World War II was the deadliest conflict in history. Between 1939 and 1945, an estimated 75 million people perished across the globe — nearly three percent of the world’s population at the time. Almost everyone who can truly remember the horrors of the era has died, but photos of World War II remain to serve as a tragic reminder of one of history’s darkest hours.
During the six years that the war raged in Europe and the Pacific, photographers captured countless images that brought the conflict to life for civilians. Of course, millions of men, women, and children didn’t need photos to experience the fighting — it came directly to their front doors.
Indeed, as many as 55 million civilians perished during the war. Many of them were casualties of bombing campaigns, while others died from disease and starvation. The Nazis also systematically murdered roughly 11 million people during the Holocaust.
American Casualty On Omaha Beach
An American casualty lies on Omaha Beach following the invasion of Normandy. More than 4,400 Allied troops were killed on D-Day, and Omaha Beach saw the highest number of casualties.
US Troops In Montleban Belgium
Two U.S. soldiers run through gunfire in Montleban, Belgium. Jan. 13, 1945.
German Troops During The Battle Of The Bulge
German troops in action during the Battle of the Bulge. Dec. 18, 1944. The Battle of the Bulge — which took place in the Ardennes Forest of Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany — was the bloodiest battle U.S. troops fought during World War II.
Hiroshima After The Atomic Bombing
The ruins of Hiroshima in March 1946, seven months after the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on the city.
World War 2 Photos Hiroshima Survivors
Two survivors of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in September 1945, several weeks after the attack. They were living in a makeshift hospital inside a bank building that wasn't completely destroyed by the blast.
Joseph Goebbels Greets Hitler Youth Member
Joseph Goebbels greets 16-year-old Hitler Youth soldier Willi Hübner, who was awarded an Iron Cross for his service. March 1945.
Kamikaze Plane Imprint On The HMS Sussex
The imprint of a kamikaze plane on the hull of the HMS Sussex. In the final months of World War II, the desperate Japanese Army resorted to suicide attacks in an attempt to destroy Allied ships.
Liberation Of British Pows In The Pacific
Liberated British prisoners of war drink tea and read the Daily Express in Singapore after their release from a POW camp in Sumatra.
Mushroom Cloud Above Nagasaki
A mushroom cloud rises over Nagasaki after the U.S. military dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city. August 9, 1945.
Released War Prisoners In Korea
Allied prisoners of war celebrate their release from Keijo Camp in Seoul. 1945.
US Troops During The Battle Of The Bulge
U.S. troops greet each other during the Battle of the Bulge. January 1945. During the month-long battle, the U.S. suffered more than 80,000 casualties, while an estimated 100,000 German troops were killed or wounded.
World War 2 Photos Wounded Soldiers
American soldiers, injured while storming Omaha Beach on D-Day, recover just after the landings in Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944.
World War 2 Photos Pearl Harbor
American sailors stand amid wrecked planes at the Ford Island seaplane base, watching as the USS Shaw explodes in the center background during the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941.
World War 2 Photos Normandy
"Into the Jaws of Death — U.S. Troops wading through water and Nazi gunfire." A U.S. landing craft approaches Omaha Beach during the D-Day invasion in Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944.
Woman Walking By Bodies WW2 Photos
A German woman is overcome with emotion as she walks past the exhumed bodies of some of the 800 Buchenwald concentration camp prisoners murdered by SS guards near Nammering, Germany. U.S. troops forced the guards to uncover the mass grave and lay the corpses out so that townspeople could view the crimes of their Nazi leaders. May 17, 1945.
Crying Woman Saluting Hitler
A Sudeten woman from the area that is now the Czech Republic salutes the conquering German forces while crying at the fall of her people to the Nazis. Circa 1938.
World War 2 Photos Blitz Rubble
Firefighters put out a blaze caused by a round of German bombings in London. 1941.
Bombs With Writing On Them
Soviet and American airmen pose with the bombs on which they'd written messages for the Nazis at a Russian air base. June 2, 1944.
