Last one for today. Uniforms look British to me but I’m no expert. I was outbid in another one from the same series of what looked like a medic and you could see the webbing more clearly.
Men from the 51st Highland Division. Location St Valery. Taken presumably on or not long after the 12th June 1940.
The photo is somewhat damaged but you can clearly see these surrendering French troops being ushered to the rear during a battle in the Moselle area.
It would be interesting if the two RAF officers could be identified from the scant background shown...not much information to go on. The Wehrmacht solder engaged in an informal review of British POWs was the order of the day in those halcyon days of a German victory....tables would be turned more dramatically as the Third Reich lost its grip as the war progressed.
51st Highland Division at St Valery. Rough translation of the caption - “English prisoners (Scots in their skirts)”
Is it definitely St. Valery and not Cameron Highlanders at La Bassée ? A straight road with young poplars in a 1940 photo often indicates an area fought over during the Great War.
I’m just going by what information the seller provided in their eBay description Rich. I’m aware that the Camerons are well known for charging the Germans at La Bassée in their kilts but I’ve also seen photos from St Valery showing officers wearing their kilts. It may be that the photo was taken a bit more inland after capture? Hopefully someone else can chip in to help nail down the location.
The text on the first photo back side says: Gefangene Engländer u[nd] Belgier auf einer ... Marschstraße in Belgien. So, there are both British and Belgian POW there.
Since the vicious Germans had been so inconsiderate that they noticed the first To-Berling-Marching just at the front[line], they [the Germans] were so dishonest that they broke easily into a safe bunker [pillbox], overcome every resistance and took by surprise 16 men. These men are going to Berlin via the shortest way now, but as POW. When reprinting, name Pisconelli-Pk-Weltbild [for reference].
That’s more or less what I got from Google translate - what stumped me was the very uncomplimentary portrayal of the Germans in what I took to be a German propaganda photo! Were they being sarcastic?