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PICTORIAL HISTORY
OF THE

SECOND WORLD WAR

A PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD
OF ALL THEATERS OF ACTION
CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED

Vol. 3

New York
WM. H.WISE and CO., INC.
 Copyright 1944, 1946

Wm.H.Wise&Co., Inc.

Printed in the United States of America

 CONTENTS
THE FIFTH YEAR
PAGE
Story, September through February 1031

Picture History, September-February 1033

Story, March through August • 1

179

Picture History, March-August 1 181

 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Photographs in this publication were obtained from the following sources:

Acme Photo — 1034, 1035, 1036, 1037, 1038, 1039, 1053, 1058, 1069, 1070, 1071, 1072, 1073, 1076,
1077, 1084, 1086, 1108, 1118, 1119, 1120, 1121, 1122, 1123, 1126, 1127, 1128, 1129, 1130, 1131,
1132, 1133, 1134, 1142, 1143, 1144, 1145, 1150, 1156, 1158, 1159, 1164, 1175, 1181, 1197, 1200,
1210, 1211, 1216, 1222, 1230, 1238, 1246, 1248, 1254, 1255, 1257, 1258, 1259, 1263, 1265, 1277,
1320, 1325, 1339, 1340, 1356, 1358, 1362, 1373, 1374, 1375, 1381, 1383, 1393, 1394, 1395, 1414,
1415, 1418, 1419, 1431, 1432, 1433, 1434, 1447, 1452, 1460, 1469, 1478, 1479, 1496, 1498, 1504,
1507, 1508, 1509, 1510, 1511, 1512, 1513, 1514, 1515, 1516, 1519, 1521, 1522, 1524, 1527, 1533
British-Combine —1052, 1074, 1078, 1079, 1085, 1110, 1196, 1340
British Information Service —
1321, 1336, 1337, 1359, 1364, 1365, 1370, 1371, 1377, 1502
British Official Photo —
1118, 1129, 1341
Canadian Army Photo —
1285, 1292, 1317, 1342, 1359, 1364, 1365, 1370, 1371, 1377, 1502
Canadian War Information 1268 —
French Press and Information Service — 1196, 1199, 1359
International News Photo 1084, — 1108, 1109, 1110, 1196, 1340
Netherlands Information Bureau — 1208, 1209
Odhams Press —
1040, 1041, 1042, 1043, 1044, 1045, 1056, 1057, 1062, 1063, 1064, 1065, 1099,
1106, 1112, 1113, 1160, 1161, 1162, 1203, 1206, 1207, 1223, 1291, 1414, 1415
Official Coast Guard Photo —
1146, 1171, 1261, 1344
Office of War Information 1234 —
Official U. S. Marine Corps Photo —
1088, 1089, 1092, 1093, 1093, 1094, 1095, 1104, 1105, 1116,
1318, 1319, 1397
Official U. S. Navy Photo —
1046, 1047, 1048, 1049, 1054, 1055, 1059, 1066, 1067, 1081, 1082, 1083,
1090, 1091, 1092, 1096, 1111, 1136, 1137, 1138, 1140, 1141, 1157, 1166, 1167, 1168, 1169, 1170,
1172, 1173, 1176, 1177, 1193, 1195, 1201, 1204, 1212, 1213, 1214, 1225, 1239, 1240, 1242, 1243,
1247, 1249, 1252, 1260, 1262, 1266, 1277, 1288, 1289, 1290, 1293, 1295, 1296, 1297, 1300, 1301,
1302, 1305, 1306, 1311, 1316, 1318, 1319, 1328, 1329, 1330, 1334, 1335, 1346, 1347, 1351, 1360,
1376, 1382, 1390, 1391, 1392, 1397, 1406, 1408, 1410, 1411, 1440, 1341, 1444, 1446, 1448, 1500,
1518, 1525
Planet News Ltd. —
1148
Press Association —
1121, 1482, 1483, 1520, 1530
Sovfoto —1218, 1219, 1224, 1231, 1256, 1264, 1310, 1343, 1366, 1367, 1368, 1379, 1384, 1385, 1396,
1413, 1425, 1430, 1435, 1476, 1528
U. S. Army Air Forces —
1050, 1051, 1068, 1075, 1107, 1114, 1165, 1182, 1183, 1184, 1185, 1186,
1187, 1205, 1221, 1226, 1235, 1236, 1237, 1251, 1269, 1270, 1271, 1322, 1323, 1331, 1341, 1406,
1436, 1437, 1442, 1443
U. S. Army Signal Corps Photo— 1080, 1087, 1097, 1098, 1099, 1100, 1101, 1106, 1115, 1124, 1125,
1139, 1149, 1151, 1152, 1153, 1154, 1155, 1160, 1161, 1163, 1174, 1188, 1189, 1190, 1191, 1192,
1198, 1215, 1217, 1227, 1233, 1240, 1241, 1244, 1245, 1250, 1251, 1253, 1260, 1267, 1273, 1274,
1275, 1276, 1278, 1279, 1280, 1281, 1282, 1283, 1284, 1286, 1287, 1293, 1294, 1298, 1299, 1303,
1304, 1305, 1307, 1308, 1309, 1311, 1312, 1313, 1314, 1315, 1318, 1319, 1320, 1324, 1326, 1327,
1332, 1333, 1338, 1345, 1348, 1349, 1350, 1352, 1354, 1355, 1356, 1357, 1361, 1362, 1363, 1369,
1374, 1375, 1380, 1383, 1386, 1387, 1388, 1389, 1398, 1399, 1400, 1401, 1403, 1404, 1405, 1407,
1409, 1412, 1416, 1417, 1420, 1421, 1422, 1423, 1424, 1426, 1427, 1428, 1438, 1439, 1440, 1449,
1450, 1451, 1453, 1454, 1455, 1456, 1457, 1458, 1459, 1461, 1462, 1464, 1465, 1466, 1467, 1471,
1472, 1474, 1475, 1477, 1480, 1481, 1484, 1485, 1486, 1487, 1488, 1490, 1491, 1492, 1493, 1494,
1495, 1497, 1499, 1501, 1505, 1506, 1508 1517, 1523, 1526, 1529, 1531, 1532
 this third volume the reader reviews a pageant of Allied
IN Throughout the fiscal year which ended September
victory.
1, 1944, the forces of the United Nations, with one lone exception,

were making steady and sometimes rapid progress in liquidat-

ing the enemy. The exception, of course, was the Chinese front
where the inevitable exhaustion of the defender and the inabil-
ity of her allies to provide supplies brought success to the
Japanese. But, in other areas of the Far East and on the Euro-
pean Continent, the year was one of triumph for the armies of
America, Britain, Russia and their Allies.
In the Pacific the new
great strength of the United States
Navy resolutely battered the Japanese from island to island,
taking one important enemy bastion at a time. There was the
gradual re-conquest of New Guinea, the hop to Bougainville in
the Solomons, and the bloody seizure of the Gilbert Islands.
Later came the Marshalls, Saipan and Guam. The great Jap-
anese naval base at Truk was so surrounded as to be practically
useless, both from a defensive and offensive standpoint.
In Europe the fifth year of the war had hardly opened when
American and British forces invaded the Italian peninsula.
Throughout the ensuing months Soviet forces swiftly pushed
back the Germans from Russian soil. By September, 1944, Stalin's
armies were in Poland, Rumania and threatening the East Prus-
sia frontier. Then in June came the establishment of a long
awaited western front and the eventual liberation of France.
—
In devoting an entire volume to the fifth year instead of
—
one volume for two years the publishers have sought to give
complete coverage of the greater number of battle fronts and
avail themselves of the larger amount of picture material avail-
able. Because of the climactic nature of the events during the
last six months of the year, it seemed editorially sound to devote
more space to this period, a decision which accounts for the
unequal distribution of space between the first and second
halves of the year.
THE PUBLISHERS
 the early morning of September 3, 1943,
INthe long awaited Allied Invasion of the Eu-
ropean continent began. From bases in re-
cently won and Canadian forces
Sicily, British
crossed the Strait of Messina and landed in the
Calabria province of Italy. A beachhead was
established with relative ease from which two
columns progressed, one northwards up the
west coast, and the other northeast across the
Italian boot. On the same day, although the
announcement was withheld until September
8 when it became effective, a secret armistice
was signed by the Badoglio government and
the Allies. This document called for the ca-
pitulation of all the Italian armies and left the
defense of the peninsula entirely in German
hands.
Americans entered the Italian fight on Sep-
tember 9, when, with British troops, they sailed
from North African ports and landed at
Salerno, about 30 miles southeast of Naples.
Led by Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark,
this force fought seven days, in one of the
bloodiest engagements to date, before their
commander could announce on September 16
that the beachhead was firmly established.
While this struggle went on the British made
rapid strides along both the west and east
coasts. Taranto, the great Italian naval base,
was taken September 10, and Brindisi, on the
Adriatic Sea, fell two days later. Americans
broke the deadlock at Salerno on September
17 and met the British Eighth coming up the
west coast. The Allied battle line was then ex-
tended 225 miles across the Italian mainland
and the effort to push the Nazis out of Italy
had really begun.
The Allied advance was given great im-
petus when Foggia with its strategic network
of airfields was taken on September 28th. On
October the Allies entered the battered Port
1,
of Naples, the first of the big Italian cities to
fall.A few days later the Nazis braked their
retreat along the swollen banks of the Vol-
turno River, some 30 miles north of Naples.
PACIFIC OFFENSIVE
the Fall of 1943, American and Australian
INstrength began to register in the South
Pacific. Although the Japanese still maintained
the remnants of a force on Guadalcanal, it
was being liguidated as rapidly as slow-
moving jungle warfare permitted. On New
Guinea, General MacArthur's legions, having
long since removed the threat to Port Moresby,
began their attack on the key points on the
northeast coast. Salamaua, one of ihe more
important Japanese bases, was taken on Sep-
tember 14, and Lae, of egual strategic value,
fell on September 18. Another Japanese
stronghold, Finschhafen, October 3.
fell
The plan of battle was to neutralize the
Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain
Island. While the operations on the New
Guinea coast provided one arm of this pincer
movement, the other demanded a northward
progress in the Solomon Islands. Kolomban-
gara Island fell to the Americans on October
11, and, on November 2, Bougainville was
taken by Marines in a sharp engagement
preceded by a naval battle in which the
Japanese lost five warships.
During this period, American air strength
gradually achieved the superiority that had
been sadly lacking in the first phases of the
Pacific campaign. MacArthur's big, land-
based bombers were constantly lashing out
at key Japanese points. The largest force of
fighter-escorted bombers thus far to operate
in the Pacific area raided Rabaul on October
14. The result was the incredible score of 177
Japanese planes destroyed, 123 ships and har-
bor craft sunk, at the cost of only 5 American
planes. A naval task force, with considerable
carrier strength, attacked Rabaul on Novem-
ber 5 with egually favorable results. When it
steamed homeward, the American fleet left
behind it two heavy Japanese cruisers on the
ocean bottom, 5 badly damaged, and several
other warships of a lighter caliber in doubtful
condition.
Americans launched their heaviest am-
phibious assault of the war when they struck
at the Gilbert Islands on November 20. The
largest naval force yet assembled in the Pa-
cific prepared the way by a furious pounding
of the Japanese defenses. For the first time
in the Pacific theater, the big guns of the battle-
ships were brought into play in an effort to
destroy the shore installations. The main ob-
jectives were the islands of Tarawa and
Makin. The Marines landed in the early hours
of November 20 and found that the naval
bombardment had failed to smash the coco-
nut log and concrete emplacements that lined
the beaches. In terms of time and ground
gained, the battle for Tarawa was one of the
most sanguinary of the war. When the island
was American hands by November
safely in
22, a count showed 1,026 Marines killed and
2,557 wounded. Makin and Abemama, of
lesser importance, were taken with a smaller
percentage of casualties.
1031
i
 RUSSIAN PROGRESS
AS the fifth year of the war opened, the
Russians were occupied with the monu-
mental task of freeing home soil of the Nazi
armies. While the German line in the north
held, the last four months of 1943 brought big
gains for Stalin's forces in both the central and
southern sectors. On September 15, the Ger-
mans were forced to evacuate the stronghold
of Bryansk, and, on September 26, the Russians
rolled into Smolensk. Both of these key cities
had been in German possession since 1941,
and the comparative ease with which their
re-capture was effected gave rise to the belief
that German power had reached and passed
its peak.
advances were even
In the south the Russian
more comprehensive. By September 23 they
were in White Russia within sight of Kiev, the
third largest Soviet city. By early October their
armies were stretched 400 miles along the
Dnieper River line. Some idea of their progress
is given by the taking of Zaporozhye, October
13, and Dniepropetrovsk, October 26.
By this time the advance along the Sea of
Azov had passed the isthmus leading to the
Crimean peninsula, and Nazi forces within
this territory were practically cut off from the
Russian mainland. On November 7, the Rus-
sians invaded Crimea from the Caucasus
across the Kerch Straits, and on the same day
Kiev fell after a long siege.
After Stalin's men took Zhitomir on Novem-
ber 13, the Nazis showed signs of bracing.
For several weeks they launched a counter-
attack that resembled the strength of the old
Wehrmacht. They retook Zhitomir, November
19, and endangered other newly won Russian
positions. Within a few weeks, however, the
offensive petered out, and, on December 31,
the Russians again marched into Zhitomir.
Three days later they crossed the old Polish
border into that territory which became a part
of Russia in 1939.
In the north the Russians began an offen-
sive to lift the siege on Leningrad. When they
took Novgorod, which the Nazis had held
since August, 1941, on January 20, Leningrad
was for all practical purposes liberated. It was
not until January 27, however, that the Soviet
made official announcement of this accom-
plishment. Another long-held Nazi theater
was endangered on February 2 when Russian
forces crossed the Estonian border.
STALEMATE IN ITALY
Allied forces opened in mid-October an
THE
offensive calculated to bring the Italian
1032
campaign to an end. Heavy artillery fire and
air-bombing were opened up all along the
Volturno River line. Ground was slowly and
painfully gained until Cassino was reached
on January 12, and here the Americans and
British were stopped in their tracks. At the
end of February Cassino was still holding out.
The Allies executed a combined flanking
maneuver and a short cut to Rome on Janu-
ary 22 when they landed at Anzio and Net-
tuno, both points about 30 miles below Rome
and some 50 miles northwest of the existing
battle line. While the initial landings were
gained with a minimum of casualties, the
beachheads were not secure until the end of
February.
MARSHALL ISLANDS
December American forces strengthened
INtheir grip in the Bismarck Archipelago by
the invasion of New Britain. A landing was
made in the Arawe area on December 15, and,
on December 26, a beachhead was established
at Cape Gloucester. Australians made their
contribution by driving towards Madang on
New Guinea, although it was not evacuated
by the Japanese until mid-February.
The biggest American victory in the Pacific
since the Gilbert Islands' landings came on
February 1 when the Marshall Islands were
invaded. This time a naval barrage of suffi-
cient intensity and length almost completely
wiped out shore defenses, and casualties were
comparatively light. Kwajalein and Roi were
speedily taken, although some resistance
lasted on the Eniewetok atoll until the end of
the month. The first blow at Truk came on
February 16 when a carrier task force raided
the installations of the Japanese bastion. The
American planes downed 201 Japanese air-
craft and sunk 21 ships. American losses 17 —
planes. The first six months of war in the Pa-
cific ended with the American invasion of the
Admiralty Islands on February 29.
TEHERAN
FROM the political standpoint the most im-
portant development of this period was
the joint conferences held at Cairo and Tehe-
ran by the heads of the four leading United
Nations. President Roosevelt, Prime Minister
Churchill and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek
met at Cairo from November 22 to November
26. Several days later Roosevelt and Churchill
journeyed to Teheran where they met with
Premier Josef Stalin.
The Allies move into Europe September 3, 1943

ITALY INVADED. On the morning of September 3, British troops under command of General Sir Ber-
nard L. Montgomery crossed the narrow Strait of Messina and effected landings at Reggio Calabria
and the invasion of the continent of Europe was under way. The Eighth Army proceeded to make
advances along the East and West Coasts, and, on the 9th, the Allies took a long gamble and won as
the Anglo-American Fifth Army under the command of Lieut. General Mark Clark established a beach-
head at Salerno. It was probably the riskiest overseas offensive since the British landed at Gallipoli.

1033
Invasion of Italy opens the fifth year
 September 3, 1943

MESSINA STRAIT CROSSED. In the early

dawn of September 3, 1943, the fourth an-
niversary of Great Britain's declaration of
war against Germany, British troops under
the command General Sir Bernard L.
of
Montgomery crossed the narrow strait sepa-
rating Sicily from Italy and landed in
Calabria, pushing north to San Giovanni
and to Palmi. On the same day the signing
of a secret military armistice between the
Badoglio government and the Allies, effec-
tive September 8, was announced. While the
landings were going on planes from bases
in Africa bombed the railroad yards at
Bolzano, Trento and Bologna. At Bolzano
the bridge carrying trains to Brenner Pass
was smashed by explosives. The men of
Montgomery proceeded to push east along
the bottom of the "toe" as American and
British shore batteries in Sicily and the guns
of Royal Navy units covered a continuous
movement of reinforcements and supplies
across the narrow strait. For several days
prior to the actual invasion the guns of
H.M.S. Rodney and Nelson had shelled
Nazi defense posts along the Calabrian
shore and the invaders did not encounter
much difficulty as the initial landings were
made. In this picture, fog curtains the ac-
tivities of the British Eighth Army as they
reached the Italian mainland. A landing
craft unloads men and material for the start
of what was to be the crusade to rescue The
Eternal City from her Germanic conquerors
and also restore the Italian way of life to
the suffering inhabitants of Italy who had
been kept under the heel by their own
leaders and the German hordes.

1035
The Wctrspite kicks the toe of Italy

1036
 September 3, 1943

nEGGIO CALABRIA TAKES A LACING. The

forward 15" guns of H.M.S. Warspite hurl shells
at the Italian mainland clearly seen in the back-
ground of picture at the left, as the Eighth Army
under General Sir Bernard L. Montgomery opened
its offensive on the morning of September 3. Prior

to the actual invasion of the Italian mainland the

British battleships Rodney and Nelson had shelled
Axis defense posts along the Calabrian coast and
this "softening up" was of great advantage to the
British and Canadian troops. Aided by the guns
of the Royal Navy and covered by an "umbrella"
of Allied war planes, the landings were carried out
with a minimum of losses and the invaders pushed
north to San Giovanni and thence around to Palmi.
In the picture above. Eighth Army Infantry assault
troops gather on the Catania guayside awaiting
orders to embark in the landing craft that will
speed them to Italy and the first step towards the
invasion of the continent of Europe.

1037
The Fifth Army heads for the Salerno beachhead

NEAR HIT ON ALLIED CONVOY. Allied soldiers

General Mark Clark's Fifth Army heading
of Lieut.
for the shore of Italy, watch anxiously as high-
flying German planes drop bombs around the
invasion-bound craft. The defenders used rocket
bombs which left a trail of smoke as they de-
scended and exploded immediately upon contact
with water. After the landing in the face of enemy
gunfire in which the Anglo-American forces suf-
fered tremendous losses, the Fifth Army spread
out along a strip thirty miles long from the town
of Salerno in the north to Agropoli in the south.
Next, the troops began driving inland into the
foothills. They penetrated ten miles or more, cap-
turing the town of Altavilla. The big German
counter-attack opened on the night of the 13th.
Waves of Nazi infantry supported by Tiger tanks
swept down from the hills, bent on cutting in two
the Allied beachhead and driving to the shore.
Allied forces had to give way; Altavilla was lost.
All day Tuesday, the 14th, the battle raged; but
the Americans and English would not be driven
into the water and by the 17th the tide had turned
as the Fifth and Eighth Armies made their juncture
and Germany had lost her fight for Southern
Italy. In the picture above, General Clark is shown
with Admiral H. K. Hewitt, as they went over maps
in the chart room of their headquarters ship
enroute to Salerno.

1038
 September 9, 1943

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Italy's Fleet heads for Malta

1040
 September 10, 1943

ITALIAN FLEET
SURRENDERS
On the morning of September 11, Admiral
Cunningham announced in an official
statement that "the Italian battle fleet is
now anchored under the guns of Malta."
After the representatives of Marshal
Badoglio had signed an armistice with
the Allies three days previously, units of
the Italian fleet left Taranto, Spezia and
various other ports and sailed for Malta,
where they arrived on September 10,
flying the Italian colors and the black
pennants which were the agreed marks
of identification. Four Italian battleships,
six cruisers and seven destroyers arrived
at Malta that day; four Italian admirals
were with their ships. The convoy was
heavily bombed by German Stukas and
torpedo-bombers in the straits between
Corsica and Sardinia in an attempt to
prevent the ships reaching Malta, and
before it had been provided with Allied
air cover, the battleship "Roma" was
sunk by a which split her in two.
direct hit
Survivors were picked up by other Italian
warships. Heavy and accurate Italian
A.A. fire soon drove the aircraft off and
one was destroyed. A huge crowd in-
cluding Admiral Cunningham and Gen-
eral Eisenhower watched the Italian Fleet
enter Valetta. Messages of congratula-
tion were sent to Admiral Cunningham
by King George VI, the Board of Admir-
alty and General Eisenhower. Admiral
Cunningham said: "These ships now
added to our strength are first class; and
now that the Mediterranean is cleared,
it will release many ships for use against

the Japanese." Italian submarines kept

appearing from various ports and two
days after the main Italian fleet had
arrived at Malta it was joined by the
battleship "Giulio Cesare," which had
steamed all the way from Venice to join
the Allies. On September 12, seven bat-
tleships arrived in the Balearics, five
of which were interned for overstaying
the twenty-four hours permitted in a
neutral port. More arrived in Bone,
Algeria. The picture shows the Italian
fleet steaming towards the port of Valetta.

1041
Fifth Army strengthens beach-head at Salerno

1042
 September, 1943

HEAVY FIGHTING AT SALERNO. For several days the struggle at Salerno continued with unabated
violence, the Germans launching one counter-attack after the other in a frantic attempt to prevent the
Fifth Army establishing a bridgehead and to drive them back into the sea. On September 12, the Ger-
mans launched particularly heavy counter-attacks with large tank forces supported by fierce artillery
fire from well-entrenched positions on high ground overlooking the Allied bridgehead. Despite these
and yet fiercer attempts to drive the Fifth Army back, however, strong American and British reinforce-
ments of men and eguipment were landed on the Salerno beaches and the bridgehead was maintained.
By September 16, the battle was going in favor of the Fifth Army, which had now resumed the offensive,
and by the end of that day the Germans had begun a withdrawal. Meanwhile the Eighth Army had
been making rapid progress from the south-east towards the southern end of the Salerno front, where,
on September 17, their armored cars linked up with Fifth Army troops near Agropoli. The Germans now
began their general withdrawal north-west towards Naples. Top left, Allied soldiers guarding German
prisoners at Salerno; below left, British troops coming ashore at Salerno; above, scene on one of the
more quiet sections of the beach during landings.

1043
Nazi paratroops free Mussolini from prison

1044
 September, 1943
ar

MUSSOLINI RELEASED BY GERMANS. Since the overthrow of the iormer Italian dictator on July 24,
he had been kept a prisoner in the Gran Sasso Hotel in the Abruzzi Mountains north of Rome. On Sep-
tember 12, Berlin radio announced that German parachutists and armed S.S. men had "Carried out an
operation for the liberation of Mussolini." The pictures on these pages show: left, Mussolini leaving the
hotel surrounded by the German parachutists who freed him from captivity; above, Mussolini saying
good-bye to Hitler before returning to Italy.

1045
Lae falls to the Americans and Australians

1046
 September 18, 1943

VICTORY FOR
MacARTHUR
Early in September General MacArthur
sprang an unpleasant surprise upon the
Japanese in New Guinea by suddenly
surrounding their main bases at Sala-
maua and Lae, with the aid of an am-
phibious expedition and of paratroopers.
The Japanese had been building up these
bases for nearly twenty months, pre-
sumably in preparation for an attack on
Australia. General MacArthur 's trick
worked. On September 14 the Japanese
got out of Salamaua and huddled to-
gether in Lae. On the 18th it was an-
nounced that American and Australian
"troops had captured Lae. Twenty thou-
sand enemy soldiers were believed to
have been in the two towns originally.
How many were left alive in the end, no
one knows. Eut the survivors, who made
off into the jungle, had little chance of
escape, for the Allied troops thought of
that eventuality and laid traps for them.
The Japanese skittered out of Salamaua
in something of a hurry, leaving behind
weapons and large stores of supplies.
Ragged American and Australian troops,
some of whom had fought their way
across the mountains and through the
jungle, suddenly found themselves walk-
ing down the palm-lined street of what
once was a pleasant little town, but now
was mostly wreckage. A stock of Japa-
nese naval uniforms, fresh and neatly
pressed, had survived intact, so the
Americans promptly changed out of their
tatters into the enemy's finery. This offi-
cial U.S. Navy photograph, taken after
the occupation of Lae, affords a striking
demonstration of the power and accuracy
of Allied aerial bombardment. A long
file of Allied troops passes shattered
planes and installations testifying to the
"hell on earth" the enemy went through
before they were vanguished.

1047
The light that failed September 18, 1943

BLACKED OUT BY THE ALLIES. One of the victorious Allied soldiers examines a shattered Japanese
searchlight, blacked out forever by Allied bombs during the attack on the Japanese stronghold. The
Japanese base had been well supplied, but the Allied attack caught the Japanese flat-footed.

1048
Lae, the morning after September 19, 1943

DEVASTATION ON A PACIFIC ISLAND. Eerie as a scene from Dante's Inferno is this view of a combat
photography work in the smoking ruins of Lae the morning after the capture of the Japanese
unit at
held town. It had been cut to pieces by the heavy Allied bombardment preceding the landing of an
amphibious expedition which was the preliminary action to routing the Japanese out of northeastern
New Guinea. The clearing out of these enemy nests was a preliminary to an attack on Rabaul.
1049
Aerial incendiaries hit a New Britain airfield

FIRE BOMB. The Army Air Forces are finding the incendiary white phosphorous 100-pound bomb an
effective weapon against enemy anti-aircraft positions and parked planes. Upon impact the bomb bursts
and scatters particles of burning phosphorous over a wide area. In this picture USAAF white phos-

1050
 September, 1943

phorous bombs burst over a Japanese bomber and fighter plane on Lakunai Airfield in the vicinity of
Rabaul, New Britain. These tactics were part of the overall strategy to weaken this base which was of
great importance to the Japanese in their attempt to control this area.

J051
The Reds push on by land and air September 26, 1943

THE OLD AND THE NEW. Less than three months ago, on the fifth of July, the Germans launched a
summer offensive in Russia, and the world anxiously waited to see whether the Nazis this time would
succeed in smashing the Red Army. On Sunday September 26, Berlin announced the heaviest defeat
of the year: Smolensk had been evacuated and all down the Dnieper River the Russians were pressing
to the banks of the stream and threatening to pour across into the Nazi strongholds on the west side. In
these pictures Soviet cavalry are seen on the march and Red flyers about to take off on a bombing mission.

1052
Blasting Nazi bombers on the Red front October 2, 1943

HOT RECEPTION FOR THE ENEMY. A Russian anti-aircraft crew keeps their aerial machine gun
trained on German bombers that are attempting to blast a Soviet battery. The Soviet soldier at the left
appears to be gazing at a near Nazi bomb miss behind the group, while his companions focus their
eyes on the action in the sky.

1053
The Fifth army enters Naples

A GREAT PORT FALLS. Led- by British tanks the

Fifth Armyentered this southern port on the morn-
ing of October 1 to find the harbor full of sunken
ships and the city devastated as shown in this pic-
ture where row en row of wrecked buildings line
the battered railroad tracks and adjacent roadway.

1054
 October 1, 1943

m
WW

1055
 .

More enemy U-boats and E-boats sunk

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1056
 October, 1943

ATTACKS BY BRITISH LIGHT CRAFT. On October 10 Mr. Churchill and President Roosevelt stated
that "until the third week September no Allied ship was lost by German U-boat attack." The lull
in
had been broken, however, on September 19 when a pack of about fifteen U-boats attacked a west-
bound convoy. There was a running fight lasting four and a half days and three escort vessels were
sunk besides a few merchant ships. A large number of submarines were sunk, however, as a result
of vigorous surface and air counter-attacks. Increased fighter protection was being used by our con-
voys and motor gun boats were helping to make their passage even safer. These ships are both fast
(being able to attain a speed of 50 m.p.h.) and very heavily armed for their size. These "little ships"
scored a notable victory on October 24 when thirty E-boats made an attempt to waylay a convoy in
the North sea. They were engaged by M.G.B.s in a running fight which lasted nearly five hoursr. None
of our ships was lost, while four of the enemy were sunk and six damaged. Top left, shows the return
of M.G.B.'s with German prisoners. Bottom left, shows survivors of the crew of a merchant ship tor-
pedoed by an enemy submarine. The photograph was taken from a United States naval blimp, which l

dropped a rubber life dinghy seen in the picture. Above, shows a direct hit by a German dive bomber
on an American cargo-carrying ship.

10&7
The women of Russia pitch in October, 1943

ATTEMPT TO BALK THE NAZIS. a woman of Rostov aids her men folk in taking
In the picture at top
up the street car rails in an barricade the city against the Nazis, and in the picture below, women
effort to
of the Cossack village of Tsymlianskaya, on the southern front carry huge bundles as they return to
their former homes, many of which were wrecked during the fierce fighting in the 1943 campaign.

1058
A study in gray on the blue Pacific October 2, 1943

A BATTLE-WAGON SPEAKS OUT. An overcast sky, mirrored by a leaden sea, forms a fitting back-
ground for the grim song voiced by the main batteries of this United States battleship. Clouds of dark
gray smoke billow out as the 16-inch guns of this ship of the South Dakota class fires away.

1059
 The Americans return to Wake Island

1060
 October 5-6, 1943
-i

DESTRUCTION FROM THE AIR.

In this striking aerial photo-
graph, the thorough and merci-
less pounding of Wake Island,
once a U.S. stronghold in the
Pacific, is clearly revealed dur-
ing the return appearance of
U.S. forces on October 5 and 6,
1943. Silhouetted against the
clouds, a Douglas Dauntless
dive-bomber from a navy plane
carrier task force is poised to
begin its plunge on the smoking
outpost, releasing another 1,000
lb. bomb to add to the destruc-
tion on the Japanese-occupied
island which had been held by
December 24, 1941.
the foe since
The raid upon Wake was par-
ticularly harassing to the Japa-
nese. Ever since they had
wrested it away from the United
States Marines, after a sixteen-
day fight, the enemy had been
strengthening the island as an
airplane base.

wmammmmmm
1061
Another Mediterranean base in Allied hands

CORSICA
FREED
FROM
NAZI RULE
Before the Italian Armistice was
signed, about 15,000 Corsican
patriots were secretly armed
by the Allies. On September 8,
when news of the Italian sur-
render was received, there was
a general rising. Vichy officials
were arrested in almost all
towns and villages. There were
clashes with Germans troops in
the mountains near Sarterne
and the enemy was forced to
withdraw to Bastia and Boni-
face. General Giraud broad-
cast a message to the German
High Command in Corsica de-
claring that anyone wearing a
white brassard on his arm em-
broidered with a Moor's head
(part of the arms of Corsica)
must be considered as a regu-
lar soldier of the French Army
and not treated as an armed
civilian if captured. By Sep-
tember 21 the western half of
Corsica was in French hands.
German bases on the island,
including the important airfield
at Bastia, were heavily bombed
by the Allied air forces. The
food shortage, already very
serious, was further intensified
when the Germans set fire to
about 1,000 acres of crops and
farmsteads. By October 5 the
enemy was finally cleared from
Corsica. The recapture of Cor-
sica was important not only be-
cause it might be used by the
enemy as a U-boat base but it
gave the Allies an important
base for air and amphibious
operations. This photograph
shows remains of German war
material at Bastia in Corsica
after the enemy had left the
island.

1062
October 5, 1943
 Road-building through the New Guinea jungle

1064
 October, 1943

SUCCESSES IN NEW GUINEA. By early October the Japanese were in full retreat up the Ramu
Valley in the north of New Guinea. Allied control of the air bases in this area constituted a further
threat to Japanese sea communications with the important base of Rabaul, which was being con-
tinually harassed by the Allies from the air. Left, troops supervised by military engineers harnessing
a river along which a new road is being built; above, a bridge is being built in the South Pacific
while a machine gunner keeps watch for Japanese patrols and snipers.

1065
Success in the war against U-boats

1066
 ^^

October 15, 1943

NAVY FLYERS BAG THREE SUBMARINES. In the picture at left,

the injured officer of a Nazi submarine comes aboard the escort
carrier from which the nemesis of his vessel took off, while at the
bottom, left,commanding officer of
the the submarine chats with
and in the lower
officers of the carrier, picture, German prisoners
march along behind their captain to a prisoner of war camp on
the Atlantic seaboard. Flying their Grumman Avenger torpedo
bomber from the flight deck of one of the Navy's escort carriers,
the crew depth-bombed three Nazi submarines in four days in the
battle to keep the Atlantic open. How well the Allies were suc-
ceeding in this fight was revealed in a joint statement by President
Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill revealing that "in the first
six months of 1943 the number of ships sunk per U-boat operating
was only half that in the last six months of 1942 and only a guarter
of that in the first half of 1942."

1067
A rain of bombs falls on France October 15, 1943

#**

*&
3
IH
BAD NEWS FOR THE NAZIS. Twenty six 100-lb bombs are seen in mid-air just after being released
from a B-26 Marauder medium bomber of the U.S. Army 9th Air Force. They're headed for a Nazi
installation in France. Night after night the Nazi controlled territory was subjected to terrific bombings by
planes of the American and Royal Air Forces in an effort to soften up the country and the enemy troops
in preparation for the forthcoming invasion. In addition to defense posts heavy damage was inflicted
upon the enemy airplane factories throughout the occupied countries and Germany.

1068
 ^^

Two-way traffic at Salerno October, 1943

ON THE BEACHHEAD. U.S. Troops (center) march over a landing mat road on the beach at Salerno
as a wounded G. I. is carried on a litter toward the shore for evacuation to a base hospital. The fighting
was very bloody in this area but the eourage and determination of the men of the 5th Army, who stood
up under the fiercest fighting of the entire Tunisia-Sicily-Italycampaign, prevailed and the tide of battle
eventually turned, aided by the brilliant march of the British 8th Army up the east coast which kept
the Nazis busy on both ends of the battle line.

1069
The Russians push on by land and air October, 1943

RUSSIAN GUNS IN ACTION. In this picture a Russian gun shells the retreating Germans in the
Dnieper River area as the Red Army's Fall offensive to free their homeland gained momentum.

