War Photography

Combat photographer Raymond Hurley of the 165th Signal Photographic Company sitting on a knocked-out Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger II tank from s.Pz.Abt. 507 in Osterode, Germany. He is holding a Speed Graphic in his right hand while pointing to a shell hole in the turret's side.

 

Signal photographic companies included technicians for the maintenance and repair of cameras.

 

Camera equipment laid out for inspection.

 

Cameras were used to photograph everything from the home front to combat. Here a cameraman takes the picture of some service troops in North Africa.

 

Combat camera teams of the 163rd Signal Photographic Company stand for inspection with their still and motion picture cameras set up.

 

Pvt. James D. Witherspoon (left) and Pvt. Sidney Blau (right) of the 163rd Signal Photographic Company prepare their photographic equipment for inspection. Witherspoon is kneeling next to his PH-104 camera equipment case. A Speed Graphic camera on a tripod is visible in the background.

 

The only way to see exactly what the Speed Graphic was pointed at is by looking through the back of the camera with no film in it. When the camera is loaded a metal wire frame on the top provides a basic sight for aligning the image before taking the shot.

 

Signal Corps photographer Sgt. George O. Miehle takes a photo of Sgt. Carl T. Delbridge of the 66th Division in his foxhole.

 

Second Lieutenant Walter Sidlowski kneels over the blanket-covered body of an American soldier he had just helped rescue from the surf off Omaha Beach. Exhausted, Sidlowski appears motionless. His dripping wet uniform hugged by an inflated life belt, his face tortured and staring as though he is looking at someone but can’t find the words to speak. Behind him the scene carries on, other men work to treat those that were saved while waves churn the waters of the English Channel beneath a vast invasion armada. Yet Sidlowski is still, caught in the moment by U.S. Army Signal Corps photographer Walter Rosenblum in one of the most famous images of D-Day.

 

Aircraft of Carrier Air Group 16 return to the USS Lexington (CV-16) during the Gilberts operation, November 1943. Photographer: Edward Steichen. Born in Luxembourg in 1879 and raised in the United States, Edward Steichen showed a strong interest in art and photography at a young age. He became one of the best-known fashion photographers, shooting for publications like Vogue and Vanity Fair, and was at the height of his career when he gave it all up to become a photojournalist. He went on to photograph World War I. When World War II started, Steichen was 62 years old, and set out to document war once again – specifically United States naval operations.

 

Two U.S. Navy Curtiss SB2C-3 Helldiver aircraft from Bombing Squadron 11 (VB-11) bank over the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-12) before landing, following strikes on Japanese shipping in the China Sea, circa mid-January 1945. Photographer: Lt. Cdr. Charles Kerlee, USNR. Before turning to photography, Charles Kerlee worked in the film industry. By the time Edward Steichen recruited him to be one of the official war photographers for the United States Navy, Kerlee was one of the best-known and most successful commercial photographers in the United States. His assignment during World War II was to document the USS Yorktown and the men on board. Not only capturing moments in the air, Kerlee also photographed everyday moments, including those rare moments of downtime.

 

Crewmen aboard USS Saratoga lift AOM Kenneth Bratton, USNR, out of a TBF Avenger’s rear turret after a raid on Rabaul on 5 November 1943. Photographer: Lt. Wayne Miller. Wayne Miller was another member of Steichen’s World War II group. He was born in Chicago and attended art school shortly after graduating from high school; however, he left because he didn’t like it and joined the Navy instead. He traveled all over the world, including France and the Philippines, capturing moments of war; indeed, he was one of the first to photograph Hiroshima after the destruction caused by the atomic bomb. During his time in the navy, he took many photographs, with one of the most famous being of an injured airman being pulled from a plane.

 

A field of the dead in Normandy. Photographer: Robert Capa. Born Endre Erno Friedman in Hungary in 1913, Robert Capa was a Jewish wartime photographer known for documenting several different wars, including the Spanish Civil War and World War II. During World War II, Capa captured moments all over the globe from London to Africa to Italy to the Battle of Normandy and more. Indeed, his photographs from Normandy are some of his most memorable, as he was able to capture violence with exceptional aplomb. Robert Capa died in Vietnam when he stepped on a landmine while photographing the First Indochina War.

 

Casualties of a mass-panic during a Japanese air raid in Chongqing in 1941. Photographer: Carl Mydans. Capturing life and death and everything that comes with war, Carl Mydans traveled all throughout Europe and Asia, along with his wife Shelley Mydans – they both worked for Life magazine. During the course of taking photos of the war, he traveled over 45,000 miles and captured many devastating moments, including the aftermath of a mass-panic during a Japanese air raid in Chongqing, China. Mydans and his wife were even captured in the Philippines by Japanese forces and were held for almost two years before being released in December 1943. This, however, did not deter Mydans, as he went on to photograph many more wartime situations.

