The results of the Second World War led to major political changes in the international arena, the gradual development of a trend towards cooperation between states with different social systems. In order to prevent new world conflicts, create in the post-war period a security system and cooperation between countries at the end of the war, the United Nations (UN) was created, the Charter of which was signed on June 26, 1945 in San Francisco by 50 states (USSR, USA, Great Britain, China and others).
World War II was the largest military conflict in human history. More than 60 states with a population of 1.7 billion people took part in it; military operations took place on the territory of 40 of them. The total number of fighting armies amounted to 110 million people, military spending - 1384 billion dollars. The scale of human losses and destruction turned out to be unprecedented.
More than 46 million people died in the war, including 12 million in death camps:
The USSR lost more than 26 million, Germany - approx. 6 million, Poland - 5.8 million, Japan - approx. 2 million, Yugoslavia - approx. 1.6 million, Hungary - 600 thousand, France - 570 thousand, Romania - approx. 460 thousand, Italy - approx. 450 thousand, Hungary - approx. 430 thousand, USA, Great Britain and Greece - 400 thousand each, Belgium - 88 thousand, Canada - 40 thousand. Material damage is estimated at 2600 billion dollars.
The terrible consequences of the war strengthened the global tendency to unite in order to prevent new military conflicts, the need to create a more effective system of collective security than the League of Nations. Its expression was the establishment in April 1945 of the United Nations.
Photo archive:
SS soldiers during the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising. Armed with an MP-40 submachine gun and shortened Mauser 98K rifles. 1944 Warsaw Poland
A Soviet civilian convoy bombed by German aircraft. The photo was taken in the area of the railway station Khutor Mikhailovsky (now the city of Druzhba, Yampolsky district, Sumy region of Ukraine). Ukraine, USSR
Statement of a combat mission for a German infantry unit near Moscow. 1941
The first Soviet commandant's patrol in Berlin. May 1945 Berlin, Germany.
A Soviet soldier walks past a murdered SS-Hauptsturmfführer in Berlin at the crossroads of Shossestrasse and Oranienburger Strasse. April-May 1945 Berlin, Germany
A Hungarian tanker next to a 38M tankette (CV35 of the Italian company Ansaldo, purchased by Hungary).
One of the Japanese coastal pillboxes that covered the Kataoka naval base on Shumshu Island. It is equipped with a 76 mm Type 41 naval gun. The picture was taken in August 1945, after the surrender of the Japanese. Shumshu Island, Kuril Islands
Soviet soldiers before the attack near Stalingrad. 1942 Author: Emanuil Evzerikhin
Underground plant for the production of mortar mines in Sevastopol. 1942 Sevastopol
Marines of the Black Sea Fleet read newspapers. 1942 Sevastopol
German heavy tank Pz.Kpfw. VI "Tiger" with tactical number "211" from the 503rd tank battalion, in the Belgorod region. German offensive operation "Citadel". 08/01/1943 Author: Bernd Lohse
German soldiers and a damaged (no roller) tank Pz.Kpfw. IV of the 15th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht in the area of Mersa Matruh. June 1942
Night attack of Soviet T-34 tanks. Flares are used for illumination.
German soldiers next to a burning Soviet village. 1941
Soviet officer (captain) at the wrecked German tank Pz.Kpfw. VI Ausf. H "Tiger". April 1945
Fighters of the Leningrad Front after a hard battle. January-February 1944
Allied Victory Parade in Berlin on September 7, 1945, dedicated to the end of World War II. A column of 52 Soviet IS-3 heavy tanks from the 2nd Guards Tank Army passes along the Charlottenburg highway.
In addition to the Soviet troops, American, British and French troops, who were in Berlin to ensure the occupation of Germany, took part in the Victory Parade on September 7, 1945. The parade was hosted by Marshal G.K. Zhukov.
A front-line cameraman shoots a column of captured Germans in Stalingrad. The column moves along the banks of the Volga. 1943 Stalingrad
American B-17 bombers in flight against the background of the evening sky.
Senior political officer Yolkin reports on the current military situation to the tank crews of the 3rd Panzer Division. Two T-28 tanks with L-11 guns are visible in the background. July 1941
Residents of the Bulgarian town celebrate the liberation from the Nazis. The name of the person in the foreground is Kocha Karadzhev, a Bulgarian partisan. September 1944 Bulgaria. Author: Evgeny Khaldei
Fireworks on the grave of fellow pilots who died near Sevastopol on April 24, 1944.
The inscription on the tombstone from a fragment of the aircraft stabilizer: “Here are buried those who died in the battles for Sevastopol, Major Ilyin - attack pilot and air gunner of the guard, Senior Sergeant Semchenko. Buried by comrades on May 14, 1944. The photo was taken in the suburbs of Sevastopol.
