September 1939, during the “Phoney War”, a Scottish soldier of the The Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, chalks a warning to Hitler on the side of a train that reads, ‘Hitler! Look oot the Jocks are Coming’. The troops were leaving home to join the The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France.
The Phoney War refers to the eight-month period (September 1939-May 1940) at the beginning of World War II, during which there was only one military land operation on the Western Front- when the French invaded Germany’s Saar district. While at that time there was no large-scale military action by Britain and France, they however begin economic warfare, and shut down German surface raiders.
Soldiers in the Land of the Pharaohs
In this photo you can see The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders (Scottish Division) and Indian troops marching between pyramids, as part of Allied defense preparations against Italian attack during WWII.
After the Italians experienced a series of devastating defeats in Africa in the late 1940s, they requested assistance from the Germans. And thus, the Afrika Korps was formed.
Sweet Goodbye
War always brings many emotional moments, with death comes sadness and agony, but also pride and a moments, even joy. This American soldier says goodbye to his wife and infant child at the Pennsylvania Station in New York, New York in 1943, before being shipped to service in World War II. Both the parent are aware that it may be the last time the father sees his small family.
Around 850,000 New Yorkers served in WWII. The New York city as a whole suffered 43,000 casualties, more than any other American city.
Men of the Fifth Army forces
The history of African Americans in the U.S. military spans from the arrival of the first enslaved Africans during colonial United States. In every war fought within and outside of the United States, African-Americans were in the front lines, from the Revolutionary War, to the more recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as other minor conflicts.
Here members of the Fifth Army forces, Pvt. Roy Williams of Savannah, GA, and Pvt. Jackson Brown of Dele, SC, enjoy the sunshine at the entrance to a shelter of the Anzio-Nettuno beachhead. While they fought for their country in the front lines abroad, when they'd return home they would still be treated as second-class citizens.
Off With Her Hair!
During la Libération, French woman's heads were shaven bald as punishment for collaboration horizontale, which referred to women who were accused of having sexual intercourse with German soldiers. In many of the 20,000 documented cases, the suspected women had only performed professional services for the occupying Germans, rather than engaging in sexual relationships with them.
It's estimated that "Collaboration horizontale" produced 200,000 French babies with German fathers. In 2009, Germany offered these children citizenship, after French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner had lobbied for their recognition as German descendants.