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The War Archive is the main library within Images of War. It is a rare and comprehensive collection of exceptional technical quality, particularly considering the often difficult circumstances under which it was filmed. Evident in examples such as the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the Battle of the Somme, Hitler's rise to power, German troops crossing the border into Poland, the evacuation of Dunkirk, Battle of El Alamein, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, Battle for Okinawa and the Kamikaze's entry into the war, Hiroshima etc.

The availability from The War Archive of colour footage is constantly increasing, and again often in exceptional technical quality, as the armed forces' film units often could engage the best talent around at the time. Life onboard a carrier in the Pacific was filmed by the photographer Edward Steichen, and both Frank Capra and John Ford made their contribution - to mention just a few of many. The 'many' contributed colour footage from, amongst other places, Hitler's mountain retreat in Berchtesgaten, where it was playtime with Eva Braun, from the desert war and the war in the Pacific, including the taking of Iwo Jima and the famous raising of Stars & Stripes over Mount Suribachi. Colour photography spans from the German forces marching into Paris in 1940, through to the Allies overrunning Germany four years later.

The War Archive is, fortunately, easy accessible as it consists of more than 1,500,000 characters in a fully comprehensive index, where searches can be made under event, person, date and location - Winston Churchill can, for example, be found under his own name, under the Yalta Conference or under the city of Casablanca. It is also good to know that Josephine Baker can be accessed both under her name and under Paris cabarets! This useful index is constantly being upgraded as further hours are added regularly and when suitable material becomes available. Images of War is always searching for new footage, as even after many decades of a given event, filmed/recorded evidence often resurfaces.

Images of War now has a long track record of supplying footage to producers and broadcasters in countries throughout the world and has consequentially an in depth experience that now can benefit all our customers, new and old. Valuable support is also available from associates with expertise in editing, history and weapon development and deployment.

PLUS...

The War Archive now also contains original film footage covering armed conflicts from all over the world, from the end of the Korean War in the early 1950s through to the present times.

Most of this additional footage is filmed on 16mm colour stock and careful digital transfer to tape has maintained an exceptional high technical quality - even considering the circumstances under which much of the footage was obtained. The correspondents and photographers often faced difficulties not dissimilar to those experienced by their predecessors in both World War One and Two - but then recent times have seen more wars and armed conflicts than any other time in history - the First Gulf War, Invasion of Grenada, USA-Lybia Conflict as well as Nato and Warsaw Pact manoeuvres.

The War Archive is constantly adding to the library and is sourcing from a variety of productions, such as Combat Helicopters, Modern Missiles, Submarine Warfare, Land Based Bombers and Fighters, Soviet Air Power, Fighting Ships, Aircraft Carriers and productions on the Phantom and Tornado.

This website is constantly being updated, so please visit as often as possible to check new inclusions.