When did the UK begin to take Nazi prisoners of war in WWII?

Question

Please provide a source. I'm looking for dates or approximate points in the war.

Answer 1

Obviously not during the Battle of France. When the British were loosing and retreating. They had enough trouble trying to get all of their own troupes out of Europe.

During the Battle of Britain (1940) and the Battle of the Atlantic (1939-1940). Sure, not a lot of prisoners, but any Nazi shot down over Britain either died or was taken prisoner. And any Nazi Ship or Uboat seaman that survived also had a high probability of capture. More were captured during the North Africa Campaign.

Britain actually held a small percentage of Pow's. By 1940 they were mostly shipped to Canada and Australia where they would have no chance of repatriation or escape back to Germany. When the US joined the war, prisoners were also sent there.

Answer 2

I'm having a hard time finding any online sources for this and the book about German spies on WW2 that I originally got the information from is at home (I'm at work right now), but I read that Germany sent dozens of spies to England (mostly by small watercraft or parachute in the countryside) in the early years of World War II. All but a few were captured very soon because they stood out among the local populace in small towns, who were on the lookout for spies. As far as I can remember they were all executed, so they weren't POWs for long. I'm pretty sure some were captured in 1940 and some were definitely POWs by 1941. The English actually sent the Germans false information using the identities of some of spies they captured. This is one of the ways that they maintained the fiction that Patton and his phantom army was going to invade across the Dover straights, something that the Germans believed until weeks after D-Day.

Answer 3

It was a U-boat crew who were the first prisoners to be imprisoned in Britain and they came from U-27 which was depth charged in the North Sea in September 1939-the entire crew including the commander were rescued safely.

Go to the source below for an excellent review of German POW's in British hands.

Answer 4

While I can't be certain, I would start by looking at North Africa. Britain and US forces struck serious blows against German troops there and I cannot think of any other time during the war (up to this point) when Britains were defeating Germans.

Answer 5

You presumably mean German prisoners. Nazis would be Waffen SS and that minority of the professional and drafted German army that believed in Nazism.
In that case, there were a few prisoners taken in the 1940 fighting in France and Belgium. I don't know if they were taken back to Britain though.