Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

[Conhoon]

6th June 1944, D-Day. P-51 Mustangs of the 4th Fighter Group, 334th Fighter Squadron, 335th Fighter Squadron, preparing to take off from Debden wearing their 'Invasion Stripes'.

At 2300 hours on 5 June 1944, Colonel Don Blakeslee briefed the 4th Fighter Group pilots on the D-Day operations the next day. Blakeslee emphasized it was going to be a long, tough day with the Group flying three sorties to support the invasion.
Captain Bernard Louis McGrattan, an ace with the 335th Fighter Squadron, was listening to the brief but he was not supposed to fly the mission. His tour of duty was over, his orders home were in his pocket. McGrattan asked Blakeslee if he could fly the D-Day sorties with the Group. Blakeslee approved the request.
The 4th Fighter Group was in the air the next morning at 0325 hours. McGrattan was assigned to Blue Flight led by Lt Kidd Hofer. The Group’s mission was to attack German columns and prevent them from reinforcing the Normandy beaches. On this first sortie Hofer strafed two German locomotives.
At 1125 the Group flew the second sortie of the day. Strafing enemy forces on the ground is dangerous business. The 4th Fighter Group aircraft were more vulnerable to German fighters who would attack from above. The Group was accomplishing their mission but were sustaining casualties in the process.
The third and last sortie of the day took flight at 1800 hours. During this sortie Blue Flight was strafing a twenty truck German convoy when they were attacked from above by over fifteen Luftwaffe FW-190 fighters. Hofer took violent evasive action and survived the attack. The remaining four pilots of Blue Flight, including Captain McGrattan, were shot down and killed.
Colonel Don Blakeslee was the last man home, arriving back at Debden at seven minutes to midnight. The 4th Fighter Group played a pivotal role in preventing German reinforcements from reaching the Normandy beaches. But the cost was severe. Ten 4th Fighter Group P-51D Mustangs were shot down by enemy flak or fighters.

 

[Conhoon]

Aviators of the XVI Corps Aviation Unit in front of the airplane "Sikorsky XII" on the day of St. Elijah, in Russia the Holiday of aviation and aeronautics. July 20, 1915

 

[Conhoon]

The German Spring Offensive, March-July 1918
The Operation Gneisenau. A German mortar section with horse-drawn transport moving through wooded country on the Montdidier - Noyon sector of the front, June 1918.
9 June The German offensive "Operation Gneisenau" began: also known as the Battle of the Matz: and ended 14 June.

German official photographer
Source : IWM - Q 55351
Color by Frédéric Duriez

 

[Conhoon]

"A platoon of African American troops surrounds a farmhouse near Vierville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France, as it prepares to eliminate a German sniper holding up the U.S. advance from the Omaha beachhead."
June 10, 1944.

In this photo is Sgt. George A. Davison and other troops of the all-black US 320th AA Barrage Balloon Battalion VLA (Very Low Altitude).
Sgt. Davison was on board LCT 608 (Landing Craft Tank) with a group of Army Rangers on D-Day, June 6, 1944.
(Source US Army Signal Corps - 190120-5)
"Everywhere you saw a barrage balloon, there was a three-man crew of African-American soldiers with it, to prevent German aircraft from strafing Omaha and Utah Beaches. Also, there was the headquarters unit of the battalion and it too was on the beach. They stayed as long as they were needed. When the beaches were secured, the balloons, some of them at least, were shot down by the Navy, and the soldiers of the 320th were given new assignments moving inland."
(George Davison and his two brothers who also served in the war, all survived. George died October 2002 aged 80)
(Colourised by Benjamin Thomas)

 

[BravoZulu]

12 June 1944 Ground crew refuel and re-arm Hawker Tempest Mark V 'JF-G' of No. 3 Squadron RAF by the grass North-South runway at Newchurch, Kent. On the far side of the runway is the dispersal area of No. 56 Squadron RAF.

