisoner of war books and movies help us get a better understanding of what captured servicemen and women went through during the war. From daring German prison camp escapes to terrible suffering at the hands of the Imperial Japanese, there is much to learn from such works.

Here, we share some of the most interesting, inspirational, shocking, and entertaining films and books on WW2 POWs, including fictional works and non-fiction accounts.

The Colditz Story – P.R. Reid

British infantry officer Major Pat Reid has unique insights into what it takes to escape from a German POW camp. After all, he is one of the few that managed to successfully escape the infamous Colditz, aka Oflag VII-C.

The Colditz Story is a classic tale of ingenuity, bravery, and courage told from the point of view of Pat Reid. Appointed “Escape Officer” by his fellow inmates, Major Reid masterminded many of the hundreds of breakout attempts made by Colditz’s inmates.

Considered inescapable, Colditz proved anything but. This 1952 non-fiction POW book tells the inside (and outside) story of a successful escapee in the vein of The Great Escape. 

Major Reid’s prose rips along at a terrific pace, and the true story narrative is full of colourful characters, making it one of the most entertaining factual POW books available.

Prisoners of the Japanese: POWS of World War II in the Pacific – Gavan Daws

The horrendous treatment Allied prisoners of war suffered at the hands of the Imperial Japanese is laid bare in this forensic study by American author Gavan Daws.

Daws combined a decade of documentary research with hundreds of veteran interviews for what some consider the definitive history of POWs in the Far East.

The Japanese took over 130,000 prisoners during the Second World War. Starved, overworked, and brutalised, they suffered terribly. Over a quarter of those taken into captivity died; the survivors had to endure years of psychological scarring, too.

Not for the faint-hearted, Prisoners of the Japanese: POWs of World War II in the Pacific is unflinching yet compelling and a must-read for any looking to learn more about Japanese POWs' plight in the Far East.

Survivor of the Long March: Five Years as a PoW 1940-1945 – Charles Waite

“The day I was captured, I had a rifle but no ammunition.” 

Charles Waite went into battle in May 1940. Captured in the Fall of France, he spent the next five years a prisoner of the German war machine. To make matters worse, he was forced to endure The Long March: a gruelling 1,600-kilometre forced march across Germany.

The Long March is one of the more overlooked WW2 PoW experiences, and this prisoner-of-war book gives a first-hand survivor’s account. Over 80,000 captured British servicemen were put on forced marches towards the end of the Second World War in Europe.

Survivor of the Long March: Five Years as a PoW 1940-1945 explores not just Charles’ terrible trek but also his five years in PoW camps; however, it’s his first-hand insight into what life was like on the Long March that makes this a unique read.

The Railway Man – Eric Lomax

Eric Lomax was enraptured by the power and majesty of steam locomotives growing up, forming an early obsession with the magic of the railways.

In an ironic twist of fate, Eric would be forced to labour on the infamous Burma-Siam Railway after falling into the clutches of the Japanese following the Fall of Singapore.

Eric’s memoir, The Railway Man, not only highlights the incredible cruelty and barbaric working conditions thrust upon the Death Railway workers but also the psychological damage wrought on Japanese POWs.

Surviving the war, Eric was still tormented by his experiences. The Railway Man reveals his struggle to come to terms with what he went through, including efforts to meet with one of his Japanese interrogators. 

While it can be a tough read, The Railway Man is an important document. It dually demonstrates how Second World War prisoners of war suffered mentally during and after the conflict while also examining post-war forgiveness and conciliation. A powerful piece of WW2 POW literature.

The Railway Man was adapted for the screen in 2013, with Colin Firth starring as Lomax.

Empire of the Sun – J.G. Ballard

Adapted by Steven Spielberg in 1987 and starring a young Christina Bale, J.G. Ballard’s semi-autobiographical novel Empire of the Sun provides a different angle on the prisoner of war story.

Empire of the Sun focuses on civilian internees in Shanghai caught up in the Japanese invasion of China. Ballard, who was born in the Chinese city, lived in the Lunghua Civilian Assembly Centre from 1943 to 1945.

The novel’s main character, Jamie Graham, is based on the young Ballard. His exploits, trying to survive in the chaos and confusion of occupied Shanghai, form the basis of the novel’s plot, giving insight into what it took to survive in a hostile world.

Other WW2 Prisoner of War books to read

If you are intrigued about reading more about Second World War prisoner of war books, you might also want to add the following to your reading list:

• Ray Perkin’s Wartime Trilogy – Out of the Smoke, Into the Smother and the Sword and the Blossom is a fictionalised account of the author’s service on HMAS Perth, his life as a POW in Burma and Nagasaki, and his liberation via atom bomb.
• Escape, Evasion and Revenge: The True Story of a German-Jewish RAF Pilot who Bombed Berlin and Became a POW – Peter Stevens fled Nazi Germany as a teenager, joined the RAF, and was soon bombing his homeland. Shot down and captured, Peter’s talent for escape is shared in Marc E. Stevens’ retelling of a Jewish POW who managed to hide his identity for the duration of the war.
• The Narrow Way to the Deep North – An Australian doctor is haunted by a youthful affair and his memories of the Burman-Siam Railway in Richard Flanagan’s Man Booker Prize-winning novel.
• The Great Escape: A Canadian Story – Canadian writer and journalist Ted Barris takes a look at the Canadians involved in the Great Escape, one of the war’s most audacious POW breakout stories.

Best Prisoner of War movies WW2

Second World War Prisoner of War movies have graced the silver screen for many decades following the end of the conflict.

Much like POW books, prisoner-of-war films set in World War Two vary in tone: some are rip-roaring adventure action flicks with tongue-in-cheek humour; others are deep explorations into the psyches of captive and captor. The variety is such that all aspects of the POW experience can be found in WW2 prisoner of war films.

Here is a small selection of POW movies you may wish to check out, either to improve your knowledge of the subject or to simply enjoy on a lazy bank holiday afternoon.

The Great Escape

The granddaddy of WW2 POW films, The Great Escape is one of the most famous war films ever made.

Released in 1963, it features a host of A-list stars, including Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, and Charles Bronson, to name a few, telling the real-life story of the escape from Stalag Luft III.

The Great Escape is packed with iconic scenes, such as McQueen’s Hilts attempt to jump over barbed wire to freedom on the Swiss Border, as well as one of the catchiest theme tunes in cinema history.

While based on real events, The Great Escape film is only partially historically accurate. It tells the story in broad strokes, giving the events leading up to and after the POW camp break-out the Hollywood treatment.

The real Great Escape was one of the most audacious prison breakouts of the Second World War. On 25 March 1944, 76 POWs escaped Stalag Luft III prison camp through meticulous planning and clever deception.

Sadly, 50 of the escapees were murdered by German authorities rather than being placed back in captivity. You can learn more about the real Great Escape here.

The Bridge on the River Kwai

David Lean’s 1957 epic The Bridge on the River Kwai was one of the most successful films at the time of its release. It was the year’s highest-grossing film and scooped up seven Academy Awards, including Best Actor for lead Alec Guinness.

But was it accurate?

If you ask the veterans who toiled and survived the brutal building of the Burma-Siam Railway, they’d tell you no.

60,000 Allied POWs, including British, Australian, American, and Dutch servicemen, worked on the railway, alongside hundreds of thousands of forced labourers from across Asia. Over 16,000 servicemen, and many more slaves, died to build it.

The gripe veterans had with the events as depicted in The Bridge on the River Kwai, was Alec Guinness's Lt. Col Nicholson was seemingly collaborating with his Japanese overseers. The soldier on which Nicholson is based, Lt. Col Phillip Toosey, was said to be a kind, considerate, and deeply devoted officer who would stand up for his men against their oppressors.

John Coast, a young British officer who went on to become a successful filmmaker who spent three and half years as a Japanese POW, said: “As nobody should ever have need telling, the picture is a load of high-toned codswallop.”

Still, The Bridge on the River Kwai is evocative of the struggle endured by so many POWs, but may not be the best, most accurate example of their suffering committed to screen.

