§ Sir A. Knoxasked the Secretary of State for War what procedure is adopted to obtain from Germany the names of British prisoners of war; and whether he is satisfied with its working?
§ Mr. ButlerI have been asked to reply. The German Prisoners of War Information Bureau furnish lists of British prisoners of war to the United States Embassy at Berlin as representing the Power in charge of British interests. These lists are normally transmitted to the United States Embassy in London by mail and sent by the Embassy to the British Prisoners of War Information Bureau. The lists are then passed on to the Casualty Branch of the Service concerned. At the same time as the lists are handed to the United States Embassy in Berlin, a duplicate is sent by post, occasionally by telegraph, to the International Committee of the Red Cross at Geneva which also issues postcards to be filled in by prisoners on first capture. Under arrangements recently made details of identification are extracted from the lists and postcards by the International Committee and telegraphed to the Prisoners of War Information Bureau in London and the lists are being sent by the United States Embassy at Berlin to Lisbon and forwarded from there to London by air mail. In consequence of the large number of prisoners captured by the Germans, there has been considerable delay in the transmission of the lists to the United States Embassy at Berlin, but lists containing the names of about two-thirds of all British prisoners of war have now reached Geneva. It is hoped that the methods which I have described will result in complete lists of all prisoners being received by the Casualties Branches of the Service Departments concerned in the near future.