Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

[BravoZulu]

Wing Commander W.G. Leer of the R.A.A.F. poses in front of his caricature, Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea, August 1, 1943.

 

[BravoZulu]

Dispatch rider Pte McDowell of the 48th Highlanders of Canada, near Regalbuto Italy, 4 August 1943

Colourised

 

[BravoZulu]

Men of the 1/5th Battalion of the Buffs (East Kent Regiment) passing over the Jebel Hamrin, Mesopotamia. December 1917.

 

[Conhoon]

British troops and their artillery guns being evacuated from Suvla Bay, Gallipoli, on rafts in daylight, December 1915.

(Photo source - © IWM Q 13637)
Brooks, Ernest (Lieutenant) (Photographer)
Colourised by Doug - Colourising History

 

[Conhoon]

Barbette of 16" gun on board the USS New Jersey (BB-62).
Gunners packing in bags of powder which will fire the huge shell already in gun - November 1944.

 

[Redav]

An original color photograph of the battleship Bismarck during her sea trials. September 29th, 1940...

 

[Conhoon]

British troops coming home for Christmas Leave in London, December 1916

Colourised by Doug

 

[Conhoon]

Survivors of the Polish Navy destroyer ORP Grom, 1940

ORP Grom served in the Polish Navy from 1937 to 1940, when was bombed during her operations in the Norwegian Campaign and sunk in the Rombaken fjord near Narvik.
It has happend on 4th of May 1940 - she was hited by a bomb from a German bomber Heinkel He 111, the ship sunk almost immediately with a loss of life of 59 sailors.

 

[santana]

John Garand and the M1 Garand rifle

In the colorized photograph, Québecois John Garand (born Jean Cantius) and the legendary rifle of his creation, the M1 Garand. John Cantius Garand, (1888-1974), was a Canadian-born American firearms engineer, inventor of the M1 semi-automatic rifle, with which American infantrymen fought in World War II and the Korean War. The M1 Garand was the United States Army's first service-issue semi-automatic rifle, gradually replacing the bolt-action Springfield M1903.

In 1898, Garand's family moved to Connecticut, where he learned the trade as a machinist in textile mills. As a young man he worked in precision tool factories in Providence, Rhode Island, and New York City. During World War I, he designed a lightweight, fully automatic rifle, which was rejected by the US Army, but earned Garand a position in 1918 and 1919 as a weapons designer with the National Bureau of Standards, where he then transferred to the Springfield Armory, located in Massachusetts, where he went to work designing the replacement Springfield bolt-action rifle. For this, already in 1920 he had achieved US citizenship.

After many years of working under military specifications, Garand achieved a gas-operated rifle, .30 caliber, 109 cm long and weighing 4.3 kg. This rifle feeds from an eight bullet clip. When the last cartridge is fired, the rifle ejects the clip and locks the bolt in the open position. The combs can also be manually removed at any time by pulling the bolt handle rearward and then depressing the comb retention button. Approximately 6 million units of the M1 were manufactured. Adopted in 1936, the M1 became the flagship weapon of the US armies. These weapons gave American troops such an advantage in firepower that General George S. Patton called the M1 "the greatest battle implement ever devised."

Almost 5.5 million were produced in the United States and Italy (by Breda and Beretta under NATO license), of which 4 million between 1936 and 1945. Production ceased in 1957 and was replaced by the M14. As for John Garand signing all the patents for his invention with the US government, he continued to work on other experimental rifles until he retired in 1953.

 

[Conhoon]

Roman general Cornelius Fuscus.

Really - Georges Marchal in "Dacii" (1966), as Roman general Cornelius Fuscus.
I apologize in advance for this small joke, but when I saw this photo I couldn't resist. I hope I didn't offend anyone and I wish You a good mood!

 

[Redav]

Germany
Heavy Cruiser Blücher sank in 1940 during the invasion of Norway

 

[santana]

The Martin 187 Baltimore was a twin-engined light attack bomber built by the Glenn L. Martin Company in the United States as the A-30.

