Hello, I have a question regarding the prisoners of war during the Napoleonic Wars. I have read somewhere that the french prisoners got a monthly amount of money while in detention. For example, in the Banat region (now belonging to Romania, where I live), a french general received 94 fl./month. Is this information confirmed by any sources? Not necessarily the amount of money, but the fact that they were paid.
Yes POWs should have been paid, I have read a memoire of an Saxon officer captured with his command at Kobryn - and they got payment from the Russians while being in capture, I have to check on a Prussian memoire as well, in case I remember correctly, after being captured in 1806 - they got payment in France.
Now of course - we don't know how strict this was applied - and if all POWs got payment in captivity, but the possibility was there.
In case you want to read about the Saxons in Russia 1812
Titze, Jörg (Herausgeber, Editor)
Carl August Becker, Tagebuch 28.03.1812 - 21.09.1812
books on demand, Norderstedt 2019
Thank you, sir! So, all POW, on both sides, got some money... where it was possible. Like a gentlemen's agreement.
In France, there was a decision about this by Berthier in 1806, and a French regulation of 1811, which decided prisoners (except British ones) should receive an amount equal to the "solde de reforme" paid to inactive French military persons of their rank.
In April 1813, v. Hake, the Prussian minister of war, proposed to the king to treat French prisoners in the same manner. (Nippold, Erinnerungen Hermann von Boyen, vol. 3, Leipzig 1890, pp. 283-286)
Dörnberg writes about this Traktement in his
Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben 1791 - 1810 - when he was POW in France.
For an overview about the French regulations see here:
https://books.google.de/books?id=H6wWAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA4541
The juridical background of Doering's experience:
Quartier impérial, Auma, 12 octobre 1806
NOTE
Sa Majesté l'Empereur des Français, désirant que les maux de la guerre soient diminués autant que possible, a décidé que l'échange des prisonniers de guerre se ferait entre les deux puissances par un cartel et aux conditions ci-après.
Les prisonniers prussiens jouiront en France d'une paye et d'une ration déterminées, sous la condition que les prisonniers français qui seront faits par l'armée prussienne jouiront du même traitement.
En conséquence, il est accordé à chaque soldat prussien prisonnier une ration de 24 onces de farine, dont trois quarts de froment et un quart de seigle; une demi-livre de viande, une once de riz, trois sous par jour et le logement.
Aux sous-officiers, le tiers en sus. Aux sous-lieutenants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 francs par mois Aux lieutenants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Aux capitaines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 100 Aux majors et lieutenants-colonels . . . . 150 Aux colonels . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Aux généraux-majors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 Aux lieutenants généraux . . . . . . . . . . . 600
Les femmes, enfants, chirurgiens et tous individus tenant à l'administration seront renvoyés, ne pouvant être considérés comme prisonniers de guerre.
Le major général, ministre de la guerre, donnera des ordres pour l'exécution des dispositions ci-dessus.
From:
http://www.histoire-empire.org/correspondance_de_napoleon/1806/oct_02.htm
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