Burning Jeep And Body
Bystanders look on as a boy's burning corpse lies next to the Jeep he was in, which was struck by a German V-2 rocket in Antwerp, Belgium. Nov. 27, 1944.
Burning Plane
A Grumman F6F Hellcat (VF-2) plane crash lands on the deck of the USS Enterprise as Lt. Walter L. Chewning Jr. climbs up the side of the plane to assist the pilot, Ensign Byron M. Johnson, who escaped without serious injury. The crash landing occurred as the Enterprise was making its way toward Makin Island in the South Pacific on Nov. 10, 1943.
Concentration Camp Corpse
A young man sits on an overturned stool next to a burnt body inside the Thekla concentration subcamp outside Leipzig, Germany, soon after its liberation by U.S. forces in April 1945.
Eisenhower With Troops WW2 Photos
U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower gives instructions to paratroopers in England in preparation for the imminent D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944.
Iwo Jima Flag Raising
Five U.S. Marines and one sailor raise an American flag over Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima on Feb. 23, 1945.
Maoris Perform The Haka During WW2
Māori soldiers from New Zealand perform a traditional war cry known as a haka in Helwan, Egypt. June 1941.
Soldier With Head In Hands
A dejected German soldier taken prisoner by Soviet forces at the Battle of Kursk — one of the largest in history, and the one that marked the turning point against the Nazis on the Eastern Front and the war as a whole — in mid-1943.
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Victims
An unidentified boy raises his arms as German soldiers capture Polish Jews during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising sometime between April 19 and May 16, 1943.
VJ-Day Kiss
In celebration of Japan's surrender, a U.S. Navy sailor kisses a women during festivities in New York City on August 14, 1945.
Elderly Women Walk Through Rubble
Two women stand amid the leveled ruins of the almshouse that was their home in Newbury, England, before a German bombing raid destroyed it on Feb. 11, 1943.
Nagasaki Bombing Cloud WW2 Photos
The atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, by the U.S. on August 9, 1945.
Skull On Ground
Burnt bodies lie on the grounds of the Thekla concentration subcamp outside Leipzig, Germany. April 1945.
Survivor Of Nazi Massacre WW2 Photos
Roger Godfrin, the only survivor of a massacre during which Nazi troops locked 643 citizens — including 500 women and children — inside a church and set fire to it on June 10, 1944, in Oradour-sur-Glane, France.
Charging Soldiers During Siege Of Leningrad
Soviet soldiers charge during the Siege of Leningrad. Jan. 1, 1943.
Women With Heads Shaved
French women accused of collaborating with the Nazis have their heads shaved by French Resistance fighters in Paris on June 21, 1944.
Youngster Hugging Father's Leg
A young boy greets his father, a soldier allowed to return home for Christmas. 1944.
Bomber's Silhouette
A British plane in Gibraltar prepares for its flight to the United Kingdom as searchlights shine in the background. Date unspecified.
Woman Holding Girl
A young French girl clings to her mother as French civilians flee the German Army offensive in the north of France. May 1940.
Hitler Addresses Reichstag
Adolf Hitler (standing, center) declares war on the United States at the Reichstag in Berlin, Germany, on Dec. 11, 1941.
World War 2 Photos Aftermath Of Nagasaki Bombing
Battered religious figures stand amid the rubble of Nagasaki, Japan, on Sept. 24, 1945, six weeks after the U.S. destroyed the city with an atomic bomb.
French Man Crying
A French man weeps as German soldiers march into Paris on June 14, 1940, after the Allied forces had been driven back across France.
Ship On Fire At Pearl Harbor
U.S. Navy sailors rescue a survivor from the water alongside the sunken battleship USS West Virginia during the Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Dec. 7, 1941.
Concentration Camp Ovens
The crematory ovens of the Buchenwald concentration camp. April 1945.
Nazis Walking In Paris WW2 Photos
Adolf Hitler and his entourage walk near the Eiffel Tower in Paris on June 23, 1940, following the occupation of France by the Nazis.