To End All Wars

A 21st-century adaptation of Ernest Gordon’s memoir Through the Valley of the Kwai, To End All Wars is set in a Japanese prisoner of war camp for inmates working on the Burma-Siam Railway.

The drama focuses on four POWs and their differing approaches to surviving their brutal environment.

The group, played by Keiffer Sutherland, Robert Carlyle, Mark Strong and Ciarán McMenamin, are routinely starved and beaten, but take different approaches to their predicament: one wants to try and escape; the others to stoically endure.

The film also explores the impact of faith, drawn from the real-life friendship between Gordon and Roman Catholic inmate Dusty Miller, looking at an often-overlooked aspect of soldiers’ World War experience.

Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence

Many of the most affecting Second World War POW movies are set in the Far East.

In the case of the David Bowie-starring Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence, the film deals more with the different ideologies of the Japanese and the Western Allies.

The titular Lt. Col Lawrence, played by Tom Conti, seeks to bridge the two camps to seek better treatment for the Allied POWs from a sadistic, yet complex, camp commander.

David Bowie’s character, Major Jack Celliers, seeks to resist the Japanese rather than try and understand them and their world view. 

It’s an interesting film, more about mood, feeling and interpersonal relationships than high adventure or combat.

Other Prisoner of War movies WW2 to watch

Here are some more Second World War POW films that are worth a watch.

• The Hill – Directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Sean Connery, The Hill is set in a British North African military prison, where new prisoners struggle to survive in the face of harsh guards and a difficult environment. It’s an interesting study of endurance. The Hill differs from other POW movies in that it focuses on British soldiers imprisoned by their own military police rather than enemy forces.
• Stalag-17 – One of Billy Wilder’s classics, after two Americans are killed while escaping from a German P.O.W. camp in World War II, the barracks black marketeer, J.J. Sefton, is suspected of being an informer. Stalag-17 is more light-hearted than its peers, but is still affecting, tension-filled, and serious underneath the comedy.
• A Man Escaped – The clue is in the title. A masterpiece of minimalist cinema, Robert Bresson’s 1956 classic tells the story of a captured French Resistance fighter who pulls off a daring prison camp escape in France.
• Von Ryan’s Express – A little different from the more serious fare listed here, this mid-60s action flick stars Frank Sinatra as an American GI leading mostly British POWs on a daring, train-based escape from captivity in WW2 Italy.

Learn more about Prisoners of War in WW2

Approximately 170,000 to 180,000 prisoners of war were captured by the forces of Nazi Germany and Fascist Germany in the Second World War. A further 130,000 Commonwealth POWs were captured by the Imperial Japanese in the Far East.

The treatment of POWs differed greatly between the various Axis powers. Although not pleasant, those in German or Italian hands could expect treatment in line with the Geneva Convention. Imperial Japan, on the other hand, did not recognise the convention and instead treated captured servicemen with extreme brutality.

The difference in treatment, as seen in various memoirs and movies, can be seen in the death rates of captured Commonwealth personnel: 

• 3.5% in German or Italian captivity
• 27% in Japanese captivity

Those Commonwealth servicemen and women who died as prisoners of war are commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in war cemeteries or on war memorials.

Discover how to research WW2 prisoners of war in our care with our search guides.

Victims of the Burma-Siam Railway, for example, are buried in cemeteries such as:

• Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, Thailand
• Chungkai War Cemetery, Thailand
• Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery, Myanmar

Unlike Japanese POWs, those who died in German captivity are not located within specific CWGC cemeteries or memorials. 

If they died in Germany, for example, their war graves may rest in one of our larger Second World War German cemeteries, such as Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery or Becklingen War Cemetery.

This is because, after the Second World War, Commonwealth casualties who died in Germany during the Allied invasion were brought together from their original burial grounds into CWGC sites. This process was known as concentration.

Use our How to Find WW2 War Graves guide to discover more about researching their final resting places.

Author acknowledgements

Alec Malloy is a CWGC Digital Content Executive. He has worked at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission for over three years. During that time, he has written extensively about the World Wars, including major battles, casualty stories, and the Commission's work commemorating 1.7 million war dead worldwide.