Drill instructors perform a hygiene inspection to ensure recruits have adequately showered, shaved, and have no medical issues. This was done to make sure that recruits had no health problems that can affect them from training. Back then the recruits ha…
The building in the center of the photograph is the Old Bailey, one of London's courts, and the statue atop is The Lady of Justice. These iconic buildings including St Paul's Cathedral, where this picture is taken, are a testament to the incredible work…
Two German soldiers with a Wechselapparat ("Wex") flamethrower. The Germans introduced this small flamethrower in 19 17 to replace the earlier Kleif. The Wechselapparat ("Wex") had a doughnut-shaped backpack fuel container with a spherical propellant conta…
A Soviet spy laughs at his executioner in a picture taken in Rukajärvi, in East Karelia, in November 1942. It has been thought within the Finnish Defence Forces that the decision to withhold pictures of the fate of Russian prisoners of war and spies may…
Until the end of the 1930s, the best women’s stockings were made from silk. This changed in the United States when DuPont began manufacturing nylon in 1939. Nylon stockings went on limited sale in October of that year followed by a national launch at selec…
The short-barreled version of the Thompson was Winston's personal favorite weapon of all time. He looks like a gangster from an old Hollywood movie. This photo was taken during an inspection of invasion defenses near Hartlepool, on July 21, 1940. The in…
This photo at first was regarded by many editors as too disturbing to print, but later became one of the most famous images of the first Gulf War. This photo was taken by Ken Jarecke, his quote: "If I don’t photograph this, people like my mom will think…
Simo Häyhä, also known as "The White Death," was a Finnish sniper who is credited with killing 505 enemy troops within 100 days during the Winter War against the Soviet Union from 1939 to 1940. Simo Häyhä's involvement in the Winter War was very extraor…
Heinrich Himmler looks at a young Soviet prisoner of war during an official visit to Shirokaya Street Concentration Camp in Minsk, Belarus, on or about August 15, 1941. You had to be a hard man to look Himmler in the face like that. This is standing for…
This was a mock execution attempting to get the resistance fighter, Georges Blind, to talk. It didn't work. Georges did not divulge any information. It’s interesting how they've placed him at the corner of the building rather than against the stereotypi…
This Soviet partisan is remarkably well equipped for the average partisan, he’s armed to the teeth: a PPSH-41 submachine gun, 1 RGD-33 grenade, 1 RPG-40 anti-tank grenade, 3 F1 grenades, a German Stielhandgranate 24, a belt of 7.62 ammunition, and 2 M1895 …
An iron lung or as it is called officially a negative pressure ventilator is a form of medical ventilator that enables a person to breathe when normal muscle control has been lost or the work of breathing exceeds the person's ability. It creates lower p…
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…
The Japanese treatment of prisoners of war in World War II was barbaric. The men shown in the above picture are part of the Sikh Regiment of the British Indian Army. All of them are sitting in the traditional cross-legged prayer position. They’re probab…
This torpedo-boat crewman looks thoroughly unpleased with the situation. Patrols could be anywhere from 3 weeks to 6 months and during that time the crew was not able to bathe, shave or change their clothes regularly. The space to live in was small, the…
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 Second Chechen War, shot from Kirovo, near Grozny. They are not marines, just motorized infantry. Regarding the helmet, the German Nazi helmet was seen as a talisman, as a good omen sign. These soldiers' drab-olive gear and black beanies look ju…
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…
American Nazi Party Commander George Lincoln Rockwell, flanked by two members of the party, listening to Malcolm X’s speech at the Black Muslims meeting held at the Uline Arena. This is an amazing, very powerful shot. Not just from a historical point of…
Hugo Sperrle was a German field marshal of the Luftwaffe during World War II. His forces were deployed solely on the Western Front and the Mediterranean throughout the war. By 1944 he had become Supreme Commander of the Luftwaffe in the West. It is ofte…