Color Photos From World War I

Today, while looking around these great big internets of ours, I came across this site with some amazing color photos from World War I.

Here are a few of examples:





They are a bit grainy, but the color really brings them to life.

Hitler in Color

Life just released a collection of Nazi era color photos from Germany.

"Between 1936 and 1945, German photographer Hugo Jaeger was granted unprecedented access to Adolf Hitler, traveling and chronicling, in color, the Fuhrer and his confidants at small gatherings, public events, and, quite often, in private moments. Here, and in several other galleries on LIFE, we now present never-before-published photographs from Jaeger's astonishing -- and chilling -- collection."

Here's one of the collections (you can click to see larger images):

The intimacy of some of the photos--and the addition of color--add an immediacy and an every day feeling that is sometimes missing from the more common black and white, propaganda photos you often see.

This collection, "Adolf Hitler's Private World," includes pictures from inside Hitler's apartments and offices and a picture of a watercolor he painted.

This one, "Hitler Among the Crowds," includes pictures from rallies and other gatherings.

And "Hitler's Humble Beginnings" has pictures of places from Hitler's early life.

Remembering D-Day

Tomorrow, June 6th, is the 65th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy, so today I poked around Footnote to see what kinds of related things I could find.

I didn't get too far because after looking at photos from the WWII Air Force Photos...

Delivering "waterproofed vehicles"


A downed P-47 on a beach in Normandy

...I found some documents in the World War II Foreign Military Studies collection that were so interesting I got stuck reading them. The Foreign Military Studies include reports and other documents from German sources that provide a unique perspective.

Here's a translation of a page from "telephone diary of the 352 infantry division." It begins with early reports of paratroopers and personnel carrying gliders and then continues through the invasion by sea.

If you click through to the image you can get to the other pages
of the diary using the filmstrip at the bottom of the viewer

And here's page one of a translation of Generalleutnant Wilhelm Richter's account of "The Battle of the 716th Infantry Division in Normandy." He describes German preparations, the weather and the events of the initial invasion and the days following.

Again, you can use the filmstrip to see the rest of the report.

You'll find these images and more about D-Day on this Footnote Page. The page is open for contributions, so if you have something you'd like to share about D-Day, you can add to the page too.