Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

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ANZAC DAY
Australian soldiers mingle with a section of the crowd gathered in Martin Place during the Victory in the Pacific celebrations, Sydney, 15 August 1945.

The date commemorates Japan’s acceptance of the Allied demand for unconditional surrender a day earlier. For Australians, it meant that the Second World War was finally over.
Today, on the centenary of the Gallipoli landings that gave rise to the ANZAC identity, we remember all those Australian and New Zealand soldiers, in all wars, who never made it home.
(Colourised and researched by Benjamin Thomas)

 

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

Men of the 28th Māori Battalion who had fought in the Greek campaign, performing a haka for the King of Greece at Helwan, Egypt, around 24 June 1941. The black and white original was taken by an unidentified official photographer and is on file at both the Imperial War Museum, London, and at the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington. Sadly, three of the four men identifiable in this photo were killed in action in the following two years, and they lie buried under the North African sand on which they so splendidly performed. Only one came home, the man in the foreground.
They are (left to right): John Manuel, Maaka ‘Bill’ White, Te Kooti ‘Scotty’ Reihana and Rangi Henderson.
John Manuel died on 15 December, 1941, at the attack on Point 152, Libya, when he was killed by artillery fire.
Bill White, of Hicks Bay, died on 23 November 1941 when he was shot during the approach to Sollum Barracks, Egypt. Scotty Reihana, of Rangitukia, East Coast, was wounded in action but survived the war and died in 1973. Rangi Henderson was killed by machine gun fire on 26 March 1943 in fighting at Tebaga Gap, Tunisia.
Photo per Imperial War Museum, London, # E 003261.
Colourised by Daniel Rarity.

 

[BravoZulu]

A Highland officer and his orderly with German (Pickelhauben) helmets, near Tilloy-les-Mofflaines. 10 April 1917. © IWM Q 5141

 

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Soviet soldiers on the sofa in port on the island of Bornholm.

 

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The Sopwith F.1 Camel (Nº D9638) of 2nd Lt. Harold William Skinner, 203 Squadron RAF, crashed landed near Morenchies, just north of Cambrai, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France. 2nd of October 1918.

Harold Skinner was wounded in the shoulder while flying D9638 and crashed near Cambrai, he was the squadron's last war-time casualty.

He was born in London, on the 23rd July 1899 and was granted his Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate on the 5th of November 1917.

As a Lieutenant, he was awarded the DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross) and the citation published in 'Flight' on the 20th of February 1919, is noteworthy. It states that, ".....in addition to bringing down 4 enemy aircraft, Lt. Skinner flew 500 hours on active service and was engaged in numerous ground support operations."

The crash landing was mentioned in the last notes of his DFC award, in that he had been flying with Ray Collishaw and Lt Fricker, and were strafing a balloon when Skinner was attacked by a Fokker (possibly from Jasta 33), resulting in an arm wound and a crash landing behind British lines. (that would have been Morenchies)

(Colourised by Benjamin Thomas from Australia)

 

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Australian Private Jack Gaghan (SN 2370) in South Australia, 1915. John "Jack" Gaghan was born at Petersburg or Tarcowie, South Australia, on 7 October 1897 to Sarah Gaghan, née McDonald, a presbyterian mother. In 1915 he was single and worked as a labourer in Tarcowie, a small town in South Australia. He decided to enlist at Keswick on 24 March 1915 and served with the 10th Infantry Battalion.

Gaghan embarked on HMAT Kanowna A61 in Adelaide on 23 June 1915. After a time in Egypt he was redirected to London, where he suffered injuries and was then placed for combat. He was shot in his right forearm on 21 September 1917 and wounded again on 31 May 1918, this time a gunshot on his right knee. He recovered in September and rejoined his unit, and eventually returned to Australia in 1919, where he received the Victory and British War Medals three years later, as well as a 1914-15 Star. He had served 4 years and 105 days. Gaghan was married to Noemie Ashken Arzeian and died 20 December 1933.

 

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A New Zealand soldier undergoing a dental extraction at the New Zealand Dental Corps hospital in Nielles-lès-Bléquin, France, during the First World War. November 1917.

In the early stages of the war, between a quarter to a third of recruits were rejected for service on account of dental defects.

The New Zealand Dental Association, seeing an opportunity to raise their profile, took up the challenge to treat these men and contribute to the war effort. They lobbied the Defence Force to create the first ever Dental Corps in November 1915, with the aim to have every soldier of the Expeditionary Force dentally fit for service. This was by no means an easy feat. Dental officers inspected the teeth of prospective soldiers in New Zealand mobilisation camps, and accompanied troops when they were mobilised overseas.