Luftwaffe Raid In Algeria
French anti-aircraft fire during a Nazi raid on Algiers. 1943.
American Gunner
An American torpedo boat marksman behind his machine gun off the coast of New Guinea. July 1943.
Beach Charge At Normandy
Canadian soldiers land on Courseulles Beach in Normandy during the D-Day invasion. June 6, 1944.
Champs Elysees On Liberation Day
Crowds gather on Paris' Champs-Élysées as French tanks roll past in celebration of the liberation of France. August 26, 1944.
Aftermath Of Hiroshima Bombing
The devastated remains of Hiroshima, Japan, just days after U.S. forces dropped an atomic bomb on the city on August 6, 1945, killing upwards of 140,000 people.
Prosthetic Legs Of Holocaust Victims
A pile of prostheses belonging to the murdered victims of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland photographed following its liberation in January 1945.
Soldiers Charging With Bayonets
British and American forces charge a German soldier surrendering atop his tank during the Second Battle of El Alamein in Egypt. Oct. 25, 1942.
Children During London Blitz
Children of an eastern suburb of London, who have been made homeless by German bombings, sit outside the wreckage of what was their house. September 1940.
Dresden Bodies
Victims of the massive Allied bombing campaign in Dresden, Germany. February 1945.
Hitler Surveying Map WW2 Photos
Adolf Hitler joins key advisors Heinrich Himmler (left) and Martin Bormann (right) in surveying a strategic map at an unspecified location. 1939.
Macarthur Lands At Leyte
U.S. General Douglas MacArthur wades ashore during the initial landings at Leyte in the Philippines. October 1944.
Man With Hands Up
German soldiers arrest a Jewish man in Warsaw, Poland, following the ghetto uprising that had recently occurred there. April 1943.
Noose Used At Concentration Camp
A man holds a noose used for hanging prisoners at the Buchenwald concentration camp following its liberation by U.S. forces in April 1945.
German Surrender
Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel signs the unconditional surrender of the German Army at the Soviet headquarters in Karlshorst, Berlin. May 8, 1945.
Soldiers Approaching Omaha Beach
U.S. soldiers wait in a landing craft as it approaches Omaha Beach during the D-Day landings in Normandy, France. June 6, 1944.
Japanese Surrender
Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signs the Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the Japanese Government onboard the USS Missouri on Sept. 2, 1945, as Lt. Gen. Richard K. Sutherland of the U.S. Army watches from the opposite side of the table.
Liberation Of Paris
A celebration of Germany's surrender takes place on Paris' Champs-Élysées, as seen from the top of the Arc de Triomphe. May 8, 1945.
Planes Fly Through Clouds
U.S. Air Force bombers fly over Ploiești, Romania, following a raid on August 1, 1943. Of the 16 cameramen accompanying this mission, the man who took this photo was the only one to survive.
Walking Through Rubble
U.S. infantrymen move through the destroyed town of Waldenburg, Germany. April 16, 1945.
Auschwitz's Entrance WW2 Photos
The entrance to Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland soon after its liberation by Soviet troops. January 1945.
Emaciated Holocaust Victim
An emaciated 18-year-old woman, a Russian prisoner of Dachau concentration camp, not long after its liberation by U.S. forces on April 29, 1945.
Pearl Harbor Wreckage
The devastated remains of the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Shaw following the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941.
Soldiers In Vehicles Shaking Hands
British soldiers shake hands from atop their vehicles in Tobruk, Libya. October 1942.
Holocaust Bodies Among Trees
Some of the 60,000 dead bodies found on the grounds of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp following its liberation by British troops on April 15, 1945.
Soldiers Wearing Gas Masks
Members of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) Special Naval Landing Forces, outfitted with gas masks, prepare for an advance amid the rubble of Shanghai, China, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, which many historians contend falls under the umbrella of World War II. August 1937.
Stalin Roosevelt Churchill WW2 Photos
From left, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill meet at the historic Tehran Conference in Iran on Nov. 28, 1943.