Machine gunner V. Pavlov with a light machine gun DP at the firing line near Leningrad. October 1942 Author: Vsevolod Tarasevich
An American B-25 "Mitchell" bomber from the 500th Squadron of the 345th Bombardment Group, having dropped a bomb (the bomb is visible in flight), leaves the attack on a Japanese CH-39 submarine hunter. February 16, 1944 Three Island Harbor, New Hanover, New Ireland
Lunch Soviet soldiers on the streets of a German city. 1945
A volley of BM-13 Katyusha Guards rocket launchers on the chassis of American Stedebaker trucks (Studebaker US6). Carpathian region, western Ukraine. 1944 Author: Arkady Shaikhet
Partisans of the Kotovsky detachment are returning from a combat mission. 1943 Author: Mikhail Trakhman
Human remains in the Stutthof concentration camp crematorium oven. Location: near Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland). May 1945 Author: Mark Markov-Grinberg
A Soviet machine gunner covers the infantry attacking near Tula. November 1941
A group of flamethrowers from Major I.D. Skibinsky moves to a firing position. The fighters are armed with ROKS-3 backpack flamethrowers. 1st Ukrainian Front. 1945 Breslau, Germany
Soldiers of the assault battalion from the part of Colonel Zalichansky, on the ruins of a tram depot in the capital of Lower Silesia - the city of Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland). 1st Ukrainian Front. March 1945 Breslau, Germany. Author: Rafail Mazelev
Former Reich Minister of Aviation Hermann Goering in the hall of the Nuremberg Tribunal. 1945 Nuremberg, Germany. Author: Evgeny Khaldei
During the liberation of the city of Karachev, ordinary Shirobokov met his sisters who had escaped death. Their father and mother were shot by the Germans. 1943 Karachev, Bryansk region. Author: Arkady Shaikhet
After battle. The Soviet KV-1C (high-speed) tank that shot down a German tank column and its dead tanker. Voronezh front. January-February 1943
Attack of the Soviet soldiers of the Southwestern Front with the support of BT-7 tanks. 1942
Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen Elizabeth II at the christening ceremony (rechristening) of the B-17G bomber aircraft of the 306th bomber group. The bomber was renamed "Rose of York" in honor of the House of York, one of the branches of the English royal Plantagenet dynasty, which ruled from 1461 to 1485: a white rose is their family coat of arms.
The aircraft was later lost in the North Sea after a raid on Bremen. July 1944
Soviet soldiers in a Berlin tram. The author's title of the picture is "The first "passengers" of the Berlin tram." May 1945 Berlin, Germany.
The released child prisoners of Buchenwald leave the main gate of the camp, accompanied by American soldiers. 04/17/1945 Buchenwald, Germany
A British soldier leaves his autograph among the autographs of Soviet soldiers inside the Reichstag. 1945 Berlin, Germany
American soldier with various weapons of the US Army.
Pictured (counterclockwise):
1. Self-propelled howitzer NMS M7. Given the prefabricated nose piece (not solid) and the lack of drop-down sides of the wheelhouse, this cannot be a later M7B1 model. The familiar name "Priest" does not fit, as it was used in the UK, and not in the USA. On the turret is a 12.7-mm (50-caliber) Browning M2HB machine gun.
2. 37 mm M3 anti-tank gun.
3. Easel 7.62-mm (30th caliber) machine gun "Browning" М1919А4.
4. Submachine gun "Thompson" М1928А1.
5. Automatic rifle Browning М1918А2 (BAR).
6. "Browning" М1917А1. Like the M1919, a 7.62 mm heavy machine gun.
7. 60-mm mortar M2.
8. 81-mm mortar M1.
In the inner circle - a self-loading M1 carbine, a Springfield M1903 rifle and a Colt M1911 A1 pistol; in the hands of a soldier - a self-loading rifle Garand M1.
The liberation by Soviet soldiers of the surviving prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp (Auschwitz). Above the gate of the camp is visible the famous sign-slogan "Arbeit macht frei" (Arbeit macht frei), which means - "Work sets you free." The concentration camp was occupied on January 27, 1945 by units of the 100th Infantry Division of General F.M. Krasavina (1st Ukrainian Front). February 1945 Author: Boris Ignatovich
Sniper of the 203rd Infantry Division (3rd Ukrainian Front) Senior Sergeant Ivan Petrovich Merkulov at the firing position. In March 1944, Ivan Merkulov was awarded the highest award - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, during the war years the sniper destroyed more than 144 enemy soldiers and officers. 1943 Ukraine, USSR. Author: Dmitry Baltermants
Anti-aircraft gun (85-mm model 1939) against the background of St. Isaac's Cathedral in besieged Leningrad. Author: Nikolai Khandogin
A column of German prisoners of war under the escort of Soviet soldiers.
Arrival of prisoners in the Auschwitz concentration camp. The guards form a column of prisoners. In the distance, the already formed column is moving towards crematoria 2 and 3. Behind the column closest to the viewer, the belongings of the prisoners are being loaded onto a truck.
Night anti-aircraft fire from the American airfield on Okinawa. The silhouettes of F4U Corsair fighters are visible in the foreground. 1945 Okinawa, Japan
Soviet female soldiers at the firing line. The girls are armed with 7.62 mm Mosin rifles with attached four-sided needle bayonets and a 7.62 mm PPSh-41 submachine gun.
London children look at their house destroyed after the German raid on the city on September 15, 1940.
English Beaufighter attack aircraft from the 236th and 404th squadrons of the Royal Air Force attack the German destroyers Z-24 and T-24 with missiles at the mouth of the Gironde River, near the port of Le Verdon (France). As a result of the attacks, both destroyers were sunk. Z-24 and T-24 at the time of the attack were the last two capital ships remaining with the Germans in the West. 08/24/1944 France
A Soviet officer checks the documents of surrendered German soldiers. Berlin, April-May 1945
A selection of infrequently flashed photos, some of them are associated with interesting stories.
In March 1974, 29 years after the end of World War II, Japanese intelligence officer and officer Hiro Onoda surrendered on the island of Lubang, Philippines. After being relieved of duty by his commander, he turned in a samurai sword, a rifle with 500 rounds, and several hand grenades. Onoda was sent to Lubang in 1944 to join the reconnaissance group operating on the island and wage a guerrilla war against the Americans. The allies took over the island, three of Onoda's comrades died in battle, and the four surviving members of the group went into the jungle and made raids from there. Several times they dropped leaflets and letters from relatives, but they did not believe the "propaganda". In 1950, one of Onoda's comrades surrendered. By 1972, two more soldiers had been killed in clashes with Filipino patrols, leaving Onoda alone. In 1974, Onoda stumbled upon the Japanese naturalist Norio Suzuki, from whom he learned about the end of the war and through whom Onoda was found by his commander and ordered to surrender. Over the years, the guerrilla group killed 30 Filipinos and wounded about a hundred, but President Marcos pardoned Onoda, and he returned to Japan. Hiro Onoda passed away on January 17, 2013 at the age of 91.
A shell hit a boat with Australians.
The result of a 152-mm ISU-152 projectile hitting the Pz.IV turret.
German dive bomber Ju-87D on the assembly line.
English Beaufighter attack aircraft attack German destroyers with missiles at the mouth of the Gironde River.
The homemade mirror on the canopy of the German Bf-109E fighter is a British solution that allows German fighter pilots to control the rear hemisphere. So, by the way, for some reason, until the end of the war, it did not go into series.
A falling B5N2 "Kate" torpedo bomber is captured by a gunner from a PB4Y "Liberator" naval bomber over the sea near Truk. In the rear cockpit, a torpedo bomber gunner is visible, who, according to Lieutenant Commander William Janeshek, the pilot of the Liberator, first tried to get out of the burning car, then suddenly returned back, sat on his seat and died along with the plane.
Gunner of the tail point of the heavy German bomber He-177.
The tail cone of the German reconnaissance aircraft Fw-189.
German technicians serve the Me-410 heavy twin-engine fighter. A remote-controlled barbette with a removed casing and a heavy 13 mm MG 131 machine gun is clearly visible.
The cockpit of the largest transport aircraft of that time - the German Me-323.
A Japanese aerial bomb explodes on the deck of the aircraft carrier Enterprise during the battle off the Eastern Solomon Islands. The author of the picture - Robert Reid - died the second he pressed the shutter button.
Lieutenant A.I. Gridinsky (far left) and his comrades in the 144th Guards Assault Aviation Regiment near the Il-2 attack aircraft.
Deputy Commander of the Guards Squadron Lieutenant Alexander Ivanovich Gridinsky (09/14/1921 - 06/07/1944) on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War since June 1942. In less than 2 years at the front, Gridinsky made 156 sorties, saved the life of his commander, personally destroyed 20 enemy aircraft, 35 tanks, 3 anti-aircraft batteries, 90 vehicles, 4 gas tanks with fuel, crossing the Dnieper.
On 06/07/1944 Gridinsky's lone plane was attacked over its airfield by four German fighters. As a result of the battle, having shot down one of the attackers, Gridinsky was shot down himself and his attack aircraft fell on the edge of the airfield. By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated May 6, 1965, for the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command on the front against the German invaders and the courage and heroism shown at the same time, Alexander Ivanovich Gridinsky was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Flagship (regiment commander's plane) air gunner of the Soviet Il-2 attack aircraft, foreman P. Shulyakov. In the foreground is a 12.7 mm UBT machine gun (universal Berezina turret).
Inside the hull of the Geschutzwagen (GW) VI Tiger self-propelled guns (World of Tanks players pee with boiling water).
Hull Geschutzwagen (GW) VI Tiger.
Technicians zeroing in on the wing cannons on the tropical version of the Emil.
Pearl Harbor, 1945
Actor Damian Lewis ("Band of Brothers") and Major Richard Winters.
Inside B-17.
Aerial view of the bombings during the bombardment over Poland in September 1939.
One of the few photos of a real downed B-29. The plane was attacked by a Japanese Ki-45, lost two engines, on the way to the base over the ocean the wing tank caught fire, and the crew jumped out with parachutes and was rescued in full force.
Preparing "Comet" for departure.
B-24J-150-CO Liberator, 854th BS, 491st BG, 8th AF, 18 September 1944. Dropped food and ammunition to the paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st airborne divisions and was hit by anti-aircraft guns. The pilot tried to land the plane on its belly, but at the last moment both right engines failed, and the plane hit the ground, the pilot managed to level it, but the plane hit the trees at the end of the field and exploded. One person survived, all the rest died.
A battery of Soviet Guards mortars firing at enemy positions in Budapest. 1945
Cruiser "Mikuma" after a raid by American aircraft.
The sinking of the aircraft carrier Zuikaku.
A bomb hit the battleship Yamato.
"Haruna" under the bombs.
A direct hit by a B-25 bomb on a Japanese patrol ship.
Western Ukraine.
Damaged and dismantled for parts "Royal Tiger".
US-issued flyer with possible changes to Hitler's appearance.
38 cm RW61 auf Sturmmörser Tiger.
Hungarian soldiers captured by units of the 144th Infantry Regiment of the 49th Guards Rifle Division. Veteran of this division V.V. Wojciechowicz, in his interview, mentions an exceptional case that occurred at the beginning of 1945 in Hungary. According to him, units of the 144th Infantry Regiment were captured by a group of about sixty Hungarian soldiers and officers who turned to the command of the regiment with an unusual request. In exchange for being immediately released, these Hungarians offered ... to recapture from the Germans either a village or a town, which was located in front of the positions of the 144th regiment.
The proposal was so unusual that even the commander of the division, Vasily Filippovich Margelov, known for his independence in making decisions (later the legendary commander of the USSR Airborne Forces), did not dare to approve this, and turned to the command. The request went up the chain, and only the commander of the 46th Army, Petrushevsky, personally gave permission for this. And these Hungarians really captured this settlement, destroying many Germans in the process ... I had to keep my word, and these Hungarians were immediately sent home.
The photo shows these same Hungarians before that battle.
P-47D-10 (No. 42-23038) from 73 Squadron 318 Group 7 of the Air Fleet (pilot Lt Eubanks Barnhill) takes off from the deck of the Manila Bay EA to intercept 4 Japanese dive bombers attacking a group of ships. January 23, 1944 Thanks to a fortunate combination of circumstances (a headwind, a half-empty deck, almost empty tanks and only a few dozen rounds in the outermost machine guns of the car), the Thunderbolt managed to take off and even shoot down one D3A and damage the second. Under normal circumstances, this would not be possible.
Trophy Ferdinand.
On February 14, 1945, 62 B-17 bombers from the US Eighth Air Force "accidentally" dropped 152 tons of bombs on Prague.
Consequences of detonation of ammunition.
Jet Jumo-004, installed on the Me-262.
Main gun salvo of the battleship Missouri. Projectiles are visible.
Dornier Do 217 with a Henschel Hs-293 glide bomb.
A Soviet self-propelled artillery mount ISU-152 completely destroyed after an explosion of ammunition. The self-propelled guns were destroyed during the battle of Tali-Ihantala (June 25 - July 9, 1944) on the Karelian Isthmus.
A torpedo hit the British escort destroyer Berkeley.
Soviet soldier with a Czech child in his arms. The kid examines the Order of Glory on the chest of a fighter. Prague, May 1945
"Royal Tiger" with installed, in the absence of an 88-mm gun, a 75-mm gun from the "Panther".
Solemn formation of the personnel of 144SP 49SD, May 1945. The photo is notable for the fact that many fighters wear German helmets, because their own were lost in battle.
Replacing the rollers undercarriage "Panther". Most accurately, this operation can be described as a stormy and prolonged sex, accompanied by loud and, which is typical, completely sincere wishes addressed to the designer.
“Nevertheless, the Tigers were an extremely dangerous adversary, but, fortunately, they still had one weak point. This place was their undercarriage ... There are countless epithets that the brutal German mechanics awarded the Knipkamp engineer, changing rollers on a monstrous colossus. Since it took up to a day to replace one roller from the inner row, many could not stand it, foamed at the mouth and rushed at the Tiger with a crowbar, beating an innocent car for anything. could not only eat from the plates, but also see them.The sight of a stack of plates could bring a heart attack to a hardened warrior who had gone through the Russian campaign and prisoner of war camps.Monstrous in terms of size and cruelty, a fight between Luftwaffe and Panzerwaffe officers that took place in a bar in May 1944 "Drei Ferkels und Sieben Gnomen Bar" in Berlin, a fight that put two geschwaders and one schwerepantserabtelung out of action for three months occurred due to a seemingly committed no innocent joke. The SS Standartenführer, who was drinking with the pilots, on their behalf sent a pile of plates stacked in a checkerboard pattern to the tankmen's table ... The investigation carried out did not establish the identity of the Standartenfuehrer. The Luftwaffe officers in the hospital recalled that his name was Otto, Otto von ... they could not remember further. However, everyone agreed that he reminded them of someone. As a result, the tankers and pilots were separated with the help of fire hoses, and the fighters did not even notice the raid of thousands of American bombers that had taken place.
A little more "German porn".
American 914-mm (36-inch) "Kid David" recoilless mortar. It was created to fight the Japanese fortifications. Shooting was carried out with 1678-kg shells at a distance of up to 8.7 km. Successfully passed the tests, but was not used in a real battle.
Transport Junkers under attack by an allied bomber.
The Allies used captured Germans to clear minefields, which was contrary to the Geneva Convention. We did not treat prisoners in this way, although, it should be noted, not at all because of considerations of humanity.
A Japanese prisoner of war listens to a broadcast of Emperor Hirohito's speech about Japan's surrender.
And again some real German porn.
Nibelwerfer volley in Warsaw.
V-1 flew to the target.
The Japanese "pecked" an American tank.
"Tirpitz" on the side. The picture was taken from a British intelligence officer.
"Betty" come in for a torpedo attack.
Adjustment of the wing armament of a Ju-87 "Stuka" dive bomber.
Captured Red Army soldiers. 1941 year.
A captured Red Army soldier from an assault detachment.
Non-111 at the exit from a torpedo attack.
Captured Pe-2 in the Finnish Air Force, bought from Germany.
The death of the British landing fire support ship LCG (M) 101. 1944.
American top-masts drown Japanese Kaibokan S-class guards.
Cruiser "Red Caucasus", December 29, 1941
A 150-mm projectile pierced the frontal armor of the 2nd main gun turret and exploded inside. Despite the death of the calculation and the resulting fire, the cruiser remained in battle. The tower returned to service in an hour and a half.
Burnt and dismantled German tank Pz.Kpfw.III on Tigris Street in Budapest.
A 600 mm Karl Gerät 040 "Ziu" mortar shell hit the Prudential building, Warsaw, 08/28/1944. The shell exploded from the outside, otherwise the skyscraper would have collapsed. After the war, the building was rebuilt and since 1954 it has been known as the Warsaw Hotel.
The crew of the Sherman desperately wants to live by welding pieces of Panther armor onto their tank. The car became monstrously heavy.
In fact, one would be enough. But the Germans, apparently, were just training.
In the photo, a Lithuanian self-defender finishes off wounded Jews with a crowbar. A young man, about 16 years old, with his sleeves rolled up, was armed with an iron crowbar. A man from a nearby group of people was brought to him, and he killed him with one or more blows to the back of the head. In this way, in less than an hour, he killed all 45-50 people ... After everyone was killed, the young man put a crowbar aside, went for an accordion and climbed onto the bodies of the dead lying nearby. Standing on the mountain, he played the Lithuanian national anthem. The behavior of the civilians standing around, among whom were women and children, was incredible - after each blow with a crowbar they applauded, and when the killer played the Lithuanian anthem, the crowd picked him up.
A prisoner from the assault squads. In the protective breastplate, traces of bullets fired from a submachine gun are visible. Protected from bullets, but did not save from captivity ...
In the photo, General Patton, angry with a conversation with a tank commander. Patton was opposed to disfiguring the appearance of tanks with foreign objects, they say, everything should be uniform in the army. And the tank commander answered him that, they say, with all due respect, sir, I should fight on it. Patton had nothing to say, and this infuriated him.
Incredible Facts
1. This demonstration was organized in connection with the celebration of Thanksgiving (Reichserntedankfest), which took place in the city of Buckeburg (Buckeberg) in 1934.
The number of participants was estimated at 700,000 people.
According to the stories of the Germans, who did not support the Nazis, even they were shocked by the scale of the event.
Until now, no one has seen anything like it.
Witnesses and participants of this event spoke about the feeling of national unity, emotional upsurge, incredible enthusiasm and the mood for change for the better.
When, after the demonstration, the Germans went to their tents, they still observed huge lightning in the sky.
2. Nazi storm troopers in Berlin sing near the entrance to a branch of the Woolworth Co. trading house. March 1, 1933. On this day, an action was organized to promote the boycott of the presence of Jews in Germany.
As soon as the Nazis came to power, they began to call on all German citizens to boycott Jewish organizations and enterprises. A long propaganda campaign began.
On April 1, Minister Joseph Goebbels delivered a speech in which he explained the need for a boycott as retribution for the "conspiracy against Germany by the Jews of the world" in the foreign media.
The store pictured was owned by the Woolworth Company, which later placed all Jewish employees out of work.
In this regard, the company received a special distinguishing mark "Adefa Zeichen", which meant belonging to a "purely Aryan business."
3. SS soldiers rest near the Olympic Stadium in Berlin in August 1936. These SS men served in the guard battalion, intended for the personal protection of Hitler and his escort during public events.
Some time later, the battalion was named the elite first division "Leibstandarte SS "Adolf Hitler"" (Leibstandarte SS "Adolf Hitler"). The unit was very large and accompanied Hitler wherever he went.
In wartime, the division took part in the fighting, showing itself as one of the best units in the entire war.
4. Parade of the Nazis in 1937 in the "Temple of Light". This structure consisted of 130 powerful searchlights, standing at a distance of 12 meters from each other and looking vertically upwards.
This was done in order to create light columns. The effect was incredible, both inside the columns and outside. The author of this creation was the architect Albert Speer (Albert Speer), it was his favorite masterpiece.
Experts still believe that this work is the best that Speer created, whom Hitler ordered to decorate the square in Nuremberg for parades.
5. Photo taken in 1938 in Berlin. On it, the soldiers of the Fuhrer's personal guard are undergoing drill training. This unit was in the barracks Lichterfelde (Lichterfelde).
The soldiers are armed with Mauser Kar98k carbines, and the lightning bolt emblems on the collars are the hallmark of the SS unit.
6. "Hall of the Bavarian generals" in Munich, 1982. The annual oath taking place in the SS troops. The text of the oath was as follows: "I swear to you, Adolf Hitler, to always be a brave and loyal warrior. I swear to you and the commanders who will be determined for me, to be betrayed until death. May God help me."
7. The slogan of the SS was: "Our honor is our loyalty."
8. Greetings from the Fuhrer after the announcement of the successful annexation of Austria. The action takes place in 1938 in the Reichstag. The most important position of the Nazi ideology was the unification of all Germans who were born or live outside the borders of Germany in order to create an "all-German Reich".
From the moment Hitler came to power, the Führer announced that he would achieve the unification of Germany with Austria by any means.
9. Another photo from a similar event.
10. The frozen body of a Soviet soldier, which in 1939 was paraded by the Finns in order to intimidate the attacking Soviet troops. The Finns often used this method of psychological influence.
11. Soviet infantrymen frozen in a "fox hole" in Finland in 1940. The troops were forced to be transferred to the Finnish front from remote regions. Many soldiers were not at all prepared for an extremely harsh winter, having come to Finland from the southern regions.
Moreover, Finnish saboteurs regularly monitored the destruction of rear services. The Soviet troops experienced enormous difficulties due to the lack of food, winter uniforms and proper training.
Therefore, the soldiers covered their trenches with branches, and sprinkled them with snow on top. Such a shelter was called the "fox hole".
World War II: photo
12. Photo of Joseph Stalin from the police archive, taken during his arrest by the secret police in 1911. This was his second arrest.
