Pilot (right) and navigator in the cockpit of the German bomber Heinkel (Heinkel He-111). The pilot is Major Eduard Zimmer (last rank Oberst), Gruppenkommandeur IV.Gruppe / Kampfgeschwader 100. The picture itself was taken around 1942 in the Eastern Front by Michael Sobotta.Source :
https://www.bpk-bildagentur.de/shop
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=168491
https://waralbum.ru/381725/
A Naval Air Station boneyard shortly after the end of the war contains numerous catapult-launched OS2U Kingfishers (foreground), along with JM-1 (B-26) target tugs in yellow, and a R4D (C-47) transport.Source :
National Archives and Records Administration 80-G-K-14588
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936
http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=71258
In Spring 1945, a group of Navy flight nurses walk from their Douglas R5D (C-54) transport. They are, from left to right: Lt. JG Lydia Masserine, Lt. Stella Makar, Lt. JG Dorothy Wood, Lt. JG Hope Toone, Lt. JG Mae Hanson, and Ens. Winnifred Jennings.Source :
National Archives and Records Administration 80-G-K-5446
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936
U.S. Marine Paratroopers in training. A rare Douglas DC-5 aircraft in the background. It was operated by the USMC as the R3D-2s. Only 12 built. This photo itself is maneuvers in Australia.Source :
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4581299928623451&set=gm.1809759462542802
Celebration in Paris after the French capital was liberated in August 1944After more than four years of Nazi occupation, Paris is liberated by the French 2nd Armored Division and the U.S. 4th Infantry Division on 25 August 1944. German resistance was light, and General Dietrich von Choltitz, commander of the German garrison, defied an order by Adolf Hitler to blow up Paris’ landmarks and burn the city to the ground before its liberation. Choltitz signed a formal surrender that afternoon, and on August 26, Free French General Charles de Gaulle led a joyous liberation march down the Champs d’Elysees.
Paris fell to Nazi Germany on June 14, 1940, one month after the German Wehrmacht stormed into France. Eight days later, France signed an armistice with the Germans, and a puppet French state was set up with its capital at Vichy. Elsewhere, however, General Charles de Gaulle and the Free French kept fighting, and the Resistance sprang up in occupied France to resist Nazi and Vichy rule.
The French 2nd Armored Division was formed in London in late 1943 with the express purpose of leading the liberation of Paris during the Allied invasion of France. In August 1944, the division arrived at Normandy under the command of General Jacques-Philippe Leclerc and was attached to General George S. Patton’s 3rd U.S. Army. By August 18, Allied forces were near Paris, and workers in the city went on strike as Resistance fighters emerged from hiding and began attacking German forces and fortifications.
At his headquarters two miles inland from the Normandy coast, Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower had a dilemma. Allied planners had concluded that the liberation of Paris should be delayed so as to not divert valuable resources away from important operations elsewhere. The city could be encircled and then liberated at a later date.
On August 21, Eisenhower met with de Gaulle and told him of his plans to bypass Paris. De Gaulle urged him to reconsider, assuring him that Paris could be reclaimed without difficulty. The French general also warned that the powerful communist faction of the Resistance might succeed in liberating Paris, thereby threatening the re-establishment of a democratic government. De Gaulle politely told Eisenhower that if his advance against Paris was not ordered, he would send Leclerc’s 2nd Armored Division into the city himself.
On August 22, Eisenhower agreed to proceed with the liberation of Paris. The next day, the 2nd Armored Division advanced on the city from the north and the 4th Infantry Division from the south. Meanwhile, in Paris, the forces of German General Dietrich von Choltitz were fighting the Resistance and completing their defenses around the city. Hitler had ordered Paris defended to the last man, and demanded that the city not fall into Allied hands except as “a field of ruins.” Choltitz dutifully began laying explosives under Paris’ bridges and many of its landmarks, but disobeyed an order to commence the destruction. He did not want to go down in history as the man who had destroyed the “City of Light”—Europe’s most celebrated city.
The 2nd Armored Division ran into heavy German artillery, taking heavy casualties, but on August 24 managed to cross the Seine and reach the Paris suburbs. There, they were greeted by enthusiastic civilians who besieged them with flowers, kisses, and wine. Later that day, Leclerc learned that the 4th Infantry Division was poised to beat him into Paris proper, and he ordered his exhausted men forward in a final burst of energy. Just before midnight on August 24, the 2nd Armored Division reached the Hótel de Ville in the heart of Paris.
