Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

A Romanian sentinel armed with a French Berthier rifle, 1940.


The photo is taken by Margaret Bourke-White for LIFE Magazine, 1940.
Original caption: ′′ Guard of the Romanian Army, dressed for the cold, during sentinel service over the Prut River Frozen Bridge, in a climate of 35 degrees below zero which makes it impossible for him to stay at the station more than an hour at a time ".
(FGF Colourised)
Photo: LIFE Magazine

25 May, 1944.
Knocked out "Pantherturm" position near Aquino, Italy. An unidentified Canadian soldier examines a knocked out static German Anti-tank position in the vicinity of the Hitler line. The position consists of a Panther ( Pzkpfw V) tank turret mounting a 75mm kwk 42 (L/70) gun, over a subterranean bunker. (Knocked out Churchill tanks in distance)
photosource- Library & Archives Canada
PA-114916.
Photographer- Capt. Alexander M. Stirton (1st Canadian Div)
Colourised by Rui Candeias

Troops and crewmen aboard a U.S. Coast Guard manned LCVP as it approaches a Normandy beach in the early morning of D-Day, June 6, 1944.

Operation Market Garden


A Sturmgeschütz III (StuG III) type 'G' of Sturmgeschütz-Brigade 280 stops at the junction of the Utrechtseweg and Onderlangs in Arnhem, The Netherlands as the soldiers from the 9. SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen search the last of the buildings for British troops on 19 September 1944.
Oberwachtmeister Josef Mathes, commander of the 3rd battery of StuG Brigade 280, is the helmeted man standing in the conning tower. Sturmgeschütz Brigade 280, was temporarily attached to the 9. SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen.
Mathes' StuG III was hit by a British PIAT round early in the day, making a small dent upon impact on the left armor plating by the gun.
Note the clearly visible Zimmerit layer and the 'Saukopf'. The Zimmerit coating was a barrier that prevented direct contact of magnetic mines with metal surfaces of vehicles.
From October 1943, G versions were fitted with the Topfblende pot mantlet (often called Saukopf "Pig's head") gun mantlet without a coaxial mount. This cast mantlet, which had a sloped and rounded shape, was more effective at deflecting shots than the original boxy Kastenblende mantlet that had armour varying in thickness from 45 mm to 50 mm.
Colourised PIECE of JAKE
Photo: Propaganda Company of the Luftwaffe.
Collection: NIMH

Men of the 46th Division congregating on the banks of the Saint Quentin Canal for an address by Brigadier General J V Campbell before a full-scale assault on the Hindenburg line. 1918

M4A3E8 Sherman fording a river in Germany 1945.

The crew of “Man O’ War” a B-17F, from the 306th Bomb Group, 367th Bomb Squadron. All crew members were KIA when they were shot down over France. 1942

B-17F #41-24486 "Man O' War" assigned 306BG/367BS Westover 17-August-42; Thurleigh 13-October-1942; Missing in Action on a mission to bomb the U-Boat pens at St Nazaire, France. 9-Nov-1942. Hit by flak KO’d #2, with two others damaged, crashed into the harbour at St. Nazaire, France. 11 KIA MACR 16172.

Their names are:
Pilot: 2Lt James M Stewart
Co-Pilot: 2Lt William W Dickey, Jr.
Navigator: Joseph A. Creed
Bombardier: 2Lt John A. Creamer
Engineer/Top Turret Gunner: TSgt Charles J. Meriwether, Jr.
Radio Operator: TSgt Thomas A. McMillan
Ball Turret Gunner: SSgt Raymond C. Schmoyer
Waist Gunner: Sgt George R. Rumph
Waist Gunner: SSgt Jack M. Wheeler
Tail gunner: Sgt Martin M. Barthe
Observer/Gunner: Cpl Hugh L. Langan

Austro-Hungarian officers posing with captured Italian machine gun after mountain assault in Julian Alps, 1916

Notice the sword converted to a fighting knife worn by the man center.

Used card depicting unteroffizier Meyer zu Bentrup, a Seesoldat of Marinekorps Flandern posing in full gear, 1916


On the back of the card it reads:
“Alten Grabow, 27.8.16
Dear Parents!
Enclosed I am sending you a photo from the camp. I had the picture taken just as I came from duty. Wearing the backpack seems a bit unusual.
With many greetings, I remain your
R.(?)
Please write me the address of Robert”
Searching the casualty lists, there’s only one Meyer zu Bentrup, and his first name was Reinhard. If the card is indeed signed 'R', there's a chance they might be the same person. Reinhard died in Albert, Somme, on 2 April 1918 as Kompanie-Führer, Marine-Regiment Nr.2.
Marinekorps Flandern
After the German invasion of Belgium in 1914, the Germans were left with a coastal front extending from the Dutch border to the mouth of the Yser river. The task of securing this coastal area, as well as the far edge of the Western front was entrusted to Naval forces. During the second half of 1914, both ‘Matrosen’ (Sailors) Regiments and Seebataillone (Marine Battalions) were expanded and combined to form two Naval Divisions (with a third division being formed in 1917) that together with naval artillery units, naval air squadrons, torpedo boat flotillas, U-boat flotillas, and some army units formed the ‘Marinekorps Flandern’. Although composed in its vast majority by Naval forces and supplied by the navy, the Marinekorps was under the Army’s operational command.
The Corp was operational throughout the entire war, fighting the Entente forces at sea, in the air and on land, the latter including the capture of Antwerp, and the Battles of the Somme and Passchendaele.
Note: There were several possible colour combinations for the shako (helmet). I chose this one for demonstration purposes only. Naval infantry’s leather gear was supposed to be black, even pre-war. Nevertheless, given the grey tones on the b&w original, I believe all leather pieces in this photo were in their natural colour. Given that this photo was taken in Germany, he was probably equipped with what was left in stock.
Text and colours main sources:
Germancolonialuniforms.couk, marine-infanterie.de, eeuwsarchief.nl.
Original: Wooway1 collection

'Operation Dynamo'
'Walking wounded' British soldiers make their way up the gangplank from a Royal Navy destroyer, Dover, 31 May 1940.


