Photographs

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 …

Dutch soldiers training on ice skates during January-February 1940, a few months before Germany invaded the neutral Netherlands without a formal declaration of war on May 10th. The image is said to be taken somewhere along the New Dutch Waterline, which was a wet area with moats, flooded land and …

Citizens of Leningrad gathered around an unexploded SC-1000 bomb dropped by the Germans over the city in 1943, during the Siege of Leningrad. 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 …

Lieutenant G.A. Greenwood and Sergeant B. Agnew, both members of the Royal Australian Airforce, hold a joey (young kangaroo) and a dog – the squadron mascots. Coomalie Creek, Northern Australia, 1943. Australian diggers (soldiers) were well known for bringing animals with them in both World Wars, as mascots and companions. …

A french Woman kisses a US soldier on August 25th, 1944, during the liberation of Paris, as his mates offer cheeky smiles. Victory parades took place in Paris for five days after the liberation, between August 25th and August 29th. Book suggestion ⤵️ 📖 Eleven Days in August: The Liberation …

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 …

Two Indian Sikh soldiers handle a Bren light machine gun during the Italian campaign. January 15th 1944, Villa Grande region. The Sikh Regiment is an infantry regiment recruited from the Sikh community, and is in fact the most decorated regiment of the Indian Army. Book suggestions ⤵️ 📖 The Raj …

Dominique Kosseyo, a Senegalese Tirailleur, in Brazzaville, French Equatorial Africa, probably 1941 – 1942. Kosseyo has been awarded the Cross of Liberation by General Charles de Gaulle on July 14th 1941, being the first French African to receive it. The Senegalese Tirailleurs were a corps of colonial infantry which served …