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W.W. 2 Podcast.

Hello and welcome to another World War II podcast, I'm Angus Wallace.

In this episode we'll be looking at the Red Cross parcel scheme, which supplied millions of parcels

to prisoners of war from both sides of the conflict.

I'm joined by Mark Webster. Mark has researched the Red Cross

parcel scheme organized by the New Zealand Red Cross. His book,

Parsels from Home, is available on the Apple Eye bookstore. Incredibly, one in 200 of the New Zealand population

became prisoners of war, mainly due to four disastrous campaigns that the second New Zealand expedition

force took part in during the first half of the war.

As a result, New Zealand would pack by hand one parcel for every 1.7 of its population, a huge undertaking.

Even the US which took its parcel scheme to an industrial level

with production lines and conveyor belts only managed one for every six of its population.

These parcels proved to be a lifeline for those men in the camps.

Mark thank you for joining me. Let's start with a look at the International Red Cross set up by Henry Dunant.

Where did their wartime remit come from?

Well, it all goes back to that sulfarino, the famous sort of sulfarino thing where a Swiss businessman

had sort of strayed onto the battlefield afterwards and found all these dying people.

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