[rof120]

Thanks for these replies. I think you're right all of you. Nevertheless I have read a number of British books on this period and very often the ORBs (and possibly other paperwork) did make it to harbours in Northern and possibly Western France, like Boulogne, Fécamp, Le Havre, Brest and many others. There British soldiers (RAF guys I guess) often dumped the ORBs into the water of the harbour (this is a typical example) when it was neither necessary nor urgent. They could have taken them along back to England just as they kept rifles and even Bren guns. Perhaps they were just exhausted, nervous, exasperated, and felt like getting rid of everything which was not vital.