Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts
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Discharged Japanese soldiers crowd around trains at Hiroshima Railroad Station as they take advantage of free transportation to their homes after the end of the war.
8 September 1945
After Japan's capitulation, more than 5,400,000 Japanese soldiers and 1,800,000 Japanese sailors were taken prisoner by the Allies.The damage done to Japan's infrastructure, combined with a severe famine in 1946, further complicated the Allied efforts to feed the Japanese POWs and civilians.
Separately, some soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army continued to fight on isolated Pacific islands until at least the 1970s, with the last known Japanese soldier surrendering in 1974. Intelligence officer Hiroo Onoda, who surrendered on Lubang Island in the Philippines in March 1974, and Teruo Nakamura, who surrendered on the Indonesian island of Morotai in December 1974, appear to have been the last confirmed holdouts.
The estimated figure of Japanese Military deaths during WW2 was over 2 million
Photographs by US Navy Lt. Wayne F. Miller, U.S. Navy Combat Photo Unit. (Miller died on May 22, 2013, at his home in Orinda, California, age 94)
(Source - U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)
#1 (Colourised by Benjamin Thomas)
#2 (Colorized by Jared Enos)
8 September 1945
After Japan's capitulation, more than 5,400,000 Japanese soldiers and 1,800,000 Japanese sailors were taken prisoner by the Allies.The damage done to Japan's infrastructure, combined with a severe famine in 1946, further complicated the Allied efforts to feed the Japanese POWs and civilians.
Separately, some soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army continued to fight on isolated Pacific islands until at least the 1970s, with the last known Japanese soldier surrendering in 1974. Intelligence officer Hiroo Onoda, who surrendered on Lubang Island in the Philippines in March 1974, and Teruo Nakamura, who surrendered on the Indonesian island of Morotai in December 1974, appear to have been the last confirmed holdouts.
The estimated figure of Japanese Military deaths during WW2 was over 2 million
Photographs by US Navy Lt. Wayne F. Miller, U.S. Navy Combat Photo Unit. (Miller died on May 22, 2013, at his home in Orinda, California, age 94)
(Source - U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)
#1 (Colourised by Benjamin Thomas)
#2 (Colorized by Jared Enos)
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Corporal Ron Mills of 181 Airlanding Field Ambulance RAMC kneeling at the field grave of Trooper William McKinlay Edmond of 9 Section 'C' Troop 1st Airlanding Squadron at Duitsekampweg, Wolfheze, Netherlands
KIA 17 September 1944.
Trooper Edmond was a member of the Royal Armoured Corps, commanded by Major Freddie Gough.
The squadron’s job was to land by glider near Wolfheze on September 17, 1944, then dash to and seize Arnhem Bridge in their specially armed and adapted jeeps.
Unfortunately, Trooper Edmond was shot by a German sniper as the squadron advanced through Wolfheze. Lieutenant Bowles and Sergeant Christie dragged him to safety and conveyed the mortally wounded man to the Regimental Aid Post.
Shot in a lung, his last reported words were: “Tell my wife I love her and go and see her.”
In 1945, he was reinterred at the nearby Oosterbeek Airborne Cemetery in the Netherlands – where annually since that year, Dutch schoolchildren have laid flowers on all 1,750 graves every September.
(read more - http://www.warcemeteries.nl/Edmond.html)
(Photo source - © IWM BU 1105)
Sgt Lewis, No. 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit
KIA 17 September 1944.
Trooper Edmond was a member of the Royal Armoured Corps, commanded by Major Freddie Gough.
The squadron’s job was to land by glider near Wolfheze on September 17, 1944, then dash to and seize Arnhem Bridge in their specially armed and adapted jeeps.
Unfortunately, Trooper Edmond was shot by a German sniper as the squadron advanced through Wolfheze. Lieutenant Bowles and Sergeant Christie dragged him to safety and conveyed the mortally wounded man to the Regimental Aid Post.
Shot in a lung, his last reported words were: “Tell my wife I love her and go and see her.”
In 1945, he was reinterred at the nearby Oosterbeek Airborne Cemetery in the Netherlands – where annually since that year, Dutch schoolchildren have laid flowers on all 1,750 graves every September.
