Sergeant Raymond Young of Oak Hill, W. Va. Demonstrating K20 Camera
Date:
ca. 1955
Description:
Raymond Young shows unidentified military personnel, including a Dutch Captain a K-20 camera. The military personel were part of a NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) unit stationed in Europe.
Parisians Line Champs Elysees to Cheer American Army, Paris, France
Date:
ca. 1945
Description:
Information on back of photo reads: "Parisians line the Champs Elysees to cheer the massed infantry units of the American Army as they march in review towards the Arc De Triomphe, celebrating the liberation of the capital of France from Nazi occupation."
Civilians Gather Firewood in Munchen-Gladbach, Germany
Date:
ca. 1945
Description:
Information on back of photo reads: "Civilians who have returned to captured, war-torn Munchen-Gladbach fill carts with sticks for firewood outside a bomb-shattered broom factory. Munchen-Gladbach, first big industrial city in the Ruhr area to fall to advancing American forces, was taken March 1, 1945, by troops of the Ninth U.S. Army after heavy air and artillery bombardment. It is 10 miles from the Dutch border."
Information on back of photo reads: "Tarnopal, bastion of Hitler's eastern front, turns a scarred face to the camera after its fall with its 12,000 man garrison to Soviet troops. Fighting in and around Tarnopol was prolonged and bitter, and German losses in men and material were heavy."
Information on back of photo reads: "If German divisions no longer retreat according to plan, part of their difficulties can be traced to the destruction of Deutsche Dunlop A.G. tire and rubber factory at Hanau, Germany, east of Frankfurt - a priority - one target for R.A.F. and the U.S. Eighth Air Force. When American Air Force observers surveyed the second most important rubber plant on the Continent, they found ruin and destruction widespread. Despite this the enemy's need for rubber products is so great, there was evidence of clearance and repair work to restore partial production, said surveyors. Elsewhere in Hanau the locomotive roundhouse had been destroyed by Allied air attacks. The town's gas works was a shambles. in the marshalling yard sidings and through lines were pocketed with bomb craters, some filled - in attempts to keep the rails open. In one typical Hanau attack last December, the Eighth sent 303 heavy bombers to drop in one-ton (U.S.) bombs, 1,112 one-thousand pounders, 176 five-hundreds, and 3,420 hundred-pound bombs."
Third U.S. Army Troops Go Aboard LCVP, Nierstein, Germany
Date:
ca. 1945
Description:
Information on back of photo reads: "3rd U.S. Army Troops go aboard LCVP prior to first crossing of the Rhine River by soldiers of the 3rd Army at Nierstein, Germany. Soldiers are members of the 5th Infantry Division."
Information on back of photo reads: "American Sergeant Vivian L. Rees of Wingfield, Iowa, lights the cigar of Soviet Lieutenant Sergi Biernikov during the visit Red Army Day February 25, 1945, to liberated Soviet prisoners of war by U.S. Army Air Forces personnel who had served in the U.S.S.R. The American airmen collected tobacco and candy at their base in England as a gift to the Russians, also stationed in the British Isles."
Information on back of photo reads: "If German divisions no longer retreat according to plan, part of their difficulties can be traced to the destruction of Deutsche Dunlop A.G. tire and rubber factory at Hanau, Germany, east of Frankfurt - a priority - one target for R.A.F. and the U.S. Eighth Air Force. When American Air Force observers surveyed the second most important rubber plant on the Continent, they found ruin and destruction widespread. Despite this the enemy's need for rubber products is so great, there was evidence of clearance and repair work to restore partial production, said surveyors. Elsewhere in Hanau the locomotive roundhouse had been destroyed by Allied air attacks. The town's gas works was a shambles. in the marshalling yard sidings and through lines were pocketed with bomb craters, some filled - in attempts to keep the rails open. In one typical Hanau attack last December, the Eighth sent 303 heavy bombers to drop in one-ton (U.S.) bombs, 1,112 one-thousand pounders, 176 five-hundreds, and 3,420 hundred-pound bombs."
U.S. Soldier Introduced Russian Lad to Chewing Gum
Date:
ca. 1945
Description:
Information on back of the photo reads: "Puzzled but curious, a little Russian boy accepts a stick of chewing gum from his new friend, a U.S. Air Forces solider at the Russian terminus of Italy-Russia shuttle missions flown by heavy bombers of the U.S. Fifteenth Army Air Force. Since June, 1944, Allied bombers from England and Italy, escorted by fighters, have flown to bases in Russia, and return, attacking enemy targets in occupied Europe en route."
Humiliated German Women Pass Through Canadian Lines to Evacuation Center
Date:
ca. 1945
Description:
Information on back of photo reads: "Shame, guilt, and humiliation cloud the faces of these German women as they pass through the Canadian lines to an evacuation centre. They put guns before butter in the years between the wars; they lived on the loot of conquered Europe, and clothed themselves in furs from Russia and fine clothes from Paris. Now it is their turn to be homeless, and the watching troops, who saw grim evidence of German ruthlessness in the countries they liberated, show no sympathy."
German Refugees Move Through Ruins of Regensburg, Germany
Date:
ca. 1945
Description:
Information on back of photo reads: "German refugees with a cart move through the ruins of bombed Regensburg, captured by the 65th Division of the Third U.S. Army April 23, 1945. General George Patton's Third Army struck into the Southern German segment from the northwest to capture the Danube River town, which is about 70 miles from Munich."
German Civilians Evacuated From Battle Area, Schaffhausen, Germany
Date:
ca. 1945
Description:
Information on back of photo reads: "German civilians are rounded up for evacuation from Schaffhausen, occupied by Seventh U.S. Army troops March 14, 1945. The German town, six miles north of the frontier of Alsace, is under constant enemy shellfire."
German Civilians March Through Newly Captured Zulpich, Germany
Date:
ca. 1945
Description:
Information on back of photo reads: "German civilians march through newly captured Zulpich, Germany, to receive instructions on their conduct from military government unit with 9th Infantry Division of 1st U.S. Army. Town was hard hit by U.S. bombers blasting path to Rhine."
Information on back of photo reads: "In Stalag 326 - 6K were nine thousand prisoners - all Russians. The U.S. 9th Army liberated them when they broke through to Eseslheide, s.east of Munster and n.east of Hamm. When the Russians realized that they were free they went wild. The Russians told us that 30,000 of their comrades died at the camp through privations, and 70 died of starvation each day." Picture shows: "American soldiers "chained" at Stalag 326 - 6K by Russians who were overjoyed when they found that they were free."
Information on back of photo reads: "Firm contact has been established between ground forces of the First American Army and those of the Russian Army. The historic meeting took place in the town of Torgau, on the Elbe River, 75 miles south of Berlin, when First Army troops met forward elements of the Russian Guards Division."
Abandoned Nazi Vehicles Fill Paris Courtyards, Paris, France
Date:
ca. 1944
Description:
Information back of photo reads: "Looking down on some of the wrecked and abandoned Nazi equipment left in the courtyard of the City Hall in the 10th District of Paris after the French capital's liberation August 25, 1944. The Nazis used the building as a telephone center and fortress. Their resistance was strong here and many members of the Maquis were massacred and buried in the courtyard."
Information on back of photo reads: "Russians and Americans toasting each other after the link up at Torgau. Ann Stringer, U.P. Correspondent can be seen in the picture. Also man with beard on right, who is Correspondent Jack Thompson, of Chicago Tribune."
Russian Prisoners of War Liberated By Advancing U.S. Troops
Date:
ca. 1945
Description:
Information on back of photo reads: "Liberated Russians cluster around a Ninth U.S. Army soldier, carried high on their shoulders, for cigarettes, which they had not seen in many months. When the American finally convinced the Russians that he had no more, they "chaired" him and carried him around the yard before their former prison, the Nazi Stalag 326, south of Bielefeld. The first U.S. troops reached Stalag 326 April 2, 1945. Nine thousand Russian prisoners of war were liberated but thousands were at the point of starvation. Tubercular patients numbered 1,350. in vast mounds all around the camp, 30,000 Russians, most of them starved to death, were buried in heaps of 500. Major Gregory Matviev, who was captured in Sebastopol in 1942, reported that hundreds died daily of starvation and "about 50 were shot every other day for no reason at all.""
Allied Officers Attend Show Given By Freed Russians, Lippstadt, Germany
Date:
ca. 1945
Description:
Information on back of photo reads: "Colonel H.A. Forlong (left) of Pontiac, Michigan, Surgeon of the 18th Corps, Ninth U.S. Army, sits beside a Russian Army officer at a stage show given in Lippstadt, Germany, May 20, 1945, by liberated Russian soldiers and former slave workers. Lippstadt is 70 miles northwest of the Rhine River city of Duisburg.
Information on back of photo reads: "Private Thomas H. Olsen of Chicago, Illinois, checks over the baggage brought by one of the German Army women to the prisoner-of-war enclosure of the 83rd Infantry Division, Ninth U.S. Army. The women surrendered after receiving leaflets. Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force reported May 1, 1945, that nearly three million German prisoners had been taken by the Allies in the West since "D-Day" (June 6, 1945)."
Information on back of photo reads: "German civilians sit with their children outside of a house in a Reich town captured by troops of the Ninth U.S. Army advancing to the Rhine River. The civilians have been lined up for questioning by an American officer. Units of the Ninth Army reached the Rhine March 2, 1945, when they captured Neuss opposite the industrial center of Dusseldorf."
Battered Bamberg Cleared of Enemy, Bamberg, Germany
Date:
1945/04/14
Description:
Information on back of photo reads: "Civilians move about on a street in a shell-torn Bamberg, Germany, after occupation of the city by troops of the Seventh U.S. Army April 14, 1945. Enemy forces withdrew from the medieval city, 30 miles northwest of Nurenberg, after a short fight. The retreating Nazis blew up the bridge across the Main and Renitz Rivers, leaving Bamberg an island."
A large port and industrial center that includied u-boat pens and oil refineries was bombed throughout the war. An air attack in July 1942 created one of the largest firestorms of WW II, killing 42,600 civilians, wounding 37,000 and practically destroying the city.
The photograph was most likely taken in Holland, which had been under Nazi control for several years until portions of the country was liberated by the Allies in the Fall of 1944 during Operation Market Garden.
Information on back of photo reads: "Debris litters the interior of a ruined church in Germany, one of the many buildings destroyed during the bitter fighting which marked the Allied thrust into the Reich."
United States Army Infantryman Raymond M. Young of Oak Hill, W. Va.
Date:
ca. 1945
Description:
Young was also a combat photographer and attached tothe 361st Engineers Special unit and at times attached to Third Army commanded by George Patton during the push into Germany. Note the friendly dog sitting next to Young is a German Shephard.
German Civilians Greet U.S. Troops With Flags, Weilheim, Germany
Date:
ca. 1945
Description:
information on back of photo reads: "Smiling civilians of the Bavarian town of Weilheim, Germany, greet troops of the 12th Armored Division, Seventh U.S. Army, with American, British, and Bavarian flags April 28, 1945."
Information on the back of photo reads: "Infantrymen of the Fourth Armored Division, Third U.S. Army, advance through rubble in a battered street in Worms, Germany, as they clear out Nazi snipers in the captured city March 20, 1945. Worms is on the west bank of the Rhine River nine miles north of Ludwigshafen."
Captain Philip Staples Receives Egg Omelette From French Civilians
Date:
ca. 1945
Description:
Information on back of photo reads: "Capt. Philip Staples; Ardmore, Pennsylvania enjoys a fresh made egg omelette that was presented to him by grateful French civilians who had just been liberated from German hands, near Champagne."
American Infantrymen in Battle Scarred Rohrwiller, France
Date:
ca. 1945
Description:
Caption on back of photo reads: "American infantrymen of 36th Division run through rubble littered street of battle-scarred Rohrwiller, France. Town is under enemy attack."
German Citizens Walk Through Rubble, Weifall, Germany
Date:
ca. 1945
Description:
Information on back of photo reads: "German civilians look over the ruins of their home which was shelled by American troops in the attack on Weifall, Germany."
Allied Air Attacks Knock Out Nazi War Plant, Fallersleben, Germany
Date:
ca. 1945
Description:
Information on the back of photo reads: "This is all that remained of the famous Nazi Volkswagen factory at Fallersleben, Germany, when U.S. Army ground forces captured the town following four daylight attacks on the plant by bombers of the Eighth U.S. Air Force and the British Royal Air Force. Prior to the attacks, 18,000 employees worked here but this figure fell to 7,000 after the first Allied visits. Later, work in the factory came to a complete halt. Only 40 workers were killed during the bombings because of air raid shelters. The plant was originally built by the Deutsche Arbeiter Front (German Labor Part) in 1938-39 to produce the "people's car", or Volkswagen, for sale to the German people at about 900 marks ($360). After it was completed, the German High Command converted it to jeep and mine production. Before the Allied air attacks, the plant was capable of monthly production of 1,800 kubelwagen (jeeps), 1,000 amphibious jeeps, 1,200 V-1 bombs, 100,00 Teller mines and the repair of 30 Ju-88 aircraft wings."
Information on back of photo reads: "Clutching a few personal belongings, German civilians pass through the blazing streets of Aachen en route to the safety of First U.S. Army lines. Most of the 3,000 civilians who managed to leave the Reich border city by October 14, 1944, were old men, weeping women, and children. American bombs and shells began turning Aachen into a blazing inferno when the surrounded Nazi garrison refused to surrender under penalty of destruction of the city."
German Tire Plant Reduced to Rubble, Hanau, Germany
Date:
ca. 1945
Description:
Information on back of photo reads: "Rubble and bombed out buildings are all that remain of the plant of the Dunlop Company at Hanau, which was Germany's second largest tire plant. This factory specialized in aircraft tired before it was mombed out of existence by Allied air attacks. Twenty-eight miles east of the Rhine and eight miles east of Frankfurt, Hanau was cleared by troops of the Third U.S. Army March 27,1945."
Germans Blow Up Autobahn Bridge, Kaiserslautern, Germany
Date:
ca. 1945
Description:
Information on back of photo reads: "This bridge, part of the German autobahn highway near Kaiserslautern, was blown up by fleeing Nazi troops during the advance of American forces inside the Saar bulge. Kaiserslautern, road junction town in the area, was entered by the Third U.S. Army troops March 20, 1945. The autobahn is the many-laned concrete highway designed to link up most of Germany in a network. The system had not been entirely completed by the Nazis at the outbreak of the war."
Caption on back of photo reads: "German woman (left) stands before the wreckage of her home and explains to a neighbor how a heavy Nazi shell leveled the building. Several civilians were injured by the enemy action against the town after its capture by American troops."
