Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Images of the last century’s most poignant moments

 

 

 

Wars: A Finnish infantryman, with his K31 Suomi sub-machine gun, during the Battle of Vuoslami on 23 and 24 July 1944 D-Day: The crowds celebrating the landing of troops on the beaches of France in Times Square on June 6, 1944

Black and white images of the last century’s most poignant moments

  • Photos show some of the most iconic moments of the period - including D-Day in Times Square
  • Others show children playing on a California beach shortly after 1900 and those living through the Great Depression

At first glance, the men huddled by the tank could have been fighting just yesterday.

But a second, closer look at the sharply-colored image reveals all is not quite as it seems. These two U.S. soldiers, cigarettes drooping from their mouths, an ancient machine gun clutched to their side, are the subjects of a picture taken in December 1944, in the dying days of the Second World War.

It is just one of the black and white photos brought into glorious technicolor by student Jared Enos, in his bedroom in Rhode Island, New York. 

Glimpse of the past: Two American soldiers shelter behind their tank on December 11, 1944, in Geich, near Dren, Germany

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Glimpse of the past: Two American soldiers shelter behind their tank on December 11, 1944, in Geich, near Dren, Germany

Segregation: An African-American man drinks from a 'colored' water cooler in Oklahoma City, in July 1939

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Segregation: An African-American man drinks from a 'colored' water cooler in Oklahoma City, in July 1939

D-Day: The crowds celebrating the landing of troops on the beaches of France in Times Square on June 6, 1944

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D-Day: The crowds celebrating the landing of troops on the beaches of France in Times Square on June 6, 1944

Horrific: A picture of prisoners at a concentration camp in Sachsenhausen, Germany, on July 12, 1936. The striped suits would become famous the world over, for all the wrong reasons in the wake of the Holocaust which was to follow

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Horrific: A picture of prisoners at a concentration camp in Sachsenhausen, Germany, on July 12, 1936. The striped suits would become famous the world over, for all the wrong reasons in the wake of the Holocaust which was to follow

War and depression:  Lauri Trni, left, was convicted of treason for collaborating with the Nazis, and imprisoned for six years in 1944

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Depression: A child of a migrant family, running from the dust bowl on the U.S. and Canadian prairies, lies ill in Yakima Valley, Washington, 1939. These families were forced to seek out work in the city, only to find there were no jobs when they arrived

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War and depression: Lauri Trni, left, was convicted of treason for collaborating with the Nazis, and imprisoned for six years in 1944. Six years before his conviction, a child of a migrant family, running from the dust bowl on the prairies, lies ill in Yakima Valley, Washington, 1939. These families were forced to seek out work in the city, only to find there were no jobs when they arrived

The 18-year-old has painstakingly bought the images to life, despite previously having no interest in art.

And the result is breathtaking, with key moments from the 20th century, previously only seen in monochrome, depicted in stunning technicolor.

Enos has managed to bring history into the 21st century, from children playing on a Californian beach shortly after 1900, to a young boy sitting in the dust bowl of 1930s Kansas, and men lined up in a Nazi concentration camp just years before the outbreak of the war. 

The pictures can now join thousands of others which amateur photography enthusiasts around the world have been carefully restoring over the past few years.

Thanks to them, people can now enjoy a new perspective on events like the American Civil War, and the nuclear tests of the 1940s.

World War 2 in Colour: The History Channel's epic trailer

 

Fun at the turn of the century: These children are pictured some time between 1900 and 1910 on a beach in California

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Fun at the turn of the century: These children are pictured some time between 1900 and 1910 on a beach in California

Freezing: A Finnish soldier trains in the winter snow with a dog during February 1941, during the Finnish-Soviet Continuation War

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Freezing: A Finnish soldier trains in the winter snow with a dog during February 1941, during the Finnish-Soviet Continuation War

Air travel: British Aircraft of the early Imperial Airways refuelling at Semakh, Palestine (now Israel) in October 1931, during British rule

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Air travel: British Aircraft of the early Imperial Airways refuelling at Semakh, Palestine (now Israel) in October 1931, during British rule

'Dirty Thirties': A child sits in the swathes of dust which threatened to cover his home in Liberal, Kansas, in March 1936

