Nazis Shopping in Bucharest

Two photos showing Nazi officials shopping in Bucharest, Romania, 1941.  In the first picture they are buying flowers.  In the second, they are buying wine.  Somehow I get the feeling that some Romanian woman is in for a very uncomfortable courtship.

Letters from Home

Cecile Cowdery drew on the envelopes of letters to her husband during WW2: "After my first colorful envelope arrived, Ray let me know it had drawn a lot of attention from the other soldiers. From then on, I dared not let up! I drew those scenes to help him feel special. While other soldiers got “Dear John” letters, my man was assured daily by my sharing of remembered things from back home."

Video: Stalag 7A Moosburg

Color video footage of Stalag 7A Moosburg German POW camp, the bridge at Remagen and the destruction of Cologne.

Rzeszow, Poland

On September 6, 1939, Rzeszów was bombed by the Luftwaffe.  The town was defended by the 10 Cavalry Brigade and 24th Uhlan Regiment.  The German attack began on September 6 in the afternoon, and the Wehrmacht entered the city on the next day in the morning. Rzeszów, renamed into Reichshof, became part of the General Government, in 1941 a ghetto was opened there, whose Jewish inhabitants were later murdered in Bełżec extermination camp.

Rzeszow, Poland, German soldiers entering the snow-covered town.

Japanese Propaganda

Japanese propaganda, circa 1942.

Road Sign

Road sign at concentration camp Hinzert, Germany, ca 1942.

Rome, 1944

American soldiers resting in a courtyard during the drive towards Rome, Italy. May 1944. 

Pin Ups and Plums

Pin Ups and Plums - Gunners of 102nd Medium Regiment (Pembroke Yeomanry) choose their favorite 'pin-up girl', 2 March 1944. Colored by retropotamus.

Siege of Sevastopol

The Siege of Sevastopol took place on the Eastern Front.  The campaign was fought by the Axis powers of Germany, Romania and Italy against the Soviet Union for control of Sevastopol, a port in the Crimea on the Black Sea.  On 22 June 1941 the Axis invaded the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa. Axis land forces reached the Crimea in the autumn of 1941 and overran most of the area. The only objective not in Axis hands was Sevastopol. Several attempts were made to secure the city in October and November, 1941. A major attack was planned for late November, but heavy rains delayed the Axis attack until 17 December 1941. Under the command of Erich von Manstein, Axis forces were unable to capture Sevastopol during this first operation. Soviet forces launched an amphibious landing on the Crimean peninsula at Kerch in December, 1941 to relieve the siege and force the Axis to divert forces to defend their gains. The operation saved Sevastopol for the time being, but the bridgehead in the eastern Crimea was eliminated in May 1942.

After the failure of their first assault on Sevastopol, the Axis opted to conduct siege warfare until the summer of 1942, at which point they attacked the encircled Soviet forces by land, sea, and air. On 2 June 1942, the Axis began this operation, codenamed Störfang (Sturgeon Catch). The Soviet Red Army and Black Sea Fleet held out for weeks under intense Axis bombardment. The German Air Force (Luftwaffe) played a vital part in the siege. The Luftwaffe made up for a shortage of Axis artillery, providing highly effective aerial bombardment in support of the ground forces. Finally, on 4 July 1942, the remaining Soviet forces surrendered and the Axis seized the port. Both sides had suffered considerable losses during the siege and attack.

A German soldier looks at the wreckage of a Soviet destroyer at Sevastopol, Ukraine, circa Jul 1942

Royal Observer Corps

Two men of the Royal Observer Corps on a cliff top near Dover, 1943.

Goering's Walther PPK

The gold-plated pistol Nazi Hermann Goering handed over to the allies when he surrendered at the end of the Second World War.

Hermann Goering with Adolf Hitler

Japanese Pilots in China

Japanese navy Mitsubishi A5M fighter aircraft pilots smiling after another successful combat mission against the Chinese Air Force (China 1937).

Below are two versions of Mitsubishi A5M fighter plane.

Kool-Aid

A 1943 advertisement for Kool-Aid.  Note the reference to it being a "budget beverage".  An obvious sign of the lean times on the American Home Front.

U.S.S. Idaho

Idaho firing at Okinawa, 1945.  The Idaho was built in 1918 and saw service in World War II.  She sailed from San Diego on 20 January, 1945 to join a battleship group at Pearl Harbor. After rehearsals, she steamed from the Marianas on 14 February for the invasion of Iwo Jima. As Marines stormed ashore on 19 February, Idaho was again blasting enemy positions with her big guns, and fired star shells at night to illuminate the battlefield. She remained off Iwo Jima until 7 March, when she sailed for Ulithi and the last of the great Pacific assaults – Okinawa.

