The beginning of World War II (1939)

Evacuation of Germans living in Poland to Germany in August–September 1939. People carrying belongings on their shoulders enter the temporary refugee accommodation centre.

Distribution of bean soup to people.

A mother feeds her child with a spoon.

A man eats soup.

Refugees eat while sitting at tables set up in the open air in the yard.

German field artillery takes up positions around Danzig.

The crew camouflages the gun with branches.

SS ribbon on the sleeve of the uniform.

The barrel of a camouflaged gun.

Consequences of artillery shelling of residential buildings.

A stand with a warning sign, an unexploded shell at the base of the stand.

One of the destroyed apartments.

The Germans install propaganda loudspeakers on the shore of the Bay of Danzig, a military orchestra plays.

Wehrmacht non-commissioned officers watch the opposite side of the bay through binoculars.

Soldiers unfurl a banner with a slogan.

Launching colored balloons.

A German air defense observation post on Germany's western border.

Aircraft at the airfield.

An anti-aircraft gun crew is raised on alert.

Bringing a camouflaged anti-aircraft gun into combat readiness.

Extinguishing the wreckage of a downed French plane.

British battleships Repulse and Royal Oak in Scapa Flow.

German submarine U-47 on a combat mission.

The submarine crew on deck after successfully sinking British ships in Scapa Flow in October 1939. The crew of one of the German warships greets the submariners returning from the mission (panorama).

Meeting the submarine crew at the Berlin airport.

The face of the submarine commander Gunther Prien.

Faces of the sailors from the submarine crew.

Berliners greet Prien as he drives down the street in a car.

Police try to push back the crowd.

President of Slovakia Jozef Tiso comes to the podium before the start of the parade of units of the Slovak Army.

Slovak automobile unit in parade formation.

Presentation of awards to Slovak officers.

Meeting the German Gauleiter.

Slovak troops march in parade formation.

Tiso takes the parade.

Soldiers of the German trophy team Inspecting positions abandoned by French troops.

Inspecting and clearing trenches.

The servicing team of a German reconnaissance balloon ascends a slope on alarm.

The balloon crew members put on warm overalls.

Taking the balloon to the launch site.

The balloonists finish equipping themselves and discuss the flight route on the map.

The balloon in flight (below).

A lesson at the German military school of service dog training.

Performing crawling exercises.

Using a dog as a means of communication.

A flock of homing pigeons flies by.

Pigeons in a nursery.

Homing pigeons being handed out to a signalman.

Londoners run through the streets for shelter after the air raid alarm is sounded.

Empty streets of London.

People at the train station waiting in line to be evacuated.