World War II Album: The War in View #3

Curtiss P-40 in flight. (U.S. Air Force photo)

Repairing a Flying Tiger P-40 at Kunming, China. (U.S. Air Force photo)

Italian soldiers man a machine gun on the Albanian frontier with Greece in February 1941.

Mussolini confers with General Ugo Cavallero, his new high command chief of staff. Cavallero was called on to help Italian troops avoid disaster in Greece.

Greek gunners firing their mountain artillery piece against the Italian invaders.

Lying in the snow, Italian soldiers are shown in defensive positions in Greece. They have just been presented with New Year’s gift packages.

Mussolini visits the front line in Greece during March 1941.

Greek and Italian forces clash violently at Epirus in northwestern Greece in February 1941.

A Greek division receives the brunt of an Italian assault during Mussolini’s ill-fated offensive, launched from neighboring Albania.

Elements of the 402nd Fighter Squadron, 370th Fighter Group attack German supply trains in a French rail yard in July 1944 in Lightning Strike... Edge of the Storm by Jack Fellows.

General George S. Patton Jr., commander of the U.S. Third Army, sits at center during a briefing at XIX Tactical Air Command. Seated with Patton are General Homer Sanders, commander of the 100th Fighter Wing, and Major General Otto P. Weyland, commander of XIX TAC.

Riddled with .50-caliber bullets, a locomotive spews steam, smoke, and flames following a pass by an Allied fighter.

In this painting by a German war artist, a German E-boat cuts through the waters of the English Channel on patrol against coastal raids launched from Britain.

Transports unload equipment and supplies at Slapton Sands in preparation for a D-day landing rehearsal. The site was chosen as a training area due to its similarity to the beaches of Normandy.

On a beach in England, British and American troops perform preparatory battle exercises.

Lying low in front of beach obstructions during a live-fire exercise at Slapton Sands, U.S. soldiers await orders to advance.

After taking heavy damage from a German E-boat torpedo at Slapton Sands, LST-289 lies in a harbor at Dartmouth, England.

In this painting by war artist Jack Fellows, Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter pilot Henry T. “Hammerin’ Hank” Elrod scans the skies above Wake Island for Japanese aircraft on the morning of December 12, 1941.

Taxiing on the runway at Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, this Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter with an external fuel tank attached to the right wing has just landed after arriving from an aircraft carrier.

Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters fly in formation in the South Pacific on September 22, 1943.

Grumman F4F Wildcat.

Captain William P. Boland poses in the cockpit of his Wildcat at Funafuti, August 9, 1943. His VMF-441 squadron was one of the last to fly the Wildcat in combat.

Major Robert E. Galer survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and went on to command U.S. Marine Fighter Squadron VMF-224. Galer was a recipient of the Medal of Honor.

Lieutenant Colonel Harold W. “Indian Joe” Bauer flew the Wildcat in combat above Guadalcanal, scored 11 victories, and was awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor. He parachuted from his disabled fighter and was never seen again.

A MK II (A14) Matilda tank of the British 7th Royal Tank Regiment stirs up a cloud of desert dust.

In a painting by artist Achille Betrame for the Italian magazine Domenica del Corriere, a German tank’s main gun destroys a British adversary during savage fighting for the Libyan port city of Tobruk in December 1941.

Italian General Annibale Bergonzoli, nicknamed “Electric Beard” by his troops, commanded XII Corps during its rout at Bardia.

Marshal Rodolfo Graziani succeeded Italo Balbo as commander of Italian forces in North Africa and presided over the debacle that followed.

General Guiseppe Tellera assumed command of the 10th Army in December 1940, and died leading it two months later.

Speeding toward the action at Buq Buq, light tanks carry the commanding officer and adjutant of the British 4th Hussars on December 11, 1940.

During their advance against Italian positions at Bardia, heavily equipped Australian soldiers advance rapidly across open ground.

Members of an Italian Bersaglieri regiment are firing a British-made mortar in North Africa.

A near miss from an Axis bomb showers a British Matilda tank with shrapnel and debris at Sidi Barrani, December 1940.

Badly outclassed, Italian tanks charge toward British guns in one of many desperate but futile counterattacks at Beda Fomm.

On December 10, 1940, an Italian soldier carries his dog into captivity. The disheveled group pictured here includes only a few of the 130,000 Italian prisoners, including 22 generals and an admiral, captured by the British during a brilliant two-month ca

A man appearing before a popular tribunal in the Soviet Union during the Stalinist purges against alleged Trotskyists and political opponents, 1935.

Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, prime minister of Portugal, was in a precarious position guarding his country’s neutrality in World War II, particularly in regard to the Azores.

A German U-boat has been caught on the surface of the Atlantic near the Azores while under attack by Allied aircraft in 1943.