§R««--

DOWNED OVER BERLIN. An armed German soldier stands guard over the wreckage of a bomber
of the SovietAir Force which was brought down during a raid over the German capital.

1070
The British enter Cancello October 18, 1943

A STRONGHOLD FALLS TO THE ALLIES. Bending low and with their guns held ready for instant
use, British infantrymen dash across a blasted railway bridge over the Volturno river to enter Can-
cello, while in the bottom picture an Italian cyclist nonchalently hitches onto the back of a British
25-pounder as the mobile column passes a group of refugees returning from the hills to their homes.

1071
A visit to an Italian home October, 1943
"
V~~

CAUTIOUS TOMMIES. Two British members of a patrol of the Fifth Army investigate suspicious
movements in a deserted house Cancello the day after the fall of the Italian town. The wiping
in
out of Axis nests of snipers in the occupied towns slowed up the advance of the Allies. The Nazis
employed snipers lavishly in all rearguard operations.

1072
Obstacle race in Sicily October, 1943

NAZI SLOW-UP FAILS. Fleeing from Sicily, Fascist troops on the run turned the Allied advance into
an obstacle race as they left demolished roads and bridges in their wake. Here, Americans of the Third
Division tug and push a motorcycle over what's left of a narrow mountain road east of Agijosa on
the northern coast of Sicily as the Allies attempted to create order out of chaos on this island.

1073
The Nazis leave destruction in their wake October 26, 1943

AFTER THE NAZIS HAD FLED. In the picture in Dniepropetrovsk was demolished
above a metal works
by and
the fleeing Nazis, in the picture below, therailway bridge across the Dnieper in the Soviet
city was demolished by the Germans. In addition to this damage the famous Dnieper Dam, one
of the proudest feats of the New Russia, five miles north of Zaporozhe, was dynamited by thes Nazis,
but on October 13 Soviet troops drove the enemy out of Zaporozhe and once more stood guard over
the dam which was erected by American engineers at a cost of $110,000,000.

1074
The natives get acquainted with the Yanks October, 1943

SOMETHING NEW HAS BEEN

ADDED. In the picture at top,
these native girls on a South
Pacific island have learned to
play cassino. They are playing
the game here, quite adeptly,
with a United States soldier,
while an army officer "kibitzes."
In the picture at left, one of
Merrill's Marauders shows a na-
tive child how to enjoy Ameri-
can chewing gum during a rest
period of the outfit's march in
the Burma campaign. In all sec-
tors the Americans clicked with
the natives who were happy to
have the yoke of the Japanese
dropped from their shoulders
and in its place accept the good-
fellowship and friendship of the
Allied armies.

1075
 '

As the Eighth Army moved ahead October, 1943

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*
I 1

.-::*»*

it .. » _

'

SCENES OF DEVASTATION.
V ' -J '-

In the picture at top, dust that was once buildings fills the air in the square
of TorreAnnunziata, passed through by British tanks on their way up the coast. Two civilians who were in
the midst of the furious warfare stoically sit in their donkey cart surrounded by mechanized equipment of
Montgomery's men, while in the place below, British infantrymen take cover along a river in Scafati, near
Pompeii as they await their chance to silence a nest of Nazi snipers who had been posted by the
retreating enemy.

1076
 'General Goo" slows the British in Italy October, 1943

SLOWED UP BY THE ELEMENTS. These two photographs show clearly one reason why the Allied
forces in Italy were slowed up in the early days of their drive against the Germans in Italy. In the
top photograph men of the R.A.F. push a "Spitfire" out of heavy mud caused by the heavy rains,
while in the bottom picture men of the British Eighth Army try to figure out how they can drag a mired
25-pounder out of the ooze.

1077
 Dniepropetrovsk liberated

REDS CHASE NAZIS. The Red Army was moving in giant strides across the flatlands of southern
Russia and the Nazis fled for their
lives. The Berlin radio, franker than usual, called it "a large Ger-
man withdrawal movement." The Russians had mastery of the sky and the Germans could find no

1078
 October 26, 1943

shelter from the Soviet planes. The Red Army was advancing 12 to 15 miles a day and on the 26th
Dniepropetrovsk (shown in this aerial picture) was liberated. The Germans left behind much war
material, Moscow reporting the capture of 425 railroad cars loaded with ammunition.

1079
Italian prisoners of war in America October 30, 1943

FAR FROM THE NOISE OF BATTLE. The Geneva Convention of 1929 established specific rules and
regulations regarding the treatment of prisoners of war and the Allies lived up to the letter of the
law in treatment of their captives. Early in 1943 a series of prisoner of war camps was set up in the
United States and Italians and Germans started to arrive in this country. Each day the enlisted per-
sonnel among the prisoners were assigned various duties by their own leader, usually a non-commis-
sioned officer, as shown in the picture at top, where a leader is giving out the day's assignments,
1
while, at the end of day, as shown in the bottom picture, they relax in their recreation rooms.

1080
The attack on Mono October 27, 1943

THUNDER AT DAWN. In the picture at top destroyers of the United States Pacific fleet shell the defenses
of thisTreasury Island on the southern flank of Bougainville. The objective was to soften the enemy
held "stepping stone" for the combined American-New Zealand forces to establish a beachhead as
shown in the picture below. Here, on an islet he had never heard of, a soldier pays the price of freedom.
Guns ready, his comrades search for the enemy pill-box from whence the deadly fire came.
1081

1
Another step toward Tokio—Mono Island seized

1082
 —

October 27, 1943

A STEP ON THE LONG ROAD

TO VICTORY. The seizure of
Mono Island in the Treasury-
group, Central Solomons, on
October 27, was typical of the
amphibious campaigns which
were moving the Allies step by
step toward their final goal.
Backed by long planning, the
Mono victory was small in size,
big in import, a demonstration
that when Japanese forces are
small and ill-prepared, the Al-
lies could move with the same
terrorizing speed as the Japanese
once did. The landing was made
in daylight after a terrific bom-
bardment by United States de-
stroyers. Within fourteen hours
the Allied forces —
Americans
and New Zealarders —had killed
or captured the majority of the
200 to 300 Japanese. When the
action ended the Rising Sun had
slid back again in the long ebb
toward Tokio. In this picture,
New Zealanders, forming the
second wave, come as fog in
begins to veil shores of
the
Mono. The LCP's are run far up
on the rocky shore as the men
hasten to get supplies debarked.
Meanwhile parachutists de-
scended on nearby Choiseul
Both islands are on the southern
flank of the much larger Bou-
gainville, which was the last
stronghold left to the enemy
in the Solomons.

1083
Secretary Hull in Moscow November 1, 1943

VICTORY AT MOSCOW. At long

last Russia, Britainand the United
States joined hands as a team to
finish off the Nazis and plan the
peace. This was the significance of
the Moscow agreement reached at
the Molotov-Eden-Hull conference
the last two weeks in October and
this was the reason why the Allied
world rejoiced as though at a de-
cisive victory. The agreement offi-
cially ended a quarter-century of
smoldering distrust between Russia
and the western powers, dating
back to the days after the last war
when Allied troops invaded Russia
to combat the new Bolshevism and
flared up in 1938 when Russia was
excluded from the Munich confer-
ence and again in 1939 when Stalin
signed "a scrap of paper" with
Hitler. Here, above, signing the pact
which wiped out all the major
suspicions, are, left to right, Fu
Ping-sheung, Chinese Ambassador;
Secretary of State Cordell Hull; V.
M. Molotov, Soviet commisar of
Foreign Affairs and Anthony Eden,
British minister of Foreign Affairs.
In the picture at left, Secretary Hull
is shown as he was greeted in Mos-

cow by Mr. Molotov and an honor

guard of picked Russian troops.

1084
Kiev reconquered —the Crimea is invaded November 7, 1943

CELEBRATION IN MOSCOW. The pyrotechnic display in the Soviet capital in honor of the Soviet
forces which liberated Kiev, capital of the Ukraine and third city of the Soviet Union, is shown in picture
at top, and below, Red infantrymen hunt out the beaten Nazis in the ruins of buildings in the city.
Meanwhile, 300 miles southeast, the Red Army closed a trap on 90,000 Germans in Crimea.

1085
Strange sights for an ancient town November, 1943

OFFICIAL SECOND-STORY MEN. These complex, century-old rooftops in Italy add to the difficulties
of the work of 8th Army signallers, who only a few months ago were laying their lines in the desert
where the problems were of a different nature. Here these men are shown climbing the rooftops
at dawn in a newly conguered Italian town. The work of maintaining lines of communications was
extremely important and sometimes hazardous.

1086
Mussolini falls in the debris November, 1943

CRASHES WITH HIS EMPIRE. A large photograph of Mussolini lies in the foreground as the citizens
of Eboli clear away the debris and wreckage after the had entered this Italian town
Allies in November
during the joint advance on the road to Rome and ultimate victory.
1087
The Battle of Tarawa

1088
 —
November 20, 1943

PACIFIC ISLANDS WON. The Gilbert Islands are

small dots in the midst of a vast sea, 2,400 miles
southwest of Hawaii, 3,000 miles southeast of
Tokio. Toward them, on the morning of November
20, moved the mightiest naval force ever as-
sembled in the Pacific. In that force were battle-
ships which had been torn apart by the Japanese
, bombs in the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor two
years ago; now the battleships were better than
ever, for they not only had been repaired, bui
modernized as well. In the armada were more
aircraft carriers than ever had sailed together on
any sea, most of them built since Pearl Harbor.
The fleet was a symbol of reborn American naval
power. From landing ships men poured out onto
the beaches of three of the Gilbert Atolls iren —
of the 2nd Marine Division, veterans of Guadal-
canal and men of New York's old Fighting 69th
of World War I fame, now seeing service in this
war for the first time as members of the 27th
Division. Some 4,000 Japanese were guarding the
—
three islands Tarawa, Makin and Abemama
but within four days Admiral Nimitz was able
to announce that the Gilbert Islands had been con-
guered. Most of the enemy defenders had been
killed; a few remained to be hunted down. Ameri-
can losses on Tarawa, where the Marines landed
—
were heavy. Of two battalions 2,000 to 3,000 men
— only a few hundred escaped death or injury.
The rapidity of the victory was almost startling.
It took American troops three weeks to conguer

half as many Japanese on Attu in the Aleutians.

In this picture direct hits by the 5-inch guns of the
destroyer force off Tarawa set off the oil dumps
on the Japanese-held island, causing this heavy
cloud of black smoke. In the foreground Marines
take cover amid wrecked Japanese eguipment.

1089
Victory at Tarawa

AT HEAVY COST. For concentrated fighting and

high casualties, few battles in American history can
approach Tarawa. Here, units of Marines, haggard,
smoke-blackened and battle-worn, assemble on
Tarawa for evacuation. Only a few hundred of the
thousands who hit the beach escaped death or
wounds in the bitter struggle for this critical atoll.

1090
November 24, 1943

1091
The chiefs watch the advance on Tarawa November 20. 1943

AS THE GUNS BLASTED TARAWA. The leaders of the attack tensely watch the action ashore from
the bridge of a United States warship. Major General Julian C. Smith, marine commander, is with Rear
Admiral Harry W. Hill, facing camera in background. In the picture below, marines dash across the beach
on Tarawa to take airport there. One of the marines carries a shovel to dig a fox hole.

1092
 H

Where the Marines go their pin-ups go November 21, 1943

GOOD LUCK CHARM. As a landing barge approaches the Japanese-held island in the Gilberts a Marine
takes a last look at his good-luck picture, a pin-up girl. Tarawa burns in the background from the
terrific bombardment laid down by units of the United States fleet. Pin-up girls had become a great

morale holder-up in this World War and everything from comics to famous models and movie stars
were welcomed by the boys.

1093
The Marines have landed November 21, 1943

COMING ASHORE AT TARAWA. Despite enemy fire from the Japanese controlled island, these
marines of the 2nd division waded through the surf off Tarawa. Landing boats and barges brought
them to within 500 yards of the beach, but the coral bottom prevented the boats coming any closer
to the shore. In the picture below, taken after the landing, a squad leader points out the spot where
the Japanese were firing from and the Marines edging forward opened fire on the foe and "got them."

1094
The situation is well in hand November 21 , 1943

THEY WEREN'T FOOLING. When these Marines went over the top from the beach on Tarawa Island
they knew they were going to have a fight on their hands, but they just set their jaws — as picture at top
—
shows and charged. In the bottom picture the Marine standing over the pack howitzer (center) is
wearing a helmet with two holes in it. The hole in the side was made as a bullet entered and the
one in front as it left. The smoke is caused by the powder from their own gun.

1095
A touch of home in the Pacific November, 1943

DOG ATTENDS PRESS CONFERENCE. When Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, commander-in-chief, United
States Pacific Fleet, held a press conference at his Pearl Harbor headquarters, November 29, 1943, his
schnauzer pup, Makalapa, sat quietly throughout, under the desk at the admiral's feet. It was at this
press conference that Admiral Nimitz told of the successes by our forces routing the Japanese in the
Gilbert Islands. Captain P. V. Mercer, Admiral Nimitz's aide and assistant chief of staff is at his left.

1096
The conference in Cairo November 23, 1943

HEADS OF THREE POWERS MEET. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, President Roosevelt and Prime
Minister Churchill are shown as they met in Cairo during the last week of November to plan the
ultimate offensives against the Axis and to decide what to do with Germany and Japan when they
were crushed. The President and the Prime Minister never met the Generalissimo until they shook
hands in Cairo. There the three men, accompanied by three hundred top war leaders of the three
nations, reshaped the future of the Orient. One of the largest empires ever put together was doomed
at the conference. In the last half century Japan had brought under its domination a large portion
of the human race, inhabiting lands 3,000,000 square miles in extent. The leaders of the three allies
pledged away these conquests and drive the Nipponese back into their
their three nations to strip
home islands. When
the pledge is fulfilled after "seriou's and prolonged operation," Japan will be
no larger than California. Instead of being a world conqueror, Japan will be reduced to the status of
a third-rate power. Her ability to make war would be wiped out automatically; she would lose the
indispensable raw materials acquired from Manchuria and the South Seas; she would lose the
island bases necessary to give her fleet long-range striking power. The Generalissimo, who speaks only
a little English, brought his wife to be his interpreter and advisor, and she was the only woman in
the inner circle of the conference. As for China, itself, the Cairo conference came as a life-giving
tonic. Now China, for the first time since medieval days, was formally recognized as one of the great
powers of the world, in status of full equality. She would be freed from Japan's armed tutelage, and
presumably from Occidental pressure as well. The Cairo conference came at a time when the restora-
tion of morale was badly needed in China. The long hard war against the Japanese had brought the
nation to the point of exhaustion, and the United Nations policy of winning the war in Europe first had
made it impossible for China to get the relief she needed. National morale was at low ebb in China, and
it was felt that the meeting might serve to stimulate it.

1097
Interlude in the Cairo conference November 23, 1943

THE CHIANGS VISIT THE PYRAMIDS. During

the Cairo Tripartite conference, Generalissimo
and Madame Chiang Kai-shek toured the Pyramid
area. Here Madame Chiang is shown as she sub-
stituted a British jeep for the national camel. The
Generalissimo, who speaks only a little English,
brought his wife along to the Cairo conference to
be his interpreter and advisor, and she was the
only woman in the inner circle' of the conference.
However, on a visit to the Pyramids, they listened
in comparative silence as Hadji- Ali No. 1, the Arab
dragoman, or guide, gave his lecture on the an-
tiguities of the No. 1 Wonder of the World, which
includes especially the pyramid of Cheops and
the Sphinx. In the picture below: Generalissimo,
in his black robe, at the head of the procession;
on the far left is Major General Chennault; the
American officer in the khaki shirt shown at the
right is Major General Ralph Royce.

1098
Germans on the Pripet Marshes November 27, 1943

FIGHTING ON THE PRIPET MARSHES. On November was heavy fighting on a 100-mile

27 there
front over the Pripet Marshes. The Germans, trying towards Poland, were much hampered by
to retreat
the nature of the country. They were forced to build wooden tracks over which light loads could be
pulled in horse-drawn vehicles. Top, a flooded highway over the Pripet Marshes with wrecked vehicles
lining roadside. Below, German transport column of horse-drawn wagons crosses Pripet Marshes over
the crudest kind of an impromptu wooden track.

1099
Reshaping the destiny of —Teheran
Europe

1100
 November 28, 1943

PLANNING
ALLIED STRATEGY
After the Cairo Conference ended, the American
and British delegates moved eastward to Tehe-
ran, capital of Iran. There, for the first time,
President Roosevelt met Premier Stalin, and the
meeting between these two, Winston Churchill and
the diplomatic and military staffs proved to be
one of the most important conferences in history.
During the meeting and after it, very little infor-
mation regarding the discussions was released to
the press. A few statements of a general nature
declaring that all parties were in accord were
given out. But in the following summer, when
American and British forces invaded France, it
was made clear that the planning had been done
at Teheran, a full half-year previously. The
Teheran session was particularly important when
the background of the relations between America,
Britain and Russia is examined. For two years the
Russians had been bearing the brunt of the fight-
ing on the continent. They were eager for their
allies to open a second front in the west in order
that pressure in the east would be eased. The
reluctance of the Americans and British to do this
until they were fully prepared, and the conse-
quent delay gave rise to stories of dissension
between the three powers. At Teheran, these dif-
ficulties were ironed out and the time and place
for the blow in France decided upon. In the fore-
ground of this picture, from left to right, are
Premier Stalin, President Roosevelt and Prime
Minister Churchill. In the background Harry Hop-
kins stands behind Stalin; V. M. Molotov, Rus-
sia's foreign minister, is between Stalin and
Roosevelt; Anthony Eden, Britain's foreign secre-
tary, stands beside his chief.

1101
The Pacific story

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1102
 November, 1943
MCHATKA :
__^__

~v JAPANESE
COAfT/ZOLLCD
AREA SHRINKING THE
JAPANESE HORIZON
After nearly two years of warfare,
American strength begins to make
itself felt. While the shaded area of
this map indicates the vast area
still under Japanese control, the
C I
P A.
American flag is flying in many
new places. The gains in New
Guinea are particularly important.
One year ago the Japanese were
threatening Port Moresby and were
barely stopped in the Owen Stan-
ley mountains by American and
lAWA* ,M* Australian forces. At this date the
OS danger to Port Moresby has been
4/ ISUA^
peAKJ-
HAfti definitely removed and the Japa-
nese have lost their two important
bases of Lae and Salamaua. The
Allies are moving northeast along
.JOHNSTON the coast and are now within bomb-
|
JAPS ATTACKED'-DEC7,f94S ing range of Rabaul, the Japanese
bastion on New Britain. In the Solo-
mons the Americans have pro-
MARSHALL
gressed from their hard won beach-
Bt-ANDS heads on Guadalcanal and Tulagi
P*L*AYR* to Bougainville in the north. In the
VS. OCCUPATION
|
AOV.22J943 Gilbert Islands American fighting
jgf^ 1
men have done something more
than recapture enemy invaded ter-
£ <£\J MTOB. ritory.The Gilbert Islands had been
1 .GILBERT strongly fortified by the Japanese
*
ISLANDS
•
who regarded it as one of the outer
1 * , -PHOENIX defenses of Truk, their most impor-
J
*

. . ISLANDS tant base in the south Pacific. Its

seizure by the Americans was a
' ' 6LL1CE
most important move in any plan of
. ISLANDS strategy that included either the
taking or the neutralization of Truk.
Chiefly responsible for American
successes in the Pacific was a
greatly strengthened navy. By No-
, SAMOA vember, 1943, the United States
<*> ISLANDS
fleet had completely recovered
from the Pearl Harbor disaster.
:5
Those battleships which had been
resting on the mud of the harbor
FIJI ISLANDS
had been raised and modernized,
and were now operating in both the
COOK Atlantic and Pacific. In addition
new ships of all types were now
going into action as the navy's
prodigious building program began
to show results.

v/.ii/aoff-t*

1103
Marines ambushed by Japanese on Bougainville

HEROIC ACTION IN THE

PACIFIC. When Marine
infantrymen were stopped
at this spot —the junction
of the Piva and Numa-
Numa —
Trails on Bougain-
ville Island in the Solo-
mons, tanks were rushed
to the scene. The tank in
the picture (upper left)
carried the unit com-
mander, First Lieutenant
Leon A. Stanley of Annis-
ton, Ala. A Marine killed
by the foe was left in the
roadway and as the tank
approached the body it
struck a jungle vine which
was stretched across the
road and set off a land
mine. The tank was dis-
abled and the crew, armed
with sub-machine guns,
climbed out to get the
enemy. Lieutenant Stanley
was killed early in the ac-
tion. The crew kept fight-
ing and were joined by
Pvt. lcl. Robert E. Lansley
of Syracuse, N. Y., second
from left, a Marine raider
and his specially trained
dog, "Andy." The dog lo-
cated machine gun nests
on either side of the road
and here Lansley is seen
drawing the Japanese fire
so the Marines could de-
termine if the guns were
firing from fixed positions
or were firing free. Three
times Lansley drew their
fire before it was deter-

1104
 November, 1943

mined that the Japanese

were firing from fixed po-
sitions. In the picture
(lower left) two Marines
are covering Lansley and
firing on the enemy behind
the tank, driving them
around the right end where
Pvt. Lansley picked them
off. One of the Marines

killed in the action is at

the extreme left (only his
legs showing.) In the pic-
ture (upper right) Lans-
ley runs back up Death-
Alley to escape the bullets
cracking around him as
other Marines hold their
fire until he reaches safety.

In the picture (lower right)

four Marines give first aid
to one of their buddies as
Pvt. Lansley continues his
search for the enemy.
Shortly after this picture
was taken the wounded
man was removed and
the Marines took over the
enemy positions. While ex-
amining the machine guns
and other eguipment a
Japanese, hidden in a dug-
out which they had over-
looked, threw a hand gre-
nade. Lansley and his
buddy, Pvt. Id. John V.
Mahoney of Clinton,
Conn., were wounded as
were four other Marines
in the group. Despite his
wounds Lansley turned his
machine gun on the sniper
and killed him.

1105
Bitter fighting centers around Chinese city December, 1943

RECAPTURE OF CHANGTEH. On November 25, the Japanese, making considerable use of para-
troops, had captured and taken possession of the city of Changteh, important as the centre of the
rice-producing district. On November 27, a very heavy counter-attack was launched and over 5,000
of the enemy were killed. The Chinese had succeeded in cutting off all communications excepting one
over Lake Tungting and another by trail skirting the lake's western shores. It was alleged that the
enemy were making use of poison-gas shells. On November 30, bitter hand-to-hand fighting was taking
place in the streets of the city. By December 1, the Chinese forces under General Yu Cheng-Wan sup-
ported by American aircraft drove the enemy entirely from the city. The Japanese retreated to a point
two miles north. By December 3, the city had again fallen into the hands of the Japanese. Less than
300 men of the Chinese 57th Division survived. On December 9, the city changed hands yet again,
and General Hseuh Yeuk stated that the Chinese had suffered very heavily in the action, their losses
far exceeding those of the enemy. But the importance of the c'ty was such that it was felt it must
be retaken at all costs. The picture shows Chinese re'u;ees re-entering Changteh.

1106
 1 -

Interlude at Teheran December 1, 1943

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THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF HONORS THE ALLIED COMMANDER. President Franklin D. Roosevelt is
shown as he awarded the Legion of Merit to General Dwight D. Eisenhower during the general's visit
to the conference of Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin. The ceremony took place in the garden of the
Russian Embassy at Teheran where the Allied conference was held, and it was during the sessions at
Teheran and Cairo that General Eisenhower was made Allied Commander-in-chief.

1107
Tito and his Partisans December, 1943

FIGHTING THE NAZI INVADERS.

Marshal Tito, leader of the Partisan
forces fighting the invaders of
Yugoslavia, is shown at the left
with his favorite pet, a German po-
lice dog, while in picture below, at
the left, a patrol of the Marshal's
forces crosses a wooden bridge
below a waterfall, on their way to
enemy. In the picture be-
fight the
low, a Partisan supply column,
passes through a Bosnian village
with supplies for the patriots.
Tito's early operations were of the
a strategy which
guerrilla variety,
was imposed upon him because of
his lack of supplies and arms.
Later, when he had organized his
men and had begun to receive
munitions by air from the Amer-
icans and British, his legions be-
came an organized army. His
tactics in harassing the Nazis in
Yugoslavia were so successful that
they were forced to keep several
divisions, badly needed elsewhere,
occupied in keeping him under
control. Tito's forces were fre-
guently in combat with the men of
Mihailovitch who, for reasons not
yet made clear, had fallen from
grace with the Allies who formerly
supported him.

1108
 "
A new handicap for the Nazis to overcome December 13, 1943

BUCKING THEIR CONQUERORS. In Yugoslavia, General Tito's Partisans had been fighting ever since
keep the road open for the flank invasion across the Adriatic whJch they felt
the fall of Mussolini to
sure was coming. The Germans, thinking maybe they were right, sent large reinforcements under
Marshal Rommel to suppress the Guerrillas. In the first part of December they had succeeded in driving
them back into the mountains. In this picture Nazi soldiers are searching captured guerrillas.

1109
War inside "Fortress Europe' December, 1943

DIVISION IN YUGOSLAVIA. While General Tito's Partisans were fighting the Nazis, General Mihailo-
vitch, foreign minister of theYugoslav Government-in-exile, headed a rival, but less active guerrilla
organization. King Peter was most unhappy about the situation and issued a bitter statement
denouncing Tito's Partisans. Mihailovitch was accused by neutral observers of attacking the Partis-
ans instead of the Nazis. In this picture German troops seek out Partisans in the Bosnia region.

1110
 T
Waves at work in the war effort December, 1943

WOMEN'S RESERVE OF THE NAVY. For the first time since 1918 women were enrolled in the United
States Navy when congress authorized the movement in 1942. Here an aviation machinist's mate,
third class, a skilled ground crew mechanic, overhauls a Grumman Avenger plane at Floyd Bennet
Field, N. Y., while in the picture below, two seamen second class are opaquing and stripping negatives.

1111
Scharnhorst sunk in Arctic

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BEAR ISLAND

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DESTRUCTION OF THE SCHARNHORST. On December 26 the German battleship Scharnhorst attempted

to attack a Russia-bound convoy but was engaged by units of the Home Fleet. The Scharnhorst was
seen in the twilight of an Arctic morning south-east of Bear Island sailing in the direction of the
convoy. She was attacked by H.M.S. Norfolk and steamed off at full speed. A few hours later she
again attempted to intercept the convoy but was driven off to the Norwegian coast. All that afternoon
she was followed by cruisers and destroyers and her position reported to H.M.S. Duke of York. Towards
afternoon the Duke of York contacted the enemy and scored a direct hit below her waterline which

1112
 n
December 26, 1943

greatly reduced her speed. In spite of this, she evaded the Duke of York. The destroyers H.M.H. Savage,
H.M.S. Saumarez, H.M.S. Scorpion and the Norwegian destroyer Stord followed her and, unsupported,
attacked her with torpedoes. Shortly afterwards, four other destroyers closed in and scored torpedo
hits which so reduced the speed of the Scharnhorst that the Duke of York was able to close in. The
Scharnhorst attempted to escape by altering her course, but was unable to evade the Duke of York
which hammered her with her 14-in guns and turned her into a burning wreck. The H.M.S. Jamaica then
sank the Scharnhorst by torpedo. Above, the Scharnhorst; and left, the map of battle.

1113
 Berlin is a marked city December 16, 1943

RAZING THE NAZI CAPITAL. On December 16 British planes, after dark and after thirteen nights of
respite,dropped more than 1,500 tons of bombs on Berlin, plus many thousands of other explosives
and incendiaries. Thirty bombers were lost in the attack. Before that, in the daylight, American planes
attacked the German port of Emden. It was Berlin's 96th air attack since the opening of the war, and as
shown in this picture, taken over the factory district, the bombs were finding their mark,
1114
The WACs are on their way December, 1943

"AND THEY WON'T BE BACK 'TIL

IT'S OVER. OVER THERE. In the
picture at tor), members of the
women's auxiliary corps. United
States Army, are shown embarking
for an overseas post, while below,
a WAC sergeant and two of he'-
colleagues take over a jeep. The
corps, entirely a volunteer organi-
zation, functions for the puroose of
replacing men who can then be
assigned to combat duty. Women
are entitled to same rank and pay
as men. The WACs became a
force of 90,000 strong.

1115
The distaff side in the American war effort December, 1943

MARINES AT WORK. Girl Marines

who have completed their "boot"
training at the U.S. Naval Reserve
Training School, Hunter College,
N. Y., are shown in the picture
above, relieving a man for combat
duty as they work on the files at
Camp Lejeune, N. C, while in the
bottom picture one of the "Devil
Dogs" gets a lesson in "logging
in" a plane at the Marine base.
Women Marines hold the same
jobs, title and pay as men Marines.
They have no nickname and are
not an auxiliary. In the months to
come they built a force of nearly
19,000 and were to win the respect
and confidence of their colleagues
in arms.

1116
Nazis pushed back into Poland January 3, 1944

RED VICTORY. In pushing the Nazis across the border into pre-war Poland, the Red Army in one year
hadthrust the German Army back 775 miles from Stalingrad, or approximately the distance from New
York to Chicago. Six hundred miles farther to the west lay Berlin. Here, as the great Soviet winter offen-
sive got under way, red army tankborne troops (m their winter whites) are given the signal to advance,
and before another month had passed this drive was to carry them across the border of Estonia.

1117
A new type of warfare hits England January 5, 1944

IMPULSE DUCT ENGINE

GRILL INCORPORATING SHUTTERS
& PETROL INJECTION JETS
FUEL TANK
CAPACITY
PNEUMATIC
SERVO MECHANISM
OPERATING RUDDER
6- ELEVATORS
WARHEAD
APPROX 1000 Kg AUTOMATIC PILOT.*
3AIRDRIVEN GYROS.'
HEIGHT &RANGE SETTING CONTROLS
PRESSED STEEL WING RIBS

SHEET STEEL WING COVERING

LIGHTALLOY NOSE STEEL TUBULAR
FAIRING PROBABLY MAIN SPAR PASSING'
CONTAINING COMPASS THROUGH FUEL TANK

GERMAN SECRET WEAPON. The people

of a London suburb on a January morn-
ing found the air filled with a strange,
terrifying noise like the whistling of a
giant kettle. Some thinking it was a
heavy bomb, scurried to shelter; others
looked up and caught a glimpse of a
new kind of propellerless plane. As the
aerial visitor repeated its scooting across
the sky the people came to know it and
called it "The Squirt." Above is a pro-
visional sectional drawing of the jet-
propelled pilotless miniature plane which
the Nazis were to direct against England
with such great success. The three draw-
ings at right show a head-on, bottom and
side view of the vaunted German secret
weapon. Wing span of the rocket plane
is 16 feet, its length 25 feet, AV2 inches.
Section marked X in the bottom drawing
shows the propulsion unit.

•» j>"
*«t

1118
Ringside view of war January, 1944

BATTLE FOR ORTONA. Here's a ringside view of the furious street fighting that characterized the battle
for and capture Ortona by Canadian troops of the British Eighth Army. At left a protesting, wounded
of
tank man is led from the scene by a medical corpsman, while another mercy worker looks on. At the
right a casualty gets first aid on the debris-strewn sidewalk as German snipers keep up a steady
fire. Below, a Canadian crew sends a General Sherman tank crashing through the streets of Ortona.

1119
Ceremony before the battle January 3, 1944

NEW YEAR CEREMONY ON THE PLAINS. Mohammedan troops from French Morocco, a unit of the
Fifth Army, are shown observing Great Feast, a solemn religious ceremony which marks
their Ait Kebir, or
the arrival of the New Year. (It is now 1364 on their calendar.) In Morocco it is the custom during the
feast that every married man kill a sheep, which is then roasted whole and eaten. Here, Major Jacques
Allard, left, commandant of the French Regiment, puts his "seal of approval" on the feast by tasting
one of the roasted sheep, a necessary part of this religious rite.
1120
 li

Ciano and De Bono reported executed January 11, 1944

PLOTTED MUSSOLINI'S OVERTHROW. Count

Galeazzo Ciano, former Italian foreign minister
and son-in-law of Benito Mussolini, was re-
ported by Germany's news agency, D.N.B., to
have been executed. Marshal Emilio de Bono
and sixteen other members of the former Grand
Fascist Council met death with him before a
firing squad outside the walls of Salvio Prison
in Verona, Italy. Ciano and de Bono were
accused of treason by the Special Fascist Tri-
bunal. The specific charge was conspiring to
oust Mussolini on July 24, 1943. At one time
Ciano was one of the most important figures in
international diplomacy, having figured promi-
nently in all of Italy's major negotiations, in-
cluding the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Pact. De Bono
led the military campaigns in Eritrea and
Ethiopia. Ciano at right, De Bono top.

1121
In the bright of a full moon

NIGHT AND THE SHELLS ARE FALLING. This is an Italian battle scene, protographed in the bright
ofa full moon, and probably the kind to be photographed. Peaceful Lagone, nestled in the hills
first of its

and in the path of the Fifth Army advance, containing a unit of the German winter line in Southern

1122
 T
January 4, 1944

Italy, is shelled artillery. Brilliant lighting from bursting shells light up the buildings, to
by American
the rear and Nazi positions are also being shelled by the Americans who trained at the School of
left
Fire at Forts Bragg and Sill. The use of Artillery was to play a big role in the Allied drive through Italy.

1123
American ingenuity

1124
 January 20, 1944

OUTWITTING THE NAZIS. A little

thing like a capsized ship doesn't

stand in the way of the U.S. Army-
engineers. Here, in Naples Harbor
they have outwitted the Nazis and
turned a deficit into an asset by
transforming an overturned ship
into a pier. Nazi demolition experts
who sank numerous ships in the
harbor at Naples, like this one, did
not count on the ingenuity of the
Engineers. The ship's superstruc-
ture, digging into the harbor bottom,
steadies the hull. All five hatches
of a Liberty ship can be unloaded
at once alongside this improvised
pier. All during the campaign
through Italy the Allies came across
numerous scenes of destruction
like the one pictured here, designed
to slow up the Allied march to
victory in the former Mussolini
stronghold.

1125
Invasion armada heads for Anzio

1126
 January 22, 1944

THE BATTLE FOR ROME IS

ON IN EARNEST. This picture
was taken as thehuge Allied
invasion fleet headed toward
beachheads in the Nettuno-
Anzio sector for the drive on
Rome. Barrage balloons soar
above the ship at the left, an
LST (Landing ship, tanks),
while in the center and right
background the sea is cov-
ered with invasion craft of
various types, and the Allies
had resumed their fight to
rescue the Eternal City from
her Germanic conguerors.
The first phase of the maneu-
ver actually started on Janu-
ary 17 when Canadian troops
on the east coast of Italy
launched an attack toward
Pescara. About the same hour
the British near the west coast
stormed across the Garigli-
ano River. Soon afterward the
Americans succeeded in es-
tablishing two bridgeheads
across the Rapido River.
These they later lost but the
purpose had been served.
Meanwhile, Allied planes had
bombed out the three rail-
ways leading down to Rome
from the north, so passage of
and supplies by the
troops
enemy was temporarily
blocked. On Friday (the
21st) bombers knocked out
the German headguarters for
the Rome area and early on
Saturday morning the Allied
1
:-
floating army landed some
thirty-five miles south of
Rome in the neighboring har-
bor at Nettuno. For some
weeks the issue was in doubt,
but by the end of February
the landings were fully es-
tablished and the Allies were
on the road to Rome.

