Record revealed
Japanese Instrument of Surrender, 1945
After six years of brutal global conflict, this document marked the end of the Second World War.
Series
War Office: Directorate of Military Intelligence: Liberated Prisoner of War Interrogation...
Catalogue reference: WO 344
What's it about?
WO 344
This series consists of approximately 140,000 Liberation Questionnaires completed by mainly British and Commonwealth Prisoners of War (PoWs) of all ranks and services, plus a few other Allied nationals and Merchant seamen. While the plans to...
Full description and record details
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Reference (The unique identifier to the record described, used to order and refer to it)
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WO 344
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Title (The name of the record)
- War Office: Directorate of Military Intelligence: Liberated Prisoner of War Interrogation Questionnaires
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Date (When the record was created)
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1945-1946
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Description (What the record is about)
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This series consists of approximately 140,000 Liberation Questionnaires completed by mainly British and Commonwealth Prisoners of War (PoWs) of all ranks and services, plus a few other Allied nationals and Merchant seamen. While the plans to question all liberated PoWs never materialised, these records nevertheless represent a large percentage of those still in captivity in 1945.
Although the questionnaires for those held by Germany or Japan differ in appearance and format, the information they might provide is very similar. As well as giving personal details, name, rank, number, unit and home address, these records can include: date and place of capture; main camps and hospitals in which imprisoned and work camps; serious illnesses suffered while a prisoner and medical treatment received; interrogation after capture; escape attempts; sabotage; suspicion of collaboration by other Allied prisoners; details of bad treatment by the enemy to themselves or others.
In addition, individuals were given the opportunity to bring to official notice any other matters, such as courageous acts by fellow prisoners or details of civilians who assisted them during escape and evasion activities. Consequently, additional documentation is sometimes attached.
Both questionnaires also enquire if the prisoner had witnessed or had any information about war crimes. If so, they were required to complete a form 'Q'. These forms contained information about behaviour of enemy captors which could constitute illegal acts
Scattered throughout files in this series there are 'Special Interrogation Reports' which relate to prisoner of war reports in WO 208.
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Arrangement (Information about the filing sequence or logical order of the record)
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Arrangement
They are arranged alphabetically by name sequences with separate sections for those held by Germany and Japan.
Forms 'Q' were not kept with the main report, but passed to the appropriate Allied authorities investigating alleged war crimes.
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Related material (A cross-reference to other related records)
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For further research into war crimes see the records of the Judge Advocate General, principally: WO 235 WO 309 WO 310 WO 311 WO 325
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Separated material (A cross-reference between records that are related by provenance but now kept separately)
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The current whereabouts and indeed survival of forms 'Q' is unknown.
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Held by (Who holds the record)
- The National Archives, Kew
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Legal status (A note as to whether the record being described is a Public Record or not)
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Public Record(s)
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Language (The language of the record)
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English
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Creator(s) (The creator of the record)
- War Office, Directorate of Military Intelligence, 1939-1964
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Physical description (The amount and form of the record)
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410 box(es)
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Access conditions (Information on conditions that restrict or affect access to the record)
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Open
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Immediate source of acquisition (When and where the record was acquired from)
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from 2004 Ministry of Defence
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Subjects (Categories and themes found in our collection (our subject list is under development, and some records may have no subjects or fewer than expected))
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Record URL
- https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C14548/
Catalogue hierarchy
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This record is held at The National Archives, Kew
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Within the department: WO
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You are currently looking at the series: WO 344
War Office: Directorate of Military Intelligence: Liberated Prisoner of War Interrogation Questionnaires
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