(read more - http://www.warcemeteries.nl/Edmond.html)
(Photo source - © IWM BU 1105)
Sgt Lewis, No. 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit
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September 26, 1944
Members of the British 1st Airborne Division (mostly 1st Bn Borders), safe in the grounds of the Missionary College in Nijmegen, on Tuesday 26th September, after being successfully evacuated (with the participation of soldiers of the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade (1SBS)) across the Rhine from Arnhem.
Back row, L-R: Ptes. Jack Cohen (Divisional HQ's Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry Defense Platoon), Poule (from Sheffield, unit unknown), Johnny Peters (No.14 Platoon, B Company, 1st Border, from Liverpool).
Middle row, L-R: L / Cpl. C. McInnes (23 Mortar Platoon, 1st Border), Pte. D. Doran (1st Border), Lt. C.E.K. Speller (Platoon Commander No 2 Platoon, 21 Independent Para Coy).
Front row, L-R: Cpl. Jim McDowell (23 Mortar Platoon, 1st Border), Lt. A.G.Catford (E-Sqn, G.P.R.), Pte. Danny Shaw (9th Field Company, RE), L / Cpl. Thomas McEwan (No.18 Platoon, 10th Battalion), unknown, Pte. A. R. Morgan-Lewis (L-Section, 1 Abn Div Sigs), Tpr. Jim Cooke (Recce Squadron), L / Cpl. Ronny Lord (23 Mortar Platoon, 1st Border), CSM: Terry Armstrong (89 Field Security Section, Int Corps), L / Cpl. S. "Judy" Wright (Divisional HQ's Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry Defense Platoon).
(Www.paradata.org.uk)
(1st Border was part of 1st Airlanding Brigade - glider troops. Based in Woodhall Spa from Dec ’43 and fought in Op Market Garden.)
(Photo source - IWM © HU 3722)
General Stanisław Sosabowski - commander of the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade (pictured as a colonel)
... and photomontage using the original colourised photo of general Stanisław Sosabowski ...
'Unknown English Soldier'
Grave of an unknown British paratrooper buried by German soldiers in Arnhem, the Netherlands.
Battle of Arnhem - Sept 17th -- Sept 26th 1944.
R.I.P
Members of the British 1st Airborne Division (mostly 1st Bn Borders), safe in the grounds of the Missionary College in Nijmegen, on Tuesday 26th September, after being successfully evacuated (with the participation of soldiers of the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade (1SBS)) across the Rhine from Arnhem.
Back row, L-R: Ptes. Jack Cohen (Divisional HQ's Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry Defense Platoon), Poule (from Sheffield, unit unknown), Johnny Peters (No.14 Platoon, B Company, 1st Border, from Liverpool).
Middle row, L-R: L / Cpl. C. McInnes (23 Mortar Platoon, 1st Border), Pte. D. Doran (1st Border), Lt. C.E.K. Speller (Platoon Commander No 2 Platoon, 21 Independent Para Coy).
Front row, L-R: Cpl. Jim McDowell (23 Mortar Platoon, 1st Border), Lt. A.G.Catford (E-Sqn, G.P.R.), Pte. Danny Shaw (9th Field Company, RE), L / Cpl. Thomas McEwan (No.18 Platoon, 10th Battalion), unknown, Pte. A. R. Morgan-Lewis (L-Section, 1 Abn Div Sigs), Tpr. Jim Cooke (Recce Squadron), L / Cpl. Ronny Lord (23 Mortar Platoon, 1st Border), CSM: Terry Armstrong (89 Field Security Section, Int Corps), L / Cpl. S. "Judy" Wright (Divisional HQ's Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry Defense Platoon).
(Www.paradata.org.uk)
(1st Border was part of 1st Airlanding Brigade - glider troops. Based in Woodhall Spa from Dec ’43 and fought in Op Market Garden.)
(Photo source - IWM © HU 3722)
General Stanisław Sosabowski - commander of the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade (pictured as a colonel)
... and photomontage using the original colourised photo of general Stanisław Sosabowski ...
'Unknown English Soldier'
Grave of an unknown British paratrooper buried by German soldiers in Arnhem, the Netherlands.
