REPATRIATED GERMANS

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 March 1944, Page 7

REPATRIATED GERMANS

FIGHTING IN RUSSIA.

RUGBY, March 22

The British Government has asked the Soviet Government for full particulars of the reported capture by the Russian Army of German soldiers who had been captured by the British Army and repatriated to Germany. Stating this in the Commons, the Foreign Secretary said: “The Germans sent back last year were repatriated in accordance with the provisions of the Prisoners of War Convention and the Sick and Wounded Convention, 1929. Under the relevant article of the latter, it is provided that in addition to permanent medical personnel, soldiers specially trained to be employed as auxiliary nurses and stretcher bearers for the collection and transport and treatment of wounded and sick, and furnished with proof a:, identity, shall enjoy similar immunity of treatment as the permanent medical personnel if taken prisoner while carrying out these functions. The view of the British Government is that at the time of capture by the Red Army, these persons were employed in combatant duties. This is inconsistent with the whole purpose of the Sick and Wounded Convention, and constitutes a serious breadi of its provisions bv Germany.”