5th December 1944: Named by the Imperial War Museum the face of battle, this photograph is of a British infantry sergeant advancing into Geilenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany – on the border with the Netherlands.
The month before, this was the site of Operation Clipper, which saw an Allied victory over the Nazis.
After decades of campaigning, the women of France voted for the first time on the 29th of April, 1945, when municipal elections were held. Legislation for women’s suffrage had been passed in October the year before.
While late, France wasn’t the last European country to grant women the vote. Women’s suffrage came even later in Italy, Greece, San Marino, Monaco, Andorra and Switzerland. Liechtenstein was the last to adopt equal voting rights – only in 1984.
This image from May of 1935 is of French suffragette Louise Weiss demonstrating alongside women holding papers saying The Frenchwoman Must Vote.
British soldiers head off to fight in Operation Goodwood in Normandy, France, on the 18th of July, 1944. Second World War.
The offensive took place between the 18th and 20th, and resulted in 3474 British casualties and the loss of 314 British tanks.
1st July 1944: Terrace houses on Sandmere Road in Brixton, south London in ruins after German bombing. Brixton suffered heavy damage during the Second World War.
From the collection of the Imperial War Museum
7th December 1944: A British jeep passes a sign on the side of the road in Ravenna in Northern Italy warning people not to loot. It optimistically suggests the Second World War would end soon.
The Allies had many reasons to believe this to be true. Italy’s fascist dictator Benito Mussolini had been arrested and dismissed the year before, and the Allies had worked their way through the country, defeating Axis powers.
The war would end a few months after this photograph was taken.
The Rynatt family of Northern Ireland. Family portrait taken on the 9th of November, 1944. Some family members are dressed in military clothing, as Northern Ireland fought in the Second World War and came under attack from the Nazis.
4th September 1944: The residents of Brussels, Belgium cheer for Belgian and British troops as they enter the city. Brussels was liberated the day before, after more than four years of Nazi occupation.
Smoko time with the AWLA
Inspired by Britain’s Women’s Land Army, the Australian Women’s Land Army was created on the 27th of July, 1942. The organisation was formed to combat shortages in the farming industry as the Second World War intensified.
Though Australia had been fighting in the war since 1939, once Japan entered the conflict in 1941, threatening the Pacific, many Australian men were drafted into the army, leaving shortages at home.
Field Officer Mrs Mellor ties a papier-mâché cow used in milking demonstrations to the back of her car in Melbourne. 1944.
Women who joined the AWLA took over men’s jobs in the agricultural sector. In order to be eligible for the work women were required to be between eighteen and fifty, and to be either of British origin or to be from a member of the Allied nations.
Women were paid significantly less than men for the same work.
The AWLA was disbanded on the 31st of December, 1945.
This photograph, taken on the 6th of June, 1944, shows German soldiers – including two officers – surrendering to Canadian troops in the French town of Courseulles-sur-Mer.
Below are the Canadians arriving on the beach in their preparations to take over the area.
Taken on D-Day, the first day of the Normandy landings in the Second World War, the town is widely believed to be the first liberated in the massive Allied campaign.
Images of locals and soldiers celebrating Bastille Day together just over a month later can be seen HERE.
In Times Gone By... 
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