On April 27, 1945, Colonel Karl Biedermann was executed by the Gestapo and SS officers of the German Armed Forces in the suburbs of Vienna.

      On April 27, 1945, Colonel Karl Biedermann was executed by the Gestapo and SS officers of the German Armed Forces in the outskirts of Vienna. A sign reading “I made a pact with the Bolsheviks” was hung on the body. In the foreground lies the body of Lieutenant Colonel Karl Biederman of the 17th Military District of Vienna. He had joined a group of officers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Karl Sokol, who had attempted to prevent the Battle of Vienna and the destruction of the city. The conspirators established contact with the Soviet military headquarters and planned to open a corridor to allow Russian forces to quickly occupy the city. This plot was uncovered by the SS, and Karl Biedermann and the other officers were arrested and sentenced to death by hanging by a military court.

   On April 13, 1945, Soviet troops on the Ukrainian Front completed the conquest of Vienna, the Austrian city where Hitler had spent the six years prior to World War II. By April 3, 1945, when Soviet troops approached the outskirts of Vienna, the city had already withstood over 50 Allied air raids. The Allied attacks destroyed more than one-fifth of the city's residential buildings, estimated at 80,000 apartments. Dictator Hitler issued an order from his underground bunker in Berlin to his commanders to defend Vienna at all costs. When the Soviet Army launched its attack on the southern outskirts of Vienna, the German forces defending the city consisted only of the exhausted 2nd SS Panzer Corps, anti-aircraft units, members of the Hitler Youth, and convalescing soldiers. The German forces retreated quickly to the city center without delaying the well-equipped Soviet forces. Intense fighting continued for about a week, resulting in the destruction of many of Vienna's historic buildings and severe damage to all bridges except those spanning the Danube River.

      German commanders struggled to maintain control over their scattered units, and officers relied on holding isolated positions. The Ukrainian Front cut through Vienna and advanced toward Linz and Graz. The remaining German forces retreated northward. By April 13, the Battle of Vienna had ended. Following the occupation of Vienna, large numbers of Soviet soldiers brutally treated residents and engaged in repeated looting. A state of general lawlessness persisted until Allied forces from other countries arrived to begin the joint occupation of Vienna, at which point the situation began to improve. In the Vienna offensive, approximately 30,000 German soldiers were killed, while 129,279 Soviet soldiers were killed. 

During the First Battle of the Marne, French soldiers fired their guns while using the bodies of their dead comrades as shields. This marked the beginning of trench warfare, which would come to characterize World War I.

　　　During the First Battle of the Marne, French soldiers used the bodies of their fallen comrades as shields while firing their weapons. The First Battle of the Marne, which took place from September 6 to September 10, 1914, marked the end of the German army's offensive against France and the outbreak of trench warfare, which would characterize the rest of World War I.

　　The French offensive in the Lorraine region prompted a German counterattack, pushing the French back to the fortifications. The French were able to reinforce their defenses and send troops to strengthen their left flank. Eleven divisions fighting in Belgium and East Prussia were withdrawn, further weakening the German northern flank, and the German First Army moved north toward Paris. The French were now exposed to the possibility of flank attacks and counterattacks as they attempted to cross the Marne River valley beyond the Paris defense line.

　　On September 3, the German army ordered the French to halt their retreat, and three days later, the reinforced left flank launched a general attack. The German army halted its advance to support its flanks. On September 9, the German army learned that the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was advancing between the 2nd Army and the Crock. The German army was ordered to retreat. The counterattacks by the French 5th Army, 6th Army, and BEF developed into the First Battle of the Marne, the French army's general counterattack. By September 11, the German army had completely withdrawn.

　　The German army withdrew north of the Marne River and established a strong defensive position along the lower reaches of the Aisne River. The First Battle of the Aisne marked the beginning of trench warfare on the Western Front. The First Battle of the Marne, which forced the German army to retreat approximately 72 km and prevented the occupation of Paris, enabled the French army to continue the war. The German army occupied most of the industrial heartland in northeastern France, inflicting severe blows on the French army. The remainder of 1914 in World War I resulted in a geographical and tactical stalemate, which would require another three years and the loss of countless lives to break. 

The bombing of Shanghai Station by Japanese forces in August 1937 foreshadowed the destruction that would be wrought by modern aerial bombardment. During the Sino-Japanese War, Japanese air raids left corpses strewn across the ruins of Shanghai Station.

