Luftwaffe Fallschirmjäger (paratroopers) landing on the Island of Crete, Greece, from Junkers Ju 52 transporter aircrafts. May 20th 1941. A burning Ju 52 is seen crashing from the air, while British ships are being sunk in Suda Bay in the background. The Battle of Crete was won by Axis forces …
Photographs
Turkish cargo ship SS Kurtulus before sinking in the Marmara Sea, 1942
SS Kurtulus was a Turkish cargo ship (built in 1883) which was used for humanitarian relief during World War Two, carrying food to Greece during the Axis occupation. A total of 6.735 tons of food aid are said to have been delivered by the ship to the famine-struck Greeks. SS …
US soldier waves off a departing bomber at an airbase in China, 1943
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 troops enter the razed French town of Saint-Lo, July 1944
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 …
Then and Now: Church in Foy, Bastogne, Battle of the Bulge
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 …
Sikh POWs used as target practice by Japanese soldiers, 1942
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, Belgium, 1942
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 …
Marina Ginesta, communist reporter, overseeing Barcelona in 1936
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 …
Finnish soldiers training with a captured Soviet flamethrower, 1943
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 …
Then and Now: Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen
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 …
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