On October 16 we were approached by the Air Ministry with a request that we should ce-operate with them in the dispatch of parcels to the nine RA. prisoners at that fir in Germany, As there was no postal communication with that country the Ministry arranged for an aeroplane as far as Paris, whence Mrs, Bromley-Davenport and M. Rodolfe Haccius, the International Red Cross delegate to Great Britain, proceeded by train to Geneva, taking with them parcels of food, clothing, and invalid comforts for every prisoner, From Geneva these parcels were taken on to Berlin and forwarded to the prison camps by the International Red Cross representative in Germany. There was also left in store in Geneva a quantity of food and clothing and airmen's, overcoats and blankets, given by the Air Ministry, to be sent to any newly captured R.A.F. prisoners as soon as their names were received, In the middle of November further consignments of food and clothing were sent by air and train to Geneva for dispatch to the 25 R.A.F. and Fleet Air Arm prisoners and about 130 British civilians interned near Nuremberg.
On October 31 a central organization for the dispatch of parcels *o prisoners of war was set up in London, The department is the sole authority for the packing and dispatch of food, clothing, and invalid comforts parcels to prisoners of war and civilians interned in Germany, and is also responsible for arranging-for the dispatch of the quarterly "personal parcels" which next of kin are to be allowed to send to prisoners. For this purpose the Postal Censor agreed to a representative of his department being in constant attendance at the packing centre, As regards clothing, as soon as the name of a newly captured prisoner is received one parcel of underclothing, weighing 10 Ib. is sent off at once, At the same time next of kin are asked if they have anything to send; if so, it is repacked at St. James's Palace and forwarded, If not, we forward a second parcel, The cost of our complete clothing outât is approximately £5.
Invalid comforts parcels are sent to any prisoners known to be wounded or ill and invalid food parcels to those needing special diet, The cost of these parcels is approximately 12s. each, At the-Censor's request the quarterly "personal parcels," which in the last war could be sent direct by next of kin, are also received, repacked, and' forwarded, the next of kin being supplied with a list of articles which may be included and a special label entitling them to send the parcel, Every parcel sent to a prisoner of war carries a postcard for his acknowledgement. The proportion of acknowledgements to date is 86 per cent., prisoners of war 95 per cent,, interned civilians 77 per cent. Frequent check on the authenticity of signatures is kept by submitting the signatures to relatives to test their genuineness, Over 13,000 parcels have been dispatched. The time taken for a parcel to reach its destination and for the card to be returned varies from 12 to 28 days.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.