U27
 Sailing along on the road to Rome January 22, 1944

THE SEA LEADS TO THE APPIAN WAY. An American soldier is silhouetted against a stretch of
water covered as far as the eye can see with craft of the Allied invasion fleet bound for the beachheads
in the Nettuno-Anzio area. The Allied troops had been prepared for a deadly battle on the beach, but to
their astonishment there was no opposition. Their surprise was nothing to that of the few Germans who
had been left to garrison the area, and it was not until four days later that units of two German Divisions
arrived to launch counter-attacks against both flanks of the Allied position. On the right flank the attacks
were in the neighborhood of Littoria; on the left flank the enemy struck near Carroceto.
1128
The Anzio beachhead is established January 22, 1944

A LANDING IS MADE AT NETTUNO. Waterfront hotels bring no thoughts of a happy holiday to these
Americans landing at Nettuno. The Fifth Army troops charging ashore south of Rome wonder if the one-
time exclusive playground houses hidden Nazis. In the bottom picture a mobile crane is unloading
material from one of the landing craft which helped engineer the successful amphibious end run.
Four days later Marshal Kesselring was able to launch a counter-offensive with his Axis forces.

1129
The Allies come ashore at Anzio-Nettuno January 22, 1944

A BEACHHEAD IS ESTABLISHED. In the picture at top, "Ducks" loaded with infantrymen swarm asnore
in the Anzio-Nettuno sector and, below, other American soldiers who participated in the invasion south
of Rome, move their equipment along the beach at Nettuno. The first stages of the battle of Anzio passed
off without a hitch, but the trouble came later when the Germans were able to throw in reserves.

1130
Moving ahead by land and by sea January 23, 1944

THE GERMANS FEEL OUR STRENGTH. In the picture at top, Landing craft, including "ducks" head for
the beachhead at Anzio, while in the picture below, big British self-propelled guns move into firing posi-
tion somewhere on the Rome beachhead. These heavy weapons were used to good advantage at Anzio.

1131
King Winter hits the Italian front January, 1944

COLD, TOUGH GOING. A long line of mules, loaded with supplies, plods through the snow headed for
the advanced Note the range of mountains in the background which gives an idea
British front in Italy.
of the tough terrain through which the Allies were fighting in the long, dark days of the Italian winter
which kept planes on the ground, slowed up the mechanized units and held the allied advance in
many sectors to a mere three or four miles a week. This heavy weather also held back the attacks on
Hitler's Balkan holdings until a slight break in the weather came around the 15th of January, allowing
Italian-based bombers to renew their day and night attacks on Sofia, capital of Bulgaria. The rugged
terrain and the snow and rain proved a combination that the Allies could not beat and caused a virtual
stalemate during the winter months.

1132
As the Russian Army rolled on January, 1944

RED SHARPSHOOTERS ON THE JOB. In their drive to recover Nazi-captured territory, the Soviet Army
made a town-by-town successful offensive. In this picture crack riflemen of the Russian Army man their
automatic rifles to dislodge a body of enemy forces from another populated place as the Russian troops
entered the historic central corridor into the European heartland. On their right, protecting them against
large-scale counter attack, was the natural barrier of the great Pripet marshes. On their left, the natural
fortresses of the Carpathian mountains. By entering this geographic highway the Red Army in effect cut
the battlefront in two parts; a 500 mile front from the Pripet Marshes to Leningrad and a 400 mile
southern front from the marshes to the Black Sea.

1133
Street fighting in Ortona January, 1944

*
N'
.

CANADIANS ON THE ADVANCE. Some of these Canadian infantrymen must feel as though they are
being stood against that battered wall in Ortona for execution, for from any window across the road might
come a stream of enemy bullets. These members of the Western Canadian Infantry are literally stalking
the enemy who has posted snipers in the battered dwellings. While the capture of Ortona was officially
announced on December 30, the fighting in this region continued for some weeks.

1134
Italy— four months after the initial landing January 22, 1944

u stria f j/^\- r'r^

BATTLE LINES
SEPT. is, 1943
SSPT. IV, 1945
OCT. 2, 1943
JAN. 21, 1944

THE ALLIES ARE ON THE ROAD TO ROME. This map shows the lines of battle as they appeared at
four different periods up and including the landing at Anzio and shows the slow, but steady, progress
to
made by the Allies since that eventful morning when Montgomery led his Eighth Army across the Strait
of Messina. Having established the Anzio beachhead, the next move of the Allies was to strike out for
— —
the two main arteries the Appian Way and the Via Casilina over which supplies flowed to the
Germans. But in January, however, bad weather caused a stalemate on all points of the front.

1135
Happy landing in the Marshalls

1136
January 30 February 4, 1944

A HEAVY BLOW TO JAPAN. The Japanese

knew the Americans were planning to in-
vade the Marshalls, but apparently thought
the attackwould start on the eastern chain
because they were nearer the Gil-
of atolls,
bert Islands which were conquered in
November. On January 30, 31, American
aircraft carriers sent swarms of planes to
pound the islands. Temporarily blinded, the
Japanese did not discover that a naval force,
probably greater than any ever before as-
—
sembled, was on its way not to the eastern
atolls, but to Kwajalein, in the sunset chain.
The American warships, including new bat-
tleships, subjected the enemy installations
on Kwajalein to a three-day bombardment
probably unparalleled in history. For twenty
years the Japanese had been building their
defenses, but they couldn't stand up under
such a shelling. Beach walls disappeared;
concrete tank obstacles crumbled; pillboxes
were smashed. This was a lesson the Navy
had learned from the costly assault on
Tarawa in the Gilberts; a more sustained
bombardment there might have saved lives.
Another new trick at Kwajalein was to avoid
an immediate head-on assault on the two
—
strongest enemy bases the islets of Roi and
Kwajalein. Instead, troops and artillery were
landed on near-by islets from which they
could advance from various directions on
Roi and Kwajalein under cover of pulveriz-
ing ground barrages. The foe was too
stunned to offer resistance as fierce as that
on Tarawa. The 4th Marine Division cap-
tured Roi on Tuesday, after having begun
the landings on Monday. The 7th Infantry
Division made the assault on Kwajalein islet.
They encountered sterner opposition, but by
the end of the week they had the Japanese
cornered at the end of the islet. American
forces then spread out to knock the enemy
offthe other islands of the atoll. In this pic-
ture,amphibious craft transporting Marines
and army troops to the battered shores, are
seen wiggling toward shore like a school
of deadly fish during the last stages of the
seizure of Kwajalein.

1137
Victory in the Pacific January 30, 1944

KWAJALEIN BOMBARDED. Less than three months after Tarawa fell, a giant and complex task force
composed of U.S. Navy warships and transports. Marines and Army troops smashed down on Kwajalein
Island in the heart of the Marshalls. An unprecedented aerial and ship bombartment devastated the island
before the troops set foot ashore. In the picture above, an enormous cloud of black smoke veils much of
the Kwajalein Atoll following a thunderous bombardment, while, below, guns of the task force open up
shortly before dawn on January 30. The outline of the warship can be dimly traced.
Old Glory goes up on Kwajalein February 4, 1944

THE RISING SUN SETS. Major General Charles H. Corlett, commander of the 7th Division, and another
officerstand under the Stars and Stripes shortly after the flag was hoisted on Kwajalein. In the attack
—
American casualties were unexpectedly low much lower than on Tarawa. As for the sea forces, not a
ship was sunk. Actually the islands were the first Japanese territory to be invaded by United States
forces since the war began. Tokio regarded them as the outer front line of the Japanese Empire.

1139
Kwajctlein: the softening up

RETRIBUTION COMES TO KWAJALEIN. In the foreground of the picture at top, is the long guay built by
the Japanese during their 25-year tenure on the Pacific atoll. Anumber of enemy landing barges can
be seen tied up to it. In the background spray and smoke arise as bombs dropped by navy planes

1140
 January 31 , 1944

explode. While in the picture below, long, sweeping clouds of smoke stream out from U.S. warships on a
"bombardment assembly line" as they pound enemy shores on Kwajalein during the second day of
the invasion. Shortly after the U. S. fleet entered the lagoon of the atoll, safe from enemy submarines.
The Russians cross the Estonian border

1142
 February 2, 1944

RED ARMY SCORES ON THREE

FRONTS. The Red Army scored
spectacular military victories
during the first week of February
at both ends of the long battle
front that winds across the con-
tinent from the Baltic to the
Black Sea. At the north end of
the battle line the Soviet Army
was smashing across the border
of Estonia. This northern offen-
sive, three weeks old, had
cleared the Nazis out of Lenin-
grad and pushed them back out
of an area forty miles deep by
a hundred miles wide. The Rus-
sians were at the gates of the
ancient city of Narva, Estonia,
and only a few miles from the
Gulf of Finland. In the Ukraine
sector there had been virtually
no change in the south Russian
battlefield inside the Dnieper
River bend, but on January 29
two Soviet armies suddenly
launched simultaneous offen-
sives, one of them pushing east
and the other pushing west. In
five days the two armies joined
hands, closing a circular pocket
some fifty miles in diameter.
Within the pocket were ten Ger-
man divisions; some estimates
placed the total of trapped Ger-
mans as high as 100,000; and as
shown in this picture these cap-
tured Nazis appeared weary and
ill-clad. Meanwhile, in the Polish
sector, the Russian columns had
captured Rovno and Lutsk,
eighty-five miles inside the old
Polish border and it was appar-
ent that the German high com-
mand had decided to withdraw
to the Bug River in the hope of
making a stand there. The river
is the boundary that separated

Germany and Russia when they

divided up Poland in 1939.

1143
The British move up in Italy February, 1944

HEAVY GOING. British soldiers of the Allied FifthArmy move up through Calabritto to forward positions
past a number of pieces of wrecked mechanized equipment in a ditch alongside of their path.

THROUGH THE RUINS. Men of a British regiment with support mortar companies marching through San
Clements as they advance in Italy, passing scene after scene of desolation and destruction from the
heavy fighting.

1144
The Chinese hit their stride February 5, 1944

FIGHT WAY INTO BURMA. Constructing the Ledo road into China was a matter of fighting both the
—
jungle and the Japanese at the same time a task which scarcely any one except General Stilwell would
undertake. For more than a year he drilled Chinese troops for the project and for the last few months
had been leading them successfully into northern Burma. In this picture three blindfolded Japanese are
being led to the rear by Chinese soldiers after their capture on the Northern Burma front. Of particular
interest are the modern U.S. combat helmets on soldiers at right and fifth from the right. They con-
firm the fact that at least a trickle of supplies was reaching the Chinese by air over the "hump".
Since the closing of the Burma road by the Japanese, the Chinese had to depend entirely on air
shipments from India. It was hoped that the Ledo road would provide supplies more plentifully.

1145
And a little child shall lead them February 7, 1944

u. ._ »• _•*. *- .-. ...-' -

SAVED FROM ENIEWETOK. Children of natives, rescued from the Japanese in Eniewetok Atoll, being put
ashore on a peaceful island by Coast Guardsmen manning landing craft, a few days after the American
invasion of this Pacific island which did not fall as readily as some of the other Japanese-controlled
islands. It was not until the end of the month that capitulation of the Atoll was officially announced.
American casualties were unexpectedly low in the Marshalls campaign, undoubtedly due to the terrific
bombardment American warships (including new battleships) poured on the enemy installations. On
Eniewetok, as on other areas taken by the Ameri6ans, our troops were for the most part warmly
welcomed. The Japanese had proven themselves bad colonizers.

1146
Burial at sea February, 1944

LAST RITES. The flag-draped body of a United States Marine killed in the fighting on a Pacific isle is
consigned to the sea from a transport standing off the island, as two navy chaplains in their Episcopal
robes conduct the burial at sea service and the marine's shipmates in their camouflaged battle dress pay
their last respects. Many of the Marines who were wounded in the fighting ashore had been hospitalized
aboard ship. When they died they were buried at sea. There were many scenes such as these, as
American action increased in the Pacific with a consequent rise in casualties.

1147
End of a Nazi dive bomber February 8, 1944

DOWN IN FLAMES OVER ANZIO. A German dive bomber falls in flames into Anzio harbor after
being hit Allied A. A. gunners during an attack on the landing beach shortly after the Allies had
by
forced a landing. The Germans suffered tremendous losses in their effort to hinder the Allied advance.

1148
Aid for the Allies in Anzio February 10, 1944

EQUIPMENT TO BLOCK THE NAZIS. One of the reasons the Allies were able to make such a stand in
the Anzio battle was their ability to land men and material at all times due to the marked superiority in the
air and on the sea. In this picture an Army Engineer shore regiment, composed of Negro troops, is
unloading ammunition from an LCT (Landing Craft, Tanks) in the Anzio area. Any halt in the stream
of supplies to Anzio would have cost the Allies the beachhead.

1149
Two episodes in the fighting in Italy February, 1944

-fi
K
^iJM&K^. **->

BLIMEY!— WHAT A RACKET. A Canadian of the Eighth Army plugs his ears as he and his buddies shoot
a mortar in the direction of German positions southeast of Tollo. For its size the mortar makes the biggest
racket of all the field guns. In the picture at bottom, our infantry troops don't stop to ask if anybody is home
as they storm a farmhouse on the way to Cassino. It houses a German observation post.

1150
Sidelights along the road to Rome

THE ALLIES ARE HOSPITABLE. In

the picture at right, a middle-aged,
bald-headed Nazi prisoner of the
Fifth Army in the Anzio area is
treated to a G.I. meal by his cap-

tors,while below, an American sol-

dier finds the answer as to how the
Italian child he has been playing
with in his spare moments would
look after an unsparing application
of soap and water. So when four-
year old Cleo, a friendly little girl,
wandered into his encampment he
gave her a good scrubbing. After
the scrub comes the towel and
Cleo's face shows results as our
soldier nears the finish of the little

Italian girl's ablutions.

1151
One-man submarine at Anzio beachhead February 6, 1944

YOUNG SKIPPER. U. S. Soldiers

examine the one-man submarine
(below) which landed on Peter
Beach, Anzio beachhead. The tube
on the left is the torpedo, the other
is the driving compartment, housing
one man. The torpedo tube is

shackled to the driving tube and

can be releqsed, allowing the pilot
to return safely. The pilot was a
17-year old Nazi (left) who was
captured in the submarine. He told
the officer that he had been in the
service only six months.

1152
Soldier of mercy February, 1944

PRECIOUS BURDEN. Going resolutely about their work, the medical soldiers of the U.S. Army are con-
tinually on hand where they are needed, bearing precious blood plasma and other materials to save the
lives of American soldiers. In this picture, loaded up with a life-saving burden of blood plasma and
blankets, this soldier of the medical corps prepares to set out to help the wounded in the Cassino area as
another corpsman helps adjust his sizeable pack.

1153
Devil dogs and their dogs

1154
 February, 1944

BRING ON THE JAPANESE. U. S. Marine

raiders and theirjungle trained dogs on a
Bougainville trail, ready to go to work hunting
Japanese snipers. The dogs, beside running
messages, are invaluable in seeking out Japa-
nese too well hidden for the sharp eyes of the
men to locate. The sharper senses of the dogs
locate the enemy who are quickly dispatched
to their ancestors by the leathernecks. The dogs
had been recruited in the United States and
many a home carried a service star in the
window for the family pet who was sharing
the discomforts of the war on a front far from
the family fireside, or yard, that it loved so
well. The great majority of the dogs were
returned to their masters safe and sound, but
many a home had to substitute a gold star
for theblue star which signified that the family
pet had gone into action with the armed forces.

1155
 'Long Tom" sends a message to the Italians February, 1944

TOUGH ON THE EARDRUMS OF FRIEND AND FOE. An American 155 mm. "Long Tom" blows a smoke
ring in the sky as sends another load of death screaming toward the enemy in the Cassino sector of
it

Italy. Members of the gun crew hold their hands over their ears, for the "Long Tom's" voice is robust and
not very kind to the ears of those nearby or those who are on the receiving end. The "Long Tom" was
one of the most effective units of American heavy artillery.

1156
Task force interlude February 6, 1944

TIME OUT ON A SOUTH PACIFIC

ISLAND. Jungle fighting is tough
and dirty, and when fighting Japa-
nese there is very little time for the
care of the teeth. But the first thing
this officer of the United States
Army fright) did after emerging
from the front lines was to brush
his teeth. Below, palm fronds bow
gracefully in the wind, framing
in tropical beauty the silhouetted
ships of a United States Navy task
force, lying at anchor off one of the
atolls it helped conquer. Ashore,
men of the Navy set up their camp
on the conquered island.

1157
Back against their old enemy February, 1944

BACK IN ACTION. A column of French soldiers part of a unit fighting with the Fifth Army in Italy files
through the ruined town of Acquafondata after Nazi patrols and snipers have been wiped out. The French,
once again fighting their traditional enemies, the Germans, also routed them from Casale.

THE PATHS OF GLORY. Two French soldiers examine with satisfied smiles the graves of Nazi soldiers
who died trying to keep Acquafondata against the attack of the French troops in the allied advance.

1158
On the prowl for Nazis February 12, 1944

STREET SCENE IN ANZIO. Their beachheads secured, British infantrymen move through Anzio on the
hunt for Germans. The first stages of the battle south of Rome passed without a hitch; the trouble came
later and soon the "secured beachhead" was stained with Allied and German blood. The first major Ger-
man offensive designed to push the Allies off the beach below Rome was brought to a halt after the Nazis
had gained about five miles and pushed the British out of two towns, Campoleone and Carroceto, ten
miles from Anzio. The Germans struck hard in their effort to drive the Allies into the sea, but the Allied
lines, aided by superior air power, were able to hold off the Nazi drive. It wqs too early, however, to say
that the Nazis had lost their offensive punch. They had elements of perhaps as many as nine divisions on
the beachhead front, and they still had orders to drive the Allies into the sea. There was no respite either
for the British on the northern rim or the Americans on the eastern flank and for a few days bad weather
slowed up our advantage in the skies. Despite the comparative ease with which the beachhead was
established, the fight to break out of the Anzio pocket was to be a prolonged one.

1159
Japanese surrender on Namur Island

DESTROYING THE ENEMY ON NAMUR. On February 3, the process of annihilating the enemy was
proceeding on Namur Island. The remnants of the Japanese garrison had been trapped. About 36
hours after the fall of Namur, a blockhouse was found on the island still to be in the hands of the
enemy. Moreover, it was soon discovered that it still contained a somewhat larger garrison than

1160
 February 3, 1944

was at first suspected. It was supposed that the occupants had been waiting for a counter-attack
when it is presumed they would have emerged and taken part in the renewed fighting. Their strong
point was, however, blown up. The picture shows the capture of those of its occupants who remained
alive after the destruction of the blockhouse. They surrendered to the United States Marines.

1161
A.A.F. over Germany at dawn February 15, 1944

stttVlr- \

A.A.F. OVER BERLIN. February 15, the A.A.F. made a very large-scale dawn attack on
On
Berlin. Over dropped 2,500 tons of bombs at the rate of eighty tons a minute. The
1,000 aircraft
ground defenses were active but little fighter opposition was met. Large fires were started and
the smoke clouds rose four miles high. The communications of the city were put out of action.
Top: Escorting fighters on the raid show fantastic vapor trails. Bottom: Incendiary bombs drop
towards their target.
1162
Good neighbor policy in the Pacific February, 1944

IN THE NEW YORK TRADITION. A member of the "Fighting 69th" opens two cans of "C" rations con-
taining cookies and candies and presents them to a native girl and her mother walking along the road
between two villages on the eastern end of Makin Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, an American occupied base
seized in the bitter fighting with- the Japanese in the latter part of November, 1943. Makin had been
raided earlier in the war, although no attempt was made to take it.

1163
Cassino takes a lacing February 6, 1944

ANCIENT ABBEY IN THE NEWS. Smoke rises from the Italian town of Cassino during the bombard-
ment by Army, February 6, prior to the bombing by flying fortresses of the ancient
artillery of the Fifth
Benedictine Monastery (shown on peak-top) nine days later. The Nazis had been using the ancient
monastery as a lookout post from which to direct artillery fire and as a shelter for their gunners. The
American command debated many days before levelling the monastery.

1164
A Monastery is wrecked February 15, 1944

MODERN DANTE'S INFERNO. Taken from a USAAF reconnaissance plane a few minutes after the last
wave ofbombers had turned away from the record-breaking aerial assault on the Benedictine monastery
atop Mount Cassino, this picture provides graphic evidence of the devastation wrought upon the Nazi
bastion by hundreds of tons of high explosives. This partial view of Cassino (the abbey shrouded by
—
smoke) shows that not one structure remained untouched by Allied bombs the abbey was in ruins.
1165
Bombs rain on Japan's "Pearl Harbor'

1166
 February 16, 1944

TRUK IN FLAMES. Hard on the heels

of thesmashing U.S. victory at Kwajalein
and twenty-six months after Pearl Harbor,
the United States paid the Japanese back
in kind, although without the peacetime
sneak element. At dawn on Wednesday,
February 16, several hundred American
planes, flying from carriers, swooped
—
down on Truk which is to Japan what
Hawaii is to the United States and —
rained bombs down on the enemy fleet
sitting in the placid lagoon. On Decem-
ber 7, 1941, a few more than a hundred
Tokio planes took part in the attack on
Pearl Harbor; our armada that blasted
Truk on this February morning must have
been as much as three times as large.
Escorting the carriers on the raid was a
powerful naval force, including battle-
ships, cruisers and destroyers. The attack
on Truk was more than a raid; it was a
challenge to the enemy fleet to come out
and fight. The challenge was not ac-
cepted, and the task force assault of
February 16, 17, ended the legend that
the Carolinas' base was invulnerable.
Some idea of the terrain of the Japanese
base and the extent of its formidable in-
stallations can be gathered from th's
official United States Navy photograoh
taken during the great raid. Forty ships
were sunk or damaged and 201 planes
were destroyed. But still remaining were
the extensive airfields, troop concentra-
tions and installations portrayed in this
picture. In the harbor a flotilla of Japa-
nese vessels of varying sizes huddles
under the rain of U.S. Navy bombs, while
the largest of the ships smokes from a
hit forward.

1167
A Japanese warship goes up in smoke February 16, 1944

CAUGHT ON THE RUN. A towering column of blade smoke marks the sinking of a Japanese patrol vessel
blasted by the five-inch guns of a United States warship as the enemy craft was fleeing from Truk
harbor. The patrol craft was one of the forty ships sunk or damaged in the two-day raid on what was
supposed to be the impregnable "Pearl Harbor" of our Tokio enemy.

1168
Eniwetok falls February 18, 1944

*•

ANOTHER STEPPING-STONE. Swooping down to within one hundred feet of the ground, a U.S. Navy-
plane from one of the aircraft carriers supporting the invasion, snapped this action photograph of the
seizure of Eniwetok in the Marshalls. The atoll was captured on February 19, 1944, by a combined force
of Marines and infantrymen. In this picture a giant shellhole in the sand affords admirable cover for
Marines advancing across the atoll against the beleaguered Japanese defenders. Outlined in its own
ashes at the left is a wrecked two-motored Japanese plane.

1169
Along the highway to Tokio February i3, 1944

JAPAN'S BLACKEST MONTH. Probably no month in Japan's history had been so black as the month of
February. American successes in the far-flung islands of the Pacific, from New Guinea to the Marianas,
left no doubt of the offensive power of the United States. Premier Tojo told his cabinet that the "situation
was truly grave," and that the empire literally was "standing at the crossroads of a rise or fall." Tojo
—
then acted by dismissing chiefs of the army and navy general staffs Field Marshal Sugiyama and
Admiral Nogano. In this picture a task force moves in to seize Engebi on February 18.

1170
The cost of an invasion February 19, 1944

WE PAY FOR ENIWETOK. Coast Guard and Navy medical corpsmen prepare to evacuate Marine
casualties by landing craft back during the seizure of Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshalls on
to transports
Caturday, February 19. Note the line of blood plasma bottles above wounded men, and activity on the beach-
head as supplies and reserve troops pour in. Americans took over the northwesternmost atoll of the
Marshall group, extending the American spearhead another 400 miles in the direction of Tokio. The
American blows were following each other with a speed that gave the Japanese no rest.

1171
Front row view of a sea battle off Saipan

1172
 February 22, 1944

A TASK FORCE IN ACTION. Detected by the

%fi foe as sailed daringly into the range of land
it

based planes, a United States Navy task force

grimly fought off Japanese raiders foreleven
hours. Then in the teeth of the aerial storm it
launched its own planes to strike a smashing
blow at Saipan and Tinian in the Marianas on
Washington's birthday, 1944. Spitting death
with precision and accuracy, the guns of ships
in the task force shot down fourteen Japanese
torpedo bombers and dive bombers to bring
the total score of enemy planes destroyed in
the raid up to 135. Six U.S. Navy planes were
lost, five enemy ships were sunk or damaged
in the blow, loosed by the same task force
which had hammered Truk in the Carolinas
group so successfully only five days previ-
ously. In this action-studded picture, pilots and
crewmen of a U.S. Navy carrier cheer exul-
tantly as guns of their task force send a Japa-
nese plane to a blazing finish. Smoke from the
burning plane and from anti-aircraft shells
blend into the leaden background provided by
the overcast sky. The Americans were on their
way and with such speed that the Japanese
were badly confused. After this spectacular
demonstration of America's might by the air-
plane carrier task force under Rear Admiral
Marc A. Mitscher, Premier Tojo dismissed the
chiefs of the Army and Navy general staffs,
FieldMarshal Sugiyama and Admiral of the
Fleet Nogano, men whose positions corre-
sponded to those of General Marshall and
Admiral King in this country.

1173
Two kings of the jungle February 22, 1944

REUNION IN BURMA. Gen. Frank Merrill, right, confers with Lieut. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell as
Brig.
the campaign in northern got under way. The American troops under command of General Merrill
Burma
had plunged into the jungle on Washington's birthday and started a one-hundred mile march into the
Hukawng Valley, where General Stilwell's Chinese troops already were pressing back the Japanese in a
drive to clear the Ledo highway route to China. The Americans had mules to haul their equipment.

1174
The Nazis did a good job here February 23, 1944

SLOWING UP THE ALLIES. German engineers did a bang-up job of wiping off the map this road
winding near the summit of a steep hill in the path of the British Eighth Army's drive through Italy. The
road was wrecked when the Nazis blasted away a considerable chunk of the hill, but the unbeatable 8th
Army by-passed the road and pushed ahead as they had done on so many fronts since El Alamein.
1175
A million tons of warships drop anchor
DEFYING THE JAPANESE. A million tons of U.S.
Naval might are given a visual meaning in this pic-
ture of part of the first U.S. Navy war fleet to drop
anchor in waters that were Japanese prior to the
Pearl Harbor attack. Taken at Kwajalein shortly
the Marshall Island atoll had been conquered.

1176
February, 1944
 MARCH*AUGUST
rlROUGHOUT March and April, Allied and
German forces continued the drawn-
battle of Italy. was not until
It May12 that
Americans and British began the offensive
that turned the tide of victory in their favor.
Operations began with an assault on Cassino,
so stubbornly held by the Germans for many
months. Castleforte* fell on May 14 and four
days later the Allies entered Cassino, Esperia
and Formia. On May 23 the drive to break out
of the Anzio beachhead pocket was launched.
As in the battle to the south, the Allies now
possessed the advantage of complete su-
periority in the air, a factor which played a
big part in the following successful days. The
break-through was accomplished on May 25
when the Anzio forces joined the main group
coming north at Littoria.
By May 30 General Clark's Fifth Army was
engaging the enemy in Alban Hills just south
of Rome. They won Mount Peschio on June
I, and then, on June 4, marched into the
Eternal City which they found about ninety-
five percent intact, despite the heavy pound-
ing which had been directed at its railroad
yards. Throughout June and July the Germans
retreated steadily northward. On July 19 an
official communique announced the capture
by the Allies of Leghorn on the west coast and
Ancona on the east- coast. This meant that
two-thirds of the Italian boot was now in Allied
hands. But from here the advance during
August was fractional. The Germans were
making a stand along their famous and
strongly fortified Gothic Line, about 100 miles
north of Rome.
RUSSIA CLOSES IN
MARCH found the Russians making great
strides in the south. On March 13 their
forces crossed the Dnieper River and took the
Black Sea port of Kherson at a cost to the
Germans of 63,000 men. After Kherson, the
drive on Nikolayev and the big base at Odessa
began. When Nikolayev was captured on
March 28, theRussians immediately rushed
six divisions to the Prut River, the border be-
tween Russia and Rumania. Two days later
this army took Cernauti, the principal city of
Bukovina, ceded to Russia by Rumania in 1940
and captured by the Nazis in 1941. Odessa
held out until April 10.
To the east in Crimea, heavy fighting was
qoing on for the possession of this peninsula.
Kerch was entered by the Russians on April
II. On May 9, Sevastopol, badly battered after
withstanding its second siege of the war, was
regained by the Russians. This victory virtu-
ally ended Axis resistance in Crimea. An offi-
cial Russian communique announced on May
12 that the five-week campaign in Crimea had
cost German and Rumanian armies 111,857
men.
The Russians did not begin their serious
drive in the north until early July. By July 10,
however, they had reached the Latvian border,
and on July 13 had taken Vilna, which they
had encircled weeks earlier. Two weeks later,
on July 27, they enjoyed one of their greatest
days of the war when Lwow, Bialystock and
Divinsk were taken within 24 hours. A few
days later they were laying siege to Warsaw
from 10 miles away and on August 1 were
within 12 miles of East Prussia, being the first
time they were within sight of pre-war German
soil. On the same day Kaunas, capital of
Lithuania, fell to another Russian army.
The first of the Axis satellites to desert the
combination was Rumania whose King Mihai,
with his country torn by the struggle between
the Russian invaders and Nazi "protectors",
surrendered to the Allies on August 23. The
Germans continued the battle of Rumania for
some days but rapidly lost ground. The Rus-
sians took the strategic Black Sea port of
Constanta, August 29, and marched into
Ploesti, center of the Rumanian oil fields, on
August 30. Thus, as the fifth year of the war
ended, Germany had lost all the Russian ter-
ritory gained in 1941 and 1942, and retained
a slipping finger-hold on the Baltic States.
FAR EAST AND PACIFIC
ACTION in the Burma theater began in late
kMarch by a Japcmese thrust from Burma
By April 14 they had completely sur-
into India.
*
rounded Imphal, important Indian city, and
were making deeper penetrations westwards.
Simultaneously with the Japanese move, how-
ever, a combined group composed of Ameri-
can infantry, Chinese troops and General
Wingate's Raiders started an offensive of their
own, calculated to reopen the Burma Road. By
May 21 they had entered the critical Japanese
base at Myitkyina, although heavy fighting
still raged for actual possession of this prize
for many weeks. By this time, the threat to
Imphal and other points in India had waned,
and the Japanese were retreating into Burma.
In New Guinea, General MacArthur's forces
made another leap in their northwesterly
progress along the coast when on April 23
1179
they landed strong forces at Hollandia and
Aitape. Within a few days all enemy resist-
ance in this area had ceased and the retreat-
ing troops were being cut down by air attack
which was particularly effective in the Wewak
area. Signs of growing Allied naval strength
were indicated on May 19 by a carrier force
raid on Surabaya, the former Dutch naval
base which had been in Japanese hands since
the spring of 1942.
Biak Island was invaded successfully by
American forces on May 27. This brought Mac-
Arthur one step nearer to the Philippines to
which he had promised to return when he left
in 1942. June 15 brought the first serious bomb-
ing of Japan proper since the Doolittle raid.
A force of new B-29 bombers, operating from
Chinese bases, successfully raided the Owata
steel works on the island of Kyushu.
More big news was announced on June 15
when it became known that a large American
force had landed on Saipan Island in the
Marianna group. The battle for Saipan lasted
until July 9 and cost the Americans nearly
10,000 casualties. Other American invasions
in this area were the islands of Guam and
Tinian, both launched July 22. Tinian was com-
pletely in American hands by August 2, al-
though control of Guam was not gained until
August 10.
FRANCE
FOR months the world had been waiting the
news of an Allied invasion of France and
the establishment of a western front. Starting
in the Fall of 1943, American and British
planes had pounded steadily at German in-
dustry and communications. The tempo had
increased in the Spring of 1944 with special
concentration on French railroad centers, an
indication that the invasion operations were
near at hand.
"D" Day came on the morning of June 6.
Supported by a great assemblage of war-
ships and supply vessels, American, British
and Canadian troops landed on the shores of
Normandy. The British and Canadians came
ashore near Caen, and the Americans selected
a spot farther to the east. Within forty-eight
hours it was known that the Allied beach-
heads were safe and had been won at a cost
considerably under pre-conceived estimates.
The Americans took Bayeaux, June 8, Caren-
tan, June 12, and then drove northeast to-
wards Cherbourg, the only deep-water port
on the Coentin Peninsula. Cherbourg fell June
27, an important victory which gave the
Americans a port for the landing of heavy
equipment. For the next 30 days, the Nazis
1180
kept the Americans well bottled up in Nor-
mandy, although an important gain was the
American capture of St. Lo on July 19.
Meanwhile, the British and Canadians had
been having their difficulties in the Caen area.
After out-flanking and finally surrounding it,
they captured the city on July 9. In England
the populace was experiencing a new terror,
the robot bomb. A few days after "D" Day,
the robots began falling in the London area
in large quantities. They were sped from
launching platforms in the Pas-de-Calais sec-
tor of France, and so regulated to end their
flight and drop on London. On July 7, Prime
Minister Winston Churchill revealed that 8,000
persons had been killed or injured.
The great American offensive started on
July 26 when armored units under the com-
mand of General George S. Patton broke out
of the Normandy pocket. By August 2, Pat-
ton's forces had entered Brittany, some units
speeding towards Brest and some cutting di-
rectly across the base of the peninsula. They
took Rennes August 4, and then executed a
flanking maneuver in an easterly direction to-
wards Le Mans. Important victories were
scored on August 10 when the Americans took
St. Malo in Brittany, Nantes —
which sealed up
—
the peninsula and LeMans. Canadians broke
out of the Caen pocket on August 9 and started
a drive to join the American forces working
north from LeMans. In this fashion a trap was
sprung on the Germans still in the Normandy
area. During the next days the Germans'
frantic attempts to escape through the slowly
closing jaws met with only partial success.
Their losses in men and irreplaceable equip-
ment were critical, and to the boldness of this
Allied operation can be attributed much of
the reason for the triumph in France.
On August 15, another blow was struck
when Americans landed in southern France.
Coming from bases in Italy, they landed in
the Riviera sector between Marseille and
Nice. They met with relatively minor opposi-
tion and were soon driving up the Rhone River
valley. After the capture of LeMans, Patton's
men moved forward with incredible speed. By
August 21 they had crossed the Seine and
were outflanking Paris. This city was reported
freed by the French Forces of the Interior on
August 21, but it was not until August 24 that
its liberation was assured by the entrance of
Allied troops. On August 29, Americans
bridged the Marne, and on August 31 they
were in Chateau Thierry of World War I fame.
September 1, 1944, the fifth anniversary of the
Second World War, found the Battle of France
won and the Battle for Germany about to
begin.
The paths of glory near their end for Hitler March 1, 1944
F~

I ttNnuf

**

THE TUMULT AND THE SHOUTING DIES. As the last half of the fifth year of the war got under way.
Adolf Hitler found the day of reckoning drawing closer and closer; before the year had ended the Allies
were swarming all over France and driving his legions to surrender or back to the German soil. In this
picture, taken (in 1936) at a Nuremberg congress, der Fuehrer, using a somewhat forceful gesture, is
shown addressing his adherents in the Luitpold Arena, with the Nazi swastika outlined on the platform.
1181
American bombers blast Berlin for the first time

1182
 ni

March 4, 1944

MUSTANGS AND FORTRESSES HIT IN DAY-

LIGHT. American Flying Fortresses dropped
bombs on Berlin in daylight for the first time
on March 4, 1944, while other groups of Ameri-
can heavy bombers raided targets in Eastern
Germany. Fourteen American bombers and
twenty-six fighters failed to return from the day's
mission over Germany. Only forty German
planes rose to intercept the raiders over the
German capital. This round-trip flight of 1,200
miles from British bases to the Nazi capital
and back was made in temperatures as low as
76 degrees below zero and in blinding snow-
storms. The weight of bombs dropped only
gave Berliners a taste of what they were to
get in coming weeks from American Fortresses
and Liberators and the load was infinitesimal
compared with the 32,000 tons which the Royal
Air Force had dumped into the German capital
in ninety-five raids by heavy bombers and a
number of lighter attacks by Mosquitoes. Since
the battle of Berlin began last November 18,
R.A.F. bombers had made more than fifteen
major attacks and dropped 23,800 tons of
—
bombs more than three times the weight
hurled at London during the entire 1940-41
blitz, and now, with the Americans taking to
the air in the daytime, the Battle of Berlin was
on in earnest. In this picture hits are registered
on a textile and rayon plant in the Wittenberg
district, southwest of greater Berlin, during the
daylight attack.

1183
Raids on Berlin protested March 5, 1944

THE CLERGY PROTEST, On Sunday, March 4, twenty-eight American clergymen and other leaders-
including the Rev. Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, John Haynes Holmes, Oswald Garrison Villard and the
—
Rev. Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers issued a protest against obliteration bombing of German cities and
urged an end to "participation in this carnival of death." In this picture American bombs, dropped by
raiders of the U.S. 8th A.A.F., get their target in the industrial section of the Nazi capital.

1184
Wearing down the Luftwaffe March 6, 1944

HEADACHES FOR HITLER & CO. The American Air Force took up in a big way by daylight the task
—
which the Royal Air Force had been carrying out so powerfully by night the obliteration of Berlin as
—
the capital of Germany. A second goal was to destroy the Luftwaffe on the wing an objective which
could be achieved better by daylight. Evidence of the clarity with which the U. S. Army airmen could
spot the landmarks of Berlin is shown in this picture in which the Sportspalast stands out vividly.

1185
The battle of Berlin at its peak

RAZING THE NAZI CAPITAL. The war in the air

reached a new and perhaps decisive phase on
March 6 when about 800 American heavy bombers
fought their way through the massed strength of
the German metropolitan air force to blast fac-
tories, airfield and other
military installations. The
air battles raged around and within the
that
tight, wedge-shaped formations of Flying Fort-
resses and Liberators were the greatest in history,
with more than 2,000 tons of bombs dropped on
Berlin's vital industrial and military targets.
American losses in the big blow at the Nazi capital
were heavy, sixty-eight bombers and eleven fight-
ers failed to return, while 176 Nazi planes were
downed in the fierce fighting; ninety-three planes
were accounted for by Flying Fortresses and Lib-
erators, while Allied escorting craft destroyed
eighty-three of the enemy machines. In addition
to these heavy losses to the Nazi fighter force,
already suffering from the effect of two weeks of
the Allies' heavy day and night attacks over the
Reich, returning pilots reported "first rate" bomb-
ing results in the heart of the Nazi capital. The
attack, which was not the biggest daylight opera-
tion of the war, was by far the heaviest daylight
attack on Berlin. "Bombs were seen to fall on
assigned targets," General Spaatz reported in
his communique, but many of the missiles had to
be loosed at random due to the overcast sky. In
this picture, while her sister ships roar on, a huge
cloud of smoke is all that remains of a U. S. 8th
A. A. F. Flying Fortress which received a direct
hit from flak and exploded over the suburbs of
Berlin during the large-scale operation.

1186
March 6, 1944

1187

i
Sniper inn on Bougainville March, 1944

LIFE IN THE FOXHOLES. In the picture at top, a U. S. Soldier is shown on the alert in a foxhole on
Bougainville, complete with sandbags and camouflage cover, while in the picture below, taken on Hill 700,
a live Japanese soldier, evidently terrified, is shown during battle action on the same island. He
had hidden himself in an American foxhole where he crouched until he was taken alive.

1188
Temporary stalemate in Italy March 7, 1944

MAKING THEMSELVES AT HOME. In the first part of March the military position in southern Italy
remained unchanged, both in the Anzio beachhead and on the Gustav line to the south. Allied com-
manders thought the Germans were probably organizing their troops for a fourth offensive, designed to
drive the Allies into the sea, but if so it had not begun. Sixty miles deeper in Italy the Americans clung
to about one-third of the town of Cassino, but had not yet launched a major attack to knock the Germans
out of that which barred the road to Rome. The Americans and British were badly handicapped by the
mountainous country which made progress almost impossible in bad weather. The Germans would
station themselves on a hill and hold it until driven off by heavy attack. They would then fortify an-
other hill for which they would exact a high price before giving up. In this picture a squad of American
G. I.'s make themselves at home in what used to be a Nazi pill-box on the Gustav Line.

1189
Distraction on the Burma front

1190
 March, 1944

MOVING UP. American

trained Chinese troops move
up to the Burma front, pass-
ing Japanese dead. Note how
the soldiers are holding their
nostrils. Scenes like this were
common as General Stilwell's
drive to open a road to China
gained momentum. Columns
of the British 14th Army went
into action for the first time
in support of the American-
Chinese offensive, making a
surprise thrust from the upper
Chindwin River that threat-
ened to outflank the Japanese
retreating from the Hukawng
Valley. The Japanese were
harassed further by airborne
troops that landed behind
their lines. Although the
enemy had a big head start
in the technique of jungle
fighting at the beginning of
the war, it was evident that
the Americans and British
were learning all the tricks
and adding a few new frills.

1191
The General and the Admiral meet March, 1944

ON THE BURMA FRONT. Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, supreme commander Southeast Asia com-
mand, confers with Lieut. Gen. Joseph Stilwell shortly after Brigadier General Frank Merrill's American
infantry units had gone into action against the Japanese. The first assignment for the American fighters
in Burma was to cut their way through trackless jungle, outflanking the Japanese who, at the time, were
holding up the Chinese advance. This maneuver was an adaptation of the Japanese road-block tac-
tics which proved so devastating against the British in Malaya and Burma at the beginning of the war,

1192
The Admirals inspect some new bases March, 1944

LOOKING OVER THE MARSHALLS. Admiral C. W. Nimitz, left, Commander-in-chief, U.S. Pacific fleet
and Pacific Ocean and Admiral (then Vice Admiral) Raymond A. Spruance, commander of the
areas,
Central Pacific force, U.S. Pacific fleet, on an inspection trip of newly acquired bases in the Marshall
Islands. They returned to their headquarters well pleased with the results obtained by their men.

1193
Nazis cut off in the Ukraine March 7, 1944

THE RUSSIANS PUSH ON. be crushed by

Hitler consistently refused to believe that his divisions could
the Russians, but the Red Army demonstrated at Stalingrad and Korsun trap that his con-
later in the
fidence was unwarranted. Nevertheless, Hitler allowed perhaps half a million troops to remain in the
Dnieper River bulge in South Russia while attention was focused on the Soviet drive in the Baltic region
a thousand miles to the north. The result was that thousands of Nazi troops were taken prisoner (as
shown in picture at top) and the entire German force in the Ukraine was put in a position which would
be called disastrous except that the Nazi high command so freguently had wiggled its men out of seem-
ingly hopeless spots. Two days later the Russians entered Tarnopol and were threatening the important
bases at Nikolayev and Kherson. The Russians were on their way to Rumania and the recapture of
Bessarabia. In the picture at bottom, a Soviet captain of the Ukrainian Army leads his men in an im-
promptu celebration marking the success of the Red Army.

1194
 I

The Italian fleet in the news again March 9, 1944

~
THE FLEET TO STAY NEAR
HOME. The hullabaloo over the
disposition of the Italian fleet
tended to overshadow the mili-
tary developments in Italy due
to President Roosevelt remark-
ing that a third of the Italian
fleet might be turned over to
Russia, drawing the fire of Pre-
mier Badoglio, who threatened
to resign over what he called a
blow at the dignity of his gov-
ernment. However, the matter
was smoothed over when Prime
Minister Churchill announced
that the Italian fleet would con-
tinue to operate in the Mediter-
ranean. One unit of the fleet,
the cruiser Eugenio Di Savoia, is
shown at the right, while, below,
a group of vessels, including a
midget submarine, is shown
tied up at Malta after their sur-
render to the Allies.

1195
The French feel the pangs of hunger March, 1944

UNDER THE NAZI HEEL. Hunger and privation were the lot of many of the people of France under Nazi
domination, and thousands of children and old persons were unable to subsist on the sparse diet allowed
by the Germans who had taken over all but the bare necessities of life for their own use. In the picture
at top hundreds of Parisians are shown lined up waiting for a food store to open, while below, some
old people, unable to stand in line, await a meagre handout. •
The end of a coup in Argentina March 10, 1944

A NEW PRESIDENT TAKES THE REINS. Gen. Edelmiro J. Farrell, left, assumed the office of President
of Argentina on March 10,following the formal resignation of President Pedro Ramirez, right. General
Farrell had been acting President of the South American nation since February 25, 1944, when the
Argentine colonels' cligue, known as the G. O. U., staged a coup ea r ly in the morning and forced the
resignation of President Ramirez to prevent a declaration of war against Germany and Japan which
was schedued to be issued the last week of February. On March 1 President Farrell and his government
survived what, in the intention of its organizers, should have been a vast counter-revolutionary move-
ment, having as its program the restoration of General Ramirez to the presidency and the calling of free
elections at the earliest possible date. The entire navy and a considerable part of the army were to
have participated in the coup, but because of a lack of coordination between units that should have risen,
or because of a mistake in timing, only one regiment, the Third Infantry, revolted, then the regiment,
seeing that it was unaided, surrendered without firing a shot. Recognition of the Farrell regime, how-
ever, was withheld by America and Great Britain on account of the government's pro-Nazi sympathies.
While not a belligerent, Argentina's role in World War II was filled with significance. Under the
aegis of the good neighbor policy, all of the other Latin American nations had come to the support
of the United States in the pursuit of the war. For years Germany had been cultivating the friendship of
the South American country, even sending her military experts to train Argentina's army which came
to closely resemble the Wehrmacht. Soon after the United States entered the war it became apparent
that Germany had agents stationed in Argentina who were giving valuable military information to the
Fatherland. The efforts of both the United States and Great Britain to alienate Argentina from Axis ties
had met little success up to this date.
1197
Baptism of fire March, 1944

WARM RECEPTION FOR THE FOE. The Americans mop up on Bougainville. Even the bazooka does not
rout some Japanese from their holes,the flame-thrower must be brought into use. Note the two sol-
and
diers firing as the flame man uses weapon against this enemy pillbox on Bougainville. Fighting had
been continuing on the important island of the Solomons since the American landings in November.
Although practically cut off from their source of supplies, the Japanese were still struggling.

1198
The French underground action March, 1944

SABOTAGE HITS THE NAZIS. The French Underground, composed of patriots who kept on resisting
theGerman conquerors in every possible manner, was of terrific help to the Allied movement. Their
work consisted of slowing up production in munitions and arms factories. Examples of sabotage are
shown in these two pictures of wrecked trains. Hundreds of Frenchmen were arrested by the Gestapo
and shot in reprisals, but the underground movement kept on, patiently waiting for the day of deliverance.
The Germans try to stem the Russian tide March 14, 1944

A RED AVALANCHE ROLLS

ON. In these pictures, captured
German newsreel photos, two
German gun crews are shown on
duty behind their gun on the
Ukrainian front. The Nazi high
command apparently had hoped
to gain time by making a stand
on the Bug River, but Marshal
Konev's 2nd Ukrainian Army
broke through, crossed the river
and pushed west. The German
retreat was ragged and disor-
derly in places. In capturing one
railroad junction the 2nd Army
seized two whole military trains
loaded with Nazi war eguipment.

1200
 Some Japanese retire from the strife of battle March, 1944

THEIR TOUGH DAYS ARE OVER. Japanese prisoners captured in recent Central Pacific operations
debark from a ship which brought them to a Pacific base. They are wearing clothing furnished them
by the United States and are bound for a prison camp where they were to receive all consideration
due them under the Geneva Convention. This was in sharp contrast to the barbaric treatment accorded
American and other Allied soldiers captured by the Japanese during their early success in the Pacific
theatre. Allied prisoners who were fortunate enough to escape from their Japanese captors brought back
blood-curdling stories of atrocities practiced on themselves and their buddies. The Japanese in this
picture had apparently decided that being captured was better than dying for the Emporer.

1201

L ^
Tough going for the Russian troops March 16, 1944

ADVANCING THROUGH THE SNOW. Red Army tommy gunners in white winter camouflage go into
action on the front line on the Ukrainian front, despite the heavy winter weather. The Russians seemed
to thrive on this "heavy going" but not so the Germans who were being captured by the thousands as
Marshal Konev's fast moving army pushed on westward toward Rumania in what Berlin called a
"disengaging movement."

1202
Landings in the Admiralty Islands March, 1944

SOUTH-WEST PACIFIC ACTION. On March 15 American troops landed on Manus Island in the
Admiralty group after a heavy preliminary bombardment from the sea and from the air. The first
attack destroyed land-mines, machine gun nests and booby traps and advanced inland in the Lorengau
airfield. On the following day the airfield was captured and we were only 600 yards from Lorengau
itself. On March 18, after a fierce tank battle, Lorengau fell. Top, American troops, holding their
weapons and ammunition above their heads, land on Namur Island. Bottom, the Allies land supplies
on Green Island. A landing-craft may be seen at the left of the picture.

1203
Another stepping-stone falls March 22, 1944

HARBINGERS OF VICTORY. Far below this U.S. Navy Dauntless dive-bomber, an aircraft carrier
sweeps about a sharp turn in the Pacific, heading with other ships of a powerful task force for the
in
Japanese-held Emirau Island. At the scheduled time the task force reached its goal. The planes dived and
bombed, ships' guns thundered, Marines landed and before nightfall the island was ours.

1204
The Allies lose a colorful figure March 24, 1944

KILLED IN ACTION. Major General Orde Charles Wingate, leader of the Imperial air-borne Commando
forces in Burma, was killed when the plane in which he was riding crashed in the Burma jungle. One of
the most colorful figures in modern warfare, his fabulous exploits with air-borne troops, landed behind
the Japanese lines in the jungles, had established him as the "Lawrence of Arabia" of this war.

1205
Supplies for Anzio

1206
 March 24, 1944

ON THE ANZIO
BEACHHEAD
Meanwhile the slow progress on the
Anzio beachhead had been causing con-
siderable anxiety in some quarters
although the official report had stated
that the situation was "well in hand."
The Germans continued to launch heavy
attacks with great frequency and on
March 24 they resorted again to long-
range shelling. There were several
sharp artillery duels and although two
strong enemy patrols were destroyed
while attempting to filter through the
Allied lines, bad weather conditions pre-
vented very much
patrolling activity on
either side.There was considerable
aerial activity over the Anzio front.
"Warhawks" and "Thunderbolts" at-
tacked enemy gun positions, ammuni-
tion dumps and other targets. Strong
Luftwaffe opposition was met. On
March 27 five enemy machines were
destroyed when the enemy made an
unsuccessful raid on the port of Anzio.
There were no Allied losses. The next
day the Germans made a further attack
and bombed two hospitals. The casual-
ties amounted to eight killed and sev-
enty wounded. But in the meantime the
enemy was unable to prevent the
steady flow of war materials coming
into the beachhead and ships continued
to arrive at Anzio harbor in spite of at-
tacks by U-boats, fighter bombers and
radio-controlled glider bombs. Owing to
the extensive demolitions around the
harbor, supply ships had to anchor off-
shore and unload their cargoes on to
ducks and landing craft. The picture
shows the inner harbor of Anzio where
two landing craft are unloading. In the
background can be seen some of the
buildings damaged by heavy shell fire
and aerial bombardment.

r
120
 The Nazis flood Holland

THE GERMANS PREPARE FOR INVASION. Land which had been drained and cultivated by the Dutch
over a period of centuries was ruined for years to come by German defense methods, as shown in
these pictures released by the Dutch Underground. So far only a little land had been inundated, the
Dutch reported, in the area north of Amsterdam. But civilians were being evacuated in other districts

1208
 March 24, 1944

below water level. If the Nazis were to carry out the project totally they could undo the work of more
than two centuries in reclaiming land from the sea. To flood the land with salt water would ruin the top
soil upon which nearly 4,000,000 Hollanders depended for their livelihood. The Dutch also reported that
Marshal Rommel had set up his headquarters at Breda.

1209
Beautiful and treacherous foe in Italy

I2lp
 March 24, 1944

DISAPPOINTMENT IN ITALY.
During the last week in March
the situation in Italy was any-
thing but encouraging. The of-
fensive against Cassino, which
began on the 14th and was fol-
lowed by the obliteration air
raid, was conceded to be a fail-
ure. The attack had dwindled
away into artillery exchanges.
Germans regained control of the
slopes of Mount Cassino. Indian
Gurkha troops which had been
isolated on Hangman's Hill were
withdrawn; it was useless to
keep on supplying them by air
after the rest of the offensive had
subsided. The Nazis still blocked
the road to Rome, as they had
been doing for two months. The
outlook was egually discourag-
ing on the Anzio Beachhead, be-
low Rome. Two months of grim,
costly fighting had gained little
ground and on the 8th Army
Front, after months of ploughing
through mud and rain, the Allies
had contend with equally
to
treacherous snow. Lofty white
peaks, such as the ones facing
the 8th Army fighters in this
picture, provided natural de-
fense barriers for the enemy
who had had the weather man
on his side ever since the start
of the Allied campaign in Italy.

1211
The Pacific fleet hits Palau

it-

A STEP CLOSER TO THE PHILIPPINES. Just as

American flyers searched the skies of Europe for
Nazi planes, so our Navy scoured the seas of the
Orient for Japanese warships. On the 29th a strong
task force, including battleships as well as aircraft
carriers (shown above), descended upon the
Palau Islands to make an attack similar to the
fleet raid on Truk in the middle of February. This
was the deepest penetration yet made in the
Pacific offensive, for Palau is more than a thousand
miles west of Truk and within 600 miles of the
Philippines. Enemy planes spotted the oncoming
task force, with the result that the Japanese ships
were seen to flee from the area before our
attack. The enemy had no desire to come to grips.
In the picture at right, silhouetted against the
sun-set-inflamed sea, Yap City crackles and
smokes under flames during the task force attack.

1212
March 29, 1944

1213
The sun sets on a Japanese warship March 29, 1944

RAID ON PALAU. Piercing the heart of a vital Japanese defense zone, a mighty U.S. Navy force blis-
tered the enemy fortress of Palau, within 600 miles of the Philippines, then swung out to smash Woleai
and Yap. Lasting from March 29 to March 31, 1944, the attack proved the increasing ability of a naval
task force to penetrate the foe's island fortress area, protected from destruction from the air by its own
aerial umbrella. The Japanese had no major fleet units at any of the three bases raided, but, as this
photograph reveals, what shipping they did have there fell before the accuracy of the American gunners.
In addition a heavy toll was taken of Japanese air strength. One hundred and sixty of their planes
were destroyed and fifty-four more were damaged at a total cost of twenty-five American planes.

1214
The Chinese keep the Japanese on the alert March, 1944

ON THE BURMA FRONT. A soldier of the 22nd Chinese Division in a mortar position in the northern
Mogaung Valley in Northern Burma, several miles north of Shadazup. Shelling enemy posi-
part of the
yards away, this Chinese soldier is placing a projectile into a heavy 4.2 mortar, which
tions only 1,000
the Chinese learned to use with great success against their foe in the hills of Northern Burma. ^.

1215
Bukovina falls to the Russians March 30, 1944

THE RUSSIANS MAKE GREAT STRIDES. Having reached the Prut River, which Moscow considers to
be the border between Russia and Rumania, the Red Army spread out along its eastern bank for a
distance of some 80 miles, but made no attempt to cross into Rumania proper, but did take Cernauti,
the chief city of Bukovina, ceded to Russia by Rumania in 1940 and captured by the Nazis in 1941. The
Reds continued to seize thousands of Nazi soldiers, unkempt and bedraggled as shown in this picture.

1216
The Chinese pick up a gun March, 1944

SPOILS OF WAR. Chinese troops in the India-Burma theatre, examine the barrel and breech assembly
of a captured Japanese 37 mm. anti-tank gun which is being loaded into a jeep. The gun will later be
used against the Japanese. It is a copy of an old American model, revised by the men of Tokio for use
as a pack gun to be carried by horse or mule. The Chinese were able to salvage a lot of the foe's material.

1217
Russian return to Nikolayev March 30 # 1944

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SOVIET NAVAL BASE REGAINED. During the Russian advance in the last week of March, the important
base at Nikolayev, fell to the Red Army. Above is one of the demolished ship yards, photographed
after the recapture. In the bottom picture, the citizens of Kiev are shown still working to clean up their
city which was retaken from the Germans in November.

1218
Forging ahead in the Ukraine March, 1944

BACK IN KHERSON. Above is an industrial plant in Kherson, reduced to ruins by the Germans before
hold at Kherson the German Army lost 63,000 men. Its capture gave the
their evacuation. In trying to
Russians an important port on the Black Sea. Below are General Nikolai Vatutin's men in the Ukraine.

1219
Gains made by the Russians in seven months March 30 1944
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THE TIDE OF BATTLE CHANGES. The startling reversal in the war on the eastern front is illustrated
by this map. As the fifth year of the war got under way, the. Nazis were firmly intrenched in Russia,
(black line) and within striking distance of Russia's sources of oil in the Caucasus. At the end of
March (white line) the Red Army was heading south into Rumania, toward Ploesti, source of one-third
of Germany's oil supply. In the north the Russians were ready to close in on Finland.

1220
Vesuvius puts on a show for the GJ.'s March, 1944

A FREE SHOW AT NAPLES. While the fighting during the latter part of March on the Italian front had
simmered down to patrol skirmishes and artillery duels, soldiers of the Allied Armies had a chance to get
acquainted with some sights which had been only lessons in geography to the majority of them. Here
is a night photograph of Mount Vesuvius in eruption, red hot lava streaming down the mountain and

an accumulation of static electricity cracking over the fiery crater of the world famous volcano, which
rises from the eastern edge of the Bay of Naples, about seven miles from the city proper. The soldiers
were able to ascend to the mouth of the crater by the old wire rope railway.

1221
Men with a country return to it March, 1944

"THIS IS MY OWN. MY NA-

TIVE LAND." Like a protective
cloak, "Old Glory" leans out
from the mast of a tug to wave
over the repatriated Americans
returning to their homeland after
two years in warworn countries,
while below, some of the ship's
663 repatriates line the rails
of the Swedish Diplomatic
Exchange ship as she proceeded
up New York Harbor toward her
berth. Thiswas the third trip of
the former luxury liner, which
traveled both ways under safe
conduct from all the belliger-
ents. The first exchange was
made with Japan in the Spring
of 1942 and then the Gripsholm
lay in the Hudson River for a
year before her next trip to
return Nationals of other coun-
tries to their homeland and bring
back Americans to the United
States.

1222
The Tirpitz feels the Barracuda's bite April 1944

ATTACK ON THE "TIRPITZ." On April 3 a force of "Barracudas" from a British aircraft carrier made
two very successful attacks on the German battleship "Tirpitz" in Altenfjord, where she was under-
going repairs after being torpedoed by British midget submarines. The first force of bombers scored
hits near the bridge and the second on the after-turret, amidships and on the forecastle. The damage
was
severe enough to put the "Tirpitz" out of action for many months. Top, "Barracuda" bombers approach
Altenfjord. Bottom, flames and smoke pour from the wounded "Tirpitz."
1223
Russians push forward in Rumania April, 1944

PRESSING EVER FORWARD. Late in March the Red Army entered Rumanian territory for the first
time in the war. Above Cossack guardsmen are passing through an unnamed Rumanian village in the
foothills of the Carpathians. In the picture below, Russian troops are crossing a bridge designed by Red
Army engineers. It can be hastily put in place and is difficult to see by enemy airmen.

1224
Box score on a raid on Dutch New Guinea April 2, 1944

WE HIT, THE JAPANESE RUN. Members a Pacific fleet aircraft carrier crew watch the painting of new
of
Japanese flags on their carrier, signifyingJapanese planes shot down in combat. This picture was made
during the fleet's operation against Japan's Hollandia Base in conjunction with General Kenny's soften-
ing up of the foe in New Guinea. Landings followed later in the month. The "box score" is a true reflec-
tion of the superiority over the Japanese of American carrier-borne aircraft.

1225
The Japanese strike at Burma April 1944

ACTION IN THE BURMA THEATRE. Late in the Japanese made a thrust from Burma into India,
March
their immediate object the city of Imphal, over the border, which the Japanese cut off
thirty -five miles
from surface contact with its sources of supply. Allied air superiority, however, made contact by plane
easy. In this picture, Maj. Gen. Chennault directs operations at his command post during a Japanese
air raid near the bojder.

1226
Along the new supply route to China April, 1944

THE LEDO ROAD SPRINGS UP. Troops of the U.S. Army service forces extended their lines of supply by
foot from Assam in Eastern India, across the Northern Burma border, toward the heart of China, tempo-
rarily in the grip of the Japanese. This extension was called the Ledo Road. In some places U.S. Army
engineers blasted the road out of the hillsides. In others they cut and hacked a highway through the lush,
green jungles, bridging rivers, streams and chasms. The men who built this road started from scratch,
working from maps more than twenty years old, but the road continued to push steadily toward its ter-
minus, which, according to some of the signs along it, is Tokio. Here is a new river bridge in India. As
an integral part of the Ledo Road this bridge was expected to figure in future United Nations plans to
retake Burma and reopen the supply line to China. For many months the Chinese had been drilling with
the aid of an American military organization called the Y Force and shortly were to swarm across the
Salween and head into the mountains toward Burma, to tie up with General Stilwell's men who had been
building the Ledo Road as they advanced.
1227

_
Prelude to invasion

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1228
 April 1944

SOFTENING UP
THE REICH
In April the American and British air
assault on the "European Fortress" was at
full height. At night the huge British "Lan-
casters" would feel their way through
the Channel fog and dump their loads on
enemy occupied territory. At daybreak
American "flying fortresses", protected
by fighter planes, would sally forth and
try their precision bombing technique on
specified targets. The adjacent map is
marked with 600 mile radii which give
a conception of the areas effectively
bombed from the three Allied points,
England, Italy and Russia. While by far
the preponderance of the bomb loads
originated in England, the Allies experi-
BLACK mented with shuttle bombing during the
^•jConstanta later stages. A plane would leave Eng-
Belgrade
land, drop bombs on Germany and land
5LAVJA ffanuie
at a Russian base. After refueling, it
Sarajevo ,-*
\ would take off from the Russian base and
Nisfr land in Italy, bombing the Ploesti oil
^OFIA ;
\
center enroute. The plane might next
^B^LGARJAJ > return directly to England, bombing occu-

^ pied France on the way, or repeat the

initial trip The bombing of
in reverse.
Hitler's fortress was no haphazard mat-
ter,but a carefully designed plan to liqui-
date his industrial and communication
centers. All of the spots indicated on the
map as being bombed were blasted for
specificreasons. To the efforts of the
Allied bombers can be attributed much
of the success of the invasion that fol-
lowed two months later.

1229
Beachcombing for hidden death April 1, 1944

DANGEROUS WORK. Two soldiers of an engineering battalion use their bayonets to prod a beach
in the Nettuno area of the Anzio beachhead for hidden Teller mines. A third soldier with an electri-
cal mine detector precedes them. In all sections from which the Germans had been driven, hundreds
of these hidden mines had been left behind. For a time Allied casualties from contact with these
hidden machines were very heavy, until trained men, such as seen above, were detailed to handle them.

1230
The Reds recover Odessa April 10, 1944

THE GREAT BLACK SEA PORT IS RUSSIAN AGAIN. On Monday, April 10, General Malin-
ovsky's 3rd Ukraine Army stormed into Odessa, seventh largest city* of Russia. Since 1941 it had
been occupied by the Nazis, chiefly composed of Rumanian troops who had changed the name of
the city to "Antonescu" after their puppet premier. Above, victorious Red Army soldiers are seen
moving into the city past the famous opera house which suffered little damage. Most of the destruction
wrought by the retreating Germans was to the port installations along the waterfront as indicated
in the photo below.

1231
The China and Burma campaigns April, May # 1944

BJlY OT
3J2JSTGJLL

THE BATTLEFIELDS OF ASIA. In the primordial mountains and jungles of Burma the Allied campaign,
which had been proceeding at snail's pace for months, suddenly sprang ahead by leaps. The Chinese
opened a new offensive across the Salween River toward Burma; General Stilwell's troops pounced on
the Myitkyina airfield and the British were pushing the Japanese back from Kohima and Imphal, although
their drive for Akyab had been slowed up considerably.

1232
A modern army rises in China April, 1944

TAKING A SALUTE IN A JEEP. A regiment of Chinese soldiers, trained under the command of Lieut.
Gen. reviewed by General Hu (standing in the first jeep) and other American and Chinese
Stilwell, is
officers. This photo was taken at the conclusion of their training period, and just before they were to go
into action in an effort to stem the Japanese drive which was gaining momentum in Northern Burma.
How successful they were is indicated on the map on page 1232.
1233
A King decides to retire April 12, 1944

VICTOR EMMANUEL QUITS, BUT DOES NOT ABDICATE. The King of Italy, since 1900, announced on
April and irrevocable decision" to withdraw from the Italian throne on the day that the
12, his "final
Allies entered Rome and to appoint his son, Crown Prince Umberto, Prince of Piedmont, as "lieutenant
general of the realm." Technically, Victor Emmanuel remained king even after liberation of Rome, but
lived as a plain citizen and exercised no power. The powers were assumed by Umberto, shown above.

1234
 Japanese retreat in New Britain April 14, 1944
. - __, _ _

THE ENEMY PUSHED BACK. Although making headway in Burma, the Japanese seemed to have lost
some of their do-or-die spirit on the Pacific front. They made a voluntary withdrawal of considerable
extent on New Britain, abandoning their bases in Gasmata and Cape Hoskins, leaving four-fifths
of the island to the Allies and retired to the vicinity of Rabaul. This move brought particular cheer
to Australia, for New Britain was the principal offensive base for the whole area in the days when
Japan was advancing and was a real threat to the British Commonwealth. Now Rabaul had dropped
to a status little a 5,800 ton Japanese freighter, 385 feet
better than that of Bataan. In this picture
long, lies on the bottom off Vunapope, south of Rabaul. Enemy supplies, piled on the
a beach at
beach, include food and ammunition. The evenly spaced trees of the cocoanut plantation form an
interesting background for this impromptu supply dump, one of several used by the enemy since
Simpson Harbor at Rabaul was made untenable by constant bombing by Allied land and sea planes.
With their hold on New Britain slipping, the Japanese were gradually losing control of the Bismarck
Archipelago which they had gained rapidly and at little cost during the early stages of the war. Loss of
this chain of islands would inevitably mean the end of Japanese hopes in the far South Pacific, hopes that
had seemed so bright in 1942 when the United States was fighting with a skeleton navy and no air force.
1235
Air power meets sea power in the South Pacific

BAD NEWS FOR THE JAPANESE. This photograph, snapped at the moment of what appears to be a
meeting of sea and air power, was made during a momentous D-Day in the South Pacific theater of

1236
 April 14, 1944

operations.The ships in the air are B-25 bombers en route to blast Japanese airdromes at Rabaul.
The ships on the sea are an American invasion convoy speeding toward the Green Islands.

1237
Reinforcements for Anzio April, 1944

ON THEIR WAY TO A BEACHHEAD. Veteran troops of the United States Army who took part in the
invasion of North Africa are shown aboard an LCI (Landing Craft, Infantry) on their way to an
LST (Landing Ship, Tanks) for the journey to the Allied beachhead at Anzio, just below Rome.

1238
Off to the invasion of Hollandia April 22, 1944

MAKING A FURTHER STRIDE AGAINST JAPAN. Climaxing three weeks of aerial bombardment,
during which 1,500 tons of bombs were dropped, thousands of American troops landed in Nether-
lands New Guinea in three sectors on April 22, 1944, thus cutting off an estimated 60,000 Japanese
soldiers defending the Pacific island. This official U.S. Navy photograph depicts troops clambering
up the sides of a destroyer-transport (a World War I destroyer converted into a fast troopship) for
the trip to Hollandia. There our invading forces found little Japanese opposition and moved guickly
inland to seize airfields.

1239
The seizure of Hollandict April 22, 1944

MEN AND EQUIPMENT COME ASHORE. In the picture at top, heavily-loaded LSTs (landing ships,
tank) hug the beach of Tanahmerah Bay as part of the massive operation which swept to immediate
success against minor opposition, seizing three airfields and quelling all resistance within five
days. In the picture below, a truck convoy, just off the LSTs, lines up along the beachhead.

1240
MacArthur lands at Hollandia April 23, 1944
I

THE GENERAL COMES ASHORE. General MacArthur and his staff were "in" at the Hollandia land-
ings. Here they are seen coming ashore in a landing craft on the beach at Aitape, New Guinea. The
presence of the high ranking officers at these Pacific landings did a lot to bolster the morale of the
men. MacArthur was noted for his habit of appearing on the actual combat field at an early hour, soon
after the beachheads had been established, to supervise the operations.

1241
The infantry moves ahead on Hollandia

1242
 April 22, 1944

OUR TROOPS ADVANCE. By-passing the Japa-

nese strongholds of Wewak and Madang, U.S.
Army troops transported and aided by the
planes and ships of a vast U.S. Navy task
force, "leap frogged" 500 miles in the South
Pacific to land in the Hollandia area of Dutch
New Guinea on April 22, 1944. The action
marked the first major juncture of the Nimitz-
MacArthur forces, and was the debut of the Pacific
Fleet in South Pacific waters —
the ripples being
feltas far west as Tokio. The town of Hollandia,
a coastal town which had a pre-war population of
several hundred natives and a few white persons,
was so unimportant that ships called there only
once a month during peace-time. After taking it
over the Japanese had turned it into an air outpost
guarding their three thousand miles of conguest in
the Netherlands Indies. The American amphibious
expedition which descended on Hollandia was the
strongest yet employed in the southwest Pacific
theater. American forces were prepared to
encounter thousands of Japanese defenders, but
the landing proved to be an anti-climax. The
beaches were strewn with enemy supplies piles —
of rice, crates of food, full gasoline drums, even
—
airplane engines but no Japanese. Farther inland
therewere a few enemy machine-gun nests, which
were guickly overcome by our infantrymen who
are shown moving forward in parade formation,
many with guns slung on their shoulders.

1243
 The men of MacArthur push ahead on Hollandia

1244
 April 23, 1944

INFANTRYMEN MOVE UP ON NEW GUINEA. Filtering

through the marshes and pouring on toward the Hollandia
airstrip, these men of an infantry regiment have just come
ashore from invasion barges. Within a few days all
enemy resistance in the area ended and the retreating
Japanese troops were being cut down by heavy air attack.

1245
Mortar fire sears Italian night April, 1944

v^p 1

r
' pBBW

j^^p9'* «--^

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i

:
^. *

SHADOWS OF BATTLE. Weird patterns of brilliance break the dense blackness of the Italian night
as Canadian mortar experts lay down a concentration of fire. Allied commandos, in action during this
period, destroyed newly constructed coastal fortifications along the Italian Riviera, during the lull
in ground operations on both sectors of the 5th and 8th Army fronts. The mortar gun, easily transported,
was one of the favorite weapons of the fast moving commandos.
1246
Back from a raid on Truk April 30, 1944

STRONGHOLD RAIDED AGAIN. The last two days of April brought bad news to the Japanese occu-
pants of Truk as an American task force visited the base, wiped out all but one of the defending
planes and devoted a second day to smashing the ground installations. In this picture, the turret
gunner of a carrier-based torpedo bomber, inspects the hole in the tail of his plane made by anti-aircraft

1247
Target for any day May 1, 1944

APPROPRIATE BAIT. In the picture at top, two British soldiers are shown as they peer from the
window of a building in Cassino where they hung a cartoon of Adolf Hitler in an effort to draw fire
so that the enemy would reveal his position. In the picture below, British snipers in a farmhouse
on the outskirts of Camerlle, near Salerno, send their bullets winging toward the foe during an attack
on the enemy holding the heights on each side of the defile north of Vietri.

1248
Crossroads of conquest May 2, 1944

REBUILDING KWAJALEIN. An aerial oblique of newly-conquered Kwajalein Island in the heart of

the Marshalls qroup reveals
—
how the tremendous U.S. Navy task force —
part of which can be seen
anchored off shore is rebuilding the shell-shattered base. Rows of tents house Seabees, whose labori-
ous and skillful efforts have already partly erased the pock-marks of war on this atoll. On Kwajalein,
as on other conquered Pacific isles, the Seabees accomplished wonders.

1249
Spies and wounded on the China front May 1 # 1944

TWO SIDES OF WAR. a civilian suspected of giving aid and information to the
In the picture at top,
Japanese in the Salween River sector is questioned by a Chinese colonel at division headquarters.
Below, a wounded Chinese soldier is being carried across the Salween River for medical treatment by-
American medical officers of the Y-Force, attached to Chinese Expeditionary Forces headquarters.

1250 •
Invasion portents May, 1944

D DAY DRAWS NEARER. As the month of May opened signs increased that the great invasion of
the Continent was not far The Allied air offensive was devoted almost exclusively to tactical tar-
off.
—
gets that is the type of bombing which precedes the assault by not too long a span of time. (The
—
picture below is a good example the bombing of a railroad bridge in Northern France.) The Ger-
mans were making all manner of frantic preparations, shifting troops to the Atlantic Wall and
trying to quiet the Nazi frenzy -at home. Finally hundreds of thousands of Allied troops were on the
alert in England and, as shown in the picture above, where an American adds a touch of G.I.
humor to the invasion bonnets of an infantry unit, they were still able to relax and see the humorous
side of the war before pushing off for the shores of France.

1251
Even life in the pacific has peace-time problems May, 1944

NO "TRUCK" WITH TRUCKS. The sign on Tarawa, in the Gilbert Islands, captured by American forces
in November, 1943, suggests a new low boiling point among residents of this tent city when they
sight one of the roaring monsters which haul supplies about the captured island to the accompani-
ment of horns and dust, disturbing the after-battle quiet of this peaceful scene. Compare this photo with
those taken in November during the battle for the beachhead.

1252
The Allies open up in Italy May 9, 1944

THE LULL IS ENDED. At 1 1 P.M. Thursday, May 9, Allied guns opened the heaviest artillery barrage
yet seen in the Mediterranean theatre. Forty minutes later the guns lifted their range to allow tens
of thousands of American and British troops to surge forward against the German Gustav line. The
attack was concentrated in the twenty-five mile west coast sector from the Tyrrhenian Sea inland
to Cassino and was the fourth Allied attempt to smash the Gustav line, the last previous one having
been at Cassino nearly two months ago. In these pictures are some of the Nazis captured during the
first two days of the drive and, as shown in the bottom picture, many of them were mere boys.

1253
The men who led the march on Rome

ALLIED GENERALS IN ITALY. Shown here are the men chiefly responsible for the strategy and
operations during the summer offensive in Italy. While these photos were taken some months prior
to the start of the drive, they show the commanders in characteristic poses. At left is General Sir
Harold R. L. G. Alexander, commander of all Allied forces in Italy, and Lieut. General Mark W. Clark,
commander of the American Fifth Army. At right is General Alphonse Pierre Juin, commander_ of the
1254
 May, 1944

French troops in the battle for Cassino. At the far right, is Lieut. General Sir Oliver Leese, who
succeeded General Montgomery as head of the British Eighth Army after the latter was transferred
to England to prepare for the invasion of France. Prior to this, General Leese had a command under
Montgomery during the march from El Alamein to Tunis in the North African campaign. These com-
manders guided their armies in the combined drive on Rome.

1255
The siege of Sevastopol ends May 9, 1944

BACK IN RUSSIAN HANDS. The Red Army took this fortress city of the Crimea after a siege of
twenty-four days. In 1942 it took the Germans 250 days to wrest the same city from the Russians.
Moscow reported 111,000 of the enemy killed or captured. Above, a Soviet tank, with flags flying,
passes along once-proud Lenin Street whose buildings have been reduced to a rubble. Below, a woman
resident of the city describes to members of the Red Army her experiences during the Nazi occupation.

1256
The Gurkhas move up with the Allies May 10, 1944

MORE TROUBLE FOR THE NAZIS. The Gurkhas, members of the British Commonwealth of Nations,
are by nature excellent famous for their ferocity and fearlessness in action. Although excel-
soldiers,
lent marksmen they are in their element in close quarters and can sever a man's head with one blow
from their native weapon, the Kukri. They are much feared by the Germans, who remember their ex-
ploits in the last war. In this picture two of the Gurkhas, part of the 5th Regiment, attached to the
8th Army, are shown on the alert for Nazi soldiers in a shell-torn building on the Gustav Line.

1257
Anti-aircraft guns in action in Italy May 14, 1944

KEEPING THE NAZIS OUT OF THE AIR. The skies around Cassino are bright with the light of
Allied gunfire as the Allied Fifth Army battles for possession of the important Italian town. In this
picture 3.7 anti-aircraft gun crews send their arms into action at night as the Battle for Rome
opened in earnest. Preparation for the offensive had been under way for a month or more. The British
8th Army under Lieut. Gen. Sir Oliver Leese, which had been on the Adriatic, was moved around to the
Cassino front and the American Fifth Army, under Lieut. Gen. Mark W. Clark was put in charge of
the Gaeta section near the coast.

1258
Largest "loudspeaker" in Italy May 16, 1944

ALLIED BROADCAST TO THE ITALIANS. With a shattering roar, and with the concussion raising
clouds of dust, a 240 mm. howitzer speaks its piece, "somewhere in Italy." The white line leading from
the breach, off to the right of the picture, is the lanyard used to fire the gun. This is the largest mobile
gun in use by the U.S. Army in Italy, and was one of the guns used to end German resistance at Cassino
and to break through the Gustav Line as the Allies started their great drive to free the Eternal City.

1259
The flag marches on in the Pacific May 16, 1944

WAKDE ISLAND FALLS TO THE ALLIES. Hitting the beach under a hail of enemy fire, U.S. Army sol-
diers (top) take cover behind fallen trees, driftwood and whatever other protection they can find as they
storm Wakde Island. Behind them flies the Stars and Stripes, waving in the breeze from the stern of
a damaged landing craft. In the picture below, other men of the 41st Division hit the beach from their
landing craft. The island soon fell under the determined attack, providing the Allies with a strategic
airfield 110 miles farther west than the previous outpost at Hollandia, which had been seized in April.
The beauty of Wakde was that the Japanese had constructed a coral-surfaced bomber air field on the
island, which was to prove a great asset to the Americans.

1260
Infantry hits the beach at Sarmi May 17, 1944

IMPORTANT GAIN IN NEW GUINEA. (Landing craft, Infantry) reach the beach in the second
LCI's
wave of the invasion of Sarmi, Dutch New
Guinea, and a Coast Guard combat photographer, coming
in with the first wave, was there to catch this striking beachhead picture. Stretcher bearers are shown
going down the ramps and plunging through the surf in the amphibious assault which resulted in the
capture of Wakde Island and Sarmi in a two-day campaign. This gave the Allies a base 110 miles
further west than the previous outpost at Hollandia, which had been seized late in April. This new
stride in the Pacific brought the Allies within 1000 miles of the Philippines.

1261
The Allies leave a calling card at Surabaya May 17, 1944

AND THEN THERE WAS NONE! A few minutes before the picture at the top was taken, the only oil
refineryon the island of Java was producing gasoline for the Japanese. Carrier-based bombers from
a combined Allied task force chose it as their targst during the successful surprise attack on the former
Dutch naval base. In the bottom picture smoke funnels up from exploding bombs on docks and warehouses.

1262
 1*

Cassino falls to the Allies May 18, 1944

VICTORY FOR THE ALLIES. The final battle for Cassino began May 16—this was the town which the
Nazis had held since January through the fiercest fighting of the whole Italian campaign and through
the great Allied air attack on March 15. This time the tactics were different. The Poles fought their way
around Cassino to the north; the British units fought their way around from the south. Seeing the trap
the Germans counter-attacked furiously, but by Thursday morning, the 18th, the British and Poles had
joined to complete the encirclement. By this time it was too late for all the Germans to get away. More
than 1,500 of Marshal Kesselring's crack parachute troops were taken prisoners and enough material to
fit out two artillery divisions was seized. Battered buildings form a backdrop for the above picture of

the town as it appeared on March 16, after the tetrific bombardment of the town and its ancient Benedictine
Abbey which has been pictured in another part of this volume.
1263
 Cossacks in the Ukraine May, 1944

REST HOUR FOR MAN AND HORSE. Along the second Ukrainian front, in the foothills of the Car-
pathians, Don Cossack guardsmen are shown resting. These traditional warriors played an important
role in action in this sector, despite the emphasis the teachings of World War II place on mechanized
eguipment. In the center is the ubiquitous Red Army nurse shown bandaging a wounded trooper. The
guardsman in the foreground is apparently testing the keenness of his sword blade.
-1264
Clark leads beachhead forces to junction May 25, 1944

A HANDSHAKE— AND ANZIO IS HISTORY. American Fifth Army patrols, advancing rapidly through
the enemy-evacuated Pontine marshes made contact with patrols from the Anzio beachhead early on the
morning of Thursday, May 25. This climaxed a dramatic two-week, sixty-mile advance and established
in Southern Italy a continuous 150-mile front, in the shape of a huge arc, which stretched from the
Adriatic Sea above Ortona to the Tyrrhenian seacoast at a point twenty miles south of Rome. The
original junction was made early in the morning when two American officers met on the shore road,
seven miles below the beachhead line and shook hands. In this picture, Lieutenant General Mark W.
Clark and his forces foot it down the road a little below the Anzio beachhead to effect the junction
with the main front forces advancing toward the beachhead. After the junction the combined forces
marched on toward Rome, driving the fleeing Germans before them. The merger of the American forces
closed the fissure which had existed since January when the Anzio beachhead was established. At that
time it was hoped that the landing in the north would serve to outflank the Nazis with the result of a
guick capture of Rome. Unfortunately, Nazi opposition proved stronger than the early battle for the
beachhead indicated, and it was not until the above date, aided by good weather and complete air
superiority, that the Allies were able to consolidate their lines. After the consolidation, the Allies began
to move on Rome, although they still had to fight for every inch of ground.

1265
Teamwork in the landing at Biak May 27, 1944

JOINT OPERATION IN THE PACIFIC. Amphibious teamwork in action, pictured by Navy combat pho-
tographers, as ships' guns clear the way for landings on tiny, strategic Biak Island in the Netherlands
Indies. In this picture, moving down the beach at Biak, ahead of advancing U.S. forces, a destroyer
shoots up a Japanese ammunition dump, shown flaming from direct hits by the fleet.

1266
 Tl
Biak, coming ashore after the softening up May 27, 1944

ANOTHER PACIFIC VICTORY. In the picture at top, "Alligators" are lined up on the beach of Biak Island
in the Schouten Group of the Southwest Pacific, while, on the left, men and material are pouring ashore
in the second phase of the amphibious landing. In the bottom picture troops of the 41st Division unload
from LCI's onto a Japanese jetty. Possession of Biak brought MacArthur one step nearer to the Philippines.

1267
Moving against the Adolf Hitler line June 1 # 1944

CANADIAN TANKS IN ACTION. Long columns of carefully camouflaged Canadian tanks move up to
the front in support of Indian troops driving against the Adolf Hitler Line, last strong defense of the Ger-
mans south of Rome. This particular picture was taken on the Cassino front where Canadian tanks played
a spectacular role. In the bottom picture a Canadian tank races along to join the attack on St. Angelo.

1268
A Liberator goes up in smoke June 1, 1944

DOWNED IN THE BATTLE FOR ROME. When this B-24 Liberator bomber of the 15th Air Force crashed
at a southern Italy, ground crew men rushed up and pulled the plane's crew to safety. No one was
field in
killed. Shortly afterwards the plane's gas tanks, containing 100 octane gasoline, exploded. Emergency
crews could do nothing to save the plane, but worked to prevent the spread of the fire to other machines.
The crew man's protective gesture of arm over face gives an idea of the tremendous heat generated.

1269
Action and shut-eye on the Italian front June 3, 1944

INFANTRYMEN IN TWO ROLES. It's on the alert now— and double time, as this infantry patrol, one
of the many that made possible the victory in Italy by feeling out the enemy and discovering his de-
fensive strength, hits the ditch and begins to spread out en its mission to wipe Nazis out of a farmhouse
on the Fifth Army front; below, worn out this G.I. lies asleep on the roadside outside Velletri.

1270
Ready to enter the Eternal City June 4, 1944

THE CONQUERING LIBERATORS ARRIVE. One of the Fifth Army divisions pauses on a bridge in Rome,
awaiting the signal to enter the main part of the Italian capital. The commanding general's jeep is
parked at the head of the column. Self-propelled guns, tanks, snipers and road blocks impeded the
progress of the Allied troops as they pushed through the suburbs toward the center of the city along
the Via Casilina, the famous Roman boulevard.

1271
Cheering crowds welcome General Clark to Rome June 4, 1944

THE ETERNAL CITY IS FREED. As Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark rides through a street in Rome
in his jeep, an hand, while other liberated Romans give the V-f or-Victory sign.
Italian girl clasps his
With General Clark are his driver, Technical Sergeant Holden, Major General Alfred M. Gruenther,
his chief of staff, and Major General Geoffrey Keyes, commander of the 2nd corps of the Fifth Army. The
three stars on the jeep signify its assignment to General Clark.

1272
Italian kisses greet American troops June 4, 1944

A REAL ROMAN WELCOME. Hundreds of thousands of the people of Rome, half delirious with
enthusiasm, surged like an immense flood into the broad streets and spacious squares of the Eternal
City to greet the men of the Allied 5th Army as conquering liberators and to give them the heartiest
welcome that an Allied Army had received up to that time. Here a G.I. is being embraced by civilians
who were once more happy now that Nazis had been driven from the city.
1273
Passing the glory that was Rome

THE CITY IS SPARED. Contributing to the gala spirit

which marked day was the fact that neither
this historic
Allied bombs nor Nazi demolitions had impaired the
grandteiir and beauty of Rome or touched with war's
destructive hand the ancient monuments and temples.
Here a battalion of infantrymen pass the ancient Roman
Colosseum, standing since the early days of Christianity.

1274
June 4, 1944

127^
Welcomed to Rome by a Roman June 5, 1944

A HOMEY GREETING TO THE VICTORS. As the Fifth Army entered Rome, Italian citizens were pro-
fuse in their greetings to the conquering Americans as amid kisses and tears our troops rolled along
the streets hard after the retreating Germans. In this picture an American private is embraced and
kissed by an overjoyed, aged, Italian woman as youngsters and soldiers enjoy the scene.

1276
 —

Press conference and church June 5, 1944

THE GENERAL GIVES THANKS.

Newspaper correspondents crowd
around Lieutenant General Mark
W. Clark, commander of the 5th
Army, as he holds his first press
conference in Rome. In the fore-
ground are other officers of the
Allied army. In the picture at right,
General Clark kneels in prayer at
Santa Maria Degli Angeli Church
in Rome. The Fifth Army com-
mander gave thanks for the suc-
cess of his fighters in the Holy
City and prayed for victory
speedy and complete

1277
German prisoners in the Piazza del Popolo June 5, 1944

UNKEMPT AND YOUNG NAZIS LEFT BEHIND. An American officer of the Fifth Army questions a group
of German soldiers in front of a barbed wire barricade which the Allies erected in the Piazza del Popolo
in the center of the city. The lion in the background is one of the four water-spouting lions which forms
the base of the Obelisk erected by Augustus in 10 B.C., to mark the subjugation of Egypt.

1278
Roman citizens throw off a yoke June 6, 1944

ANTI-FASCISTS GET THEIR DAY

IN THE SUN. Anti-Fascists bring in Fascist leaders and sympa-
had marched into the Italian capital. This was the first time that the
thizers for trial after the Allies
people who had opposed Mussolini and his policies throughout the years of his rule had a chance to
deal with the men who had tyrannized them ever since the Black Shirts had taken over the government.

1279
A new face on Mussolini's balcony June 5, 1944

JUST LIKE IL DUCE. An American soldier of the triumphant 5th Army imitates Benito Mussolini on
the balcony of the Palazzo Venezia. It was from this vantage point that the ex-dictator used to harangue
the populace in the days when he was ruler of Italy. The story goes that the American had promised
his friends at home that he would pose on the balcony when he got to Rome. He is shown making good,
but without the cheering thousands who formerly gaped eagerly from beneath.

1280
 ^
The G.I/s take over a Mussolini project June 10, 1944

AMUSEMENT FOR THE SOLDIERS IN ROME. Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, Colonel Guy Gale,
in charge of all 5th Army rest centers, and Colonel Chaney L. Berthof are seen leaving the stadium of
the Foro Mussolini, where General Clark gave a brief speech dedicating the area as the 5th Army rest
center. This great amphitheatre was eguipped for track meets and other outdoor recreations and was
originally erected for the purpose of promoting Fascism's athletic program.

1281
D Day—France's day of liberation

\*

1282
 June 6, 1944

THE GERMAN ATLANTIC WALL HAS

BEEN BREACHED. Early in the morning of
Tuesday, June 6, thousands of American,
Canadian and British soldiers, under cover
of the greatest air and sea bombardment
of history, broke through the "impregnable"
perimeter of Germany's "European Fortress"
in the first phase of the invasion and libera-
tion of th« continent. Despite underwater
obstacles and beach defenses, which in
some areas extended for more than 1,000
yards inland on the Normandy beachhead,
the landings were made with a minimum of
casualties. Most of the German coastal bat-
area were silenced by
teries in the invasion
10,000 tons of bombs and by shelling from
640 naval ships. The two naval task forces
that led the invasion were commanded by
Rear Admiral who won fame
Sir Philip Vian,
while commanding the destroyer Cossack
early in the war, and Rear Admiral Alan
Goodrich Kirk of the United States Navy.
The two naval forces included one 16-inch
gun battleship, the British Warspite; an
American battleship, the Nevada, a veteran
of Pearl Harbor; the U. S. cruisers Augusta
and Tuscaloosa; the British cruisers, Maur-
itius, Belfast, Black Prince and Orion; and
shoals of destroyers flying the Stars and
Stripes and the White Ensign. Steaming
through the English Channel, swept by 200
British minesweepers, the men o' war
escorted thousands of landing craft, trans-
ports and assault craft bearing General Sir
Bernard L. Montgomery's landing forces to
the beaches on the Cherbourg peninsula and
other points along the Normandy coast. The
large air-borne forces that were dropped and
landed in the night were already assembling
behind the Atlantic Wall as the first troops
(some of whom are seen in this picture)
scrambled up the beaches. Dawn was the
climax of the first phase of the invasion.
Wave after wave of American bombers took
up the task of flattening the German defenses
—
and silencing guns the battle to liberate
Europe from the Nazi oppressors was on
in earnest.

1283
The Generals observe a landing June 6, 1944

A BEACHHEAD IS STORMED. On the deck of a warship off the coast of France, Major General Ralph
Royce, deputy commander of the 9th Air Force; Lieutenant General Omar N. Bradley, commander
left,

of the American ground forces and the "boss," General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Com-
mander of the invasion forces, watch American assault troops land on a Normandy beachhead (below).

h\
1284
The Canadians land and move on Caen June 6, 1944

THE FOE MOVES UP FOR THE BATTLE. A camouflaged German tank moving to its battle station
as armored units of the Canadian Army clashed in battle with German Panzer troops in the advance
south of Caen, which was to prove a "hard nut" for the Allies to crack. In the picture below, Canadian
invaders of the beachheads take time out for some hot food as their landing cralt nears shore.

1285
Over the top, 1944 version June 7, 1944

ALLIED INVASION OF FRANCE. Leaving behind the other troops, taking a breather after gaining the
comparative safety offered by a concrete wall, American troops move over the crest of a hill to the
interior of Northern France. The other men will shortly follow their buddies over the crest. This picture
is reminiscent of trench warfare as practiced in the First World War. Then the infantry was sent "over
the top" in waves from series of trenches which were the fox holes of modern war.

1286
First aid for friend and foe June 7, 1944

BEACHHEAD CASUALTIES. In the picture at top, an American medical officer makes a casualty report
on a wounded soldier, while in the picture below, an American medical officer treats a wounded Ger-
man prisoner on a beachhead gained by United States troops in the early stages of the invasion of France.

1287
 Nazi defenses at a low ebb the morning after

1288
 June 7, 1944

UNDERWATER OBSTACLES. Ebbing tide of a French

Beach reveals a long stretch of skeleton obstructions
erected by the Nazis. At high tide the water veils these
structures which are a menace to ship's bottoms, even
shallow-draft landing craft. In the foreground are wrecked
—
Allied trucks and tanks the cost of a victorious D Day.
A Pearl Harbor veteran turns up off France June 7, 1944

A BATTLEWAGON AIDS THE LANDING PARTIES. Flame and smoke gush from the muzzles of her
14-inchguns as the U.S.S. Nevada pours a hail of death on the Nazi positions along the Normandy-
beachheads. The Nevada was badly crippled in the Pearl Harbor disaster. She was later repaired
and modernized. This photo is the first record of her return to action, and the stories coming from
Normandy reveal that she played a vital role in the naval action which supported the invasion.
1290
British and French forces on the beaches June 7, 1944

MORE ALLIED BEACHHEADS. On the evening of June 6 heavy fighting in the vicinity of Caen demanded
a continual flow of reinforcements. Above, are British infantrymen wading ashore with their bicycles.
Below we see units of the French Army returning to fight on the soil of France. This particular force,
eguipped with American tanks, is the Second French Armored Division under General Jacques LeClerc.

1291
These mines failed Rommel June 7, 1944

>' . * *

Mi

«*

FAIL TO CHECK THE ALLIED ADVANCE. When the Canadians leaped ashore on the beaches of
France on D Day, they drove the enemy so hard and fast and the engineers worked so efficiently that
these German mines, left behind to hinder the Allied advance, failed to explode and lie harmlessly
on the beach. A
soldier is removing the detonator from one of these weapons of death, a tricky operation
which required considerable training.

1292
Thrilling rescue in the English channel June 7, 1944

TVSASTER AVERTED. Survivors of a sunk LCVP (Landing craft, vehicle, personnel) off the coast of
France come safely ashore in a rubber life raft, unhurt except for a very heavy and salty ducking.
Below, clutching a carton of his favorite cigarettes in his good hand, a wounded U. S. Army paratrooper
is helped aboard an LCVP by medical men, bound for a hospital ship and England. These scenes were
common during the amphibious operations on the Normandy coast.

j0*r*
At sea and at a bomber base June 7, 1944

INVASION SIDELIGHTS. In the

picture at right, Lieut. General
Omar N. Bradley, commanding
American ground a
forces, climbs
Jacobs ladder from a launch to a
warship to confer with General
Montgomery during the invasion.
Note how the Army censor eradi-
cated General Bradley's shoulder
patch. In the picture below, pilots
of the 8th Air Force are questioned
at a flight bomber base
in England
from France where
after their return
they supplied the air "umbrella"
for the invasion landings.

1294
Reinforcing the beachheads in Normandy June 8, 1944

BOUND FOR NEW ADVENTURE. United States soldiers crowd into every inch of space aboard this
LCT, which made continuous runs from transports to the Allied Beachhead on the Normandy Coast.
Below: "Hitting the beach" along with Army troops, members of a U. S. Navy beach battalion dig
their fox holes for their first night ashore on a Normandy beachhead.

1295
High and dry on a Normandy beachhead

1296
 June 8, 1944

LAND BASED" LST's IN NORMANDY*. Left high

and dry on a beach in Normandy by the receding
tide, these Navy LST's (landing ships, tanks) find
their anchors temporarily useless, but the unloading
of men and material for the great assault continued.

'

i --«4frHii*»-^

1297
The beachhead fighting takes its toll June 8, 1944

DEATH ON A NORMANDY BEACHHEAD. While casualties were far lighter than pre-invasion esti-
mates, the picture above gives evidence of the high cost of the landings in Normandy. Below, Americans
rest in a milk house which was part of a farm they had just cleared of German snipers. Note the eager-
ness of some to gain a few moments rest while comrades were on the alert for a counter-attack.

1298
The quick and the dead on a Normandy field June 9, 1944

I\

COMING UP FOR REVENGE. American paratroopers move warily through a field near Carentan,
France, passing members of their own outfit who had fallen victims to the Nazi snipers. Wh'le thousands
of Allied troops were dropped behind enemy lines in this manner, our losses were very small in com-
parison with the goals achieved. The paratroopers proved invaluable in cutting communications and
preparing the way for the forces storming the beaches.

1299
Aid for the wounded on the Normandy front

CASUALTIES ON THE SANDS OF FRANCE. In the picture above, soldiers of an American medical
detachment administer first aid to a group of wounded soldiers who received their wounds during the
initial attack on the Cherbourg Peninsula. In the picture at right, members of a U. S. Navy beach battalion,

1300
 June 9, 1944

moving "on the double," dive for the protection offered by a ditch as a Nazi plane which broke through
the Allied umbrella, swoops down to strafe the shore "somewhere in Normandy." Few enemy planes got
through, and those that did were not able to do much damage because of the opposition by Allied planes.

13C1
Two roads back from Normandy June 9, 1944

CASUALTIES AND PRISONERS. Into the dark interior of an LST (Landing Ship, tanks) passes a
steady stream of casualties who fell in the Battle for France. In the background, framed by the open
bow of the LST, a line of Nazi prisoners marches along another "road back" from the Normandy front.
In the initial operations on the Cherbourg Peninsula thousands of Nazi prisoners were taken by the
advancing Allies.For the most part they looked very little like what the Allies were led to believe were
representative of the "master race". They were returned to England as captives and not as the con-
quering heroes. To some extent the large numbers of Nazi captives proved an embarrassment to the
Allies. Prisoners had to be guarded, fed, and transported to the rear. The Allied transportation facilities
were already sorely taxed by the demands of their own men, and the prisoners only added to the
problem which would not be eased until the Allies had won a deep water port.

1302
The long trek back to England June 9, 1944

THE WOUNDED RETURN

FROM FRANCE. Two members
of a Medical Corps unit help
a wounded paratroop officer
ashore from an LST at a Port
in England. Among the first
wounded in landing on
the
French soil, he will be taken to
a military hospital in England.
The death toll was minimized by
prompt use of blood plasma at
field hospitals. The plasma was
shipped France in containers
to
(shown below) eguipped with
dry ice to keep the plasma at
the proper temperature. The
blood, donated by millions of
Americans, was processed in
the United States.

1303
Two aspects of the landings in France June 9, 1944

"item

A LANDING EFFECTED. View of a beach which was one of the Allied objectives on the Coast of
IS
Normandy. It shows the masses of men and equipment being landed from the various landing craft
lying off shore, while barrage balloons dot the sky to protect the Allied landings from the enemy.
Below: Casualties rest on their stretchers outside of a field hospital as they await treatment.

1304
Backing up the liberation of France June 10, 1944

FOOD FOR THE FRAY, Army field kitchen, towed by a heavy truck,
in the picture at top, a giant U. S.
rolls up the open bow an LST (landing ship, tank) on its way to the shores of Normandy. In the pic-
of
ture below, tanks come ashore at a beachhead on an unnamed sector of the Normandy coast.

1305
An English sailor visits the U.S. fleet June 10, 1944

A DISTINGUISHED GUEST OF THE FLEET. Honored guest of the United States Navy, King George VI
of Great Britain visited the ships under command of Rear Admiral Alan G. Kirk, USN, commander of
the U. S. Task Force operating with His Majesty's Fleet. Admiral Kirk met the King ashore and with him
inspected units of the U. S. Navy which plaved such a great role in the landings. King George's action
record dates back to World War I when he fought in the Battle of Jutland.

1306
A truck full of commanders June 12, 1944

GETTING FIRST-HAND INFORMATION. Less than one week after the initial landings were made,
American Army and Navy chiefs paid their first visit to French soil to see the progress of the battles on
the beachheads. In this group were, left to right, Rear Admiral Alan G. Kirk, commander U. S. Task
Forces; General George C. Marshall, chief of staff; General Henry H. Arnold, commander U. S. Air Forces,
who is preparing to lend a hand to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme Allied commander.
1307
The chief of staff visits his troops June 12, 1944

GETTING FIRST-HAND INFORMATION. General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff, United States
Army, chats with a "G.I. Joe" as his caravan moves along a highway in Northern France. Arriving
in London on June 9, the No. 1 man of the United States Army lost no time in getting to the scene of
action. Crossing the channel in an American destroyer, General Marshall's party toured the beachheads
to the distant accompaniment of exploding mines and artillery fire and several times during his inspec-
tion the General left his car to get a closer look on foot. Returning to America a few days later he reported
that he had found everything in first class order and was well pleased with the gains made by the Allies.

1308
Chow over, the nurses clean up June, 1944

GOOD SOLDIERS. A group of U. S. Army nurses, first to land after the vanguard of American troops
had established a beachhead somewhere in France, wash their mess kits on the site of their field hospital,
located between the beach and the fighting up front. Subjected to the same dangers and hardships as
the men whose wounds they dressed, these modern "ladies of the lamp" lived up to the great traditions
of their calling. They were doing a great job that egualled the high standards which already had been
established in the Pacific, North Africa and Italy.

1309
 .

The northern front in Russia June, 1944

ACTION ON LAND AND SEA. Fighting against the Finns in Karelia is shown in the action photo at
top. While the trooper at right moves forward, a Russian Army nurse attends to the wounds of a fallen
comrade. At the bottom a small combat vessel of the Red Banner Baltic fleet is moving into action. O
interest is the 7.62 mm gun in the foreground. This gun and turret is also used on tanks and armored trains.

1310
A big gun falls to the Allies June, 1944

PRIZE OF WAR. The photograph, at top, taken near Quineville, France, shows heavy reinforced con-
crete forts of crisbec with large caliber coastalguns that were shattered by Allied air and naval bom-
bardment. In the lower picture Navy men aboard a landing craft keep a sharp lookout on the horizon as
they maneuver in the English Channel while awaiting the order to dash for the French coast.

1311
The first French town falls to the Allies June 12, 1944

CARENTAN IS CAPTURED. The town of Carentan, a key point on the road to Cherbourg, fell to the
Americans on June but on the 13th the Nazi counter-attacked and it was not until two days later
12,
that the last of the enemy were cleaned out. In this picture a signal corps lineman, his carbine at the
ready, looks over potential wire-laying locale as citizens of this Normandy town discuss the deliver-
ance of their homeland after four years occupation.

1312
 Cliff dwellers in northern France June 12, 1944

OUR FLAG IS STILL THERE. An American command post on the cliffs of Northern France bustles with
activity as prisoners are hurried down the side of the cliff to waiting ships in the harbor. The American
flag on the side of the cliff is protection against these troops being shelled or bombed by their own men.
The completeness of the American air umbrella and the absence of German planes made this a "must".
. 1313
Isigny, after the Americans entered June 11, 1944

ONCE A THRIVING NORMANDY TOWN. The main street of Isigny after the Americans drove the Ger-
mans out, at top, and below, grinning Todt construction workers cheer lustily after they were freed from
German domination. These men had been forced into labor battalions, brought from France and forced
to work on defense fortifications after the Germans occupied their homes in Poland and Russia.

1314
A Nazi comes to the end of the road June 13, 1944

A TOUGH EMPLOYER IS PAID OFF. A group of Frenchmen talk to American soldiers who have just
entered this small town in Northern France. The dead German was killed by the Frenchman, right, who
was forced to work for the Nazi for $2.00 a week. This Frenchman was one of the many citizens who
took up arms in the street fighting as the Allies entered the town and this Nazi is one of three he shot.
The audience of G.I.'s and French citizens seem to appreciate his feat.

1315
Preparing to strike against Saipan June 14, 1944

OFF TO SOFTEN-UP THE MARIANAS. A Grumman Avenger torpedo-bomber takes off from the deck
of its carrier to lend its efforts to the preceded the actual invasion of these Central Pacific
blow that
Islands. This campaign took place from aircraft carriers and lasted for one week. Virtually all the
enemy coastal and anti-aircraft batteries on this island were knocked out by bombing and shelling
which was on a larger scale than had yet been employed in the Pacific.

1316
A section of the vaunted West Wall June, 1944

CAPTURED GERMAN PICTURE. When this picture was taken this Nazi was a soldier of Adolf Hitler
helping to defend the vaunted West Wall, in front of a barbed wire section of which he is posing. But
he never got around to developing the picture as the roll was found by a Canadian soldier in Normandy
after the men of the Dominion had cracked the beach defense at this secluded point.

1317
The "Master Race" meets up with its master

1318
 June 15, 1944

THE HITLER YOUTH. In the picture at left, these youngsters, reg-

ulars in Hitler's vast army of the West Wall, look woefully at the
photographer while they await entry into a prisoner of war camp
on the English side of the channel. In the picture, lower left, Nazi
prisoners captured in the battle for France, carry their wounded
comrades to beach areas where landing craft sped them out to
ships in the English channel for treatment by Allied doctors. In
the picture below, seasick Italian prisoners of war loudly bewail
their plight to more fortunate fellow-prisoners. The group was
captured on the French beachhead by allied troops and were
placed aboard the U. S. S. Texas for temporary safekeeping.

1319
England feels the fury of the flying bomb June 15, 1944

ON ITS DEADLY MISSION.

Somewhat belatedly, on June
15, the Germans unleashed their
secret weapon which was sup-
posed to have disrupted the in-
vasion. It looked like an under-
size airplane, but had no human
being in it. Presumably it was
launched from catapults in the
Calais area and traveled at
high speed to England. (See
page 1118 for mechanical de-
tails). At the right, one of the
planes is shown diving down on
an English city, and below, the
wreckage of one of the flying
bombs has been tagged, "not to
be taken away." British author-
ities preserved every piece of
these wrecked weapons to de-
termine the manner in which
they were constructed, propelled
and controlled.
The flying bomb brings grief to England June, 1944
^3

A CIVILIAN CASUALTY OF THE SECRET WEAPON. This picture shows the effect of one of the flying
bombs that was dropped on England. This elderly man went for a walk while his wife was preparing
—
dinner a bomb came down when he was at the end of the road. He returned to find his wife dead and
his home a pile of rubble. At his feet lies his dog, the only thing to come out of the wreckage alive.

1321
A new air monster hits Japan June 15, 1944

THE B-29'sMAKE THEIR BOW. On Thursday June 15, a new problem came out of the sky of China to
terrify the —
Japanese B-29s, the largest fighting aircraft ever produced, bombed Yawata, the Pittsburgh
of Japan, situated on the island of Kyushu, the southernmost of the Japanese home islands. There at
Yawata was the Imperial Iron and Steel Works, which produced one-fifth of Japan's steel. The great
planes rained their bombs on the steel works, the Japanese filled the sky with anti-aircraft fire and four
of the $1,500,000 bombers were lost. The B-29 is half again as big as the Flying Fortress, which it
resembles in design, as shown in picture at top. So formidable are the Superfortresses that a new
— —
organization the 20th air force- was created for them and they were to be regarded as aerial task
forces to roam the world wherever most needed. While the raid was the beginning of a military air
campaign against Japan's homeland, it probably could not be duplicated at very frequent intervals
because of the difficulty of getting gasoline. The fuel, of which the superfortresses require an enormous
amount, had to be flown into China from India. The development of the Superfortress opened vast pos-
sibilities for the Allies. While it seemed at the time that the bombardment of Japan from Chinese bases
was the logical strategy, the rapid acquisition by the United States of island strongholds near the enemy
mainland suggested blows from these sources. The Superfortress was ideally suited for Pacific war-
fare. In the picture below, the Superfortresses are lined up at their airfield prior to taking off.

1322
A Superfortress in action June 15, 1944

A STEEL PLANT GOES UP IN SMOKE. Great clouds of smoke rising from the Showa Steel Works at
Anshan, Manchuria, attest to the accuracy of bombs dropped by the superfortresses as they paid a
visit to this industrial city on their way back to their base from the raid on Yawata. Flames from the
steel works shot 2,000 feet in the air and from a distance of sixty miles the fires could still be seen.

1323
Airborne troops do their part

SOLDIERS OF THE AIR IN ACTION. In the picture at top, American paratroopers, among the first to
make successful landings on the continent, hold a Nazi flag captured in a village assault. Inthe bottom
picture Gliders loaded with essential supplies land on a partially completed airfield somewhere in
northern France. Despite the steady stream of gliders bringing in men and equipment from England,
the work of constructing the airfields went on uninterrupted. Engineers of the 9th Air Force worked
fourteen hours a day creating landing fields only a few miles from the coast. These new fields were
needed to enable the Allies to take advantage of their decided air superiority.

1324
The leader of the French returns to France June 14, 1944

ONE LEADER GREETS ANOTHER.

Returning to his homeland for the
first time since the Germans oc-

cupied France, General Charles

De Gaulle, right, head of the Free
French Forces, is greeted at a
Normandy beachhead by General
Sir Bernard L. Montgomery, com-
mander of Allied ground forces.
In the picture below. General De
Gaulle, surrounded by French civil-
ians, strides down the main street
of Bayeux on his tour of the Allied
beachheads. Unlike other French
towns Bayeux escaped damage.
The General's presence in towns
and villages of the beachhead
gave rise to heart-moving scenes,
especially in Isigny, where the
populace rushed from their war-
battered homes to gaze on the
Frenchman who stood as the figure-
head of their hopes for a rehabili-
tated French nation.

1325
Invasion of Saipan June 16, 1944

A NEW BLOW AT JAPAN. American infantrymen are shown moving inland from the beachhead across
a burnt sugar cane field as the invasion of the island of Saipan began. The Saipan campaign was one
of the most desperately fought in the Pacific. It lasted from June 16 until July 9, and cost the Americans
10,000 casualties. Saipan was one of the more important islands of the Marianas group, and the Japanese
fought desperately to hold it.

1326
French flowers for a dead American June 17, 1944

HONOR FOR THE DEAD. A French peasant says a prayer as he places a flower on the body of an
American home as the Allies pushed ahead on the Normandy front.
soldier killed in front of his

AIRBORNE TROOPS MOVE UP. U. S. Airborne infantrymen passing through a liberated French village
on their way to try to establish contact with the fast retreating forces of General Rommel.
1327
Navy men study a Nazi "beetle' June 17, 1944

SEEING WHAT MAKES IT TICK. Undertaking a wartime pursuit of "entomology," U. S. Navy men take
— —
apart a Nazi "beetle" a miniature tank loaded with explosives to see what makes it tick. First used
at Anzio, the robot vehicles were sent forward against the Allied lines with a mechanism timing them
to be exploded at a distance. Allied marksmen in most cases picked off the "beetles" while they were
still too distant to do much damage.
1328
Battlefront pacifier June 17, 1944

THE INNOCENT SUFFER. Her head bandaged and her face swollen, this little French baby is given
S. Army medical corpsmen to assuage her grief and terror. D Day and the days following
candy by U.
meant many hours of terror for residents of the Normandy coast.

1329
At a village pump in Normandy June, 1944

PEACEFUL SCENE AFTER THE ALLIES CAME. Typical of many villages in Normandy right after the
American occupation is this view square in one of the communities liberated in the Allied
of the village
advance. Two neatly-dressed girls fill their giant water pitchers at the village pump, while U. S. soldiers
"look the town over" as they keep a vigil against snipers.

1330
Traffic is heavy in the Channel June, 1944

REINFORCEMENTS FOR THE BEACHHEAD. As thousands of Allied naval craft ferry to and from the
beachhead in Northern France, a B-26 Marauder of the U. S. Army 9th Air Force took this picture while
enroute to bomb railroad yards at Avranches, France. One of the reasons for the early success of the
invasion was the fact that the Allies had complete control of the water from England to France. Recog-
nition of the importance of control of the seas was one of the things that Hitler overlooked.

1331
U.S. troops find desolation on Saipan June 17, 1944

WRECKAGE AND RUINS. Two American infantrymen probe the ruins of a demolished Japanese sugar
refinery blasted by bombs and naval gunfire prior to the landings. The conguest of Saipan put both
Tokio and the Philippines within distance of Liberator planes, not to mention the superfortresses which
would find these places only a "mashie shot" away. This campaign brought the Americans more than
1,000 miles west of the previous outposts in the Marshall Islands.

1332
Japanese loss at Saipan June 18, 1944

REMAINS OF JAPANESE INDUSTRY. All that remained of a Japanese sugar refinery demolished Ly
bombs and naval gunfire during the battle for this island in the Marianas group. On Sunday, June 18,
the Japanese fleet came out in a move to halt our conquest of this stepping stone to the Philippines and
when the smoke had cleared 353 enemy planes were downed against twenty-one for U.S.
1333
The battle of the Eastern Philippines June 19, 1944

JAPANESE CARRIER IN FLAMES. Mantled in smoke, a Japanese aircraft carrier of the Shokaku class
wallowsin distress after a strike by Navy planes during the battle of the Eastern Philippines on June 20.
For nearly a year the Japanese had stayed in cautious retirement but our advance into the Marianas
fleet
was a grave development to Tokio, so on Sunday, June 18, the enemy fleet came out. Staying hundreds
of miles out of range, it sent a swarm of planes to attack the U.S. task force and the largest aerial battle
seen in the Pacific until that date took place. Three hundred and fifty-three enemy planes were shot
down, compared to twenty-one American ships. Never before had the Japanese suffered such heavy
air losses in a single engagement. Having lost so many planes, the enemy force fled toward the
Philippines. Planes from American carriers gave chase and spotted the Japanese warships. Unfor-

1334
Running around in circles June 19, 1944

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tunately our flyers were not able to attack until just before dark, so a prolonged engagement was
impossible. However, they sank a Japanese carrier, left a second one burning, sank three tankers and
possibly a destroyer. In all fourteen enemy ships either were sunk or damaged. In addition an American
submarine probably sank one of Japan's largest and newest aircraft carriers. In the picture, above,
swinging in tight circles, desperately attempting to ward off the attacks of carrier-based planes, a
Japanese cruiser turns counter-clockwise. Below, a battleship of the Kongo class, center, labors through
the water after being damaged. The sea battle of the Eastern Philippines was subordinate in importance
only to Coral Sea and Midway, both of which it resembled in the respect that the surface vessels were
never within firing range and carrier-borne aircraft provided the offensive.
1335
Fighters attack the flying bomb June 1944
#

TACKLING A NEW WEAPON.

Fighter pilots and ground crews
worked day and night combating
the pilotless weapons. These pic-
tures tell the story of a Tempest
Squadron, which, equipped with
Britain's latest wonder fighter,
claimed a notable proportion of
the enemy's secret weapon. The
picture at the right, filmed auto-
matically by a camera synchro-
nised with the aircraft's guns, was
taken by a fighter pilot as he went
to the attack. A rear view of the
robot, with flames bursting from its
propulsive mechanism, is clearly
given. In the picture below, is
shown the remains of the fuselage
of one of the robot bombs in a field
in Southern England.

1336
The Chinese are pushed back June 20, 1944

SPIES AND PRISONERS. In the picture at top, a Chinese soldier untrusses a suspected Japanese spy at
a Division headquarters, while below, Japanese soldiers are being led down to the Salween to be taken
to headquarters for questioning. The Japanese threw 50,000 men into this offensive and succeeded in
taking Changsha, important city on the railroad from Peiping through Hankow to Canton.

1337
The Americans close in on Cherbourg June 20, 1944

HARD FIGHTING FOR A VALUABLE PORT. The decisive break-through that turned the tide of battle
in theCherbourg Area came on the 20th, when the 9th division smashed across the base of the peninsula,
trapping the Germans at the Cherbourg end. Each foot of ground had to be fought for, the German
resistance was fanatical. Here, charges blast a Nazi pillbox as American soldiers take cover.

1338
Work of the robot planes June 21, 1944

INNOCENT VICTIMS. Residents of this South of England home search the first floor of their ruined home
forany personal belongings still salvageable following the destruction of the building in a Nazi robot
plane raid in that area. American and British flyers shot down large numbers of the flying jet-propelled
torpedoes, despite the greater speed of the robots.

1339
The Vice-President arrives in China June 21, 1944

MISSION TO CHINA. Vice-President

Henry A. Wallace flew to Asia by-
way of Alaska during the last week
of May, as an ambassador of good
will and as a fact finder for the
President. The vice-president took
along some hybrid corn seed that
he had developed and some agri-
cultural motion pictures. Best of all,

he carried the prestige of his office,

which made his visit an event of
importance in Chinese eyes and a
boost to fheir morale. In the picture
above he is shown with Generalissimo
Chiang Kai-shek and Madame Chiang
just before an official banguet in his
honor at Chungking, while at the
left,he enjoys America's traditional
favorite, pie and coffee, at the Red
Cross Club in Chungking with Brig-
adier General Benjamin Ferris and
a Red Cross worker.

1340
Berlin gets its heaviest going-over June 21, 1944

THE ALLIES RETAIN CONTROL OF THE AIR. With the invasion going well, British and American heavy
bombers were able to resume the strategic bombing of Germany on a vast scale, and on the first day of
summer, 2,000 American planes gave Berlin its heaviest daylight battering. In the picture, top. Flying
Fortresses head for the German capital. Below, shows how greater Berlin looked to the U.S. sky armada.

1341
As the Canadians fought for Caen June 22, 1944

THE OLD AND THE NEW IN NORMANDY. Canadians move forward in a solid convoy (top) passing
wrecked German equipment on the side of the road, during the stubborn fight for Caen. Below, Germans
retreated so fast in some sectors of Normandy that they left loaded guns, like this "Bazooka" behind. The
weapons were captured by the Canadians during their brilliant campaign.

1342
The Red army strikes from the east June 23, 1944

RUSSIANS ON THE MOVE. On Friday, June 23,Moscow announced a new offensive in the center of
the long Russo-German battlefront.The blow fell in the Vitebsk region along the most direct route from
Moscow to Berlin, 750 miles away from the advancing Soviet troops. The Allied pincers were tightening
on Germany. These pictures show Russian troops in the Vitebsk sector.

1343
Out of the deep to storm a continent June, 1944

IT'S THEIR TURN NOW. American reinforcements, eager for their shot at the retreating Nazis in
Normandy, pile from a Coast Guard landing barge into the surf on the French coast. Hardened for
battle, they are on their way to reinforce and replace the fighting units that secured the Norman Beach-
head and at the moment were engaged in the great battle to liberate Cherbourg.

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1344
First aid for the wounded June 23, 1944

A CASUALTY IN A NORMAN TOWN. In Trevieres, France, United States Army and Navy medical
corps men combine to give an injured American soldier the necessary treatment as he fell from a
sniper's bullet during the fight to liberate this town. Fast work by the "medics" and the prompt use of
blood plasma, not only saved the lives of many soldiers, but also returned them to the front lines.

1345
First Americans enter Cherbourg

1346
 June 25, 1944

'XAFAYETTE, WE ARE HERE." Soldiers of the U. S.

Army move into Cherbourg to wipe out pockets of
Nazi resistance after tremendous land and naval
barrages had "softened up" the enemy defenses of
this strategic Channel port, the principal objective in
the first phase of the fighting on the soil of France.
The generals want to die in bed June 26, 1944

SURRENDER AT CHERBOURG.
Lieut. Gen. von Schlieben, right,
emerges from his hideout to sur-
render to the Americans, and below,
with Admiral Walter Hennecke, left,
discusses the terms of surrender with
the shirt-sleeved Major General J.
Lawton Collins, right. The somewhat
haggard von Schlieben was willing
enough to hoist the white flag him-
self, but he flatly refused to sur-
render the garrison. When he was
asked how he could justify leaving
his men to die uselessly after he had
saved his own skin, he shrugged his
shoulders and explained that it had
been his experience in Russia that
small groups of die-hards could
achieve major delays. Leaving the
small fry to die gloriously for Hitler
in order to repair the mistakes of the
higher command became something
of a specialty in German tactics.

1348
The people of Cherbourg greet their liberators June 27, 1944

THE YANKS ENTER THE CITY.

In the picture at right, American
soldiers of the 9th Division and
French patriots ride a German
tank through the streets of the
great pre-war port after its liber-
ation. Below, American troops,
in battle formation, pass through
ruins of the Norman city on the
lookout for snipers who delayed
their entry into the heart of the
city for several hours. Cher-
bourg was ringed with curling
gray and black smoke as the
troops entered and French civil-
ians who had survived the
shelling of the city came out
of their shelters and somehow
found flowers to throw at the
Americans. Many of them had
faces blackened by soot from
the fires which raged in the city.

1349
Cherbourg falls to the Americans June 27, 1944

SCENES INSIDE THE SHELL-TORN CITY. Citizens of the French port, returning to Allied controlled
Cherbourg, gaze at one of the soldiers of Hitler's once-proud "Wehrmacht", now lying dead in a street
of the city. Below, German prisoners, their hands held high above their heads, follow the lead of their
commanders and surrender to the American forces.

1350
Cherbourg returns to the French June 27, 1944

THE FLAGS FLY OVER CITY HALL AGAIN. United States forces formally occupied Cherbourg on
Tuesday, June 27, and forthwith presented it to the French people as the first large city to be returned
to them. In the Place Napoleon, on the steps of the Hotel de Ville (shown above), just six hours after
the last German had been driven out, Major General Collins gave the city a Tricolor made from red,
white and blue parachutes, in which the vanguard of the invasion attacked from the skies on June 6.
In return he received French thanks for the liberation of the great Normandy port, which was the first
deep water port taken by the Allies in France,

1351
A German hide-out in Cherbourg June 27, 1944

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NAZIS IN CATACOMBS. This picture shows the opening to hideouts used by the Germans before the
fall ofthe city and from which points they put up their greatest opposition. Cut into the cliffs, these
hideouts were eguipped with great stores of rations. In one of the catacombs the Americans found
enough food to feed a battalion for months. There was even bottled water for use in a siege.

1352
After the Allies entered Cherbourg June 28, 1944

LEFT BEHIND BY THE NAZIS. German soldiers, top, most of whom were abandoned by their officers
during the siege of Cherbourg, are marched through the streets of the city after its liberation by the
American forces. Below, rows of torpedoes line the walls of this underground fortress in Cherbourg.
Evidently intended for use against attack from the sea, the "supermen" had no opportunity to launch them.

1353
Robot lair on the Normandy coast June 28, 1944

LAUNCHING SITE AND DAMAGE. Believed to be a launching site for Hitler's pilotless planes, this
strange arrangement was discovered by American troops that captured Cherbourg. The picture, below,
was made shooting into the same direction from which the flying bomb came and demolished these
homes. The burst was 400 feet from where this picture was made. Most of the robot planes passed
over this particular unnamed section of southern England.

1354
The Nazis wreck a valuable harbor June 29, 1944

BLOCKING A SPACIOUS PORT. This ship was scuttled by the Germans to block the entrance to the
harbor of Cherbourg, one of the moves by which the foe wrecked the harbor facilities. The Nazis
realized that, with Cherbourg under control of the Allies, a steady stream of supplies could flow smoothly
from England. The Nazis left it in such a damaged condition that it was to be of little use for many months.

1355
Time out on a Normandy beachhead June, 1944

REST PERIOD BEFORE ACTION.

These American Negro troops (at
left), who helped to keep supplies
funneling through the beachhead to
American and British forces forging
into the interior of France, stop for a
few moments of rest and lunch on
the invasion beach. Below, a large
group of American assault troops,
having gained the comparative
safety offered by the chalk cliff at
their backs, take a "breather" before
moving onto the continent. Medical
corps men who landed with the
group are treating them for minor
injuries before they start their cd-
vance to the interior.

1356
Gateway to China June 19, 1944

CROSSING A CHINESE RIVER. The American invasion of Saipan Island, which precipitated the battle
of the Eastern Philippines, step on the sea road to China. General Stilwell's troops were blasting
was a
a land road through Burma; the hope was that the two forces could some day meet. In this picture
Chinese and American troops cross an improvised bridge of lashed empty gasoline cans.

1357
Peace comes to a French town June, 1944

THE YANKS IN CARENTAN.

Units of the American Army
which took Carentan, in the
Normandy beachhead sector,
line up in the town square for
the presentation of awards to
the regimental commanders who
led the successful attack against
the Nazi-held town, which fell
earlier in the month after a fierce
battle. In the picture at left,
pockmarked as if spattered by
bombs, this field in Trevieres
actually contains abandoned
American foxholes or slit
trenches. Note how deeply each
trench is dug to afford its occu-
pant sufficient protection.

1358
Sidelights in the battle of France June, 1944

RATION CARDS AND THE DAY'S NEWS.

In the picture at right are a group of ration
cards which had been in use in the occupied
territory since early in 1941 and covered
nearly all of the necessities of life. In the
picture above, French refugees read the
daily newspaper printed by the British for
the people of Normandy. This newspaoer,
"La Boix des Allies" was distributed by
Amplifier Units. The work of this group was
to gather the news from the radio, edit it
for the printer and distribute the sheets to
the towns and villages. The papers were
distributed from a loudspeaker van from
which the news was broadcast before the
sheets were distributed to the French citizens.

1359
The Admiral looks over the beach June 28, 1944

INSPECTION OF A NAZI REDOUBT. Accompanied by other high ranking officers of the United States
and Admiral Harold R. Stark, U.S.N., commander of U.S. naval forces in European waters,
British navies,
leaves a formidable Nazi gun emplacement which was knocked out by allied forces during the opening
stages of the battle for the beachhead. Made of concrete, fortified with steel, the giant pillbox was so
placed as to command a vital sector of the Normandy beach.

1360
Mail from home reaches Cherbourg June 30, 1944

SORTING THE MAIL. These members of a mobile A. P. O. sort the mail for their units under a camouflage
net in front of a mobile post France, one that was converted to its present use from a captured
office in
German military vehicle. A sergeant and two of his assistants are hard at work, while one of the
detail "takes it easy" as he catches up on the news from his home.

1361
Civilian casualties of the war in France June, 1944

THE INNOCENT SUFFER. In

the picture at right, a young
boy, wounded in both legs and
up bravely
his right arm, bears
while an American medical
corpsman treats his injuries.
The boy was wounded by a
German grenade during fighting
for the town of St. Sauveur. At
the right is a wounded American
soldier. Below, a French woman
with both legs blown off by a
German antipersonnel mine is
taken to an American clearing
station in France. Civilian casu-
alties were very heavy as the
Germans retreated from towns
along the Normandy peninsula.

1362
German nurses return to their homeland July 1, 1944

THE AMERICAN WAY. A group

ofGerman nurses have "chow"
with '
a group of American
nurses, behind the American
lines after their capture in the
American advance near Cher-
bourg. Below, an ambulance is
made ready to transport the
captured nurses back to their
lines. When they expressed a
desire to return to their own
forces, rather than be interned,
a temporary truce was declared
and their wish was granted.
Some of these nurses had been
on active service since 1939 and
had served on every front where
the Germans had been involved.

1363
Bitter fighting for Caen

AN ANCIENT TOWN HOLDS OUT. Despite the heavy attacks by British troops, the historic city of
Caen had not fallen as July opened and the German high command threw every bit of available armor
into the battle for William the Conqueror's "stepping-off" place. Slowed by German counter-attacks,

1364
 July 1, 1944

the British,who had been holding the Germans around Caen while the Americans took the Cherbourg
peninsula, continued to advance. This R.A.F. reconnaissance picture, taken while the fighting was at its
height, shows fires burning in the town from the accurate artillery fire of the British.

1365
As the Reds returned to Minsk July 3, 1944

GERMANS DEMOLISH AS THEY RETREAT. In the picture at top, people of Minsk, with their possessions
in the street, watch their homes burning from fires set by the Germans before their retreat, and, below,
Minsk citizens cheer Soviet troops as they enter the city, a major objective on the path to East Prussia.

1366
Germans lose their last big Russian city July 3, 1944

MINSK FALLS. The great Russian "counter-blitz" swept westward to Germany as the month of July
opened, highlighted by the capture of Minsk, last large Russian city in Nazi hands. Here the Germans
suffered a major debacle, their troops were killed or captured by thousands. In these pictures, top, the
Soviet flag goes up over the city and, below, Soviet tanks drive past the government buildings.

1367
Pushing the Germans out of the Baltic States July 4, 1944

SURGING AGAINST THE EASTERN FRONTIER. One of the main objectives of the great Soviet drive
was push down the Dvina River and cut off the Nazi troops which had been holding the upper Baltic
to
States. The capture of Polotsk, on July 4, was a great step in that direction. Here, infantry-laden Soviet
tanks roll through the city past the body of one of the invaders. This territory had been under German
control since their victorious drive in 1941.

1368
A pillbox becomes a "pillbox' July 4, 1944

THE RED CROSS OVER FRANCE. American soldiers raise a flag over a German pillbox in Normandy-
following its capture by Allied forces who converted it into a dispensary. The flag was one of the first
to reach France. In the picture below, Canadian artillerymen blaze away at enemy positions in the Caen
area as their way of celebrating American Independence Day. The fighting for Caen was still continuing
on a large scale as the Germans had concentrated their defenses in this area.

1369
Portable ports in Normandy

A REAL SECRET WEAPON. By July the

Allies had in operation one of the most re-
markable engineering feats of all time. On the
invasion coast were installed two prefabri-
cated harbors without which the liberation of
France that followed would not have been
possible. To provide the invasion forces with
the necessary stream of supplies and rein-
forcements, two synthetic harbors, each the
size of Dover, were prefabricated in Britain,
towed piecemeal across the Channel and set
down on the coast of Normandy. The pictures
on these pages show the British harbor in
operation; the American installation was de-
stroyed by heavy storms which occurred
while it was being assembled. Above is an air
view of the complete British harbor. In the
foreground are the sunken concrete caissons
which provided the breakwater. Near the
shore is the wharf and the long piers over
which materials were transported ashore. At
right is the wharf unit consisting of seven
specially designed "spud pierheads," steel
pontoons with a displacement of approxi-
mately 1,000 tons. Each pierhead is a "ship,"
complete with crews' quarters, generating
sets and storage accommodations. At far right
is one of the floating pier roadways running
from the wharf to the shore. In this instance
it is being traversed by ambulances bringing

the wounded from shore to ship.

1370
July, 1944

1371
The queen visits one of her subjects July, 1944

PROUD MOMENT FOR THIS CANADIAN. Wounded in the invasion of France, this Canadian soldier
received the thrill of a lifetime when Queen Elizabeth stopped at his bedside in a Canadian hospital in
England. Behind the queen is the officer commanding the hospital and a wounded "up-patient" stands
at attention alongside his bed. Queen Elizabeth's visits to the sick and wounded were of as great a value
in building morale as the King's trips to the front.

1372
Some Frenchwomen lose their crowning glory July, 1944

PUNISHMENT TO FIT THE CRIME.

Now that Allied forces have
the
come and freed sections of enslaved
France, French patriots weed out
the Quislings in their midst. Meting
out punishment to fit the crime, they
set a particularly appropriate price
for women collaborationists to pay.
Going from house to house, the pa-
seized female traitors, dragged
triots
them into the streets and put the
scissors to their hair, as shown in
this series of pictures. Upper left,
this 23-year old girl is seized by the
patriots. Upper she wails and
right,
protests in vain as the "barber" goes
to work on her locks and, right, she
tearfully pats the rough ends of her
shorn locks. The same operation was
performed on every other female
collaborationist in the area, render-
ing them unattractive to men Nazi —
or otherwise —for a while to come.

1373
General De Gaulle visits America July 6, 1944

GUEST OF THE GOVERNMENT. General Charles de Gaulle came to the United States as a guest of
the government and was welcomed with all the ceremony customarily accorded to the head of a
foreign nation. He was flown from Algiers in an upholstered Army plane, was greeted in Washington
with a seventeen-gun salute and was whisked to the White Houso where he met the President and his
cabinet (top left) where he is shown being greeted by Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau,

1374 . . _ .
. . .
Welcomed to New York July 10, 1944

while Secretary of State Cordell Hull, President Roosevelt and Mrs. John Boettiger, the President's
daughter, look on. Afterwards he visited General John J. Pershing in the General's suite at Walter Reed
Hospital (bottom left). On July 10 visited New York, where he is shown (above) speaking on the steps
of City Hall alongside of Mayor F. H. LaGuardia at the official reception. De Gaulle's visit did much to
clear an unpleasant atmosphere which had hovered over American-French relations.

1375
The Nazis check on Allied shipping July, 1944

ENEMY CONCEPTION OF ALLIED VESSELS. Found on the wall in the quarters of a Nazi observation
post in the Cherbourg area, this chart depicts enemy conceptions of the silhouettes of the small type
English warships. All this information, while perhaps of value in covering a "bad spot" on a wall, did
not stop the Allies from coming and going across the Channel as they pleased. ,

1376
Caen falls to the British July 9, 1944

A LONG BATTLE ENDS. The Norman town of Caen, which fell to the British and Canadian troops on
July 9, had been heavily mined by the Germans and parts of it were badly damaged in the battle which
led to its capture. Enemy snipers caused numerous casualties before they were ejected, and here, a

British mortar platoon is shown in action against a nest of snipers.

1377
After the British entered Caen July 9, 1944

DEVASTATION IN A NORMAN
TOWN. The British and Cana-
dians fought their way into the
inland port of Caen on Sunday,
July 9, a mass
to find the city
of rubble and bomb craters;
bulldozers had to clear paths
through the streets so tanks and
jeeps could get through. The
French prefect estimated that
between 4,000 and 5,000 civi-
lians had been killed by the
shelling and bombing. Some
500 of the residents emerged
from a deep grotto, an aban-
doned quarry, where they had
taken refuge for three agonizing
weeks. Here they are seen tell-
ing their problems to Lieut.
General J. T. Crocker, com-
mander of the British 1st Corps,
on his tour of inspection after
the British entered the city. In
the picture at right, a British
canteen opens under the name
of "The Pop Inn."

1378
A stop on the road to Riga July 10, 1944

THE GERMANS ARE PUSHED BACK. Prongs of the Russian Army were pushing swiftly westward to
cut off the Nazis along the entire front. One drive was into Latvia with Riga as the probable objective.
In these pictures, top, Soviet tommy-gunners are shown in pursuit of Nazi forces during the fighting
for Pskov, and below, a Soviet infantry unit is passing through the streets of the same city which had
been laid waste by the Nazis in their attempt to escape the fury of the Red Army. Pskov's location on the
Estonian border made possession of it important in relation to future operations in the Baltic states.

1379
The freight cars come ashore July, 1944

MAKING USE OF CHERBOURG HARBOR. In the first such attempt made by the transportation corps,
freight cars are brought ashore at Cherbourg Harbor from an LST (landing ship, tanks) using a
specially constructed ramp in a portion of the wrecked port which had been made usable by the corps
of engineers in the first few days of the Allied occupation of the devastated city. It was weeks before
the installations at Cherbourg permitted the unloading of the big vessels.

1380
Robots get a London landmark July 10, 1944

MILITARY HOUSE OF WORSHIP DESTROYED. Damaged, possibly beyond repair, the famous Guards'
Chapel in London was a victim of the indiscriminate shelling of the British capital by the German's
robot bombs. Casualties were very heavy in the raid which ruined the 106-year-old edifice, situated
inBirdcage Walk, a stone's throw from Buckingham Palace, during Sunday morning services. Guards'
Chapel was thus added to the long list of badly damaged historic buildings, started in the "blitz" of 1941.

1381
Mountbatten inspects American flat-top July 11, 1944

A VISIT FROM KING GEORGE'S COUSIN. Hands on hips, Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, supreme
commander, Allied Eastern forces, chats with U.S. Navy during an inspection of an American
officers
aircraft carrier in Indian waters. The carrier took part in actions by combined Allied forces, under the
command of Lord Louis, in the drive to oust the Japanese from this Pacific theatre. At this time Mountbatten
was also concerned with land operations, although the greater part of his career had been spent at sea.
1382
 America loses a Roosevelt July 13, 1944

»'-

A SON OF "TEDDY" DIES IN FRANCE. Brigadier

General Thjeodore Roosevelt, acting assistant divi-
sion commander of the 4th division, and son of
the late President Theodore Roosevelt, died on the
night of July, 13, 1944, at the front in Normandy,
of exhaustion induced by overwork. A man who
won his spurs in several fields, General Roosevelt
is shown, ryght, standing before his command post

i on the day of his death, and above, at his desk.

'.'^General Roosevelt was the third of the four sons
* of the late president to die serving his country.

1383
Moscow's big parade

BAGGED BY THE RUSSIANS. Through the streets of Moscow, past thousands of spectators, more than
57,000 captured Germans marched on this July day in 1944. They were marching as prisoners taken by
the Red Army on the White Russian front, and not as conquering heroes. Diplomats from many countries

1384
 July 18, 1944

were among the crowds which silently followed

the line of march from the railroad station to view the
weary, unkempt figures who had entered Russia
so confident of success only a few short months ago,
only to be repulsed as the Russian armies really
started to roll.

1385
St. Lo falls after a hard battle July 18, 1944

*.

A NAZI BASTION IS STORMED. For more than a week the town of St. Lo blocked the advance of
American troops at the western end of the Normandy battle front. The battle for this town, which had
a prewar population of 12,000 was harder than that for Cherbourg itself. On the 15th, a battalion
commanded by Major Sidney V. Bingham jr., penetrated to the outskirts of the town, only to find itself
cut off by Germans to the rear. The isolated men were hungry, having only a chocolate bar apiece. •--

The wounded lay there in agony and some died for lack of medical care. The battalion ran low on
ammunition and used mortar shells and grenades captured from the Nazis. On Monday a second
battalion fought its way up to join Major Bingham's unit. On Tuesday, the 18th, the skies were clear
and planes helped blast a path through the German defenders. Other units moved ahead in force and
late in the afternoon they and the two "lost" battalions stormed into the town. In this picture, American
infantrymen "hit the dirt" to avoid small arms fire from snipers and an artillery barrage. The rescuing
battalion was commanded by Major Thomas D. Howie. Howie was killed on June 17, the day before St. Lo
fell. After the victory his body was carried through the streets of the town in state and placed on a pile

of rubble beside the shell-wrecked church of Ste. Croix. He became known as the "Major of St. Lo".

