According to The Guardian, an archive of Second World War aerial photographs are now available online.

The entire archive of more than five million aerial reconnaissance photographs, shot by the RAF over Western Europe during the conflict, is going online from Monday.

The complete archive is accessible at: http://www.evidenceincamera.co.uk.

They include American troops landing on the Normandy beaches on D-Day, the seizure of the Pegasus bridge by British paratroops, the aftermath of the first 1,000 bomber raid on Cologne, and the German battleship Bismarck as the Royal Navy hunted her down.

There is also a photograph showing thick clouds of smoke pouring from Auschwitz concentration camp during the final months of the war.

It was taken at a time when the number of prisoners being killed was so high, the crematoria were unable to cope and the bodies had to be burned in mass pits. The images are so detailed that the prisoners in the camp can be seen standing for the roll-call.

Also noteworthy is the technique that was used to create the photos in the first place:

The multiple photographs taken by the high resolution cameras meant they were able to create 3-D images through an instrument called a “stereoscope”.

The complete article from The Guardian: “WW2 Aerial Pictures Go Online”