German resistance melted away during the night. Most of the 20,000 troops surrendered or fled, and those that fought were quickly overcome. On the morning of August 25, the 2nd Armored Division swept clear the western half of Paris while the 4th Infantry Division cleared the eastern part. Paris was liberated.
In the early afternoon, Choltitz was arrested in his headquarters by French troops. Shortly after, he signed a document formally surrendering Paris to de Gaulle’s provisional government. De Gaulle himself arrived in the city later that afternoon. On August 26, de Gaulle and Leclerc led a triumphant liberation march down the Champs d’Elysees. Scattered gunfire from a rooftop disrupted the parade, but the identity of the snipers was not determined.
De Gaulle headed two successive French provisional governments until 1946, when he resigned over constitutional disagreements. From 1958 to 1969, he served as French president under the Fifth Republic.
Source :
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/paris-liberated
The LSSAH standard staff at the parade (first from left)At the Moscow Victory Parade of 24 June 1945, marking the defeat of Nazi Germany, there were a total of 201 German cavalry standards and combat banners, majority being from the Wehrmacht. Carried by a battalion of Soviet soldiers from the Separate Operational Purpose Division of the NKVD, they were thrown to the steps of Lenin's Mausoleum under drumroll during the march past of the ground column. Around twenty standards at the parade were not Nazi and belonged to previous German units (in 1944 Adolf Hitler ordered to move all military unit standards to museums to prevent their capture in a battle). All the rest were made in 1935. Among them was the standard staff of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH); its banner had been found separately and was not brought to the parade. The staff was carried in a prominent place on the right of the front rank of the first column of soldiers. It has been incorrectly called Hitler's personal standard which went missing during the war. After the parade additional color shots were made showing the flags of various Nazi organizations being thrown to the ground. The shots were added to the official video of the parade.
The standards were selected from a pool of about 900 standards and banners shipped to Moscow from Berlin and Dresden. Some of them were collected by SMERSH trophy teams in May 1945 and some were taken from museums. The show of contempt to the standards at the parade was proposed by Joseph Stalin, stemming from the old custom of "disdain not for the enemy, but for his defied military distinctions" in the troops of Alexander Suvorov. In order to not touch the standards themselves the soldiers wore gloves. The following list is based on the list of standards approved by Colonel Peredelsky on 21 June 1945. It includes 138 battalion, 36 Division and 26 regimental standards. The standard staff of LSSAH was approved separately from the list. All standards are now housed in the Central Armed Forces Museum of Moscow.
Battalion standards
Number Military unit
1 3rd Battalion of the 57th Infantry Regiment
2 2nd Battalion of the 1st Infantry Regiment
3 1st Battalion of the 45th Infantry Regiment
4 3rd Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Regiment
5 2nd Battalion of the 30th Infantry Regiment
6 1st Battalion of the 7th Infantry Regiment
7 1st Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Regiment
8 3rd Battalion of the 106th Infantry Regiment
9 1st Battalion of the 49th Infantry Regiment
10 2nd Battalion of the 83th Infantry Regiment
11 2nd Battalion of the 81st Infantry Regiment
12 1st Battalion of the 84th Infantry Regiment
13 2nd Battalion of the 24th Infantry Regiment
14 3rd Battalion of the 2nd Infantry Regiment
15 9th Tank Battalion
16 1st Battalion of the 1st Infantry Regiment
17 2nd Battalion of the 43rd Infantry Regiment
