Evening star., 1918-08-25
Mercy Caused Our First
Invasion of Germany

q.
Sauntering through the building
saw these rooms and floors Allied ana ;.
covered with supplies. Everything
which a soldier would or could wish
for, to keep his body healthy and
warm. was there. Stockings ana
United States had knitted were ON
shelves awaiting the request Of prise
oner. There were suits OF clOthings
hats. shirts, underwear and shoes for
civilian, military or naval prisonersA
In f9om Sns Was erars me
tributed in the United States to the
Red Cross Society On the outside of
the packages one could read the names
of the organizations, societies and
persons who had donated them. Into
the heart Of Germany some OF the
American gifts were destined. ,/A
left Buempliz thrilled by the NeAC
of the Red Cross warehouse; th42A6a
as the Swiss commission must hssS
to see "the preparations for the Amer
lean invasion" Dresel had certainly 4
prepared for emergencies. for. there
was sufficient supply on hand t0 carp
men for three months. In one room
alone there were 100000 pounds Of
hard bread. For a while fresh bread
was shipped into Germany. but 1t WAS
white hard biscuits. and now this II
At the headquarters Of the Red
Cross in Bern, in the old American
street, is a busy stan Of Americans
which attends to the correspondence
from the camps. To this headquarters
are sent the reports from 1.-THE Spanish
captured in the front and iniprisoned
In Germany. To this bureau Gomez
all the letters and postcards from the
soldiers In answer to the first ques-
relief work. namely, "Do the supplies
really reach the interned soldiers?" the
Red Cross is able to reply: -.
During the first Ave months Of this
to Americans in German camps 1ar-
rived without being opened The Red
Cross believes that most Of the req
manning 10 per cent reaches the mah.
return the postcard to acknowledge
receipt OF the e. box or the postcard 70
From the prisoners come the most
Writing from Holzminden.; Germany
an American civilian whose name had
not been reported by the Spanish au.
thorities wrote distracted American
OF Russian extraction: !,
Desr Lady 1.-THE writer evidently thought
woman was at the head Of the relief organ.
ask II you have not the kindness to help poof
prisoner. ] am American and I have all my
parents and relatives In the United States,
but under the wnr law I cannot correspond
have no relations in France am calling upon
you and i! hope you will do something for me.
never been the way am for the present
help me y,u will be grsteiuliy remembered 81
me ana my parents remain
A box of food was. sent to this
camp for the writer and his acknowl.
edgment was characteristic, :. 1t.e,
Dear sir.I he wrote, "A few lines
to thank you again for the parcels
you sent. have to let you know that
=! receive parcels only from you and
Of it. too" m Wy eau
Another prisoner In acknowledging
his box was evidently SO pleased that
he inquired, Are we going to get
those regularity and another soldier
wrote. .Thoso parcels have a decided
At the time 1 left Switzerland for
the United States Americans were In
: termed in German camps In the follow-
burg. Darmstadt Giessen. Gustrow,
Havelberg, Heidelberg, Holzminden.
Limberg, Parchim and Tuchel. In 81.
plnining this table the central com-
Bern made the following explanation:
1t must be, borne in mind that the
above distribution is in no sense
permanent and that some of those
camps IN question have only served
as temporary stopping places for
prisoners in transit. Moreover, the
camps above named are only central
organizations From these the prison.
ers are sent out, often for months at
a time, ON working parties to. SUBJ
camps. only, returning to the parent
camps at intervals with a view to
being shifted elsewhere or for other
reasons. All letters and parcels pass
through the post office at the main
camp and are forwarded from there.
4 @lnforrnati9n. has been received to
! the effect that Amertcah, military
prisoners below = commissioned rank
are likely to be concentrated Al
CuGhel. in West Prussia. from now
Explaining the method of distribute
ton In Germany, the Red Cross, In
Circular No. III, published In Bern.
Committees have already been ora
ganized In two camps along the same
emcient lines as those now operated
by the British. Reserve stocks 81
FOOD and clothing for the supply 81
those men who have Just arrived. and
who have not had time to com.
municate with this COMMITTEES CON.
cerning their whereabouts, as well aa
Tor those men whose parcels have for
some reason been delayed, viii Be
established. A reserve Of several
hun9red parcels has already been sent
to Tuchel from our stores here. ana
tne distributi0n will be under the az