PRISONERS OF WAR

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 114, 9 February 1944, Page 4

PRISONERS OF WAR

Work By N.C.O.’s Optional

There is a clause in the Geneva Convention concerning the treatment of prisoners of war. which states that n.e.o.’s or warrant officers may work in a supervisory capacity,' or may volunteer to work if they so desire. It also-pro-vides that they cannot be ordered to work outside the camp area. This fact was stressed in an interview- with Sergeant C. Flashoff. N.Z.E.F.. and W.0.1. H. JI. English, who have recently been repatriated after a long period in a German prison camp. They said that all prsoners of war in the early stages of the war. who were classed as fit by German doctors, were ordered to work, the only exception being commissioned officers. It was not till some months after., they said, that the text of the clause in the Convention became known and advantage was taken of it. In their particular camp, n.e.o. prisoners were withdrawn from outside work after much difficulty and kept in camp. ' - ' . . The. work done in this area was mainly in salt mines, stone quarries,-or factories —factory work being reserved for those men who were wounded and classed by the Germans as unfit for "hard” work. Other work included drainage, maintenance of waterways and railway track coal mining, glass making, forestry and farming. They said there were no ; good jobs.” which had been referred to in recently published reports which stated that n.e.o.’s by volunteering for work kept good jobs away from privates. In their opinion, n.e.o.’s should not work because they aided the prison-labour, which combined with the forced labour of millions of civilians in occupied countries, was a great help to the German war production. They also said that medical and surgical treatment of Allied prisoners was undertaken by Allied doctors, except where freshly wounded prisoners were too far distant from the special .hospitals set aside for the Allies. These hospitals were staffed by prisoners and controlled bv the Germans. The quality and quantity of German medical supplies had seriously deteriorated. Crepe paper bandages, paper tissue in place of cotton wool, and many other substitutes were used. The rations in the prison camps and hospitals were apparently calculated merely to sustain life, but the diet was sufficient if supplemented by food parcels sent by the Red. Cross.