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'Dirty Thirties': A child sits in the swathes of dust which threatened to cover his home in Liberal, Kansas, in March 1936

Nap time: Private First Class Rez P. Hester, 7th War Dog Platoon, 25th Regiment, sleeps in the relative safety of a ditch while Butch, his war dog, stands guard against the Japanese enemy in Iwo Jima, Indonesia, during February 1945

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Nap time: Private First Class Rez P. Hester, 7th War Dog Platoon, 25th Regiment, sleeps in the relative safety of a ditch while Butch, his war dog, stands guard against the Japanese enemy in Iwo Jima, Indonesia, during February 1945

Wars: A Finnish infantryman, with his K31 Suomi sub-machine gun, during the Battle of Vuoslami on 23 and 24 July 1944

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Wars: A Finnish infantryman, with his K31 Suomi sub-machine gun, during the Battle of Vuoslami on 23 and 24 July 1944

Destruction: A street car burns during the bombing of Helsinki by the Soviet Union. Thought to be taken in February 1944

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Destruction: A street car burns during the bombing of Helsinki by the Soviet Union. Thought to be taken in February 1944

Captured Blog: The Pacific War

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December 7, 1941: This picture, taken by a Japanese photographer, shows how American ships are clustered together before the surprise Japanese aerial attack on Pear Harbor, Hawaii, on Sunday morning, Dec. 7, 1941. Minutes later the full impact of the assault was felt and Pearl Harbor became a flaming target. (AP Photo)

Captured Blog: The Pacific War

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December 7, 1941: Sailors stand among wrecked airplanes at Ford Island Naval Air Station as they watch the explosion of the USS Shaw in the background, during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (AP Photo)

Captured Blog: The Pacific War

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December 7, 1941: The battleship USS Arizona belches smoke as it topples over into the sea during a Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The ship sank with more than 80 percent of its 1,500-man crew. The attack, which left 2,343 Americans dead and 916 missing, broke the backbone of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and forced America out of a policy of isolationism. President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced that it was "a date which will live in infamy" and Congress declared war on Japan the morning after. (AP Photo)

Captured Blog: The Pacific War

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December 7, 1941: Eight miles from Pearl Harbor, shrapnel from a Japanese bomb riddled this car and killed three civilians in the attack. Two of the victims can be seen in the front seat. The Navy reported there was no nearby military objective. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy)

Captured Blog: The Pacific War

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December 7, 1941: Heavy damage is seen on the destroyers, U.S.S. Cassin and the U.S.S. Downes, stationed at Pearl Harbor after the Japanese attack on the Hawaiian island. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy)

Captured Blog: The Pacific War

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Wreckage, identified by the U.S. Navy as a Japanese torpedo plane , was salvaged from the bottom of Pearl Harbor following the surorise attack Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)

 

Captured Blog: The Pacific War

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The shattered wreckage of American planes bombed by the Japanese in their attack on Pearl Harbor is strewn on Hickam Field, Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)

Captured Blog: The Pacific War

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April 18, 1942: A B-25 Mitchell bomber takes off from the USS Hornet's flight deck for the initial air raid on Tokyo, Japan, a secret military mission U.S. President Roosevelt referred to as Shangri-La. (AP Photo)

Captured Blog: The Pacific War

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June 1942: The USS Lexington, U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, explodes after being bombed by Japanese planes in the Battle of the Coral Sea in the South Pacific during World War II. (AP Photo)

Captured Blog: The Pacific War

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June 4, 1942: The U.S. aircraft carrier Yorktown, left, and the other fighting ships of a United States task force in the Pacific, throw up an umbrella of anti-aircraft fire to beat off a squadron of Japanese torpedo planes attacking the carrier during the battle of Midway. (AP Photo)

Captured Blog: The Pacific War

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August 3, 1942: After hammering Port Moresby for two days, Japanese bombers finally sank this Australian transport which sends up a cloud of smoke. She drifted onto a reef and heeled over. Flaming oil can be seen at left. The men in a small boat, foreground, are looking for victims. (AP Photo)

May 1945: Plaza Goiti, Downtown Manila

Suicide cliff where thousands of civilians jumped to their death in WWII. As a result of the Japanese defeat in the battle, Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo fell from power. Immediately after the news of the defeat reached Tokyo, Tojo was relieved as head of the Japanese Army; and on 18 July 1944, Tojo and his entire cabinet resigned. After the battle, Saipan became an important base for further operations in the Marianas, and then for the invasion of the Philippines in October 1944. Bombers based at Saipan attacked the Philippines, the Ryukyu Islands and Japan. Japanese Army Captain Sakeo Oba held out in the mountains with forty-six men until he surrendered on December 1, 1945.

