Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

[Conhoon]

6 March 1944
King George VI inspects British 1st Airborne troops in training.

To the King's left wearing the Pegasus patch is Brigadier John 'Shan' Hackett, 4th Parachute Brigade and to the King's right is Lt. Col. Kenneth Smyth, 10th Parachute Battalion.
Having returned to England from Italy in December 1943, the division then prepared for the invasion of France. It was not involved in the Normandy landings, being held in reserve. In September 1944 it took part in Operation Market Garden. The division landed 60 miles (97 km) behind German lines, to capture crossings on the River Rhine, and fought in the Battle of Arnhem. After failing to achieve its objectives, the division was surrounded and took heavy casualties, but held out for nine days before the survivors were evacuated.

Lt.Col K Smyth died of his wounds received at Arnhem on the 26th October 1944
Brigadier 'Shan' Hackett survived the war, and died in September 1997.

 

[Conhoon]

Infantrymen of Company "I", 35th Regt., 25th. US Inf. Div., await the word to advance in pursuit of retreating Japanese forces.
This photo was taken on Stepping Stone Island on The Vella Lavella Island Front, in the Solomon Islands, Southwest Pacific. September 13, 1943.

 

[Conhoon]

'The Battle of Berlin' 16 April – 2 May 1945

T34/85 tanks of a Soviet Tank Brigade receiving operational orders prior to the final battle of Berlin, Germany, April 1945

 

[Conhoon]

A Polish soldier manning a 1919 Browning .30 cal. machine gun mounted on a Universal Carrier.
Taken at the extreme forward positions around Carmuset er Regem (Karmusat ar Rijam) area near Gazala, Libya. 16 February 1942

 

[Conhoon]

A sniper from "C" Company, 5th Battalion, The Black Watch, 51st (Highland) Division, poses for the cameraman in the loft space of a ruined building in Gennep, Holland. 14 February 1945

 

[Conhoon]

16 November 1942
Polish F/Lt. Joseph Zbigniew Żulikowski in a Spitfire Mk IXc (BS456) UZ-Z, 306 'Torunski' Squadron at RAF Northolt. In the background is a Bristol Bombay Mk.I (L5836).

Joseph Zbigniew Żulikowski was shot down on 28 June 1941 by Gerhard Schöpfela of JG 26 near Rouen. He managed to return through Spain to the UK. Since January 1942, he returned to flying. In December 1942, he moved to 58 OTU. From 19 May 1943 to 20 March 1944, was the commander of Squadron 308 . From 26 September 1944 to 24 May 1945 the commander of Squadron 306.

 

[rodion22]

Me-109 with romanian crew , on stalingrad ,1942

 

[Bombardier]

6 March 1944
King George VI inspects British 1st Airborne troops in training.
View attachment 186029

To the King's left wearing the Pegasus patch is Brigadier John 'Shan' Hackett, 4th Parachute Brigade and to the King's right is Lt. Col. Kenneth Smyth, 10th Parachute Battalion.
Having returned to England from Italy in December 1943, the division then prepared for the invasion of France. It was not involved in the Normandy landings, being held in reserve. In September 1944 it took part in Operation Market Garden. The division landed 60 miles (97 km) behind German lines, to capture crossings on the River Rhine, and fought in the Battle of Arnhem. After failing to achieve its objectives, the division was surrounded and took heavy casualties, but held out for nine days before the survivors were evacuated.

Lt.Col K Smyth died of his wounds received at Arnhem on the 26th October 1944
Brigadier 'Shan' Hackett survived the war, and died in September 1997.

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British Royals & The Military

• Bombardier
• Feb 12, 2016
• 50
• 2

An album of British Royal Family photos in a Military theme. This album can be uploaded to by...

 

[Conhoon]

The Battle of Britain RAF personnel dismantle Messerschmitt Bf 109E-4 (W.Nr. 5153), flown by Oberleutnant Egon Troha, Staffel Kapitan of 9./JG 3, and which crash-landed near Wootton Cross Roads, Shepherdswell, Kent on 29 October 1940

 

[Conhoon]

A British sniper demonstrates his camouflage at a sniper school in a French village, 27 July 1944.

(He uses German M-38 Waffen-SS Camo smock in pattern unofficially named "Oak Leaf 'B' type")

 

[Conhoon]

 

[Conhoon]

Added to my Album

+41

British Royals & The Military

• Bombardier
• Feb 12, 2016
• 50
• 2

An album of British Royal Family photos in a Military theme. This album can be uploaded to by...

19 May 1944
Queen Elizabeth with the 18 year old Princess Elizabeth visiting the 6th Airborne Division. She is seen here talking to Cpl. 'Jungle' Jones of the 22 Independent Parachute Company.

The aircraft in the background is a Handley Page Halifax ready to tow a Hamilcar glider and the other is a Short Sterling with a Horsa glider in tow (out of shot).
6th Airborne commander, Major General Richard ‘Windy’ Gal, "I remember one incident. We were demonstrating to them a new method of unloading guns from the Horsa glider. Something had evidently gone wrong inside and the gunner concerned, unaware that all he said could easily be heard outside, made one or two colourful remarks about the gun lashings with which he was having difficulty.
Eventually the job was done, really much quicker than it had seemed to me, who was so anxiously waiting. The Queen congratulated the gunners on their work, saying with her gracious smile, she could well guess how difficult it had been."


