Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

[Conhoon]

Royal Marine Artillery filling their water bottles at Ostend, August 1914.

The Marines of the Royal Naval Division landed at Ostend in Belgium on 27 August 1914. Sent to safeguard the town, they also protected a British seaplane base before re-embarking on 31 August for Dunkirk. Ostend was later evacuated and the Germans captured it on 15 October 1914.
(Photo source - © IWM Q 53230)
Colourised by Doug

 

[BravoZulu]

An 88 mm shell explodes on Utah Beach. 6th June 1944. In the foreground, U.S. soldiers protect themselves from enemy fire. Normandy, France

 

[Conhoon]

Transport for the Devonshire Regiment, with troops and horses resting, near Fricourt on the Somme. 7 August 1916.

(Photo source - © IWM Q 1135)
Brooks, Ernest (Lieutenant) (Photographer)
Colourised by Doug

 

[Conhoon]

The Polish Navy destroyer ORP Błyskawica leaving for patrol work in Hvalfjörður, 1942

 

[santana]

American troops in Venice, Italy, 1945.

 

[BravoZulu]

Captain Allyn Lewis landed his B-17 "Recall" in Belgium after its nose was shot away over Germany. His crew all bailed out safely and made it back to Allied held territory. The two men in the nose were able to scuttle out the hatch (see the missing door in the photo).

 

[Conhoon]

Ukrainian soldier of the Sich Riflemen photographed in c. 1917.

The Sich Riflemen Halych-Bukovyna Kurin were one of the first regular military units of the Ukrainian People's Army. It was formed from Ukrainian soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian army (hence the uniform), the local population, and former commanders of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen in Austria-Hungary.
Credit: julius.colorization

 

[BravoZulu]

10 August 1918, Battle of Amiens. British and German wounded at a dressing station of the 58th (London) Division near Chipilly, Somme.

 

[BravoZulu]

USS Massachusetts, (BB-59) underway refuelling from the T3-S2-A1 class USS Kaskaskia (AO-27) on October 17, 1944.

 

[Conhoon]

Marines of the 1st Marine Division fire at Japanese positions during the Battle of Peleliu in September of 1944.

On September 15, 1944, the 1st Marine Division landed on Peleliu with its commander, Major General William Rupertus, predicting the island would be in U.S. hands within four days. However, the excruciating battle would last 73 days. This was largely because of the island’s rugged terrain and the Japanese abandoning their large-scale assaults in favor of defensive warfare. When the Marines left the island to the 81st Infantry Division, they had suffered over 6,500 casualties….over one third of the entire division.

 

[Redav]

HMS Prince of Wales arriving in Singapore, 1941 - colourised

 

[BravoZulu]

Locals watch as troops and police inspect a German Messerschmitt Bf. 109E which crash landed in a wheat field in East Sussex, England August 12th, 1940. The pilot Leo Zaunbrecher, survived with a bullet wound in in his left shoulder and was taken to a local hospital.

 

[BravoZulu]

A Special Air Service jeep in the Gabes-Tozeur area of Tunisia, January 5th, 1943.
The vehicle is heavily loaded with jerrycans of fuel and water, and personal kit. The gunner is manning the .50 inch Browning ANM2 heavy machine gun, which was scavenged from a downed Allied aircraft, while the driver has a single Vickers ‘K’ .303 machinegun in front, and a twin mounting behind.
Photo colorised by Paul Reynolds.

 

[BravoZulu]

Curtiss Hawk H81-A3 Tomahawk P-40C’s of 3rd Squadron ‘Hells Angels’ of the ‘Flying Tigers’ in flight over the Sino-Burmese border. 4 July 1942.

 

[BravoZulu]

Finnish soldier escorting his shellshocked comrade to the aid station in Vuosalmi, July 13, 1944

 

[BravoZulu]

US soldiers waiting to break through the Normandy Bocage on the way to Coutances, France. June/July 1944

 

[Conhoon]

On board the Polish Navy destroyer ORP Garland, 1942.
While helping to escort a convoy to Soviet Union, ORP Garland withstood an enemy attack for 5 days and 5 nights, cooks and mechanics taking the place of her gunners as they were killed during the non-stop action.

 

[BravoZulu]

Soviet and American soldiers share a dance upon their meet-up at the River Elbe near Torgau, Saxony, Germany. April 26th, 1945. Elbe Day, April 25, 1945, is the day Soviet and American troops first met at the Elbe River, near Torgau in Germany

 

[BravoZulu]

Junkers Ju-87 Stuka in Greece, 1941. You can se the bomb release mechanism -to pusk the bomb out of the propeller spinning area- and detail of the "Jericho trumpet" on top of the right wheel fairing. These "Jericho trumpets" created the characteristic noise of the plane while on a dive attack.

 

[BravoZulu]

Children evacuated from Rochester, Kent to a camp in Wrens Wood, Ashdown Forest, East Sussex, attend lessons amongst the trees, have playtime in the open air and some have formed their own band using various instruments. 27th May 1941.