Once upon a time, the planning of the greatest seaborne invasion ever took place. Four years in the preparation, Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944, marked the beginning of the end of World War II and the eventual liberation of Europe. Over 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded or went missing during the Battle of Normandy. This figure includes nearly 37,000 dead amongst the ground forces and a further 16,714 deaths amongst the Allied air forces. Of the Allied casualties, 83,045 were from 21st Army Group (British, Canadian and Polish ground forces), 125,847 from the US ground forces. The losses of the German forces during the Battle of Normandy can only be estimated. Roughly 200,000 German troops were killed or wounded. The Allies also captured 200,000 prisoners of war.Today, twenty-seven war cemeteries hold the remains of over 110,000 dead from both sides: 77,866 German, 9386 American, 17,769 British, 5002 Canadian and 650 Poles.

 

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General Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the order of the Day. "Full victory - nothing else" to paratroopers in England on June 6, 1944, just before they board their airplanes to participate in the first assault in the invasion of the continent of Europe. All of the men with General Eisenhower are members of Company E, 502d. (U.S. Army) #

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American troops march through the streets of a British port town on their way to the docks where they will be loaded into landing craft for the D-Day assault in June of 1944. (U.S. Army) #

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U.S. Rangers on a troop ship in an English port waiting for the signal to sail to the coast of Normandy. Clockwise, starting from far left, is First Sergeant Sandy Martin, who was killed during the landing, Technician Fifth Grade Joseph Markovich, Corporal John Loshiavo, and at bottom, Private First Class Frank E. Lockwood. (U.S. Army) #

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A section of the Armada of Allied landing craft with their protective barrage balloons head toward the French coast, in June of 1944. (AP Photo) #

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Smoke streams from a U.S. coast guard landing craft approaching the French Coast on June 6, 1944 after German machine gun fire caused an explosion by setting off an American soldier's hand grenade. (AP Photo) #

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Canadian soldiers land on Courseulles Beach in Normandy, on June 6, 1944 as Allied forces storm the Normandy beaches on D-Day, June 6, 1944. (STF/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Some of the first assault troops to hit the beachhead in Normandy, France take cover behind enemy obstacles to fire on German forces as others follow the first tanks plunging through the water towards the German-held shore on June 6, 1944. (AP Photo) #

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U.S. reinforcements wade through the surf as they land at Normandy in the days following the Allies' June 1944 D-Day invasion of France. (AP Photo/Peter Carroll) #

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Members of an American landing party help others whose landing craft was sunk by enemy action of the coast of France. These survivors reached Omaha Beach by using a life raft on June 6, 1944. (U.

When the Germans invaded Poland on 1 September 1939 the world went to war for the second time in 27 years. One country, albeit overtly expansionist in its aims, had simply invaded another, but the omens were not good. Unbelievably, so soon after 'the war that will end war', nations and their leaders had allowed another conflict to threaten the planet. The scope of this new war was not yet apparent, the truth dawning gradually; this one would last six years, involve more than two hundred countries which caused millions of people to suffer, costing 55 million lives and material damage of some 3 billion dollars, it affected the lives of three quarters of the worlds population and influence the lives of the majority of the world's inhabitants to some degree. Within months of the German move into Poland much of Europe had been occupied by the rampaging Blitzkrieg techniques of the Third Reich's military forces and everyone, even residents of far distant nations, was 'at war', their resources in men and material committed to the cause, on one side or the other. The Battle of Britain was at its height, Hitler's plans to invade England were close to being given the 'green light', and an awful dread filled many a heart.

