Photographs

An American soldier waves off a US Army Air Force Liberator bomber which had just departed for a raid over Japan (we can see the landing gear receding). The image was taken on September 13th, 1943, at an advanced US base in China, one of many American bases on Chinese …

US soldiers enter the ruined French town of Saint-Lo in July 1944, six weeks after D-Day. 95% of the city was destroyed by American bombardments as the Allies retook it from Germany on July 18th 1944. Due to the colossal damage it suffered, Saint-Lo was subsequently nicknamed “The Capital of …

Church in Foy, Belgium, near Bastogne, pictured in January 1945 during the Battle of the Bulge, and in 2019. In the historical photograph we see a wrecked Panzer IV tank. The village of Foy was made famous by the exceptional TV Mini Series “Band of Brothers”. The Battle of the …

Blindfolded Indian prisoners of war, part of the Sikh Regiment of the British Indian Army, are used as target practice by Japanese troops. British troops discovered these photographs among Japanese records when they entered Singapore in 1945. Each prisoner has a target across his heart and is holding a plaque …

Mechelen transit camp courtyard, Belgium, sometime during 1942 (probably in Autumn). The Mechelen Camp, established in March 1942, was used for gathering and holding minorities. Particularly Jews and Gypsies were detained here before their deportation to other places. It was the only such camp in German occupied Belgium, and it …

The famous photograph took by Juan Guzmán shows a 17 year old Marina Ginesta, a French born reporter, translator and communist militant, at the top of Hotel Colon in Barcelona. The image is dated July 21st, 1936, right at the start of the Spanish Civil War. Ginesta is carrying a …

Soldiers of the Finnish army are pictured using a captured Soviet ROKS-2 flamethrower during training exercises. The ROKS-2 was designed so it could not be identified as a flamethrower by the enemy – the gas and fuel tanks were camouflaged to resemble a backpack, while the flame projector imitated a …

The Ludendorff Bridge pictured in 1945, compared to modern times. The Bridge was built in World War One at Remagen, Germany, to help German movements over the Rhine river. In early March 1945, it was a critical bridge still left standing, as the Allies achieved a surprisingly quick advance towards …

Bucharest North Train Station, the largest railway station in Romania, Spring of 1948 (according to the top-left banner) vs modern times. Notice the communist insignia in the middle of the historical photograph, and the banners which advertise some kind of conference for a youth organization. By 1948, King Michael I …

A bunker pictured during World War Two has been turned into a flower shop, 1945 vs 2018. It seems like the windmill in the bunker was being reconditioned in the second photograph. Alkmaar went through a rather uneventful occupation by German forces during World War Two. However, the Jewish community …