British and French prisoners of war captured by German forces near Veules-les-Roses, Northern France, during the Battle of France, May 1940. The photograph was later published in Picture Post with an incorrect caption identifying the location as Dunkirk.
This photograph shows British and French prisoners of war captured by German forces near Veules-les-Roses, close to Saint-Valery-en-Caux, during the Battle of France in May 1940. During the campaign, hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers were captured as German forces advanced rapidly through France and the Low Countries.
The image was later published in the British magazine Picture Post with a caption incorrectly identifying the location as Dunkirk. This illustrates how wartime photographs were sometimes published with incomplete or inaccurate information before their exact origin had been verified.
The photograph documents the capture of Allied soldiers during one of the decisive campaigns of the Second World War. It illustrates the rapid collapse of Allied resistance in northern France during the German offensive of 1940 and serves as a valuable historical record of the campaign.
Technical photo data:
📝 Source of information:
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National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Eva Braun Collection
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Guido Knopp. Der zweite Weltkrieg. Bilder, die wir nie vergessen. Edel Germany Verlag, 2014.
📍 Location: Veules-les-Roses, France
📅 Date of photo: May 1940
📷 Photographer: Unknown
Recommended literature:
- Karl-Heinz Frieser. The Blitzkrieg Legend: The 1940 Campaign in the West.
- Julian Jackson. The Fall of France: The Nazi Invasion of 1940.
- Alistair Horne. To Lose a Battle: France 1940.
- British and French POWs
- Allied prisoners of war
- Battle of France 1940
- Veules-les-Roses
- Saint-Valery-en-Caux
- German invasion of France
- Dunkirk misidentified photo
- Picture Post WWII
- Western Front 1940
- World War II prisoners
- France campaign 1940