I’m wondering how much cooperation there was with the German/Italian authorities with Western Allied POWs, beyond Geneva Protocol requirements?
Like did any Allied Servicemen offer to join auxiliary things like firefighters, medical roles or other things that the Germans designed roughly to help civilians and to skirt the safe side of the collaboration line?
I also have this weird idea and wonder if anyone did this or ran with it: I were a German in a position of authroity and didn’t know/care/could do anything about the Holocaust, I would offer the Western allied POWs free boat rides to Finland. The reason being is that the Western Allies think Nazis are scum but they still have a lot of sympathy for the Finns, because they lost a huge heavily populated chink of lad to the Soviets they are trying to get back.
Therefore, collaborating with the Germans or Italians themselves is a hard sell, but MUCH easier to sell helping the still beleaguered Finnish Democracy getting back what’s pretty much accepted to be theirs. ANd some might actually join English language units of the Finnish Army, but even doing labor for Finnland, a country devastated by the Winter War and desperately short on manpower, would seem WAY more palatable. Technically it’s Axis collaboration, but in the court of public opinion helping the Finns rebuild themselves is a hell of a lot easier to understand and forgive than helping the Nazis directly.
I’m wondering if anyone ever thought of it? Given the Nazis, it’s a toss-up, and if they did, they’d find some way to twist the knife into the Finnish government by charging for the labor or something. Cause as we reaffirm every single episode of this channel, Nazis are the WORST.
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Under the rules there does not seem to an option of transferring POWs from one power to another - though there is a statement which makes it clear that responsibility for the POW is with the detaining power. So it seems transferring POWs was not actually allowed - though i could easily be wrong about this. Then again most parties practiced it to an extent in reality. The Western Allies giving over German POWs to the Soviets for example would go against this rule. Or the USA giving over German POWs to the French to work as labor force (until 1948 when they should have been repatriated as soon as possible). As would Finns exchanging POWs with the Germans. Or the Finns giving over the Germans captured in the Lapland War to the Soviets.
As to the rest…
There is explicit ban on trying to get the POWs to serve in unhealthy or dangerous work (art 32., which i do believe covers ‘fighting’). Additionally another article (art. 31) explicitly forbids use POWs in any direct connection with the operations of war. POWs could be used as workmen/labor force (art. 27) but firefighting was a dangerous service and not allowed to POWs. Also firefighting as with regards to say bombings would likely violate the convention as well (art. 31).
References are to Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Geneva, 27 July 1929. Treaties, States parties, and Commentaries - Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War, 1929
The part related to Finland…
The Finnish case would be especially problematic since Finland was in war only against select few countries. So they might not have been POWs had they reached Finland but i guess would have required to be interned (and who also could not be made to fight for Finland). Furthermore Finland was already using the Soviet POWs as labor force (mainly in farms or forestry) so there was that.
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That’s useful! Surprisingly America never declared war on Finland, which I wish they hadn’t done with Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria but hey any decency by the Roosevelt administration is welcome. I’m pretty sure the Germans could have transferred the British at least to Finland without any real problems because the “rules of war” are voluntary guidelines at best. I’ve seen from this channel my utter contempt for the concept of international law was shared by all major and medium powers, except when they hypocritically bring it out to bludgeon their enemies.
This unhealthy and dangerous work refereed to in the conviction they were thinking more of the V2 rocket underground production facilities or American POWs digging up artisan coal by hand in Japan.
Although this does raise the question if anyone ever studied the best jobs to put POWs to use in, as in what are enemy POWs going to work on most enthusiastically and how best to incentivize them? Granted this is charitably defined as unfree labor, but getting the most labor out of POWs in terms of actual work achievements would be a fascinating thing to read up on.
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Your idea about Finland is interesting but could only have been offered to British and Soviet POWs as Finland was only at war with the UK and Soviet Union.
I can’t see the Finn’s trusting Soviet POWs.
While there may have been some deeply anti communist British POWs, I can’t help but think that the idea of a winter in Finland would tip the balance 
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