History of Prisoner of War Casualty Branch

papiermache · Feb 20, 2016

As an aside, Curzon Street House, 1-4 Curzon Street, Mayfair, used by Cas.PW staff, was demolished in the mid to late 1990's.

Thanks for giving all the background to policy on sources and for sharing your insight.

This should help an enormous number of people find their way through the maze of open files, closed files, casualties, missing, war graves and war crimes investigations.

BarbaraWT · Mar 1, 2017

dbf said: ↑

SURVEY OF THE WORK OF CASUALTY (PRISONER OF WAR)

The work of the Prisoners-of-War Branch - Cas. P.W. - was in many respects conducted on quite different lines from that of the remainder of the Casualty Branch - Cas.L.

This had to be so if only because all Prisoners of War information, including the reports of capture, received from enemy sources was centralised with and distributed by Cas.P.W. In effect, Cas.P.W. occupied the position in relation to British Prisoners of 2nd Echelon in relation to casualties in the Field plus disposal of information relating to Prisoners of War, the concern of other Services, India and the Dominions, and sometimes even relating to Allied Prisoners of War.

Special duties
The special duties discharged by Cas.P.W. were as follows:-

Organisation and collection on behalf of all Services of a Prisoners of War information service from international and other sources including those prescribed in the Geneva Convention but covering also enemy propaganda, wireless, censorship and intelligence.

Identifying, breaking down or extracting names of Prisoners of War from incoming telegrams and lists of Prisoners of War and forwarding at speed and under suitable safeguards to other services, Dominions, India and Allied Government representatives. Acting as a clearing-house and enquiry centre for all doubtful identities.

Maintenance of indices showing up-to-date location of all British Army Prisoners of War in Germany, Italy and the Far East.

Pursuing enquiries regarding Prisoners of War through available sources including the Protecting Power, International Red Cross Committee and “Intelligence”.

Taking appropriate action in conjunction with the Directorate of Prisoners of War on all complaints regarding alleged ill-treatment of British Prisoners of War in enemy hands.

Organising on behalf of Dominions, India and other Services, and in conjunction with the Directorate of Prisoners of War, the supply of documents required by protected personnel in enemy hands and by other British Prisoners of War whose rank and status were disputed by the enemy.

Negotiating and agreeing with the International Red Cross Committee, Geneva, on various details arising out of the documentation of Prisoners of War generally in all Theatres of War.

Censoring enquiries for missing Prisoners of War submit by the British Red Cross Society - Missing Department.

Providing British Red Cross Society Prisoners of War Department and also Missing Department with Index Cards in respect of each soldier officially reported Prisoner of War by enemy Government.

Providing British Red Cross Society Prisoners of War Department with particulars of all Camp transfers and deaths.

Screening Prisoners of War information to eliminate duplication before despatch to Records Officers.

Organising and conducting a War Office Prisoners of War Enquiry Centre - British Army - and an official Far East Enquiry Centre covering all Services and the Dominions for personal telephonic and written enquiries.

Representing the Casualty Branch of the War Office (inclusive of its aforementioned additional responsibilities) on Sub-Committee ‘A’ of the Imperial Prisoners of War Committee.

Additional Miscellaneous Functions

As the War progressed, many additional duties and functions had of necessity to be shouldered by Cas. P.W. These miscellaneous duties, some of which were taken over from the Directorate of Prisoners of Ware and were outside the normal functioning of a Casualty Branch included the following:-

Examining and where necessary taking action on extracts made by Censorship from Prisoners of War mail. Complaints by Prisoners of War and much advance information regarding injuries or even of deaths of Prisoners of War were received by this means.

Staffing and maintaining, on behalf of Cas.P.W. and the Directorate of P.W. a joint sub-registry to deal with official papers and correspondence regarding Prisoners of War.

Sorting and distributing the incoming mail for the U.K. from the International Red Cross Committee, Geneva.

Receiving, identifying the senders and transmitting to Paymasters, letters from Prisoners of War authorising allotments to be made from their credit balances.

Identifying and indexing the results of the examination of unfit Prisoners of War by Mixed Medial Commission - Geneva Convention, Article 69.

Arranging for documentation at port of embarkation, cabling of names and notification of next-of-kin of Prisoners of War repatriated on grounds of ill-health or as surplus personnel, in advance of their arrival in the U.K.

Making arrangements in anticipation of post-hostilities repatriation from all Theatres including the printing and maintenance of complete alphabetical lists of Prisoners of War on behalf of British, Dominion and Indian Governments.

Training of repatriation teams.

Despatch to Italy and, later on, to Germany of representatives from Cas. P.W. to control and supervise documentation of repatriated Prisoners of War and to institute on the spot enquiries for missing Prisoners of War.