 

Flight Nurse with wounded on Iwo Jima. Photographer: Dickey Chapelle. Born Georgette Louise Meyer in Wisconsin in 1918, Dickey Chapelle was a well-known wartime photojournalist, covering everything from World War II to the Vietnam War. During World War II, Chapelle became a war correspondent for National Geographic and was assigned to cover the Marines during the Battle of Iwo Jima. Chapelle was never one to show any fear, always doing whatever she could to document the war. Like Capa, Chapelle also died in Vietnam – a tripwire was triggered and she was fatally wounded with a piece of shrapnel. She was the first American female war photographer killed in action.

 

Second flag raising on Iwo Jima, 23 February 1945. Photographer: Joe Rosenthal. Even though Joe Rosenthal had a long career that spanned over a half of a century, he is best known for one incredible photo, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima. Russian Jewish in heritage, Rosenthal was born in Washington D.C. in 1911 and became interested in photography when he moved to San Francisco during the Great Depression. He tried to join the U.S. Army as a military photographer, but due to his poor eyesight, he was denied; however, he got a job with the Associated Press and was assigned to cover the war in the Pacific. He captured one of the most iconic pictures of the war; indeed, it won a Pulitzer Prize in 1945 and was used to create the Marine Corps Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.

 

Tuskegee airman Edward M. Thomas of Chicago, Illinois, Class 43-J. Photographer: Toni Frissell. Toni Frissell, born in New York in 1907, was known for her fashion photography, portraits of celebrated people, plus her photos of World War II. Before the war, she worked for magazines such as Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, creating beautiful images of women outdoors; however, once war was declared, Frissell offered her services to the American Red Cross, which they accepted. She later went to work for the Eighth Army Air Force and the Women’s Army Corps, the latter of which she was the official photographer. Her photos highlight nurses, African American fighter pilots and children, among others.

 

"Three dead Americans lie on the beach at Buna." The first photo ever printed in an American publication of dead American soldiers was captured by George Strock at Buna Beach. Taken on December 31, 1942 or on January 1 or 2, 1943. This was the first photograph published in the United States that depicted American soldiers dead on the battlefield. Due to the number of dead bodies on the beach, the Allies nicknamed it "Maggot Beach". Catching the photography bug in high school where he took a photojournalism course, George Strock became a crime and sports photographer. In 1940, he began to work for Life magazine and was eventually sent to cover the war. Assigned to New Guinea, Strock put his life at risk repeatedly – he was nearly killed on two occasions – in order to capture moments that really showed the destruction and devastation of war.

 

Searching for Loved Ones at Kerch. Photographer: Dmitri Baltermants. Dmitri Baltermants was a Soviet photojournalist known for his photos capturing the Battle of Stalingrad and battles of the Red Army in both Russia and Ukraine. His photos have been compared to those of Robert Capa, as they show the pain and suffering that war causes; however, in his time, his photos were censored by the government – they wanted to control what was shown. It wasn’t until the 1960s that his best work was shown, including his most famous photo titled ’Searching for the Loved Ones at Kerch’ – depicting a devastated women in complete agony while looking over frozen bodies.

 

The Living Dead at Buchenwald, 1945. Photographer: Margaret Bourke-White. Another female photojournalist, Margaret Bourke-White was the first woman war photographer allowed to enter the combat zones during World War II. She was located in the Soviet Union, Moscow to be specific, when the German forces invaded – she was able to capture the fighting. She then followed the U.S. Air Force in North Africa followed by the U.S. Army in Italy and Germany. Unsurprisingly, she, like everyone else on this list, was in danger repeatedly, including being on a ship that was torpedoed and sunk. Some of her most memorable works to come out of the war were those of the inmates at concentration camps and bodies in gas chambers.

 

Evacuated troops on a destroyer about to berth at Dover, 31 May 1940. (Imperial War Museum H1637) Two experienced pressmen, Lieutenant Ted Malindine and Lieutenant Len Puttnam, were among the civilian photographers called up to record the experiences of the British Expeditionary Force in 1939 and 1940. Both recorded the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk. Their dedication was such that they themselves were evacuated not once but twice from France. When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, just one British Army photographer, Geoffrey Keating, and one cameraman, Harry Rignold, accompanied the British Expeditionary Force to France.  On 24 October 1941, the Army agreed to form a corps of trained photographers and cameramen. The unit was called the Army Film and Photographic Unit (AFPU). AFPU photographers and cameramen were recruited from the ranks of the Army. Many had been press photographers or cameramen in peacetime.  All recruits had to undergo compulsory training in battle photography at Pinewood Film Studios. Badges and permits were issued after attempts to confiscate film by overzealous British soldiers. The first AFPU section deployed to North Africa. More men were recruited and deployed to Syria, Palestine, Cyprus and Iraq. Desert Victory (1943), a film formed almost entirely from AFPU footage, won an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1943. No. 2 Section covered the campaigns in Tunisia, Sicily and Italy, producing a number of successful films, including Tunisian Victory (1944). On D-Day, 6 June 1944, ten AFPU men from newly formed No. 5 section accompanied the first wave of troops ashore, while others landed with airborne troops by parachute or glider. In the following months, the AFPU accompanied the British Army as it fought its way across Europe.