This war was fought on the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the Pacific, and in four major land campaigns, in the Soviet Union, North Africa and the Mediterranean, Western Europe and the Far East. No less than 56 countries were involved in these violent conflicts, most of which were fought out to the bitter end between equally well-trained and well-equipped armies, battling day and night for dear life. It was a war that was more cruel, bitter and extensive than any other war in history. The war against Japan was fought over two-thirds of the world's surface, with America and her allies taking part in vast air, land and sea battles. It turned WW II into global conflict and ended it with the drawning of nuclear era.

Now, fifty years on from the end of that wretched war, only a few remain who can accurately recall the way the war developed on a day-by-day basis, in what order alliances were formed, when summit meetings were held, invasions mounted and repelled, set-piece batties won or lost, how personalities met with success or failure, and the actual reasons why national moods ebbed and flowed. And yet, World War Two is destined to be studied as a momentous historical event for generations to come, by students of all ages, backgrounds and levels of knowledge. The l939~45 war is history, pure history, and a topic we should all understand and be able to discuss.
Time goes by and because we now live in peace together, yesterday’s enemy has become today’s friendly neighbour.

1942 A gleam in your father's eyes were you

American victories in the Coral Sea and Midway Island U-Boat 505 WWII Photos PI Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941      Years of Occupation

Universityof the PhilippinesClosed inWWII

During World War II, U.P. had to close most of its colleges except the Colleges of Medicine, Pharmacy, and Engineering. Meanwhile, the Japanese Imperial Army occupied two Diliman campus buildings: the College of Liberal Arts Building (now Benitez Hall) and the Colleges of Law and Business Administration Building (now Malcolm Hall). After the war, the new Diliman buildings were devastated. U.P. President Bienvenido Gonzales sought a grant of Php13 million from the US-Philippines War Damage Commission. A massive rehabilitation and construction effort was executed by the university during the post war years. For the first time, an extensive Diliman campus master plan and map were created in 1949. The map created what became visions for Diliman’s expansion projects. More buildings were to be built across the Diliman campus’ landscape: the University Library (Gonzalez Hall), the College of Engineering (Melchor Hall), the Women's Residence Hall (now Kamia Residence Hall), the Conservatory of Music (Abelardo Hall), the Administration Building (Quezon Hall), and the U.P. President's Residence . Most colleges and administration offices were temporarily housed in huts and shelters made of sawali and galvanized iron...Wikepedia

By June 1942, the Japanese controlled most of the Pacific area (Corregidor Photos), Malaya. Parts of Burma and Thailand, Indo-China, Hong Kong, the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines. However, the navies of America and Japan fought two epic battles in April and June that changed the course of World War II. Victories in the Coral Sea and at Midway Island shifted the advantage to the Allies in the Pacific.

  The four-day Battle of the Coral Sea started when the Americans decoded Japanese invasion plans for Port Moresby, New Guinea, and Tulagi, in the Solomon Islands. America sent a naval force to stop the Japanese troops. The enemy ships never met each other, but from May 2 through May 6, both fleets attacked each other with waves of fighter planes and bombers. The Japanese lost 70 planes and its light carrier Shoho. The American losses included 66 planes and the aircraft carrier Lexington, a vital oceangoing carrier. Although victorious in terms of ship tonnage sunk, Japan lost too many fighter pilots to continue with the invasions. Thus its southward advances were halted.

 

A month later, American triumphed again at Midway. Once again they became aware of the Japanese plans, and lay in wait for the huge fleet of 86 warship sent by Japan to attack the tiny island in the Pacific. On June 3, the Japanese launched an attack on the two westernmost Aleutian islands, Kiska and Attu (the only American soil to be occupied by the Japanese during the war), in order to the divert the Americans' attention. The next day, a swarm of Japanese carrier-launched planes bombed Midway. The Americans responded with three consecutive air attacks on the Japanese, each a failure. But on June 5, the Americans bombing raid sank three Japanese aircraft carriers. His fleet devastated, Japanese admiral Yamamoto retreated west. The Japanese lost four aircraft carriers, a cruiser, 332 planes and 3500 lives; the Americans: one aircraft carrier, a destroyer, 147 planes and 307 lives.

Although the bloodiest battles of the Pacific were yet to come, the Japanese army never recovered from these defeats. 

