SECRET PRISONERS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 284, 27 August 1919, Page 8

SECRET PRISONERS

.-.-■. ... ■ ■ $ ■ ■ ■ , BACK AFTEE NO WORD SINCE -. ■■■ , • . 1911. . .. Since lie was reported missing on Au-gust-23, 1911, Mme. Bergot,of Coulom.miera (south of the Marne), had received no. news of her soldier-brother, Arthur .' Gallet. She has just received a letter, from him announcing his arrival in Swit- ■ zerland with several comrades, who, like . himself,, having been wounded and made ■-prisoner, ;wero kept in secret captivity ■■•by- the Germans for nearly five years. At a sitting of the Ereneh .Chamber, M. Prat,, Deputy for Versailles, questioned the ■ Government on measures taken foiv'tracihjj: soldiers whose existence the Huns may. have hidden. "In spite of assurances previously given," ho said, "wo have proof positive that there are : Frenchmen still detained in Germany, C'lt is''feyen , certain that a number' of officer prisoners aro now in German reprisal camps and fortresses." "■ In reply, M. Abrami, TJnder-Secietary for War, said that at the moment of the armistice there were 300,000 French missing, concerning whom no preoise infor- ,.. matron was obtainable. Many had been ■'-'buried by the Allies or Germane without . < any indication of their fate. The Inter- '; Allied Commission at Spa had roceived ..-"the word of honour" of the German <~Gov.ermment that no French prisoner re- _ -mained on ita territory, and the Germans "• .3iad furnished , a list of wounded still retained in hospital because they could nut he transported. This lot had - been found exact. If-.neceMEiry, M. Abrami added, further ' investigations would bo made. .. Tho German authorities have denied ■• that they had "secret prisoners' camps." They unquestionably concealed the ' whereabouts of many prisoners. In some caßes they made their captives put wrong nddreses on postcards to. suggest that they wore in established camps. Theso men were usually in working parties behind the. lines, in defiance of Germany's jpledged word.-The "Daily Mail."