1386
Action in a Leghorn street July 19, 1944

BATTLING FOR A PORT IN ITALY. A soldier attached to the 5th Army is on the alert for enemy snipers
while his colleagues set off mines sowed heavily in one of the main streets leading to Leghorn Harbor
on the day that the Americans took control of this Italian port. The fight was a bitter one in which the
Germans had done all they could to wreck the post facilities which were calculated to prove of great value
to the Allies, once in their possession. The bottom picture on page 1388 gives some idea of the destruction.

1387
Leghorn falls to the 5th Army July 19, 1944

—
BW*»

A GREAT PORT IS CAPTURED. Lieut. General Mark W. Clark gives a mass interview to war correspon-
dents in the streets of Livorno (more familiar under its Anglicized name, Leghorn) as the port fell to
the 5th Army. In the photograph below, the damage done to the ground, harbor and port installations,
by the retreating Nazis, is vividly revealed. In the weeks that followed the harbor was cleared and the
port became useful for not only the Italian campaign but the operations in southern France.

1388
The Allies find devastation in Leghorn July 19, 1944

THE TOLL OF BATTLE. In the picture at top, an Hawaiian-American soldier of Japanese ancestry patrols
a debris-strewn street of the Italian port, and below, other Hawaiian-Americans ride jeep patrol through
the streets. The campaign in Italy, which included troops from half a dozen nations, became more
international in scope when an expeditionary force from Brazil joined the fighting on the 15th. Brazil was
the first of our Latin-American Allies to send troops to the European war theatre. She sent one division
or approximately 10,000 men.

1389
Americans hit the beach at Guam July 20, 1944

LANDINGS CLIMAX TERRIFIC BOMBARDMENT. Smoke from flames begun by shells and bombs hangs
like a pall over Guam
as fresh explosions thunder on the shores of the Japanese stronghold in the
shattering prelude to Marine and Army landings, shown above. Below, U.S. Marines are shown moving
in on Agat Beach past an upside-down Japanese dive bomber destroyed by Navy planes. Climaxing
seventeen days of unparalleled aerial and surface bombardment, the invasion got under way on July 20,
but the reconquest was not completed until August 9, 1944. The taking of Guam proved to be a major
engagement, although it was not attended by as large a casualty list as at Saipan.

1390
The Americans return to Guam July 20, 1944

THE ASSAULT IN FULL SWING. This aerial oblique gives an over-all view of one of the sectors hit
by marines in Navy-manned landing craft during the initial landings on this Pacific outpost. Smoke
inland denotes targets smashed by aerial and surface bombardment of this Island which had been held
by the United States for forty years before December 10, 1941, when it was conquered by the Japanese.'
At that time it was defended by a handful of American Marines and a few construction workers.

1391
The dead and wounded in Guam fighting July 20, 1944

HEAVY FIGHTING FOR A PACIFIC STRONGHOLD. In the picture at top, a Navy medical corpsman
lifts the head of a Marine, wounded in the landings, to give him a Below, some of
sip of cool water.
the Japanese warriors killed by U.S. forces during early stages of the invasion are shown. The Marine
photographer who made this picture killed four of the foe between his photographic duties.

1392
The old and the new in Japanese premiers July 20, 1944

CABINET SHAKEN-UP. General Hideki Tojo, (left) premier of Japan since a few weeks before Pearl
Harbor, was dropped as Premier on July 20 and General Kuniaki Koiso (top right), and Admiral
Mitsumasi Yonai (bottom), were called by the Emperor to form a new cabinet. The removal of Tojo
did not mean any change in Japan's fundamental policy. Koiso was named premier and Yonai his
deputy. The changes were made following American victories on Saipan and in the East Philippine Sea.

1393
Attempt on life of Hitler July 21, 1944

TURMOIL IN THE REICH. Adolf Hitler went on the radio Friday morning July 21, and announced that
lie had been conferring with his advisers when a bomb exploded six feet away, inflicting upon him
"negligible grazes, bruises or burns." The bomb had been placed by Colonel Count von Stauffenberg
in a plot hatched by a cligue of officers who wanted to kill Hitler, seize power and make peace. Two
generals were supposed to have led the revolt, only one of whom was named: Colonel General Ludwig
Beck. He was listed as "no longer among living persons." To restore order Hitler said that he had
appointed Heinrich Himmler, Gestapo Chief, to be commander of the Army within Germany. Reich
Marshal Hermann Goering amplified Hitler's remarks by announcing that the plot had been hatched by

1394
Hitler and his gang July 21, 1944

generals who had been dismissed. One of them, General Walther von Brauchitsch, is shown in picture
at left with Hitler in happier days. In the picture, upper right, Hitler is shown as he met with his war
chiefs a few days before the^lot.. Left to right, they are Field Marshal Keitel, Admiral Doenitz, Himmler
and Field Marshal Milch. General Beck is in picture at lower left and, lower right, a close-up of the
feared Himmler. The one p8mt which Berlin kept emphasizing was that the plot had been completely
suppressed and that all the conspirators had been killed or had committed suicide. For the next week
rumors continued to seep out of Germany telling of a wholesale purge being conducted by the Elite
Guard involving many arrests and executions of men in high places.
1395
Black week for the Nazis in Russia

TEN CITIES FALL TO THE RUSSIANS. The last week in July was one of the most disastrous seven days
which the Nazis had known since 1939. On the Russian front the whole German line from the Baltic to
the Carpathians was being pushed back pell-mell. In seven days the Red Army had captured no less
than ten cities which the Germans had turned into fortresses guarding the Nazi heartland. In these
Lwow raise a sign in celebration of their restoration to the Soviet, and below,
pictures, top, residents of
Russian infantrymen are shown in action on the approaches to East Prussia. While the Nazis were re-
treating at an unprecedented speed, there were indications that they were counting on making a more
determined stand on their own border which offered the support of permanent fortifications.

1396
Coming ashore at Tinian July 23, 1944

ANOTHER LANDING IS A SUC-

CESS. Between Guam and con-
quered Saipan to the north lies
the smaller island of Tinian,
where the Japanese had been
raising sugar cane. U.S. Marines
descended upon the island on
Sunday, July 23, after plane
and warship bombardments had
softened up its defenders. On
the first night of the invasion
the Japanese rushed forward
screaming and waving Samurai
swords to push the Marines off
the beach. They refused to be
pushed and cut down the Japa-
nese by the hundred. By the
25th they had seized the airport
on the northern tip and were
pushing the foe to the sea. In
this picture, top, a long line of
Marine and Army amphibious
tractors coming into the beach
at Tinian looks like a holiday
excursion train. The island fell
after nine days of fighting. At
the right, holding a tiny Japa-
nese baby, this husky Marine
sergeant poses for the camera
with a grin. The baby was born
after the U.S. landing was made.

1397
"Monty" and "Ike" on the battlefield July, 1944

TOUGH NUTS FOR THE GERMANS TO CRACK. General (now Field Marshal) Sir Bernard L. Mont-
gomery, commander of the Allied ground forces in the battle of Normandy, strides with General Dwight
D. Eisenhower, outside of Montgomery's headquarters in the British sector during General Eisenhower's
inspection tour of the entire Allied front line positions. This was one of the many conferences between
these two top men of the Allied command as the battle for France raged.

1398
 Three generals and the secretary July, 1944

FIRST HAND INFORMATION. Lieut. General Omar N. Bradley, commander of the First Army, left,
Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson and Lieut. General George S. Patton, commander of the Third Army,
discussing progress of the French campaign, and below, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied
commander, pauses to talk to some enlisted men during his tour of an advanced sector in France.

1399
After the smoke of battle cleared

1400
 July 26, 1944
-"'"" -

DEVASTAf ION IN FRANCE. A view of the much-bombed

town of St. Lo,showing the gutted buildings. Although
occupied by American forces, the town was still under
incessant shelling from Nazi batteries south of the town.

1401
Britain's defense against the flying bomb July, 1944

SLOWING UP A NAZI TERROR. During the robot attacks on England, the R. A. F. sent up 2,000 barrage
balloons to protect London and the South of England. These balloons accounted for more than 200 of the
bombs launched by the Nazis. These pictures show airmen of an R. A. F. defense crew inspecting and
assembling the flying bombs which were brought down at their station.

1402
Negro troops do their bit in France

FIXING UP A LITTLE TROUBLE FOR THE NAZIS. Members of a field artillery battery emplace a 155mm.
howitzer under its camouflaged canopy "somewhere on the Normandy Peninsula." In the picture below,
a troop train is being unloaded in Cherbourg, bringing the first Negro troops to their assigned post of
duty at that port which had been captured during the previous month.

1403
Prisoners and a hide-out in France July 30, 1944

THEY FOUGHT FOR GERMANY. An armed French civilian, left, and a gendarme, right, bring in German
prisoners,Mongolian type, from Turkestan. These men were taken prisoners near Avranches, during
the American advance. Below, is a picture of a block house in St. Lo, France. Of concrete construction,
with huge steel doors, it had living quarters complete with power-plant.

1404
A victory in North Burma July 30, 1944

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i

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NORTHERN BURMA TOWN CAPTURED. The land campaign in Asia made progress when Chinese,
American and British forces finally overwhelmed Myitkyina, largest town in Northern Burma. The
Japanese had defended it against siege since May 17 for they needed this town at the end of the Rangoon
railway as a base of operations. Here two G.I.'s share a pillbox which had been occupied by the foe
only a few hours previously.

1405
The Allies dominate New Guinea July 30, 1944

fc

SANSAPOR FALLS TO THE MEN OF MACARTHUR. Since April Allied troops had moved more than
600 miles along the New Guinea coast in a "series of amphibious leaps. The latest one took them to
Sansapor, 675 miles from Davao in the Philippines. The landing on this island is shown above, where
the Navy LST's have moved into the beachhead to discharge their troops and equipment. Below, a
"baby" carrier arrives at Guadalcanal with a load of P-38's for replacement purposes. Even though the
battle area had moved north, Guadalcanal was still being equipped with the best.

1406
A lull in the fighting in France July, 1944

WARM WELCOME FOR THE LIBERATORS. The people of France, for the most part, wildly acclaimed
the American troops. Here, in the picture at top, an American officer enjoys a freshly made omelet
presented to him by grateful civilians who had just been liberated from German hands. Below, an old
couple is given a jeep ride from an enemy-shelled town to a rest area back of the front lines.

1407
Time out to make things ship-shape July, 1944

RESTING FROM THE BATTLES. Her bristling guns silent while she rides at anchor in a friendly port,
this battleship takes times out between operations in the Pacific. Her crew is busy with the housekeeping
chores of life on a capital ship, working on the guns, and getting their ship ready for the next foray.

1408
The champion entertains the troops July, 1944

CHAMPIONS ALL. Brigadier General Benjamin O. Davis, highest ranking Negro officer, chats with
StaffSergeant Joe Louis, World's heavyweight champion, somewhere in Europe, where Louis staged
boxing exhibitions for the troops. Below, Queen Elizabeth gives comfort to a young American lieutenant,
who was wounded during the early stages of the invasion of France.

1409
Reunion in Pearl Harbor July, 1944

A VISIT FROM THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. General Douglas MacArthur, left, President Roosevelt
and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, aboard a cruiser of the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor. The president
passed three days at this outpost, having traveled there from San Diego after delivering his 4th term
acceptance speech to the Democratic convention. The President's trip served to emphasize that this
phase of the war was by no means forgotten in the great drive in Europe. Liberation of the Philippines
was on the program, the President said, and General MacArthur was assured that he would have a
leading part in that offensive. Thus Mr. Roosevelt made it clear that General MacArthur would not be
left in a relatively inactive role now that the campaign in New Guinea was drawing to a close. In
Hawaii the President talked not only with generals and admirals, but also with flyers who had been
fighting the Japanese in the skies over the Pacific and with marines and infantrymen who had been
wounded in the Marianas. A few days after the President left Honolulu his remarks about the Philip-
pines were translated into action as American planes began their aerial campaign against the islands
and their Japanese conguerors. The United States was committed to a reconguest of the Philippines from
not only a moral but practical military standpoint.
1410
President in the Pacific July, 1944

CONFERENCE AT PEARL HAR-

BOR. Early in August it was
announced that President Roose-
velt had inspected the American
bases at Pearl Harbor during the
last few days of July. There he
discussed Pacific strategy with
General Douglas MacArthur,
and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz,
who is shown, below, going over
a map of the Pacific as General
MacArthur, the President and
Admiral William D. Leahy, the
President's chief of staff, listen
to the lecture. In the picture at
right, the President is shown
with MacArthur and Nimitz
as the commander-in-chief in-
spected troops and the rebuilt
and new fortifications at Pearl
Harbor. This was the first oppor-
tunity the President had of see-
ing the changes made at the
base since the infamous attack
of December 7, 1941.

1411
Entertainment for the troops July, 1944

KEEPING UP THE MORALE. G.l.'s ilock around an improvised platform to witness the first camp show
in France. Sponsored by the U. hundreds of top-flight entertainers of the theatre, films and radio,
S. O.,
traveled to all theatres of
action, bringing the soldiers a touch of home. The stars worked day and night,
and underwent the same hardships as the soldiers they entertained. Many gave several shows per day,
travelling from camp to camp by air transport.
1412
The Russians reach the Baltic Sea August 1, 1944

GERMANS TRAPPED. As August opened the Russians closed the trap on the German forces in Estonia
and Latvia. Thiswas accomplished on August 1, when a Red Army broke through to the Baltic Sea, below
Riga. In these pictures, top, a Red Army guard unit, supported by tanks advances to the attack, and
below, Soviet troops are shown marching through the liberated town of Pinsk.

1413
Progress in France

ALLIES BREAK
OUT OF THE
BRIDGEHEAD
On July 2, the greater part of
the Cherbourg Peninsula being
in Allied hands, repair work in
the city was going on rapidly.
Four forts in the dock area
were the last to surrender, but
these were effectively bombed
by "Marauders" from 6,000 feet
and pounded to surrender. So
accurate was the bombing that
although the forts were se-
verely damaged, the whole
length of the breakwater on
which they were situated
was only superficially blasted.
What damage there was, was
largely the result of German
demolitions.By July 5, steady
progress was being made
across the base of the Cher-
bourg Peninsula on a thirteen-
and-a-half-mile sector which
took the Allies to the top of the
400-ft. hills about three miles
north of the road junction of
La Haye de Puits, a remark-
able advance in view of the
wooded and marshy country
which particularly favored the
defensive tactics of the enemy.
On July 6, very great advances
were made. The right wing
thrust further down to the west
coast and another column
struck down the Carentan-
Periers road. By July 7, the
road was successfully cut a
mile south of La Haye, and the
village of Blemont was cap-
tured.The map illustrates the
campaign in the Cherbourg
Peninsula and shows the
break-through into Brittany on
August 4.

1414
August 1944

1415
Flowers and smiles for the liberators August 3 # 1944

A GESTURE OF WELCOME FROM A FRENCH GIRL. A pretty young Mademoiselle presents members
ofa U.S. Army tank crew with flowers in appreciation of the liberation of the town of Avranches, as
American tanks cut loose in a wide end run in the general direction of Paris, capturing German equip-
ment and soldiers and making the Allies masters of the whole area up to the Seine River after the break-
out from Cherbourg. The important victory at Avranches opened up Brittany for the Americans,

1416
A French soldier comes home August 4, 1944

A WELCOME FROM THE ONE WHO COUNTS. A Lieutenant of the 2nd French Armored Division, which
was fighting again French homeland, and was to play such a great part in the liberation of Paris,
in the
greets his wife, whom he left in 1943, when he joined the Free French Forces in North Africa.
A wounded soldier smiles his approval at this domestic scene in a liberated village.
1417
Besieged Japanese commit hara-kiri August 6, 1944

STIFF RESISTANCE ON GUAM.

As infantrymen move up on a
Japanese pillbox on Guam, a
United States tank fires point
blank at the concrete emplace-
ment and as the attack pressed
closer, the foe inside the pillbox
could be heard commiting sui-
cide with hand grenades. In the
picture at right, infantrymen
look over the bodies of three
Japanese soldiers who killed
themselves in the pillbox. The
building in which the foe made
his stand smoulders from
still

the tank attack. In this

terrific
conquest of the southern Mari-
anas, American infantry and
Marines were killingseven en-
emy soldiers for every one they
lost. Up to this date about 30,000
Japanese had been killed or
captured, compared with 3,529
American dead and 1,550
wounded or missing.

1418
Burning Japanese out of hiding on Guam August 6, 1944

A FLAME-THROWER IN ACTION. While a marine, left, uses a flame thrower to burn the enemy out of
a hidden pillbox on Guam, his buddies wait with guns poised for the Japanese to show themselves.
Although surrounded by leathernecks, the Japanese refused to surrender. Some 10,000 enemy troops
doggedly defended the northern third of the island and it was no easy task to drive them out.

1419
Inching ahead in the battle for France August 9, 1944

NOT A JUNGLE IN THE PACIFIC. A battle of the hedgerows takes place near Mortain, France, as Ameri-
can infantrymen rush from their hedgerow to an enemy-held point. The heavy foliage and the shadows
make the scene reminiscent of New Guinea, instead of the countryside in Brittany where the Americans
were making a concerted drive after breaking out of Normandy.
1420
An embarrassing moment for this Nazi August 9, 1944

HE LOOKS DISGUSTED WITH THE WAR. Two members of an armored unit bring in their first German
prisoner in the battle around Brest, France.. The "super-man" does not look so super as he sits at the
business end of an American bayonet, while the American columns swept on to lay siege to the
important port of Brest, the clearing house_Jor so many thousands of the A.E.F. in 1917-18.

1421
The Navy Secretary inspects his Honor Guard August 9, 1944

AMERICANS WHO WERE TRIED AND NOT FOUND WANTING. With the wreckage of Leghorn in the
background. Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, commander of the 5th Army, and Secretary of the Navy
James V. Forrestal inspect troops from the 100th infantry battalion, composed of Americans of Japanese
descent. The troops were the Secretary's guard of honor during his inspection tour of the front.

1422
A soldier of #
17-'18 beckons the Americans on August, 1944

THE YANKS ARE ROLLING ALONG. In the picture, top, the French soldier in the memorial to the men
World War, seems to be beckoning his American allies on in their advance against the
of the First
Germans, as American tank destroyers roar past his post in a French village. Below, up and over a hedge-
row, somewhere on the Brittany front, goes this infantryman for a hand-to-hand struggle with the enemy.
In some ways the hedgerows made the battle reminiscent of World War I.

1423
Sightseers and prisoners in the battle for France August, 1944

TWO CONTRASTING SCENES. G.I.'s in a jeep, going through Mont St. Michel, one of the towns lib-
erated in the American drive through France, stop to look at the famous abbey there. Below, men of the
Maquis, the French "Underground", march two captured Germans to a concentration camp near
Brest. The work of these French patriots was to prove of considerable help during the Allied advance.

1424
Germans trapped in Estonia August 3, 1944

THE RED ARMY ROLLS ON AGAINST THE NAZIS. On Thursday, August 3, the Russians closed the
trap on the German forces in Estonia and Northern Latvia, where Hitler had left a force to make a hope-
less last stand after the fashion of Stalingrad. In these pictures, top, Soviet batteries are seen in action
against enemy positions, and below, dislodging Germans from an enemy stronghold.
1425
The Eighth Army enters Florence

1426
 August 4, 1944

FALL OF THE HOME OF THE

RENAISSANCE IS NEAR. South
African troops of the 8th Army
entered Italy's most beautiful
city on the morning of August 4.
They passed the Pitti Palace,
which was found unscarred, and
reached the left bank of the
River Arno to discover that the
retreating Germans had blown
up five of the six famous bridges
within the city. The only one left
intact —
and it was blocked by
—
the Germans was the Ponte
Vecchio (Old Bridge), origin-
ally Roman and rebuilt in 1345.
The most celebrated of the
bridges in Florence, lined with
jewelry shops dating from the
fourteenth century and sur-
mounted by a covered passage
from the Pitti Palace to the Pa-
lazzo degli Uffizi on the right
bank, was spared because its

roadway is too narrow for ve-

hicles such as the Allied armies
in Italy use. With access to the
main portion barred
of the city
temporarily, the South Africans
could hear the crackle of small
arms fire on the other side of the
river. This indicated that Italian
partisans were harassing the
German rear-guard. The Ger-
mans thus dropped all pretense
of respecting the status of an
open city which they themselves
announced several months ago.
They destroyed the Ponte Santa
Trinita, with its fine Statues of
the Seasons, first built in 1252;
the Ponte alia Carraia, the Ponte
alle Grazie and the Ponte di
Ferro, the easternmost bridge at
Florence. In this picture Floren-
tines jam the destroyed Ponte
alle Grazi to return to their
homes in the city after the 8th
Army had arrived.

1427
Destruction in Florence August, 1944

FLORENTINES. RETURNING TO THEIR HOMES with bundles of food, after the city had been entered by
the Allies, are shown picking their way across the Ponte alle Grazie, which spanned the Arno River until
destroyed by the Nazis in their mad retreat. The people were willing to risk a ducking to get back, as
shown by these cat-walkers balanced on a rail of the blown-up bridge.
1428
The Pacific situation is well in hand August, 1944

THE ALLIES ARE SETTING THE RISING SUN. This map shows in great detail the strides made by the
United Nations in the Pacific. Guam had been completely recaptured and Americans were consolidating
their gains on other islands. A thousand miles to the south of Guam, troops, under General MacArthur,
were bringing to a close their campaign in New Guinea, and at the moment were only 600 miles from
Davao, their latest amphibious "leap" taking them to Sansapor. Meanwhile the B-29 superfortresses were
striking at Japan itself, the foe's oil storage centers in Sumatra and the steel plants on their home islands.

1429
The Reds close in on East Prussia August 5, 1944

GERMANY, ITSELF, IS THREATENED. On Saturday, August 5, the Russians were about to move onto
the "holy soil" of the Fatherland itself. In fact, the Berlin radio reported that the Red Army had already
crossed the border. In the picture at top, machine gunners are shown in action on the frontier of East
Prussia, and below, other machine gunners of the Soviet, are fording a river.

1430
The French take care of their own August 9, 1944

HE DISCOVERS THAT HE LIKES THE ALLIES. Cornered by patriots who hunted down the traitors in
their midst when the Allies reached thetown of Rennes, this collaborator sinks to his knees in partial
payment for his sins, as members of the Maquis, the French underground organization, forced him to
kneel and shout his praises of the Allies. The Nazi retreat in France was just what the Maquis had been
waiting for. Out from the hills and hiding places they came, pouncing upon the luckless garrisons and
nipping at the retreating columns of troops, as well as taking care of the people who had aided the Nazis
during the occupation. According to some reports Vichy was a city besieged by French patriots; Laval
could not get to his country chateau for fear of ambush by the Maquis.

1431
Guam returns to the United States August 1944
~ 10,

~ 1

THE CONQUEST IS COMPLETED. A marine howitzer, one of the first to be brought ashore, blasts enemy
positions in the battle for Guam,
the first American base to be taken by the Japanese and the first to be
recovered after a campaign of three weeks in which the Japanese lost thousands of men and much equip-
ment. Meanwhile the neighboring island of Tinian, much smaller than Guam, had been conquered.

1432
Action at the base of the Normandy peninsula August 10 # 1944

A KEY POINT ON THE ROAD TO PARIS FALLS. The mammoth display of pyrotechnics in the picture
smoke and flame when a .German ammunition
at top is the real thing. Exploding shells leave trails of
dump just outside of Falaise explodes after a heavy British raid. Below, Canadian sappers search for
mines along the grass borders lining the streets, after they had entered the town.

1433
 The Americans return to the port of Brest August 12,1944

MOST IMPORTANT GOAL IN BRITTANY. As smoke from gunfire fills the air, two allied soldiers move
up on the double through a shell-wracked street in Brest during the six weeks that the battle for this im-
portant port lasted. In the lower picture a much more tranquil procession moves back the other way as
Allied soldiers march their catch ofGerman prisoners to the rear for questioning. German forces in Brest
did not completely capitulate until weeks later,
1434
Through the wheat fields of the Ukraine August, 1944

THE REDS PUSH THE NAZIS BACK. As August opened, the Germans were drawing in and concentrating
their forces not only in France, but also in other parts of Europe and had shifted sixteen divisions in an
effort to halt the Red tide. In these pictures, top, Red Army men are shown with their semi-automatic
tank rifle, and below, tankmen and tommy gunners in action in a Ukrainian wheat field.

t-it"-i*~-

1435
And over there lies southern France

1436
 August 14, 1944

INVASION ARMADA. Every type of craft imaginable is

represented here in this huge fleet of ships assembled at
a port in Southern Italy in preparation for the invasion of
Southern France. The invasion took place the following day
when thousands of Allied troops hit the shores of what had
been the playground for the wealthy —The French Riviera.

1437
 Awaiting their turn to hit the shores of southern France

1438
 August, 1944

"SWEATING IT OUT." As this

picture was taken, a few days
before the invasion of Southern
France, thousands of troops of
the 3rd Division await their turn
to board nearby landing craft
for the big operation. Other
members of the Allied command
watch the operations from a
high wall overlooking this
Italian port. The area chosen for
the landings in Southern France
was south of the famous pre-
war resort area of Nice, Cap
d'Antibes and Cannes. At only
one point was German resist-
ance so heavy that the landing
forces could not be disem-
barked. Veterans of the Anzio
landings, which had also been
easy but were followed by fierce
German counter-attacks, waited
for the to open up. Instead
Nazis
the advance groups pushed as
far as thirty miles inland, strik-
ing through the valleys and
foothills to the Maritime Alps.
Three days later 7,000 German
prisoners, including a general
and his staff, had been captured,
against a total of 300 Allied cas-
ualties. The weaknessof the
German opposition was a sur-
prise to the Allied command,
headed by General Sir Henry
Maitland Wilson, supreme Al-
lied commander in the Mediter-
ranean. The German high com-
mand, at least, must have
known something was being
planned in Italy. King George
VI, Prime Minister Winston
Churchill, Secretary of the Navy
James V. Forrestal and Under
Secretary of War Robert P. Pat-
terson had all recently visited
Italy and more than 800 ships
had been assembled in the area,
yet resistance by the foe was
negligible.

1439
Preparing to smash into southern France August 15, 1944

THE ALLIES RULE THE SEA. In the picture at top is a panoramic view of the great armada which landed
the soldiers of the Allies in southern France on the morning of August 15. The vessels lie within a harbor
half-enclosed by a great semi-circle of land. In the bottom picture, men of the 36th Division prepare to
board their landing craft for the invasion of the Riviera.
The Allies smash through southern France August 16, 1944

TRAFFIC ON THE BEACHHEAD. which have been known for years as the playground
Hitting the shores
are shown as they landed on the Riviera to launch the second
of the "international set", Allied forces
great drive on France. Hands aloft, Nazi prisoners are passed to the rear. Below, James V. Forrestal,
Secretary of the Navy and Vice Admiral H. K. Hewitt, in rear of jeep, check up on the landings.

1441
 'Out of the bright, blue heaven'

1442
 August 15, 1944

AIRBORNE INVASION OF
SOUTHERN FRANCE. For sev-
weeks prior to D
eral Day, the
Allies had followed the same
tacticswhich preceded the Nor-
mandy landings. Bombers hit
bridges and road junctions sur-
rounding the landing area until
it was virtually isolated, dupli-
cating their work elsewhere to
avoid giving away the exact
spot for the attack. Every rail-
road bridge across the Rhone
below Valence was knocked out.
Then, before the assault, the
just
huge Allied armada moved
close to shore points and shelled
the most important defense in-
stallations. Parachutists and air-
borne troops were dropped and
landed behind beaches to secure
important road junctions and
bridges. Then the landings be-
gan. Prime Minister Winston
Churchill watched the opera-
tions from the bridge of a British
destroyer and shortly the
beaches were swarming with
men, vehicles and tanks. In this
picture, parachutes fill the sky
over Southern France after the
12th USAAF troop carrier air
Douglas C-47's carried
division's
men and supplies to dropping
zones over the new beachhead
in the vicinity of Nice.

1443
The price of invasion August 15, 1944

CASUALTIES OF THE LANDINGS IN SOUTHERN FRANCE. In the picture at top, bandaged Allied
who fell during the invasion of the French Riviera on the morning
casualties, of August 15, lie on their
stretchers as they await transportation to hospital ships. Below, French soldiers, part of the Allied landing
forces, wounded during the operation, await evacuation back to their native land.

1444
—And Florence is out of bounds. August, 1944

TOUGH BREAK FOR THE ALLIES. "Out of Bounds," in Army parlance "keep out." This sign, despite the
fact that the signorina is very attractive, means just that, as soldiers were forbidden to enter the main
section of the city, except on duty. Snipers were still plentiful, and although civilians roamed the streets
at will, it was dangerous for the Allies. The last Nazi was not driven out for two weeks.

1445
The Nazis topped in a battle of words August
I
15, 1944

AU

PEUPLE FRANCAIS
FttANfAIS,

ir noire
AU PEUPLE DE FRANCE Ull it
AU PEUPLE UE FRANCE
n« » *er ¥A ier*,de*
y A,
Le general Sir H MAITLAND WILSON ur in
Lc general Sir H. MAITLAND WILSON Htd'om-
CotniTundafll supreme allie Zone de la Wkditerranee IV IB I. immandml supreme allie. Zone de la Mediterranee

noi rfoque-
tigiq loeenf e
iliin
lerdi *e, eon-',
la 1

e. «) owver-
*A»
he alle<*
on* bat
<%reepie# eeue iieresvne, e e*i ane reeniinnuiiuaiion in»iume que |e vans
fais fluii* I ini« i . i tit* voire sauvejgnrde.
Je tout adjure, Franeai.%. de pen*er at mil iiu peril nwrtel qne eour-
rail noire put* si «•«- tolennel averii**emenl n'elnit pa« entendn.

LE MARECHAL DE FRANCE
Chei dc PEial
Philippe PCT4IS,
defeatist warning to the people o France
PETAIN COVERED BY THE ALLIES. Topping Marshal Petain's to*
General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, which ro-gUy
not to aid the Allies, is the announcement by
Mediterranean. Long live the soul of
Wed said "The armies of the United Nations have landed in the Southern France m
France! and all she represents." It was posted in
towns near the Allied landings
and in this particular case directly over a Petam decree.

1446
Street scene on the road to Paris August 15, 1944

HUNTING GERMAN SNIPERS. and faces grim, two Canadian soldiers edge along a wall
Their eyes alert
where remnants of the German 7th Army were being cut to pieces
in this village just outside of Falaise,
as the Allied forces sgueezed the German escape corridor narrower and narrower. They could not shut
it in time to bottle up Field Marshal von Kluge's entire German force between Argentan and Falaise,

although the retreating troops were badly mauled as they escaped through the neck.

1447
 Battling to hold a beachhead August 15, 1944

THE LANDINGS GO ON DESPITE OPPOSITION. A tremendous column of water rises high above the
shore off Southern France as Allied forces battle against Nazi defenders to establish
a beachhead during
the first stage of the landings. Through the barbed wire in the foreground
the gray outline of a landing
craft can be seen, while, at the left, a Navy photographer
records the action with his camera.

1448
Good news for the people oi Florence August 15, 1944

THE INVASION IS ON. Crowds listen to the PWB sound truck announcing the invasion of Southern
France. In the background is the famous cathedral of Santa Maria Del Fiore, one of the great treasures of
this ancient city. By the 15th most of the Germans had been driven out of this capital of the Renaissance,
but the complete deliverance of the city was not to come for another week.

1449
And just ahead lies southern France August 15, 1944

DASHING THROUGH THE WATER TO A NEW ADVENTURE. LCA's going into shore on the morning of
August 15 as the Allies invaded the French Riviera section. These landings were mafle possible by Com-
mandoes, who, their faces daubed with paint and charcoal, paddled ashore in rubber boats. They scaled
rocky cliffs in the darkness, hit hard and fast, and completely surprised and overwhelmed the defenders
of the German-controlled defenses.

1450
The loyal French and the Allies August, 1944

SHOWING WHERE THE ENEMY FLED. A loyal Frenchman shows an advancing American infantry patrol
the direction inwhich a retreating German patrol fled, as men of the 7th Army moved in to mop up any
remaining signs of resistance during the advance along the road to Toulon. Citizens of France, smarting
under four years of Nazi rule, were glad to give the Allies whatever assistance they could against the foe
who so long had besmirched the fair land of "La France."
1451
A soldier of France returns to France August 15, 1944

HOME AGAIN AFTER A LONG TREK. General Jacques Le Clerc walks along a pier with members of his
as he returned to France to take over command of French regulars. Below, a group of Frenchmen
staff
who poured out of the hills to aid the Allied assault troops in the invasion of Southern France, point out
enemy emplacements, hidden in the sand dunes back of the beachheads, to American infantrymen. It did
not take long to clear the troublesome spots.

1452
The invasion of southern France is a success August 15, 1944

THE MORNING AFTER D DAY. Aboard a ship off an island near the southern coast of France, are left to
General Brehon Somervell, commanding
right, Lieut. general of the Army Service Forces, Robert P. Pat-
terson, under secretary of War, and Lieut. General Jacob L. Devers, deputy supreme commander in the
Mediterranean Theatre. They pronounced the invasion a great success, and they all agreed that it was
accomplished with fewer casualties than they anticipated.

1453
Single file through a street in France August, 1944

ON THE PROWL FOR NAZI SNIPERS. After the Allies broke out of the Normandy peninsula the Nazis
realized they were in a highly perilous position. They were in danger of being encircled and hacked to
bits. In this dilemma the German 7th Army took the offensive southwest of Falaise but without any suc-
cess. Here, American G.I.'s advance through the streets of Mamers, France.

1454
Moving through a sleepy town August 15, 1944

ON THE LOOKOUT FOR SNIPERS. Crouching alongside the Casino building in the French town of
Dinard, American infantrymen advance despite the harassing fire of German snipers still active in this
town. Dinard was one of the objectives during the first part of the advance toward Toulon and Lyon. In
all of these towns the Germans were making "suicide" stands against the Allies.

1455
Storming out the "Madman of St. Malo 1
August, 1944

BRINGING PRESSURE ON A NAZI. The prize for stubbornness during the early part of August went to
Colonel von Aulock, commander of the garrison at St. Malo, on the north Breton coast. Knowing he was
doomed, he refused to surrender on the grounds that it was "not compatible with the honor of a German
soldier." Here, the crew of a three-inch gun in the streets of St. Malo tried to change his mind.

1456
Putting the finishing touches on St. Mcdo August 17, 1944

A NAZI STRONGHOLD GIVES

UP THE FIGHT. American troops
wave "Old Glory" atop the Cita-
del inSt. Malo after that bastion
fell following a concentrated
four-day assault by American
troops. At the right,a member
of an American infantry unit
keeps a watchful eye out for any
German who may be left behind
as the artillery blasts away at
the Citadel, the last remaining
stronghold in this town on the
North Breton coast. The Ger-
mans put up a terrific battle for
this point, and finally were com-
pelled to surrender, but not until
casualties on both sides reached
enormous figures.