If the Army’s policy was to send a reinforcement of approximately two thousand healthy men each month, the work of the New Zealand Dental Corps (NZDC) was not to be underestimated. Between 1915 and 1918, they performed 221,214 filling operations and 98,817 teeth extractions.

The NZDC earned a reputation for mobility and efficiency. A dental hospital was set up only 5 kilometres from the front line on the Somme in September 1916. From ‘moral tooth brush drills’ at the camps to fillings, extractions and the treatment of the prevalent gum disease, ‘trench mouth’, the Dental Corps is thought to have saved the State around £19,000 per year.

Photograph taken by Henry Armytage Sanders.
Image courtesy of Alexander Turnbull Library, reference: 1/4-009512-G.

 

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A nursing sister and two other nursing staff on a RAMC ambulance train near Doullens, Somme. 27 April 1918.

They are members of either the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve or the Territorial Force Nursing Service.
(Photo source - © IWM Q 8738)
McLellan, David (Second Lieutenant) (Photographer)

 

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Avro Lancaster B Mark IIs of No. 514 Squadron RAF taxi onto the main runway at Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, for an early daylight attack on fortified villages east of Caen, at Conin support of the Second Army's armoured offensive in the Normandy battle area for Operation GOODWOOD, 18th July 1944.

On this morning, starting at 06.15 hours, 850 heavy bombers of the RAF attacked in good weather condition and delivered over 15,500 bombs onto three targets – the Colombelles–Mondeville and
Touffreville–Emiéville areas on the flanks of the offensive, as well as Cagny. By 1944 standards of accuracy, this was an effective
bombing strike, which successfully neutralised the German flank defences.
At 0700 hours, over 340 American and British medium bombers struck the German defences in Giberville, Cuverville, Démouville
and Manneville. By the time that these aircraft arrived over the battlefield, visibility had declined. Many of the target areas were
obscured by the smoke and dust thrown up from the recent British heavy bombing strikes. Consequently, nearly 25 percent of the
medium bombers had to abort their missions. These medium bombing strikes were less accurate than the previous Allied sorties
and achieved only about 12 per cent of the envisaged bombing density. Simultaneously, fighters and fighter-bombers from 83 and 84 RAF Groups attacked various enemy positions.
From 0830 to 0930 hours, then over 640 American Liberator heavy bombers attacked three locations – two areas located along the
northern face of the Bourguébus Ridge and Bures–Saint-Pair region on the extreme eastern flank.
Approximately 570 aircraft dropped some 13,000 45-kg (100-lb) bombs and 76,000 9-kg (20-lb) fragmentation bombs. These strikes were not particularly accurate because of declining visibility.
Aircrews delayed bomb release to avoid inflicting friendly casualties on the ground and consequently many bombs fell to the south of their target areas. The German forces that remained in this sector later played a major part in halting the British advance. As these attacks developed, Allied artillery engaged known German gun positions and selected enemy defensive locations. At 0745
hours the artillery began a creeping barrage, behind which the 11th Armoured Division commenced its attack south. This initial phase of Operation Goodwood eventually proved highly successful!
Photographer: F/Lt. S. A. Devon.
Wiki Commons Ref: CL4213.
Image Repair & Colouristion - Nathan Howland @HowdiColourWorks

 

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’Tiger Exercise' the D-Day training exercise on Blackpool Sands in Devon, England. Spring 1944.

The total of 749 Americans killed and missing was 10 times the actual losses on UTAH BEACH on June 6 1944
In late 1943, as part of the build-up to D-day, the British Government set up training grounds at Slapton and Blackpool Sands to be used by Force "U", the American forces tasked with landing on Utah Beach. The beaches were selected for their similarity to Utah Beach.
'Operation Tiger'
The first practice assaults took place on the morning of 27 April 1944.
These proceeded successfully but early in the morning of 28 April, nine German S-boats that had left Cherbourg on patrol spotted a convoy of eight LSTs carrying vehicles and combat engineers of the 1st Engineer Special Brigade in Lyme Bay and then attacked.
One transport (LST-507) caught fire and was abandoned.
LST-531 sank shortly after being torpedoed while LST-289 was set on fire but eventually made it back to shore.USS LST-511 was damaged by friendly fire.
Of the two ships assigned to protect the convoy, only one was present.
British shore batteries defending Salcombe Harbour had seen silhouettes of the S-boats but had been instructed to hold fire so the Germans would not find that Salcombe was defended.
When the remaining LSTs landed on Slapton Beach, the blunders continued and a further 308 men died from friendly fire.
The British heavy cruiser HMS Hawkins shelled the beach with live ammunition, following an order made by General Dwight D Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, who felt that the men must be hardened by exposure to real battle conditions.
Ten missing officers involved in the exercise had 'Bigot level' clearance for D-Day, meaning that they knew the invasion plans and could have compromised the invasion should they have been captured alive.
As a result the invasion was nearly called off until the bodies of all ten victims were found.
(Photo source - US National Archives)

