Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts
- Thread starter BravoZulu
- Start date
- Featured
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2017
- Messages
- 11,391
- Points
- 388
German troops and their dog on patrol waiting to report at a school for training messenger dogs behind the front. Note the message carrier attached to the dog's collar. May 1917.
German official photographer
Image courtesy the Imperial War Museum London
(Colour by Benjamin Thomas)
German official photographer
Image courtesy the Imperial War Museum London
(Colour by Benjamin Thomas)
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2017
- Messages
- 11,391
- Points
- 388
HMS Hood (pennant number 51) was the lead ship of her class of four battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy during World War I.
Returning to the Home Fleet in August 1940, Hood sortied that fall in operations intended to intercept the "pocket battleship" and heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper. In January 1941, Hood entered the yard for a minor refit, but the naval situation prevented the major overhaul that was needed. Emerging, Hood remained in increasingly poor condition. After patrolling the Bay of Biscay, the battlecruiser was ordered north in late April after the Admiralty learned that the new German battleship Bismarck had sailed.
Putting into Scapa Flow on May 6, Hood departed later that month with the new battleship HMS Prince of Wales to pursue Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. Commanded by Vice Admiral Lancelot Holland, this force located the two German ships on May 23. Attacking the next morning, Hood and Prince of Wales opened the Battle of the Denmark Strait. Engaging the enemy, Hood quickly came under fire and took hits. Approximately eight minutes after the action began, the battlecruiser was hit around the boat deck. Witnesses saw a jet of flame emerge near the mainmast before the ship exploded.
Most likely the result of a plunging shot which penetrated the thin deck armor and struck a magazine, the explosion broke Hood in two. Sinking in around three minutes, only three of the ship's 1,418-man crew were rescued. Outnumbered, Prince of Wales withdrew from the fight. In the wake of the sinking, many explanations were put forward for the explosion. Recent surveys of the wreck confirm that Hood's after magazines did explode.
Returning to the Home Fleet in August 1940, Hood sortied that fall in operations intended to intercept the "pocket battleship" and heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper. In January 1941, Hood entered the yard for a minor refit, but the naval situation prevented the major overhaul that was needed. Emerging, Hood remained in increasingly poor condition. After patrolling the Bay of Biscay, the battlecruiser was ordered north in late April after the Admiralty learned that the new German battleship Bismarck had sailed.
Putting into Scapa Flow on May 6, Hood departed later that month with the new battleship HMS Prince of Wales to pursue Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. Commanded by Vice Admiral Lancelot Holland, this force located the two German ships on May 23. Attacking the next morning, Hood and Prince of Wales opened the Battle of the Denmark Strait. Engaging the enemy, Hood quickly came under fire and took hits. Approximately eight minutes after the action began, the battlecruiser was hit around the boat deck. Witnesses saw a jet of flame emerge near the mainmast before the ship exploded.
Most likely the result of a plunging shot which penetrated the thin deck armor and struck a magazine, the explosion broke Hood in two. Sinking in around three minutes, only three of the ship's 1,418-man crew were rescued. Outnumbered, Prince of Wales withdrew from the fight. In the wake of the sinking, many explanations were put forward for the explosion. Recent surveys of the wreck confirm that Hood's after magazines did explode.
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2017
- Messages
- 11,391
- Points
- 388
First attempts at friendship:
Two US soldiers of 36th Infantry Division, Fifth Army, inspect the Beretta Model 38 submachine gun of an Italian "bersaglieri" soldiers, Mignano Monte Lungo, Italy, December 1943.
After the armistice A part of Italian forces fought alongside allied against germans. The unit included elements of the 58th Legnano Infantry Division and Bersaglieri.
On 3 December the group was operationally aggregated to the 36th American Texas Division and was initially charged with participating in the breakthrough of the Bernhardt Line, in the Caserta sector. The first clash in which the new army took part was the battle of Montelungo, however suffering heavy losses and above all a high number of missing persons.