 

Troops of 3rd Infantry Division on Queen Red beach, Sword area, circa 0845 hrs, 6 June 1944. In the foreground are sappers of 84 Field Company Royal Engineers, part of No.5 Beach Group, identified by the white bands around their helmets. Behind them, medical orderlies of 8 Field Ambulance, RAMC, can be seen assisting wounded men. In the background commandos of 1st Special Service Brigade can be seen disembarking from their LCI(S) landing craft. (Imperial War Museum B5114) This image of troops of the 3rd British Infantry Division was taken at 8:30am on D-Day and is one a series of acclaimed photographs by Sergeant Jimmy Mapham, who spent most of the day under constant fire. Despite the tough battles they had experienced, nothing prepared the AFPU for the scenes that they encountered at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp when they entered the camp on 15 April 1945. In vivid contrast, the AFPU covered the surrender of the German forces in Europe. Many then joined No. 9 Section to cover the ongoing war in the Far East. The AFPU disbanded in 1946. Since the invention of photography in the early 19th century, war photographers have risked their lives venturing into war zones, in an attempt to document the reality of war with a camera.  Throughout history, particularly during the Second World War, many images were heavily censored and the use of cameras were banned in certain circumstances. Strict rules posed challenges for both the censors and photographers.

 

Men of the Army Film and Photographic Unit training at Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire, June 1943. Two AFPU sergeants give an introductory lecture to trainee cameramen. (Imperial War Museum H30987) During the Second World War Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire was requisitioned for use as headquarters for the Crown Film Unit, the Army Film and Photographic Unit and the RAF Film Production Unit. The AFPU set up a training school for its cameramen there.

 

A photographer and cameraman of the Army Film and Photographic Unit, Sergeant W A Greenhalgh, uses a daylight changing bag to load his camera during Exercise FABIUS, a training exercise for the D Day landings in Hampshire, England. The photograph clearly shows how the AFPU were equipped for the landings. With only a few minutes’ worth of film to use before they had to re-load, cameramen had to learn to be careful about what they chose to film. (Imperial War Museum H38275)

 

Sergeant W A Greenhalgh, Army Film and Photographic Unit, with his jeep during Exercise 'Fabius', 6 May 1944. (Imperial War Museum H38276) The official film and photographic record of the D-Day landings was taken by No. 5 AFPU (Army Film and Photographic Unit) under the command of Major Hugh Stewart. Members of the unit were ‘embedded’ with formations preparing for the invasion. Ten of them went in with the assault troops. Cameraman Sgt George Laws, accompanying No. 4 Commando, was the first AFPU man ashore, landing on Sword Beach at 07.45am. He was followed shortly after by photographer Sgt Jimmy Mapham with the 13th/18th Royal Hussars, Sgt Desmond O’Neill with the 2nd East Yorkshire Regiment and Sgt Billy Greenhalgh with the 1st South Lancashire Regiment. Other photographers and cameramen landed on Juno and Gold beaches. Sergeant Jim Christie was the only member of the AFPU to go in with 6th Airborne Division, and although parachute trained, he landed by glider. The men of the AFPU were exposed to the same risks as the fighting troops. Sgt Greenhalgh was wounded by a mortar explosion. Sgt O’Neill was wounded by machine gun fire. In the days and weeks that followed, No. 5 AFPU suffered further casualties, with some killed, including Sgt Norman Clague.

 

The grave of Sgt Norman Clague, a cameraman serving with No 5 Army Film and Photographic Unit who was killed in action at Amfreville on 12 June 1944. Sgt Clague had covered the D Day landings on 6 June 1944 and was the first AFPU official photographer to be killed in North West Europe. (Imperial War Museum B7298)

 

Army Film and Photographic Unit photographer Sgt Norman Midgley in his jeep, his official issue Super Ikonta camera at the ready during the assault on Caen, France, 24 July 1944. Sgt Midgley was a staff photographer with the Daily Express newspaper in Manchester before joining the Army Film and Photographic Unit. He served with 5 Section AFPU from 1944 until the end of the war. His assignments included the D Day landings. (Imperial War Museum B7947)

 

AFPU cameraman Sergeant J H Goddard uses a turret-lensed Eyemo camera to film a German military direction sign attached to the only part of the Hotel Moderne left standing amidst the ruins of Caen, 10 July 1944. (Imperial War Museum B6804)

 

A rare photograph of Captain Edward G Malindine and his younger brother, L/Sgt William T Malindine (both serving with No 5 Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit) together at Aunay sur Odon shortly after the Normandy landings, France, July 1944. (Imperial War Museum photo H102750) Both brothers were professional press photographers by training. However, while serving with the AFPU, they carried out very different roles. At this time, Captain Malindine was Officer Commanding, Stills, while L/Sgt Malindine (who had earlier served as a darkroom developer and processor with No 1 AFPU in North Africa), was one of the senior NCOs running the Section's mobile darkrooms. Sgt Malindine took relatively few photographs during the war. However the brothers were often confused with each other.

