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elong. Similarly, captured war material found in the possession of the belligerent forces thattake refuge on neutral territory is the property of their State, regardless of its origin. 34015.16.6 Retention of Medical Personnel and Chaplains in a Neutral State. Medical andreligious personnel serving with belligerent forces that are interned in neutral territory may beretained only in so far as the health and the numbers of such forces so require. 341 Subject tothese requirements, they must be returned as soon as possible to the State to which theybelong. 342 Chaplains are in the same position, their retention being dependent upon the spiritualneeds of the interned forces. 343 Medical personnel and chaplains who are retained must beaccorded similar treatment to those retained under the GPW. 34415.17 POWS OR INTERNEES BROUGHT TO, OR RECEIVED BY, A NEUTRAL STATE15.17.1 Escaped POWs Received by a Neutral State. POWs who have escaped to neutralterritory are deemed to have successfully escaped from the Detaining Power. 345A neutral State may deny the admission of escaped POWs or receive them. A neutralState that receives escaped POWs shall leave them at liberty. If it allows them to remain in itsterritory, it may assign them a place of residence. 34615.17.2 POWs Brought Into a Neutral State by Belligerent Forces Taking Refuge. POWsbrought into a neutral State by belligerent forces that take refuge in the neutral State are treatedlike POWs who have escaped to neutral territory. 347 This means that the POWs regain their340 See JAMES BROWN SCOTT, THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE HAGUE PEACE CONFERENCES: I THE CONFERENCE OF 1907145 (1920) (“What becomes of the war material captured by troops and brought with them into the territory of aneutral State? This question was put by the Dutch delegation, which made the following motion: ‘War materialcaptured from the enemy by an armed force and brought with it while taking refuge on neutral territory shall berestored by the Government thereof to the State from which it was taken after the conclusion of peace.’ But theNetherland delegation did not insist on its motion in the face of the objection made to it. On the one hand, the caseof war material captured from the enemy cannot be assimilated to the case of prisoners of war. The capture ofmatériel creates for the captor an immediate right of ownership, which places this matériel on the same footing asthe captor’s own matériel. On the other hand, even if the captor’s right to the property should become uncertain,owing to his taking refuge in the neutral territory, there would be no reason for making the neutral State the judge ofthe question and for imposing on it the invidious duty of examining the matériel brought into its territory by abelligerent force to see what has been taken from the enemy and what belongs to the force under some other title.”).341 Refer to § 7.9.1.2 (Medical and Religious Personnel Who May Be Retained).342 Refer to § 7.9.4 (Return of Personnel Whose Retention Is Not Indispensable).343 Refer to § 4.9.1.3 (Chaplains Attached to the Armed Forces).344 Refer to § 7.9.5 (Rights and Privileges of Retained Personnel).345 Refer to § 9.25.1.1 (Types of Successful Escapes).346 HAGUE V art. 13 (“A neutral Power which receives escaped prisoners of war shall leave them at liberty. If itallows them to remain in its territory it may assign them a place of residence.”).347 HAGUE V art. 13 (“A neutral Power which receives escaped prisoners of war shall leave them at liberty. If itallows them to remain in its territory it may assign them a place of residence. The same rule applies to prisoners ofwar brought by troops taking refuge in the territory of a neutral Power.”).989