On 8 December 1943 a first assault was carried out, which failed due to poor coordination with the Americans, the lack of precise information on the actual consistency of the German defenses and adequate preparation and artillery cover, it cost the 12th company only Bersaglieri officer cadets 32 dead, 40 wounded and 12 missing, with 4 officers out of 5 dead, as well as various losses between the two infantry battalions of the 67th regiment involved.
the Group was able to conquer Montelungo on the following 16 December. The total loss balance between the two actions was 80 dead, 190 wounded and 160 missing but it impressed the Allies who lost much of their distrust in the political will, if not in the Italian operational capabilities with positive judgments on behavior.
Note The 36th division logo on an M1 helmet, the 5th Army Patch and the beautiful M38 M.a.b. an italian submachine gun by Beretta that was so admired both from germans and americans.
Two US soldiers of 36th Infantry Division, Fifth Army, inspect the Beretta Model 38 submachine gun of an Italian "bersaglieri" soldiers, Mignano Monte Lungo, Italy, December 1943.
After the armistice A part of Italian forces fought alongside allied against germans. The unit included elements of the 58th Legnano Infantry Division and Bersaglieri.
On 3 December the group was operationally aggregated to the 36th American Texas Division and was initially charged with participating in the breakthrough of the Bernhardt Line, in the Caserta sector. The first clash in which the new army took part was the battle of Montelungo, however suffering heavy losses and above all a high number of missing persons.
On 8 December 1943 a first assault was carried out, which failed due to poor coordination with the Americans, the lack of precise information on the actual consistency of the German defenses and adequate preparation and artillery cover, it cost the 12th company only Bersaglieri officer cadets 32 dead, 40 wounded and 12 missing, with 4 officers out of 5 dead, as well as various losses between the two infantry battalions of the 67th regiment involved.
the Group was able to conquer Montelungo on the following 16 December. The total loss balance between the two actions was 80 dead, 190 wounded and 160 missing but it impressed the Allies who lost much of their distrust in the political will, if not in the Italian operational capabilities with positive judgments on behavior.
Note The 36th division logo on an M1 helmet, the 5th Army Patch and the beautiful M38 M.a.b. an italian submachine gun by Beretta that was so admired both from germans and americans.
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2017
- Messages
- 11,391
- Points
- 388
After the hasty retreat from Dunkirk had left only enough war material in Great Britain to equip no more than two infantry divisions, a dire necessity for weaponry led the British authorities to search for cheap, easy to produce, last-ditch weapons to face the expected German invasion of the Isles.
Most prototypes were either mildly insane or simply impractical, but a few were deemed worthy of being built and tested. Among those which found their way to active duty was the ‘Blacker Bombard’, a 29mm Spigot Mortar that could fire a 20lb bomb some 900yds, designed by Lieutenant Colonel V. V. S. Blacker.
When demonstrated at Bisley in April of 1941, according to GHQ Home Forces, “it fully justified its adoption as an anti-tank weapon both by regular formations and the Home Guard”.
As a result of this favorable evaluation, by November 1941 the Spigot Mortar was being issued in quantity to both regular formations and the Home Guard. That same month, however, doubts were already being cast on the value of the Spigot Mortar to regular troops because of its lack of mobility, but the top brass still considered it to be “very effective at short ranges. Moving targets being engaged with considerable success at/from 75 -100 yards’ (68 -91 m)”.
This sounds great if you are 50 miles behind the frontlines. The problem was that the mortar didn’t have a reload mechanism, which meant that one of the unlucky crew members had to get in front of the weapon and reload it under fire from an enemy only 100 yards away. Obviously, it was not a popular weapon amongst the troops.
In this photo, men of the Saxmundham Home Guard prepare to fire a ‘Blacker Bombard’ mounted on a ‘mobile’ mounting during training with War Office instructors, 30 July 1941. Others were fired from specially designed emplacements. By July 1942, when it stopped being issued to Southern Command, 22,000 had been allocated nationwide.