 

AFPU film cameraman and photographer, Sergeant Richard Leatherbarrow relaxes with three former women camp inmates at Belsen. Sgt Leatherbarrow served with No 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit and worked primarily as a film cameraman. On D Day, he accompanied and filmed the Canadian forces who landed on Juno Beach. (Imperial War Museum HU48482)

 

Sgt George Laws, cine cameraman and photographer with No 5 Army Film and Photographic Unit, poses with his cine camera for a final picture before leaving the North West European theatre in June 1945. (Imperial War Museum BU8353) George Laws served with the Royal Corps of Signals from 1939 until transferring to the AFPU in 1942. Equally at home using a cine or still photography camera, he was posted to No 5 Section during the preparations for the Normandy landings. On D Day, he landed at 07.45am at Sword Beach with No 4 Commando Unit. His cine camera failed early on in the landings, so he concentrated on still photography for the rest of the day. He continued to cover the Allied advance across Europe to Berlin until 2 June 1945. His assignments during this time included the liberation of Belsen. After the war, George Laws worked for the Daily Mirror newspaper.

 

Coast Guard cinematographer Charles W. Bossert shows off the damage to his Bell & Howell Eyemo 35mm movie camera caused by shrapnel from a Japanese mortar on Iwo Jima. Many combat photographers were killed or wounded while trying to get “the shot” and visually document the war.

 

Navy photographer William Barr snapped this dramatic moment as a kamikaze exploded on the flight deck of the USS Enterprise, May 14, 1945.

 

Barr also took this shot after a TBM Avenger missed the arresting wire during landing and crashed into parked planes onboard the Enterprise, April 11, 1945.

 

Corporal Hugh McHugh, shown with his 4×5 Speed Graphic PH-104, was killed by a sniper January 15, 1945 in Belgium.

 

A German newsreel cameraman focuses on an armored column moving into the Soviet Union. Like their American and British counterparts, German cameramen superbly documented the war.

 

Emil Edgren shot this image of an American GI with a Browning Automatic Rifle looking at a B-17 that crash-landed in a Belgian field.

 

A helmetless American paratrooper from the 82nd Airborne Division carrying a tommygun in full gallop across a Belgian field was captured by the lens of Emil Edgren.

 

A dead German soldier photographed by Emil Edgren.

 

This photo of General Douglas MacArthur at the microphone was taken by Charles Restifo during the Japanese surrender ceremony aboard the USS Missouri.

 

Charles Restifo behind his 4×5 PH-104 camera. Although big and bulky, the PH-104 used large-format sheet film that resulted in crisp, detailed photos.

 

Charles Restifo’s photograph of the desolation at Hiroshima. He was one of the first photographers allowed into the destroyed, radioactive city.

 

William Wilson’s color photograph of a temporary U.S. war cemetery on the northern coast of Sicily, 1944.

 

Probably A. G. Yeremenko, Company political officer of the 220th Rifle Regiment, 4th Rifle Division, killed in action in 1942, Voroshilovgrad region, Ukraine, USSR. Photographed by Max Alpert who, during World War II, took a number of iconic photographs at the Soviet frontlines and also documented military events in Prague and Berlin. For his work during the war, he was awarded the Order of the Red Star (1943), the Order of the Patriotic War (1945) and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.

 

Tony Vaccaro: Michelantonio Celestino Onofrio Vaccaro (December 20, 1922 – December 28, 2022) was an American photographer who is best known for his photos taken in Europe during 1944 and 1945, and in Germany immediately following World War II. When Tony Vaccaro hit Omaha Beach days after D-Day, he carried a camera along with his rifle. Vaccaro documented the war on his own as he fought across France and into Germany as an infantryman. "I see death," Vaccaro recalled in an interview at his studio. "Death that should not happen."

 

One of Tony Vaccaro’s photos.

 

Also by Tony Vaccaro.

 

Pictured are combat photographer, Arnold E. Samuelson (left) and Marvin R. Carter, an artilleryman attached to the same unit. October 12, 1944. Arnold E. Samuelson commanded a unit of Army Signal Corps photographers during the Allied advance into Europe. He and his men took many of the Signal Corps photos featured on this site. "The brave ones shoot bullets, the crazy ones shoot film."

 

Kenneth Martin Elk  (December 27, 1915 – January 5, 1995) was a First Lieutenant in the United States Army during World War II.  He served with the 163rd Signal Photographic Company as a photographer during World War II. After the war he resided in San Diego, California until his death on 5 January 1995.  He is interred at Riverside National Cemetery in Section 47 Grave 426.