Hungarian Soldiers

Hungarian soldiers with 3.7 cm Flak securing a bridge. 

Aviation Drill Operator

October 1942. Inglewood, California. North American Aviation drill operator in the control surface department assembling horizontal stabilizer section of an airplane.

Awaiting the Allied Attack

Germany, 1945. These four Wehrmacht soldiers await an allied attack. The soldier far left is aiming with his k98-sniper-rifle. Two others are passing hand grenades.

British Ace

Johnny Johnson (Wing Commander James E Johnson): The top RAF fighter ace, shooting down 38 German planes. Seen here with his pet labrador, Sally - Battle of Britain 1940.

Lee-Enfield No.1 Mk.III

The Lee-Enfield bolt-action, magazine-fed, repeating rifle was the main firearm used by the military forces of the British Empire during the first half of the 20th century. It was the British Army's standard rifle from its official adoption in 1895 until 1957.

Northern Italy, 1943

The British Army in Northern Italy, 1943.  British gunners of the Shropshire Yeomanry in action with a 5.5 inch Howitzer under camouflage netting.

G4M1 Bomber

Crashed Japanese G4M1 bomber floating off Tulagi, Solomon Islands, 8 Aug 1942.

Kindness

A German soldier feeding a kitten, 1940.

Scissor Glasses

An Afrika Korps lieutenant scopes the enemy with his "scissor glasses". German made scissor glasses had a reputation for superior optics and field endurance. A must for artillery observers and tactical battlefield diagram drafters.

Guadalcanal

American soldiers holding a captured Japanese flag on Guadalcanal Island during World War II.

Enigma Ciphering Machine

Very Rare WWII Enigma Cipher Machine. This highly important three-rotor Enigma deciphering machine was used by the Nazis during World War II. It is believed that acquisition of an Enigma, and the subsequent deciphering of the German codes by the Allies, shortened the war in Europe by at least two years. Examples of Enigma machines are exceptionally rare and almost all known models are in museums.

Waffen SS Recruitment

Danish, WW2 Waffen-SS recruitment poster from 1944. The poster connects the Danish reign over Estonia (starting 1219) with the fierce battle against the Soviet forces in the same area 1944.

SD. Kfz 10/4

SD.Kfz. 10/4 and crew during the Battle for Voronezh with a 20-mm anti-aircraft cannon July, 1942.

Soviet Partisan in Belarus

The Soviet Partisans were members of a resistance movement which fought a guerrilla war against the Axis occupation of the Soviet Union during World War II.

The movement was coordinated and controlled by the Soviet government and modeled on that of the Red Army.  The primary objective of the partisan units was the disruption of the Eastern Front's German rear, especially road and railroad communications. 

Soviet Partisan in Belarus, 1943

Hess' Flight to Scotland

Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a prominent Nazi politician who was Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party during the 1930s and early 1940s. On the eve of war with the Soviet Union, he flew solo to Scotland in an attempt to negotiate peace with the United Kingdom, where he was arrested and became a prisoner of war.

Hess was privately distressed by the war with the United Kingdom because he, influenced by his academic advisor and in line with earlier statements by Hitler, hoped that Britain would accept Germany as an ally. Hess may have hoped to score a diplomatic victory by sealing a peace between the Third Reich and Britain. 

On 10 May 1941 at about 18:00, Hess took off from Augsburg in a Messerschmitt Bf 110D that he had equipped with drop tanks to increase its range. Goering ordered the General of the Fighter Arm to stop him but squadron leaders were ordered to scramble only one or two fighters, since Hess's particular aircraft could not be distinguished from others  and he was soon out of their range over the North Sea.

Hess flew from Augsburg via Darmstadt and Bonn towards the the Shetland Islands.  At 22:08 Hess's aircraft was first detected by radar north of Newcastle upon Tyne, when he was 70 mi (110 km) off the coast, headed in a north-westerly direction towards the island of Lindisfarne. His flight was designated "Hostile Raid 42J".

The Bf 110 dived to lose altitude after crossing the coast and was sighted by a post near Chatton in Northumberland (12.5 mi (20.1 km) inland) at 22:25, flying at only 50 ft (15 m).

Hess parachuted from his airplane, and landed near the village of Eaglesham, injuring his ankle on landing.