13 October 1940
As Princess Elizabeth, The Queen made her first public speech at the age of 14, on the 13th of October 1940, with a radio address to the children of the Commonwealth, many of them living away from home due to war. Her younger sister, Princess Margaret, joined in at the end.

October 1940
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visiting bomb damaged streets in the East End of London.

In September 1940 Buckingham Palace was also bombed. The Princesses had been moved to Windsor Castle, for their safety. But the King and the Queen remained in London. During the Blitz, the Palace was hit nine times, and again famously, the Queen said: “I'm glad we've been bombed. I feel we can look the East End in the face.” The warmth of the people towards the King and the Queen grew immensely during the war years, with them visiting people in the bombed streets, comforting those in need.


In 1945, a then-Princess Elizabeth did her part for the war effort when she served as an ambulance driver for the Auxiliary Territorial Service during World War II.

 

[Conhoon]

An unidentified Royal Romanian Airforce fighter pilot climbing aboard a (Industria Aeronautică Română) IAR-80 at an airfield in the Ploiești area, 35miles (56kms) north of Bucharest. c.1943.

The 10th of June 1944 proved to be the last glory day of the IAR-80 and of 'Grupul 6 vânătoare' (the 6th Fighter Group). The US 15th Air Force decided to make another low-level attack on the Ploiești refineries, similar to the one on 1 August 1943, this time with the US 82nd Fighter Group and the US 1st Fighter Group providing the escort. 'Grupul 6', raised 23 IAR-81Cs in the air, at 12:30 am. At about 2500 m ground station signalled that "two feathered Indians" (the code name for P-38 'Lightnings') were attacking the airfield. Capt. av. Dan Vizanti then gave the order: "Paris to Paris 1,2,3. We attack! Follow me!" The entire group dived on the unsuspecting pilots of the 71st Fighter Squadron (1st Fighter Group). The dogfight took place at an altitude of a few hundred meters and it lasted four minutes. The nimbler IAR-81C proved to be more than a match for the Lightning at that altitude. Within this short time span, 14 P-38s were shot down. The Romanian pilots claimed 23, but this is easily explainable due to the confusing circumstances. The 'Grupul 6' lost four men, two because of a mid-air collision. Cpt. av. Dan Vizanti added three P-38s to his score.

 

[Scalindjo]

A sniper from "C" Company, 5th Battalion, The Black Watch, 51st (Highland) Division, poses for the cameraman in the loft space of a ruined building in Gennep, Holland. 14 February 1945

View attachment 186033

I live right next to Gennep (5 km)

 

[Conhoon]

Warsaw Uprising
1 August – 2 October 1944
The Uprising was fought for 63 days with little outside support. It was the single largest military effort taken by any European resistance movement during World War II.


Karol Lewandowski ps. "Karolek".
16-Year-old Warsaw Insurgent, liaison of the "Reaper" group.
He fought on Żoliborz. After the fall in captivity, then in the second Polish Corps. Decorated with the Cross of Warsaw Uprising.
Photography from Warsaw Uprising 1944.

On 31 March 1936 Różyczka Goździewska was born. The youngest nurse of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944
As an eight-year-old paramedic, she was a child who saved the lives of many others. She helped in the field hospital of the "Koszta" company in a tenement house at 11 Moniuszko. Thanks to her efforts, the lives of many people were saved.
"Róża was always very stubborn - she wanted to help in the hospital, and she did it well. For example, she gave water to the wounded and kept away flies that were a real threat to the health ... and she brought back a smile to the faces of the wounded" - so her older sister Zofia recalled.
She survived the war and afterwards, she lived in France, where she died in 1989 at the age of 53.

Woman fighter of the Army Krajowa (Armia Krajowa) on a city street during the Warsaw Uprising. The woman is armed with a Błyskawica submachine gun ("Lightning"), designed in the Polish underground based on the English Sten submachine gun, with a number of changes and additions to the device.
On the wall of the building there is a copy of the information publication Warsaw Fights (Warszawa walczy), published by insurgents since September 6, 1944.

"Escape from Hell" - Survivors of an air raid in Wspólna Street, Warsaw, 9 September 1944.

Insurgents

 

[TIGREDELAIRE]

fantastic team mix of all backgrounds, more fantastic to see the enthusiasm and desire to win, in the end they achieved

 

[Jaybe]

Semyon Nomokonov (1900-1973), WW2 sniper with 367 kills

 

[berkut76]

A trully russian face

In December of 1941 during the fighting around city of Tula (Battle of Moscow), there wasn't a single ethnic Russian in my dad's company. About a third were Kazakhs from remote steppes to boot. Illiterate, couldn't understand Russian, rounded by NKVD, thrown on the freight trains, and right onto the frontlines. They fled in panic as soon as they saw as was later described "loud iron mechanical camels" (i.e. tanks). The nomadic people of the Great Russian empire did OK later in the war as scouts and snipers due to the their superior hunting skills. The rest of the dad's unit were political prisoners just released from Gulag, from Jews to Ukrainian farmers, to Latvian communists. They picked up the rifles left by "Mongols" (that's how the Asiatic ethnicities were referred to in the beginning), held the line and then some.

 

[Jaybe]

Tsesarevitch, Slava, Andrey Pervozvanny, Imperator Pavel I battleships of Baltic fleet, 1916

 

[Jaybe]

Column of German troops after officially announced capitulation