Battle of Arnhem - Sept 17th -- Sept 26th 1944.
R.I.P
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26 September 1944
Private Kenneth Boyer a gunner of Company B, 37th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division sits on his M4 Sherman whilst taking a break near Château Salins north-east of Arracourt, Lorraine, France.
Private Kenneth Boyer a gunner of Company B, 37th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division sits on his M4 Sherman whilst taking a break near Château Salins north-east of Arracourt, Lorraine, France.
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The three Army Film and Photographic Unit Photographers who took the graphic still and cine pictures of the 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem. The picture, which shows them with their cameras, was taken at the AFPU Centre at Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire on 28 September 1944, the day that they arrived back. Smith was wounded in the shoulder. Left to right: Sgt. Dennis M Smith, Sgt. Gordon "Jock" Walker and Sgt. C M "Mike" Lewis.
(Photo source - © IWM BU 1169)
Barker, Jack E. (Lieutenant)
Army Film and Photographic Unit
(Photo source - © IWM BU 1169)
Barker, Jack E. (Lieutenant)
Army Film and Photographic Unit
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Sd.Kfz. 251/1 Ausf.D captured by the Polish Home Army from the 5.SS "Viking" Panzer Div., 14th August 1944 on Bartoszewicza street
It was called by the Poles - "Jaś" ("Johnny").
It was part of the 8th motor column of Group 'Krybar' seen here on ul. Powiśla. From the right to left: plut. pchor. Adam Dewicz 'Szary Wilk' armed with an MP 40, Column Commander ppor. Wacław Jastrzębowski 'Aspira'. It was used on the attack on the Wasraw University during which plut. pchor. Adam Dewicz "Szary Wilk" was killed. The vehicle was re-named "Szary Wilk" in his honor.
(Colorised by Mikołaj Kaczmarek from Poland)
It was called by the Poles - "Jaś" ("Johnny").
It was part of the 8th motor column of Group 'Krybar' seen here on ul. Powiśla. From the right to left: plut. pchor. Adam Dewicz 'Szary Wilk' armed with an MP 40, Column Commander ppor. Wacław Jastrzębowski 'Aspira'. It was used on the attack on the Wasraw University during which plut. pchor. Adam Dewicz "Szary Wilk" was killed. The vehicle was re-named "Szary Wilk" in his honor.
(Colorised by Mikołaj Kaczmarek from Poland)
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Central Women’s School of Sniper Training, 1943 (Armed with Mosin-Nagant 1891/30 Sniper Rifles)
The Mosin-Nagant Model 1891 bolt-action rifle combined a simple design by Russian Captain Sergei Mosin with a five-round internal box magazine designed by Belgians Émile and Léon Nagant. Entering Russian service in 1892, it remained the standard long arm of the Russian infantry through the Russo-Japanese War, World War I and, in its improved 1930 Soviet version, World War II.
In 1932 the Red Army pulled Mosin-Nagants from assembly lines to modify them as sniper rifles. Gunsmiths reconfigured the bolt handle to make room for 3.5–4x telescopic sights; raised the foresight a millimeter, allowing a sniper to use open sights on targets out to 600 meters; and lightened the trigger pull to a range of 4.4 to 5.3 pounds. Snipers still complained about the weapon’s excessive length and weight, as well as its poor quality wooden stocks, which often warped during weather changes.
In March, 1942 a Central Women’s School of Sniper Training was established in Vishniaki, a village 8.7 miles outside Moscow. The school recruited women aged 18-26, physically fit, with at least seven years of education. School Director was Nora P. Chegodayeva, a graduate of the famous Frunze Military Academy who had fought as a communist volunteer in the Spanish Civil War. By the end of the war, the school graduated 1,885 snipers and instructors.
Women were thought to make good snipers, because they could endure stress and cold better than men, and they had “more patience” to wait for the perfect shot. A special few achieved recognition and fame.
(defensemedianetwork.com)
(Colorized by Olga Shirnina from Russia)
Female snipers. The 2nd Byelorussian Front.