 

[Conhoon]

US Soldiers of 327th Glider Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne in Rue du Quai À Vin, Carentan, Normandy. June 12-14th 1944

Carentan was defended by two battalions of Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 6 (6th Parachute Regiment) of the 2nd Fallschirmjäger-Division and two Ost battalions. The 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division, ordered to reinforce Carentan, was delayed by transport shortages and attacks by Allied aircraft. The attacking 101st Airborne Division landed by parachute on 6 June as part of the American airborne landings in Normandy, was ordered to seize Carentan.
In the ensuing battle, the 101st forced passage across the causeway into Carentan on 10 and 11 June. A lack of ammunition forced the German forces to withdraw on 12 June. The 17th SS PzG Division counter-attacked the 101st Airborne on 13 June. Initially successful, its attack was thrown back by Combat Command A (CCA) of the U.S. 2nd Armored Division.
Colourised by Marina Amiral

 

[Conhoon]

A Panzer crew, belonging to 1./s.SS-Pz.Abt.101 "Leibstandarte-SS-Adolf-Hitler" are here seen camouflaging their Panzer VI 'Tiger' tank with tree branches in the vicinity of Villers-Bocage, Normandy, in June 1944.
Date unconfirmed but possibly taken on the 14th of June, on the Ancienne Route de Caen (the old Caen Road), where Michael Wittmann's company spent the night of 12/13 June.

(Source - Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-738-0275-09A)
(Colourised by Royston Leonard)

 

[Conhoon]

Troops of the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry who captured this trench, 11 June 1917. They are wearing German helmets or caps. Note a board with the sign "I. Stellung. IA Linie. II.Ab".

(Photo source - © IWM Q 2820)
Brooks, Ernest (Lieutenant) (Photographer)
Colourised by Doug

 

[Conhoon]

Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, ace pilot, Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin.

 

[Conhoon]

Second Lieutenant Margaret B. Stanfill is seen here on June 14, 1944, preparing dressings in a tent at the 128th Army Evacuation Hospital at Boutteville, three miles southeast of Saint-Mère-Église.

A veteran of the landings in Algeria in 1942, she was the first nurse to wade ashore when the 128th landed on Utah Beach on the afternoon of June 10 after crossing the English Channel on the Liberty ship William N. Pendleton.
Nurses began landing on the Normandy beachhead four days after the initial invasion.
The first nurses to arrive in Normandy were members of the 42d and 45th Field Hospitals and the 91st and 128th Evacuation Hospitals. They landed on the beachhead four days after the initial invasion in June 1944.
At the start of the war in December 1941, there were fewer than 1000 nurses in the Army Nurse Corps and 700 in the Navy Nurse Corps. All were women.
But at the end of World War Two, more than 59,000 American nurses served in the Army Nurse Corps. Nurses worked closer to the front lines than they ever had before. Within the “chain of evacuation” established by the Army Medical Department during the war, nurses served under fire in field hospitals and evacuation hospitals, on hospital trains and hospital ships, and as flight nurses on medical transport planes.
By June 1945 the number of Army nurses in the European theater of the war reached a peak of 17,345. The nurses’ experiences in the European theater varied widely, depending upon their assignments. The experiences of those assigned to the 12th Evacuation Hospital reflected that diversity. The first battle casualties arrived at the 12th Evacuation Hospital the next day, including members of the 101st Airborne Division and the 90th Infantry Division. The hospital admitted 1,309 patients and conducted 596 surgical operations before it displaced across the Channel. The 12th Evacuation Hospital deployed to France in July, arriving in Normandy on I August. By that time most of the heavy casualties incurred during the first weeks of the invasion had already been evacuated to England.
Nurses frequently demonstrated their ability to remain calm in unpredictable and dangerous situations. For example, flight nurse Reba Z. Whittle’s C–47 was caught by flak and crashed behind enemy lines in September 1944. Every member of the crew, including Whittle, was wounded. The Germans provided their prisoners with medical care and upon their recovery incarcerated them in Stalag IXC. Whittle’s captors allowed her to nurse other POWs throughout her captivity. Whittle was held as a prisoner of war for five months until her release in January 1945.
Colourised PIECE of JAKE
Image courtesy of National Archives, 111-SC-190305

 

[Conhoon]

New Zealand troops of the 9th (Wellington East Coast Rifles) Regiment being issued with their rum ration at Fleaurbaix, June 1916. The soldier on the extreme left wears sandbags as leggings. Note unorthodox footwear.

