World War II Documents

With Germany upset about how WWI ended and Japan upset about a lack-of-access to much-needed natural resources, another war sent the world into chaos between 1939-1945. Stories in this collection are about some of those events.

Dunkirk - also spelled Dunkerque - is located in northern France.  During late May and early June, of 1940, it was the scene of a disaster-in-the...

Although he was a pacifist, who despised war, Albert Einstein also realized that if Hitler and his scientists were the first to discover how to build ...

This image depicts the second page of a letter - from Albert Einstein to President Roosevelt - which changed the world.

A key part of General Eisenhower's June 6th "Eyes Only" message to General Marshall - before the Supreme Allied Commander had received any word of tro...

Was General Eisenhower nervous or apprehensive, in any way, regarding the Normandy Invasion? He may not have expressed words, but he gives us a clue ...

Bookcover image of Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad, by William Craig.

Bookcover image of Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad, by William Craig.

This is the first page of Executive Order 9066, signed by President Franklin Roosevelt, which led to the internment of Japanese-Americans during World...

This map depicts the flight paths of Enola Gay and Bockscar as they flew their atomic- bomb missions to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively. Click o...

President Franklin Roosevelt was in bed, asleep, when he received word during the night that Hitler's troops were invading Poland. This image depicts...

Were crematoria, at Nazi camps, used to dispose of bodies of people who were gassed at these camps? The issue is still debated, particularly by indivi...

After the successful “Trinity Test,” of the plutonium core of “The Gadget,” high-ranking U.S. military commanders made ready t...

Show tooltips