Germany

Sandbags are cleared off the facade of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, as Germany occupied the city unopposed on June 14th 1940. The sandbags were used by Parisians to protect Notre Dame against bombardments. Paris and its invaluable cultural and architectural heritage was saved twice from destruction during World War …

Panzer III tanks leaving the production plant in October 1942, alongside stacked piles of tracks. Book suggestion ⤵️ 📖 Achtung-Panzer!: The Development of Armoured Forces, Their Tactics and Operational Potential (Heinz Guderian, 1937)

The bombing of Dresden (13-15 February 1945) has been a highly controversial topic of debate over the years. Trying to force Germany into submission, the British and the Americans bombed a civilian city with little strategic importance, killing around 25.000 civilians in the process. During and after the war propaganda …

On August 23rd 1944, King Michael I of Romania (pictured here with Adolf Hitler at the New Reich Chancellery in Berlin, 1940) staged a coup to overthrow Romania’s head of state and Hitler supporter, Marshal Ion Antonescu. With the tides of the war turning and with the Soviets already inside …

Hermann Goering, Reichsmarschall and Supreme Luftwaffe Commander, with flying ace Adolf Galland, Lieutenant General of the Luftwaffe, reviewing documents. Date and location of the picture are unclear, although the photo was likely taken in 1941. Galland was one of the legendary pilots of WW2. He survived being shot down four …

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (the “Desert Fox”) with British POW’s at the French port of St Valery-en-Caux during the Dunkirk evacuation (1940). Erwin Rommel was a distinguished officer in World War One and one of the central figures of World War Two. In WW2, Rommel earned a reputation as one …

German aircraft, possibly a Dornier Do 17, crashed into a house during the Battle of Britain in 1940. The Battle of Britain was a large scale aerial assault by the Luftwaffe in an attempt to subdue Britain, so that Germany could force Britain into peace and focus on the Eastern …

A German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber raiding a British supply depot near Tobruk, Lybia, October 1941, during the North African campaign. The siege of Tobruk was part of the Western Desert Campaign (1940-1943), and lasted for 241 days. With the Allies defeated and forced back on most of …

Wehrmacht soldiers overseeing a transport of Jewish people to a workplace. Warsaw Ghetto, 1941. The Warsaw ghetto was established in late Autumn 1940 by German authorities in order to separate Jewish people from the rest of the population. Jewish people would then be deported to work and concentration camps. The …

Canadian soldier immortalized with a beaten German prisoner of war (Panzergrenadier member of the SS 12 Hitler Youth Panzer Division). Caen, France, August 9th 1944. Book suggestion ⤵️ 📖 Escape from Canada! The Untold Story of German POWs in Canada, 1939-1945 (John Melady, 1981)