Germany: Prisoners, including: Mr R Thiedemann, a German subject due to be repatriated:...

FO 383/290

1917

Germany: Prisoners, including:

Mr R Thiedemann, a German subject due to be repatriated: decision not to permit a testimonial from his employers to be sent to Germany.

Costs of transport for the repatriation of prisoners, including:

• Memorandum from the Army Council.
• Expenses of German nationals repatriated on SS Golconda.
• Memorandum to the German Government on the financial arrangements for the repatriation of British and German prisoners.

Major Ponsonby Shaw: enquiry from Mrs A D Orr-Wilson about his reported transfer to Kissingen Camp.

Reported infringements of alcohol regulations in internment camps in Germany.

Letter written by an unknown German prisoner describing conditions at Wakefield Camp.

Recommendations for improvements in the methods of interrogating British prisoners transferred to Switzerland.

Postal enquiries regarding British soldiers, including:

• Correspondence regarding the receipt of an uncensored letter from Mr John W Waterhouse regarding Second Lieutenant G Waterhouse.
• Receipt of uncensored letters through the open mail by the US Embassy in Berlin, with a copy of a letter from Mrs Edna Bentley regarding Private Harry Bentley.

Employment of prisoners in France and Russia near the front line, including:

• German memorandum requesting the removal of German prisoners to a point at least thirty kilometres from the firing line, with an extract from The Times of 22 January 1917 on Franco-German reprisals.
• British memorandum proposing a mutual agreement for British and German prisoners to be removed twenty kilometres from the firing line; subsequent rejection of the proposal by the German Government.
• Comments from the War Office regarding the treatment of German prisoners in France.
• Memoranda (French language) from the French Government on conditions for French prisoners.
• Threat of German reprisals if their demands for the removal of prisoners were not met.
• Extract (French language) from Le Figaro of 4 March 1917 reporting on a speech by the German Minister for War, General von Stein.
• Extract from The Times of 5 March 1917 reporting General von Stein's speech, with the official reply from the French Government.
• Mr Joynson-Hicks MP: parliamentary questions on German threats of reprisals against British prisoners, and reports that prisoners had been moved close to the firing line.
• Decision by the French Government to agree to the German request regarding the removal of prisoners from the firing line.
• Report on the treatment of British prisoners in the area between Arras and Soissons.
• Extract, relating to the employment of prisoners in the fighting zone, from the proceedings of an Anglo-French conference held in London in March 1917.
• Statement by the German Government that reprisals were to be instituted against British prisoners in the absence of formal acceptance of their proposals.
• Copy of the Deutsche Reichanzeiger of 2 March 1917, reporting a speech (German language) by General von Stein on the treatment of German prisoners, and reprisals to be taken as a result.
• German memorandum with an enclosure detailing alleged abuses of German prisoners; British reply rejecting the allegations.
• German memorandum restating demands regarding the removal of prisoners.
• Proposal to gather information on the treatment of British prisoners from French civilians evacuated from the occupied districts of France.
• Translation of a British article published in Der Bund (undated) refuting claims regarding the treatment of German prisoners.
• Advice from the Netherlands Legation in Berlin that the German requirements regarding the removal of prisoners should be accepted; decision by the War Cabinet to withdraw all German prisoners to a point at least thirty kilometres from the firing line.
• Lance Corporal Harry Edward Parsey and Private Thomas Omri Downes: report of an interview with them on their experiences of working behind the German lines at Cambrai, France, with a list of other prisoners (in docket no.87617).
• Reported undertaking by the King of Spain to attempt to obtain permission for Spanish delegates to visit camps in occupied territory.
• Private W C Baird: copy of a letter from him to the Canadian Red Cross on conditions for prisoners employed near German trenches on the Russian front line.
• Request by the German Government for inspections of camps containing German prisoners in France; agreement for visits to be undertaken by representatives of the Swiss Legation.
• Letters and extracts from letters from various British prisoners (names in docket nos.95030, 95078, 96055, 96100, 96107 and 96142) on conditions near the firing line on the Russian front .
• Lance Corporal Harry Edward Parsey and Private Thomas Omri Downes, formerly interned at Cambrai, France: sworn depositions.
• Letters and extracts from letters from various British prisoners (names in docket nos.97088, 97187, 97293, 98205, 98844, 99510, 99627, 99665, 100199, 101946 and 101968) on conditions near the firing line on the Russian front .
• Proposal for the transfer by the French authorities of German prisoners at Le Havre and Rouen to French custody.
• Letters and extracts from letters from various British prisoners (names in docket nos.102607, 103199, 103826, 104348,) on conditions near the firing line on the Russian front.
• Mr G F Squires: enquiry about the withdrawal of British prisoners from German trenches on the Russian front.
• Statements (French language) by German prisoners from Lorraine (names in docket no.105696) on the treatment of British prisoners.
• Enquiry from the German Government concerning British action on the withdrawal of German prisoners.
• Petty Officer A J Picton-Warlow, interned at Friedrichsfeld Camp: letter on conditions in the camp; further letters, including some from his wife, Mrs Camilla Picton-Warlow, are in docket nos.107570 and 107591.
• Mr Joynson-Hicks MP: parliamentary questions on the employment of British prisoners close to the Russian and French firing lines.
• Confirmation by the Army Council that all German prisoners in France had been removed to a distance of thirty kilometres or more behind the firing line.
• Lance Corporal Charles Piggott: report of an interview with him on his experiences as a prisoner working behind the German lines in France.
• Extracts of statements (French language) by repatriated French civilians on the treatment of British prisoners.

Code 1218 Files 21254-21962 (to paper 108310).

Files 21254-21962 (to pp.108310).

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