I attended a seminar last night given at the IHR by Dr. Chris Duffy on the work he has done in German Archives concerning the interrogations of British POW. The emphasis of his study was those that where caught during the battle of the Somme July-Nov 1916. They numbered some 4,300 allied soldiers. Very soon after their capture the prisoner was meet by an English speaking German intelligence officer. They where asked about their units position ,officers etc most refused to talk about matters of present military importance. The Germans however where keen to learn all they could from their prisoners. The state of UK Moral at home, the views of rank and file men on the war, war aims and politic-ans. The price of food items, the frequency of post deliveries and a whole host of other mundane matters. The German aim was to build up an snap shot of UK life so they could assess how long we might be able to sustain the campaign. The German military where fascinated by the different regional accents and make many hundred of recordings of POW' s reading passages of the Bible and other well known books. Being German their record keeping was first rate and all the participants where identified by Name Number and Unit. While Dr. Duffy has only worked on the material from the Somme Battle he feels that similar material was made from other campaigns and battles.. The interrogations are available in the Bavarian Military Archives,.further details for those with a personal interest in this could be got from Dr. Chris Duffy, Sheffield University. Julian Duffus --------------------------------- Yahoo! Messenger NEW - crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail