World War II Photographs
Pope Pius XII speaks to the people of Rome the day after its occupation by Allied troops. Fifth Army. Rome, Italy. 5 June 1944.
An American staff sergeant, one of the first airborne troopers to settle on German held French soil, passes a harried French woman as he surges inland to engage the Hun. St. Marcouf, France. 8 June 1944.
Troops of the 5th Engineer Special Brigade, wade through the surf to the northern coast of France, at Fox Green, Omaha Beach. They are part of the over-increasing number of men bolstering the forces which made the initial landings on the beachhead. France. 8 June 1944.
Two American soldiers string a lifeline from the north coast of France to a wrecked landing craft to guide other soldiers through the heavy surf to the beachhead.
Left to right: 1st Lieutenant Morris W. Self, White Bear Lake, Minnesota, Private First Class James E. Stanton, Rawling, New York, change into dry clothing after rescuing eight soldiers from the channel when the LCVP they were being transported in sunk off the French Coast. 12 June 1944.
Private Roland Bonnell, left, Cleveland, Ohio, and Sergeant James Devine, right, New York City, New York, both members of an engineer unit now fighting in France, take time out to comfort a little French girl as U.S. troops force ahead in France. Colleville, France. 13 June 1944.
American assault troops collect the victor's share, French wine. The wine was given the boys by appreciative Frenchmen after the occupying Nazi troops had been driven out.
French civilians go on about their everyday tasks despite the fierce battles raging around them. These women are overtaken on the road by passing Ranger units on their way to a new objective.
U.S. Army nurses of an evacuation hospital unit go up the gangway of a Liberty ship tied up at a port in England, ready to take up their duties on the beachhead of France. England. 12 June 1944.
Smoke pours out of German defenses on a beach in France, showing the effectiveness of aerial softening up as assault troops prepare to land.
An American soldier lends a hand to another American picking a small bit of metal from his face. Scenes like this were common on the beachheads in northern France where American troops rolled onto the continent in vast numbers. Orchard Beach, France. 8 June 1944.
Germans, former "Herrenvolk", come over the crest of a hill with their hands over their heads in surrender, and are rounded up by American soldiers, one of whom can be seen at extreme right of picture. France. 9 June 1944.
An American soldier, left foreground, scrambles away from a house in northern France which until moments before served as a German ammunition dump. It now flames as a result of an explosion touched off by these troops.
Here, Georgians from the Ukrain, now prisoners of war somewhere along the coast of France happily await to be sent to a prison camp in England.
Men and equipment scattered about a command post on Red Beach, France. Some G.I. would not part with his English racer, so he brought it over (note right hand corner). Red Beach, France. 8 June 1944.
Corporal Ernest Streich, South Bend, Indiana, a member of one of the first M.P. companies to set foot on French soil, talks to a German prisoner who is waiting to be taken to a prison camp in England. France. 8 June 1944.
American assault troops set up a command post in the shadow of a silenced enemy pill-box, one of the obstacles that had to be overcome in the invasion of the French coast. Omaha Beach, France. 9 June 1944.