The model was originally ordered by the French in May 1940 as a follow-up to the earlier Martin Maryland, then in service in France.

With the fall of France, the production series was diverted to Great Britain and after mid-1941, supplied by the U.S. as Lend Lease equipment.

 

[santana]

Adolf Hitler (leader and Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht) walking in the snow with Heinrich Himmler (Reichsführer-SS and chief of the German police) with the help of a stick at Berghof Berchtesgaden (Munich), April 3, 1944.

 

[santana]

Felix Steiner not only the most important single influence behind the development of the dynamic tactical theories adopted by Waffen-SS, but one of the most innovative field commanders of the Second World War.


He believed in the creation of highly mobile, well trained, elite troops, both physically and mentally, to fight within the battlegroup and emphasized teamwork rather than mindless obedience on the field of battle.


Felix Steiner created a capable formation from disparate elements, and he commanded the Wiking Division competently through the many battles in the east from 1941 until his promotion to command the III. (Germanic) SS-Panzerkorps in April 1943.
Felix Steiner was promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS on July 1 1943.


After the surrender, he was incarcerated until 1948. Felix Steiner faced charges at the Nürnberg Trials, but they were all dropped and he was released.


He dedicated the last decades of his life to writing his memoirs and several books about the World War II. Felix Steiner died on May 12 1966. Award among others: Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.

 

[santana]

My new colorized image of the interior and waist gunners of a USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress, September 1942.

 

[Connaught Ranger]

View attachment 416416

My new colorized image of the interior and waist gunners of a USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress, September 1942.

Posed shot? as I dont see any ammo belts hanging from the guns.

 

[NebrHogger]

British soldiers firing from cover during the Boer war.

 

[santana]

German soldier with a sniper rifle possibly a 7x57 Mauser.

 

[santana]

Wehrmacht generals and admirals stood in the grandstand at the culmination of Adolf Hitler's 50th birthday celebration, held in Berlin on April 20, 1939.

All wore parade dress (parade uniform), complete with brocade belt, awards (medal bars), and cord). First row from left to right: Colonel General Erhard Milch (Inspector General of the Air Force), General Hans-Jürgen Stumpff (Chief of the Air Force), Lieutenant General Ernst Udet (Master General of the Air Force and Head of the Plan of the Air Force Office), Admiral Max Bastian (President of the Reich Security and Wehrmacht Supply Court), and Major General Friedrich Fahnert (Berlin Air News College).

For additional identification: Lt. Gen. Walter Petzel (Ordnance Inspector) is the bespectacled man standing behind Fahnert; Major General Hermann von Hanneken (Iron and Steel Commissioner also head of the main division II I indu stry) stood between Bastian and Fahnert, Colonel Wilhelm List (Head Commander of Army Group 5) between Udet and Bastian, and the General the aviator Friedrich Christiansen (NSFK corporation leader) between Stumpff and Udet.

This photograph was taken by personal photographer, Hugo Jaeger.

Note that Milch and Stumpff are wearing the star of the Order of the Yugoslav Crown on their chests!

 

[santana]

German soldiers photographed during the Battle of the Bulge. Possibly the photograph was taken on December 18, 1944 near Poteau, in Belgium. The men were photographed smoking American cigarettes, and may be from the 1st SS Panzer Division, Kampfgruppe Hansen, although the soldier on the right appears to be a Luftwaffe ground soldier. The pistol held by the SS soldier on the left is an FN Browning High Power, of North American origin, but finished in Belgium, a country that adopted it for its army in 1935. After invading the Belgian region of Herstal, the Germans seized of the production of the FN pistol, thus, hundreds of thousands of units of this mythical weapon were equipped. The Germans even went so far as to rename the High Power, calling it the 9mm Pistole 640. He also wears a 7.92 mm caliber ammunition belt from the MG-42 machine gun around his neck.