World War 2 In Review: Finnish soldiers

US Army soldier throwing grenade during training.

View of a paratrooper just about to jump from the side door of a warplane. He is wearing the full kit and is carrying a rifle. It is likely that this is a posed image for YANK, the Army Weekly magazine. On two sides of the negative is the text, "HANLEY-YANK" and "Pvt. Johnny Jump." Circa 1944.

US Army paratrooper on a training jump.

US soldier inspecting a German Panzerschreck (right) and a US 2.36" Bazooka (left).

An American infantryman pausing in his advance through the forest. During the first ten days of the battle confusion reigned as hastily shifted troops arrived to reinforce the efforts of the isolated units attempting to halt the enemy attack. December 1944.

Soldiers on the beach of Normandy assist survivors of a landing craft sunk off shore.

Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., assistant commander of the 1st Infantry Division, seen here at the Tunisian front. An accomplished author, diplomat, businessman, and soldier, he was erudite and valorous; but in tattered fatigues and wool cap, he could be mistaken for a battalion cook.

British LCA landing craft with American soldiers, Operation Torch, November 1942.

Rangers from 2nd Ranger Battalion demonstrate the rope ladders they used to scale Pointe du Hoc. 1944.

Finnish machine gun nest near Syväri power plant area, April 23, 1944. Note that the spring thaw has flooded the position.

Finnish soldiers man trenches during the Winter War.

German troops in the suburbs of Leningrad, 24 November 1941.

German troops await the order to make their move. Eastern Front.

German graveyard, North Africa.

German soldiers marching through Oslo on the first day of the invasion.

Afrika Korps soldiers with captured Bren guns and Boys anti-tank rifle.

Generalfeldmarschall Paulus after surrender in Stalingrad 1943.

MG 42 machine gun position of the Waffen-Grenadier Division 33 "Charlemagne" during the summer of 1944 on the Eastern Front. The unit was formed by French volunteers in the Waffen-SS.

Waffen-SS soldiers with magnetic mines.

The crew of a 17 cm Kanone 18 rush to their weapon on February 2, 1944, near Berdichev, Russia.

German soldiers return fire, crouching in a ditch after being shot at by a sniper during the invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941.

From 1943 to 1945, Matthäus Hetzenauer terrorized Soviet troops on the Eastern Front with his keen eye. He personally shot and killed 345 men, though Hetzenauer’s biographer believes the kill count could even have been twice that. The decorated sniper was wounded and captured all before his 30s, but he persisted in becoming one of the deadliest snipers in all of Germany. He received the Iron Cross First and Second Class for his numerous sniper kills and lack of fear for his own safety under artillery fire and enemy attacks, the Sniper Badge in Gold which he alone was awarded, the Close Combat Bar in Gold, the Infantry Assault Badge in Silver, the Black Wound Badge, and the German Cross in Gold. In May of 1945 Soviet forces captured him. Life as a prisoner wasn’t pleasant. He spent five years in a Soviet prison camp and was released in 1950. Matthäus Hetzenauer returned home where he became a carpenter. He married Maria, who outlived him by two years. He ultimately died in 2004 at the age of 79 after several years of deteriorating health.

A staff officer points to a location among the German defenses in Italy in October 1944 as Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, commander of German forces in Italy, looks on during an inspection tour.

German sailors in winter camouflage man a position on the hills overlooking Narvik.

A heavy mortar, nicknamed “Thor,” was among the German artillery weapons used in the siege of Leningrad.

Reinhard Heydrich.

Surrendered German weapons, equipment and munitions.

Disarming Waffen-SS officer.

German POWs searched for weapons.

When American troops liberated prisoners in the Dachau concentration camp, Germany, in 1945, some German SS guards were killed by the prisoners who then threw their bodies into the moat surrounding the camp.

Under the watchful eyes of U.S. troops bearing bayonets, members of the Italo-German armistice commission in Morocco are rounded up to be taken to Fedala, north of Casablanca, on November 18, 1942. Commission members were surprised in American landing move.

As a horse-drawn German field howitzer moves along the road, two of its crew try to get some rest. Note the unit's sword insignia painted on the weapon's shield.

Despite the lack of rail resources in Russia, the Germans also employed heavy artillery in their siege of the larger cities.

German railway artillery gun firing.

Two members of the Free Arabian Legion and a Cossack Wehrmacht volunteer.