(Photo source - © IWM Q 660)
Colourised by Doug

 

[Conhoon]

Two 4th Division US Marines take cover in a shell hole on Saipan, 15 June 1944 .

On June 15, 1944, during the Pacific Campaign, U.S. Marines stormed the beaches of the strategically significant Japanese island of Saipan, with a goal of gaining a crucial air base from which the U.S. could launch its new long-range B-29 bombers directly at Japan’s home islands. Facing fierce Japanese resistance, Americans poured from their landing crafts to establish a beachhead, battle Japanese soldiers inland and force the Japanese army to retreat north. Fighting became especially brutal and prolonged around Mount Tapotchau, Saipan’s highest peak, and Marines gave battle sites in the area names such as “Death Valley” and “Purple Heart Ridge.” When the U.S. finally trapped the Japanese in the northern part of the island, Japanese soldiers launched a massive but futile banzai charge. On July 9, the U.S. flag was raised in victory over Saipan.
(www.history.com)
(Photo by Harry Warnecke - Defense Dept. (US Marine Corps 82998)
(Colorized by Jared Enos)

 

[Conhoon]

Lt. James Montgomery “Jimmy” Doohan (a.k.a. 'Scotty' from the series Star Trek), of Vancouver British Columbia, served with the 14th Field Artillery Regiment of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. Doohan landed on Juno Beach, D-Day, and led his men ashore after taking out two German snipers.

The group went through a maze of anti-tank mines finally settling in a defensive position for the night. Later in the evening a Canadian sentry mistaked Jimmy for the enemy and Doohan was hit six times resulting in the loss of his finger and a near fatal shot that was halted by his cigarette case. Luck was on his side.
"Doohan recovered from his wounds and became part of the Air Observation Pilot Course 40 with 11 other Canadian artillery officers. Jimmy was taught how to fly a Taylorcraft Auster Mark IV plane. He was later dubbed the “craziest pilot in the Canadian air force” after flying between two telephone poles in 1945 just to prove that he could." Jimmy never flew in combat but retained his title all the same.
After the war Jimmy Doohan returned to Canada with plans of furthering his education. Ironically, his distaste for a local radio drama led him to the career as the well-known character of "Scotty" on the popular science fiction show Star Trek.
Many Star Trek fans told Doohan over the years that it was he who inspired them to choose engineering as a profession. Astronaut Neil Armstrong, an engineer before he participated in NASA's Apollo program, personally told Doohan on stage at Doohan's last public appearance in 2004, "From one old engineer to another, thanks, mate".
James Montgomery Doohan died on July 20, 2005 at the age of 85. In 2012, 'Scotty' returned to 'space'. A small urn containing some of Doohan's remains in ash form was flown into space aboard the Falcon 9 rocket as part of COTS Demo Flight 2.
Colour and restoration by Jake

 

[Conhoon]

Saipan Landing, 15 June 1944
"The first wave of Marines to hit the Saipan beach, take cover behind a sand dune while waiting for supporting waves to land and start the drive inland."

