Second World War in Photographs

1942 was the turning point of the war. In the words of Winston Churchill, it was 'not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.' In the Pacific the Japanese had been soundly defeated at the Battle of Midway, with the loss of four valuable and irreplaceable aircraft carriers, while the Allied landings in North Africa had been a complete success, and the rout of the German and Italian soldiers in the desert war had begun in earnest. Fortress Britain saw the infamous Baedeker raids on English towns and cities, but also the build-up of American troops and material in preparation for the invasion of mainland Europe, of which August's costly raid on Dieppe was a precursor. Despite some setbacks, the war had changed and the Allies were on the attack on all fronts. In Russia, the German 6th Army spent the New Year surrounded in Stalingrad, the Germans and Italians being squeezed in North Africa, and the Japanese were suffering defeat after defeat. John Christopher and Campbell McCutcheon tell the story of 1942 at war using many rare and often unpublished images, showing the rapidly changing nature of the conflict, as well as its impact on the everyday person.

Seventy-five years ago, on 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland. With political agreements in place to come to Poland's aid, Britain and France both declared war on Germany within two days. It was the start of a conflict that would erupt over every continent and see the deaths of tens of millions of people, with much of central Europe destroyed. It would also see the development of jets, intercontinental missiles, computers and the Atomic Bomb. 1939, in particular, saw the sinking of the passenger ship Athenia on the first day of the war, the evacuation of children from Britain's population centres, the daring attack by U-49 on the Royal Oak at Scapa Flow, air raids on Wilhelmshaven and on Shetland and the Forth Bridge. It also saw the development of the Blitzkrieg tactics that were to prove so successful in France, Belgium and the Netherlands in 1940.