General Charles Day Palmer's Recently Discovered Pictures Show The Horrors Of The Nazi Retreat | HuffPost

Recently Discovered Pictures Detail The Horrors Of The Nazi Retreat

Paul Vale— The Huffington Post UK

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WARNING: GRAPHIC PICTURES

A collection of remarkable and graphic pictures taken by a four-star American general has been published for the first time showing the daily horrors across the battlefields of Western Europe during the final months of the Second World War. General Charles Day Palmer took the photographs following the Allied invasion, each frame detailing the brutal devastation wrought on towns, cities and citizenry during the months of the Nazi retreat.

Palmer’s grandson, who made the discovery while sifting through the general’s personal files, published the historical images on the website argunners.com. Palmer, who was born in Chicago, entered the war in 1941 as part of the American military team responsible for planning for the invasion of Europe. He later took part in the invasion of Normandy and the subsequent push back of Nazi forces into their homeland. He died in 1999 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

WARNING: GRAPHIC PICTURES

Unseen WWII Photos

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Bodies of German soldiers on top of each other lying in the street gutter, France (credit:Argunners.com)

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A pill box located just on the outskirts of a Fort, it shows damage, probably caused by American tank fire during the battle to take the stronghold (credit:Argunners.com)

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Wrecked and burned buildings in France. The buildings were mined and burned by the Germans. "Remains of a friendly little town, that was 'scorched'", Gen. Palmer wrote on the backside (credit:Argunners.com)

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German civilians in the middle of their town. Gen. Palmer remarked: "Well liberated town" (credit:Argunners.com)

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Hungarian surrender: Great mass of Hungarian troops who surrendered to Seventh Army, are rounded up in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, scene of the last winter Olympics held before the war (credit:Argunners.com)

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One thousands German officers and men taken in the redoubt mountains are showed being marched back over to the mountain road that they once defended. The road leads to an important Austrian town (credit:Argunners.com)

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The surrender of the 19th Army. With the final capitulation of Germany to the Allies, German soldiers who have bore arms for over five years against almost all of Europe and the U.S., surrender their rifles to their American conquerors near Landeck, Austria (credit:Argunners.com)

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Knocked out American M-4 tank and German Sturmgeschütz IV sit side by side in the street (credit:Argunners.com)

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A pile of dead German soldiers, France, frozen due to the cold weather (credit:Argunners.com)

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At 1300 hours, after three days of battle, this town was finally retaken (credit:Argunners.com)

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Advancing troops moving under heavy enemy fire; dead American soldier in foreground (credit:Argunners.com)

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A German machine gunner shot through the head, laying next to his smashed gun (credit:Argunners.com)

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Damage done, when a German 280mm shell landed in the area around 0345 hours (credit:Argunners.com)

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This French 2 1/2 ton truck burned when its cargo of 800 gallons of gasoline exploded (credit:Argunners.com)

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These three dead German Waffen-SS troops were a three man 'Panzerschreck' team that tried to slow up the advance of an American armored column and were killed by a direct hit (credit:Argunners.com)

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Dead German soldiers lie where they fell after artillery worked over this German town during the Seventh Army breakthrough (credit:Argunners.com)

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Troops string wire past 4 dead German artillery horses which were killed along with 5 German soldiers when an American artillery burst caught them as the horses were being hitched on Dec 14th (credit:Argunners.com)

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A tank destroyer moving past an American tank that was knocked out during the hot battle when the Americans retook the town (credit:Argunners.com)

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U.S. Soldier standing next to the remains of a German soldier he just discovered near German Howitzers, which were destroyed by the Seventh Army (credit:Argunners.com)

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A German bridge is blown sky high by U.S. Engineers, destroying span as a defensive measure against German troops pressing towards the town (credit:Argunners.com)

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Charred remains of a German pilot, the plane was brought down by small arms fire on March 15, first day of Seventh Army offensive in Germany (credit:Argunners.com)

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Obliterated German town (credit:Argunners.com)

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Obliterated town of Heilbronn, Germany (credit:Argunners.com)

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Path of a B-17 as it crash-landed into a snow covered field on the Seventh Army front (credit:Argunners.com)

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When this wrecker towing a 155mm Howitzer became stuck in the mud in a road, nothing less than a Bulldozer could budge it (credit:Argunners.com)

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Seventh Army men looking for snipers in the Bobenthal, Germany (credit:Argunners.com)

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Helmet and Rifle mark the spot in a ditch by road where two Infantrymen gave their lives, during a new drive by Seventh Army which opened on a front of fifty miles from Saarbrücken to the Rhine (credit:Argunners.com)

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American forces are trying to recapture Wingen-sur-Moder from German mountain 6 (credit:Argunners.com)

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nglish M-5 Anti-tank mines are used to blow up German Pill Boxes (credit:Argunners.com)

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A German underground ball-bearing factory in Germany, where all size bearings were made (credit:Argunners.com)

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Dead horses and wrecked vehicles & equipment of a German convoy are strewn along the road in the vicinity of Lug, Germany (credit:Argunners.com)

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Prisoners of War from the German Military Police force and Gestapo agents of the city of Strasbourg are led to the 3rd Infantry Division (credit:Argunners.com)

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M-10 Tank Destroyer from the 636th Tank Destroyer Battalion supporting the 143rd Infantry Regiment, 36th Division in Rohrwiller, 4 February 1945 (credit:Argunners.com)

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Dead American and German soldiers at a cemetery before burial, place unknown (credit:Argunners.com)

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U.S. Soldier examines the grave of an unknown U.S. soldier, who was buried by the enemy before retreating (credit:Argunners.com)

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