American soldiers unload on the island of Kiska, one of the Aleutian islands.
Following the recapture the island of Attu in May of 1943, Allied planners prepared to retake what they believed to the more heavily defended island of Kiska. Prior to the joint American-Canadian landings on August 15th, the Japanese abandoned the island, evacuating the entire garrison in secret. Despite landing on the empty island, casualties for the operation were high, with a number of friendly fire incidents, as well as accidents and triggering of mines left behind by the Japanese. Aside from the landing itself, 71 sailors died on the USS Abner Read when it struck a sea-mine off shore. 


Landing on the Aleutians

An American soldier, sitting on a horseback, has a friendly chat with a Red Army junior lieutenant (2nd Lt.), as the two sides meet near the town of Torgau, Germany, by the Elbe river; April, 1945.

Chat from a horseback

The first patrol of the American 8th Infantry Division passes along the street of the captured German city Düren (between Aachen and Cologne) past an anti-tank SAU M10 (M10 Wolverine). Duren was almost completely destroyed by the air attack of the 8th US Air Force on 11/16/1944 and captured by US troops on 02/25/1945. 
