The Many Faces of the Greatest War

As the last WWII veterans reach the twilight of their lives, fighters from ten different countries, Axis and Allies alike, share their tales of valor and horror for perhaps the last time.

Photos by Jonathan Alpeyrie

The Second World War was fought by an entire generation of men from more than sixty nations—all embroiled in a war that killed over fifty millions soldiers and civilians, the bloodiest conflict in human history. When the European war ended on May 8, 1945, entire villages and towns were left with a mere fraction of the young men who were there a decade earlier. Over the past five years, I have traveled to twelve different countries to meet, photograph and interview men who served in the war, on both sides, and survived. On the seventieth anniversary of V-E Day, this project offers no pretense to judge, criticize or celebrate the actions taken by any of these men, but merely to recollect their stories before they are gone.