Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: World War II

This looks like one of the gun ports.

I took this on a bike trip from Beroun to Smichov, which would be my longest bike trip to date. I've called structure this a "bunker," but it's technically a pillbox, if I'm not mistaken, both because of its shape, and because it's above ground. I don't know whether it was built by Czech forces during the 1930's, or by Nazi Germany, but it's unlikely to have been armed with more than a heavy machine gun. It would have been built to stop enemy traffic on or alongside the River Berounka, visible on the right.

This is a list of the Allied casualties killed in Austria during the war. It isn't clear whether it includes only Soviet troops or all allied troops.

This column is the centerpiece of the monument, and has the names of dead Allied soldiers on the base. Presumably, these were only those killed in Austria.

This plaque includes the names of the artists.

In the West, the Soviet Union's role in World War II is downplayed. Britain is said to have "stood alone," which is only part true. Britain was alone on the Western Front, but the Soviet Union inflicted the vast majority of Axis casualties in Europe, and took the vast majority of Allied casualties. Some of this ignorance is a result of Cold War propaganda, but to be fair a lot of people don't like to view Stalin as any kind of hero. Interestingly, I didn't find Stalin mentioned on this memorial, and obviously it's the better for it. Austria attempted to remain neutral during the Cold War, so it's understandable why they allowed this memorial in their capital, regardless of the Soviet contribution in the war. Still, I had never heard of it and was surprised to see it.

Contrary to the popular myth, May of 1945 saw a major uprising against the Nazi regime that ultimately ended in its fall. The story is complicated, but ultimately the Czech insurgency suffered heavy losses in spite of prevailing in the end (largely with the help of the Russians, both Soviet and ex-Nazi, illustrating the complications involved). A great deal of effort has been made to memorialise the insurgents who died, so the city is covered with these World War II memorials, often on the spot where they fell. The scattered nature of these memorials illustrates that the battles raged throughout the city, far more so than most history books admit. There are also photo books available showing the battles, as a number of photographers took considerable risks to document them. A similar effort has been made with Holocaust victims, usually marking the houses where they lived.

This was the World War II memorial in the main square Rokycany. In the final push into Czechoslovakia, Plzensky kraj was taken by the U.S. 3rd Army, famous for their commander General George Patton, as well as for the fact that many exiles from many occupied countries served in it.

The wreath laying was the central part of this ceremony, and this was the best shot I got of it.

I haven't taken too many military photos in the Czech Republic, for the obvious reason that I assume they don't like being photographed. In this case, though, it was a public occassion to remember those lost in World War II, at one of the war memorials in Vitezne Namesti. I took many photos of this, but only found two worth uploading since in most of the shots the soldiers themselves were blocking the view, and since I had my cameraphone I didn't have a zoom lens.

As I was walking around looking for the train station to leave Fakse (it's actually quite a ways from the village center, and you need to take a bus to the station), I found this old World War II bunker. It took me a minute to figure out what it really was, but there it was.