Wembley and German POWs

Here is a fascinating BBC article about how Wembley Way, the road leading to Wembley stadium, was constructed in 1948 using labour from German prisoners of war, three years after World War 2 had ended. The acute labour shortage in Britain and the need to finish the project in time for the Olympics led to their use, even though Germany was not allowed to compete in the Olympics themselves. In 1946, there were still 400,000 prisoners in the country, most of them working on the land (including vegetable growing as shown in the picture above) as many British men were still committed to military duties. The last were sent home in 1948 but 15,000 chose to remain in Britain.