Miscellaneous (General) and America: Prisoners, including: MISCELLANEOUS (GENERAL):...

FO 383/475

1918

Miscellaneous (General) and America: Prisoners, including:

MISCELLANEOUS (GENERAL):

Minutes of meetings of the Transport Sub-Committee, with some additional papers, on transport arrangements for the repatriation of prisoners and related matters, for the following dates:

• 21 November 1918.
• 22 November 1918.
• 25 November 1918.
• 26 November 1918.
• 27 November 1918.
• 28 November 1918.
• 29 November 1918.
• 2 December 1918.
• 3 December 1918.
• 4 December 1918.
• 5 December 1918.
• 6 December 1918.
• 9 December 1918.
• 10 December 1918.
• 11 December 1918.
• 12 December 1918.
• 16 December 1918.
• 17 December 1918.
• 18 December 1918.
• 19 December 1918.
• 23 December 1918.
• 24 December 1918.
• 27 December 1918.
• 30 December 1918.

Sir Thomas Mackenzie: appointment as the New Zealand representative for the Interdepartmental Committee on Prisoners of War.

Appointment of Mr H C Russell and Major P H Mills as the South African representatives for the Interdepartmental Committee on Prisoners of War, with responsibilities for civilian and military prisoners respectively.

Minutes of a meeting on 12 December 1918 between representatives of the British and French Governments on the repatriation of British and French prisoners.

Minutes of a meeting on 20 December 1918 of the Interdepartmental Committee on Prisoners of War.

Major E W H Blake: appointment as the Canadian representative of the Interdepartmental Committee on Prisoners of War.

Minutes of a meeting on 20 December 1918 between representatives of the British and French Governments on the repatriation of British and French prisoners.

Request for an official statement by the Cabinet on the question of expenditure incurred in the repatriation of British prisoners.

Question of the execution of powers of attorney by prisoners, and the transmission of related documents.

Unteroffizier Johannes Naumer, a German prisoner interned at Jersey in the Channel Islands: decision not to permit the transmission of a document on his behalf to Germany.

Questions by the American Chargé d'Affaires in Washington about the treatment of interned German and Austro-Hungarian civilians in the UK, including: draft reply from the British Government stating that interned civilian prisoners had not been obliged to carry out work, except for that relating to the sanitary care of their camps, but that they had been permitted to volunteer for work.

Distribution of propaganda leaflets by air, including:

• Proposal for a joint response by the British and French Governments to threats by the Austro-Hungarian Government to punish airmen for dropping leaflets on their territory.
• Notification by the German Government of the suspension of regulations relating to the punishment of British airmen who dropped propaganda leaflets.

Question of the responsibilities of British diplomatic missions in Austria, Bulgaria and Turkey, following the declaration of the Armistice.

Recommendations for awards in connection with work on behalf of prisoners of war, including:

• Draft list (in docket no.117629) of various officials to be recommended for an award.
• Walter Townley: provision of a list (in docket no.118717) of British subjects in the Netherlands recommended for an award.
• Lists (in docket nos.119156 and 119388) provided by the British Legation in Berne, of British and Swiss subjects recommended for an award, with additional details on some of the nominees.

Memorandum proposing a policy to be adopted on claims for compensation by prisoners against enemy governments.

Repatriation of German civilian prisoners from the UK under the conditions of the Armistice, including:

• German memorandum setting out specific proposals.
• Request (French language) from the Swedish Legation in London for the urgent repatriation of Austro-Hungarian prisoners from Egypt and the UK.
• Agreement for the question of the repatriation of German civilian prisoners to be raised at a meeting of the Interdepartmental Committee of Prisoners of War, with comments from the War Office on some of the German proposals.

Request by the Treasury for an estimate of the expenditure by the Prisoners of War Department on relief in enemy countries for the financial year beginning 1 April 1919.

Request by the Austro-Hungarian Legation at Berne for Austro-Hungarian prisoners interned in Siberia and Turkestan to be allowed to correspond with their families.

Albert Hemmerle, a merchant seaman from Liechtenstein, interned at Reading: request by the Government of Liechtenstein for his release.

Missing prisoners, including:

• Joint memorandum, with appendices, by Mr B Grindle, Lord Lucan and Dame Adelaide Livingstone, on procedures for attempting to trace missing prisoners.
• Press notice issued on 3 January 1919 by the Interdepartmental Committee on Prisoners, on the methods employed in trying to trace missing British prisoners.

Prisoners of War Department: memorandum to the Ministry of Food about the problems experienced by repatriated British civilians in obtaining ration books, owing to an inability to establish their identities, with a sample of a proposed certificate to be issued in such cases.

AMERICA:

Transfer of enemy subjects interned on Taboga Island, Panama, to an internment camp in the USA.

Officers and crew of the German cruiser Dresden, interned in Chile, including:

• Commander V E Speranza: letter reporting on the movements of the officers and crew of the ship, and the conditions of their internment.
• Copy of the regulations governing the internment of the officers and crew of the Dresden, supplied by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Chile.

Code 1250 Miscellaneous (General): Files 114592 (papers 117824-end)-119611. America: Files 70064-71808

Miscellaneous (General): Files 114592 (pp.117824-end)-119611. America: Files 70064-71808

Public Record(s)

Open Document, Open Description

Topics

Internment

International

Army

Europe and Russia

Air Force

Australia and Pacific

Food and drink

Nationality

Americas

Middle East

Merchant seaman

Rationing

Armed Forces (General Administration)

Operations, battles and campaigns