A photo of Guadalcanal from my travels in the Solomons in 2002 .........ASC Guadalcanal Battle Film

A photo of Guadalcanal from my travels in the Solomons in 2002 .........ASC

American victories in the Coral Sea and Midway Island U-Boat 505 WWII Photos PI Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941      Years of Occupation

Universityof the PhilippinesClosed inWWII

During World War II, U.P. had to close most of its colleges except the Colleges of Medicine, Pharmacy, and Engineering. Meanwhile, the Japanese Imperial Army occupied two Diliman campus buildings: the College of Liberal Arts Building (now Benitez Hall) and the Colleges of Law and Business Administration Building (now Malcolm Hall). After the war, the new Diliman buildings were devastated. U.P. President Bienvenido Gonzales sought a grant of Php13 million from the US-Philippines War Damage Commission. A massive rehabilitation and construction effort was executed by the university during the post war years. For the first time, an extensive Diliman campus master plan and map were created in 1949. The map created what became visions for Diliman’s expansion projects. More buildings were to be built across the Diliman campus’ landscape: the University Library (Gonzalez Hall), the College of Engineering (Melchor Hall), the Women's Residence Hall (now Kamia Residence Hall), the Conservatory of Music (Abelardo Hall), the Administration Building (Quezon Hall), and the U.P. President's Residence . Most colleges and administration offices were temporarily housed in huts and shelters made of sawali and galvanized iron...Wikepedia

By June 1942, the Japanese controlled most of the Pacific area (Corregidor Photos), Malaya. Parts of Burma and Thailand, Indo-China, Hong Kong, the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines. However, the navies of America and Japan fought two epic battles in April and June that changed the course of World War II. Victories in the Coral Sea and at Midway Island shifted the advantage to the Allies in the Pacific.

 

  The four-day Battle of the Coral Sea started when the Americans decoded Japanese invasion plans for Port Moresby, New Guinea, and Tulagi, in the Solomon Islands. America sent a naval force to stop the Japanese troops. The enemy ships never met each other, but from May 2 through May 6, both fleets attacked each other with waves of fighter planes and bombers. The Japanese lost 70 planes and its light carrier Shoho. The American losses included 66 planes and the aircraft carrier Lexington, a vital oceangoing carrier. Although victorious in terms of ship tonnage sunk, Japan lost too many fighter pilots to continue with the invasions. Thus its southward advances were halted.

A month later, American triumphed again at Midway. Once again they became aware of the Japanese plans, and lay in wait for the huge fleet of 86 warship sent by Japan to attack the tiny island in the Pacific. On June 3, the Japanese launched an attack on the two westernmost Aleutian islands, Kiska and Attu (the only American soil to be occupied by the Japanese during the war), in order to the divert the Americans' attention. The next day, a swarm of Japanese carrier-launched planes bombed Midway. The Americans responded with three consecutive air attacks on the Japanese, each a failure. But on June 5, the Americans bombing raid sank three Japanese aircraft carriers. His fleet devastated, Japanese admiral Yamamoto retreated west. The Japanese lost four aircraft carriers, a cruiser, 332 planes and 3500 lives; the Americans: one aircraft carrier, a destroyer, 147 planes and 307 lives.

Although the bloodiest battles of the Pacific were yet to come, the Japanese army never recovered from these defeats. 

A photo of Guadalcanal from my travels in the Solomons in 2002 .........ASC Guadalcanal Battle Film

A photo of Guadalcanal from my travels in the Solomons in 2002 .........ASC

A typical church like this one in Tanay, Rizal where some parents  maybe  married and some classmates maybe baptized hastily during World War II

Jungles Of Guadalcanal 1942

Bataan Death March  April 1942 In March of 1942 U.S General Douglas MacArthur and president Quezon fled the country. The cruelty of the Japanese military occupation of the Philippines was very brutal an aspect of samurai barbarism.   The 76,000 starving and sick American and Filipino Defenders in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese on April 9,1942. The Japanese led their captives on a cruel and criminal Death March in which 7-10,000 died or were murdered before arriving at  camp O'Donell 10 days later.

Bridge of Remagen, Germany 1944 Pictures  Battle of Leyte Gulf October 1944

1944 Battle of Leyte Gulf & 10 / 44 Landings Normandy Invasion Songs

D-Day

2,000 ships, 4,000 landing craft and 11,000 airplanes were involved in the largest seaborne invasion

ever. Allied troops crossed the choppy English Channel toward Normandy on June 6, 1944, on Operation Overlord: the regaining of northern Europe after four years of Nazi occupation.

