BRITISH PRISONERS OF WAR

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 84, Issue 295, 16 December 1940, Page 9

BRITISH PRISONERS OF WAR

REASSURING MEWS

TREATMENT IN OCCUPIED FRANCE AND BEI.GIUM [ British Official Wireless. 1 RUGBY, Dec. 11. Reassuring news has reached London from occupied France and Belgium regarding the welfare of the British prisoners of war in hospitals there and of the civilian internees in Paris.

This, the first direct news to be received, has been supplied to the Red Cross and St. John war organisation by two Swiss doctors, Marcel Junod and Marti, who are delegates to the International Red Cross. They state in telegrams that the treatment given the British wounded is good and that in some hospitals British doctors are in attendance.

Dr. Marti’s reports concern the camps where members of the Royal Air Force are imprisoned. Of one permanent camp he states: "The food is good. The prisoners are satisfied with the quantity of their clothing, but they hope for mittens and socks. The men work in labour detachments, and their health ■is excellent.”

A Paris message states that the police ordered a round-up of all British subjects of both sexes over 10 years of age Hundreds of persons were escorted to the police stations with their luggage. It is estimated that 4000 left Paris, and it is stated that at least 1400 are held in a camp outside Paris. Dispatch of Parcels Answering a question in the House House of Commons regarding the dispatch of parcels to British war prisoners via Lisbon, the Under-Secretary for War said the House of Commons representative •of the war organisation of the British Red Cross was in Lisbon and had reported that on November 3 none of that organisation’s parcels had been lost in Lisbon. Parcels totalling 300,000 were due in December.

The parcels were net unduly delayed in Lisbon, the average time being five days. The main delays were between the Portuguese Spanish frontier and Germany. Urgent measures were being taken to help the International Red Cross Committee in Geneva to overcome these delays. Parcels were not. arriving in large numbers and it was hoped to obtain a considerable acceleration in the near future.