Aerial photograph show the Bismarck and its support vessels heading out to the north Atlantic at the start of that battle. Images like this proved crucial in the hunt for the German battleship and its eventual destruction.



It's one of five million aerial photographs depicting some of the key moments of World War II. This huge photographic archive - up until now stored in thousands of boxes at Keele University - has now been made available to us all on line.



The images - taken by RAF reconnaissance pilots - provided vital intelligence during war.



More than half a century on - these photographs give us a new perspective of the second world war - a birds eye view of history. One image shows American GI's landing on the morning of June the 6th 1944 - D Day.

Fighting is still clearly in progress. The black blobs are the landing craft - some still at sea. At least one - shown in the right hand corner - didn't make it.



The aerial photograph of Dresden in the immediate aftermath of a bombing raid is a stark contrast to the precision bombing of more recent conflicts. The city - once one of Europe's most beautiful - was flattened. Only outside walls remain standing. It's hard to see a roof left intact.



Perhaps one of the most shocking images was taken the year before the German concentration camp Auschwitz was liberated. Thick smoke can be seen in the left hand corner. We now know the number of people being killed was so high the Nazi guards were using mass burial pits nearby. A wiggley line is in fact a queue of prisoners - a possible roll call . Their fate can only be guessed at.



A photograph of a prison of war camp a few months before the end of the war reflects how the tide had begun to turn in favour of the allies. The inmates had painted the roofs of their huts - keen to tell their own side not to bomb.



Keele University hope to publish photos of eastern Europe next - taken by the other side - the Luftwaffe. Eventually they aim to put aerial photos on line of more recent conflicts including the Gulf wars. That could prove far more controversial.