Unseen photographs from Dunkirk Part #2

Here are a few more photographs which I have picked up over the years showing Dunkirk and the surrounding areas in the summer of 1940.

Grave of an unknown British soldier, burnt out lorry in the background. The grave has been adorned with flowers, presumably by French civilians.

British and French POWs being marched towards the Belgian border

While the reviews of Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk have been overwhelmingly positive, some criticism as been leveled due to the lack of French troops in the movie. Many of the troops fighting in French uniform were from the French colonies, including Senegal, Mauritania and Niger. German troops, as pictured above, often took photos of these men when captured, as colonial troops were seen as a novelty to the German soldiers. Over 100,000 French colonial soldiers were held captive during the war. However, despite the smiling faces in this picture, tragically some POWs were killed by their captors close to the battlefield. See the review of French Colonial Soldiers in German Captivity during World War II for more details.

 German troops on the beach at Dunkirk next to the remains of a crashed plane. In the distance you can see ships, sunk during the evacuation, and a row of lorries used as a temporary bridge to help soldiers reach ships in deeper water.

German soldiers inspecting abandoned vehicles somewhere near Dunkirk. Whether these have been brought to this location after being removed from roads and ditches is unclear. But the sheer number of vehicles gives an indication of the material left behind. Damage to the original negative obscures the picture slightly.

Captured British officers and men, May/June 1940. The man of the right seems resigned but also defiant as he stares at the camera. To the left are more French colonial POWs.  

The beach at Dunkirk, presumably in June 1940. The Germans have been clearing the beach of material and ammunition boxes have been neatly lined up. Note the four Vickers machine guns which have been recovered. In the distance abandoned lorries and boats rest on the beach.