From the Photograph Collection (COLL/3948), Marine Corps Archives & Special Collections
(Colourised by Jake)

 

[Conhoon]

Soviet Aerosled RF-8/GAZ-98 on patrol, said to be Northern Front, 1943.*

Soviet snowmobiles were first used for military purposes in 1915 mainly as transport or as a means of communication. During the winter campaign of 1939/40, the Red Army had several aerosled detachments, which were quite successfully used in winter operations against the White Finns. (…) Snowmobiles were most widely used in World War II, especially during the winter campaign of 1942/43. During this period, for the first time, they were used in significant numbers (…). Records show that the most successful aerosled units operated in open areas: on the lake areas of the Ladoga, Ilmen, Seliger lakes, frozen rivers, in the coastal areas of the sea, and in the Gulf of Finland. (1)
With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, all the available snowmobiles were mobilized. In an expeditious manner, designers developed new machines: transport and landing snowmobiles NKL-16/41 and NKL-16/42, combat snowmobiles with an armored shield and machine-gun installation NKL-26, GAZ-98 (RF-8), and the large amphibious aerosled ASD-400.(2)
The agile Aerosled RF-8/GAZ-98 was powered by a GAZ-MM truck engine driving a two-bladed aircraft propeller mounted on the back of an unarmoured plywood body, the vehicle carried a crew of two and was armed with a 7.62mm DT machine gun mounted on an aircraft-style ring. Combat loaded, the Gaz-98 weighed 892 Kg (1966 lbs) and was capable of speeds up to 31 mph (50 km/h). The GAZ-98K was an upgraded version with a more powerful GAZ M-11 110-hp aviation engine in place of the standard automotive engine.
At the end of December 1941, the first batches of machines of the RF-8 type, which received the factory index GAZ-98, had already arrived at many sectors of the front. Combat aerosled battalions were equipped with them (2). These often operated in close cooperation with ski-troops.

(1) “Review of combat operations of aerosled units in the Patriotic War (1942-1943)”. Office of the Commander of BT and MV of the Red Army. Military Publishing House, 1944.
(2) “Snowmobiles in battles for the Motherland” Part.2 (article) I. Yuvenaliev, 1979.
* Other sources give the location and date as Central Front, February 1942.
Credit: Photo by Georgy Petrusov, Soviet Army's war correspondent.

 

[Conhoon]

U.S. Army Company A, Ninth Machine Gun Battalion, 6th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, AEF.
Three soldiers man a Hotchkiss Mle1914 machine gun set up in a destroyed railroad shop in Chateau Thierry, France, on June 7th, 1918.

This was during the Aisne Defensive, which in days saw the entire division take to the front line for the first time and three weeks later switched to holding the southern crossing of the Marne against the Germans even when surrounding units retreated.
Although the U.S. military had access to a number of machine guns going into WWI– including the 25-pound Model 1909 Benet Mercie, which was cranky but proved its worth in repelling Villa’s raid on Columbus, NM in 1916; as well as the 35-pound Colt-Browning M1895 “Potato Digger” which was mass-produced by Marlin during the war; and the excellent 28-pound Lewis light machine gun– the American Expeditionary Force to France was armed in large part with 7,000 French Mle 1914 Hotchkiss machine gun of the example shown above.
The unit shown above, the 9th Machine Gun Battalion was formed just for the war in October 1917 and fought with the 3rd ID through Chateau Thierry, and the Meuse-Argonne, leaving a number of its brave gunners “Over There.”
General Pershing called the stand of the 3rd ID along the Marne “one of the most brilliant pages of our military annals,” and today the division is known, of course, as “The Rock of the Marne.”
Colour by Jake
Colourised PIECE of JAKE
Source: NARA

 

[Conhoon]

De Havilland Mosquito Mk II of No. 157 Squadron RAF refuelling at Hunsdon, Hertfordshire. 16 June 1943

No. 157 Squadron was the first squadron to use the Mosquito as a night fighter, reforming on 13 December 1941 specifically to operate the type (after a short incarnation towards the end of the First World War).
The first patrols were flown on the night of 27-28 April 1942 over East Anglia but the first confirmed kill did not come until 22/23 August 1942.
As the threat from German bombers faded, No. 157 squadron received a number of Mosquito FB.Mk VIs, and began to fly intruder missions over occupied Europe. In November 1943 the squadron moved to Cornwall and increasingly concentrated on the intruder role. After a brief interlude flying defensive patrols over the Irish Sea, in May 1944 the squadron moved to East Anglia, where it joined No.100 Group and carried out intruder missions to support the heavy bombers.
(Source - IWM Non Commercial Licence - CH 10312
P/O H V Drees, Royal Air Force official photographer)
(Colourised by Benjamin Thomas from Australia)

