Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

[BravoZulu]

Soldiers brought into Coventry to help with the clearing up following the heavy German air raid of November 14, 1940, seen here taking a tea break. During the raid 4,330 homes were destroyed and three quarters of the city's factories were damaged along with the city's tram system.
Colour by Colourising History

 

[BravoZulu]

A group of 601 Squadron pilots at RAF Northolt, January 1941.
R-L: Sgt. Arthur Pond, F/Lt. Jack Riddle, F/O Thomas Grier, F/O Humphrey Gilbert, P/O Clive Mayers (Australia) and Whitney Straight (USA)

 

[BravoZulu]

Men of the 1st Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment, 4th Infantry Division enjoy a tot of rum in a section of trench named 'Pudding Lane', near Roubaix, a commune in the Nord department in northern France.

 

[robson68]

Liberated Italians welcome the soldiers of the Polish II Corps. Bologna, Italy, 21 April, 1945

View attachment 372199
The offensive on Bologna started on 9 April at 4:00 am local time, with a major air and artillery bombardment of 400 guns firing on German positions, followed by an advance of ground forces the same evening. Friendly fire caused casualties as American bombers killed 38 advancing Polish troops on that day.
The American and British units engaged the German flanks, while the Polish units broke through to the city. On 10 April, Polish forces pushed the Germans away from the Senio River. From 12–14 April Polish forces fought the Germans at the Santerno River and captured Imola.
From 15–16 April, the Poles fought at the Sillaro River and the Medicina Canal. On 17 April, the commander of the Eighth Army ordered the Polish forces to continue their push towards Bologna from the east. The town was to be taken initially by the American troops of the Fifth Army advancing from the south.
On 21 April the 3rd Carpathian Rifle Brigade of the Polish 3rd Carpathian Infantry Division entered the city, where only isolated German units were still fighting.(Another source attributes the entrance to the Polish 5th Kresowa Division).
By 6:15 am the Poles had secured the city, displaying Polish flags from the town hall and the Torre Asinelli tower, the highest tower in the city. The local Italian population welcomed the Poles as their liberators. At 8:00 am, American (South African) tanks arrived in the city, followed by Italian partisans and the "Friuli" division of the Italian Co-Belligerent Army.
Colour by Mikołaj Kaczmarek - Kolor Historii
Photo by Sikorski / The Polish Institute and Museum, London.

First on the left - colonel Gustaw Łowczowski commander of 3rd Carpathian Rifle Brigade. Next - brigadier general Klemens Rudnicki deputy commander of 5th Kresowa Division - at that time he was commander of Battle group RUD, the third one most likely is commander of 4th Wolynska Infantry Brigade colonel Franciszek Demel.

 

[Conhoon]

Captured German prisoners, France, August 1914.

(Colorized by Frédéric Duriez).

 

[Conhoon]

Private John Davies, with a Bren light machine-gun, during an attack by the Australian 24th Battalion against the Japanese at the Hatai Junction on Buin Road, Southern Bougainville, 17 April 1945.

(Photo source - Australian War Memorial - 091023)
Colourised by Doug

 

[Chazman]

U.S. Navy gunnery training ship USS Wyoming (AG-17), underway in the Atlantic Ocean on 30 April 1945, after it's last modernization. It was used to train anti-aircraft gunners.
Colour: Alex Wolf

 

[Conhoon]

Canadian machine gunners using a shell hole to dig in. Vimy Ridge. April, 1917

(Photo source - Library and Archive Canada)
Colourised by Doug - Colourising History

 

[Conhoon]

THE BATTLE OF ARRAS, APRIL-MAY 1917
A battery of 9.2-inch Howitzers in firing positions at Neuville-Vitasse, 30 April 1917.

