Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

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A Sherman M4A1 Tankcoming ashore from a LST during exercises on Chesapeake bay.

 

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German soldiers on horseback Belgium 1940.

 

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USS Indianapolis CA-35 off of Hawaii - 1940. Note USS Yorktown CV-5 in the left background

 

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German Fallschirmjager troops 1940 Norway.

 

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The Northrop N-3PB Nomad was a single-engined American floatplane of the 1940s. Northrop developed the N-3PB as an export model based on the earlier Northrop A-17 design.

A total of 24 were purchased by Norway, but were not delivered until after the Fall of Norway during the Second World War.

Exiled Norwegian forces used them from 1941, operating from Iceland, for convoy escort, anti-submarine patrols, and training purposes from "Little Norway" in Canada.

 

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Lieutenant Colonel Brummel, c 1943.

ENGLAND - AUGUST 06: A Kodachrome colour photograph of Lieutenant Colonel Brummel (1881-1944), taken by JCA Redhead (1886-1954) during World War Two.

Lieutenant Colonel Brummel served in Anti-Aircraft Command, a branch of the Royal Artillery formed in April 1939.

Working closely with the RAF they were responsible for manning the anti-aircraft artillery batteries defending Britain during World War Two.

 

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Sir Admiral Bertram Ramsay [1883-1945], taken by JCA Redhead (1886-1954) during World War Two.

Although retired in 1939, Admiral Ramsay returned to active service during World War Two, commanding the naval evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940.

An expert in amphibious warfare, he was naval commander during the invasion of Normandy on D-Day, 6th June 1944.

 

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Landing Ship Tank And Sherman, An American Sherman Tank M4A1(76)W is rolling out of the Landing Ship Tank (LST). July 1944.

The invasion of France is underway and Wehrmacht positions along the coast of Normandy have been destroyed. Wet ammunition storage is incorporated in this tank. Normandy, France.

 

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Rheinland-Pfaltz in March 1945: US soldiers inspect a hunter tiger (No. 331) of the 3rd in Neustadt on the Wine Street in Neustaddt.

Company of the heavy hunting tank battalion 653, which had to be given up by its crew due to lack of fuel.

 

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B-17G 42-37781 “Silver Dollar” was lost after bombs away when bombs from a higher flying group (379BG) hit this aircraft, knocking tail completely off in front of stabilizer.

The aircraft dived straight down into a spin with all four engines going, crashed in Berlin, Germany. March 9th, 1944.

 

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This Panzer II ausf. F was once part of Panzer-Abteilung 190 in the 90. Leichte Division in North Africa.
It was captured, along with an SdKfz 233 8-rad armored car by the U.S. 1st Ranger Battalion at El Guettar, Tunisia in the Spring of 1943.
After its capture, it was painted with U.S. markings and the Presidential Unit Citation insignia that the 1st Rangers earned from its actions at El Guettar.

 

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An SBC-4 of the 1st Marine Air Wing in formation with an SNJ-3, spring 1942.

 

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On the 9th of December 1942, Australians successfully recaptured the town of Gona from the Japanese during the Kokoda Campaign. Commencing on the 19th of November, Gona was the first of the three beachheads used by the Japanese during their landing in Papua at the start of the campaign.

Gona was defended by 900 men and was the smallest of the Japanese defensive positions in the area. The defences centred around the Gona Mission which was surrounded by well built bunkers, trenches and firing pits. It was to be attacked by the Australian 25th Brigade, which at the time contained just under 1,000 men.
The first Australian attack was launched on the 19th of November by the 2/33rd and 2/16th Battalions but was repulsed by the Japanese. Further attacks on the 22nd and 23rd proved costly and unsuccessful with 129 Australians killed and wounded, by the end of the 23rd the 25th Brigade had less than 800 men. A final attempt was made on the 24th using artillery support but although the Battalion managed to break into the Japanese position, they were forced to withdraw after.
Despite the inability of the Australians to break the Japanese position, they were, however, successful in preventing further Japanese reinforcements. The final decisive attack was made by the Australians on the 8th of December. At this point, the Japanese commander Major Yamamoto and 100 men attempted to escape to Giruwa but were detected and suffered heavy losses. Organised resistance was effectively over, but hand to hand fighting continued in Gona until 1630 on the afternoon of the 9th of December.
In total, the Japanese lost at least 638 men during the defence of Gona, whilst the Australians lost 750 men dead, missing or wounded. This battle would mark the beginning of the end for the Japanese.
Image: The three Chapman brothers of South Australia, who all joined the 2/27th Infantry Battalion, pause for a break just after the fall of Gona. Left to right: SX12357 Private Maxwell Maurice Chapman; SX12689 Private Desmond Chapman; and SX10196 Private Raymond Chapman.

