Although the many Italian bodies and organisations dealing with enemy POWs were not set up at the same time, they worked together, sometimes even in competition with each other, during the period of maximum inflow and detention of prisoners in Italy, between 1942 and 1943. The most important of these were the Interministerial Commission for POWs, the Stato Maggiore Regio Esercito’s (SMRE, General Staff of the Royal Army) Prisoners of War Office and the information (or prisoners’) office of the CRI (the Italian Red Cross). There were also the General Affairs Office of the Supreme Command, the War Cabinet and the Prisoners Office of the Foreign Ministry, but these had a secondary role.