Plane On Ship Deck
A U.S. fighter plane spins its propellor on the deck of the USS Yorktown in the Pacific. November 1943.
Cows Among Soldiers
Allied soldiers come across a herd of cows as they make their way through Normandy, France. June 1944.
Manzanar Internment Camp
California's Manzanar War Relocation Center, one of 10 internment camps in which the U.S. government held a combined 120,000 Japanese Americans during the war. 1943.
Explosion In Sicily
The American ship SS Robert Rowan explodes after being attacked by a German bomber off the coast of Gela, Sicily. July 11, 1943.
Holocaust Prisoner With Damaged Eyes
A tortured prisoner of the Buchenwald concentration camp. April 1945.
Soviet Women With Baskets
Citizens of Leningrad in the Soviet Union vacate their houses that were destroyed by German bombing. Dec. 10, 1942.
Above, look through World War II photos that reveal the true horrors of the conflict. And below, read more about some of its bleakest moments.
How Many People Died During History's Bloodiest Conflict?
Estimates of the total number of deaths during World War II vary, but according to the National World War II Museum, at least 15 million troops died in battle, and 45 million civilians perished from causes directly linked to the conflict.
This brings the estimated death toll to 60 million, but many historians believe that it was even higher — closer to 75 million. Both troops and the general population suffered from starvation and diseases like typhus and tuberculosis. And these diseases spread rampantly in Nazi Germany's concentration camps.
The Holocaust alone was the cause of at least 11 million deaths. Six million victims were Jewish men, women, and children who were systematically dehumanized and murdered by the Nazis simply because they weren't part of the "Aryan race." Adolf Hitler's Third Reich also targeted dissenters, prisoners of war, Romani people, ethnic Poles, gay men, Jehovah's Witnesses, and people with disabilities.
Then, there were the millions of civilians who died during bombing campaigns throughout the war. Between September 1940 and May 1941, Germany and Italy dropped hundreds of thousands of bombs over the United Kingdom during the Blitz, killing more than 40,000 residents and destroying two million homes.
Likewise, the Allied bombing of Dresden in February 1945 sparked a firestorm that led to more than 20,000 deaths. World War II photos show heaps of charred bodies lying in the streets in the aftermath of the attack.
And in the final days of the war, the U.S. military dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As many as 200,000 civilians died, and hundreds of thousands of survivors were left with debilitating injuries and ostracized by their peers out of fear of contagion.
Images of these atrocities are some of the most devastating photos of World War II, but some of the pictures taken on the front lines of battle are equally disturbing.
World War II Photos From The Conflict's Bloodiest Battles
One of the photos taken at the Battle of Stalingrad — the deadliest battle of World War II — shows a towering pile of German bodies stretching as far as the eye can see. Between July 1942 and February 1943, Nazi Germany and its allies in Italy, Romania, Hungary, and Croatia fought the Soviet Red Army for control of the city of Stalingrad.
By the time it was all over, as many as three million people were dead.
The Germans and Soviets met once again in April 1945 at the Battle of Berlin. It was one of the final battles in the Western Theater, and it led to Hitler's suicide, Germany's surrender, and the collapse of the Third Reich.
But before that came D-Day. The invasion of Normandy brought some of the most iconic photos of World War II, from planes flying into battle to troops wading through the waves to storm the beaches.
An equally iconic image is the raising of the American flag during the Battle of Iwo Jima. The photo of the U.S. Marines atop Mount Suribachi won a Pulitzer Prize and became one of the most reproduced pictures of all time.
Then, there are the famous photos of celebrations at the end of the war: The sailor kissing a stranger on V-J Day, emaciated prisoners of war cheering as their liberators arrive, and jubilant crowds in the streets of London all illustrate the world's euphoria that history's grimmest chapter had come to a close.
After looking through these photos of World War II, discover 21 of the most surprising myths about the conflict. Then, look through 55 colorized photos that capture the brutal reality of the war.
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