WAR PRISONERS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 October 1943, Page 3

WAR PRISONERS

SUBSTANTIAL PROPORTION RELEASED IN SOUTHERN ITALY ACCORDING TO RED CROSS REPORT. POSITION IN THE NORTH MORE DIFFICULT. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, September 29. A substantial proportion of the British prisoners of war in Italy have been released, said the British High Commissioner in Canada, Mr Malcolm Macdonald, at a Press conference in Ottawa. A Red Cross official had informed him that 40 per cent of the men would probably get away, he stated. Most of those freed were from southern Italy. The position of those held behind the Berman lines in the north was more difficult, and therefore it could not be estimated how many might make their way through to Allied territory. Mr Macdonald said it was perfectly clear that the Germans were planning to make an impregnable fortress of as large a portion of Europe as possible, hoping to prolong the war and thus obtain a compromise peace. Europe must be invaded from the north or the west, or from both directions, and therefore the communications from the supply bases in Canada and the United States to Europe must be kept intact.