Photographs

The Berlin – Munich Reichsautobahn (A9 today), Southeast of Dessau, photographed in June 1939. Its first section was inaugurated in 1936 and the last was finished by 1941, making A9 Germany’s first completed autobahn. Approximately 3,870 kilometers of highways were built in Nazi Germany during the “Reichsautobahn project”. Book suggestion …

Schwerer Gustav railway gun in a rare photograph, likely sometime during 1942 at Sevastopol, although this information can not be 100% confirmed. Schwerer Gustav was the heaviest mobile artillery piece ever built and the largest caliber rifled weapon to ever be fired in battle. It weighed almost 1350 tons and …

German soldiers photographed while having fun at the Naval Coastal Battery Lindemann, named after Ernst Lindemann, captain of the Bismarck battleship. Image taken at Pas-de-Calais, sometime during 1944. Battery Lindemann (inaugurated in September 1942) was equipped with three 406mm “Adolf” cannons, housed by three casemates named Anton, Bruno and Caesar. …

The last Jew in Vinnitsa is a famous photograph taken during the Holocaust in Ukraine near the town of Vinnitsa (Vinnytsia). In the photo we see a man awaiting execution by the Einsatzgruppen beside a mass grave. The photograph is dated sometime between 1941 and 1943. For more information about …

German Unteroffiziere (non-commissioned officer) photographed while chasing a chicken with two bayonets. The photo was likely taken on the Eastern Front in the early 1940s, as suggested by the Soviet PPSH submachine gun the man seems to hold. This was a very popular weapon among German troops during Operation Barbarossa, …

Australian soldiers are photographed while burning town the village of Mindelo (Turiscai) in East Timor (Portugese Timor), on December 12th 1942, during the Battle of Timor, and shortly before their withdrawal from the area. They were doing so in order to prevent the village being used as a Japanese base. …

ORP Sokol N97 Polish submarine and its crew in Gibraltar, presumably sometime during 1944, with the men holding a captured German flag and a “Jolly Roger” pirate flag. The ORP Sokol U-class submarine was built and launched by the British Royal Navy in 1940 as HMS Urchin, but was immediately …

American soldier costumed as Santa Claus driving a Willys Jeep with a sack of radios, cookies, books and other gifts in the back (as well as a pine tree). The photograph was taken at Camp Lee, Virginia, Quartermaster Replacement Center, in December 1941 (probably around Christmas time). Book suggestion ⤵️ …

Powerful photograph showing citizens of Manila running desperately from the burning suburbs bombed by the Japanese on February 10th, 1945. A closer look seems to reveal some smoke in the background, although it might also be just an imperfection of the picture. The Battle of Manila was a one month …

Panzer IV Ausf. H tank of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler pictured with the Milan Dome in the background during September 1943. German tanks occupied the city of Milan on September 8th, after the Armistice of Cassibile between Italy’s new leadership and the Western Allies became public. …