Photographs

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 …

A Finnish soldier carrying a Molotov Cocktail during the Soviet – Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940. While the Molotov Cocktail is known by most to be a Russian invention, fact is that it had been used in the Spanish civil war in the 1930s, and arguably even before that. What’s …

Two young Japanese girls training with a Nambu Type 11 Machine Gun, as the country was employing desperate last efforts of defense in 1945. On February 26th 1945, the National Resistance Program subjected men aged 15-60 and women aged 17-40 to training, in case of a potential need for a …

Danish soldiers of the 4th Battalion Bicycle Regiment somewhere near Bredevad (according to Copenhagenize.com), cycling to the front on April 9, 1940, the day Germany invaded Denmark. Realizing that resistance would be futile, the Danish government surrendered just two hours after the start of the invasion. As such, Denmark was …