　 In August 1937, the Japanese military bombed Shanghai Station, foreshadowing the destruction that modern aerial bombardment would bring. During the Sino-Japanese War, Japanese air raids reduced Shanghai Station to ruins, with corpses lying scattered across the site. Among the ruins were infants who had been left behind. On August 28, 1937, during the Second Shanghai Incident, a wounded and crying infant was photographed by Wang Xiaoting at Shanghai South Station, which had been bombed by the Japanese military. The image was published in the October 4, 1937, issue of Life magazine. While it had a significant impact on American public opinion, it also sparked controversy at the time over whether it was a staged photograph.

　　The September 18 Incident refers to the event on September 18, 1931, when the Japanese Kwantung Army staged the Mukden Incident to provoke Chinese forces in Northeast China, leading to the invasion of the region. Similarly, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, which erupted on July 7, 1937, saw Japanese forces use the disappearance of soldiers as a pretext to attack Chinese garrison troops at Wanping City.

To shift the direction of Japan's invasion from north-south to east-west and make a protracted war easier, the plan was to provoke Japan in the Huadong region, where China's military strength was strongest, draw Japan's military forces to Shanghai, and defeat the Japanese forces in Shanghai with the combined strength of the entire country.

　　On August 9, 1937, the opportunity arose when two Japanese naval lieutenants, including Ohyama Isao, arrived at Hongqiao Airport in Shanghai by car. The Chinese military immediately shot and killed them, claiming they had provoked the Japanese forces. On August 13, the Japanese garrison in Shanghai was surrounded by heavily armed Chinese forces, marking the beginning of the Battle of Songhu.

　　The Japanese forces resisted using the latest weapons and fortified positions, halting the Chinese advance. The Japanese military reinforced its troops in Shanghai, and the Chinese military was unable to defeat the Japanese forces, beginning to shift to a defensive posture. The total strength of the Chinese military reached 800,000, while that of the Japanese military reached 200,000. After three months of intense fighting, the Chinese military found itself in a disadvantageous position. On November 8, Chiang Kai-shek ordered a complete withdrawal, and the Japanese military occupied Shanghai, bringing the Battle of Songhu to an end.

　　Between August 13 and November 8, 1937, the Japanese army suffered 40,000 casualties, while the Chinese army suffered 180,000 casualties. The Chinese army began its retreat on November 8. Most of the Japanese forces in Shanghai continued their advance and continued fighting. Due to hasty orders, sudden retreats, and lack of coordination in command, the Chinese army's retreat turned into a complete rout, allowing the Japanese army to easily catch up and kill them, resulting in over 100,000 casualties.

　

In the summer of 1943, the German army discovered war crimes committed by the Soviet Union in the Katyn Forest. A large number of Polish officers and other people were massacred in the Katyn Forest near Smolensk.

 　In the summer of 1943, the Germans discovered Soviet war crimes in the Katyn Forest. In the Katyn Forest outside Smolenks, Polish officers and others were massacred in great numbers. In 1940, the Soviet authorities ordered the secret burial of the slain victims of the Katyn Forest massacre.

　　The Katyn massacre was a mass murder of Poles by the Soviet Union during World War II. The Soviet secret police (NKVD) massacred about 22,000 Polish prisoners of war in the Katyn Forest, about 20 km from Smolensk By April 1990, the Gorbachev regime had accepted Soviet responsibility.

　　In April-May 1940, about 22,000 Poles were massacred by Soviet troops in the Katyn Forest (now Smolensk, Russia). The victims were mainly captured Polish soldiers, police, doctors, teachers, scientists, engineers, and journalists.

　　After the German invasion of Poland, Poland was divided between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Nazi Germany occupied western Poland, while the Soviet Union occupied eastern Poland until the Axis powers invaded the Soviet Union at the end of June 1941 By June 1941, the Soviets had already arrested 500,000 Poles. Throughout World War II, at least 150,000 Poles were massacred by Soviet forces on Polish soil.

　　The exhumation, examination, and identification of the bodies of Polish officers by the Germans was completed on June 7, 1943, and the German police made their final report on June 10. The Katyn forest was the execution site in 1925 for those condemned to death by the Soviet NKVD and others. Excavations in the forest area invariably revealed Russian corpses, both male and female, in mass graves. Without exception, the cause of death was a shot to the back of the neck. They were prisoners of the NKVD prison in Smolensk, and the majority were political prisoners.

