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Photo gallery: Historic images from World War II

 
Thousands of cheering, shouting, flag-waving people jam Times Square in New York on Aug. 14, 1945, after it was reported that Japan had surrendered, ending World War II. [Associated Press]
Thousands of cheering, shouting, flag-waving people jam Times Square in New York on Aug. 14, 1945, after it was reported that Japan had surrendered, ending World War II. [Associated Press]
Published Aug. 11, 2015

For six long years, 1939-1945, few people could escape the effects of a world at war. A generation was tested as perhaps none had been tested before. The impact would be felt for decades.

It would be impossible to capture all of the horrors of war, the thousands of battles, the victories and the losses in one photo gallery. The National Archives has a vast online collection of thousands of photos and even that barely skims the surface of what is available.

Here we offer a small sample of the images from the National Archives.

National Archives

Dec. 7, 1941: This captured Japanese photograph was taken aboard a Japanese aircraft carrier before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

National Archives

Dec. 7, 1941: This captured Japanese photograph was taken aboard a Japanese aircraft carrier before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

National Archives

Dec. 7, 1941: The USS West Virginia is aflame after the surprise attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

National Archives

Dec. 7, 1941: The USS West Virginia is aflame after the surprise attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

National Archives

Dec. 7, 1941: The USS Arizona burns after the surprise attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The Arizona became the final resting place for many of the 1,177 crewmen who lost their lives in the attack.

National Archives

Dec. 7, 1941: The USS Arizona burns after the surprise attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The Arizona became the final resting place for many of the 1,177 crewmen who lost their lives in the attack.

National Archives

1943: This is a copy of a German photograph that shows Jewish civilians being marched down a street during the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto in Poland. Before World War II, the city was a major center of Jewish life and culture in Poland. Warsaw's prewar Jewish population of more than 350,000 constituted about 30 percent of the city's total population.

National Archives

1943: This is a copy of a German photograph that shows Jewish civilians being marched down a street during the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto in Poland. Before World War II, the city was a major center of Jewish life and culture in Poland. Warsaw's prewar Jewish population of more than 350,000 constituted about 30 percent of the city's total population.

National Archives

November 20-23, 1943: Marines storm the Tarawa atoll in the Gilbert Islands in the central Pacific Ocean.

National Archives

November 20-23, 1943: Marines storm the Tarawa atoll in the Gilbert Islands in the central Pacific Ocean.

National Archives

November 1943: Two enlisted men from the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Liscome Bay, which was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine off the Gilbert Islands, are buried at sea from the deck of a Coast Guard manned assault transport.

National Archives

November 1943: Two enlisted men from the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Liscome Bay, which was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine off the Gilbert Islands, are buried at sea from the deck of a Coast Guard manned assault transport.

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National Archives

February 1944: These pilots are part of a U.S. Army Air Forces fighter squadron credited with shooting down eight of 28 German planes destroyed in dog-fights over the new Allied beachheads south of Rome, on Jan. 27, 1944, talk over the day's exploits at a U.S. base in the Mediterranean theater. Members of this squadron, veterans of the North African and Sicilian campaigns, were formerly classmates at a university in the southern United States.

National Archives

February 1944: These pilots are part of a U.S. Army Air Forces fighter squadron credited with shooting down eight of 28 German planes destroyed in dog-fights over the new Allied beachheads south of Rome, on Jan. 27, 1944, talk over the day's exploits at a U.S. base in the Mediterranean theater. Members of this squadron, veterans of the North African and Sicilian campaigns, were formerly classmates at a university in the southern United States.

National Archives

May 18, 1944: American troops of the 163rd Infantry Regiment hit the beach from Higgins boats during the invasion of Wadke Island, Dutch New Guinea.

National Archives

May 18, 1944: American troops of the 163rd Infantry Regiment hit the beach from Higgins boats during the invasion of Wadke Island, Dutch New Guinea.

National Archives

June 6, 1944: Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the order of the Day, 'Full victory-nothing else' to paratroopers in England, just before they board their airplanes to participate in the first assault in the invasion of Europe on D-Day.

National Archives

June 6, 1944: Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the order of the Day, 'Full victory-nothing else' to paratroopers in England, just before they board their airplanes to participate in the first assault in the invasion of Europe on D-Day.

National Archives

June 10, 1944: A platoon of black troops surrounds a farm house near Vierville-sur-Mer, France, as they prepare to eliminate a German sniper holding up an advance from the Omaha beachhead.

National Archives

June 10, 1944: A platoon of black troops surrounds a farm house near Vierville-sur-Mer, France, as they prepare to eliminate a German sniper holding up an advance from the Omaha beachhead.

