These remarkable pictures capture the Second World War through the lens of a German soldier's camera - which was pinched by a cheeky British commando.

Green Beret Arthur Thompson, 89, was part of a crack fighting unit the 47 Royal Marine Commando which completed daring raids throughout the Second World War.

Then aged just 21 (see the bottom picture, taken a year earlier), he pinched the camera during a dangerous mission to clear bunkers on Dutch island Walcheren on November 1, 1944.

The island, in the mouth of the river Scheldt, was a Nazi stronghold that gave German forces the use and control of the vital deep sea port Antwerp.

Amazingly the camera, which still works today, was in perfect condition and had been used by a German soldier to chronicle his time in the army behind enemy lines.

There was also enough film left for Arthur, of Clare Drive, Greenhill, to take some of his own pictures - creating the amazing collection of snaps.

When he returned home after the war Arthur immediately developed the snaps from the Voigtlaender Bessa camera and was left "amazed" by the pictures he found.

The images show Nazi soldiers relaxing on the beautiful dune-swept Dutch island prior to the allied invasion.

In one of the snaps a German officer can be seen playing with his cute Dachshund - seemingly unaware of the allied force marching on his position.

In another snap Nazi soldiers can be seen sprawled across a grassy dune draped over one another while joking.

Other pictures show officers attending a military briefing and posing up against a wooden post.

Granddad-of-six Arthur said he had decided to share the images publicly for the first time after a request from local history boffins.

Photos above: Found on the film of a camera taken from a Nazi bunker by DDay veteran Arthur Thompson

He said: "I think the pictures are fascinating. They give a glimpse of war that is rarely ever seen.

"I was amazed when I got them developed. I still remember in detail the moment I found the camera.

"We were sweeping the island of Walcheren in Holland, which was riddled with bunkers.

"It had sand dunes higher than houses. As we were advancing along the dunes we had to check the bunkers.

"I went down one bunker to make sure it was clear. In the corner there was camera in a case: I captured it. In that camera was a film.

"I put in my pocket and kept it with me through the way. I took a few photos on that camera myself too."

The 47 Royal Marine Commando were an elite fighting force of 420 men who fought some of the toughest battles of WWII.

Arthur (pictured as he is today, left) and his unit famously captured the strategic port of Port-en-Bessin, in Normandy France after slipping behind enemy lines on D-DAY and completing a 12-mile march through Nazi territory.

The heavily fortified port was the vital Normandy terminal of PLUTO, the Pipe Line Under The Ocean, which pumped millions of gallons of fuel under the Channel to France.

And their capture of it from the crack German unit, the 352 Infantry Division, went down in the history books as "the most spectacular of all commando exploits during the actual invasion".

Arthur, joined the war effort in 1944 after carrying out over two years of training with the Commandos.

His first taste of action was storming the beaches of Normandy on D-day at the age of just 20.

He stayed in Germany until he was demobed in 1946 and went back to England to marry his wife June in 1947, who sadly died 10 years ago at the age of 74.

Arthur, a father of three, spent the rest of his life living in Kent working as a coal miner until he retired at the age of 60.

He added: "I have had a lucky life. I survived the war - we had some pretty difficult tasks to complete - it was a tough old job.

"We were a great unit and people have often referred to us as heroes but unfortunately we also lost a lot of great men throughout the war.

"But I was lucky enough to survive, marry my beautiful wife and bring up three great kids - who have given me wonderful grandchildren.

"I have often wondered about the lives of the other German soldiers who are in the pictures but I guess I will never now what happened to them - they probably died.

"I'm just grateful that I am still here today."

The camera, which takes pride of place in the war hero’s Greenhill home, still works and Mr Thompson is now one of just a handful of members of 47 Marine Commando still standing.