On April 13, 2025, as Russian forces attacked the city of Sumy in Ukraine, police officers performed autopsies on the bodies of Ukrainian victims. The bodies of civilian victims from Sumy lay on the ground.

　　On Sunday, April 13, 2025, amid Russia's attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy, police officers conducted an autopsy on the body of a Ukrainian civilian at the site of a Russian missile strike. Photos provided by the Ukrainian Parliament's Human Rights Committee showed the bodies of victims lying on the ground, including at least several civilians, who were killed in the Russian missile attack on Sumy, Ukraine.

　　According to the Ukrainian State Emergency Service, at least 35 people were killed and 117 injured, including 11 children, when two Russian ballistic missiles struck the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy around 10:15 a.m., as people gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday. This marks the highest death toll in an attack on Ukraine this year.Rows of black body bags lay along the roadsides of Sumy, and bodies wrapped in foil blankets could be seen amid the rubble.

　　Russian ballistic missiles struck the center of Sumy, killing 35 people, injuring 118, and scattering bodies across the streets. Ukraine accused Russian forces of intentionally targeting civilians using cluster munitions. Russia stated that it had targeted Ukrainian military forces. The attack on Sumy City in Ukraine occurred shortly after a meeting in Moscow between a U.S. special envoy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss efforts to end the war.

Warning01: A police officer inspects bodies at the site of a Russian missile attack amid Russia's attacks on Sumy, Ukraine, on April 13, 2025 [Handout/Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy via Reuters]

Warning02: In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Press Service, bodies of the killed residents lie on the ground following a Russian missile attack that killed at least civilia civilians in Sumy, Ukraine, Sunday, April 13, 2025.

 

TOKYO IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE HOSPITAL & THE OUT-PATIENT DEPARTMENT IS SHOWN HERE.

Undisclosed photos of Japanese

Atomic-bomb survivors

U.S. Atomic Bomb Surveys

The National Archives College Park, Maryland

　February 23, 2024  

KELOIDS ON THE BACK CAUSED BY THE ATOMIC BOMB DROPPED ON HIROSHIMA. PICTURE TAKEN FOR THE ATOMIC BOMB CASUALTY COMMISSION.

Undisclosed photos of Japanese

Atomic-bomb survivors

U.S. Atomic Bomb Surveys

The National Archives College Park, Maryland

　February 23, 2024  

SC-295901

SC-295901

(FEC-47-77508) 7 JULY 1947

MEDICAL RECORDS OF ATOMIC BOMB VICTIMS:

K. YAMAGUCHI, KELOIDS ON THE BACK CAUSED BY THE ATOMIC BOMB DROPPED ON HIROSHIMA. PICTURE TAKEN FOR THE ATOMIC BOMB CASUALTY COMMISSION.

PHOTOGRAPHER-SNELL

PHOTOGRAPH BY U.S. ARMY SIGNAL CORPS,

RELEASED FOR PUBLICATION,

PUBLIC INFORMATION DIVISION,

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON

15678 11 5

The British army forced the SS guards at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp to help bury thousands of bodies in mass graves. British guards watched as the bodies were loaded onto trucks to be transported to the mass graves.

 　The British Army forced former SS personnel from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp to assist in burying the bodies of thousands of people they had murdered in mass graves. British military guards watched as SS personnel loaded the bodies of the dead onto trucks to be transported to mass graves. In the background, surviving children looked on. On April 15, 1945, soldiers from the British 11th Armored Division liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Of the approximately 120,000 prisoners, at least 52,000 died in the camp.

　　Bergen-Belsen was established as a prisoner-of-war camp in 1940. From 1943, it was used to hold Jewish citizens with foreign passports, who were held as “bargaining chips” to be exchanged for Germans detained by the Allies or to obtain money. It later became a concentration camp and was used as a collection center for survivors of the death marches. The camp was consistently overcrowded, and due to the negligence of the German military, conditions deteriorated further toward the end of the war, resulting in numerous deaths.