National Archives

Aug. 29, 1944: American troops of the 28th Infantry Division march down the Champs Elysees, Paris, in a Victory Parade.

National Archives

Aug. 29, 1944: American troops of the 28th Infantry Division march down the Champs Elysees, Paris, in a Victory Parade.

National Archives

September 1944: Parachutes open overhead as waves of paratroops land in Holland during operations by the 1st Allied Airborne Army.

National Archives

September 1944: Parachutes open overhead as waves of paratroops land in Holland during operations by the 1st Allied Airborne Army.

National Archives

Oct. 20, 1944: Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur wades ashore during initial landings at Leyte in the Philippine Islands. With U.S. troops still fighting, MacArthur addressed the Philippine people via radio: 'I have returned. By the grace of Almighty God our forces stand again on Philippine soil – soil consecrated in the blood of our two peoples.'

National Archives

Oct. 20, 1944: Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur wades ashore during initial landings at Leyte in the Philippine Islands. With U.S. troops still fighting, MacArthur addressed the Philippine people via radio: 'I have returned. By the grace of Almighty God our forces stand again on Philippine soil – soil consecrated in the blood of our two peoples.'

National Archives

Feb. 16, 1945: During the Task Force 58 raid on Japan. 40mm guns fire aboard the USS Hornet, as the carrier's planes were raiding Tokyo.

National Archives

Feb. 16, 1945: During the Task Force 58 raid on Japan. 40mm guns fire aboard the USS Hornet, as the carrier's planes were raiding Tokyo.

National Archives

April 14, 1945: Two anti-tank infantrymen of the 101st Infantry Regiment, dash past a blazing German gasoline trailer in square of Kronach, Germany.

National Archives

April 14, 1945: Two anti-tank infantrymen of the 101st Infantry Regiment, dash past a blazing German gasoline trailer in square of Kronach, Germany.

National Archives

April 22, 1945: Soldiers of the 55th Armored Infantry Battalion and a tank from the 22nd Tank Battalion, move through a smoke-filled street in Wernberg, Germany.

National Archives

April 22, 1945: Soldiers of the 55th Armored Infantry Battalion and a tank from the 22nd Tank Battalion, move through a smoke-filled street in Wernberg, Germany.

National Archives

May 7, 1945: A jubilant American soldier hugs an English woman and victory smiles light the faces of happy service men and civilians at London's Piccadilly Circus as they celebrate Germany's unconditional surrender.

National Archives

May 7, 1945: A jubilant American soldier hugs an English woman and victory smiles light the faces of happy service men and civilians at London's Piccadilly Circus as they celebrate Germany's unconditional surrender.

National Archives

May 9, 1945: Troops in Burma stop work briefly to read President Truman's proclamation of victory in Europe.

National Archives

May 9, 1945: Troops in Burma stop work briefly to read President Truman's proclamation of victory in Europe.

National Archives

May 18, 1945: A Marine of the 1st Marine Division draws a bead on a Japanese sniper with his tommy-gun as his companion ducks for cover. The division was working to take Wana Ridge before the town of Shuri on Okinawa.

National Archives

May 18, 1945: A Marine of the 1st Marine Division draws a bead on a Japanese sniper with his tommy-gun as his companion ducks for cover. The division was working to take Wana Ridge before the town of Shuri on Okinawa.

National Archives

July 1945: TBM Avengers and SB2Cs Helldivers based on the USS Essex drop bombs on Hokadate, Japan.

National Archives

July 1945: TBM Avengers and SB2Cs Helldivers based on the USS Essex drop bombs on Hokadate, Japan.

National Archives

Aug. 8, 1945: A dense column of smoke rises more than 60,000 feet into the air over the Japanese port of Nagasaki, the result of an atomic bomb, the second ever used in warfare, dropped on the industrial center from a U.S. B-29 Superfortress.

National Archives

Aug. 8, 1945: A dense column of smoke rises more than 60,000 feet into the air over the Japanese port of Nagasaki, the result of an atomic bomb, the second ever used in warfare, dropped on the industrial center from a U.S. B-29 Superfortress.

National Archives

Sept. 2, 1945: Gen. Douglas MacArthur signs as supreme allied commander during formal surrender ceremonies on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Behind Gen. MacArthur are Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright and Lt. Gen. A. E. Percival.

National Archives

Sept. 2, 1945: Gen. Douglas MacArthur signs as supreme allied commander during formal surrender ceremonies on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Behind Gen. MacArthur are Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright and Lt. Gen. A. E. Percival.