 

Group photo of ‘A’ Section, Canadian Army Film and Photo Unit, 2nd Canadian Infantry Division. Left to right: Sgts. W.R. ‘Bud’ Sherwood, L.G. Clarke, Capt. G. Ken Bell, Pte. E.A. Shirreffs, Sgt. N.C. Quick and Pte. G. A. Playford at Canadian Headquarters, March 24, 1945. Unknown location. (Photographer: Ken Bell; Library & Archives Canada photo PA-137041)

 

Corporal Robert Borrell, a camera technician and aerial photographer in Marine Photographic Squadron 254 (VMD-254).

 

Robert Borrell mans his camera in a PB4Y Liberator of VMD-254.

 

Staff Sargeant Brush poses with his Fairchild K-20 aerial camera at the waist window of a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber.

 

An RAF airman in full flying kit carrying a hand-held version of the F24 aerial camera, France. (Imperial War Museum photo C 128)

 

A crewman on board a Lockheed Hudson of No. 269 Squadron RAF based at Kaldadarnes, Iceland, takes a photograph from one of the starboard windows, with a Type F.24 aerial camera, while flying on an ice-pack patrol, 5 May 1942. (Imperial War Museum photo CS 177)

 

Bomb-aimer holding an F24 aerial camera in the nose of a Blenheim (possibly of No 139 Squadron RAF) during an unescorted aerial photography mission over France. (Imperial War Museum photo C 1314)

 

A hand-held F24 aerial camera. (Imperial War Museum photo CH 6011) The F24 was first produced by the Royal Aircraft Establishment in 1925 and was used by the Royal Air Force for day and night aerial photography until 1955. It was very reliable although it lacked the high definition of the F8 camera and was therefore of limited use for military mapping. The F24 could be accommodated within most aircraft types and consisted of a magazine, camera body, shutter gearbox and lens cone, all of which were interchangeable. It had a focal-plane shutter with speeds ranging from 1/40 to 1/120 second. The hand-held version of the camera was operated by a hand drive projecting from the camera gearbox.

 

Circa 1941. Aircraftman 1 Richard (Dick) Morris holding an F24 aerial camera, probably during a training course for RAAF photographers held at Fairbairn RAAF Base, Fairbairn, ACT. (Australian War Memorial photo P01439.009)

 

Low-level aerial reconnaissance photograph of the Freya radar installations at Auderville, France, taken using an F.24 side-facing oblique aerial camera, 22 February 1941. (Imperial War Museum photo C5477)

 

The observer of a Bristol Blenheim of No. 113 Squadron RAF hands a Type F.24 aerial camera to a member of the Photographic Section at Ma'aten Bagush, Egypt, following a sortie over Tobruk. (Imperial War Museum photo CM 24)

 

Circa 1941. Side view of an F24 aerial camera, probably used for training RAAF photographers during courses held at Fairbairn RAAF Base, Canberra, ACT. (Australian War Memorial photo P01439.007)

 

Groundcrew installing camera equipment into a Westland Lysander Mark II of No. 225 Squadron at RAF Tilshead, Wiltshire. The airman on the right loads a Type F.24 aerial camera into its position in the aircraft, while the airman on the left holds the camera motor unit. September 1940. (Imperial War Museum photo CH 1313)

 

Photographers at Benson testing cameras before installing them in a PR Mosquito : (left to right) two F24 14-inch lens vertical cameras, one F24 14-inch lens oblique camera, two F52 vertical cameras with 20-inch lenses. Circa 1942/1943. (Imperial War Museum photo CH10845)

 

A sergeant bomb-aimer and photographer on board a Lockheed Hudson Mark I of No. 269 Squadron RAF at Wick, Caithness, demonstrates the use of a hand-held Type F.24 aerial camera from a port side window. (Imperial War Museum photo CH 58)

 

A trainee air observer points a Type F.24 aerial camera at the photographer. The F.24 was adopted as the RAF's standard camera for general-purpose vertical or oblique aerial photography in 1925, and could be either hand-held, or fixed in a mounting inside the aircraft. When operated by hand, the Type 21 mounting with hand grips and an eye piece was fitted, as seen here. (Imperial War Museum photo CH 1247)

 

A Type F.24 aerial camera Mark I, for night photography. (Imperial War Museum photo CH 6300) Attached to the lens cone, on the left hand side, is a photo-electric cell, valve amplifier and relay mechanism. On the left, connected to the camera body, is the camera driving motor. To the right of the camera is a Type 35 No. 5 camera control unit, and, at far right, a distribution box containing the batteries and an accumulator. The illumination for night photography was provided by a 4.5 Aircraft Photographic Flash, fuzed for the height at which the aircraft was flying.

