British and Commonwealth PoW Records

[Nick Beale]

From the latest National Archives Newsletter: http://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/...1MN2GH,19LW7,1

In December 2014, the Ministry of Defence transferred to The National Archives the series of records WO 416 consisting of an estimated 190,000 records of individuals captured in German occupied territory during the Second World War, primarily Allied service men (including Canadians, South Africans, Australians and New Zealanders) but also several hundred British and Allied civilians and a few nurses.

The series also includes several thousand records relating to deceased allied airmen, whose bodies were found by or near to their aircraft which had been shot down. To some degree, these act as a record of death as the individuals were never prisoners of war as such. The number of cards for each individual varies from one to fifteen, but in most cases there are just one or two.

The records are in the form of cards and they record (with certain exceptions) a varying amount of detail