More British Preparations

As England prepared for impending invasion by Germany’s armed and naval forces, beach defenses transformed the British coast. These little girls (above) look wistfully at the wired-off sand where they normally would’ve been allowed to play in the peaceful days prior.

When British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was asked what should be done with “enemy aliens” — German and Italian citizens in England at the outbreak of war (many of them refugees, Jewish and non-Jewish) — his reply was characteristic: “Collar the lot.” Here on May 29, 1940, women and children (below), escorted by police and officials, board a train which will take them to internment on the Isle of Man.