Germany

Aachen, Germany, 1944 vs modern days. #ThenAndNow The battle of Aachen was fought between Germany and USA during 2-21 October 1944. Aachen was part of Germany’s line of defence in the West (Siegfried line) and it was eventually captured by US forces after a grueling urban battle which destroyed the …

1944 vs. modern day. Fourth moat of the Belfort Citadel, France, the spot where Georges Blind, a member of the French resistance, smiled as he faced a German firing squad. However, Blind was not shot. The photograph was taken during a mock execution, set up to force Blind to give …

Georges Blind, a member of the French resistance, smiling as he faces a German firing squad in 1944. However, Blind was not executed. The photograph was taken during a mock execution, set up to force Blind to give up information (which by all accounts he did not). Blind entered the …

Benito Mussolini meets Adolf Hitler in Munich, with the Italian leader having traveled to discuss the French armistice request on June 18th, 1940. Although Mussolini intended to gain a hefty share of spoils from the French, Hitler did not want to discuss it. What’s more, the Fuhrer declared that he …

Danish resistance members hold up German SS soldiers at gunpoint and disarm them in Copenhagen, sometime in 1945. Resistance against German occupation increased steadily in Denmark starting with the Autumn of 1942, but the country was not liberated until May 5th, 1945 – two days before Germany officially capitulated. Book …

SS and Gestapo personnel attempting to flood the crypt of Saints Cyril and Methodius Cathedral in Prague, where four members of Operation Anthropoid (the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich) were hidden. June 18th, 1942. You can see bullet holes above the crypt window (right of the image), which are still there …

Us soldier standing guard over thousands of German prisoners in 1945 at Camp Remagen, part of the Rheinwiesenlager. The Rheinwiesenlager were 19 camps in Allied occupied Germany before the end of WW2, which held over one million surrendered Wehrmacht soldiers. Us Army Chief of Staff, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, made …

Mauthausen Camp Commandant Franz Ziereis with SS Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler and SS Obergruppenfuhrer Dr. Ernst Kaltenbrunner on April 27th, 1941. The photo is taken at the “Wiener Graben” stone quarry, where the camp inmates were worked tirelessly. The quarry was one of the main reasons for the location of the …

In the image we see the first Me 262 to be captured by the Allies, when the test pilot defected on March 31st, 1945. The aircraft was sent to the US for testing. The Messerschmitt Me 262, aka Me 262 Schwalbe or Stormbird, was introduced in the Luftwaffe during April …

A Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 52 transport aircraft in low flight over a horse pulled cart on the Eastern Front, in Northern Russia, 1943. It’s quite likely that supplies dropped by the plane were being loaded into the carriage for transport to the front. We can see bags in and around …