German infantry, Leningrad, 1941.

Field Marshal Albert Kesselring is accompanied by staff officers during an inspection of defensive positions in Italy in 1944.

German paratroopers in Normandy gather captured American weapons as they prepare to shift to a new defensive position as the Americans advance.

A German paratrooper accompanied by two SS soldiers advances through the rubble of the train station in Carentan.

Near the Orne Estuary, a British soldier (foreground) lies dead while German troops prepare to repel another assault.

German Fallschirmjägers and paratroopers from an independent Italian parachute battalion attacked Allied troops near the Anzio beachhead.

Accused of being a traitor, this Greek guerrilla is questioned extensively concerning information supplied to the Germans. The prisoner was later executed by the Evros Andartes.

Preparing to destroy a bridge, Greek soldiers move through extensive brush while wary of being discovered by the Germans.

Japanese troops advance swiftly past burning installations of the American military base at Subic Bay in the Philippines.

Japanese soldiers stand at attention on Wake Island during a ceremony to honor their comrades who fell in the brief but vicious battle to take control of the small spit of land.

Faced with the task of maintaining order in Vietnam south of the 16th parallel after the Japanese defeat, the British Major General Douglas D. Gracey made use of former enemies. Here a Japanese soldier posts the British declaration of martial law in Saigon, September 1945.

Disarmed then rearmed for police work, a Japanese guard greets HMS Waveney at Saigon, 4 October 1945.

Admiral Shigimatsu Sakaibara surrendered Wake Island to U.S. forces on September 4, 1945. Subsequently, he confessed to the murder of 98 American prisoners on the island. He was subsequently sentenced to death and on June 19, 1947, he was executed by hanging along with five other Japanese war criminals on Guam.

A Soviet sniper uses a periscope in the ruins of Stalingrad in September 1942.

Soviet soldiers in SSh-36 helmets.

Soviet soldiers in SSh-39 and SSh-40 helmets.

Lyudmila Pavlichenko, the deadliest female sniper in history. As a sniper for the Soviet Red Army, she killed 309 German soldiers, including several snipers. At just 24 years old, she had joined a group of 2,000 female snipers in the Red Army, only 500 of whom would survive World War II.

After the war, she attended a tour of the Allied countries. When she arrived in Washington D.C., she became the first Soviet citizen to be welcomed at the White House. While there, she struck up a friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

Lyudmila Pavlichenko on her American tour.

High-intensity fighting in the Kharkov railway station in March 1943.

Swiss army performing anti-gas training. From L'Illustrazione Italiana, Year LXVII, No 4, January 29, 1940.

“May 9, 1940, Ankara, Turkey: With the spotlight of war showing indications of swinging towards the Eastern end of the Mediterranean, Turkey is beginning to feel the tension that has been the rule in other parts of Europe for the past half-year. The Turkish army is almost at full war strength and in the event of trouble probably would cooperate with the Allied army of the Near East. Above are Turkish infantryman, shown squatting in a strange position during a ‘fall-out’ on a long march during recent war games.”

After the surrender of Axis forces in Tunisia in May of 1943, Allied forces took more than 275,000 prisoners of war. Shown here is one roundup of thousands of German and Italian soldiers in Tunisia seen in an Army Air Forces aerial view, on June 11, 1943.

French troops on their way to the fighting lines in Tunisia shake hands with American soldiers at the rail station in Oran, Algeria, North Africa, on December 2, 1942.

Maj. Gen. Stanley E. Reinhart (center), commander of the 65th Division, meets with his Russian counterpart, commander of the 7th Guards Parachute Division, after their units linked up at Erlauf, Austria, and they learned of Germany’s surrender.

M1 75mm Pack Howitzer being loaded into a Waco CG-4A glider during training in the U.S.

Medic Elwin Armitage, 120th Med Bn, 45th Infantry Division (Thunderbirds) enjoying some rare sunshine during a lull in the battle for Anzio, Italy in April 1944. Armitage survived World War II, and passed away 9 October 1981.

US Army soldiers move across tank obstacles of the Siegfried Line.

US Army soldier in chemical warfare suit.

National Guard Troops at a campsite, August 1940.

Two US 1st Army medics give first aid to an injured French dog they had found amid the ruins of Carentan in Normandy, France, 1 July 1944.