 

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WW1 - 17 Dec 1916. German big hunter.

Men of the German Reserve Infantry Regiment Nr 233 (195th Infantry Division) and a trophy boar definitely worth photographing. The men are wearing their M1907/10 tunics and are armed with Kar 98 rifles. Another point worth noting is that all three men are holders of the Iron Cross Second Class. R.I.R. 233 was originally attached to the 51st Reserve Division, but transferred to the 195th in August 1916. Whilst attached to the 51st, these men would have taken part in the Second Battle of Ypres, which involved the first large-scale use of poison gas of the war.

 

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Soviet Marine of the Russian Naval Infantry of the Baltic Fleet. Petty Officer Granovsky who was killed in battle 2 February 1944. 31 August 1941.

 

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Soviet tanker poses for the photographer, Berlin 1945

 

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A group of Soviet soldiers and their M4 Sherman tank

 

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Pacification of the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto.

Original description: Ein Stoßtrupp - Strike group.
Soldiers of the German SS formation on Nowolipie Street.
Between April 19 and May 16, 1943,

 

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A Canadian 17 Pounder Sherman (Firefly) of the 21st Armoured Regt. (The Governor General's Foot Guards) in Wissel, Germany. March/April 1945

 

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Bristol F2B, known as the 'Bristol Fighter' or just shortened to 'Brisfit'! This Royal Australian Air Force example is seen in Palestine, during 1918.

 

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29 September 1918 - Men of 137th Brigade, 46th Division, are addressed by Brigadier General J C Campbell VC CMG DSO on the Riqueval Bridge after breaking the German's Hindenburg Line defences.
(The Riqueval Bridge spans the St. Quentin Canal north of Bellinglise)

The Battle of St Quentin Canal was a pivotal battle of World War I that began on 29 September 1918 and involved British, Australian and American forces in the spearhead attack and as a single combined force against the German Siegfried Stellung of the Hindenburg Line. Under the command of Australian General Sir John Monash, the assault achieved all its objectives, resulting in the first full breach of the Hindenburg Line, in the face of heavy German resistance and, in concert with other attacks of the Great Offensive along the length of the line, convinced the German high command that there was little hope of an ultimate German victory.
(Photo source - © IWM - Q 9534)
McLellan, David (Second Lieutenant) (Photographer)

 

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Flying Officer Michael Vlasto (108232), Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, No. 31 Squadron.

At 11.00 hours on the 28th April 1943 a C47 Dakota aircraft landed in a jungle clearing a few miles west of the Irrawaddy township of Bhamo. Eighteen sick and wounded men from 8 Column boarded the plane and flew out to the safety of India. This incident has become one of the most iconic stories to emerge from the first Chindit operation.
The RAF Dakota belonging to 31 Squadron was piloted that day by Flying Officer Michael Vlasto. His great skill and bravery in landing the plane on what was basically just a jungle clearing, was the difference between life and probable death for the stricken Chindits involved. From that moment forward, Vlasto and his heroic crew were always looked upon as honorary members of 8 Column and have been forever revered by the wider Chindit family.


(Colourised by Paul Kerestes from Romania)

 

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Surrender of the 148th German Division to the Brazilian Expeditionary Force in Fornovo Di Taro (Italy)!

General Otto Fretter-Pico (left of the photo) introduces himself to General Olympio Falconière (right). In the center of the photo are the German Major Kuhn and the journalist and war correspondent Rubem Braga. General Otto Fretter-Pico, of the 148th German Infantry Division, was accompanied by 31 officers from his staff and was the last to surrender. The surrender took place on April 29, 1945. The Brazilians of the 6th RI, commanded by then Colonel Nelson de Mello, surrounded and forced almost 15,000 Germans to surrender at once.