Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

[Connaught Ranger]

View attachment 416662

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.

A well known propaganda shot from a German propaganda unit film operating alongside the Germans during the battle of the Bulge info on this and other shots feature in the "Then and Now" publications if I recall correctly.

 

[Conhoon]

PzKpfw IV Ausf. G with projecting turret armor and wide winter belts.
End of February 1944. During the Soviet offensive to liberate the Leningrad region in January-March 1944, German troops evacuate the entire area between Lake Ilmen and the Gulf of Finland up to Lake Peipus.

 

[Conhoon]

Santa Claus, camp Lee Virginia, USA. December 1941.

 

[santana]

Senior group leader and Waffen-SS General Karl Wolff (Higher SS and Police Chief of Italy and Plenipotent General of the German Armed Forces in Italy) at a ceremony in October 1944.

 

[santana]

Pictures from Walter Nödinger's estate (arrow point).


In World War II he served as a sailor on the German submarine U-952, a Type VIIC U-boat whose career began with training at 5th U-boat Flotilla on 10th December 1942, followed by active service on 1st May 1943 as part of the 3rd Flotilla for the next seven months.

On 1st February 1944 she transferred to serve with 29th Flotilla, based in La Spezia, for Mediterranean operations.

In five patrols she sank two merchant ships, for a total of 13,374 gross register tons (GRT), plus one warship sunk and a further merchant ship damaged.


U-952 was decommissioned on 12th July 1944 after being badly damaged on 5th July 1944 by US air raid.

Her wreck was captured by French and broken up in 1946.


The veteran crews met regularly for many years. Walter Nödinger passed away in May 2014.

 

[santana]

During Operation Fire Fly in 1945, the African American paratroopers of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion made over 8,000 individual jumps as smokejumpers on wildfires in the Pacific Northwest.


Here they are preparing to jump from a Douglas C-47 on a wildfire in Wallowa Forest, Oregon. The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, more commonly known as the "Triple Nickles," was the first all-Black paratrooper unit in U.S. history.
First organized in 1943 the Triple Nickles trained at Fort Benning, Georgia, but were eventually transferred to Camp Mackall, North Carolina, to prepare for duty in Europe.


At the time, the U.S. military was segregated and most Black soldiers were relegated to support roles, rarely trained as combat units let alone elite paratroopers.


For some in the unit, the prospect of fighting Hitler's army presented an exciting opportunity — a chance to prove that Black men were as brave and capable as their white counterparts.


But they were never sent to fight the Germans. By 1945, the Axis armies were in retreat and a new threat was developing in the American West — Japanese balloon bombs

 

[santana]

Mark Wayne Clark (May 1, 1896 – April 17, 1984) was a United States Army officer who saw service during World War I, World War II, and the Korean War.


He was the youngest four-star general in the US Army during World War II.

 

[santana]

Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO, PC, DL (November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and the Second World War.

 

[Conhoon]

US soldiers man a dug-in mortar emplacement near St. Vith, Belgium. Late December 1944

Colourised by Doug

 

[Redav]

Generalfeldmarshall Erwin Rommel commander belonging to (7th Division-Panzer) next to a Panzer IV during maintenance after intense combat by heavy artillery fire from the French defenders during the French Campaign, 1940

Rommel is with his favorite brand Leica III camera, which was a gift from the Minister of the Reich (Goebbels), a great admirer of Rommel! His collection of photographs taken during German military campaigns in France and North Africa, many of which have been lost.

 

[Redav]

Officers belonging to (1st division Leibstandarte) on patrol through Paris with a view of the Eiffel tower during occupation of France.

 

[Conhoon]

Men of the London Rifle Brigade behind breastworks. Ploegsteert Wood, Armentieres. December 1914.

(Photo source - © IWM Q 11728)
Colourised by Doug

 

[Connaught Ranger]

Officers belonging to (1st division Leibstandarte) on patrol through Paris with a view of the Eiffel tower during occupation of France.
View attachment 417101

Looks more like a sight-seeing tour than a "patrol."

 

[Conhoon]

WW1 - Christmas in the trenches 1915, western front, German soldiers.

 

[Conhoon]

Christmas in the trenches for the First World War.

 

[Conhoon]

US M36 Tank Destroyer (90 mm Gun Motor Carriage, M36) & Crew somewhere in Belgium - Late December 1944 / January 1945

 

[BravoZulu]

B-25 of the 499th 'Bats Outta Hell' Bomb Squadron of 345th 'Air Apaches' Bomb Group attacking Japanese Type-C Escort Vessel No. 1 (1945)

 

[BravoZulu]

Marine with a bullet hole in his helmet posing for a photo. Betio Island, Taraw Atoll, Pacific theater, 1943.

 

[Redav]

Gneisenau in Kiel, may 1939.

 

[Conhoon]

Photograph of Polish Navy submarine ORP Dzik crew members in Port Said, February 1944.