Photographs

German policemen (Ordnungspolizei) sharing a smoke with a French colonial prisoner. Vichy, 1940. The Ordnungspolizei were the uniformed police force of Germany between 1936 and 1945. Book suggestion⤵️ 📖 The Volksdeutschen in the Wehrmacht, Waffen-SS, Ordnungspolizei in World War II (Rolf Michaelis, 2012)

Generaloberst Heinz Guderian, a World War I veteran, was one of the pioneers of tank warfare in Germany. Guderian studied this concept between 1922 and 1928, becoming a leading expert on tanks despite not setting foot into one before 1929 (due to the Versailles treaty restrictions). Because of the same …

Sky in London during the battle of Britain (summer 1940), with Big Ben in the foreground. The Battle of Britain was a huge assault by the Luftwaffe in an attempt to subdue the British, so that Germany could force them into peace and focus on the Eastern front. It was …

Anti aircraft fire near St. Isaac’s Cathedral against a German air raid during the Siege of Leningrad, 1941. The blockade and encirclement of Leningrad was one of the longest and most horrific sieges in history, lasting 872 days between September 8th 1941 and January 27th 1944, when the weakened Axis …

One of the very few surviving images (and the only one of decent quality) of the “Romanian Goliath”, a Romanian version of the German Goliath tracked mine. This version had no armor, but was much larger, six time heavier, and better equipped to handle trenches and difficult terrain. It was …

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)

Jan Baalsrud was a commando in the Norwegian resistance trained by the British in World War Two. In 1941 Baalsrud participated in Operation Martin, which was a clandestine action aiming to organize secret resistance groups in Tromso, in German occupied Norway, and to destroy a German airfield control tower. When …

British propaganda image during the Battle of Britain, 1940, showing children and an older girl (maybe their teacher) protecting themselves from German air raids in a dug out trench, acting as an improvised bomb shelter. Book suggestion ⤵️ 📖 The Blitz: The British Under Attack (Juliet Gardiner, 2010)

A Japanese Kawanishi H8K2 “Emily” Flying Boat shot down by a PB4Y-1 heavy bomber (consolidated B-24 Liberator aircraft used by the US Navy) on July 2nd, 1944, in the Central Pacific. The Japanese Kawanishi H8K (and the improved H8K2) was a large four engined aircraft designed to land and operate …