Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

[BravoZulu]

USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) in 1931

 

[Conhoon]

Polish Navy the Oerlikon gunner at the deck of ORP Garland, 1940

 

[santana]

Shades of Greyhound”
Original Color Pictures taken on USS Nicholson DD-442 while escorting an Atlantic convoy to Casablanca in early 1943

The Convoy is possibly UGF6, the Oiler USS Mattaponi AO-41 appears in some of the pictures along with USS Wainwright DD-419 and USS Woolsey DD-437.

A Gleaves-Class Destroyer commissioned in June 1941, USS Nicholson served in the Atlantic & Mediterranean until early 1944 when she was sent to the Pacific, she finished the war with 10 battle stars for her WW2 service.

Sold to Italy in 1951, Nicholson was renamed “Aviere”, converted to an experimental gun ship in 1970, Nicholson was sunk as a target in 1975.

LIFE Magazine Archives - Dmitri Kessel Photographer

 

[santana]

"Shades of Greyhound”
Original Color Pictures taken on USS Nicholson DD-442 while escorting an Atlantic convoy to Casablanca in early 1943

The Convoy is possibly UGF6, the Oiler USS Mattaponi AO-41 appears in some of the pictures along with USS Wainwright DD-419 and USS Woolsey DD-437.

A Gleaves-Class Destroyer commissioned in June 1941, USS Nicholson served in the Atlantic & Mediterranean until early 1944 when she was sent to the Pacific, she finished the war with 10 battle stars for her WW2 service.

Sold to Italy in 1951, Nicholson was renamed “Aviere”, converted to an experimental gun ship in 1970, Nicholson was sunk as a target in 1975.

LIFE Magazine Archives - Dmitri Kessel Photographer

 

[santana]

The dependence of the horses in the WWII

In the image; German 15 cm horse-drawn cannon marching into enemy territory, 1940. Although almost invisible, the barrel has a muzzle cover with a red reflector. A fantastic photograph on many levels that would adorn any book about World War II, also rare because it shows the German troops in a relaxed mode. Don't forget the little details, like the steam still coming off the horses! It is perhaps the only color photograph showing the 150mm Feldhaubitze 18 on horseback.

Horses in World War II were used by warring nations for the transport of troops, artillery, materiel, and to a lesser extent in mobile cavalry troops. The role of horses for each nation depended on its military strategy and state of economy and was most pronounced in the German and Soviet armies.

Over the course of the war, both Germany and the Soviet Union used more than six million horses. Today the perception has changed. While in the past the Wehrmacht was perceived as an armored mechanized monster, the pendulum has swung in the completely opposite direction and the Heer (German Army) is now derided as "horse-dependent" and "horse-drawn". In fact, many repeatedly consulted sources warn me of this specific fact, the Wehrmacht had horse logistics.

Now the truth is as always somewhere in the middle, especially on the Eastern Front. In fact, the Germans used a significant number of horses, but they also had a considerable number of motorized vehicles.

In 1941 during Barbarossa, a standard first wave German infantry division (for armored and motorized the numbers were obviously higher) owned 516 trucks and 273 lighter transports. Of course that is not up to American and British standards, who were the only belligerents in World War II who could afford to even contemplate fielding fully motorized armies.

 

[santana]

A rare colour photograph of Gerhard "Gerd" Barkhorn (20 March 1919 – 11 January 1983) was a German military aviator and wing commander in the Luftwaffe during World War II.


As a fighter ace, he was the second most successful fighter pilot of all time after fellow pilot Erich Hartmann.
Other than Hartmann, Barkhorn is the only fighter ace to ever exceed 300 claimed victories.


Following World War II, he became a high-ranking officer in the German Air Force of the Federal Republic of Germany.

 

[santana]

The first Bell P-63 for the Soviets arrived in Krasnoyarsk on November 16, 1942.

 

[santana]

Market Garden. The Kings Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB) Little-known military bodies.

