Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

Russian anti-tank squad, 1945



Colour by Olga Shirnina (Klimbim)

Soviet multi-purpose flying boats MBR-2 over Sevastopol, 1944



Colour by Olga Shirnina (Klimbim)

Fourth one in line seems to have liberated a German MP-40.

U-62 in the foreground, and approaching, U-61 at Pillau, sometime after Oct 1940. At this point in time, they were both training submarines.


U-Boats frozen in ice at Gotenhafen, Jan. 1942

MG-34 machine gun from 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler in the Battle of Mariupol. October 1941

The battleship "Petropavlovsk", 1910-1953. (From 1921 to 1943, the battleship bore the name "Marat"). Member of the First World War and World War II. Active participant in the defense of Leningrad (USSR)

It was a sturdy ship with a heroic crew. September 3, 1941 a bomb hit the powder warehouse of tower number 1 and destroyed the entire front of the ship. Killed about 300 people from the crew. The rest continued to repel the attacks of enemy aircraft. Despite serious damage to the ship, gun turrets No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 were ready for battle, and until the end of the blockade of Leningrad, the ship continued to shell German positions.
The ship actually turned into a floating battery. After the war, the battleship was partially restored and until 1953 served as a training ship.

Colour: Alex Wolf Alex Colors Studio

The battleship USS Pennsylvania Number BB-38 photographed from port anchored on December 13, 1916. Spectacular the two triple forward turrets with 360 mm guns. In total the ship was armed with twelve 360 mm guns distributed in four triple turrets two forward and two aft. Their secondary artillery was made up of 127 mm guns.

Simo Häyhä at Loimola, Karelia, 1 February 1940.

Simo "Simuna" Häyhä 17 December 1905 – 1 April 2002, was a Finnish sniper. He is believed to have killed over 500 men during the 1939–40 Winter War, the highest number of sniper kills in any major war…

Häyhä was a soldier who filled the boots of a fighter in a tight spot. He was a very efficient soldier and he became sort of an idea or symbol of the fighting spirit of the Winter War already during the war. A symbol of the fight between David and Goliath. A man who fought against the mechanized army with a rifle. A man who was made a legend, though as the humble man he was, he probably did not wish such a fate for himself. But it happened and the legend is more alive today than it ever was. And this legend of course includes the number of Soviet soldiers who met their fate through Häyhä´s m/28-30 rifle.

In public, in literature and especially in various Internet forums numbers are thrown as truth without any knowledge on the matter. This of course is naturally part of being a legend. These numbers 542, 542 + 200, 700 etc. are without any base or reality in them. The numbers have been invented when time has gone by and now the numbers live their own life as part of the legend of Häyhä, The White Death. There is also no single source that would support the claims that the Soviet soldiers named him as the White Death or that they even knew he existed. These are all modern stories invented long after the war and have circulated on and off the Internet.

But. There is info available – Finnish archives and literature sources in this case that has been studied by Finnish historians, as well as Soviet archives studied by Russian military historian Oleg Kiselev. Of Course considering the nature of the case, there never will be absolute truth about the numbers. It is impossible. But according to sources it can be presented as follows:

22.12.1939 = 138 [1]
+61
26.01.1940 = 199 [2]
+20
16.02.1940 = 219 [3]
+40
07.03.1940 = 259 [1]

[1] Rantamaa, A. J. 1942. Parlamentin palkeilta Kollaanjoen kaltahille. WSOY, Porvoo. Pages 84, 206. (Memoirs of the reverend Rantamaa, who served at Kollaa Front)

[2] Perus 2962. Finnish National Archives, War History Department; War Diary of the unit Häyhä served. "[...] Hän on ampunut suomalaisella pystykorvakiväärillä 199 ryssää, jos tilanne on ollut kireämpi tai komppaniamme ollut hyökkäämässä, niin silloin S. Häyhä on toiminut pk. tai kp. ampujana, joten hänen konetuliaseilla ampumansa ryssämäärä kohonnee vähintään yhtäsuureksi kuin kiväärilläkin ammuttujen luku. [...]" (He has shot 199 Russians with rifle. If the situation has been more dire he has acted as a SMG or LMG gunner, thus the amount of enemies shot goes probably as high with automatics.)

[3] Finnish National Archives, War History Department; War Diary of the unit Häyhä served. "[...] Hänen tekonsa - 219 vihollista vain kiväärillä ammuttuna ja suunnilleen saman verran konepistoolilla - [...]" (His deeds are 219 enemies shot with a rifle and approximately the same amount with SMG.)

In 2017 there was a book published by Hannu Narsakka about the Kollaa Front. ”Tulimyrsky Kollaalla” (Firestorm over Kollaa, sadly the book is only in Finnish) where he writes about the Battle of Kollaa in detail. He also takes a critical look on Häyhä and his activities at Kollaa. Narsakka came to same sort of conclusion using archive material and memoirs i.e.. that the number of enemies killed with a rifle could be at the most around ~250. In his own memoir diary written after the war Häyhä writes that his ”list of sin” is around 500. But it was written in summer of 1940 and it already connects to the image of Häyhä and the heroic Battle of Kollaa River created by the media at that time. Maybe Häyhä just accepted the veil that the media had weaved on him. Because not even he could know for sure how many enemies he had killed with his rifle. And he most certainly could not know how many flames he had put out with an SMG. In the midst of a hellish firefight nobody counts and can not count individual kills.