The first time Okhrana became interested in him in 1908 because of his revolutionary activities. Then Stalin spent seven months in prison, and after that he was sent for two years to the city of Solvychegodsk, into exile.
However, the leader did not spend the whole time there, because after some time he fled, disguised as a woman and left for St. Petersburg.
13. This unofficial photo was taken by Vlasik, Stalin's personal bodyguard. In 1960, when this and some other works of Vlasik were first published, they all became a sensation. Then one Soviet journalist took them out of the Land of Soviets and sold them to foreign media.
14. Photo taken in 1940. On it, Stalin (right) and his double Felix Dadaev. For a very long time, unconfirmed rumors circulated in the USSR that the leader had a double that replaces him under certain circumstances.
After several decades, Felix finally decided to lower the veil of secrecy. Dadaev, a former dancer and juggler, was invited to the Kremlin, where he was offered a job as an understudy for Stalin.
For more than 50 years, Felix was silent because he was afraid of death for breaking the contract. But when he turned 88, in 2008, naturally with the permission of the authorities, Dadaev published a book in which he described in great detail how he happened to "play" the leader at various demonstrations, military parades and filming.
15. Even the closest associates and comrades of Stalin could not distinguish them.
16. Felix Dadaev in the dress uniform of a lieutenant general.
17. Yakov Dzhugashvili, Stalin's eldest son, was captured by the Germans back in 1941. According to some historians, Jacob himself surrendered. There are still many conflicting rumors and legends about the life of the leader's son.
18. After receiving a package from Germany, Stalin learns about the capture of his son. Then Vasily, the youngest son of the leader, heard from his father: "What a fool, he did not even manage to shoot himself!" It was also said that Stalin reproached Yakov for surrendering to the enemy like a coward.
Photo of the second world war
19. Yakov wrote to his father: "Dear father! I am a prisoner. I feel good. Very soon I will find myself in a camp in Germany for prisoners of war for officers. They treat me well. Be healthy. Thank you for everything. Yasha."
Some time later, the Germans offered to exchange Yakov for Field Marshal Friedrich von Paulus, who was taken prisoner near Stalingrad.
It was rumored that Stalin refused such an offer, saying that he would not change an entire field marshal for an ordinary soldier.
20. Not so long ago, some documents were declassified, according to which Yakov was shot dead by camp guards after he refused to obey the established order.
During the walk, Yakov received an order from the guards to return to the barracks, but refused, and the guards shot him in the head. When Stalin found out about this, he noticeably softened towards his son, considering such a death worthy.
21. A German soldier shares food with a Russian woman with a child, 1941. His gesture is in vain, because his role is to starve to death millions of such mothers. The photo was taken by the photographer of the 29th division of the Wehrmacht Georg Gundlach (George Gundlach).
This photograph, along with others, was included in the album collection "The Battle of Volkhov. Documentary Horror of 1941-1942".
22. The captured Russian scout laughs, looking into the eyes of his death. The photo was taken in November 1942 in Eastern Karelia. Before us are the last seconds of a person's life. He knows that he is about to die and laughs.
23. 1942 Surroundings of Ivangrad. German punitive units execute Kyiv Jews. In this photo, a German soldier shoots a woman with a child.
Rifles of other punishers are visible on the left side of the photo. This image was sent from the Eastern Front by post to Germany, but was intercepted in Poland by a member of the Warsaw resistance, which was collecting evidence of Nazi war crimes in the world.
Today this photo is kept in Warsaw, in the Historical Archive.
24. Rock of Gibraltar, 1942 Beams of searchlights that helped anti-aircraft gunners shoot at Nazi bombers.
25. 1942, a suburb of Stalingrad. Marching 6th Army. The soldiers do not even imagine that they are heading to a real hell. Most likely, they will not see the next spring.
One of the soldiers walks in his own sunglasses. This is an expensive thing that was issued exclusively to motorcyclists and soldiers of the African Corps.
26. Going to hell.
Photos from the Second World War
27. Stalingrad, 1942 Preparations for the assault on the warehouse. German soldiers were forced to fight back every building, every street. It was then that they discovered that the tactical advantage that they had at their disposal in open spaces had sunk into oblivion due to the tightness of the city.
In street battles, tanks could not prove themselves. Oddly enough, but snipers in such conditions played a much more important role than tanks and artillery.
Severe weather conditions, the lack of an adequate level of supplies and uniforms, as well as the stubborn resistance of our soldiers led to the complete defeat of the Nazi army near Stalingrad.
28. 1942, Stalingrad. German soldier with the Silver Infantry Assault Badge. This insignia was awarded to soldiers of infantry units who took part in at least three assault operations.
For soldiers, such an award was no less honorable than the Iron Cross, which was established specifically for the Eastern Front.
29. A German soldier lights a cigarette from a flamethrower.
30. 1943 Warsaw. Bodies of murdered Jews and Ukrainian policemen. The photo was taken in the Warsaw ghetto during the suppression of the uprising. The original German caption for the photo reads: "Policemen also took part in the operation."
31. 1943 The end of the Stalingrad battle. A Soviet soldier with a PPSh-41 assault rifle escorts a German prisoner. Hitler's troops near Stalingrad, being surrounded, were completely defeated.
This battle is considered one of the most brutal and bloody in the history of all wars. It claimed the lives of more than two million people.
32. Summer 1944. Belarusian strategic offensive operation "Bagration". As a result of this operation, the German Army Group Center was completely defeated.