18 3rd Battalion of the 44th Infantry Regiment
19 1st Battalion of the 22nd Infantry Regiment
20 4th Battalion of the 61st Infantry Regiment
21 1st Battalion of the 36th Infantry Regiment
22 1st Battalion of the 28th Infantry Regiment
23 2nd Battalion of the 51st Infantry Regiment
24 2nd Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Regiment
25 1st Battalion of the 57th Infantry Regiment
26 2nd Battalion of the 38th Infantry Regiment
27 1st Battalion of the 30th Infantry Regiment
28 3rd Battalion of the 43rd Infantry Regiment
29 2nd Battalion of the 88th Infantry Regiment
30 2nd Battalion of the 44th Infantry Regiment
31 1st Battalion of the 106th Infantry Regiment
32 3rd Battalion of the 1st Infantry Regiment
33 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Regiment
34 1st Battalion of the 51st Infantry Regiment
35 3rd Battalion of the 88th Infantry Regiment
36 3rd Battalion of the 7th Infantry Regiment
37 1st Battalion of the 24th Infantry Regiment
38 2nd Battalion of the 28th Infantry Regiment
39 2nd Battalion of the 36th Infantry Regiment
40 3rd Battalion of the 45th Infantry Regiment
41 3rd Battalion of the 30th Infantry Regiment
42 1st Battalion of the 83rd Infantry Regiment
43 3rd Battalion of the 28th Infantry Regiment
44 2nd Battalion of the 116th Infantry Regiment
45 3rd Battalion of the 33rd Fusilier Regiment
46 3rd Battalion of the 22nd Infantry Regiment
47 3rd Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Regiment
48 2nd Battalion of the 22nd Infantry Regiment
49 2nd Battalion of the 28th Infantry Regiment
50 2nd Battalion of the 49th Infantry Regiment
51 3rd Battalion of the 84th Infantry Regiment
52 1st Battalion of the 59th Infantry Regiment
53 1st Battalion of the 88th Infantry Regiment
54 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Infantry Regiment
55 3rd Battalion of the 24th Infantry Regiment
56 2nd Battalion of the 84th Infantry Regiment
57 1st Battalion of the 81st Infantry Regiment
58 1st Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Regiment
59 2nd Battalion of the 45th Infantry Regiment
60 2nd Battalion of the 7th Infantry Regiment
61 1st Battalion of the 43rd Infantry Regiment
62 2nd Battalion of the 59th Infantry Regiment
63 1st Battalion of the 116th Infantry Regiment
64 1st Battalion of the 38th Infantry Regiment
65 3rd Battalion of the 51st Infantry Regiment
66 2nd Battalion of the 57th Infantry Regiment
67 3rd Battalion of the 49th Infantry Regiment
68 3rd Battalion of the 116th Infantry Regiment
69 1st Battalion of the 6th Rifle Regiment
70 2nd Battalion of the 71st Infantry Regiment
71 3rd Battalion of the 71st Infantry Regiment
72 2nd Battalion of the 15th Reconnaissance Regiment
73 2nd Battalion of the 14th Infantry Regiment
74 1st Battalion of the 2nd Tank Regiment
75 1st Battalion of the 21st Reconnaissance Regiment
76 77th Tank Communication Battalion
77 2nd Battalion of the 7th Cavalry Rifle Regiment
78 29th Combat Engineer Battalion
79 41st Communication Battalion
80 1st Battalion of the 7th Cavalry Rifle Regiment
81 48th Communication Battalion
82 2nd Battalion of the 15th Infantry Regiment
83 15th Communication Battalion
84 Jäger Battalion of the 15th Infantry Regiment
85 21st Communication Battalion
86 1st Battalion of the 71st Infantry Regiment
87 48th Combat Engineer Battalion
88 18th Communication Battalion
89 15th Machine Gun Battalion
90 37th Communication Battalion
91 1st Battalion of the 68th Combat Engineer Regiment
92 2nd Battalion of the 7th Reserve Regiment
93 58th Combat Engineer Battalion
94 4th Reconnaissance Unit
95 59th Machine Gun Battalion
96 9th Reconnaissance Unit
97 2nd Battalion of the 116th Reserve Regiment
98 9th Vehicle Transport Battalion
99 1st Bicycle Infantry Battalion
100 29th Communication Battalion
101 2nd Battalion of the 68th Combat Engineer Regiment
102 1st Battalion of the 15th Infantry Regiment
103 1st Battalion of the 31st Tank Regiment
104 2nd Battalion of the 15th Combat Engineer Regiment
