PRISONERS OF WAR

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 10 September 1941, Page 4

PRISONERS OF WAR

MEN STILL UNACCOUNTED FOR STATEMENT BY MR NASH Wellington, j “My attention has been drawn to a i statement, dated London, 12th August. ! which was published in the I’rcss on Monday, Ist September, referring to a 1 special department set up in New Zealand House, London, for keeping j m contact with some 4000 to 5000 New j Zealanders in German prison camps. ’ | said the Acting-Prime Minister, Mr Nash, in a statement yesterday. "It is added also in this statement that the men have been transferred to these camps since they were captured in Greece and Crete. “As the public will be aware from iry statement in the House on Thursday last, the Government is still awaiting official advice as to whether or not some 3000 men who are missing and still unaccounted for arc prisoners of war.” said Mr Nash. “I have been in communication with the High Commissioner, who informs me that it is incorrect to say that this number ere prisoners of war. and that in fact official advice is still awaited in his office, as it is here, about the fate of ihe men who have been reported as missing. Further, there is no information as yet to say that all the men captured in the campaigns in Greece and Crete have been transferred to prison camps in Germany. “The public can be assured that as scon as this information is received by the Government notification will be sent immediately to next-of-kin. —P.A. DRIFTING BACK NEW ZEALANDERS IN CRETE The official evacuation of New Zealanders from Crete finished some months ago, but it is very probable that several men listed as missing or prisoners of war are now well and at liberty. One man said that New Zealanders were still drifting back to Egypt in twos and threes from the island when he left. Prisoners on the island were apparently allowed a fair amount of latitude by their captors, apart from the necessary work they had to do, and a resourceful Digger had found time to hide a boat in a har.dy position and wait for his opportunity to escape. The Greeks and the Cretans had been wonderful in the help they had given to the soldiers, and a thousand or more men were definitely carrying on the fight in Crete. The Germans had generally respected the Red Cross, and provided no "tin” hats were worn planes usually left ambulance and hospital establishments