<P> The German invaders treated any resistance--such as sabotaging rail lines--as illegal and immoral, and shot the offenders and burned buildings in retaliation . In addition, they tended to suspect that most civilians were potential francs - tireurs (guerrillas) and, accordingly, took and sometimes killed hostages from among the civilian population . The German army executed over 6,500 French and Belgian civilians between August and November 1914, usually in near - random large - scale shootings of civilians ordered by junior German officers . The German Army destroyed 15,000--20,000 buildings--most famously the university library at Louvain--and generated a wave of refugees of over a million people . Over half the German regiments in Belgium were involved in major incidents . Thousands of workers were shipped to Germany to work in factories . British propaganda dramatizing the Rape of Belgium attracted much attention in the United States, while Berlin said it was both lawful and necessary because of the threat of franc - tireurs like those in France in 1870 . The British and French magnified the reports and disseminated them at home and in the United States, where they played a major role in dissolving support for Germany . </P> <P> The British soldiers of the war were initially volunteers but increasingly were conscripted into service . Surviving veterans, returning home, often found that they could only discuss their experiences amongst themselves . Grouping together, they formed "veterans' associations" or "Legions". A small number of personal accounts of American veterans have been collected by the Library of Congress Veterans History Project . </P> <P> About eight million men surrendered and were held in POW camps during the war . All nations pledged to follow the Hague Conventions on fair treatment of prisoners of war, and the survival rate for POWs was generally much higher than that of their peers at the front . Individual surrenders were uncommon; large units usually surrendered en masse . At the siege of Maubeuge about 40,000 French soldiers surrendered, at the battle of Galicia Russians took about 100,000 to 120,000 Austrian captives, at the Brusilov Offensive about 325,000 to 417,000 Germans and Austrians surrendered to Russians, and at the Battle of Tannenberg 92,000 Russians surrendered . When the besieged garrison of Kaunas surrendered in 1915, some 20,000 Russians became prisoners, at the battle near Przasnysz (February--March 1915) 14,000 Germans surrendered to Russians, and at the First Battle of the Marne about 12,000 Germans surrendered to the Allies. 25--31% of Russian losses (as a proportion of those captured, wounded, or killed) were to prisoner status; for Austria - Hungary 32%, for Italy 26%, for France 12%, for Germany 9%; for Britain 7% . Prisoners from the Allied armies totalled about 1.4 million (not including Russia, which lost 2.5--3.5 million men as prisoners). From the Central Powers about 3.3 million men became prisoners; most of them surrendered to Russians . Germany held 2.5 million prisoners; Russia held 2.2--2.9 million; while Britain and France held about 720,000 . Most were captured just before the Armistice . The United States held 48,000 . The most dangerous moment was the act of surrender, when helpless soldiers were sometimes gunned down . Once prisoners reached a camp, conditions were, in general, satisfactory (and much better than in World War II), thanks in part to the efforts of the International Red Cross and inspections by neutral nations . However, conditions were terrible in Russia: starvation was common for prisoners and civilians alike; about 15--20% of the prisoners in Russia died and in Central Powers imprisonment--8% of Russians . In Germany, food was scarce, but only 5% died . </P> <P> The Ottoman Empire often treated POWs poorly . Some 11,800 British Empire soldiers, most of them Indians, became prisoners after the Siege of Kut in Mesopotamia in April 1916; 4,250 died in captivity . Although many were in a poor condition when captured, Ottoman officers forced them to march 1,100 kilometres (684 mi) to Anatolia . A survivor said: "We were driven along like beasts; to drop out was to die ." The survivors were then forced to build a railway through the Taurus Mountains . </P>

What is the story of world war 1