Russian Guard at Langensalza

Creator

Anonymous

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Creation Date

1917

Description

This drawing shows the prison compound at Langensalza, including a Russian sentry standing at the inner gate of the barbed-wire fence near a one-story wooden barrack. To the right stand two covered buckets which were probably used to fetch food for POW's inside this compound (the buckets could have also been used for sanitation purposes but the ladle on one of the buckets undermined this possibility). French and Russian prisoners mill about the compound in the background. The Russian sentry is not armed and may be a prison trustee. The Germans and Russians signed an armistice in December 1917 which ended the fighting on the Eastern Front. Because of critical manpower shortages, the Germans employed trusted POW's to serve as guards to replace German troops who were transferred to front line duties.