 

Airmen photographers inspect developed reconnaissance film from a Type F.24 aerial camera outside a photographic trailer at a landing ground in Egypt. 1941. (Imperial War Museum photo ME(RAF) 2402)

 

The second pilot of a No 502 Squadron Whitley VII gives his skipper a helpful push as they climb aboard their aircraft, at the start of an anti-submarine patrol, August 1942. The camera just visible poking out of the hole in the fuselage was used to record the effectiveness of U-boat attacks - a standard F24 camera was mounted vertically and fitted with a mirror to give it a rear-facing view. (Imperial War Museum photo CH 7043)

 

Airmen of the Photographic Section of No. 26 Squadron RAF record details on the film magazine removed from a Type F.24 aerial camera mounted in the camera port of a Curtiss Tomahawk at Gatwick, Sussex, following a tactical reconnaissance training sortie. The magazine is being marked with the date, time and serial number of the aircraft, before being taken to the mobile darkroom for processing. (Imperial War Museum photo CH 17187)

 

Photographic staff transfer the film magazine of an Type F.24 aerial camera, mounted in the oblique position in a North American Mustang of No. 2 Squadron RAF, to its carrying case for rapid development by the Photographic Section, following a tactical reconnaissance training sortie, at Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire. (Imperial War Museum photo CH 17415)

 

An airman of the Photographic Section about to insert a Type F.24 (8") camera into the port oblique position behind the cockpit of a North American Mustang Mark I of No. 63 Squadron RAF at Macmerry, East Lothian. (Imperial War Museum photo H 28781)

 

A Type F.24 (8") camera installed in the port oblique position behind the cockpit of a North American Mustang Mark I of No. 63 Squadron RAF, by an airman of the unit's Photographic Section, at Macmerry, East Lothian. (Imperial War Museum photo H 28782)

 

An aircrew member of a Bristol Blenheim Mark IV at Wattisham, Suffolk, holds a Type F.24 aerial camera fitted with a reflecting mirror for photographing during the low-level bombing raids undertaken by No. 2 Group. (Imperial War Museum photo CH 4749)

 

The reflecting mirror of a Type F.24 aerial camera adapted for low-level oblique photography, protruding through the underside, and pointing to the rear, of a Bristol Blenheim Mark IV of No. 2 Group at Wattisham Suffolk. (Imperial War Museum photo CH 4750)

 

The second pilot on board a Short Sunderland of No 201 Squadron RAF photographs a naval vessel from a hatchway using a hand-held Type F.24 aerial camera, during a patrol over the Atlantic from its base at Castle Archdale, County Fermanagh. (Imperial War Museum photo CH 11082)

 

An aircrew sergeant photographing vessels from the port gun hatch of a Short Sunderland Mark I of No. 210 Squadron RAF, while escorting a troop convoy. He is using a hand-held Type F.24 aerial camera fitted with a 14-inch focal lens. (Imperial War Museum photo CH 814)

 

Aircraftman I. Harris of Gorton, Manchester and Leading Aircraftman I. Harris of Leeds cleaning the register glass of a Type F.24 aerial camera before installing it in a De Havilland Mosquito photo-reconnaissance aircraft of No. 684 Squadron RAF at Alipore, India. (Imperial War Museum photo CF 174)

 

Hawker Hurricane Tac R Mark IIC, HW557 'K', of No. 28 Squadron RAF, is prepared for an armed reconnaissance sortie at Sadaung, Burma. Corporal E Yeo (left) and Leading Aircraftman C E Bland load the 20mm wing cannons with belts of ammunition, while LACs D L Worthington (left) and E H Davey install a Type F.24 aerial camera in the rear fuselage vertical position of the aircraft. (Imperial War Museum photo CF 363)

 

Airmen of the Photographic Section unload muff-covered Type F.24 aerial cameras from the back of a truck, for installation in Consolidated Liberator Mark III, FL935 'S', of No. 160 Squadron RAF at Kankesanturai, Ceylon. The electrically-heated muff-warmers prevented the cameras from freezing up when the aircraft was flying at high altitudes. (Imperial War Museum photo CI 772)

 

A crew member of a Consolidated Liberator GR Mark VI of No. 200 Squadron RAF hands over a Type F.24 aerial camera to a member of the Photographic Section on returning to St Thomas Mount, India, from a maritime patrol. (Imperial War Museum photo CI 940)

 

Members of the crew of a Martin Maryland of No. 39 Squadron RAF unship a Type F.24 aerial camera from its mounting, on returning to their landing ground in the Western Desert following a photographic-reconnaissance sortie. (Imperial War Museum photo CM 1101)

 

Aircrew of a Bristol Blenheim Mark IV of No. 21 Squadron RAF, detached to Luqa, Malta, hand over Type F.24 aerial cameras to photographic assistants at a landing ground in Egypt, after a photo-reconnaissance sortie over enemy territory. (Imperial War Museum photo ME(RAF) 2388)

 