(Colorized by Olga Shirnina from Russia)
The Mosin-Nagant Model 1891 bolt-action rifle combined a simple design by Russian Captain Sergei Mosin with a five-round internal box magazine designed by Belgians Émile and Léon Nagant. Entering Russian service in 1892, it remained the standard long arm of the Russian infantry through the Russo-Japanese War, World War I and, in its improved 1930 Soviet version, World War II.
In 1932 the Red Army pulled Mosin-Nagants from assembly lines to modify them as sniper rifles. Gunsmiths reconfigured the bolt handle to make room for 3.5–4x telescopic sights; raised the foresight a millimeter, allowing a sniper to use open sights on targets out to 600 meters; and lightened the trigger pull to a range of 4.4 to 5.3 pounds. Snipers still complained about the weapon’s excessive length and weight, as well as its poor quality wooden stocks, which often warped during weather changes.
In March, 1942 a Central Women’s School of Sniper Training was established in Vishniaki, a village 8.7 miles outside Moscow. The school recruited women aged 18-26, physically fit, with at least seven years of education. School Director was Nora P. Chegodayeva, a graduate of the famous Frunze Military Academy who had fought as a communist volunteer in the Spanish Civil War. By the end of the war, the school graduated 1,885 snipers and instructors.
Women were thought to make good snipers, because they could endure stress and cold better than men, and they had “more patience” to wait for the perfect shot. A special few achieved recognition and fame.
(defensemedianetwork.com)
(Colorized by Olga Shirnina from Russia)
Female snipers. The 2nd Byelorussian Front.
(Colorized by Olga Shirnina from Russia)
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A group of Soviet soldiers (l-r with shoulder boards are a Colour Sgt., Sgt., a Private and another Sgt.) relax with their PPSH 41 machine guns, the one second from right is holding a German MP-40.
(Colorized by Olga Shirnina from Russia)
(Colorized by Olga Shirnina from Russia)
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Two unidentified snipers, in "ghillie" suits, of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion during an inspection by King George VI, Queen Elizabeth and Princess Elizabeth, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire in England, 17 May 1944.
On the evening on 5 June 1944 the battalion was transported to France in fifty aircraft. Each man carried a knife, toggle rope, escape kit with French currency, and two 24-hour ration packs in addition to their normal equipment, in all totalling 70 pounds. The battalion landed one hour in advance of the rest of the brigade in order to secure the Drop zone (DZ). Thereafter they were ordered to destroy road bridges over the river Dives and its tributaries at Varaville, then neutralize strongpoints at the crossroads.
In addition, the Canadians were to protect the left (southern) flank of the 9th Battalion, Parachute Regiment during that unit's attack on the Merville Battery, afterwards seizing a position astride the Le Mesnil crossroads, a vital position at the centre of the ridge.
(Colorized by David Stroodle from the USA)
On the evening on 5 June 1944 the battalion was transported to France in fifty aircraft. Each man carried a knife, toggle rope, escape kit with French currency, and two 24-hour ration packs in addition to their normal equipment, in all totalling 70 pounds. The battalion landed one hour in advance of the rest of the brigade in order to secure the Drop zone (DZ). Thereafter they were ordered to destroy road bridges over the river Dives and its tributaries at Varaville, then neutralize strongpoints at the crossroads.
In addition, the Canadians were to protect the left (southern) flank of the 9th Battalion, Parachute Regiment during that unit's attack on the Merville Battery, afterwards seizing a position astride the Le Mesnil crossroads, a vital position at the centre of the ridge.
(Colorized by David Stroodle from the USA)
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Portrait of Soviet Guards Sgt. Alexey G. Frolchenko, late of the 325th “Dvina” Rifle Division, carrying his PPSh-41 submachine gun.
''Late" because the 325th, formed in August 1941, had been largely bled white by the Spring of 1943 and, merging with two similarly decimated brigades, was fleshed out to become the newly reformed 90th Guards Rifle Division just before Kursk (and survived until disbanded in 2001 as the 90th Guards Vitebsko-Novgorodskaya twice Red Banner Tank Division).
As for Frolchenko, he was awarded the Order of the Red Star for bravery at the Battle of Kursk while leading a scout detachment. Receiving a battlefield promotion to Lieutenant, Alexey finished the war as a Captain leading a company in East Prussia and died in his sleep at age 62 in 1967.
