Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

[Conhoon]

A lost ambrotype photo of supposedly a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars and his wife. Photo possibly shot in 1860 and found in the 1970’s.

The medal on his chest is usually identified as the Military General Service Medal, a British campaign medal approved in 1847 as a retrospective award for various military actions from 1793–1814, but in my opinion the ribbon’s grey tones don’t match the colours, so I opted for a second hypothesis: the British Navy’s equivalent, the Naval General Service Medal, issued at the same time as the Army’s version.
The 6 clasps on the ribbon represent 6 different naval engagements.
The couple depicted in this 160-year-old photo were most likely born in the 18th Century (1700’s).
He looks like he had a hard life (and wife ).
Original’s source unknown.

 

[Connaught Ranger]

A lost ambrotype photo of supposedly a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars and his wife. Photo possibly shot in 1860 and found in the 1970’s.

View attachment 249516
The medal on his chest is usually identified as the Military General Service Medal, a British campaign medal approved in 1847 as a retrospective award for various military actions from 1793–1814, but in my opinion the ribbon’s grey tones don’t match the colours, so I opted for a second hypothesis: the British Navy’s equivalent, the Naval General Service Medal, issued at the same time as the Army’s version.
The 6 clasps on the ribbon represent 6 different naval engagements.
The couple depicted in this 160-year-old photo were most likely born in the 18th Century (1700’s).
He looks like he had a hard life (and wife ).
Original’s source unknown.

Clasps
The following clasps were awarded. Although the medal bears the dates 1793 to 1814, no clasp was authorised for service before 1801, or between 1802 and 1805.[13] A total of 21 clasps relate to the Peninsular War and three to the War of 1812.[14] The medal was never issued without a clasp. The most awarded to a single recipient was 15.

• Egypt (Clasp authorised in 1850)[13]
• Maida
• Roleia
• Vimiera
• Sahagun
• Benevente
• Sahagun and Benevente (If present at both actions)
• Corunna
• Martinique
• Talavera
• Guadaloupe
• Busaco
• Barrosa
• Fuentes D'Onor
• Albuhera
• Java
• Ciudad Rodrigo
• Badajoz
• Salamanca
• Fort Detroit
• Vittoria
• Pyrenees
• St Sebastien
• Chateauguay
• Nivelle
• Chrysler's Farm
• Nive
• Orthes
• Toulouse

 

[morris]

Berlin, 1923. Less than five years after the Great War, Germany economy lies in ruins. A disabled war veteran begs in the street dressed in his pre-war dunkelblau waffenrock.
A ribbon bar with several awards is pinned to his chest, below it an Iron Cross 1st Class, and below the Cross a Wound Badge in Silver, awarded for three or four wounds or a severe wound such as the loss of a limb or eyesight.
Original: Deutsches Historisches Museum, BA 90/5740. Colour by: In Colore Veritas

 

[morris]

At the Invalides in Paris, German material captured during 1914/15 is displayed to the public. Circa 1915.

The bird-like aircraft is a ‘Taube’ (dove), a German reconnaissance aircraft designed by Igor Etrich in 1910. The wings’design although avian in appearance was actually based on the shape of a maple seed.
The Taube flew like it was made of bricks - which is why it was withdrawn from frontline service by March/April '15. It was sluggish, hard to control, completey unmaneuvrable. The 'Taube' as such didn't see active service throughout the war, there were indeed a few variants, by different designers and manufacturers, which had little to do with the initital design saw the light of day. All were 'not very good', virtually all used for training only."
Original: Agence Rol. Colour: In Colore Veritas

 

[morris]

A WWI Saxon soldier.
Karl Agotz was a 37 year's old shopkeeper in Leipzig when in the fall of 1914, he was called up by his king, Frederick Augustus III, to fight for his country. At the time he was married with two young children. Karl did survive the war and returned to Leipzig and his family.

Some remarks on Karl’s uniform and gear:
Leipzig is in Saxony (Sachsen), so as expected, the tunic is a M07/10 feldrock with Saxon cuffs. The helmet is a Pickelhaube with Saxon ‘wappen’ (coat of arms). The rifle is a standard Gew98 with the long blade M1898 bayonet attached. Boots seem to be brown leather with black polish added later. Soldiers did these because from 1915 onward the orders were to wear black leather but supplies never met the quota so they improvised. As the black polish wore off the brown reappeared.
Original property of A. Shang. Colour by: In Colore Veritas

 

[Conhoon]

81 years ago on September 17, 1939, without declaring war, Soviet Union attacked Poland, which had fought with Germany in the west from September 1 ...

 

[Conhoon]

Photo study of a Heinkel He 111’s waist gunner manning a 7.92mm MG 15.

After an unexpected high number of losses during the Polish Campaign of 1939, in 1940 the He 111’s defensive armament was increased to a new total of 5 defensive MGs with the addition of two waist MG 15.
Unfortunately for the crew, due to the lack of space there was only one waist gunner operating both the port and starboard machine guns. This restriction made defending the aircraft against simultaneous attacks from port and starboard an impossible task.
Below him is the ventral MG position. Also of interest is the side view of the Luftwaffe’s back type parachute.
Original of source unknown

 

[Conhoon]

Paratroopers of 1st Allied Airborne Army, 82nd Airborne Division receiving a final briefing before embarking on Operation Market Garden, September 17th, 1944

Early in the afternoon of the 17th, the paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division jumped on the drop zones at Groesbeek, Overasselt and Grave. Elements of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) jump from their C-47’s on Drop zone O minus Company E, which jumped on a special drop zone just west of the Grave bridge.
The divisional headquarters for the 1st Airborne Division, along the 1st Airlanding Brigade and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade were to land at Nijmegen, 1st Parachute Brigade was to land at Arnhem, and 4th Parachute Brigade was to land at Grave.
Together they were assigned to capture the bridge. Elements of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment together with engineers from the 307th Airborne Engineers Battalion jumped on Drop zone N just south of Groesbeek. The 508th was assigned to Drop zone T, located just north-east of Groesbeek at the Wylerbaan. Main targets for the 82nd Airborne Division were; the bridges at Grave, Malden, Heumen, Hatert, Honinghutje and the ultimate goal, the Waal bridges (rail- and road bridge) at Nijmegen.

