This small collection of photographs provides a pictoral history of a select group of events, campaigns, and theaters of World War II.
Disclaimer: All photographs located here were donated, in the public domain, or are works of U.S. military or Department of Defense employee(s), and were taken or made during the course of the person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, these images are in the public domain. Private Letters has made a good-faith effort to ensure that this photo collection is free of all copyright restrictions. However, we do not guarantee the collection to be copyright-free and assume no liability or responsibility for any copyright infringement errors. Should any maps or images viewable here be under copyright protection, please email us immediately and we will be happy to promptly remove them.
79th Infantry Division
Utah and Omaha beaches, Cherbourg and Fort du Roule, La Haye du Puits, the Seine River, Parroy Forest, Haguenau, Hatten, Rittershoffen. Names that will be forever etched in the minds of the veterans, widows, and families of the 79th Infantry Division. Landing on D+8, (June 14th) the 79th Infantry Division was to be involved in many critical and bloody battles. These are a few of their photos capturing their journey. View Photos
European Theater
The war in Europe was an Allied effort, combining the tactical operations of the British, Canadians, French, and other Western Allies. It would become the US Army’s largest and most complex land campaign of WW2 and complete the destruction of Nazi Germany. The European Theatre was a huge area of heavy fighting across Europe from Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 until the end of the war with the German unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945 (V-E Day). View Photos
Mediterranean Theater
The Mediterranean theater in World War II has long been overlooked by historians who believe it was little more than a string of small-scale battles and sideshows that were of minor importance in a war whose outcome was decided in the clashes of mammoth tank armies in northern Europe and the sea battles and island battles of the Pacific. However, from the beaches of northwest Africa in 1942, to the Italian Alps with the German surrender of May 1945, others argue that the Mediterranean was World War II's pivotal theater. View Photos
Pacific Theater
Between America's retreat from China in late November 1941 and the moment General MacArthur's airplane touched down on the Japanese mainland in August of 1945, many key battles were fought in the war against Japan. From the debacle in Bataan, to the miracle at Midway and the relentless vortex of Guadalcanal, to the coral strongholds of Peleliu, the black terraces of Iwo Jima and the killing fields of Okinawa, to the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Pacific Theater victories came at a shocking price. View Photos
Home Front
Although many went off to fight the war, the people left behind at home also had a part to play in the war, often called upon to make sacrifices as well. Some countries learned to exist while under daily attack. Since World War II could be described as total war, homeland production became even more invaluable to both the Allied and Axis powers. During the war, Governments became involved with their respective home fronts to educate them on how to protect themselves, their country, and aid the war effort. View Photos
Eastern Front
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of war between the European Axis powers, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Croatia and Finland (not an Axis member), and the Soviet Union which encompassed northern, southern and eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945. It was the largest theatre of war in history and was notorious for its unprecedented ferocity, destruction, and immense loss of life. The conflict on the Eastern Front during WWII saw some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of the war. View Photos
China, Burma & India
Allied successes in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, together with hard-won British and Chinese advances in Burma, forced the Japanese onto the defensive in the Pacific and Far East. While the drama of war in Europe and the Pacific captured the world press, the CBI was relatively ignored. But in the jungles of Burma and along the mountain ridges, the Brits, the Chindits, Kachins, Burmese, Gurkas, Indians, and others were waging total war with the Japanese. View Photos
Holocaust
Most of these haunting black-and-white images of horror were captured by the Nazis in an attempt to memorialize the inhuman acts they committed against so many men, women, and children ... revealing what horrors humans can inflict upon each other in the name of ideology. Most are shocking and disturbing. However, there are also images of hope, those photographs taken by soldiers as they liberated concentration camps and found survivors ... revealing a triumph of the human spirit against sheer evil. View at your discretion. View Photos
