Photojournalism...Our window to the past

When I got to work yesterday, I had an e-mail in my inbox from a co-worker that I found very interesting.  It was a link to a time lapse video of World War II.  It was a pretty simple video that showed the occupation of Europe and Africa, via map, for every day throughout the entire war.

On the map the Axis and Allies were represented by different colors as one could expect.  What I found surprising was that Finland had its own color on the map, as if they were a major player in the war.  I consider myself to be fairly knowledgeable about history and I was confused by this so I did some research and found out that Finland played a much bigger part in the war.  The fought against the Soviets alone and with the Germans (Taylor).  They also fought against the Germans for control of Lapland (Taylor).  They maintained a firm hold on their homeland throughout the war.

While I was doing the research I came upon an article on The Atlantic's website that had a preview of the over 160,000 photos the Finnish Defense Forces had assembled and released (Taylor).  Please enjoy this look at World War II from a perspective that we don't normally see.



Flamethrower in action in the woods near the village of Niinisalo, on July 1, 1942. (SA-kuva)



Evacuation of civilians, on July 1, 1941 (SA-kuva)



An experiment in troop transportation in cold weather. (SA-kuva)



At the Hämeenlinna war dog school. (SA-kuva)



Nurmoila village, shortly after Russian bombers attacked. (SA-kuva)

Works Cited

SA-kuva. Civilian evacuations. 1 July 1941. In Focus with Alan Taylor. Web. 9 Oct. 2013. <http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/05/finland-in-world-war-ii/100519/>.

- - -. Flamethrower in action. 1 July 1942. In Focus with Alan Taylor. Web. 9 Oct. 2013. <http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/05/finland-in-world-war-ii/100519/>.

- - -. Nurmoila Village. N.d. In Focus with Alan Taylor. Web. 9 Oct. 2013. <http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/05/finland-in-world-war-ii/100519/>.

- - -. Troop transport experiment. N.d. In Focus with Alan Taylor. Web. 9 Oct. 2013. <http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/05/finland-in-world-war-ii/100519/>.

- - -. War Dog School. N.d. In Focus with Alan Taylor. Web. 9 Oct. 2013. <http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/05/finland-in-world-war-ii/100519/>.

Taylor, Alan. "Finland in World War II." In Focus with Alan Taylor. Atlantic Monthly Group, 23 May 2013. Web. 9 Oct. 2013. <http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/05/finland-in-world-war-ii/100519/>.