(Photo source - © IWM H 1623)
Colour by Jake

Members of the New Zealand Machine Gun Squadron (NZMGS) manning a gun placed on the edge of a cornfield near Colincamps, France, on 1 June 1918.


Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: 1/2-013259-G
Colourised by Doug

Warsaw insurgent, Włodzimierz Wiśniewski "Cygan" from the "Harnaś" Battalion, Polish Home Army, with a captured hand machine gun ZB wz. 1926, captured after an attack on Police Headquarters.


The ZB wz. 1926 was a Czechoslovak light machine gun developed in the 1920s, which went on to enter service with several countries.
It saw its major use during World War II, and spawned the related ZB vz. 27, vz. 30, and vz. 33. The ZB vz. 26 influenced many other light machine gun designs including the British Bren light machine gun and the Japanese Type 96 Light Machine Gun.
The ZB-26 is famous for its reliability, simple components, quick-change barrel and ease of manufacturing.

An Indian rifleman with a SMLE (Short Magazine Lee-Enfield) Mk III in firing position, Egypt, 16 May 1940.


Colour by Facundo
Photo: Imperial War Museum © IWM E 53

Photograph of an "Aussie Sniper" (Australian Sniper), easy to recognize by its unmistakable "Slouch Hat", during World War II.


It carries a SMLE Mk III rifle (Lee Enfield short magazine), with a magazine of 10 .303 British cartridges (7.7x56R), with a 3.5x telescopic sight, it also has a canvas basket to carry combs or "charger clips" of 5 shots each.
There is also a British "Mills" fragmentation grenade.

A well-known photo of the desert campaign whose original sheet reads:
“A British tommy stops to inspect the grave of a German tank crew. They were all killed when their tank, seen in the background completely wrecked, received a direct hit in the recent fighting.
Taken by Sgt. Silverside. 29.9.42.”


Judging by the ball-shaped hull mg mount, the tank was a PzKpfw III Ausf. J. An early model with the short barrel 50mm KwK L/42 cannon. The writing on the grave’s cross is barely discernible but it seems to say on top “German (?)” and below “2.9.42”
It strikes me as odd that, if, as the caption claims, the whole crew died, why are the escape hatches open?
Noteworthy is also the tommy’s sub-machine gun. It seems to be a 1928 model with a 20 or 30 rounds stick magazine instead of the 50 rounds drum magazine. From what I’ve read, the stick magazines were favored in combat because drum mags weighed more and made an already heavy weapon even bulkier. They were also noisy because the ammo tended to rattle inside the drum. Last but not least, unlike spring-loaded box mags that were already under tension, reloading a drum magazine required a tool to rotate the spring in the magazine enough to put the rounds under the necessary tension. If one lost any of the tools needed to reload the weapon, one would be hard-pressed to actually be able to do it without assistance.
Original: IWM (E17549)

Conhoon said:

A well-known photo of the desert campaign whose original sheet reads:
“A British tommy stops to inspect the grave of a German tank crew. They were all killed when their tank, seen in the background completely wrecked, received a direct hit in the recent fighting.
Taken by Sgt. Silverside. 29.9.42.”

View attachment 312004
Judging by the ball-shaped hull mg mount, the tank was a PzKpfw III Ausf. J. An early model with the short barrel 50mm KwK L/42 cannon. The writing on the grave’s cross is barely discernible but it seems to say on top “German (?)” and below “2.9.42”
It strikes me as odd that, if, as the caption claims, the whole crew died, why are the escape hatches open?
Noteworthy is also the tommy’s sub-machine gun. It seems to be a 1928 model with a 20 or 30 rounds stick magazine instead of the 50 rounds drum magazine. From what I’ve read, the stick magazines were favored in combat because drum mags weighed more and made an already heavy weapon even bulkier. They were also noisy because the ammo tended to rattle inside the drum. Last but not least, unlike spring-loaded box mags that were already under tension, reloading a drum magazine required a tool to rotate the spring in the magazine enough to put the rounds under the necessary tension. If one lost any of the tools needed to reload the weapon, one would be hard-pressed to actually be able to do it without assistance.
Original: IWM (E17549)

Click to expand...

The hatches are probably open from recovery crews trying to get hold of anything worthwhile or scavenger hunters or even blown open from a catastrophic destruction as the blown turret roof suggests

Conhoon said:

Photograph of an "Aussie Sniper" (Australian Sniper), easy to recognize by its unmistakable "Slouch Hat", during World War II.

View attachment 311925
It carries a SMLE Mk III rifle (Lee Enfield short magazine), with a magazine of 10 .303 British cartridges (7.7x56R), with a 3.5x telescopic sight, it also has a canvas basket to carry combs or "charger clips" of 5 shots each.
There is also a British "Mills" fragmentation grenade.

Click to expand...

I believe this is:

USS Arkansas (BB-33) in the East River, leaving the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York City. Photographed from the Brooklyn Bridge, on June 3, 1925.

The forward 16″/45 guns of battleship USS Alabama (BB-60) train to starboard during a North Atlantic battle practice. Photographed during her shakedown period, circa December 1942 - January 1943