Correspondence from Swiss Legatation re repatriation of German prisoners of war from Palestine. Foreign Office Reference 8793/COTG/1918.
This page contains additional information on National Archives File MT 9/1266.
Small piece divided in separate folders each covering a discreet set of correspondence. Each folder has a unique (with the year) reference start with the letter ‘M’.
The folders are presented in the order that they to be found in the piece.
Whilst primarily the information recorded here is the summary as written on the folder, in some cases details of particular documents of interest within the folders have been record.
FOLDERS
| BT Reference | File date | Description |
|---|---|---|
| M977 1919 | 17/1/1919 | Foreign Office Repatriation of German Prisoners of War captured in Palestine and Mespotamia.Correspondence from Swiss Legatation re repatriation of German prisoners of war from Palestine. Foreign Office Reference 8793/COTG/1918.
The Swiss Minister presents his compliments to His Britannic Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and has the honour to acquaint Mr. Balfour with the purport of a telegram received to-day from the Department Politique Suisse at Berne, as follows:- “By desire of German Legation kindly communicate following to British Government. About ten thousand German soldiers captured in Palestine and Mesopotamia awaiting transport at Daiidar Pascha near Constantinople Allied Powers understood to have sent one party via Black Sea and Ukraine and to intend that others shall follow same route, This will involve discomfort and danger for soldiers unaccustomed to climate of North and lightly clad voyage will be long revictualling very difficult heating of carriages impossible, bands of robbers to be feared. This applies even more strongly in the case of women, children, and old men. German Legation demands that subsequent parties of soldiers and civilians shall be transported not via Ukraine but via Mediterranean and that parties which have already left for Ukranian ports shall be brought back to Constantinople.” Monsieur Carlln will be happy to transmit to Berne, for the Information of the German Legation, the substance of an reply that His Majesty’s Government may desire to make. LEGATION DE SUISSE A LONDRES, (GERMAN DIVISION), 9, CARLTON HOUSE TERRACE, LONDON, S.W.1., January 3rd, 1919 |