Original: IWM (H 12299)
Most prototypes were either mildly insane or simply impractical, but a few were deemed worthy of being built and tested. Among those which found their way to active duty was the ‘Blacker Bombard’, a 29mm Spigot Mortar that could fire a 20lb bomb some 900yds, designed by Lieutenant Colonel V. V. S. Blacker.
When demonstrated at Bisley in April of 1941, according to GHQ Home Forces, “it fully justified its adoption as an anti-tank weapon both by regular formations and the Home Guard”.
As a result of this favorable evaluation, by November 1941 the Spigot Mortar was being issued in quantity to both regular formations and the Home Guard. That same month, however, doubts were already being cast on the value of the Spigot Mortar to regular troops because of its lack of mobility, but the top brass still considered it to be “very effective at short ranges. Moving targets being engaged with considerable success at/from 75 -100 yards’ (68 -91 m)”.
This sounds great if you are 50 miles behind the frontlines. The problem was that the mortar didn’t have a reload mechanism, which meant that one of the unlucky crew members had to get in front of the weapon and reload it under fire from an enemy only 100 yards away. Obviously, it was not a popular weapon amongst the troops.
In this photo, men of the Saxmundham Home Guard prepare to fire a ‘Blacker Bombard’ mounted on a ‘mobile’ mounting during training with War Office instructors, 30 July 1941. Others were fired from specially designed emplacements. By July 1942, when it stopped being issued to Southern Command, 22,000 had been allocated nationwide.
Original: IWM (H 12299)
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2017
- Messages
- 11,391
- Points
- 388
A captured 13-year-old German soldier of the Wehrmacht drinks coffee aboard a small Allied landing craft (LCI), departing from Normandy to England.
Picture Time: July 04, 1944.
In late 1944, the People's Army was formed in Germany ("Volkssturm") in anticipation of an Allied invasion. Men of all ages, from 16–60 were conscripted into this army.
Children as young as 8 were reported as having been captured by American troops, with boys aged 12 and under manning artillery units. Girls were also being placed in armed combat, operating anti-aircraft, or flak, guns alongside boys. Children commonly served in auxiliary roles in the Luftwaffe and were known as flakhelfer, from luftwaffenhelfer.
Picture Time: July 04, 1944.
In late 1944, the People's Army was formed in Germany ("Volkssturm") in anticipation of an Allied invasion. Men of all ages, from 16–60 were conscripted into this army.
Children as young as 8 were reported as having been captured by American troops, with boys aged 12 and under manning artillery units. Girls were also being placed in armed combat, operating anti-aircraft, or flak, guns alongside boys. Children commonly served in auxiliary roles in the Luftwaffe and were known as flakhelfer, from luftwaffenhelfer.
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2017
- Messages
- 11,391
- Points
- 388
Sniper, Sergeant V. Korshun on the look out with his Mosin Nagant rifle (cal. 7.62 x54R) near Lake Balaton, Hungary. On the 3rd Ukrainian front. March, 1945.
The Lake Balaton Offensive, (code name Operation Frühlingserwachen or ′′Spring Awakening") was the last major offense to be launched by Nazi Germany against the Red Army during World War II.
The offense would take place on March 6, 1945, around Lake Balaton in Hungary, with local divisions from the eastern front as well as German armored divisions transferred from the western front.
Colour by Facundo
FGF Colourised
The Lake Balaton Offensive, (code name Operation Frühlingserwachen or ′′Spring Awakening") was the last major offense to be launched by Nazi Germany against the Red Army during World War II.
The offense would take place on March 6, 1945, around Lake Balaton in Hungary, with local divisions from the eastern front as well as German armored divisions transferred from the western front.
Colour by Facundo
FGF Colourised
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2017
- Messages
- 11,391
- Points
- 388
The Third Battle of the Aisne. Men of the Worcestershire Regiment holding the southern bank of the River Aisne at Maizy, 27 May 1918.
(Photo source - © IWM Q 6659)
Brooke, John Warwick (Lieutenant) (Photographer)
(Photo source - © IWM Q 6659)
Brooke, John Warwick (Lieutenant) (Photographer)
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2017
- Messages
- 11,391
- Points
- 388
Some of the French and American officers who took part in the recapture of Cantigny standing in front of a French Schneider CA-1 tank, May 1918.
