At the same time Switzerland was sheltering 26,000 interned war prisoners, of whom 16,000 were French, English, and Belgian, while 10,000 were German. In addition, 7,000 relatives were visiting interned men in Switzerland. Most of these interned prisoners will be released by the new agreements, while other thousands will take their place.
FRANCO-GERMAN TERMS
The Franco-German agreement, which, being the first exhaustive document of its kind in this war, will serve as a model for those that follow, provides that all privates and noncommissioned officers who have been prisoners in France and Germany for eighteen months shall be exchanged, man for man and rank for rank, in the order of priority of capture. Officers over 48 years of age are to be released, and certain other classes of officers are to be interned in Switzerland, while the French and Belgian interned soldiers already in Switzerland are to be released. It is estimated that there are 150,000 prisoners on each side who will be exchanged under the Franco-German agreement alone, and as transportation difficulties will prevent the moving of more than 10,000 a month each way, the repatriation of the 300,000 or more who have been in captivity since 1914 will require at least fifteen months. The interned civilians, it is stated, should all be back in their own countries in six months. The release terms are to go on applying to later prisoners as soon as their captivity amounts to eighteen months.
Inhabitants of Picardy who were forced to leave their
homes when the German advance began
(© International Film Service)
A town in France practically wiped out in the German offensive which began on March 21, 1918. The road was cleared subsequently for the passage of British troops
(British Official Photo from Underwood)