None of this takes the credit or the glory away from Häyhä. There is no doubt that Häyhä was an exceptional soldier and a very effective and skillful sniper. But like in all legends, the real person and the human being behind the legend is often buried and hidden. People in general are not interested in facts but in a good story. It’s like that in most cases and it is the same with most of the snipers of the Second World War. Who really knows the truth about Palvlichenko, Sidorenko, Surkov, Hetzenauer or Zaitsev?

Soviet IS-2 heavy tanks near the Brandenburg Gate after the fall of Berlin. May 1945



While the Battle of Berlin encompassed the attack by three Soviet Army Groups to capture not only Berlin but the territory of Germany east of the River Elbe still under German control, the battle in Berlin details the fighting and German capitulation that took place within the city.

The outcome of the battle to capture the capital of Nazi Germany was decided during the initial phases of the Battle of Berlin that took place outside the city. As the Soviets invested Berlin and the German forces placed to stop them were destroyed or forced back, the city's fate was sealed. Nevertheless, there was heavy fighting within the city as the Red Army fought its way, street by street, into the centre.

On 23 April 1945, the first Soviet ground forces started to penetrate the outer suburbs of Berlin. By 27 April, Berlin was completely cut off from the outside world. The battle in the city continued until 2 May 1945. On that date, the commander of the Berlin Defence Area, General Helmuth Weidling, surrendered to the commander of the Soviet 8th Guards Army, Lieutenant-General Vasily Chuikov. Chuikov was a constituent of Marshal Georgiy Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front.

IJN Hiei at sunset in the waters of Bay of Saeki in October 1941

Cruiser USS Santa Fe (CL-60) coming alongside the badly damaged aircraft carrier USS Franklin (CV-13) to pick up survivors and offer assistance. (Photo by US Navy


USS California (BB-44) bombarding Guam during the invasion operation, July 1944

Red Army photographer Yevgeny Khaldei (center) in Berlin with Soviet forces, near the Brandenburg Gate in May of 1945.

May 2 1945. The flag is held aloft on top of the Reichstag building in Berlin, by a Russian soldier, Alexei Kovalyov from Kiev aided by a Sergeant from Dagestan.


The Russian photographer Yevgeny Khaldei, is credited with taking the picture.

Here are the main points concerning the flag: Khaldei said the flag was made by his uncle, who stitched the hammer, sickle and star on to a red table cloth taken from the TASS office in Moscow. Khaldei was then on a short stay in Moscow, but soon returned to the front.

On 2 May 1945 Khaldei ordered the three soldiers in his company up to the roof of the Reichstag. Various positions were tried before the final famous picture was chosen. The day after, the picture arrived in Moscow.
He has a 'Pistolet-pulemyot Sudaeva' 43, or PPS-43, a Russian full-automatic sub-machine-gun strapped over his right shoulder.
WW2 Colourised Photos (Colorised by Olga Shirnina from Russia)

May 2, 1945 at approx. At 6 am, a Polish soldier Antoni Jabłoński hung the Polish flag on the Victory Column in Berlin's Tiergarten Park.

An Indian infantry section of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Rajput Regiment, 4th Indian Infantry Brigade, 26th Indian Infantry Division about to go on patrol on the Arakan front in Burma. May 1944



The 2nd Battalion was in the Arakan area and a number of actions were fought by it. The capture of Point 551, also called Rajput Hill was the most important. The Japanese holding this feature had turned back repeated attacks by other battalions but the Rajputs carried the day winning an IOM, five MC's and two MM's for this action. (Indian Order of Merit, Military Cross and Military Medal)

(Colourised by Doug)

4th May 1945, Hans-Georg von Friedeburg signs the surrender of the German Armed Forces in Montgomery's tent.


Color by Christos Kaplanis

Maj. Russell Martin, West Peabody, Mass., of the 10th Mt. Div., conferring with a German 2nd Lieutenant concerning the surrender of his troops in Rovereto, Italy, May 4 1945.



Originally activated as the 10th Light Division (Alpine) in 1943, the division was redesignated the 10th Mountain Division in 1944 and fought in the mountains of Italy in some of the roughest terrain in World War II. On 5 May 1945 the Division reached Nauders, Austria, beyond the Resia Pass, where it made contact with German forces being pushed south by the U.S. Seventh Army. A status quo was maintained until the enemy headquarters involved had completed their surrender to the Seventh. On the 6th, 10th Mountain troops met the 44th Infantry Division of Seventh Army.

Since 2001, the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) has been the most deployed unit in the US military. Its combat brigades have seen over 20 deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
Colour: Mohamed Bayouli

Class 1 torpedo boat HNoMS Brand in service as Tarantel as a Vorpostenboot by the Kriegsmarine.

German Grenadiers during the 4th defense of the Smolensk Rollbahn, 17 December 1943 after the second Battle of Smolensk (7 August–2 October 1943).


Rollbahn is a German word designating a taxiway and was used to describe key routes designated by the German army during the war.

On board the Polish light cruiser ORP Dragon at sea, 1943