World War 2 In View

American tankers clean the bore of their M4 Sherman’s 76mm gun during a pause in the Battle of the Bulge.

Artillerymen dig a gun emplacement into the frozen soil of a Belgium farm near the village of Freyneux. The .50 cal. machine gun is set up for aerial defense.

Infantrymen ride into battle atop a foliage-covered M4 Sherman tank near Freyneux in December 1944.

A 3-inch (76mm) M5 antitank gun in action during the Bulge, December 23, 1944.

With its turret and 75mm main gun reversed, a German Panzer V Panther tank burns after being struck by a tank round from an M4 medium tank during fighting in Belgium in December 1944. Chunks of stone and masonry on the tank’s back deck indicate it may have crashed through a wall or a building.

A German Me 410, less than 25 feet from a B-17 Flying Fortress, banks sharply away from the American bomber after pressing home its attack over Czechoslovakia on May 12, 1944. The 50mm autocannon can be seen protruding from the Me 410's nose.

Horton Ho 229 V2. clocked through gaps in cloud by technicians from Rechlin at 795 kph (493 mph) at an altitude of about 2000 meters (6,500 feet). Unfortunately, the aircraft then crashed, killing the pilot Erwin Ziller. The Ho 229 V1 was a glider and the Ho 229 V3 was unfinished and its parts are in the process of restoration in the Udvar-Hazy Center since 2014. V4 to V6 were in several early stages of prototyping and were lost to history.

An artist's rendering as no photo of the Ho 229 in flight is known to exist.

Film star and U.S. naval officer Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., confers with a British soldier on the beach at Gela, Sicily, in 1943.

Brigadier General Horace Fuller (left) of the 41st Division confers with two of his staff officers.

LCI ships unload infantry at a makeshift wharf along the Biak shore, May 1944.

A Japanese tank, knocked out in the Biak fighting.

Brigadier General Jens Doe confers on the beach on Biak with Lieutenant Colonel Miller.

Soviet tanks and infantrymen move forward together to rout German defenders from several strongpoints. Note the Red Army soldier lying prone atop a tank’s hull, his automatic weapon at the ready. The tanks are an American M3 light tank in the foreground and two M3 medium tanks in the background received through Lend Lease.

A pair of German panzergrenadiers manning a defensive position pause as a mammoth Panzer VI Tiger I tank rumbles past during the Battle of Kursk.

Two German Panzer IVs roll forward warily as pillars of smoke rise from disabled armored vehicles during the Battle of Kursk.

Soviet T-34 enters a village, passing a burning farmhouse.

World War 2 In View Photo Album for February 3, 2025

Japanese soldiers guard American prisoners of war on Bataan during the 1941 “death march.” The World War II Philippines campaign saw nearly 100,000 U.S. personnel taken as prisoners of war. During the campaign, the United States had to operate from as far away as Hawaii. 

A Japanese aerial view of the Pearl Harbor attack.

 

A World War II Japanese-centric map of Hawaii.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.

The fate of the USS Arizona (BB-36).

The Last Moments of Admiral Yamaguchi, Japanese war art by Kita Renzo. 

A German Panther in winter camouflage rumbles through a village during Operation Konrad in January 1945. 

Soviet troops slain in combat lay in a snow-covered ditch in Hungary. 

Soviet machine gun teams in action in Hungary. 

Generalleutnant Willi Bittrich.

Marshal Fyodor Tolbukhin.

SS Panzer Grenadiers and police units fought side-by-side in Hungary during the spring offensive.

Soviet self-propelled guns helped stem the German advance in Hungary.

At the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1940, a flight crew poses for a photographer with its Dornier Do 17 reconnaissance aircraft.

Helmut Rau, seated in the observer position aboard a Heinkel He 111 reconnaissance plane, takes weather readings.

Heinkel He 111 on an airfield in Norway.

GIs move up an old hillside trail in Italy, accompanied by a pack mule. 

Lt. Gen. Jacob L. Devers, the Allied Deputy Commander of the Mediterranean Theater, presents the Medal of Honor to Second Lieutenant Ernest “Red Eagle” Childers on April 12, 1944. He participated in the Allied landings at Salerno and Anzio.

Childers served in the Army through Korea and the start of the Vietnam War, and reached the rank of lieutenant colonel before retiring from the Army in 1965.

American GIs move through the streets of a shelled Italian town.

Japanese Mitsubishi G4M2 Betty bombers wing their way toward a target. 

A Heinkel He 111Z 'Zwilling' (twin) lifts off from the airfield in Hildeshein, Germany, with two Gotha Go 242 gliders in tow. Date unknown.

Illustration representing World War II ships built under the Bethlehem Steel program across various shipyards, totaling 1,121 ships.

Admiral Chester W. Nimitz in the doorway of a bunker on Midway Island while on an inspection trip after the Battle of Midway, June 1942.

With one man carrying a small motor scooter on his shoulder, men of 48 Commando disembark from landing craft at Juno Beach near St.-Aubin-sur-Mer, June 6, 1944.