105 1st Battalion of the 27th Tank Regiment
106 2nd Battalion of the unnumbered infantry regiment
107 2nd Battalion of the 6th Rifle Cavalry Regiment
108 38th Machine Gun Battalion
109 1st Battalion of the 14th unknown unit
110 28th Communication Battalion
111 1st Rifle Motorcycle Battalion
112 11th Communication Battalion
113 1st Battalion of the 1st Tank Brigade
114 1st Battalion of the 13th Infantry Regiment
115 2nd Battalion of the 1st Tank Regiment
116 41st Combat Engineer Battalion
117 9th Machine Gun Battalion
118 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Tank Regiment
119 1st Battalion of the 15th Tank Regiment
120 2nd Battalion of the 13th Infantry Regiment
121 1st Reconnaissance Unit
122 29th Reconnaissance Unit
123 1st Communication Battalion
124 8th Communication Battalion
125 11th Combat Engineer Battalion
126 3rd Battalion of the 11th Reserve Regiment
127 31st Machine Gun Battalion
128 21st Combat Engineer Battalion
129 1st Combat Engineer Battalion
130 18th Combat Engineer Battalion
131 28th Combat Engineer Battalion
132 15th Combat Engineer Battalion
133 1st Vehicle Transport Battalion
134 8th Vehicle Transport Battalion
135 8th Combat Engineer Battalion
136 1st Jäger Battalion of the 2nd Infantry Regiment
137 1st Battalion of the 10th Infantry Regiment
138 67th Tank Battalion
Regimental standards
Number Military unit
176 5th Cuirassier Regiment
177 8th Cavalry Regiment
178 3rd Grenadier Horst Wessel
179 1st Dragoon Regiment
180 10th Uhlan Regiment
181 3rd Cavalry Regiment
182 12th Light Cavalry Regiment
183 10th Infantry Cavalry Regiment
184 9th Infantry Cavalry Regiment
185 4th Hussar Regiment
186 11th Infantry Cavalry Regiment
187 8th Heavy Dragoon Regiment
188 8th Uhlan Cavalry Regiment
189 1st Cuirassier Regiment
190 4th Hussar Regiment
191 4th Uhlan Regiment
192 1st Cavalry Regiment
193 10th Dragoon Regiment
194 1st Uhlan Cavalry Regiment
195 4th Cavalry Regiment
196 1st Cavalry Regiment
197 2nd Cavalry Regiment
198 2nd Uhlan Regiment
199 6th Hussar Regiment
200 4th Cavalry Regiment
201 17th Artillery Regiment
Division standards
Number Military unit
139 3rd Division of the 8th Artillery Regiment
140 1st Division of the 9th Artillery Regiment
141 1st Artillery Instrumental Reconnaissance Division
142 2nd Division of the 18th Artillery Regiment
143 18th Artillery Instrumental Reconnaissance Division
144 2nd Division of the 37th Artillery Regiment
145 2nd Division of the 78th Artillery Regiment
146 2nd Division of the 28th Artillery Regiment
147 21st Anti-Tank Division
148 1st Division of the 54th Artillery Regiment
149 1st Division of the 44th Artillery Regiment
150 1st Division of the 45th Artillery Regiment
151 1st Division of the 28th Artillery Regiment
152 2nd Division of the 47th Artillery Regiment
153 28th Artillery Instrumental Reconnaissance Division
154 2nd Division of the 21st Artillery Regiment
155 3rd Division of the 65th Artillery Regiment
156 2nd Division of the 64th Artillery Regiment
157 2nd Division of the 8th Artillery Regiment
158 3rd Division of the 9th Artillery Regiment
159 1st Division of the 8th Artillery Regiment
160 3rd Division of the 21st Artillery Regiment
161 11th Anti-Tank Division
162 2nd Division of the 9th Artillery Regiment
163 15th Anti-Tank Division
164 1st Division of the 116th Artillery Regiment
165 1st Division of the 15th Artillery Regiment
166 3rd Division of the 1st Artillery Regiment
167 37th Anti-Tank Division
168 2nd Division of the 44th Artillery Regiment
169 1st Division of the 57th Artillery Regiment
170 9th Anti-Tank Division
171 1st Battalion of the 13th Motorized Rifle Regiment
172 42nd Division
173 41st Combat Engineer Battalion
174 3rd Jäger Battalion of the 15th Infantry Regiment
175 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (without banner)
Source :
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/List_of_German_standards_at_the_Moscow_Victory_Parade_of_1945