An airman hands two magazines of film from Type F.24 aerial cameras to a photographic assistant for development in a darkrooms trailer at a landing ground in Egypt. (Imperial War Museum photo ME(RAF) 2393)

 

Corporal J Fever checks Type F.24 aerial cameras for angle depression before they are fitted to North American Mustangs of No. 35 (Reconnaissance) Wing RAF at Gatwick, Sussex, for tactical reconnaissance sorties over Normandy. (Imperial War Museum photo CH 13455)

 

Instrument fitters install a Type F.24 (14-inch lens) aerial camera into the port oblique position in a North American Mustang Mark IA of No. 35 (Reconnaissance) Wing at Gatwick, Sussex. (Imperial War Museum photo CH 20403)

 

Corporal Lorne Matson of Toronto, Canada, cleans the pressure glass of a F.24 aerial camera in an equipment trailer of No. 39 (PR) Wing at B8/Sommervieu, Normandy. (Imperial War Museum photo CL 821)

 

A member of the ground crew hands a Type F.24 aerial camera to the observer of a Bristol Blenheim Mark IV of No. 139 Squadron RAF at Betheniville, prior to a sortie. (Imperial War Museum photo C 116)

 

A corporal runs to a waiting car with a magazine of undeveloped film from an F.24 aerial camera, just handed over by the aircrew of a Bristol Blenheim Mark IV of No. 139 Squadron RAF at Bétheniville, after a photo-reconnaissance sortie. (Imperial War Museum photo C 118)

 

A photographer removes developed aerial reconnaissance film (taken by an F.24 aerial camera) from a developing tank in a Mobile Darkrooms tender at the Headquarters of No. 71 Wing RAF, Bétheniville. (Imperial War Museum photo C 119)

 

The film magazine from an F.24 aerial camera is handed over to a sergeant photographer for processing at a Mobile Darkrooms at the Headquarters of No. 71 Wing RAF, Bétheniville. (Imperial War Museum photo C 120)

 

A photographer shows developed film from a Type F.24 aerial camera to the sergeant in charge of the Photography Section, outside a Mobile Darkrooms tender at the Headquarters of No. 71 Wing RAF, Bétheniville. (Imperial War Museum photo C 122)

 

A forward-facing oblique installation of an F.24 aerial camera, with an 8-inch focal-length lens, in a blister under the port wing of a Supermarine Spitfire. (Imperial War Museum photo C 5473)

 

Vertical photographic-reconnaissance aerial of Trier, Germany, taken while attempting to survey the Siegfried Line defences between Aachen and Saarbrucken, during a sortie by the Special Survey Flight of No. 2 Camouflage Unit, flying from Nancy, France. It was taken at an altitude of 34,000 feet from Supermarine Spitfire PR Mark IA, N3071, using a Type F.24 vertical aerial camera with a 5-inch lens, one of two housed in 'blisters' under each wing. (Imperial War Museum photo C 5470)

 

Ground crew remove a Type F.24 camera from Westland Lysander Mark IIIA, V9437 'AR-V', of No. 309 Polish Fighter-Reconnaissance Squadron (part of the RAF Army Cooperation Command), at Dunino, Fife, following a photo reconnaissance sortie. March 12, 1942. (Imperial War Museum photo H 17778)

 

Eyes of the War: WWII 165th Signal Photographic Company

Eyes of the War: WWII 165th Signal Photographic Company 

“Combat photographers served as the eyes of the public as well as the Army; millions of Americans at home would have had a very hazy idea of how and where the war was being waged if they had not had the benefit of the newsreels and still pictures that the combat cameramen furnished.” 

Experience Report of Obergefreiter Wilhelm Majce, 4.schwere Kompanie, Panzer Grenadier Regiment 304, 5-23 August 1942

This experience report was located in the National Archives
by Tom Jentz and translated by Bob Thompson.

After an eleven-day rest, the word came down to “Mount up… March!” On the evening of 3 August 1942, at 2100 hours, we once again started on an operation about which nobody knew any details. We only knew we were headed for combat, and that was sufficient. After a year’s fighting in Russia we knew what would happen, for we had already experienced it countless times and found nothing unusual or interesting.

We drove through the entire night and in the morning came into a village and camouflaged our vehicles against aircraft. The night march had been only exhausting for the drivers, but in spite of this we stretched ourselves out in the grass and slept on through the day, for sleep had not been possible on the shaking, heaving vehicles, where on every bump you hit your head. But now we slept as every Landser wished. On the evening of 4 August, about 2200, we again sat neatly on our vehicles and steered off into a raven-black night.

The day before, to our annoyance, we had learned that we knew this area very well; we had spent a quarter of a year last winter in this region on the main front lines. However, we had no time for further ruminations, for just as we were heading through Karminova the Russians bombarded the place with all friendliness. After taking cover from the planes for a while, we advanced until we finally halted in some small villages. During this time we had enjoyed a lunch of white beans, and began to hear talk that the Russians had succeeded in penetrating the main front lines in this area and that they were bumming around with tanks, death, and the devil. We were the group that was to seal them off.

