This Camp seemed almost to be a model of its kind”: the Les Blanches Banques Camp for German World War 1 Prisoners of War

Abstract

Complete surface mapping, combined with sample geophysical survey, has enabled a detailed examination of the layout of the Blanches Banques Camp for German World War I military prisoners. By combining the new survey data with surviving contemporary images, subsequent aerial photographs and an account by the camp designer, Major T. E. Naish, it is possible to understand the decision-making processes in constructing and maintaining the camp, and the constrained world in which the occupants spent several years of the war. This, one of the best-preserved World War I prisoner of war camps in the British Isles, can still be appreciated by walking over the dunes today, and deserves the highest level of protection for the future.