Photographs

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 …

King Christian X of Denmark, riding through Copenhagen on September 26th 1940, on his 70th birthday. Denmark was previously occupied by Germany on April 9th 1940, and was only liberated at the end of the war, although there has been very strong resistance by the Danish people against the German …

Estonian Swedes (Swedish speaking minority residing in the coastal areas of Estonia) trying to flee Soviet occupation in late 1944. Estonia had a very rough deal in World War II. Despite declaring neutrality, the country was occupied by the Soviet Union between 1940 and 1941, by Germany between 1941 and …

Soviet troops pictured during a charge near Leningrad on January 1st, 1943, as their attempts to break the German siege of the city were becoming increasingly vigorous. The soldier in the foreground is holding a PPD-40 submachine gun. The blockade and encirclement of Leningrad was one of the longest and …

Maori soldiers of the 28th (Maori) Battalion, 2nd New Zealand Division, performing the Haka for the visit of Greece’s Royal family. Egypt, June 1941. The Battalion had been recently evacuated from Crete and Greece, and went on to fight in the North African Campaigns until 1943. Almost 3.600 men served …