1457
The Nazis try a night raid on a French harbor August 17, 1944

SCANNING THE SKIES FOR THE ATTACKERS. Allied ships of every description, lining the harbor at St.
Tropez, in southern France, send their searchlights into the clouds as they try to outline the Nazi attackers
and bring them into line for the anti-aircraft gunners. On the boat, at left, an Allied gunner "lets go" at
the planes which tried to "slow up" the invasion.

1458
Taking a general for a ride August 17, 1944

A PRIZE CATCH IN THE DRIVE FROM THE SOUTH. Major General Robert T. Frederick, commander of
the 1st Special Task Force, in jeep (front) with a captured German general (rear), during the early-
strides made by the 7th Army as it plunged inland from the beachheads established on the southern coast
of France two days earlier. Thousands of prisoners and valuable equipment were captured.

1459
The "Underground" comes above ground August 19, 1944

THE MAQUIS RISE IN FRANCE. Back at their stands for the first time since 1940, when the Germans in-
vaded France, these members of the FFI and French soldiers stand guard at a captured pillbox. In the
picture below, members of the Maquis do their job with relish and enthusiasm as they tear down a
German headquarters sign in a French town after its liberation from the retreating Germans.

1460
The Japanese visited here August 19, 1944

AIDING THE GERMAN U-BOATS. The interior view of a bar used by German U-boat officers in Lorient,
France, reveals that Japanese officers were apparently guests at this bar, as is evidenced by their names
carved in the rafters along with those of their Nazi hosts. Below, prisoners taken by the Allies during a
morning shower on the outskirts of Coutances, France.

1461
Churchill is "shot" in Italy August, 1944

JUST A MOMENT, PLEASE. Prime Minister Winston Churchill, touring the 5th Army front, gets his picture
taken by an American mascot of the 34th Division in the Castiglioncello area. Below, Americans
of Japanese descent, members of the 100th Infantry Battalion, 34th Division, examine a still-smouldering
German vehicle which they captured during their drive in the Leghorn area.

1462
Tackling problems on the Italian front August, 1944

CANADIANS MEET A SITUATION. In the background of picture at top, is the entrance to one of the deep
caves found along the Italian front, which served as protection against dive bombers. Here, a group of
men make hasty repairs at this improvised workshop. Below, a view of a water purifying unit of the
Canadian Army on a Sacco River waterpoint near Pofi, with trucks lined up for rations.

1463
Amid the ruins of Myitkyina August, 1944

ON THE JOB ON A DISTANT FRONT. An American sniper, using to advantage a second story window,
alertly watches for the slightest movement that would disclose the position of a careless Japanese. A
mortar shell has entered through the roof and made a shambles of the building's interior. The strong brick
construction proved a good defensive position for the Japanese and Chinese during this long fight.

1464
The Japanese leave their dead behind August, 1944

PROGRESS IN THE ASIA CAMPAIGN. As the Japanese were driven out of the town of Myitkyina, their
dead defenders were leftgrotesquely sprawled near the base of the positions they were ordered to defend
until death. No longer will they yell their battle cry of "blood for the Emperor." A Chinese soldier stoically
views the havoc wrought by his comrades during the heavy fighting.

1465
Some recruits for the Burma campaign August, 1944

MORE HEADACHES FOR THE JAPANESE. A detail of American soldiers is shown with K-9 replacements,
brought into the India-Burma theatre in July. The dogs were used for patrolling and perimeter guard,
first

and had been used with great success in other campaigns in the South Pacific. They had been fighting
for more than a year alongside men of the Army, Marines and Navy.

1466
As the caissons keep rolling along August, 1944

COLORFUL PATTERN AT NIGHT. The incessant artillery fire of Allied forces in France was one of the
major assets employed by the Allies in wearing down the Nazi defenders. It has been said about artillery
that it keeps awake those that it doesn't kill or wound, making the infantryman's job easier. Here, an
American battery "let's go" in the dead of the night.

1467
The battle for France August, 1944

//VMD£ SOl/rHSKM
•' P/IAHC£, /1UG./S

so i'OO
1 -
zv. > tt

./
STORY OF THE LIBERATION. The trail of the white arrows records the German defeat in France. After
the landings on the shores of Normandy, the Americans and British were bottled up for weeks, although
Cherbourg was taken on June 27. On July 26 the Americans broke out below Avranches, and, on August
9, the British pushed through at Caen. The pocketing of the German armies in the Normandy trap was
the
decisive factor in the battle fpr France and made the lightning sweep to the east possible,

1468
An American attack in France August, 1944

INFANTRY IN ACTION. American infantrymen dash across an open field in the face of heavy machine
gun fire to engage S.S. troopers in close battle during the advance in the general direction of Paris. The
soldier in foreground lies prone to fire a grenade, while at the right a bazooka gunner races along
rifle
with his comrades to join the attack on the highly defended Nazi strongholds.

1469
The Canadians advance along the Seine August, 1944

•or

^V^%>;V
STREET SCENE IN FRANCE. A Canadian corporal stands guard on a street corner in a liberated French
town on the Seine as two dead German soldiers lie covered by canvas near the feet of the Allied soldier.
In the picture below, a Canadian jeep tows German equipment from a cave used by the Nazis for stora~e
and concealment from Allied airmen.

1470
Crossing a stream in the Burma theatre August 20, 1944

TOUGH GOING FOR MEN AND JEEP. Men of a Signal Corps unit float a ieep across the Mogaung River
to the town of Kamaing, Burma. They were kept on their course by a cable line extended across the stream
at this point. The jeep has been shrouded in a canvas sack-like arrangement which gives it buoyancy,
the prescribed method for making a boat out of a motor car.

1471
The Nazis did not have this touch August 20, 1944

FUN FOR THE KIDDIES. An American corporal gives a few sleight of hand tricks for the entertainment of
French refugee children in the town of Plabennec, France, after the town was liberated from its Nazi con-
querors. The smiles on the faces of these young citizens of France, who will be part of a new nation, indi-
cate where their allegiance will be centered in the days of peace.

1472
New Russian frontier August, 1944

ONCE MORE CLEAR OF THE INVADER. As the fifth year ended, Russia's soil was free of the enemy. In the
north, Finland was still under German domination, although she was about ready to surrender. Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania were slowly being cleared of the Nazis. In the central sector, Russia was in Poland and
was threatening East Prussia. In the south Rumania had officially surrendered and Bulgaria was tottering.
1473
Chartres greets General De Gaulle August 23, 1944

ANOTHER CITY IS LIBERATED. Cheering crowds welcomed the leader of the Free French, General
Charles De Gaulle, as he visited the city of Chartres, on a tour of inspection of the liberated areas. The tour
culminated in his triumphal entry into Paris just a few days later. With the fall of Chartres the Allies
had advanced to within fifty miles of the French capital.

1474
Rejoicing and sadness in Chartres August 23, 1944

WELCOME TO THE LEADER OF THE FRENCH. General Charles De Gaulle acknowledging the tumultuous
welcome given him by the residents of Chartres, France. The General is speaking from the steps of the
City Hall in the liberated city. In the picture below, members of the FFI attend a funeral service in
Chartres for their comrades who gave their lives in the liberation of the city.

!<*» <* •* h,£!3s£&Ll6£L.

1475
The Reds take an important Rumanian town August 23, 1944

JASSY FALLS TO THE RUSSIANS. In a drive which neiied 60,000 prisoners in six days, the Soviet Army
captured the important town of Jassy, and pushed on down the Siret River toward its junction with the
Danube. Here, top, Russian soldiers are shown attacking an inhabited locality, and below, Soviet tanks
and infantrymen push ahead in their great drive for the gateway to central Rumania.

1476
A welcome "present" from the Nazis August, 1944

THE STOVE THEY LEFT BEHIND THEM. In their hasty retreat the Germans left behind this field stove
which was pressed into service by the Allied Civil Affairs Bureau at their refugee center in France. A
refugee cook is trying out his culinary art for the benefit of other French civilians. The job of supplying
the hard-pressed French with food was one of the toughest to face the Allied governments.

1477
Rumania quits the Axis camp August 23, 1944

DRIVEN OUT BY THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE. On the eastern front the Nazis faced still another defeat, both
military and political, which might mean the loss of the Balkans and the complete disintearation of the
ring of Axis satellites. As the Red Army unleashed a new offensive toward the Ploesti oil fields and
Bucharest, young King Michael announced Rumania had accepted the Soviet-British-American armistice
terms and would henceforth fight on the side of the United Nations. Apparently the Rumanian decision
caught the Germans by surprise, for not until twelve hours later did Berlin reveal that it had been deserted
by one Balkan regime. Germany pleaded with Rumanians not to follow the "traitor king", but to shed their
blood with the Germans. Hitler's hold on the Balkans was slipping.

147?
The Nazis put up a hard fight to hold Brest August, 1944

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*
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SHOOTING IT OUT ON THE

STREETS. While one American soldier sprawls amid the rubble in a street
another crouches in a doorway with pistol aimed at snipers hiding out across the street.
of this great port,
Below, infantrymen dash across a street as a white phosphorus shell explodes almost in their midst,
during the bitter fighting for this city which did not capitulate until September 20.

1479
Fierce fighting for the city of Toulon August 24, 1944

THE 7TH ARMY MEETS RESISTANCE. The Americans in their drive through Southern France found that
the foe was making suicide stands at Marseille and Toulon, with the heaviest resistance at Toulon. One
of the strongest points of resistance in the latter city was the powder cellar, shown above, which French
tanks and half-tracks shelled, and which was captured with the aid of the police,

1480
After heavy fighting for Toulon August 24, 1944

A GREAT PORT TAKES A BEATING. After a heavy bombardment by two battleships and six cruisers
which poured 1,400 rounds into this fortress, theenemy still continued to fight back desperately, even
lowering anti-aircraft guns for use as artillery. They swung the coastal guns around and trained them on
targets inland. Here, knocked out vehicles and German dead line the streets.

1481
Along the beach in southern France
~ ~~~

1482
 August, 1944

American troops advance inland after winning the fight

for thebeachhead in southern France. At right center is a
huge hole that American guns blasted in the 8-foot steel
and concrete wall running the whole length of the beach.

* I • »

_^1
1483
The day of glory arrives for Paris August 25, 1944

"LE —
JOUR DE GLOIRE EST ARRIVE." Paris liberated after four years of German tyranny this was the
announcement that swept the civilized world on Wednesday, August 23. The next day the world learned
that this announcement had been premature, and that parts of the great French city were still infestei
with German troopers who were still holding out. It was not until two days later, August 25, that Paris
was actually free and enemy resistance (discounting the sniper incident) had ceased. What actually
happened was that on August 21, 50,000 French armed patriots began fighting the German garrison within
the city. After five days of fighting the German commander called for a truce and agreed to surrender.
Having gained time to reorganize his defense, he violated the truce and once more took up the task of
battling the patriots for possession of the city. The Allied command had conceived and supported the idea
of the city being liberated by Frenchmen. When it was found that the patriots needed help. General
Omar N. Bradley, commander of the 12th Army Group, pulled the 2nd French Armored Division out of its
position in the Seine and sent it, with certain American forces, toward Paris. A series of obstacles outside
the city were overcome, and on late Thursday, the 24th, the vanguard of General Jacques Le Clerc's
French troops reached the heart of the city. On Friday, French headquarters proclaimed the liberation,
announcing that the German commander had surrendered to General Le Clerc. General De Gaulle arrived
in triumph to broadcast to the population and on Saturday the streets of Paris resounded to the tramp of
marching men as the Allies passed in review before the Allied commanders. The Allied forces found a
Paris strangely unchanged despite four years of Nazi rule. Most every person had some relative still
in a prison camp or a compulsory labor group in Germany. But the spirits of the Parisians remained
high. The immediate need was for greater food supplies. Paris had been cut off from the rest of France
for days and its meagre food reserve had been exhausted. Above, left to right, front row, General
Bradley, General Dwight Eisenhower, supreme Allied Commander; General Joseph Koenig, military
commander of Paris; and British Air Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, deputy Allied commander.
1484
A toast to the liberation of Paris August 25, 1944

PARIS EST LIBERE. A toast with rare old cognac, that this French resident of Cherbourg had hidden for the
day of liberation, is drunk with one of the American soldiers in Cherbourg, as "La Presse", the Cherbourg
newspaper, shown on the table, heralds the French capital's liberation from four years of Wehrmacht rule.
This scene was repeated in thousands of French homes and cafes.

1485
Snipers mar Victory Day

I486
 August 26, 1944

CIVILIANS DODGE
NAZI BULLETS
Thousands of Parisians were
thrown into panic and the great
liberation parade was broken up
when Nazi snipers, stationed on
roof tops along the Rue de
Rivoli, opened during the
fire
celebration in honor of Ameri-
can and French troops. General
De Gaulle had just passed by
and received the plaudits of the
crowd when a shot rang out
from a roof top on the corner of
the Rue de Bourdonnais and the
Rue de Rivoli. The firing in-
creased in tempo as it was re-
turned by the FFI and American
and French troopers. The picture
at left clearly illustrates the
panic as the firing spread to side
streets and the milling citizens
vainly sought safety. The panic
was greatest around the Hotel
de Ville and Notre Dame Ca-
thedral, the latter becoming a
battle zone just as General De
Gaulle entered it to attend mass.
While most of the German troop-
ers were soon rounded up or
"liguidated", French collabora-
tionists were still firing away
the next day. Despite the wild
shooting the casualties were
comparatively light, a few spec-
tators being killed and a dozen
or so wounded.

1487
Americans on the Champs Elysees

1480
August 26, 1944

1489
 After 26 years —Americans march in Paris

VICTORY PARADE IN PARIS. American troops of an infantry division march along the Champs Elysees,
as their fathers did in 1918. The world-famous Arc de Triomphe, which shelters
the Tomb of France's Un-
1490
 August 26, 1944

known Soldier of the First World War, is in the background. In the foreground, mechanized equipment
of the French 2nd Division up in front of the Arc during ceremonies in honor of the Unknown Soldier.
line

1491
A Paris landmark still stands August 26, 1944

THE OLD AND THE NEW IN THE CAPITAL. Parisians see their first Allied "duck" and wave greetings to
the occupants on the Trocadero. The Eiffel tower, which had been used by the Germans as an observation
post, looks down on its old friends. The tricolor of France had replaced the swastika, and the old rickety
elevator was ready to take Allied soldiers up for a view of the famous city.

1492
American equipment on the Champs Elysees August 26, 1944

PARIS GREETS HER LIBERATORS. Parisians line the world-famous boulevard to cheer the American
troops on parade toward the Arc de Triomphe. Row after row of mechanized military equipment rolls past
the throng of happy French people as Americans demonstrate the might of the mechanized army which
had driven the Nazis from the capital only ten weeks after the initial landings in France.
1493
Allies make a big haul in Paris August, 1944

CROWDED QUARTERS FOR THE SUPER RACE. In the Hotel Majestic, Paris, former Wehrmacht head-
quarters, these Germans, many of them officers, are collected together in the rooms where they once ruled
Paris. Below, American G.I.'s examine pictures of high ranking Germans discovered in a French hotel.
The soldier on the right seems to be getting a big kick out of the portrait of Adolf Hitler.

14S4
No rationing of gasoline here August 26, 1944

THE GERMANS LOSE MORE OF THEIR SUPPLIES. Captured when American and French forces occupied
the main parts of the French capital, this stock of German gasoline quickly disappeared as Parisians
helped themselves outside the headquarters of the Wehrmacht, on Avenue Klebor, the morning after the
liberation. Note the mechanized equipment left behind by the Germans in their mad retreat.

1495
French general who "took" Paris August 25, 1944

LEADER OF THE F.F.I. General Jacques LeClerc with some of his French soldiers. The surrender of the
German commandant at Paris to this soldier of France was to climax a march to Paris which had begun
Then they
in February, 1941. left Fort Lamy, near Lake Chad, in French Equatorial Africa, crossed the
Sahara and fought in North Africa, Italy, and finally returned to Paris in triumph.

1496
The tricolor flies over Notre Dame August 26, 1944
:>

A FAMOUS CHURCH LOOKS DOWN ON WAR. Notre Dame Cathedral, spared in the first World War,
is the background second World War. The burned-out German truck in the foreground,
for conflict in the
almost at the cathedral's front door, was left by Germans as they fled from the fury of the French patriots
during the two days of fighting which preceded the entry of the Allies into the French capital. There was
heavy sniper firing about the cathedral when De Gaulle attended services on the day of liberation.
1497
Action in Paris before the liberation August, 1944

PANIC IN THE CAPITAL. In the

picture at top, bending low and
scurrying for cover, frightened
Parisians try to escape the bul-
lets whistling down from roof-
top sniper nests. Panic reigned
as street fighting broke up the
official reception to General
Charles De Gaulle on his arrival
in the capital. In the picture at
right, members of the French
Forces of the Interior snipe from
a window at the Prefecture of
As one
Police during the rioting.
man a sub-machine gun,
fires
another crouches beside him, re-
loading. A comrade covers them
from the rear with a revolver as
Frenchmen fought to wrest their
capital from the Germans.

1498
'Come on out with your hands up!' August 25, 1944

A GOOD DAY'S CATCH. Fifty-six German prisoners of war come out with their hands in the air to give
themselves up to an American sergeant who used his fluent German to talk them into surrendering. He
was under the impression that he was talking to a small group. In the picture below, German prisoners,
10,000 strong, line up for their lunch at an enclosure in liberated France.

1499
Off to join in the fight for democracy August, 1944

THE FRENCH COME OUT IN THE OPEN. Rifles slung over their backs, four 'citizen soldiers' of France
—
leave their homes to join the swelling forces of France fighting in the open after years of balking the
Nazis through their activities in the "underground." Among the groups they might join are the Maguis
and the F.P.T.P. —French Partisans Franc Tireurs.
150Q
An American officer and his prize catch August 25, 1944

BRINGING IN THE PRISONERS. After being captured by a German patrol. Lieutenant Clarence E. Cog-
gins convinced a German major that escape from the Allies was impossible. The major then released
the lieutenant to arrange terms of surrender with his superiors. Here, his prisoners march through Pont
De Claiz, just south of Grenoble, on their way to the train and internment.

1501
Balloon protection against the robot bombs August, 1944

A TRAP FOR THE NAZI SECRET WEAPON. During the eighty-day attack of the flying bomb, Britain mar-
shalled 2,000 barrage balloons to protect London and Southern England. Stretched as far as the eye can
see, is this barrage, the greatest that was ever put into the air. The balloons accounted for almost three
hundred of the 8,000 bombs launched by the enemy.

1502
Guarding England's shipping lanes August, 1944

HIS MAJESTY'S SEA FORTS. As the fifth year of the war drew to a close, the English government dis-
closed one of its best kept secrets. For some time sea forts, such as pictured above and below, had been
guarding Britain's shipping lanes along both the Channel and east coasts. The forts were constructed
ashore and then towed to sea and sunk on sandbanks. They were manned by Army personnel and pos-
sessed adequate living accommodations. Designed primarily to guard against mine-laying planes, the
forts formed a first line defense against any invasion attempt. Above are seven forts joined by catwalks.
Below is the sea fort "Knot John" which was manned by Royal Marines. No information was released as
to the exact location of the installations pictured.

1503
Valley of desolation in France August 27, 1944

THE FRENCH SEE ALLIED ARMOR. Thundering through a valley of rubble that was once a quiet French
village,Canadian tanks speed toward the rocket-gun coast after the break-through from Caen and the
capture of Falaise. These troops were part of the northern arm of the mammoth Allied pincers that closed
in on the German Seventh Army and a few days later were to return to Dieppe in triumph.

1504
The way of the collaborationist is hard August 27, 1944

THEIR CROWNING GLORY IS

GONE. In the picture above, a
French girl, a resident of Laval
who has been accused of col
laborating with the Nazis, has
been marked with the swastika
and forced to parade the streets
displaying pictures of her for-
mer friends. Right, half-naked
women, also accused of col-
laborating, are marched through
a Paris street. The swastika has
been painted on their foreheads.
Both pictures show that the
women had been shorn of their
hair before the start of the cere-
monies. Oddly enough, these
measures were al-
disciplinary
ways engineered by French
males who took it upon them-
selves to express the national
indignation over the behavior of
a small number of French
women dvring the occupation.

1505
A very dejected-looking Nazi general August 27, 1944

HOW THE MIGHTY FALL AS THE ALLIES GAIN. This German general was captured near Fismes,
France, during the rapid advance of a U.S. armored unit. The general looks dejected, to say the least,
and well he may, as the battle for France was ending and the beginning of the battle for Belgium and
Germany was getting under way with the Allies roaring along on all the battle fronts.
1506
It's not all fighting in sunny France August, 1944

IN TWO CAPTURED TOWNS.

In the picture at top, the famous
Twelfth Century Cathedral of
St. Julien in Le Mans forms the
setting for the scene as children
gather around an American jeep
and a convoy moves toward the
front. Below, a G.I. strings wires
on the side of a house in Gre-
noble under the watchful eyes
of a group of French girls. In
all parts of France, wherever
the Allies moved ahead, the
French, for the most part, went
all out in their efforts to coop-
erate with the liberators of their
homeland.

1507
Two ways of crossing a French river August, 1944

BUT THEY GOT ACROSS. Over a bridge erected across the river, Canadian armored vehicles (t°p)<
cross the Seine in pursuit of Germans fleeing toward the rocket bomb coast. On the right, soldiers are
fixing a loose plank and strengthening the bridge. In the bottom picture, German machine gun fire comes
perilously close to U.S. engineers who are ferrying a vehicle across the Seine at Montreau.

1508
Strange sights on a French street August 28, 1944

SILENT OBSERVERS OF THE ALLIED ADVANCE. Searching for enemy snipers, top, American soldiers
Malo, as this dummy model from a dress shop
silently traverse this street in the business section of St.
gazes after them. Another model is a casualty in the street. Below, a Frenchwoman takes over the traffic
control on the Boulevard Foch, in Angers, the day after the city's liberation.

1509
The British pass through war-torn streets August 28, 1944

DRIVING ALONG THE ROCKET-

LAUNCHING COAST. Walking
single file, and with eyes peer-

ing intently to each side, these

British soldiers on patrol march
through a town in the Pas-de-
Calais sector, piled high with
rubble and debris from constant
shelling and bombing. Right,
among the powerful flame-
throwers now being used by the
British Armies in France is the
ferocious "Wasp". Sending a
fearsome stream of fire into
German strongpoints, the flame-
thrower is fitted to a carrier
with a bullet-proof body. In the
"Wasp", as in all other weapons
of this kind, a special type of
fuel is used.

1510
Dead cattle provide cover for Americans August, 1944

A RURAL SCENE IN THE ALLIED ADVANCE. Two American soldiers duck low behind the carcasses of
dead as shells whine over their heads in the drive to the border of Luxembourg. Another cow grazes
cattle
contentedly on the side of the road, oblivious to the danger. Below, crouching as they run, American
infantrymen scurry after their tank as it lumbers after the retreating Nazis.
Showing the Nazis some real shooting August, 1944

BRITISH AND AMERICAN GUNS IN ACTION. In the picture at top, a 155 mm. gun, manned by a battery
of the Royal Artillery, fires at Nazi positions along the shrinking German front in France. Below, Ameri-
can troops go in for the kill after knocking out a giant Tiger (Mark VI) tank in a town outside of Paris.
Smoke rises from the immobilized tank as it falls prey to the Americans.

1512
Brest still holds out in bitter fighting August 29, 1944

aSSSSSSik
1 1
|M^ m
•
%r *

"
M ™ . .. ,j*

THE FIGHT CONTINUES FOR A

FAMOUS WORLD-WAR PORT. An American soldier dashes for cover
(top), as vehicles of a U.S. column become the target for Nazi guns in this great French port. Smoke from
near, or direct hits on the columnlfills the air. Below, streaking for cover from Nazi sniper fire, this Ameri-
can runs past bomb-blasted buildings in Brest, as a hail of lead follows him.

1513
A cross-channel gun is silenced August 29, 1944

RETIRED FROM THE WAR. While one British soldier stands on the barrel, another gunner, left, examines
the openingon the 14 inch "London Range" German gun, silenced forever, as the men of the Empire
smashed along the rocket launching coast. A British sailor, right, examines the protective mail chain
curtain which hangs over the front of the gunpit on this Nazi monster.

1514
Designed for enemy wall cracking August, 1944

BRITISH EQUIPMENT ROLLING ALONG. The AVRE leads a long line of armored vehicles over a road
in France. A tank, similar to the famedChurchill, it features a special mortar, mounted in a turret with
a short, stub barrel. The mortar, known as the "Petard" can hurl a charge containing many times the
weight of any other projectile. Below, British armor passes a Somme cemetery of 1914-18.

1515
Warfare reminiscent of 1917-18

A LEAP FOR SAFETY. American infantrymen advancing on the heels of the retreating Germans outside
a shell hole as a Nazi shell splits the air overhead. The Allied advance was
of Paris, leap for the safety of
preceded by a terrific air bombardment. Below, as these Yanks plow through the sticky mud in their
sector, some of them are reminded of stories their dads told them of the last war, which would not indicate
that "General Mud" is no respector of periods.

1516
A French woman pleads her innocence August 29, 1944

SHE DOESN'T WANT TO LOSE HER HAIR. A French woman, alleged to have collaborated with the
Germans (the same Nazis charged with the cold-blooded murder of twenty-seven F.F.I, men at Chatou),
pleads as she hears her sentence —a close-cropped haircut to brand her as dealing with the enemy. In
every town and village of France this was meted out to the women who had aided the foe.
the penalty
The emotional strain expressed on the face of this defendant is most evident.

1517
 The mail gets through and a G.I. is happy August, 1944

KEEPING UP THE MORALE OF A FIGHTING MAN. No question about the morale of this fighting Marine.
He wears an ear-to-ear grin after hitting the jack-pot at mail call outside a fleet post office somewhere
in the Pacific. The mail call was the first held following the seizure of the island and this Devil Dog really
came up with his full quota of letters.
1518
A British gun and a German gun train August, 1944

NEW BRITISH HOWITZER IN ACTION. A gun crew is shown (top) preparing to fire the 7.2 howitzer
against the Nazis along the rocket coast. The gun weighs ten tons and fires a 200 lb. shell up to a range
of 16,000 yards. The tires are five feet, six inches in diameter. Below, all that remains of a Nazi gun train
as found by the Canadians at Montreuil, in the advance to the city of Boulogne.
1519
Jap atrocities on Guam August, 1944

SOME LIVE TO TELL. Before they were

wiped out, Jap soldiers, retreating on
Guam, wrought vengeance on the peace-
ful natives in typically brutal fashion. At
right are two Chamarro children being
treated by a native nurse for wounds
received when they were bayoneted and
left for dead in a bomb crater by the flee-
ing Japs. Above are the bodies of a group
not so fortunate. These natives, with
hands tied behind their backs, were
driven into the jungle, bayoneted and
beheaded. One war correspondent
counted 42 bodies of Chamarros who had
been disposed of in this fashion. Having
failed in two years of occupation to gain
the respect and loyalty of the Chamarros,
the Japanese killed as many as they
could before their own resistance ceased.

1520
After the Canadians entered Falaise August, 1944

SOME REBUILDING NEEDED HERE. Falaise, the target for which Allied forces put up such a bitter fight,
is shown a few days Ganadian^entered, its shell and bomb-shattered streets and buildings bear-
after the
ing mute testimony to the terrific pounding the city received from both friend and foe, before the Allies
had gained complete mastery. The only opposition remaining came from isolated elements of German
armored and infantry divisions, which sought to keep the pincers open in an effort to extract slower
moving infantry. Below, British infantrymen move cautiously through the wreckage of buildings in a town
on the road to Boulogne.
1521
The fight for a jade center in Burma August 30 1944 #

TENGCHUNG IS SOUGHT AFTER BY THE ALLIES. This picture gives an idea of the heavy fighting that
went on before this great center of the jade industry fell to the Allies early in September. This ancient
center of Chinese culture was the first city east of Burma to be liberated by the Allies and as the fifth year
of the war drew to a close bloody warfare for the center was still going on.

1522
Nazi torture chamber unearthed in Paris August 31, 1944

WHERE GERMANS AMUSED THEMSELVES. This torture chamber (top), being inspected by F.F.I, men
and Paris police, was found in the rear of the French Ministry of Aviation building. It was formerly a rifle
range, and was converted into a sound-proof, fireproof, chamber, where prisoners were either burned
alive, or tied to the pillars and shot, then buried in a common grave. As shown in the picture below,
F.F.I, men are examining the re-opened graves. Four boxes, containing as many bodies, are shown beside
the common grave.

1523
Chateau-Thierry and its liberator August 31, 1944

MEMENTO OF ANOTHER WAR. Having cleared

all theGermans from the Seine between Paris
and Troyes, the American troops began to move
north and east to flank the German retreat route
from the Channel coast to Belgium and Germany.
Not until Laon was reached was it revealed that
the American 1st Army, under Lieutenant General
Courtney H. Hodges (right), was responsible for
the thrust in the center which recaptured so many
places made famous in the last war, including
Chateau-Thierry and Soissons which fell without
a fight. In the picture above, dwarfed by its huge-
ness, three American soldiers stand and look at
the monument, high on a hill overlooking Chat-
eau-Thierry, which was erected by the United
States as a memorial to American doughboys and
French soldiers who fought in that area during
the first World War. The memorial has been un-
touched by this war.

1524
Mail for the Pacific August, 1944

NAVY MAIL GETS THROUGH. This towering stack of mailbags on a dock at Espiritu Santo indicates that
the folks at home have responded to the urgings of those who see mail from home as a great morale
builder. This allotment, only a part of that designated for this Pacific base, is scheduled for Christmas
delivery. The bulgings in the sacks give promise of many gift packages.

1525
Verdun falls to Pattern's men August 31 1944
,

MEMORIES OF ANOTHER WAR. Covering sixty-five miles in one day, men of General Patton's 3rd Army
entered the famous fortress city of Verdun and captured it against slight opposition. One of the keystones
of the Maginot Line, some of its fortifications had been demolished. In this picture, five American G.I.'s
cook their dinner at the base of the monument to men of the First World War.

1526
Devastation in a Chinese city August 31, 1944

THIS WAS ONCE A HOME IN CHINA. American troops and American-trained and equipped Chinese
troops entered the ancient jade center of Tengchung during the last week of August, but the city did not
fall to the Allies until after five weeks of bloody warfare. In this picture, a blind refugee, led by a small
boy, makes his way through the ruins of what was once his home in Tengchung.
*
1527
Lwow again in Russian hands

RECONQUEST. Soviet troops and equipment are shown (above) in a Lwow street after the re-occupa-
tion of the Polish citywhich was started in the last days of July. The history of Lwow since 1939 has been
crowded with changes. In September of that year it became a part of Russia, according to the terms of
the Hitler-Stalin pact. In 1941 it was taken by the Germans who held it for three years. Below, Soviet
troopers make prisoner of a German motor cyclist in the Lwow area.
•
1528
Covering an advance across the Seine August, 1944

TICKLISH WORK. BUT NECESSARY. American riflemen crouch behind a barricade on the shores of the
Seine River, near the town of Montreau, France, covering G.I.'s and equipment crossing the river on pon-
toon ferries built by U.S. Army engineers. Most of the opposition was from scattered units of the once
powerful German armies. There was no longer any semblance of a German line in France.

, . 1529
Two methods of cleaning up August, 1944

,>. - -,.

HALMAHERA AND GUAM. American

bombers of the U.S. Army Fifth Air Force
attack at low level the Wasile pier on
Halmahera Island, the last Japanese bas-
tion between New Guinea and the Philip-
pines. This was one of the many air raids
on Halmahera that preceded an invasion
that followed weeks later. Halmahera,
located equidistant between Celebes and
the Dutch half of New Guinea, was an
important outpost for the Japanese on the
Philippines. Below, the arrival of a water
truck on Guam proved a big event to
the Marines who were engaged in mop-
ping-up operations on that island. Fresh
water was a priceless luxury after the
smoke and grime of battle.

1530
Generals confer in a plane August 31, 1944

DISCUSSING THE NEXT MOVES IN THE BATTLE OF FRANCE. Two Lieutenant Generals, two helmets,
thecrew and one jeep, are the contents of this C-47 plane used by Lieut. General Omar N. Bradley, right,
and Lieut. General George S. Patton, left, as they return from a tour of the Brittany peninsula. General
Bradley had been given equal rank with General Montgomery shortly before this picture was taken.

1531
Comforting the grief -stricken family of a patriot August 31 , 1944

1**
^f?

AFTER A MASS EXECUTION. An American soldier comforts the grief-stricken family of one of the
who were executed en masse by the Germans when they attempted to seize
twenty-seven Maquis the
garrison of a town on the road to Brest. The Germans quelled the uprising and the Maquis were executed
and buried in a shallow grave. The executioners were captured and made to exhume the bodies.
1532
After two years —Canadians return to Dieppe September 1 , 1 944

NO TURNING BACK THIS TIME. French residents of this famous resort town line the streets as Canadian
soldiers march into the town. It Dieppe that the British and Canadian Commandoes staged their
was at
brilliant, but unsuccessful, raid on the morning of August 19, 1942. In this drive along the coast, the
British had an additional motive to spur them on — capture of robot bomb launching sites.

1533
Status, as the fifth year ended

UNION OF S

o c* J? ji jst

Capetown

itXIIHUJJ:

THE STORY AFTER FIVE YEARS. While the Allies were closing in on all sides, the Axis nations and their
few remaining satellites were still in possession of large and critical areas of territory. The German hordes
had been pushed out of France and Russia, but still kept a strong grip on central Europe. Japan had lost
1534
 September 1, 1944

NEW
^ZEALAND

\7
many important Pacific island bases, but still held huge slices of the Far East. While the prospects were
bright for a guick end to the European struggle, it was estimated that the Pacific war had one or two
years to run. With the sixth year coming up, the Allies still faced much "blood, sweat and tears".

1535
 —

VICTORY VOLUME
Will Be Manufactured Only for Those
Who Reserve It in Advance

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work on its sequel, VICTORY
Editorial Staff started
VOLUME IV. Exciting previously censored photographs
were already coming in from every global battlefront
pictures of the mightiest land, sea and air battles ever
fought; pictures of the earth-shattering Atomic Bombing
that rang down the curtain on this most gripping drama
of all Time!

These vivid front-line action pictures are being compiled

into the stirring pictorial climax of the war, to record for
all posterity the utter defeat of Germany and Japan.
Critical paper shortages compel us to limit edition of
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WM. H. WISE & CO., INC.

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1536
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