War Diaries Talk

Prisoner exchange?

  • Stork by Stork

    The 30th day has a Captain rejoining after having been exchanged from Germany. Was this a prisoner exchange? This is the first time I've seen such a thing, and the first time I've seen a British soldier in enemy territory. Were prisoner exchanges common? I'm curious about how the two sides contacted each other and arranged an exchange.

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  • erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be by erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be

    In the book "Lady under fire on the western front", The Lady visits - in March 1917 - her sister in Switzerland whose husband had been taken prisoner in May 1915 and had been sent to Switzerland as part of a prisoner exchange.

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  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    No, prisoner exchanges were not common. Most prisoners ended up in camps in Germany.

    I see that Capt. Ward was a doctor in the RAMC. I wonder if that had anything to do with his being released or exchanged?

    The entry is quite remarkable in its matter-of-fact comment about this.

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  • David_Underdown by David_Underdown moderator

    Medical staff were not technically supposed to be taken POW, they might accompany those under their care into captivity initially, but the protections afforded those entitled to wear the Red Cross under the terms of the Geneva Convention(s) meant that they should then be released once their captors had made proper arrangements for ongoing care of wounded combatant troops who had been taken prisoner. Red Cross protections did not extend to everyone engaged in medical work, battalion stretcher bearers wore a brassard marked only SB for stretcher bearer, and were not entitled to full protection under the conventions, however they could be armed to defend themselves unlike those wearing the Red Cross.

    Other prisoner exchanges did take place of those too badly wounded or sick so as to be very unlikely to be able to return to combatant duties. Those exchanges normally took place through the Netherlands (which was neutral), often under the supervision of US Diplomats (at least until the US entered the war in 1917).

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  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    David, if a medical officer was not kept as a prisoner, how did he get back? Was he just sent back to his own lines and had to deal with the perils of crossing No Man's Land? Or would he come back by way of Holland?

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  • David_Underdown by David_Underdown moderator

    Via a neutral country, in this case the report mentions Switzerland (which of course gave access back to France). The Netherlands was used for other exchanges where people were going back to the UK as they could travel onwards from the Dutch ports

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  • Stork by Stork

    I just found another Captain returning from a POW camp in Germany AWD0003ms2 in the 30th day. There's no mention of an exchange or any other details. It's hard to read and you can't magnify it, so here it is: "Capt Huges returned from prisoner of war's camp in Germany (after leave) took over MO vice Capt Montgomery"

    I'm not sure what 'after leave' means- maybe he took some time on leave after returning from the POW camp before going back to his unit.

    While I'm at it, what's MO?

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  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    I would assume that's exactly what 'after leave' means.

    MO stands for medical officer.

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