In the image; 21 September 1944 Sergeant Bert Hardy, official AFPU photographer at Hamont-Achel Belgium, carries three German prisoners on the hood of an Army Photo and Film Unit jeep.

On September 20, 1944, during the early hours of the morning, the township of Hamont was liberated by the 1st Battalion of the British Suffolk Regiment. The Kings Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB) took over the township of Achel. The liberation of Hamont and other North Limburg villages must be seen in a broader perspective.

The large-scale operation was called Market Garden and began on September 17. The troops were from the British 3rd Division. The intention was that the Allied forces in Belgium would join their compatriots in advancing through northern Belgium towards Nijmegen. In order to liberate Hamont and its surroundings, a bridgehead had first to be built on the Kaulille Canal.

On 19 September at 02:00 a surprise attack and crossing into the channel was made by two companies of infantry from the Lincoln and Ulster Rifles. The bridgehead could then be secured. During the night of 19/20 September the East Yorkshires cleared the Hork area of enemy resistance.

 

[santana]

Memories from Stalingrad

Part of the memoirs of Josef Goblirsch who fought assigned to the 54th Jäger Regiment of the 100th Jäger Division: “The first action that our regiment had to undertake was the conquest of the unique Hill 102 that dominated all of Stalingrad, the Mamayev Kurgan. We had taken this height, crowned by two cylindrical water towers to the south of the highest point, on September 14, but it was lost to the Soviets again on September 16. Now it was the renewed objective of our Division. We knew it would be a tall order against a hardened and untold enemy. We knew his rigorous way of fighting from many previous encounters.

At 03:00 on September 27, preparations began, and at 05:00 a preparatory barrage was unleashed by our artillery, which the Soviets immediately answered with heavy defensive fire. A salvo from Stalin's organ landed in a ravine killing fifteen Jäger troops and wounding 100 men from two neighboring companies. There were only minor injuries in my unit. The silent conduct of wounded or dying comrades only impressed me at the beginning of the war, no more. At 0630 hrs our Regiment attacked. The first target was Hill 102 immediately north of us. It had been a favorite excursion spot for the city's population in earlier times. From this commanding height almost the entire city and shipping on the Volga could be controlled. The platoons had been assigned to the Jäger Company led by me now attached to the 2nd Battalion, 54th Jäger Regiment. After heavy losses, we advanced only 200 meters. Casualties increased, but around 0900 hrs we reached the first objective, a ravine about 100 meters from the water towers. The incessant Soviet mortar fire kept us upside down: Stukas and shelling did little good. At 1:00 p.m. they ordered us to barricade ourselves.

Stiff resistance from the Soviet 269th Infantry Regiment prevented any further advance. Huddled in shell craters and trenches abandoned by the Soviets, tending to small wounds, we eagerly awaited the coming of darkness. At night we saw our end drawing near. Ten enemy bombers in the east were heading for our positions. Suddenly Luftwaffe fighters appeared and shot down half of them in less time than it takes to count. The rest moved away, still with their bombs, and disappeared over the Volga which we would have had a good view of if we had dared to raise our heads above the parapet of the shell crater in which we hid. Our own artillery did not help us in our situation. Some members of my unit had fallen, others were wounded. The medic assistants were overworked and exhausted just like all of us: shooting, jumping, digging, shouting orders through the heat of battle. As night fell we were relieved by a reinforced Jäger company to refresh our staff and our spirits. The wheeled vehicle platoon had been reduced to ten exhausted men, only 30% of its authorized strength. The next day the remnants of my unit rested in the barracks behind the first staging rooms on the road to Gumrak.

We learned that the slopes of Hill 102 facing the Volga and the city quarter behind it had come under a very heavy air attack at 0630 hrs. Stukas launched with sirens blaring, hundreds of bombs dropped from He-111 bomb bays. Our own artillery fired incessantly over our heads at targets on Hill 102 and the railway embankment to the east. After a long rocket barrage they heard infantry fire and also hand grenades, but despite the greatest effort accompanied by heavy casualties, neither the water towers nor the hill fell.