Paratroopers at a drome (airfield) near Port Moresby, preparing to take off for a landing at Nadzab near Lae. One soldier is checking the gear of another. 5 September 1943.

Axel Olson, father of Sgt. Truman O. Olson, deceased, receiving the Medal of Honor from Col. W. Lutz Krigbaum on behalf of his son, who was killed at Anzio, Italy, during World War II. 1 February 1945.

U.S. Marines, Bougainville, Solomon Islands, 1943-1944.

A barber shop set up by an American Marine on Peleliu, Palau Islands, 11 October 1944.

A regimental command post at Iwo Jima, 1945.

Men of US 101st Infantry Regiment running past a burning fuel trailer in square of Kronach, Bayreuth, Germany, 14 April 1945.

Men of US Army 2nd Infantry Division advancing into Brest, France under German machine gun fire, 9 September 1944.

US Marine dirty after two days of fighting on Eniwetok, February 1944.

US Marines and sailors resting at the base of a Japanese war memorial, Okinawa, Japan, 12 April 1945.

US Marine mortar team, Iwo Jima, 1945.

Marine with captured Japanese machine gun on Saipan Island in the Pacific where some of the bloodiest battles of World War II took place.

US Marine Private Francis Hall and his Doberman war dog, Iwo Jima, March 1945.

Browning M1919 machine gun crew of 2nd Battalion, US 26th Infantry in the streets of Aachen, Germany, 15 October 1944.

US Marines in a stream on Guam, summer 1944.

Douglas MacArthur received the Medal of Honor for his service during the Philippines Campaign, which made him and his father Arthur MacArthur, Jr., the first father and son to be awarded the medal. He was one of only five men ever to rise to the rank of General of the Army in the US Army, and the only man ever to become a field marshal in the Philippine Army.

Japanese-American troops of the 2nd Battalion, 442nd Regiment, US 34th Infantry Division awaiting transport, 14 October 1944.

Watching artillery fire hitting Japanese positions, Saipan, 8 July 1944.

Marines, with M1 carbines, Saipan, 8 July 1944. M4 medium tanks are in the background.

A Marine on the crest of a hill looks at artillery fire impacting on the last Japanese line of resistance in the north of Saipan, 7 July 1944.

Marines use grenades to flush out Japanese troops from underground positions, Saipan, 8 July 1944.

Marines examine the body and papers of a Japanese soldier, Saipan, 8 July 1944.

Marines bring in Japanese prisoners, Saipan, 4 July 1944.

Marines during a lull in the fighting, Saipan, June 1944.

Cat nap in a Normandy shelter. The infantryman’s helmet makes a pillow. Only visible signs of his buddy, stretched alongside in reverse, are his shoes. Grenades, ammunition, canteens, and supplies, lightly camouflaged, are within easy reach. These sleepy doughboys had been at the front continuously since their arrival in France on D-Day. Their unit is in reserve; so they are getting a rest.

Private Robert Steinmetz, Pittsburgh, found this mule on an Italian farm, more dead than alive. He bought it for five dollars, doctored it, and now has what he boasts is the hardest working and most faithful mule on the Italian pack trails.

Lieutenant Colonel William O. Darby, commander of the 1st Ranger Battalion, outside Arzew, Algeria. No one who met him ever doubted that he was born to lead other men in the dark of night.

Troops of the 32nd Infantry Division practice ascending and descending cargo nets prior to taking part in the offensive up the northern coast of New Guinea. U.S. naval base, Nelson’s Bay, New South Wales, Australia.

81mm mortar team, Tunisia, 1943.

American soldiers, Tunisia, 1943.

C-rations, Tunisia, 1943.

American soldiers, Tunisia, 1943.

155mm Gun firing on German positions, Tunisia, 1943.

A shelled building behind an Italian gun position, Tunisia, 1943.

Fort Bragg, North Carolina. 41st Engineers on parade with Sergeant Franklin Williams in color guard. March 1942.

Fort Bragg, North Carolina. 41st Engineers on parade ground. March 1942.

Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Sergeant Williams at lunch. March 1942.

Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Sergeant Williams in the barracks. March 1942.

Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Sergeant Williams polishing his shoes in the barracks. March 1942.

Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Sergeant Franklin Williams on obstacle course. March 1942.

Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Sergeant Franklin Williams of the 41st Engineers. March 1942.

Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Sergeant Franklin Williams with 41st Engineers at pistol practice. March 1942.