 

[Conhoon]

Sonniuswijk, Son, September 17, 1944.

Pvt. Bernard M. Nakla from Seattle, Washington, gives gum to a little Dutch girl after landing behind the German lines in The Netherlands during Operation Market Garden. '
On Sunday afternoon around 1 o'clock the American paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division landed at Son, Sint Oedenrode and Veghel. There were few losses and hardly any German opposition.
The landed paratroopers were enthusiastically welcomed by curious Dutch citizens. An hour after the landing, the American troops began their task: the conquest of no fewer than twelve river links over the Brabant waterways.
In 1974, veteran Bernard M. Nakla from Seattle contacted the local newspaper in Eindhoven (Eindhovens Dagblad). He was the soldier on the right and wanted to know who the girl and boys were in the photo. Only in 1994 were their names traced.

Photo: U.S. Army signal Corps

 

[BravoZulu]

A field of spent artillery shells, 1916

 

[BravoZulu]

A photograph of a young boy sitting on the rubble of his home where his parents lie buried after a V2 hit in London in January 1945, by American photographer Toni Frissell

 

[Fluff]

Photo study of a Heinkel He 111’s waist gunner manning a 7.92mm MG 15.

View attachment 249583
After an unexpected high number of losses during the Polish Campaign of 1939, in 1940 the He 111’s defensive armament was increased to a new total of 5 defensive MGs with the addition of two waist MG 15.
Unfortunately for the crew, due to the lack of space there was only one waist gunner operating both the port and starboard machine guns. This restriction made defending the aircraft against simultaneous attacks from port and starboard an impossible task.
Below him is the ventral MG position. Also of interest is the side view of the Luftwaffe’s back type parachute.
Original of source unknown

Doesnt look particularly effective, he will be spending most of his brain to stop falling into the gondola, instead of looking for Spitfuer!!!!!

 

[morris]

"Jagd in Schützengraben" / Hunting in the trenches.
"Rats in their millions infested trenches. There were two main types, the brown and the black rat. Both were despised but the brown rat was especially feared. Gorging themselves on human remains (grotesquely disfiguring them by eating their eyes and liver) they could grow to the size of a cat. Men, exasperated and afraid of these rats (which would even scamper across their faces in the dark), would attempt to rid the trenches of them by various methods: gunfire, with the bayonet, and even by clubbing them to death. It was futile however: a single rat couple could produce up to 900 offspring in a year, spreading infection and contaminating food.
The rat problem remained for the duration of the war (although many veteran soldiers swore that rats sensed impending heavy enemy shellfire and consequently disappeared from view)."

The 111. Infanterie Division fought in positional warfare in the Flanders and Artois region into 1916, and later fought in the Battle of the Somme. The Division remained in the Somme area until 1917.

(Source photo and text © ✠ drakegoodman ✠ Collection). Colorised by Leo Courvoisier

 

[morris]

Soldiers of the Lancashire Fusiliers, part of 29th Division, are seen on board Trawler 318 used during the Dardanelles landings, before disembarking at 'W' and 'V' beaches off Cape Helles on 5 May 1915.
On 26 May 1915, the Lancashire Fusiliers were transferred to 125th Brigade of the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division.
(Colourised by Royston Leonard from the UK)

 

[Conhoon]

The crew of a StuG III Ausf. G inspects a knocked-out T-34/76 (Model 1943). Soviet Union, summer of 1943 or later.

The T-34/76 was the first major modification of the T-34 presenting a new hexagonal turret with improved habitability. Armour was also increased with the new model now having 70 mm of frontal armour. The new hexagonal turret had two round hatches which when open gave it a ‘Mickey Mouse’ silhouette, nickname by which it soon became known by the Germans.
The T-34/76 was the most numerous of all the 76 mm-armed versions of the T-34 with the first units leaving the factory in the fall of 1942, just in time to see action at Stalingrad, and remaining in production until the spring of 1944.
The new turret was built by different factories which can be individually identified by small assembly differences between them. The one in the photo, for example, shows a peculiar dip along the lower rim of the turret which, in my opinion, identifies this tank as having been built at ChTZ, the huge factory complex near Chelyabinsk, in the Urals, nicknamed ‘Tankograd’ (Tank City) in view of its size.
As usual, I tried to mimic German AGFA film.
Original: Bundesarchiv

 

[BravoZulu]

A German POW, Kursk 1943

 

[morris]

WW1 British trench raiders?

 

[BravoZulu]

View attachment 249951
WW1 British trench raiders?

Raiding party of the 1/8th (Irish) King's Liverpool Regiment. Photo taking on the morning after a raid on the night of 17th-18th April 1916 at Wailly, France. Photograph copyright of The Imperial War Museum.

 

[morris]

ww2 gun crew

 

[morris]

British troops and their artillery guns being evacuated from Suvla Bay, Gallipoli, on rafts in daylight, December 1915.
Brooks, Ernest (Lieutenant) (Photographer) (Colourised by Doug)