The front line of 1100 kilometers in two months of fighting was moved 600 kilometers to the west. German troops in this battle lost five times more people than the Soviets.
Photo 2 world war
33. July 17, 1944 Moscow streets. March of tens of thousands of captured Germans. Operation "Bagration" is considered the most successful of the entire period of the war.
The offensive on the Eastern Front began immediately after the Allied troops landed in Normandy. Little is known about this operation, especially in the West. Only a few historians are familiar with its details.
34. 1944 Camp Nonan-les-Pins (Nonant le Pin), German prisoners of war. In France, during the Falaise operation of the allied forces, more than thirty thousand German soldiers were captured.
Camp guards regularly rode along the barbed wire and fired into the air to pretend to stop another escape attempt. But there were no escape attempts, because even if they managed to get away from the guards, the execution would still not have been avoided.
35. 1944 France. 18-year-old member of the resistance movement Simone Seguin (Simone Segouin). Her military alias is Nicole Mine.
The photo was taken during the battle with the German troops. The appearance of the girl in the center, of course, is surprising, but it was this picture that became a symbol of the participation of French women in the Resistance.
36. Simone in a color photograph, rare at the time.
37. Simone with her favorite weapon - a German machine gun.
38. March 9, 1945 The young fighter "Hitler Youth" received the "Iron Cross" award for his services during the defense of the city of Laubana in Silesia, he is congratulated by Goebbels.
Today Laubana is the Polish city of Luban.
39. 1945 Balcony of the Reichs Chancellery. Allied soldiers ridicule Hitler. Soldiers of the American, Soviet and British armies celebrate a joint victory.
The photo was taken on July 6, 1945, two months after the surrender. There was a month left before the bombing of Hiroshima.
40. Hitler speaking on the same balcony.
41. April 17, 1945 Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, liberation. British soldiers forced the guards - SS men to dig up the burial places of prisoners and load them into cars.
42. 1942 German soldiers are watching a film about concentration camps. The photo shows the reaction of prisoners of war to documentary materials from the death camps. This photo is in the US Holocaust Museum.
43. The last rows of the cinema hall, the same scene.
The first day of the war and the first dead invaders. Przemysl. 06/22/1941
The unit is fighting with the enemy in the trenches captured from him
Dead German soldiers. Apparently a direct hit by a projectile or mortar mine
After the battle near the village of Panskoye, Kursk region. December 20, 1941
Padded German tank Pz.38 and the bodies of German soldiers
Ju 87 making an emergency landing. District of Leningrad
After the retreat of the German troops. 1942
Dead German mortar crew. Stalingrad 1943
unsightly
Frosted bodies of German soldiers. Stalingrad region. 1942
German soldiers who died of hunger and cold near Stalingrad. 1943
After the Battle of Stalingrad
Dead German soldiers next to a wrecked captured Soviet truck ZIS-5
On the Eastern Front. 1943
"The commander of the German army group Nord turned to his Fritz with the following order:" Ilya Ehrenburg calls on the Asian peoples "to drink the blood of German women." Ilya Ehrenburg demands that the Asian peoples enjoy our women: "Take blond women - this is your prey." Ilya Ehrenburg awakens the base instincts of the steppe. A scoundrel is he who retreats, for the German soldiers are now protecting their own wives.
Once the Germans forged documents of national importance. They have gone so far as to falsify my articles. The quotes that the German general ascribes to me betray the author: only a German is capable of composing such a dirty trick.
The Fritzes are professional rapists, they are fornicators with solid experience, they are hereditary baboons. They polluted all of Europe. In vain does the general assure us that we are going to Germany for German females. We are not attracted to Gretchen, but to those Fritz who insulted our women, and we say bluntly that these Germans will not be spared. As for the Germans, they evoke one feeling in us: disgust. We despise German women because they are mothers, wives and sisters of executioners. We despise German women because they wrote to their sons, husbands and brothers: "Send your doll a pretty coat." We despise German women because they are thieves and hypocrites.
We don't need blond hyenas. We go to Germany after another: after Germany. And this blond witch is unhappy.
I. Ehrenburg "Blond Witch"
The dead Germans near the padded self-propelled gun
A dead German soldier at the Nebelwerfer mortar. Tunisia
The remains of a burnt German soldier by the side of the road in Langleier. Belgium. 01/14/1945
German soldier killed in Belgium. December 31, 1944
In the suburbs of Belgrade Topcidere. 1944
Infamous end. 1945
Broken German dugout. July 1944
During the fighting in Budapest
German soldier killed on Cherbourg street. 06/26/1944
Here it is. We continue to look at extremely rare photographs and fascinating stories associated with them. The post is long, there are a lot of photos. Enjoy!
1. Searchlights over Gibraltar during a drill. November 20, 1942
2. The board of the heavy cruiser HMS Sussex with the imprint left after the Japanese kamikaze hit the Ki-51
3. Captured Japanese equipment on the deck of the aircraft carrier Barnes (CVE-20)
4. A tug pulls the USS Barnes (CVE-20) through the Panama Canal. Captured Japanese equipment is displayed on the flight deck. 
In the foreground is the experimental maritime interceptor J5N "Tenrai"
5. On the restored border of the USSR
Corporal Gureev I. A. on the border with East Prussia. 1944 year.
6. German submarine U-156 dies under attack by an American flying boat "Catalina"
The boat completed 5 military campaigns, during which it sank 20 ships with a total cargo capacity of 97,504 gross tons.
