British incident with "Equal Lodging" policy

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Hinton
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Joined: 08 Aug 2011, 05:31
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British incident with "Equal Lodging" policy

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Post by Hinton » 14 Apr 2014, 18:15

Hello,
I've recently started trying to track down an anecdote about British POW policy being draconic and inflexible. I ran onto it about two years ago, I think in a book that discussed German prisoners of war being taken into British and then American custody. I cannot find the book that I think had the anecdote (it included, I think, scans of schedules and menus from the American camps, descriptions of the diversions available to inmates, and discussed at one point how the prisoners were not politically graded at first, leaving more staunch supporters of the Reich in with the less invested prisoners). However, the incident in question, if memory serves, went something like this:

Axis prisoners were in British custody and arrangements were made for them to stay at a certain camp. However, when they arrived, it was discovered that there were enough barracks for all of the British army, and some of the prisoners, or all of the prisoners, and some of the army, but not enough for everyone to be inside. Because British policy demanded absolutely equal lodging for everyone, POWs and active personnel, everyone slept in tents that night, and the barracks stood empty.

I remember this story but without a citable source, it does me no good, so I was hoping someone else here had seen it in print and could remember where. Searching articles and the general Internet hasn't been of any use. Thank you for your consideration and any help.
--MH

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