Poole to Lansing on German/Russian prisoner exchange at Orsha File No. 861.00/1936 [Telegram] Vologda, May 29, 1918, 6 p.m. [received June 3, 3:44 p.m.] 577.     Reliable American sent to observe prisoner exchange at Orsha reports in substance as follows:     Three trains each way daily, four hundred to thousand men on a train. Returning Russian prisoners without exception invalids, most of them consumptive, many die en route. All Russian officers and all soldiers capable of bearing arms retained in Germany. German trains on the other hand filled with healthy prisoners, 70 per cent according to estimate of one train doctor would be fit for service within month.     Observer reports great majority returning Russians bitter against Germans owing treatment received at their hands. They are anti-Bolshevik, denounce Brest treaty and desire continuance of war. As they are in pitiful condition Y.M.C.A. endeavoring to organize relief.     Prisoners being exchanged at two points beside Orsha. In interior of Russia German commissions vigorously organizing evacuation former imprisoned civilians of military age as well as military prisoners. Commissions en route to Ekaterinburg, Omsk, Tomsk, Irkutsk. Poole Documents on US Foreign Policy in Russia [Subject] [Author] [Date]