(Photo source - © IWM Q 6347)
Brooke, John Warwick (Lieutenant) (Photographer)
Colourised by Royston Leonard

 

[Conhoon]

Maori fighter pilot Sergeant James Himiona Wetere from New Zealand, and an unknown Flight Sergeant, watch a bomb being attached to a Hurricane MkIIb of No. 174 'Mauritius' Squadron.
RAF Manston in Kent, late 1942

For the first time, Hurricane XP-R 'Mauritius VII' BE682 appeared in the unit’s ORB on 17th April 1942. One of its pilots was F/Sgt James Himiona Wetere (RNZAF), a Maori born in Hoe-O-Tainui in 1918, who fought in the ranks of No. 174 Squadron and then in No. 184 Squadron on Typhoons. In the latter unit, he was promoted Flight Lieutenant and received the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC)
Air Force Museum of New Zealand Official photo
Colour: RarityColor
Daniel Rarity

 

[BravoZulu]

Aug 2 1917. Mounted cavalry with gas mask, colourised by Rui Candeias

 

[BravoZulu]

German sniper from a Gebirgsjäger unit cleans his rifle during the Italian Campaign on the Gothic Line along the summits of the Apennines. Emilia-Romagna, Italy, September 1944

 

[Conhoon]

Cutella Airfield, south of Vasto, Abruzzo’s Region, Italy, 1944.

An RAF Wing Commander inspects a 1,000-lb GP bomb slung beneath the fuselage of a Curtiss Kittyhawk Mark IV of No. 450 Squadron RAAF in a dispersal.
Two 500-lb GP bombs are also slung from the wing loading points. The Kittyhawk was widely employed during the Campaign of Italy as fighter-bomber with good results.

 

[Conhoon]

The Zara class was a group of four heavy cruisers built for the Italian Regia Marina. The class comprised the vessels Zara, Fiume, Gorizia, and Pola. They carried the same main battery of eight 203 mm (8.0 in) guns and had a maximum speed of 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph). Among the best-protected heavy cruisers built by any navy in the 1930s.

After Italy joined the wider conflict in 1940, the four ships saw extensive action in the Mediterranean Sea against British forces. The ships took part in the battles of Calabria and Cape Matapan, and in the latter engagement, Zara, Pola, and Fiume were all sunk in a one-sided night action with three British battleships.
Gorizia continued in service, seeing further action at the First and Second Battles of Sirte. She was seriously damaged by American heavy bombers in April 1943 and towed to La Spezia, where she was still under repair when Italy surrendered in September. Germany seized the ship when they occupied the port, and Italian commandos unsuccessfully attempted to sink her in June 1944. In poor condition by the end of the war, the postwar Italian Navy decided to sell the ship for scrap in 1947.

 

[BravoZulu]

A Royal Field Artillery soldier wears an "Intermediate" body armour made of linked steel plates covering his chest, abdomen and back, 1916.

 

[BravoZulu]

B-24H of 833rd Bomb Squadron, 486th Bombardment Group (Heavy). This picture was taken over Jaywick in Essex, England as the aircraft returned from their mission. Image by M/Sgt Lewis Funk

 

[Conhoon]

Winter in the North Atlantic, HMCS PENETANG, 1945 (LA Ca 133-v8). HMCS Penetang was a River-class frigate that served in the Royal Canadian Navy from 1944 to 1945 during the Second World War. She fought in the Battle of the Atlantic as a convoy escort.

River-class frigates were the first Royal Canadian Navy warships to carry the 147B Sword horizontal fan echo sonar transmitter in addition to the irregular ASDIC. This allowed the ship to maintain contact with targets even while firing unless a target was struck. Improved radar and direction-finding equipment improved the RCN's ability to find and track enemy submarines over the previous classes.
Canada originally ordered the construction of 33 frigates in October 1941. The design was too big for the shipyards on the Great Lakes so all the frigates built in Canada were built in dockyards along the west coast or along the St. Lawrence River. In all Canada ordered the construction of 60 frigates including ten for the Royal Navy that transferred two to the United States Navy.
Color by Alex Wolf

 

[Conhoon]

THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA
Stretcher bearers of the 38th Infantry Brigade (13th Division) bringing in a wounded man during the action of Tuz Khamatli.
29 April 1918.

(Photo source - © IWM Q 24663)
Colourised by Doug

 

[BravoZulu]

U.S. Marines battling for control of a ridge near Naha, Okinawa, May 1945

 

[BravoZulu]

Finnish Lieutenant Toiviainen, commander of the 5th Company from the Infantry Regiment 34, firing a light machine gun at the Kollaa River, Dec 17, 1939.