First planned for 1942, the landing had been repeatedly postponed, this time with a delay of 24-hours caused by the worst storm in a quarter century. D-Day (a term referring to the first day of any military operation, but now associated with this 1944 invasion) started with paratroop raids before sunrise. Minesweepers (ships equipped for detecting and removing sea mines) cleared the waters while warships and bombers fiercely attacked enemy positions. Pre-manuafactured floating harbours were moved into place.

At 6.30am, American, British and Canadian troops under General Montgomery began swarming from landing craft onto beaches codenamed Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. After wading through the icy waves or charging towards land on amphibious

(able to travel on water and on land) tanks, the troops struggled past steel obstacles and barbed wired to recapture

the first patches of French soil.

At the end of the day, 155,000 men were onshore.   Landings and Battle of Leyte Gulf

While preparations for the large-scale landing was too massive to conceal, the Germans did not put up a good defence because of disputes between Hitler, Field Marshall Erwin Rommel (overseer of military operations in France) and Runstedt (commander-in-chief in the west). They quarrelled over the probable invasion point and the best line of defence. When the attack came, Hitler took it as a diversionary tactic (an intentional distraction), and held back his forces for the "real" invasion.

Resistance was strong only initially at Omaha Beach, with 3,000 Americans casualties on the first day of fighting. The Allied invaders quickly spread out along 100 miles of coastline. However, Normandy's Nazi-occupied cities were harder to regain. Cherbourg held out for ten gruelling days, while Caen held out more than a month.

By mid-August, the Allies had broken out Normandy, and were sweeping across France. The Low Countries (the low-lying countries between Germany and France – the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg), and Germany itself, lay before them.

At the order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, General MacArthur was evacuated from the Philippines in March 1942. Given command of Allied forces in the Southwest Pacific area, he directed the successful defense of southeastern New Guinea, and beginning later in 1942, the counteroffensive that ultimately swept the Japanese from the region, leading to his return to the Philippines with the October 1944 invasion of Leyte. Promoted to General of the Army shortly before the end of 1944, MacArthur subsequently oversaw the liberation of the rest of the Philippines. After Japan capitulated in August 1945 General MacArthur presided over the formal surrender ceremonies and, during the next five years, was responsible for demilitarizing the defeated nation and reforming its political and economic life.

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  1945 Liberation freedom from the Japanese occupation. Most of us were born this year and also the previous year 1944

Atomic Bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Place of Birth Old Manila Collection of War Pictures From Families in this era

Before sunrise, on August 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber named Enola Gay set off from Tinian Island,

in the Marianas. Over Hiroshima, Japan, at 8.15am, it released one bomb. Instantly, 80,000 people died,

and most of Hiroshima was completely wiped out. President Harry S Truman told the American people:

"Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima...

If they do not now accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the sky the likes of which has

never been seen on this earth"

Two days after Hiroshima, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan (as agreed at the February

Yalta Conference between the big three – Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin) and invaded Japanese-held Manchuria.

On August 10, America dropped a second atomic bomb, killing 40,000 in Nagasaki.

On August 14, Japan surrendered unconditionally. The following day, Emperor Hirohito addressed

his nation over the radio for the first time. Explaining that the enemy "has begun to employ a new

and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is indeed incalculable," he announced Japan’s

acceptance of Allied terms. Thus ended World War II.

On September 2, aboard the US battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, General MacArthur, the Allied

Supreme Commander, received the surrender documents.

The bloodiest conflict in history ended with an even greater threat of inconceivable violence.

Humanity had obtained the power to destroy the entire world. Till today, debates continue,

as to the necessity of using nuclear weapons against Japan.

Please read the arguments supporting and rejecting the bombing.

Pictures of Towns and Our places of Birth

Legislative Bldg. Manila 1945 Nagasaki Mushroom Cloud

Hiroshima 2002 at the Peace Park Ground Zero           

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Somewhere in the Pacific Islands

 

Japanese POW in Manila 1945 Balintawak Monument in 1945

Padre Faura, Part of Our Manila Campus UP Our Beloved High School Plaza Goiti Above

The Old Site of  Our  University of the Philippines Preparatory High School

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European victory Intramuros Campus Now

For the European Axis powers, January 12 marked the start of their end, as the (Soviet) Red Army launched a vast attack in Poland.

