WW2 Untold Stories

03/15/2026

03/15/2026

Moments after firing a round at 840 m/s, a German 8.8 cm Flak 36 expels the shell casing. Behind the gun, the Commander, an Oberleutnant, appears to be smiling as one of the crew members clings to the gun shield with one hand, thrown out of balance by the gun’s shudder. The gun barrel shows 23 ‘kill’ rings, was this one the 24th? Said to be Russia, 1941

03/14/2026

A Luftwaffe’s ground crewman installs an Ikon Zeiss ESK 2000 B aircraft camera on the wing of a Messerschmitt Bf 109.

These cameras were initially mounted on the wings or fuselage of aircraft and used in the training of future pilots. Later, during the war, they were mounted on the nose of aircraft such as the Bf 110 and Me 210 and used as gun cameras.

Given the position of the fuel filler point below the cockpit, the shape of the latter, and the absence of an opening on the upper panel (near the glove), I believe this Bf 109 to be an early B-1, one of only 30 B-1 built.

The photo is undated and it can be either pre-war or war period given that outdated aircraft were often used by training units.

03/14/2026

Two German Stormtroopers pose with their tools of trade during training. The exact date and location are unknown. Great War Period

Of note is the clear view of a wire cutter, the M1893 ankle boots, and the colorful M1916 training grenades, identifiable by the holes on the body (see in comments a photo of a surviving example of these grenades).

Both soldiers are wearing corduroy pants which, judging by the grey tones of the original photo, are of different colours. Corduroy trousers were issued in either grey or brown, the latter appearing usually darker in Orthochromatic emulsions.

The holster seems to be that of a P08 Luger.

Note: The left soldier's collar doesn't seem to have piping. Given the texture, it seems to be the collar of a M1915 bluse. It was not uncommon for repaired bluse to be reissued to other soldiers. In this case, we have an old M1910 Feldrock with a M1915 collar.

03/14/2026

Raising clouds of dust and sand, a squadron of A6M ‘Zero’ fighters prepares to take off from Rabaul, the main Japanese airbase in the South Pacific. New Britain Island, said to be between August and November 1942.

Captured from the Australians on January 1942, Rabaul was quickly turned into a major Japanese naval and air base. Together with the Japanese Naval base at Truk, the forces stationed at Rabaul were responsible for the defense of the surrounding region including iconic battlefields such as Guadalcanal and Bougainville.

In mid-1943, following a strategy of avoiding major concentrations of enemy forces, the allies decided to bypass the Japanese base and its 100,000 defenders and simply sever its supply and communication lines, thus effectively isolating the base. The whole operation, named ‘Cartwheel’, consisted on ten subordinate operations, including for example the invasion of Bougainville (Op. Cherryblossom) and Cape Gloucester (Op. Dexterity).

From the moment it was occupied by the Japanese the base suffered a constant stream of allied air raids including some major carrier based strikes. By mid-February 1944 there were no Japanese fighters left and the AA defenses were mostly neutralized. Rabaul became an easy target, what allied pilots called a ‘milk run’.

When it finally surrendered on September 6, 1945, the base still had a garrison of about 69,000 men.

03/14/2026

The official caption states: “Western Front. August 1918. German Army troops man handling guns into position”

This is most probably a photo of Bavarian Infanteriegeschützebatterie (Infantry Gun Battery) No. 2 taken at a training area, possibly near Rethel, France. Note the British Mk. IV and a French Snider tank in the background.

A typical Infantry Gun Battery consisted of 4 guns with a 6 man crew per gun which is the case here (the fourth gun is probably to the left, out of frame. Note the two shadows on the ground). Such units were formed on a divisional level and accompanied infantry for the duration of one operation. The unit would take position on the flanks of the second wave of infantry shock troops and would advance 1000 yards after the first assault wave. Guns would move in two-gun detachments, so that the two other pieces of artillery were always at the ready. The aim was to take out enemy strongholds at close range.

The guns have been identified as 7,7 cm Infanterie-Geschütz 18, a late-war model that never saw action and of which very few photos exist. There’s a camouflaged crate on top of each the guns which gives the illusion of an odd shaped shield.

Also of interest are the camouflaged helmets which seem to be painted unevenly with one single colour over the standard feldgrau. Discernible on some of the helmets is an unidentified crest.

I was unable to identify the binoculars the officer has.

Text compiled from a discussion concerning a copy of this photo owned by S. Wouters.

03/14/2026

American armor rolls into the town of Dreux, France, as the Americans continue their rapid advance for Paris. The smoke of battle hangs low and the road is strewn with wrecked German armor. 16 August, 1944. (5th Armored Division/ photographer: Cohen).”

A closer look at this photo reveals some interesting details, and a gruesome one:

The Sherman tank seems to be the M4 variant.

The German anti-tank gun is a 7.5 cm Pak 40 covered with chicken wire to facilitate foliage attachment. There is sufficient variation in the grey tones for me to believe it was painted in a late-war 3 color scheme, albeit somewhat faded.

Two rifles rest against the Pak’s carriage (one is barely noticeable but the other seems to be a Gewehr 43 semi-automatic rifle.

To the right of the Pak, ammo containers lie on the floor together with an ammo box that could contain either 75 mm ammo or Panzerfausts.

One Panzerfaust can be seen on the floor, right of the tree with the signs. Next to it, resting against the tree, lies the partially concealed body of a German soldier. His parka camouflage pattern is discernible. In front of the tree, a German canteen.

The bottom sign says: “Wounded Collection Point at the Soldiers' R&R Home”

The smaller sign is too blurry to make out the writing. There seems to be a Z in the middle and a T at the end, so ‘Feldlazarett’ (Field Hospital) is a possibility......

03/13/2026

SEPTEMBER 5, 1945 | NANKING | CHINA
Japanese soldiers march in disciplined fashion through the streets of the Chinese city of Nanjing. They are defeated and
are heading home.
It is September 5th, three days earlier, Japan signed the surrender agreement aboard the American battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. However, China wants its own surrender, just as Stalin achieved in Berlin four months earlier at the end of the war in Europe. The ceremony will take place in Nanking on September 9th, in the auditorium of the Chinese Military Academy. In a fifteen-minute ceremony, Japanese General Okamura signs the unconditional surrender.
That Nanking (now Nanjing) was chosen as the location is no coincidence. The city was the capital of China in 1937 and was captured by the Japanese in December 1937, followed by an unprecedented massacre and tens of thousands of rapes. The number of fatalities is still debated, but the figure of three hundred thousand is generally accepted as realistic. Except in Japan, where estimates are much lower, and some fanatics speak of a mere few hundred deaths.