AP Historical Hard Drive 2009

It will be a long time before the last signs of war disappear from the city of Warsaw, seen Oct. 16, 1939. This is one of the numerous barricades in...

It will be some time yet before the last signs of war will disappear from the city of Warsaw, seen Oct. 16, 1939. The old main terminal of Warsaw des...

A meeting of comradeship between German and Slovakian fliers was held at Pistyan, Slovakia, Oct. 15, 1939. Here, the parade of a detachment of the S...

Refusing to answer questions put to them; these Czech soldiers left Komarom, the Czech-Hungarian border town in Hungary, Oct. 11, 1939 after the Czech...

Almost before their eyes were opened these babies were rushed into basement of a women's hospital in Warsaw, Poland, Oct. 7, 1939 there to lie with th...

This is the interior of the largest Catholic hospital in Praga, Warsaw suburbs, shown Oct. 7, 1939 after five Nazi bombs made direct hits on the build...

This woman lived across from one of the largest women's hospitals in Warsaw when a German bomb struck her home, Oct. 7, 1939. She was wounded and rus...

A German bomb apparently aimed at a bridge across the Vistula River during the siege of Warsaw missed its mark and fell next to this apartment buildin...

Derailed streetcars in Warsaw are used as barricades by Polish forces, shown Oct. 4, 1939. These barricades were broken through to make way for marchi...

Labor offices were opened in many towns and villages occupied by the German Army in Poland, as seen, Oct. 4, 1939. The Reich's wartime economics progr...

Anyway everybody seems happy on October 2, 1939 as Hugh S. Johnson, center consults with those who follow him as leader of the National Recovery Act...

Clouds of smoke rise in Warsaw, Poland, during relentless Nazi air raids that forced the city to surrender to Germany, Sept. 2, 1939. (AP Photo)

Photo shows administration building, which also is the main entrance, to Menard Correctional Center where prisoners from Southern Illinois are usually...

All the horrors and tragedies of war are written on the faces of these Polish women who have seen their homes bombed by the German invader and their f...

This disheveled, unshaven resident of conquered Poland is shown after the German army had passed his home, Sept. 29, 1939. (AP Photo)

Thousands of Fingerprints for the Federal Bureau of Investigation files were taken voluntarily at the San Francisco fair this summer and here, in Wash...

Their wordly goods loaded into a cart, a family of war refugees is shown passing through a town, Sept. 25, 1939, somewhere in Poland. Note the boy ha...

Polish children, refugees of the war, are shown being given food by German soldiers in a field somewhere on the eastern front, Sept. 25, 1939. (AP Pho...

After the fall of Danzig, Poland to the Germans, Nazi soldiers leave the city for new positions, Sept. 19, 1939. (AP Photo)

Enthusiastic demonstrators march through the streets of Warsaw, Sept. 18, 1939 when the British declaration of war was made known. The writing on the...

Homes demolished by bombs during a German air raid on a suburb of Warsaw are shown, Sept. 18, 1939. (AP Photo)

Interior of building in Warsaw damaged in a Nazi air raid, shown Sept. 18, 1939. (AP Photo)

Geysers of water and clouds of smoke rise along the shoreline at Westerplatte, Sept. 18, 1939 in Poland, the Polish munitions depot and garrison which...

After the occupation of the old German city of Graudenz, Polish street names are being changed to German, seen Sept. 18, 1939. (AP Photo)

This is the wreckage of a Warsaw apartment building, shown Sept. 16, 1939 after Nazi aerial attacks. Workmen are starting to clear away the debris. (...

A Schleswig-Holstein landing crew led by captain captured Polish detachment which bravely defended their stronghold in Danzig's harbor, Sept. 7, 1939....

German soldiers comb the Westerplatte after it was surrendered to German units from the Schleswig-Holstein landing crew, Sept. 7, 1939. (AP Photo)

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was severely serious when he faced the microphones in the White House in Washington, D.C., Sept. 3, 1939 for his...

Solemnly promising the nation his utmost effort to keep the country neutral,U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt is shown as he addressed the nation b...

One of the first military operations between Germany and Poland was the bombardment and consequent occupation of the Polish ammunition dump Westerplat...

One of the first military operations between Germany and Poland was the bombardment and consequent occupation of the Polish ammunition dump Westerplat...

The German aerial bomb that dug this crater in a Warsaw Street missed the building but jarred the ground enough to crack the walls, break the windows...

Cracked walls, broken windows and wrecked flower boxes on a building in Warsaw show the devastation caused by a German air raid bomb on Poland's capit...

Children in Berlin schools have been instructed in regular schools how to conduct themselves in case of war with its accompanying air raids and gas at...

Barricades and barbed wire fences are erected throughout Danzig, Poland, as seen here in Zoppott, Aug. 29, 1939. (AP Photo)

A member of the Danzig frontier corps behind street and tank barricades on the Polish-German frontier near Zoppott, Aug. 29, 1939. (AP Photo)

At a ceremony in the White House, August 28, 1939 in Washington U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt presented the Distinguished Service Medal to Admi...

Here is an anti-aircraft gun mounted and camouflaged by the newly formed 88 Heimwehr or Danzig Home Defense corps, on a road near the Polish border, A...

U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt displayed keen interest in a story told to him with gestures by acting secretary of the Navy Charles Edison, August...

Relatives of Danzig policeman Joseph Wessel were in tears as they attended the funeral in Danzig, Aug. 28, 1939. According to Danzig reports, Wessel...

The press is at the desk of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt executive office in Washington, August 25, 1939 to hear the President should not rega...

Presidential Secretaries Brig. General Edwin Watson (left) and Stephen Early (center) conferred with U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt at White House...

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in car with Gen Edwin M. Watson (AP Photo)

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and General Edwin M. Watson, August 24, 1939. (AP Photo)

Standing at attention on the deck of the U.S. Destroyer Lang while an escort band played

With a choice word of farewell to his sailing mates, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt started up the gangplank of the Destroyer Lang at Fort Hancock,...

One of the few pictures of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt is not smiling is this one showing him as he listened soberly and intently to secretar...

Danzig custom officers found arms and ammunition in boxes which the Polish declared as food, Aug. 24, 1939. Members of the Danzig police corps are sh...

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt reads a newspaper clipping while Franklin and his wife look over his shoulder, August 15, 1939. (AP Photo)

On the porch of his mother's summer home at Campobello Island, New Brunswick, August 14, 1939 President Roosevelt (left) chats with Mr. and Mrs. Frank...