7. British light bomber Fairey Battle
8. German aircraft technicians examine the holes in the board of the Bf-109 fighter.
The pilot was very lucky: between the place where the aircraft number was marked and the cockpit of the "Messer" was the main fuel tank. 
9. German heavy tanks cross a small river
10. A group of "fortresses" bombs "blindly" a German radar near Bremen
11. Reconnaissance aerial photograph showing a group of transport aircraft at a German airfield
The picture is notable for what kind of aircraft they are: a twin He-111Z (marked with the letter A), a Me-321 glider (letter B) and six Me-323 Giant heavy transport aircraft. 
12. Waffen SS infantryman with a Panzerwaffen grenade launcher in his hands. A Soviet T-34 is on fire in the background. 1944
13. Explosions of phosphorus Japanese anti-aircraft bombs over the formation of American B-24 bombers in the Iwo Jima area, 1944
The bombs were completely useless. Structurally, in addition to the phosphorus filling, they were equipped with a high-explosive fragmentation part. The effective radius of destruction with phosphorus was only about 20 meters, with a land mine - even less, and the fragments themselves were ineffective due to the small caliber of the bomb. But still it was necessary to approach the group and accurately drop bombs on planes, which in itself is very difficult. However, the Japanese, with their characteristic senseless persistence, continued to use these bombs from the moment they were adopted in the 42nd year until the very end of the war. 
14. A battery of German 88-mm anti-aircraft guns firing at a highlighted target
I don't know if the photo is real. The target is too low, and the gun was somehow very successfully caught at the moment of the shot ... 
15. Life of the soldiers of the 2nd Guards Army in the location of their units. Operation to liberate Crimea, 1944
16. Killed German machine gun crew. The helmet didn't help...
17. Soviet soldiers kindly return to the Wehrmacht the weapons they lost
18. "Comet" in the parking lot
19. Warrior
20. Dead soldiers of the Red Army.
21. Post-war photo. Artist on the ruins of Stalingrad. 1945
22.
23. Corporal Bodger reads a poster warning of the possibility of getting under enemy fire. April 1945
The photograph is remarkable in that it was taken against the backdrop of the famous "Panther", lined up on Komedienstraße in Cologne. And this car became famous thanks to the battle with American tanks, which was captured on film by Sergeant Bates. 
24. Soviet sappers direct the crossing over the Oder River. 1945
25. American B-24 "Liberators" from the 15th Air Army bomb a synthetic fuel plant in Bratislava. January 1945 
26. Soviet troops cross the Sivash. Liberation of Crimea, 1944.
27. Tanks of the 6th Guards Motorized Corps at the railway junction. Dresden, 1945
28. American paratroopers with a group of prisoners of war. 1944
The camouflage uniform draws attention. Due to the similarity with the equipment of the SS units, after some time the Americans were forced to abandon it. 
29. Soviet tanks with troops on board in the attack
30. Bf-110C from the 6th group of the 76th heavy fighter squadron over the English Channel during the Battle of Britain. 1940s
31. Still respect
The inscription on the cross in German: "Here lies an unknown Russian soldier." Summer 1941.
32. The 7th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht is fighting the Russian roads
33. Soldiers of the 82nd US Airborne Division train on cats. Under the distribution lined "Royal Tiger" No. 213
34. Part of the cockpit with a windshield and the hood of the Il-2 attack aircraft, demonstrating the "boot" aiming system
35. T-34, crushing the German light tank Pz.II
36. Janusz Korczak with children before execution in the gas chamber
Janusz Korczak is an outstanding Polish teacher, writer, doctor and public figure. On August 6, 1942, he entered the gas chamber at Treblinka, telling fairy tales to unsuspecting children. 
37. Flying boat Supermarine "Strenrir" Canadian Air Force rescued on the left wing.
During a rescue operation while landing on the high seas, the boat lost its right float. Trying to balance the plane, several people settled down on the left plane. 
38. Equipment of a German soldier from the African Corps
39. M3A1 tanks from the 241st tank brigade in the attack. Don Front, September 1942
In a few hours the brigade will be completely destroyed.
40. Antonina Lebedeva (1916-1943), fighter pilot
41. A pilot of the 332nd Guards Transport and Combat Helicopter Regiment is photographed against the background of the remains of a German Ju-87 bomber. Murmansk region, 80s
Non-military photo, I know, but still ...
42. The crew of the IS-2 tank from the 62GvTTP is firing from a safe distance according to the revealed calculations with faustpatrons. Danzig, 1945 
43. The ceremony of accepting the surrender of the Japanese Empire on board the battleship "Missouri". September 2, 1945
44. The first and only successful landing of an amphibious seaplane on the deck of an aircraft carrier. 1940s
In the photo, the Swordfish floatplane from the English battleship Valiant, which did not have time to return to the ship (the Valiant left for the French Strasbourg when the British attacked the French fleet in Mers-el-Kebir so that the Germans would not get it), did not having the opportunity to be picked up from the water, makes an emergency landing on the deck of the Ark Royal. Pilot John Edward Breeze. 
45. British experimental analogue of the German Schrage Musik multiple launch rocket system mounted on the fuselage of the Mosquito heavy fighter 
46. German paratroopers parachuting from a DFS-230 glider
47. American light bomber A-20 in the parking lot of the field airfield
Judging by the nose part converted for installation of 12.8-mm machine guns, this is an assault version of the vehicle.
48. "A little
