Prisoners of war department
Title
Prisoners of war department
Description
Information to relatives of prisoners of war held in Germany regarding the writing of letters.
Creator
Coverage
Language
Format
One printed sheet
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
Identifier
MGallapagousR-LV771-180315-11
Transcription
PW/99C/43.
WAR ORGANISATION
of the
BRITISH RED CROSS SOCIETY and ORDER OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM.
PRISONERS OF WAR DEPARTMENT,
St. James’s Palace, London, S.W.1.
October, 1943.
[underlined] INFORMATION ABOUT LETTERS FOR PRISONERS OF WAR IN GERMAN HANDS [/underlined]
1. (a) Letters should be written as clearly as possible, should deal with personal matters only, and should not exceed both sides of one sheet of notepaper. The writer’s name and address must be written on the back of the envelope, but if the writer is serving in His Majesty’s Forces, the name and address of the unit must not be given, but a private address substituted. The name and camp address of the Prisoner should be written on the letter as well as on the envelope. The most recent address sent by the Prisoner should be carefully copied.
(b) Letters to Prisoners of war may either be sent post free by the ordinary Prisoners Of War Post, which means that they are conveyed by sea to Lisbon and from there to Germany by air-mail; or all the way from Great Britain by air, in which case they should be marked “By Air Mail”, and require a 5d. stamp Letters should be posted in the ordinary way and not be sent to the Red Cross to be forwarded. A special air letter-card for use in communicating with British Prisoners of War and interned civilians in German hands is now obtainable at the principal Post Offices, at the cost of 3d. They may be sent to Geneva to be forwarded to Prisoners of War (see paragraph 2 (b) below) and to Prisoners interned in neutral European countries.
2. [underlined] Letters to Prisoners of War in Germany [/underlined]
(a) Letters to Prisoners of War in Germany, [underlined] if both the camp address and Prisoner of War number are known, [/underlined] should be addressed as follows:-
PRISONERS OF WAR POST
KRIEGSGEFANGENENPOST
Rank. Name.
British Prisoner of War No: . . .
Name and Number of Camp,
GERMANY.
Prisoners of War in Germany write their letters on printed forms or cards supplied by the German authorities. The Prisoner of War number and the camp address will be found on the back of the letter or card after the words “Gefangenennummer” and “Lager-Bezeichnung”. Place names should not be included in the address unless they are given by the Prisoner as part of his address.
P.T.O.
WAR ORGANISATION
of the
BRITISH RED CROSS SOCIETY and ORDER OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM.
PRISONERS OF WAR DEPARTMENT,
St. James’s Palace, London, S.W.1.
October, 1943.
[underlined] INFORMATION ABOUT LETTERS FOR PRISONERS OF WAR IN GERMAN HANDS [/underlined]
1. (a) Letters should be written as clearly as possible, should deal with personal matters only, and should not exceed both sides of one sheet of notepaper. The writer’s name and address must be written on the back of the envelope, but if the writer is serving in His Majesty’s Forces, the name and address of the unit must not be given, but a private address substituted. The name and camp address of the Prisoner should be written on the letter as well as on the envelope. The most recent address sent by the Prisoner should be carefully copied.
(b) Letters to Prisoners of war may either be sent post free by the ordinary Prisoners Of War Post, which means that they are conveyed by sea to Lisbon and from there to Germany by air-mail; or all the way from Great Britain by air, in which case they should be marked “By Air Mail”, and require a 5d. stamp Letters should be posted in the ordinary way and not be sent to the Red Cross to be forwarded. A special air letter-card for use in communicating with British Prisoners of War and interned civilians in German hands is now obtainable at the principal Post Offices, at the cost of 3d. They may be sent to Geneva to be forwarded to Prisoners of War (see paragraph 2 (b) below) and to Prisoners interned in neutral European countries.
2. [underlined] Letters to Prisoners of War in Germany [/underlined]
(a) Letters to Prisoners of War in Germany, [underlined] if both the camp address and Prisoner of War number are known, [/underlined] should be addressed as follows:-
PRISONERS OF WAR POST
KRIEGSGEFANGENENPOST
Rank. Name.
British Prisoner of War No: . . .
Name and Number of Camp,
GERMANY.
Prisoners of War in Germany write their letters on printed forms or cards supplied by the German authorities. The Prisoner of War number and the camp address will be found on the back of the letter or card after the words “Gefangenennummer” and “Lager-Bezeichnung”. Place names should not be included in the address unless they are given by the Prisoner as part of his address.
P.T.O.
Collection
Citation
Great Britain. HM Government, “Prisoners of war department,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed September 7, 2026, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/45360.