U.S. Army soldiers execute camp guards following the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp. (April 29, 1945)
American soldiers in front of the crematorium in Dachau. The corpses on the left are of SS personnel summarily executed by American troops. (April 29 - May 1, 1945)
SS guards lie at the base of a guard tower, where they were shot by American troops. (April 29 - May 1, 1945)
These pictures remind me a lot of those in a series of old books my late Dad had bought/collected. It is titled: "Pictorial History of World War 11". Although the pictures are black and white, the subjects of many of them were terribly sad, and horrible to look at. However, there were many that were touching, and even amusing! The series had a section on the war-time entertainment, and the various comics, singers, and movie and radio stars who went out to entertain the troops!
It has dozens of pictures, articles, and essays dealing with the war as a whole; but individual volumes dealing with certain aspects, such as: different battles, areas of conflict, stateside issues and people, etc.. It also has a section that deals with the various post-war trials of the enemy.
Many of the essays and articles were written by the many military commanders themselves. It's great to see that there is still some plain/non-pc sources from that time, from which these books were written and produced!(1949) These books were published in New York by a company called: WM. H. Wise and CO.,INC..
Now I know how some people feel about the French on "Free Republic". However, after looking at some of the pages and articles in one of these books; I feel that it's unfair to paint all French of that period with a tar-brush! There are some poignant pictures, and some stirring stories about some French people, that didn't just give-up, and surrender! Apparently, there were what was referred to as: "French Patriots"; who came out to fight alongside the Allies.
Another thing they did was to seek out, and punish in their own way, the Nazi collaborators when they found them! In fact, with sympathizers that were women, they forced them to have their hair cut, terribly short! Apparently, it was a way to humiliate them! It may have been an underground group of some sort. But they were anything but cowardly, "Cheese-eating, surrender monkeys"!
After reading this, I feel sad reading some comments, even on this site about "some French people"! But it's equally sad to see them the way they are, in light of their behavior now. It's easy to get angry with some French people, particularly the leaders, and the protestors, now.
But I have hopes that someday, the French people will see what's happening to their nation, before it's too late! There were heroes among them, most of them unsung in recent history. Hopefully, the spirit of those heroes, those valiant fighters and their families, will inspire the people of France, and yes those of Germany, again!