Indian troops with Axis prisoners in the Western Desert, December 1941

Photograph, World War Two, North Africa, 1941.

The temporary Prisoner of War (POW) camp was at Omar Neroon and was used to contain enemy soldiers captured during Operation CRUSADER, the Allied attempt to relieve the Siege of Tobruk. The Indian soldiers depicted probably belonged to 4th Indian Division which was heavily involved in the fighting which ebbed and flowed past Tobruk from June 1941 onwards.

From a collection of official photographs collected by Major General (later Lieutenant General) Sir Frank Walter Messervy.