　　On April 15, 1945, the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was occupied following an agreement for a peaceful surrender with the retreating German forces on April 12. Approximately 60,000 prisoners were liberated by the British Army's 63rd Anti-Tank Regiment and the 11th Armored Division. The camp housed over 60,000 emaciated and sick prisoners in need of medical care. Over 13,000 bodies in various stages of decomposition were scattered throughout the camp. The prisoners had gone without food or water for several days prior to the arrival of Allied forces. On April 20, four German fighter planes attacked the camp, damaging water supplies and killing three British medical personnel. Despite large-scale food and medical relief efforts, approximately 9,000 more died in April, and another 4,000 died by the end of June 1945 (13,994 died after liberation).

During the First Battle of Masurian Lake on the Eastern Front of World War I, the bodies of numerous Russian soldiers remained on the battlefield. The Russian First Army lost 125,000 soldiers, while the German army lost 40,000.

 　During the early stages of World War I on the Eastern Front, the First Battle of the Masurian Lakes left behind numerous scattered bodies of Russian soldiers. The German army successfully drove out the Second Russian Army from East Prussia. By late October 1914, Russian steam tanks were deployed against Poznan and Silesia. The German counterattack from the north and the Austro-Hungarian offensive against Russian forces in Kraków failed. Trench warfare began on the Eastern Front and was temporarily interrupted by the winter campaign of the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes, after which East Prussia was finally liberated from Russian forces.

　　In the First Battle of the Masurian Lakes, the German Army launched an offensive against the Russian Army. This battle began on September 7, 1914, and ended on September 14. It was the German Army's second major victory over the Russian Army. The first major victory was the Battle of Tannenberg. At the Masurian Lakes, the German Army pushed the Russian Army's First Army back into Germany. The Russian 10th Army arrived on the German left flank, preventing the Germans from pushing the Russians further back. The Russian forces suffered defeat and retreated.

　　Unlike Tannenberg, the Battle of Lake Masurine was not a one-sided battle. When the German army launched its attack on September 7, 1914, the Russian army was immediately outnumbered 3 to 1. Two days later, the Russian army was ordered to retreat, leaving two divisions behind to delay the German advance. By September 13, the Russian army had achieved its retreat while maintaining the majority of its forces, withdrawing all its troops from East Prussia. In the Battle of the Mazury Lakes, the Russian First Army lost 125,000 soldiers and 150 artillery pieces, while the German army suffered only 40,000 casualties.

第一次世界大戦初期に東部戦線で第一次マズーリ湖の戦いで、多数の散乱したロシア軍兵士の死体が残存した。ドイツ軍は、東プロイセンから第2ロシア軍の駆逐に成功した。1914年10月末に、ポズナンとシレジアに対して、ロシアの蒸気戦車が駆動した。北からのドイツ軍の反撃とクラクフでのオーストリア=ハンガリー軍によるロシア軍に対する攻勢の計画は失敗に終わった。東部戦線でも塹壕戦が始まり、第二次マズーリ湖の戦いの冬戦役によって一時中断されて、東プロイセンがロシア軍から最終的に解放された。

　第一次マズーリ湖の戦いで、ドイツ軍はロシア軍に対して攻勢した。。 この戦いは1914年9月7日に始まり、9月14日に終結した。ドイツ軍は、ロシア軍に対する2度目の大勝利であった。最初の大勝利は、タンネンベルクの戦いであった。マスリア湖で、ドイツ軍はロシア軍の第1軍をドイツから押し戻した。ドイツ軍の左翼にロシア第10軍が到着して、それ以上ロシア軍を押し返すことはできなかった。ロシア軍は敗北を喫して撤退した。

　タンネンベルクとは異なり、マズーリ湖の戦いは一方的な戦いではなかった。ドイツ軍が1914年9月7日に攻撃を開始したとき、ロシア軍はすぐに3対1の劣勢に立たされた。2日後、ロシア軍は撤退を命じられ、ドイツ軍の前進を遅らせるロシア軍2個師団が残された。9月13日までに、ロシア軍の大部分を維持したまま撤退を達成して、ロシア軍は東プロイセンから全軍を撤退させた。マズーリ湖の戦いでは、ロシア第一軍は125,000人の兵士と150門の砲兵を損失い、ドイツ軍はわずか40,000人を損失っただけであった。

In January 1945, the Soviet Red Army launched an offensive against German forces, and tanks invaded Silesia in Poland. The snow-covered streets of Silesia, which had been invaded by the Soviet Red Army, were littered with the bodies of German soldiers and civilians.