Making the initial landing at Nan Red Beach, on the left flank of Juno Beach, Canadian infantry disembark from their landing craft under German fire shortly after 8 am on D-Day.

Making the initial landing at Nan Red Beach, on the left flank of Juno Beach, Canadian infantry disembark from their landing craft under German fire shortly after 8 am on D-Day.

Men from 48 Commando and Canadian infantry with their bicycles take cover from German mortar fire in ditches near St.-Aubin-sur-Mer.

Typically disregarding his personal safety, Lt. Col. James L. Moulton, commander of 48 Commando, watches a Canadian M-10 tank destroyer approaching a disabled Royal Marine Centaur tank (in the distance) during the attack on the strongpoint known as WN 26 at Langrune.

Canadian infantrymen from the North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment cautiously approach another German strongpoint, WN 27, at St.-Aubin-sur-Mer.

During a stay on Guadalcanal with men of the 1st Marine Division, 1st Lt. Dwight Shepler, a Navy combat artist, witnessed scenes such as the one shown in his painting of gun crews servicing 155mm howitzers.

Colonel Chesty Puller (second from left) visits men of the 7th Marines in camp at Cape Gloucester.

An ever-present figure near the front line, Chesty Puller (left) discusses troop dispositions with another officer.

The five Sullivan Brothers, all of whom were lost in the sinking of the U.S.S. Juneau, November 13, 1942. 

Calutron Operators in Oak Ridge, Tennessee During World War II.

Hiroshima after atomic bombing, March 1946. (National Archives Identifier 148728174)

Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, atomic physicist and head of the Manhattan Project, ca. 1944. (National Archives Identifier 558579) 

Little Boy on trailer cradle in pit, 1945.  The inside of the open bomb bay doors of the Enola Gay can just be seen at the top of the photo; the aircraft was moved over the pit to allow room to load the bomb safely. (National Archives Identifier 76048653)

Topographical map, Hiroshima. (National Archives Identifier 166126365)

Col. Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., pilot of the Enola Gay, waves from the cockpit before takeoff, August 6, 1945. (National Archives Identifier 535737)

Enola Gay returns after strike at Hiroshima, 1945. (National Archives Identifier 76048622)

President Truman announces Japan’s surrender, August 14, 1945. (National Archives Identifier 520054)

Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) Captain Charity Adams drilling her company at the first WAAC Training Center in Fort Des Moines, Iowa. Major Charity Edna Adams commanded the battalion and over 800 volunteers joined the 6888th Central Postal Battalion throughout the war. 

Original Caption: Somewhere in England, Maj. Charity E. Adams, Columbia, S.C., and Capt. Abbie N. Campbell, Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Ala., inspect the first contingent of negro members of the Women's Army Corps assigned to overseas service. February 15, 1945. (National Archives Identifier 531249)

Original Caption: “One of the two similar buildings, in France, which house the vast quantities of Christmas mail en route to American soldiers.” The 6888th would sort similar piles. (National Archives Local Identifier 111-SC-197654)

Original caption: As a Scottish piper instructs Pfc. Edith Gaskill, Arlington, Va., in the art of playing bagpipes, Pvt. Marie McKinney, Washington, D.C., examines his kilt. The WACs are members of the first negro all-WAC postal unit to arrive in the European theater of operations. The unit will handle the Army Postal Directory Service for the entire theater. U.S. Army port, Greenock, Scotland. February 14, 1945. (Local Identifier: 111-SC-202080; National Archives Identifier: 175539147)

Original Caption: “General view of parade which followed ceremony in honor of Jean D’Arc, at the market place where she was burned at the stake.”  (Local Identifier: 111-SC-426441; National Archives Identifier: 175539237)

Original Caption: “General view of ceremony in honor of Joan of Arc Day, in which the first negro WAC unit to be on continent took part. Rouen, France.” (Local Identifier: 111-SC-209550; National Archives Identifier: 175539161)

6888th at the Snack Bar in Rouen, France. (Local Identifier: 111-SC-209179; National Archives Identifier: 175539159)

Original Caption: “WACs sort packages, taken from the mail sacks by French civilian employees, at the 17th Base Post Office. Paris, France.” (Local Identifier: 111-SC-337995-1; National Archives Identifier: 175539203)

Original Caption: “After the battalion had set up its facilities at Rouen, France, it held an 'open house', which was attended by hundreds of Negro soldiers. Pvt. Ruth L. James,…of the battalion area is on duty at the gate.” (Local Identifier: 111-SC-237072; National Archives Identifier: 531333)

Original Caption: “First contingent of negro members of Women’s Army Corps assigned to overseas service shown in formation in front of WAC quarters somewhere in England.” (Local Identifier: 111-SC-200585; National Archives Identifier: 175539133)

Women's Army Corps Private First Class Isabella Hardacre handles the information phones at the headquarters switchboard at the Potsdam Conference. July 15, 1945. (Local ID: 63-1457-76; National Archives Identifier 348307719)