Photos WW2 British & Commonwealth Forces

Australian 7th Brigade at Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea in 1945

A 1943 photograph of a Supermarine Walrus being launched from HMS Bermuda, a Fiji-class light cruiser

A 25 Pdr gun from the 29th Battery of 6th New Zealand Field Regiment fires at night from its position in a vineyard near Sora, Italy, 1st June 1944.

Māori soldiers from the 28th Battalion perform a haka for the King of Greece in Egypt, in June 1941.

A Daimler armored car opens fire in the gloom of early morning at the start of the Battle for Tripoli, 18 January 1943. The car is likely of the famed 11th Hussars (Prince Albert’s Own), attached to the 7th Armored Division’s “Desert Rats,” who both used them in North Africa and were present in the Tunis campaign

Canadian Daimler Mk. 1 Scout Car, Sallenelles, France, LAC 4233182, original colour

Officers of the 11th Hussars rest under the shade of a beach umbrella with their Morris CS6 during a patrol of the Egyptian/Libyan frontier, 26 July 1940

An M3 Stuart Tank of the 'B' Squadron of the Indian 7th Light Cavalry, 254th Indian Tank Brigade, IV Corps, XIV Army in Imphal, India. 1944.

A pair of Mk II Marmon-Herrington Armoured Cars abandoned along with a Cruiser Tank Mk IV near Tobruk in 1941

An original colour photo of Private Alfred Campin, 6th Bn Durham Light Infantry, during basic training in March 1944. Alfred was killed 13 weeks later in Normandy, aged 24. He is buried at the Bayeux War Cemetery.

A searchlight with radar equipment known as "Elsie" (90cm Searchlight Control Radar No. 2 Mark VI) which entered service in 1942 and was of immense assistance to anti-aircraft when used against the flying bomb attacks of 1944.

Dogfight over St Paul's Cathedral in London during the Battle of Britain, 1940.

RAN rating but unable to see what rate he is as his sleeve badge is hidden. Pretty sure he is from the Executive (seaman) branch as he is assuming the Wharf Sentry duty.

New Guinea Campaign. Faria Valley. 20 October 1943. Australian soldiers from the 2/27th Battalion, 7th Division, make a fuss over 'Sandy', a scout dog trained by the Americans for the Australian Army.

M3 medium tanks manned by Australian crews at a practice shoot somewhere in Victoria, ca. 1942.

British sapper training in WW2. The object was to identify and render safe the three main types of German mines Brit infantry encountered. Training was carried out without the sappers being able to see what they were doing since much of their work would be done in complete darkness.


The three mine types studied were Teller, Bouncing Betty and wooden "shoe box".

M3 Grant of the British 1st Armoured Division passes a burning Pz.kpfw. I on June 6, 1942. The triangle on the turret indicates A squadron of either the 2nd or 22nd Armoured Brigade.

A pair of Vickers Light Tank Mk VICs knocked out during the Battle of Huppy on May 27th 1940

The Allied attack began at 6:00 a.m., after an hour's delay while the French artillery got ready. The 2e DLC and the attached British armoured brigade on the right flank, attacked from Hocquincourt, Frucourt and St Maxent, east of the Blangy–Abbeville road and the 5e DLC from the Bresle to north of Gamaches. Both of the DLCs had been depleted by earlier engagements and were unable to deploy any armour. There had been little time to reconnoitre and information about German dispositions was sparse. To succeed, armoured attacks would need to be combined with artillery and infantry but there were far too few troops and guns; co-operation between the British and French was far from adequate. On the right flank, the tanks failed to advance far and many were knocked out at close-range by 37 mm Pak 36 anti-tank fire from Caumont and Huppy as they moved over ridges in between.

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On the left flank, the 3rd Armoured Brigade was able to reach high ground near Cambron and Saigneville and the edge of St Valery-sur-Somme on the coast. There was no infantry to follow up and consolidate the ground and the tanks were ordered to retire when the French were found to be digging in behind them at Behen, Quesnoy and Brutelles. The 1st Armoured Division suffered 65 tank losses, with some recovered and 55 breakdowns caused by lack of maintenance. Among the tanks put out of action were 51 Light Tanks Mk VI and 69 cruisers. Minor repairs could be undertaken locally but more substantial work had to be done at the divisional workshops south-west of Rouen, where repairs were slowed by a lack of spares.

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Elements of the British 11th Armoured Division move past a knocked out Sherman tank near Helchteren in Belgium on September 10th 1944

Members of A Company, 2/12th Battalion who helped silence a Japanese mountain gun on Mount Prothero.
This image has also been identified as (from left to right) members of B Company; NX86190 A 'Skinny' McQueen; NX111498 A Ron Lord; VX70488 A Eric Willey; QX18277 Alan F Hackett.
The Battle of the Shaggy Ridge was part of the Finisterre Range campaign, consisting of a number of actions fought by Australian and Japanese troops in Papua New Guinea in World War II.
Shaggy Ridge was a 6.5-kilometre (4.0 mi) long spur dotted by several rocky outcrops, which the Australians dubbed "Green Pinnacle", "The Pimple", "Green Sniper's Pimple" and "McCaughey's Knoll".[5] To the north and north-west of Shaggy Ridge, two high features were identified as "Prothero I" and "Prothero II", while the Kankiryo Saddle to the north-east joined Faria Ridge and divided the Faria River from the Mindjim River.
Following the Allied capture of Lae and Nadzab, the Australian 9th Division had been committed to a quick follow up action on the Huon Peninsula in an effort to cut off the withdrawing Japanese. Once the situation on the Huon Peninsula stabilised in late 1943, the 7th Division had pushed into the Markham and Ramu Valleys towards the Finisterre Range with a view to pushing north towards the coast around Bogadjim, where they would meet up with Allied forces advancing around the coast from the Huon Peninsula, before advancing towards Madang.
A series of minor engagements followed in the foothills of the Finisterre Range before the Australians came up against strong resistance centred around the Kankiryo Saddle and Shaggy Ridge, which consisted of several steep features, dotted with heavily defended rocky outcrops.
After a preliminary assault on a forward position dubbed The Pimple in late December 1943, the Australians renewed their assault in mid-January 1944 and over the course of a fortnight eventually captured the Japanese positions on Shaggy Ridge and the Kankiryo Saddle, after launching a brigade-sized attack up three avenues of advance. In the aftermath, the Australians pursued the Japanese to the coast and subsequently took Madang, linking up with US and Australian forces.