Arranging in conjunction with D.P.W. for the collection at Saalfeld and Meiningen and transport to the country of German official records of British Prisoners of War and dead and of the effects of the latter.

Examining, checking and disposing of the German official records.

Pursuing enquiries for missing Prisoners of War, arranging in conjunction with D. of O. for the setting up of semi-permanent search machinery in Italy, in Western Europe or in the Far East to trace missing Prisoners of War and missing generally, briefing the searcher organisation, and examining all information submitted.

Locating and disposing of personal effects and kit left in Theatres of War by officers subsequently taken Prisoner of War - generally to next-of-kin under suitable safeguards - whenever no instruction regarding disposal had been given by the owners.

GENERAL

After discussion with the other Services in October, 1939, it has been agreed that, as the largest of the three Services, the War Office should act as the sole collecting and distributing agency for all information regarding British Prisoners of War.

Whether this decision was well-judged or whether the duty might more appropriately have been carried out by, say, the Foreign Office, must remain a matter of opinion. It was however consistent with the decision to make the War Office Directorate of Prisoners of war responsible for matters concerning the treatment of British Prisoners of War in enemy hands, and, despite the heavy burden thus laid upon Cas.P.W. whose staff in consequence during the greater part of the War reached upwards of 300, the arrangements can be said to have worked satisfactorily.

The evacuation of the Casualties Branch to the Provinces, while the Directorate of Prisoners of War remained in London resulted in much overlapping. Moreover, difference in method in the handling of enquiries regarding individual Prisoners of War as between the two organisations caused constant irritation and led to complaints from next-of-kin and various voluntary bodies.

The decision to return the Prisoners of War side of the Casualties Branch to London and to associate it there with the Directorate of Prisoners of War and with the Prisoners of War Information Bureau was therefore timely and undoubtedly did much to counter the growing criticism of the War Office.

The choice of Curzon Street House as an office was a most fortunate one, since it contained rooms adequate for the accommodation of large staffs together with their essential records thus facilitating the handling at speed of the immense volume of Prisoners of War information which reached the Branch from many sources.

NOTE
In view of the close association of Cas. P.W. with the Directorate of Prisoners of War this Report should be read in conjunction with the latter’s Monograph on Prisoners of War.

Official Lists of Prisoners of War from enemy sources - Arrangements for handling

For a short time at the beginning of the War, the Prisoners of War Information Bureau acted as a post office in receiving and dealing with official Prisoners of War lists from the International Red Cross Committee and the Protecting Power and in forwarding them to the other Services, to Record Offices and for final clearance to the Casualty Branch in Liverpool. Later on this service was taken over by the Directorate of Prisoners of War. Following complaints mainly regarding delay, the lists were made the responsibility of the Casualty Branch through a Casualty Branch Enquiry Section at the War Office but were finally transferred to Cas. P.W. when that part of the Branch was returned to London in December 1941.

Efforts in conjunction with P.W.I.B. to speed up notification

The problems of P.W.I.B. in relation to enemy Prisoners of War and of Cas. P.W. in relation to British Prisoners of War were very similar. Consequently when the Bureau’s arrangements for the notification of German Prisoners of War were made known to the German authorities and later on when efforts were made to speed up the process, complete reciprocity was requested.

Although the German Government as a signatory of the Geneva Convention was bound to notify the names of captured British combatants and of dead British combatants when they had buried much depended on the manner in which the service was carried out. Inordinate delay in notification inevitably meant the hardship of a long-continued period of anxiety for the next-of-kin of the Missing. P.W.I.B’s efforts to speed up the notification of German Prisoners of War were therefore made almost entirely in the interest of British Prisoners of war and with this object, until the war had reached its final stages, the notification of German Prisoners of War was made a priority operation by the Bureau. The fact that the functions of the Bureau and of Cas. P.W. were thus mutually dependent was recognised early in 1943 when on the resignation of the officer in charge of the former both were placed under the same Principal.

Gentleman’s Agreement - Telegraphing Names of Airmen.

The regard which the Germans had for the Air Force was curiously reflected in a “gentleman’s agreement” negotiated by the local delegate of the International Red Cross whereby the names of German Luftwaffe personnel captured or buried by British Forces were telegraphed to Geneva for onward transmission to Berlin. This agreement which was of course conditional on the German P.W.I.B. cabling particulars of British airmen captured or buried by German forces was meticulously observed by the Germans and was the first important success scored by the Branch and P.W.I.B. in speeding up notification of capture.

Telegraphing names from official lists

Naturally other methods of expediting the service particularly in relation to Army and Navy personnel, were explored.

