#BBB NEWS| HISTORY: General's Never-Before-Seen Photos Show Horrific Reality of World War Two's Western Front! Check It Out.. [RARE/HISTORIC/CLASSIC PHOTOS]

Fascinating photographs snapped by a four-star general during the bloody skirmishes of World War Two have provided a rare insight into the dark realities of life on the front line in Germany and France.

General Charles Day Palmer rose to the rank of four-star general in the US Army as battles raged across mainland Europe, fighting on the Western Front and taking part in the invasion of Normandy.

As well as turning his gun sights on the enemy, he also aimed his camera at visions of bombed-out towns, dead bodies and prisoners of war during the campaign to halt Adolf Hitler's Nazi march.

     Tragic: US soldier at the grave on an unknown comrade

     Destruction: US engineers blow up a bridge in a German town

     Slaughtered: German army horses lie dead in the street 

     Casualties of war: Bodies of German soldiers in the snow

His archive remained personal for decades, but has now been released via website argunners.com thanks to the permission of his grandson Daniel Palmer.

Born in Chicago in 1902, General Palmer graduated from the US Military Academy in 1924 and was stationed in the British West Indies at the outbreak of WW2, setting up bases and devising anti-submarine strategies.

In 1944 he was made chief-of-staff of the 2nd Armoured Division - nicknamed "Hell on Wheels" - and participated in the invasion of Normandy, the breakout of Saint-Lo and the crossing of the Siegfried Line.

He was then transferred to the VI Corps, where he was later promoted to Battlefield General as the tide turned in favour of the Allies and the war reached its end.

     Bombed-out: US tank dries down street in Rohrwiller, France

  Captured: German MPs and Gestapo are escorted by French resistance fighters in Strasbourg

    Blaze: French fuel truck burns after being hit 

           Medal: Brigadier General Charles Palmer receives the Legion of Merit honourGeneral Palmer later served in the Korean War and received various valour awards such as the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit and the Bronze and Silver Star.

He died of a heart attack in 1999 at his home in Washington DC and was buried with full honours at Arlington National Ceremony.

Many of his photos were deemed confidential by US military chiefs because of information, such as place names and vehicle numbers, contained within them.

But they can now be published thanks to the family censoring sensitive details.

 See more photos below:

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