Photos from World War II highlight striking visual similarities with Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Echoes From History: Ukraine War Photos Mirror Scenes From WWII
- By RFE/RL
![The bodies of Belgian civilians killed by the German military during a Nazi counteroffensive into Luxembourg and Belgium in December 1944. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/026e0000-0aff-0242-6346-08da0ccfbbcd_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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The bodies of Belgian civilians killed by the German military during a Nazi counteroffensive into Luxembourg and Belgium in December 1944.
![A Ukrainian policeman walks past the bodies of people killed by shelling in Mariupol on March 15. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/026e0000-0aff-0242-1188-08da0cccf48a_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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A Ukrainian policeman walks past the bodies of people killed by shelling in Mariupol on March 15.
![A building in Warsaw is hit with a giant German mortar shell in August 1944.](https://gdb.rferl.org/02860000-0aff-0242-1945-08da0ce1a17a_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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A building in Warsaw is hit with a giant German mortar shell in August 1944.
![An apartment building explodes after being hit by a shell from a Russian tank in Mariupol on March 11. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/02860000-0aff-0242-98b8-08da0ce1a16b_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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An apartment building explodes after being hit by a shell from a Russian tank in Mariupol on March 11.
![A Russian woman weeps in front of her burning house during the Nazi occupation of the Soviet Union in 1943. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/026e0000-0aff-0242-4a7b-08da0cce2820_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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A Russian woman weeps in front of her burning house during the Nazi occupation of the Soviet Union in 1943.
![A woman cries as she stands in front of a house that caught fire after being hit by shells in Irpin, near Kyiv, on March 4. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/026e0000-0aff-0242-6669-08da0ccd624f_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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A woman cries as she stands in front of a house that caught fire after being hit by shells in Irpin, near Kyiv, on March 4.
![Japanese soldiers being helped by American troops after the capture of a Japanese stronghold on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands in an undated photo from World War II. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/02860000-0aff-0242-5610-08da0ce233f7_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Japanese soldiers being helped by American troops after the capture of a Japanese stronghold on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands in an undated photo from World War II.
![A wounded Ukrainian fighter is helped to safety after a firefight in the Kyiv region on March 10. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/02860000-0aff-0242-81bd-08da0cde16fb_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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A wounded Ukrainian fighter is helped to safety after a firefight in the Kyiv region on March 10.
![U.S. troops crossing the Doubs River in France in 1944. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/026e0000-0aff-0242-63dc-08da0cd13b00_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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U.S. troops crossing the Doubs River in France in 1944.
![Ukrainian servicemen cross a river next to a destroyed bridge near the city of Irpin on March 13. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/026e0000-0aff-0242-ff68-08da0cccf480_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Ukrainian servicemen cross a river next to a destroyed bridge near the city of Irpin on March 13.
![Anti-tank obstacles on the streets of Moscow as the Nazis advance into the Soviet Union in October 1941. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/026e0000-0aff-0242-ff7d-08da0ccf333b_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Anti-tank obstacles on the streets of Moscow as the Nazis advance into the Soviet Union in October 1941.
![Anti-tank obstacles in downtown Kyiv on March 11. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/026e0000-0aff-0242-8e6c-08da0ccd624f_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Anti-tank obstacles in downtown Kyiv on March 11.
![The wreckage of a German convoy during the Battle of Halbe in Germany in April 1945.](https://gdb.rferl.org/026e0000-0aff-0242-f901-08da0ccfff95_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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The wreckage of a German convoy during the Battle of Halbe in Germany in April 1945.
![People look at the gutted remains of Russian military vehicles in Bucha, close to Kyiv, on March 1. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/026e0000-0aff-0242-75f5-08da0ccb4405_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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People look at the gutted remains of Russian military vehicles in Bucha, close to Kyiv, on March 1.
![Ruined flats in Limehouse, East London, after a German V2 rocket landed nearby in March 1945. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/026e0000-0aff-0242-aadc-08da0ccee9a8_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Ruined flats in Limehouse, East London, after a German V2 rocket landed nearby in March 1945.
![A residential building that partially collapsed after shelling in Kyiv on March 18. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/026e0000-0aff-0242-010c-08da0ccd6251_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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A residential building that partially collapsed after shelling in Kyiv on March 18.
![A team of football players being trained in bayonet fighting in Moscow in June 1943. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/026e0000-0aff-0242-66a8-08da0cce5faf_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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A team of football players being trained in bayonet fighting in Moscow in June 1943.
![Civilians who volunteered to join the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces during a training session in Odesa on March 18. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/026e0000-0aff-0242-cd03-08da0ccd6254_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Civilians who volunteered to join the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces during a training session in Odesa on March 18.
![A German mother with her son after discovering her Berlin house was destroyed during the war in January 1945. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/026e0000-0aff-0242-0ff1-08da0cd0bacf_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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A German mother with her son after discovering her Berlin house was destroyed during the war in January 1945.
![Helen Yakubets cries with her 5-year-old son inside a ballroom that has been converted to a temporary shelter in Suceava, Romania, on March 20. The woman's husband and teenage son remain behind in Ukraine. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/026e0000-0aff-0242-fb67-08da0ccd6a6a_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Helen Yakubets cries with her 5-year-old son inside a ballroom that has been converted to a temporary shelter in Suceava, Romania, on March 20. The woman's husband and teenage son remain behind in Ukraine.
![Civilians inside Moscow's Mayakovskaya subway station during an air raid in 1941. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/026e0000-0aff-0242-41d9-08da0ccdeeac_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Civilians inside Moscow's Mayakovskaya subway station during an air raid in 1941.
![People shelter from shelling in a subway station in Kharkiv on March 10. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/026e0000-0aff-0242-d921-08da0ccd6e21_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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People shelter from shelling in a subway station in Kharkiv on March 10.
![A U.S. Marine surveys the aftermath of the American bombardment of the Japanese town of Naha in the Okinawa prefecture in June 1945. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/026e0000-0aff-0242-6a34-08da0cd100c0_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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A U.S. Marine surveys the aftermath of the American bombardment of the Japanese town of Naha in the Okinawa prefecture in June 1945.
![ A Ukrainian serviceman picks his way through debris inside the Retroville shopping mall after a Russian rocket attack on March 21. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/026e0000-0aff-0242-cd36-08da0cccf478_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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A Ukrainian serviceman picks his way through debris inside the Retroville shopping mall after a Russian rocket attack on March 21.