With the surrender of France, the direct route to Geneva was closed; consequently official lists of Prisoners of War were heavily delayed in transit and it became necessary to arrange that the International Red Cross Committee extract the names from the lists and cable them to the Branch. A Foreign Office grant to the International Red Cross Committee covered the costs of the cables.

Prisoners of War Records

The main record consisted of a loose-leaf alphabetical index by surname under Regiment or Corps in binders each holding 300/500 cards.

The arrangements for preparing the loose-leaf cards were somewhat extravagant. Upwards of 5 copes of each card were required, and this involved two or even three typings, since, with the relatively stout paper, the third carbon copy was frequently unreadable. Copying by hand was even more extravagant. Consequently when the Far East Section of the British Red Cross Society paid us the compliment of adopting our card index system and requested us to furnish 5 cards for each Prisoner of War, it became necessary to employ a different technique. The method adopted was to use a pre-cut foolscap size stencil - durotype - representing three cards with their appropriate headings. After typing in the necessary details, the required number of copies were produced from the stencil on a specially stout foolscap size paper. The foolscap sheets were then cut in three and punched on the margin to fix the binders.

Although not more than from 7 to 10 cards were required, the number which could have been produced would have run into hundreds and at the cost of little additional labour.

Considering that War Office Branches, Record Offices and Voluntary bodies dealing with Prisoner of War affairs have all hitherto produced their own Prisoner of War cards independently, the economy which would have resulted had some such centralised system of card production been in operation is obvious. The individual cards differently coloured to indicated the country of captivity, contained an up-to-date history of the Prisoner in chronological sequence and were compiled by the “binder” clerks from information as it was received from all sources. Correspondence concerning individual Prisoners of War was kept in separate numbered and related B.M.’s in which for convenience the information on the index cards was duplicated.

For domestic purposes, generally to facilitate rapid tracing, other indices all alphabetical by surname and also of the loose-leaf type and to be maintained. These comprised:-

(a ) Index of all Prisoners of War, cards prepared in skeleton form to show Regiment or Corps and thus facilitate reference to the main index.
(b ) Index under enemy Prisoner of War camps.
(c ) Complete Missing index.
(d ) Index. Prisoners of War examined by Mixed Medical Commission - all services Dominions, etc., with result of examination.

The day to day location of individual Prisoners of War was a matter of great importance and first priority was, therefore, given to the maintenance of the main index. As a safeguard against errors the number of the cable or list or the authority was quoted against every entry made on the cards. The arrangements provided for checking of the entries by a senior clerk.

Procedure on receipt of Geneva telegrams

To save cabling time and costs only the regimental number, name and rank could be telegraphed with the result that identification was frequently a matter of great difficulty, particularly as the lists comprised Dominion as well as British names. The procedure gradually evolved for dealing with these cables consisted in having them copied photographically. The names of the photocopies were then identified as far as possible from the “Missing” index, and were underlined and despatched according to their Record Office, Navy, Air Force or Dominion names being dealt with separately. The greatest care had to be taken with doubtful identities since the results of wrong identification were potentially extremely serious.

It will be appreciated that speed was vital in handling telegrams. Frequently they were photocopied, identified and despatched on the day of receipt. The photocopying which was carried out by P.W.I.B., was given first priority and special arrangements were made to retain key members of the staff on overtime when required. Telegrams with Air Forces, Navy or Dominion names were sent out by hand.

From first to last, 827,284 names were dealt with under these arrangements, excluding a considerable number of Dominion names telegraphed direct to their respective Headquarters - see tables at Appendix E.

Information from sources other than Official Lists

Geneva was encouraged to tap other sources for material for its telegrams. For instance “capture” cards - Geneva Convention, Article 36 - were frequently directed via Switzerland and names from these as well as from lists furnished by camp leaders or by doctors or from neutral sources, provided the information was new, were all cabled.

Doubtful Identities

As the War progressed and our Allies and the Dominions and India made separate arrangements with the International Red Cross Committee for direct cabling, Geneva still continued the practice of sending us the doubtful identities. That we succeeded in solving the majority of the problems put before us testified at once to the ingenuity of the staff and to the wisdom of retaining on the work only those who showed a flair for it. Although perhaps the other Services were apt to take our efforts on this difficult task for granted, our Allies particularly the French, were most grateful.

How the Special Duties and Functions of Cas. P.W. were discharged

The special work of Cas. P.W. is described in the following reports on Prisoner of War problems. Details of relations with other War Office branches wand outside bodies are given where these differ from the arrangements made for the Casualty Branch generally.

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Interesting information. I've often looked at my relatives feint POW card and wondered How clerks managed without scanners and fast copiers!

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History of Prisoner of War Casualty Branch

papiermache Well-Known Member

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