GERMAN PRISONERS OF WAR IN THE BRITISH SECTOR OF THE NORMANDY BEACH-HEAD [Allocated Title]

Some of the 11,000 prisoners taken by 2nd Army from June 6th to July 29th 1944 are seen awaiting transfer to the United Kingdom.

Supervised by 2nd Army's 'Redcaps', inmates in an Army cage receive a midday meal of bully beef tins and soup, seen here being doled out by a Waffen-SS soldier. Prisoners about to leave the cage hand in their money to a British Army Pay Corps officer in exchange for a receipt. POWs are seen talking to a British intelligence officer and resting in the sun. British and German medical orderlies spray inmates with delousing powder. The cameraman examines signs indicating compounds for officers, NCOs and ordinary ranks. Prisoners bound for Britain are transferred in Commer lorries to a transit camp near Arromanches where their possessions are searched on arrival. British and German orderlies check the contents of a first-aid kit. Prisoners are further deloused and given light tasks to perform by their 'Redcap' guards such as fixing the barbed-wire perimeter fence. With officers and NCOs in the lead, prisoners march to the Mulberry harbour and board a US Navy LST, which is seen leaving for England; visible among the blockships in the background to HMS Despatch.

35mm