 

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A Mk 1 or 2 Supermarine Spitfire photographed in original colour by LIFE magazine. Probably in summer 1941, at Hornchurch fighter station, UK. Ammunition boxes in foreground suggest the aircraft is being re-armed prior to a mission. It is possibly a plane from 54 Squadron, RAF. There are several shots in this series; they seem un-posed, with ground staff & pilot "caught" in the middle of tending to the aeroplane.

 

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Soldiers of "C" Company, 1st Battalion, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) in the trenches at Houplines (2 kilometres east of the centre of Armentieres). 19th & 20th December 1914.

Note the steel loophole in pic. #1
"The 1st Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 19th Brigade, which was an independent command at that time, in August 1914 for service on the Western Front. The battalion famously refused to play football or otherwise fraternise with the enemy on Christmas Day 1914."
(Photos source - © IWM Q 51550/9)
Colour by Doug

 

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View attachment 359406

Rheinland-Pfaltz in March 1945: US soldiers inspect a hunter tiger (No. 331) of the 3rd in Neustadt on the Wine Street in Neustaddt.

Company of the heavy hunting tank battalion 653, which had to be given up by its crew due to lack of fuel.

Its a Jagdtiger Sd.kfz 186

As per Jerman efficiency and standardization it was built upon a slightly lengthened Tiger 2 chassis

 

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Soldier H.E. Goddard of the Perth Regiment, carrying a Bren Light Machine gun on his shoulder, as he moves through a forest north of Arnhem with the 5. to the Canadian Blind Division. Netherlands, Netherlands. April 1945.

Colour by Facundo FGF
Credits: Photographer - Capt. Jack H. Smith / Canada. Dept. National Defense / Canadian Library and Files / PA-166370

 

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The original caption on the NZ Defence Archive print reads: "NZ infantry crouch in the depression formed by a ditch and await the order to advance on German held Faenza." Photograph taken 16 December 1944 by George Kaye, in Italy.

The corporal holding the Thompson M1928A1 -a veteran of the North-African campaign- is Charles Laurance Flanagin from Wellington. According to his shoulder patch, he seems to have belonged to the 2nd NZ Infantry Division’s 4th Armoured Brigade, presumably to the Brigade’s 22nd Motorised Battalion which occupied positions some miles west of the town itself.
Initially assigned to be dealt with by the British 46th Inf Division, the German strongpoint in the small town of Faenza guarded the only available bridge over the Lamone river in the narrow sector of favourable ground over which the attack could be made. The plan called for the town to be first outflanked and later taken in the first days of the offensive (early December) but unexpected strong German resistance took its toll on the British infantry and the town was only taken on December 16 by elements of the NZ Divisional Cavalry.
Curiously, during the course of this offensive, the 2nd NZ Infantry Division fought against elements of the 90th Panzergrenadier Division, the successor of the famous 90th Light Infantry Division: the New Zealander’s old foe from El Alamein.
My gratitude to Charles Flanagin’s grandson, M. T., for calling my attention to this photo, and sharing what he knows about his grandfather’s service.
Original: National Library of New Zealand
Colour and text by Rui

 

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The Liberation of Belgium and the Netherlands :

British Sherman tank of the Royal Scots Grays (4th Armories Brigade) - equipped with a 'Culin Hedgerow Device' because of the fighting in the bocage in Normandy - is disabled at a cornfield in or near Nederweert, 1944.

Note an entry wound on the front left 1/4 of the hull

 

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2nd Lt. Lawrence Liebers, P-38 fighter ace in North Africa.