Hardly had we eaten lunch when the order came “Prepare for action!” Short minutes of intense preparation, then we mounted, and away we went. Four vehicles, each mounting a light infantry gun… that’s the way we went forward on the dusty road. A few vehicles came at us at break-neck speed. We suspected more than knew that up ahead was more than one enemy tank. It wasn’t especially encouraging to know this, as an infantry cannoneer, for among our infantry guns there was, unfortunately, no armor-piercing weapon. Against such monsters there was little prospect of success.

But as we still saw no tanks, we kept on going.

Suddenly from ahead came a dust cloud. We thought at the moment that it was one of our own vehicles, but at a hundred meters we realized it was a T-34. Then its machine gun rattled away. Never in my life have I dismounted a vehicle so swiftly, and my comrades followed. I sneaked off away from the street-ditch as far as I could, for the Russians had the habit of frequently driving up the ditches and I had no wish to let myself be flattened. My goal was a puddle about twenty meters from the road, into which I plopped. The still exposed areas of my body I hid behind an overturned tree trunk. Just in time to see the way the T-34 drive by, wildly firing in all directions. Behind the turret of the tank sat Russian soldiers. They didn’t have the pleasure of riding for long, for we shot them off with our carbines.

The tank drove crazily on for a few hundred meters, turned and then came back. In driving by it smashed against our “Klara,” reducing her to various and sundry parts. “Klara” was our oldest and most trusted gun, which had already been rammed last winter by a tank, but after extensive repairs had again been made serviceable. Now our “Klara” was finally “kaput.” As I watched this, rage bubbled in my belly and I could only regret that I had no mine or shaped charge at hand. Like a spook, the monster disappeared again. We couldn’t hang around long, for we had to get to the nearest village, where our comrades of the Schützenkompanien were in action.

We went ahead in a line and had hardly gone three hundred meters when suddenly low-flying aircraft were over us. We had barely made it to the side of the road and they were gone. Nothing had happened. This was a very eventful day.

A half-hour later we reached the edge of the village. There, all hell was breaking loose. Machine gun fire was hissing through the air and the tanks were shooting one house after another into flames. Munitions were blowing up in the houses, and the heat given off robbed one’s breath. In spite of it all, we came through to the other end of the village in good shape. From here we could see four T-34s, about four hundred meters away. Seconds later the first shots screeched out of our barrels. We could see hits, but what good is a hit from such light infantry guns on such a monster? Once we had been spotted, the devil really went to work. After ten minutes of the hottest fire fight, two of our guns were knocked out by direct hits. We all had our hands full trying to bind up our wounded. During this, the third gun kept firing until it had no more ammunition.

Without ammunition we couldn’t do anything, so we took the remaining gun and dragged it back to the entrance of the village, under heavy fire. When we once looked around, we saw that the tanks were moving up behind us accompanied by two or three companies of enemy infantry. In the village behind us our infantry had set up a defense line. We, the infantry gun section, were now employed as infantry since we had only one gun left and it was hardly combat-effective. This is just what had happened the previous winter.

Hardly had we arrived at our posts when there came the four monsters, slowly driving towards us. As I had received an order to immediately bring up a 50 mm anti-tank gun, I left my group. Even on the way to the anti-tank gun, several tank shells burst uncomfortably near. After delivering the order to send over the gun, I went behind a barn and made myself small. So I lay there for a bit, when suddenly there was a crash that threw dirt around my ears… there the tank had knocked a corner off the barn I was lying behind! I carefully got back to the road.

Having reached the road, I caught sight of a comrade from our platoon who had received an eye injury and was now sitting there helpless. We bedded him on a sidecar of a motorcycle that was going by, when we suddenly saw the four tanks coming at us through the gardens. What could we do but make sure that we weren’t run over by the tanks.

Everything went well. We breathed more easily, for finally our anti-tank guns were in position, and several tanks were knocked out in the next hour.

The 6th through the 22nd were hard days for us. The Russians attacked almost without interruption. Days of violent fighting in the forests, during which we often lay twenty meters from each other. In these battles we suffered greatly from mortar fire which was especially dangerous due to tree-bursts. There were rainy days in which we stood in our foxholes, soaked to the skin. The water was up to our knees. In spite of all this, the Russians could not do anything.

Our Luftwaffe and artillery helped to inflict great losses on the enemy. For tactical reasons, we withdrew from the enemy in the forest and went back to the open flat ground. Here we built a bunker line, from which there is an open area and a swamp in front of the forest in which the Russians remained. The Bolshevists haven’t attacked here yet. Sometimes we have seen tanks driving around over there, but our artillery knocked them out right sway.

Otherwise, there’s not much going on here, and we’re just waiting until they come. That’ll be a big pleasure for us, to give them a nice juicy one on the head!