The Leica camera used to take the iconic photograph of Russian troops raising the flag over the Reichstag in 1945 will cross the block at Bonhams Hong Kong on November 30.

The lot, which is valued at $393,000-581,524, will lead the Leica centenary sale.

Khaldei photographed the Russian flag being raised above the Reichstag on May 2, 1945

Photographer Yevgeni Khaldei took the shot on May 2, 1945 - just two days after the Nazis were defeated. He would go on to capture the Nuremberg trials.

While the image would have an enormous impact in Russia and around the world, it later turned out to have been staged.

The first Russian flag was actually raised on April 30.

It was also doctored to edit out the looted watches on the soldier's wrists and to increase the amount of smoke in the frame, in order to give the impression that the battle was still raging.  

However, the symbolism was not lost on an exhausted Russian populace that had lost millions on the eastern front.

Jon Baddeley, head of scientific instruments at Bonhams, commented: "It is a great privilege to be selling a camera with such evocative associations.

"Raising a Flag over the Reichstag is a defining image of victory over evil which affected people deeply at the time and has continued to resonate for later generations."

We have this autographed photograph of US troops raising the flag at Iwo Jima.

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