The Royal Air Force command staging post at Lagens Field in the Azores coordinated Allied air operations in the region.

Constructed on Terciera Island in the Azores, Lagens Field, shown here in 1943, was the tactical hub for Allied aircraft deployment in the area of the Atlantic where a treacherous gap had once existed, allowing German U-boats to prowl almost at will in their hunt for Allied convoys.

Santa Maria airfield on Santa Maria Island in the Azores was a scene of heavy activity as Allied aircraft took the offensive against German U-boats in the Atlantic.

Alerted to the advance of Soviet forces nearby, Finnish troops rush to defensive positions early in the Winter War. Note the German helmets worn by the Finnish soldiers. Finland was given a quantity of M40 helmets by Germany as military aid for them to use to fight the Russians during the Winter War. After World War II, Germany sold Finland the equipment to produce the helmets and then M55 was the new designation.

Lieutenant Colonel Aaro Pajari commanded the Finnish Army Regiment JR-16 during the bitter fighting around Tolvajärvi.

Baron Carl Gustav Mannerheim (left), supreme commander of Finnish Army forces, consults with General Axel Heinrichs, commander of the III Corps, during efforts to stem the tide of Red Army forces invading Finland.

During the Winter, Finnish ski troops in camouflage uniforms fire their rifles from the prone position. The Finns were trained to fire with increased accuracy from the relative protection of the prone position, while Soviet ski troops fired standing upright on their skis.

During an attack along the River Kollaanjoki on December 17, 1939, a Red Army tank advances slowly across a snow-covered hillside.

During the Winter War, a Soviet tank fires on a distant Finnish target in this still from the newsreel documentary film Mannerheim Line.

Finnish troops man a machine gun position against oncoming Soviet troops.

Dead Red Army soldiers and abandoned tanks mark the scene of a brief but violent ambush during the Winter War.

German Chancellor Adolf Hitler (front row, second from left) and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini (front row, far right) inspect the remains of Brest Fortress in Brest, Belarus, a month after it was taken in the first battle of Operation Barbarossa.

German soldiers round up surrendering Russians after the fall of Brest Fortress in June 1941.

Crippled by German artillery and infantry, Soviet tanks line a Belarusian road after the first battle of the Operation Barbarossa.

Fortress Brest: German soldiers take cover along building walls up to two meters thick.

Detail from a painting in the Defense of Brest Fortress Museum that displays the ferocity and determination of the Red Army defenders of the fortress, including many who fought after receiving serious wounds.

Fortress Brest: Fighting in the inner courtyard of the Citadel next to the former St. Peter and Paul church—scene of the signing of the Brest Peace Treaty in 1918.

Tall earthen embankments along the Fortress Brest's perimeter were a double-edged sword. Once reaching the top of embankments, the Germans gained advantageous elevated firing positions as seen here.

Aerial view of the heavily shelled Fortress Brest.

A German assault party crossing a Russian river in rubber boats.

A Red Army propaganda photo of recruits from 1941.

Taking shelter in a bunker near Narva, these German defenders of the Panther Line appear to be contemplating the arrival of the Soviets.

Soviet troops man airsleighs fashioned for swift travel across snow and ice in preparation for an attack on the city of Novgorod, where secondary defenses supported the German Panther Line.

The 900-day German siege of the great city of Leningrad was raised at the end of January 1944. Here, Red Army soldiers congregate along the banks of the Neva River near the city and shortly after the German siege was broken.

A German mortar crew prepares to fire its weapon from a defensive position on the system of fortifications known as the Panther Line.

A German PzKpfw. IV tank, with side skirt armor attached, advances across a desolate plain in Russia in February 1944. In the distance a PzKpfw V Panther tank and a half-track make their way along the route in preparation for an attack on Soviet positions, along with other vehicles in the distance.

Cloaked in white camouflage and uniformed against the extremely cold weather, Red Army infantrymen hurry toward one of their own tanks while others climb aboard to hitch a ride rather than trudge through the deep snow.

Soviet artillery fires on secondary positions of the German Panther Line near Narva.

A solitary German soldier occupies a defensive position on the Russian steppe sometime during the winter fighting of 1943-1944.

American artillery observers watch shells fall on enemy positions at San Pietro on December 19, 1943.

American troops equipped with mine detectors make their way gingerly down a dirt road leading to the Italian town of San Pietro.

From a commanding position on an Italian ridgeline, a German soldier mans a machine gun position and waits for advancing Allied soldiers to approach.

The battleship HMS Rodney with her main armament trained to starboard (unknown date).

Consolidated B-24A Liberator in Neutrality markings. Originally manufactured as LB-30s for the British, then turned over to the USAAF. Only 11 were given this designation. The crest on the fuselage rear is for the Air Transport Command and the black square on the tails cover the RAF fin flashes.