Two days later I received woefully inexperienced reinforcements as the battle for Hill 102 drew near and the northern section of the railway station continued with undiminished ferocity. It was mainly Croats from our division who were able to advance to the railway embankment east of Hill 102 the next day. Soon our entire battalion was disbanded. The soldiers of my company were totally exhausted, the wheeled vehicle section was reduced to ten men. We were now ready to support the 2nd Battalion in their attack on the northern section of the main railway station. The objective of this attack was to encircle the Soviets defending Hill 102... Colorized photography by Faku Gastón Filipe (FgF Colourised)

 

[BravoZulu]

"Squad of Coldstream Guards at Maxim Gun practice." Possibly 1914/15, at a London Barracks, maybe Chelsea or Knightsbridge.

 

[santana]

USS Belleau Wood was an Independence-class light aircraft carrier. On October 30, 1944 she was hit by a Kamikaze. She would return to action 6 months later. In the image you can see the smoke from another Kamikaze that hit the deck of the USS Franklin.

 

[santana]

HMS Ark Royal was one of the UK's busiest aircraft carriers during the start of World War II. She survived several air raids earning her the title of "Ship of Luck". However, she was sunk by a German submarine in the Mediterranean.

 

[Conhoon]

THE BRITISH ARMY ON THE ITALIAN FRONT, 1917-1918
British troops drawing water from a hole in a hillside on the Italian Front.

(Photo source- © IWM Q 25752)
Brunell, W. J. (Photographer)
Colourised by Doug

 

[NebrHogger]

Italian Bersaglierie in Donetsk, 1941. They were doing fairly well at this point but would suffer heavily at the hands of "General Winter" in a few months.

 

[Redav]

Capitulation of the last polish units at Hel peninsula, 2nd October 1939.

On the left the german delegation - Rear-Admiral Hubert Schmundt (Kriegsmarine) holds a conversation with a Rear-Admiral Józef Unrug the Commander of the Hel Fortified Area. Hel became famous as one heroically and long defended regions of Poland.

Photo: Muzeum Obrony Wybrzeża collection
Source: Władysław Szarski

 

[BravoZulu]

French soldier in a well sandbagged position at Pontaury using a Lebel rifle fitted with a periscopic sight. Aisne Area, France. c. 1917

 

[BravoZulu]

Royal Navy armorers of HMS Indomitable prepare 500 pound bombs, probably for an Avenger, to attack Japanese targets in Indonesia. Hellcats can be seen in the background. Autumn 1944 off Sumatra

 

[santana]

The H-Series normally shipped from the factory with four forward-fired 12.7 mm (0.50 in) machine guns, up the nose; four in a pair of flank-mounted cannon nuzzle sets under the cockpit (2 cannons per neck) tea); two more in dorsal tower inhabited, moved forward in a position just behind the cockpit (which has become the norm for Model J); each in a pair of new positions introduced simultaneously with the dorsal turret moved forward; and en in, a pair of cannons in a new machine gun position in line.
The company's promotional material boasted that the B-25H could "bring 10 machine guns, in addition to the 75mm cannon, eight rockets and 3,000 lb (1360 kg) bombs."

 

[Conhoon]

Royal Artillery gunners circa 1865:
These photos were taken 150 years ago, amazing quality. Note the "chinless" beards of these chaps. Also note the leather patches on the inner lower trousers that tie up with the shoes.

Colourisation and info by Boer War Colourised Photographs.

 

[Conhoon]

THE BRITISH ARMY ON THE ITALIAN FRONT, 1917-1918
Despatch riders on Triumph motorcycles, exchange their despatches on a mountain road in Northern Italy.

(Photo source - © IWM Q 26298)
Brunell, W. J. (Photographer)
Colourised by Doug