 　In January 1945, the Soviet Red Army launched an offensive against German forces, with tanks advancing into Silesia within Poland. The snow-covered streets of Silesia, which had been invaded by the Soviet Red Army, were littered with the bodies of German soldiers and civilians. Soviet tanks caught up with German soldiers and civilians, firing on them as unprotected targets. The Soviet Red Army advanced 480 kilometers from the Vistula River to the Oder River in just over two weeks, coming within 69 kilometers of the unprotected city of Berlin.

　　German Army Corps Commander Rendulic was relieved of his command by Hitler on January 23, 1945, and replaced by Reinhard. The German Army Corps North was incorporated into the Kurland Army Corps. On January 24, Hitler and others approved a widespread retreat of German forces to the Beskids Mountains, resulting in the abandonment of most of Slovakia. Himmler was tasked with constructing an improvised front line in the large gap between Silesia and East Prussia as commander of the new large unit “Vistula.” On January 25, Hitler made personnel changes and renamed the units. General Schurner, who had been commander since January 18, also took over as commander.

　　On January 26, Infantry General Hossbach, acting on his own authority, launched an operation to break through from East Prussia, which had been cut off from all land communication routes, toward the west. Infantry General Hossbach was relieved of his command by Hitler on January 30 and replaced by Infantry General Fritz W. Müller.General Müller was strictly ordered by Hitler to hold East Prussia. On January 30, the Soviet Red Army reached the Oder River between Frankfurt an der Oder and Küstrin. Berlin, the German capital, was now under threat from the Soviet Red Army, just 69 km away from the unprotected city. Due to continued German resistance on the northern flank, the Soviet Red Army was ordered to halt its advance on Berlin, and the assault on the city was postponed until April 16.

In January 1941, in Worthing, Sussex, England, children played at being emergency workers and nurses in response to German air raids on Britain during World War II.

　　In January 1941, in Worthing, Sussex, England, children played dress-up as emergency workers and nurses in response to German air raids on Britain during World War II. Even when serious topics like death and war are at the center, play and games can make those themes safer. This is one of the worst examples of the theme “little helpers in war.” Should the children who posed, the newspaper that published the photo, the Ministry of Information that encouraged it, or the general public who praised it be held accountable?

　　During the American Civil War, boys dressed up as soldiers and marched, while girls imitated nurses from the U.S. Public Health Service who provided medical care to soldiers. During World War I, miniature lead soldiers, cannons, and other military supplies flooded children's toy boxes. Anna Freud, a pioneer of play therapy and the youngest daughter of Sigmund Freud, observed that children placed in “war nurseries” on the outskirts of London during World War II frequently played war games, particularly those simulating the Blitz air raids.

　　There were cases of enslaved Black children in the United States reenacting the brutalities they and their families had endured. One account describes two enslaved children at an actual slave plantation in Richmond, Virginia, where one stood on an auction block while the other acted as an auctioneer. Children imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau were recorded playing games such as roll call, doctor, and even gas chambers. Using play as a means to cope with complex situations is something children have done throughout history. 

During the First Shanghai Incident that broke out on January 28, 1932, the bodies of Chinese soldiers who died in battle were scattered beneath the embankment of the Yangtze River, which stretched out flat across a desolate, yellow earth plateau.

 　　　On January 28, 1932, the First Shanghai Incident erupted, and the bodies of Chinese soldiers who were killed in action were scattered across the barren, flat expanse of yellow earth along the Yangtze River embankment. The terrain of Shanghai was deeply cut by numerous canals, whose banks were filled with bottomless mud and subject to tidal fluctuations.

　　The Japanese army advanced through the difficult terrain amid continuous rain during the First Shanghai Incident, which erupted in January 1932, and approached the main stronghold of the Chinese 19th Army. At the summit, bullets flew from Chinese trenches. Each canal, each embankment, and each village had been fortified as Chinese strongholds, surrounded by strong barbed wire, with traps, firing holes, and dugouts behind them, and even supported by fighter planes, resulting in the complete failure of the Japanese army's breakthrough attempts. It was impossible to swim across the canals, and mud from the Yangtze River had accumulated to a depth of several meters everywhere. Above, intense gunfire from Chinese troops firing from elevated positions rained down relentlessly.

