PRISONERS IN GERMANY

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24909, 24 June 1946, Page 4

PRISONERS IN GERMANY

“BARBED WIRE FEVER” COMBATED Methods employed by prisoners of war to combat “barbed wire fever,” a condition caused by lack of freedom, bad food, and bad housing, were described in a broadcast address last evening by Colonel W. H. Bull, 0.8. E., E.D., F.R.C.S., officer commanding the 6th Field Ambulance and AssistantDirector of Medical Services of the New Zealand Division. Colonel Bull was captured by the Germans on Crete.

The rations supplied by the Germans to millions of unfortunates in their hands were about half what, in New Zealand, would be considered reasonable rations for a non-working man, Colonel Bull said. But for the food parcels sent by charitable organisations through the channel of the International Red Cross, there would be many more vacant places in homes throughout the world. In spite of the bad food and housing, the health of prisoners had been amazingly good. Colonel Bull said. Every type of medical and •surgical process had had to be carried out by medical personnel. The equipment was sometimes scarce, and poor, but the Red Cross had helped in that respect. Morale had been sustained by entertainments. Films had sometimes been supplied by the Germans, and occasionally they were of British origin. Entertainment had also been provided by the • prisoners themselves. Concerts had been given, and many camps had good, well-trained orchestras. Occupational therapy, made possible through Red Cross parcels, had been of great help, the men making mats and slippers. It had probably reached its highest value in the prisoner of war hospitals where men confined to bed had been able to keep themselves pleasantly occupied. Describing the working in the camps of the black market, Colonel Bull said that many German soldiers had little faith in their own doctors, and came round .to the “back door” to be treated by the prisoners’ doctors. They, had not realised that once they had been treated, they were completely under the prisoners’ thumbs, for just one whisper of the treatment to the Germans would send them to the Russian front, which was regarded as the worst possible fate.

Even the prisoners, prevented by circumstances from taking part in the operations of their side, had been able in a small, way to keep the flag flying, Colonel Bull concluded. The frequent attempts to escape made by prisoners kept large numbers of guards, who might have otherwise been at the front, in Germany. The regular supplies of chocolate ana cigarettes had also done a great deal to check the German propaganda about the precarious state of British food rationing.