GIs guard a group of German POWs captured in an outskirt of Koblenz by the Mosel river in March 1945. Surrendering in the closing days of the war carried a deadly risk because of roaming SS squads who had orders to shoot or hang anyone who was even faintly suspected of preparing to give up. So, German soldiers took to surrendering in large groups seeking security in numbers.

Safer in captivity

A first batch of German POWs arrives at an unidentified British port from Normandy (June-July 1944) and is paraded under the watchful stare of US MPs with weapons at the ready, although the group looks definitely beyond its fighting days. Few of these POWs will end up in British facilities; most will travel to the US and Canada to wait out the war.

Welcome to England

Joseph Beyrle after a parade in Moscow's Red Square, 2004 .