　　The Japanese attack was halted for hours by the dense barbed wire, and attempts by infiltration units armed with hand grenades and scissors to cut through the wire were thwarted by machine gun fire. On February 22, 1932, three engineers whose names would become famous throughout Japan volunteered to throw explosives they had pre-lit at the obstacles. Though their lives were inevitably lost, the plan succeeded. Amidst intense artillery fire, the three approached the barbed wire, and the long bombs exploded. Through the gaps, infantrymen who had prepared to charge burst into the Chinese positions. The mothers of the fallen heroes were granted an audience with the Emperor, and their bodies were buried with solemn ceremony in Japan. In the alleys and schoolyards of Japanese cities, children played a game called “The Three Bomb Heroes.”

　　At the start of the battle, 3,000 Japanese soldiers faced a Chinese force ten times their number, and the course of the battle changed dramatically. The First Shanghai Incident ended on March 3. The Chinese army suffered 4,086 killed and 9,484 wounded, while the Japanese army had 769 killed and 2,322 wounded.

ATOMIC BOMB CASUALTY COMMISSION PROJECT: MEMBERS OF THE ATOMIC BOMB COMMISSION HOLD A CONFERENCE WITH MEDICAL FACULTY IN FUKUOKA, KYUSHU, JAPAN, MAY 2, 1947.

                              非公開の日本原爆被爆者の写真

ーアメリカ軍原爆調査団ー

アメリカ国立公文書館 2024年2月23日

(The National Archives College Park, Maryland) 

SC-285583

SC-285583   087

(FEC-47-74086)28 MAY 1947

14902

ATOMIC BOMB CASUALTY COMMISSION PROJECT:

MEMBERS OF THE ATOMIC BOMB COMMISSION HOLD A CONFERENCE WITH MEDICAL FACULTY IN FUKUOKA, KYUSHU, JAPAN, MAY 2, 1947. L-R: DR. IMAI; DR. ENJOJI; DR. ONO; DR. MIZUSHIMA; DR. KIHARA; DR. TSUZUKI

PHOTOGRAPHER EINHORN

ATOMIC BOMP - GENT

RELEASED FOR PUBLICATION, PUBLIC INFORMATION DIVISION,WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON

SC-285583 087

（FEC-47-74086）1947年5月28日

14902

原子爆弾被害調査委員会プロジェクト：

原子爆弾委員会委員が、1947年5月2日、日本・九州・福岡で医学部教員と会議を開催。左から右：イマイ博士、エンジョジ博士、オノ博士、ミズシマ博士、キハラ博士、ツズキ博士  

写真家：EINHORN

原子爆弾 - 一般公開用  

公開許可：戦争省広報局、ワシントン

ATOMIC BOMB CASUALTY COMMISSION HIROSHIMA, JAPAN: FRONT VIEW OF ASANO LIBRARY BUILDING, UNDER CONSIDERATION FOR CONVERSION INTO A LABORATORY FOR THE ABCC.

Undisclosed photos of Japanese

Atomic-bomb survivors

U.S. Atomic Bomb Surveys

The National Archives College Park, Maryland

　February 23, 2024    　　　　　　　　　　

SC-295903

SC-295903

214

(FEC-47-89557) SEPT 1947

ATOMIC BOMB CASUALTY COMMISSION HIROSHIMA, JAPAN:

FRONT VIEW OF ASANO LIBRARY BUILDING, UNDER CONSIDERATION FOR CONVERSION INTO A LABORATORY FOR THE ABCC.

PHOTOGRAPHER-SNELL

PHOTOGRAPH BY U.S. ARMY SIGNAL CORPS

RELEASED FOR PUBLICATION, PUBLIC INFORMATION DIVISION, WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON

SC-295903

214

（FEC-47-89557） 1947年9月

原子爆弾被害者調査委員会 広島市、日本：

浅野図書館建物の正面ビュー。ABCCの研究所への改装を検討中。

写真家：スネル

写真：アメリカ陸軍信号隊  

公開許可：戦争省広報局、ワシントン 

On April 23, 2025, Palestinians carried the bodies of children in a memorial procession at Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza City, Palestine. The children were killed in an Israeli military airstrike on a school that had been used as a shelter.

　　On April 23, 2025, Palestinians carried the bodies of children at Al-Shifa Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip to mourn their deaths. The children were killed in an Israeli military airstrike on a school that had been used as a shelter.

