BRITISH PRISONERS IN SOVIET ZONE

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVII, Issue 23215, 31 May 1945, Page 5

BRITISH PRISONERS IN SOVIET ZONE

Questions In House LONDON, . May 29. Replying to questions about the repatriation of British prisoners of war in the Russian sphere, the Secretary for War (Sir James Grigg) said that at the beginning qf this year it was estimated that there were some 180,000 British Commonwealth prisoners of war in German hands.

A scheme of repatriation was undertaken as soon as the camps were reached by the British and American armies and very large numbers were flown back within a fe\v days of their

release, he said. The Soviet authorities, meanwhile, were evacuating to Odessa those British prisoners in camps overrun in Western Poland and Eastern Germany. A considerable number were reached by the Russians in Saxony. Bohemia and Austria, and when the Soviet armies linked up with the British and American forces, it was clearly desirable to transfer those prisoners directly to our armies rather than take them to Odessa.

Sir James Grigg said that local Russian commanders had no instructions, and in the interests of the prisoners themselves, they prevented them from making their own way west. Agreement regarding the transfer was reached. It was unlikely that there would now be any appreciable number of British prisoners in Soviet areas except Austria. “A total of 156,000 British prisoners had been liberated, and more than 140,000 had been brought over by air,” said Sir James Grigg. “About 10,000 were awaiting repatriation in the zones of General Eisenhower and Field-Marshal Sir Harold Alexander, and about 400 at Odessa. It is known that about 8500 are in that part of Austria controlled by the Red Army, and it is hoped that arrangements will soon be made for their transfer to the British and American forces.”

The Secretary for War added that the collection of stragglers on the Continent would take some time to end. and it was therefore impossible to estimate exactly the number not accounted for. but it was not likely to be large. ____________