(Image taken by Anatoly Arkhipov near Belgorod, Belgorod Oblast, Russia, Soviet Union. August 1943.)
(Colorized by Konstantin Fiev from Russia)
''Late" because the 325th, formed in August 1941, had been largely bled white by the Spring of 1943 and, merging with two similarly decimated brigades, was fleshed out to become the newly reformed 90th Guards Rifle Division just before Kursk (and survived until disbanded in 2001 as the 90th Guards Vitebsko-Novgorodskaya twice Red Banner Tank Division).
As for Frolchenko, he was awarded the Order of the Red Star for bravery at the Battle of Kursk while leading a scout detachment. Receiving a battlefield promotion to Lieutenant, Alexey finished the war as a Captain leading a company in East Prussia and died in his sleep at age 62 in 1967.
(Image taken by Anatoly Arkhipov near Belgorod, Belgorod Oblast, Russia, Soviet Union. August 1943.)
(Colorized by Konstantin Fiev from Russia)
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Australian soldiers from the 2/1st Infantry Battalion, 6th Division on the Kokoda Track, New Guinea. October - November 1942
(Front left, Norman Carter identified by his daughter)
In the South-West Pacific theatre the 2/1st Battalion fought in two campaigns - the advance along the Kokoda Trail to the Japanese beachheads between September 1942 and January 1943, and the drive to clear the Japanese from the Aitape-Wewak region of New Guinea between December 1944 and August 1945. The period in between was occupied with training in northern Queensland. The Kokoda Trail fighting, involving major battles at Eora Creek (20-29 October), Gorari (9-12 November 1942) and Sanananda (20-21 November) was particularly costly, with over two-thirds of the battalion killed, wounded, or evacuated sick.
(Photograph from the Percy Haslam Collection held by Cultural Collections at the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia)
(Front left, Norman Carter identified by his daughter)
In the South-West Pacific theatre the 2/1st Battalion fought in two campaigns - the advance along the Kokoda Trail to the Japanese beachheads between September 1942 and January 1943, and the drive to clear the Japanese from the Aitape-Wewak region of New Guinea between December 1944 and August 1945. The period in between was occupied with training in northern Queensland. The Kokoda Trail fighting, involving major battles at Eora Creek (20-29 October), Gorari (9-12 November 1942) and Sanananda (20-21 November) was particularly costly, with over two-thirds of the battalion killed, wounded, or evacuated sick.
(Photograph from the Percy Haslam Collection held by Cultural Collections at the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia)
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On their drive towards Naples, the crew of ‘Sheik’, a Sherman Mk.III (M4A2) belonging to 'A' Squadron of the Royal Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons), stop to watch water vapour coming out of Mount Vesuvius, Italy. 29 September 1943.
Formed in 1678, the Royal Scots Greys were the last Cavalry regiment in the British Army to replace their horses for mechanized vehicles, having done so only in March of 1941.
It is said that, proud of their traditions and heritage (that included the capture of the French 45th Infantry’s eagle at Waterloo) the regiment wanted to keep the colours by which it was known so they initially painted their tanks grey.
General Montgomery, being an Infantry man, disliked the idea and ordered the tanks repainted with camouflage patterns, but didn’t specify which patterns or colours should be used. So the Greys used a combination of khaki-green, light mud and hand painted blue-black flecks to create a pattern loosely based in similar camo patterns seen in German tanks.
(Photo source - IWM NA 7457)
(Colorised by Rui Manuel Candeias)
Formed in 1678, the Royal Scots Greys were the last Cavalry regiment in the British Army to replace their horses for mechanized vehicles, having done so only in March of 1941.
It is said that, proud of their traditions and heritage (that included the capture of the French 45th Infantry’s eagle at Waterloo) the regiment wanted to keep the colours by which it was known so they initially painted their tanks grey.
General Montgomery, being an Infantry man, disliked the idea and ordered the tanks repainted with camouflage patterns, but didn’t specify which patterns or colours should be used. So the Greys used a combination of khaki-green, light mud and hand painted blue-black flecks to create a pattern loosely based in similar camo patterns seen in German tanks.
(Photo source - IWM NA 7457)
(Colorised by Rui Manuel Candeias)
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