　　On April 23, 2025, the Israeli military carried out an overnight airstrike on a school and shelter in Gaza City, killing 23 people. Arab mediators Egypt and Qatar were in the process of negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Hamas, including a 5- to 7-year ceasefire and the release of all remaining hostages. No immediate comment was available from the Israeli military regarding the attack, which saw several tents set ablaze and people burned alive.The Israeli military claims that it targeted only militants, attributing civilian deaths to Hamas, which it says has combatants hiding in densely populated areas. In another airstrike, six people, including a five-year-old twin girl, were killed.

　　Meanwhile, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom stated that the Israeli military's seven-week blockade of all imports, including food, to Gaza is unbearable. Palestinian President Abbas urged Hamas to release hostages to prevent the Israeli military from using them as a pretext to continue the war. In a speech in the West Bank, Abbas reiterated his demand that Hamas abandon its weapons and referred to Hamas in unusually strong terms as “sons of dogs.” Abbas, who leads the Palestinian Authority supported by the West, has no influence over Hamas. Hamas official Bassem Naim said that those who make insulting remarks lose the physical, psychological, and spiritual qualifications to hold leadership positions.

During World War II, in the Battle of Falaise Gap, which took place from August 12 to August 21, 1944, the Allied forces launched a fierce air attack on retreating German soldiers, and many German soldiers were killed or taken prisoner as they retreated eastward.

 　　During World War II, from August 12 to August 21, 1944, the Battle of the Falaise Pocket erupted, during which Allied forces launched intense air attacks against retreating German soldiers. As the German forces withdrew eastward, numerous soldiers were killed or taken prisoner. With the defeat of the German forces, the Allied forces secured the liberation of France. After recapturing Cherbourg, the Allied forces trapped the German armored units at the eastern end of the front line, facing British and Canadian forces. The U.S. Third Army launched an assault from the bridgehead at the western end of the front line. Moving in a large arc, the Allied forces finally trapped the German Seventh Army in a small area around Falaise.

　　The Battle of the Falaise Pocket followed the Allied Normandy landings on June 6, 1944, and the subsequent withdrawal from the fortifications. German forces in the region were quickly surrounded in a pocket south of Falaise. Over the next few days, the Germans launched desperate counterattacks to break out to the east. Some managed to escape, but approximately 40,000 to 50,000 German soldiers were captured by the Allied forces. With the collapse of German defenses in Normandy, the Allied forces advanced eastward and liberated Paris.

　　The number of casualties in the Battle of the Falaise Pocket is unclear. The number of Allied casualties is unknown. Most estimates put German losses at 10,000 to 15,000 killed, 40,000 to 50,000 captured, and 20,000 to 50,000 who escaped to the east. By the evening of August 21, the pocket was sealed off, trapping an estimated 50,000 German troops inside. The Allied forces rapidly advanced across France and liberated Paris on August 25.

On July 2, 1853, during the Civil War, the rocky hills of Devil's Den became the scene of fierce fighting between artillery and infantry on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg.

    On July 2, 1863, over 3,100 Confederate troops clashed with 2,400 Union troops near Devil's Den, marking the start of the first battle of the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Over 5,000 soldiers fought a bloody battle at Devil's Den, known as the Devil's Nest, in Gettysburg. Devil's Den, a rocky hill, became a brutal battlefield during the second day of the Gettysburg battle, with intense artillery and infantry combat. Over 1,800 Confederate soldiers and over 800 Union soldiers were killed at Devil's Den. It was a blood-soaked day when the Confederates temporarily occupied the area. The Union suffered 138 deaths and 548 injuries. The Confederate Army lost 329 men killed and 1,107 wounded. Bodies lay scattered everywhere.

    On November 11, 1863, Peter S. Weaver photographed the scene from the northeast, near Little Round Top, looking toward Devil's Den. This photograph shows the bodies of nine Union soldiers killed at the Battle of Gettysburg, along with Dr. Lyford (left) and Dr. Chamberlain (right) overseeing them. It is known as the oldest photograph depicting both Devil's Den and Little Round Top, and serves as a photograph of the Gettysburg battlefield.

   The photograph illustrates the human cost of war. Though difficult to view, these photographs serve as a stark reminder that war claims countless lives and is far more brutal and gruesome than any illustration could capture. Some photographs of Devil's Den depict Union soldiers lying on the ground in staged scenes of death. Others capture real corpses or move bodies for dramatic effect, while still others depict the battlefield as it was shortly after the fighting ceased.