Cut from the wreckage of Hess' aircraft, which crashed on 10 May 1941

American Ace

World War II Fighter Pilot : American ace fighter pilot Captain Fred J. Christensen in the cockpit of his P-47 Thunderbolt fighter, c.1944. Each of the 22 swasitkas painted on the fuselage of the plane represents a German aircraft destroyed.

Stalingrad Destruction

Citizens of Stalingrad cooking food in the ruins of their city,1942.

Changi Prison

"There are few images available to illustrate the Japanese POW camps. Here is a drawing from Changi Prison on Singapore by Des Bettany Bettany did not draw the true skeletal figures of the prisoners because he was ‘drawing to keep his morale up’.

Changi was one of the more notorious Japanese prisoner of war camps. Changi was used to imprison Malayan civilians and Allied soldiers. The treatment of POW’s at Changi was harsh but fitted in with the belief held by the Japanese Imperial Army that those who had surrendered to it were guilty of dishonouring their country and family and, as such, deserved to be treated in no other way.

More cartoon drawings by Des Bettany can be found here.

A German Soldier's Funeral

A lone guard stands at attention next to a coffin draped with the swastika. Belarus, 1941.

The occupation of Belarus by Nazi Germany occurred as part of the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 (Operation Barbarossa) and ended in August 1944 with the Soviets re-gained control.  

Marlene Dietrich

Marlene Dietrich serenades the soldiers at an army evacuation hospital near the Italian front lines, May 1944. Dietrich was awarded the US Medal of Freedom and the French Legion d’honneur for her war work.

St. Lo Special

An M29c Weasel near St. Lo, France, July, 1944.  This is a colorized photo by Lex.

Basic Training

A private wears a field uniform particularly designed for tropical climates. It consists of a head net, a bottle of insect repellent and anti-mosquito gloves. Fort Benning, Georgia. May, 1945.

The American Gangster

An Italian WW II propaganda poster depicting American bomber pilots as gangsters.

Battle of Berlin

These two German youngsters are waiting for their fate in a foxhole somewhere along the collapsing front around Berlin, March 1945. Note their camouflage ponchos rolled and secured with a leather strap. They even carry a first aid pouch -- but no weapons are visible, save a grenade protruding from the belt of the young man on the left.  Colorized by Lex.

Japanese Assault

Japanese officer leading his infantrymen to assault a village and airfield in New Guinea (July, 1942).

Macchi 200 Fighter

Italian Macchi 200 fighter planes in Russia. Note the primitive splinter-poof walls. Behind the central wall you can see the profile of a CA 133.

More photos of the Macchi 200 in Russia

A downed Macchi 200

Video of the Macchi 200 in action, in Libya and Egypt in 1941-42

Afrika Korps Uniform and Equipment

Afrika Korps private, 1941:

01 - M-35 steel helmet in desert camo
02 - M-40 olive jacket with white markings (infantry)
03 - M-40 breeches
04 - M-40 shorts
05 - main belt and webbing 
06 - brown leather ammo pouches
07 - Tropenhelm cork helmet with Heeres insignia
08 - M-24 grenade
09 - 7,92 mm ammo pack
10 - 7,92 mm Mauser 98k rifle
11 - Seitengewehr 84/98 bayonet
12 - breadbag
13 - brown bakelite canteen ("coconut")
14 - M-31 mess kit
15 - M-31 tent cloth
16 - tropical boots
17 - RAF aircraft recognition book 

Bougainville Island

A flamethrower hurls a burst of fire at a Japanese position on Bougainville Island, while riflemen in foreground cover his activity. April, 1944.

German POWs on the Farm

In 1946, the year after the end of World War Two, more than 400,000 German prisoners of war (POWs) were still being held in Britain, with POW camps on the outskirts of most towns. Clement Attlee's post-war government deliberately ignored the Geneva Convention by refusing to let the Germans return home until well after the war was over.

During 1946, up to one fifth of all farm work in Britain was being done by German POWs, and they were also employed on road works and building sites. Fraternisation between the soldiers and the local population was strictly forbidden by the British government, and repatriation progressed extremely slowly. Then the ban on fraternisation was finally lifted - just in time for Christmas 1946. In towns across Britain, many people chose to put the war behind them and invite German POWs to join them for a family Christmas - the first the men had experienced in years.

Source: BBC

Prisoner of war camps in the UK: German PoWs somewhere in England bring in the harvest. 

German POWs helping on an English farm. In the partly-industrialized countryside, these men proved invaluable. Many were asked if they wanted to come back in a civilian capacity.