 

[Conhoon]

US Navy medic of the 2nd navy battalion beach (USN) writing a letter of his family on Utah Beach ( photography by Morris Engel)

Navy medical personnel could be found on ship and shore during the invasion. They served aboard land craft bringing the soldiers to the fight; and they were aboard battleships, cruisers, and destroyers that pounded German fortifications and cleared the way onto the beaches. Navy physicians and hospital corpsmen also served with the 2nd, 6th and Naval Beach Battalions landing on the fabled Normandy shoreline. Frank Snyder, a corpsman with the 6th Beach Battalion later remembered their mission was simple: “Treat the casualties and get them wherever we could find safe cover for them.”
Conditions for this were anything but ideal. These highly trained Sailors and officers treated an assortment of penetrating wounds to the head, face, neck, and extremities, and fractures, burns and blast
injuries and served as the evacuation link to ships offshore–all under the barrage of high velocity small arms, and artillery fire. Armed with litters, corpsmen of the beach battalions administered first aid—battle dressing, a tourniquet, a morphine injection, a casualty tag—and then moved the wounded down to the water’s edge so they could be evacuated aboard the landing craft heading back out to the transports. When that was not feasible, they sought shelter and set up aid stations above the high tide line.
Once evacuated from the American sectors of Utah and Omaha Beaches aboard the landing craft, the wounded were transferred to specially equipped landing craft, tanks (LCTs) landing ship, tanks (LSTs) and attack transports (APAs) staffed by physicians and corpsmen. Each LST had special brackets to accommodate 147 litters arranged in tiers 3 high on their tank decks. Here they received emergency treatment once the tanks and troops went ashore. Two Navy physicians, one Army surgeon, two Army operating room technicians, and 40 Navy hospital corpsmen staffed these versatile ships. They were equipped for providing first aid, stabilization, and an occasional surgery.(6) Once safely back in England, Navy medical personnel including nurses at the Naval Base Hospital 12 at Netley triaged patients, conducted emergency surgery, and stabilized the injured until they could be evacuated to other hospitals in Britain or back to the United States for more definitive treatment
Navy Medical personnel at were awarded two Navy Crosses (one physician and one corpsman), five Silver Stars (two physicians and three Corpsmen), 12 Legions of Merit (two physicians and 12 Corpsmen) and 23 Bronze Stars (16 physicians and seven Corpsmen)
Coloured by Johnny Sirlande

 

[Conhoon]

Tanks from Col. Barabash drive through the streets of Sevastopol, Ukraine, 1944.

During World War II, Sevastopol withstood intensive bombardment by the Germans in 1941–42, supported by their Italian and Romanian allies during the Battle of Sevastopol. German forces used railway artillery—including history's largest-ever calibre railway artillery piece in battle, the 80-cm calibre Schwerer Gustav—and specialised mobile heavy mortars to destroy Sevastopol's extremely heavy fortifications, such as the Maxim Gorky Fortresses.
After fierce fighting, which lasted for 250 days, the supposedly untakable fortress city finally fell to Axis forces in July 1942.
It was intended to be renamed to "Theodorichshafen" (in reference to Theodoric the Great and the fact that the Crimea had been home to Germanic Goths until the 18th or 19th century) in the event of a German victory against the Soviet Union, and like the rest of the Crimea was designated for future colonisation by the Third Reich.
It was liberated by the Red Army on 9 May 1944 and was awarded the Hero City title a year later.
Colour by Olga Shirnina (Klimbim)

 

[Conhoon]

Soviet sub-machine gunners in North China after the defeat of the Japanese by the Red Army in the Harbin region, 1945.

Photo by E. Khaldei.
Colour by Olga Shirnina (Klimbim)