Having been stretched thin along the 700-mile Eastern Front, losing in the

Balkans, and encircled in Lithuania, the German forces fell. The Soviets quickly took Warsaw (Poland) and Lódz. Hitler withdrew from

the Ardennes (a wooded plateau in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France; the site of intense fighting in World Wars I and II)

on the Western Front and rushed to Budapest in hopes of holding Hungary. By February, some Soviet divisions stood only 40 miles from

Berlin.

On March 23, the Allies attacked across the Rhine River. The Canadian 1st Army trudged through the Netherlands, the British 2nd drove

to the Baltic Sea, and US forces fanned out from Magdeburg to the Czech and Austrian border. Oradour-Sur Glane

Meanwhile, the Soviet pressed on, wreakin
g revengeful atrocities and driving hordes of refugees before them. By mid-April, they had taken Vienna, Danzig, and Königsberg. On April 25, they met with the Americans – with toasts and embraces – on the Elbe River. Remains of Krefeld and Brandenburgheight=354height=375

Berlin fell on May 2, Axis forces in Italy and Austria surrendered the same day. On May 4, five days after Hitler’s suicide, his counterparts in Germany, Holland and Denmark followed suit. And on May 7, in Reims, France, the German High Command (represented by German General Alfred Jodl and Admiral Hans Friedeburg) surrended unconditionally. Only in Czechoslovakia did fighting go on for a few more days. On May 8, five years and eight months after it started, the war in Europe was officially over.

In the following weeks, the Allies arrested every Nazi official they could find on war-crimes charges. Hitler’s dream of a Thousand-Year Reich (empire) lasted only 12 years.

The below collection focuses on The Pacific War, a term referring to parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, the islands of the Pacific and the Far East. The start of The Pacific War is generally considered to be the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941. The Pacific War pitted the Allies against the Empire of Japan and culminated with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945, Victory over Japan Day on August 15, 1945 and the official surrender of Japan aboard the battleship U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.


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War in Europe The Holocaust War at Sea War in the Desert Asia and the Pacific The Americas

Prior to the outbreak of World War 2 Hitler takes the Army's salute.

World War Two

World War Two

The causes, events and people of the most destructive war in history.

World War Two: Key Events

The Gathering Storm

Churchill: The Gathering Storm

Had Britain's wartime leader truly stood alone in his opposition to appeasement, or did he rewrite history to portray himself in a better light? By Professor John Charmley.

Blitzkrieg: Germany's 'Lightning War'

 

Blitzkrieg

How did this new doctrine of speed, flexibility and surprise deliver a string of stunning victories for Hitler's armies? By Robert T Foley

Britain Stands Alone

 

Winston Churchill: Defender of Democracy

The rows were explosive, the challenges enormous, but he led Britain through the war with unique assurance. By Dr Geoffrey Best.

The Allies in Retreat

 

Hitler and 'Lebensraum' in the East

Why did Hitler believe that the East should provide lebensraum (living space) for the German people? By Jeremy Noakes.

The Tide of War Turns

 

World War Two: The Battle of El Alamein

Churchill said that there was never a victory before it and never a defeat after it. How important was this epic victory? By Professor Richard Holmes.

The Axis in Retreat

 

The 'D-Day Dodgers'

Has an obsession with the Allied landings in Normandy given a distorted view of the achievements of the Italian campaign? By Professor Richard Holmes.

Special Section: D-Day and Operation Overlord

 

D-Day: Beachhead

How meticulous planning, good luck and sheer guts ensured the success of history's largest amphibious invasion. By Duncan Anderson.

Victory in Europe and Japan

 

The Battle of Arnhem (Operation Market Garden)

How Operation Market Garden could have shortened the war by six months - and why it failed at the last moment. By Mark Fielder.

Post-war Reconstruction and Retribution

 

Why Churchill Lost in 1945

Labour's landslide in the 1945 general election remains one of the greatest shocks in British political history. How did Churchill fail to win? By Dr Paul Addison.

Special Section: The Secret War

 


 

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