The first sustained American offensive of the war, although a minor action in itself, the Battle of Cantigny was fought on 28 May 1918, the second day of the great German offensive comprising the Third Battle of the Aisne.
A regiment of the American 1st Division (some 4,000 troops), under Major-General Robert Lee Bullard, captured the village of Cantigny, held by the German Eighteenth Army commanded by von Hutier and the site of a German advance observation point, strongly fortified.
Aiding the attack, the French provided both air cover in addition to 368 heavy guns and trench mortars, plus flamethrower teams. The advancing American infantry were preceded into the village by twelve French tanks following a two-hour advance artillery barrage.
In taking the village the Americans expanded their front by approximately a mile. A minor success, its significance was entirely overshadowed by the battle underway along the Aisne, some fifty miles to the north-west.
In the face of seven fierce counter-attacks that day and the next the U.S. forces held their position with the loss of 1,067 casualties; they captured around 100 German prisoners. The American success at Cantigny was followed by attacks at Chateau-Thierry and Belleau Wood in the first half of June.
(Colorised by Frédéric Duriez from France)
The first sustained American offensive of the war, although a minor action in itself, the Battle of Cantigny was fought on 28 May 1918, the second day of the great German offensive comprising the Third Battle of the Aisne.
A regiment of the American 1st Division (some 4,000 troops), under Major-General Robert Lee Bullard, captured the village of Cantigny, held by the German Eighteenth Army commanded by von Hutier and the site of a German advance observation point, strongly fortified.
Aiding the attack, the French provided both air cover in addition to 368 heavy guns and trench mortars, plus flamethrower teams. The advancing American infantry were preceded into the village by twelve French tanks following a two-hour advance artillery barrage.
In taking the village the Americans expanded their front by approximately a mile. A minor success, its significance was entirely overshadowed by the battle underway along the Aisne, some fifty miles to the north-west.
In the face of seven fierce counter-attacks that day and the next the U.S. forces held their position with the loss of 1,067 casualties; they captured around 100 German prisoners. The American success at Cantigny was followed by attacks at Chateau-Thierry and Belleau Wood in the first half of June.
(Colorised by Frédéric Duriez from France)
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2017
- Messages
- 11,391
- Points
- 388
Hummel crew, the loading process.
The right rack contained propellant, and the shells lined the floor of the fighting compartment.
Hummel (German: "bumblebee") was a self-propelled gun based on the Geschützwagen III/IV chassis and armed with a 15 cm howitzer. It was used by the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War from early 1943 until the end of the war. The full name was Panzerfeldhaubitze 18M auf Geschützwagen III/IV (Sf) Hummel, Sd.Kfz. 165.
The right rack contained propellant, and the shells lined the floor of the fighting compartment.
Hummel (German: "bumblebee") was a self-propelled gun based on the Geschützwagen III/IV chassis and armed with a 15 cm howitzer. It was used by the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War from early 1943 until the end of the war. The full name was Panzerfeldhaubitze 18M auf Geschützwagen III/IV (Sf) Hummel, Sd.Kfz. 165.
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2019
- Messages
- 6,672
- Points
- 378
those blue uniforms, must look great on the parade ground, not so good in European fields.....
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2019
- Messages
- 8,914
- Points
- 284
French Horizon Blue was very close to the German Field Grey both had their uses.
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2018
- Messages
- 1,073
- Points
- 179
A reenactment unit posted an excellent article on Horizon Blue. It seems that it gives better camouflage than what one would expect although it obviously wasn't ideal as it was replaced by what appears to be a shade of khaki after WW1.
151st Line Infantry Regiment
A living-history orginization dedicated to the remembrance of the Great War (1914-1918).
www.151ril.com
In my (extremely uneducated) view, it appears to be one of those neutral colors that seems to mirror the surrounding colors.
Similar threads
