Crossed rifles on the sand are a comrade’s tribute to this American soldier who sprang ashore from a landing barge and died at the barricades of Western Europe. Picture taken a few days after D-Day, on Omaha Beach. It had to have been after the artiller…
After seizing the Reichstag in May 1945 and raising their flag on its roof, Soviet soldiers left their marks in other ways, writing their names, feelings, thoughts, and hometowns on the walls of the famous building. Written in Cyrillic script, they incl…
This is the Reichserntedankfest of 1934 in Buckeberg. That year, 700,000 people participated. Even those who did not support Nazis were totally blown away and emotionally shaken. They had never experienced anything even remotely like this, there were no…
Joseph Goebbels awards the 16-year old Hitler Youth member Willi Hübner the Iron Cross for the defense of Lauban, photo taken on March 1945. Despite the extremely limited nature of the victory, the recapture of Lauban was presented as a great success by…
By September 1942, a brutal hand-to-hand battle was being waged inside Stalingrad. As they fought from house to house and street to street, the Germans found that all of the tactical advantages they had possessed in fighting across the steppes were lost in…
It looks like a thousand-yard stare, it's like there's nothing there. The rank insignia indicates that he is an Austrian-Hungarian soldier, not German, he's a Lance corporal. In case you're wondering, those lugs on the side of his Stahlhelm helmet were …
Love him or hate him, Edwin Rommel screams class in every photo. Rommel was a gallant enemy. He didn’t order his men to execute troops. He didn’t set out to oppress Jewish populations. In fact, he is said to have ripped up an order from Hitler that orde…
These photos were taken between May and December 1944, and they show the officers and guards of Auschwitz relaxing and enjoying themselves — as countless people were being murdered and cremated at the nearby death camp. In some of the photos, SS officers c…
Seen here is an aerial black and white photo of the famous Cologne Cathedral during World War II. The cathedral suffered fourteen hits by aerial bombs during the war. It did not collapse but stood tall in an otherwise flattened city. The twin spires are…
This picture of Willie, Patton’s dog, was taken a few days after the General’s death as preparations were made to send home his effects. Cartoonist Bill Mauldin describes the moment: "Beside him, lying in a big chair was Willie, the bull terrier. If eve…
At 1:10 a.m. on May 9, 1945, night owls in the USSR heard a radio report that Nazi Germany had officially surrendered to the Soviet Union. Up to 30 million soldiers and civilians were dead, the Soviet Union had lost a third of its national wealth, citie…
The SS loyalty oath was as follows: "I vow to you, Adolf Hitler, as Führer and chancellor of the German Reich, loyalty and bravery. I vow to you and to the leaders that you set for me, absolute allegiance until death. So help me God". The SS was differe…
Rommel was well respected by his men and enemies. He was a general that had "my men first, then me" kind of attitude. There were sometimes that he preferred to retreat, losing ground and resources, than the lives of his men, hoping he would have the cha…
The "Soviet flag over Reichstag" photograph is full of symbolism and represents a historic moment. Erected in 1894, the Reichstag's architecture was magnificent for its time. The building contributed much to German history and was considered by the Red …