Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

[Conhoon]

Spitfire LF.IX Mk940 ZF-B of RAF 308 Polish squadron at a forward airfield in the middle of harvesting, believed to be B.5 field in France, on 29th July 1944.

 

[Redav]

An SS soldier sits on a bollard 230 while smoking his pipe waiting his turn to cross the River Seine after surviving and escaping the Falaise Pocket Several Ge.

 

[Conhoon]

US soldiers walking though the Normandy Bocage on the way to Coutances, France. June/July 1944

(Colourised by Doug)

 

[Redav]

A very fatigued Waffen SS soldier belonging to the 2nd SS Panzer Division stares into the distance after retaking Kharkov during the Battle for Kharkov

 

[Conhoon]

The Polish Navy hydrographic survey ship ORP Pomorzanin, 1925.

 

[santana]

US ARMY Lieutenant John Reeder of Regimental HQ Headquarters 506th PIR Parachute Infantry Regiment 101st Airborne Division stands next to the sign for St Come du Mont

 

[BravoZulu]

Australian soldiers of he 24th Brigade, 9th Division get some well needed rest after shifting ammunition loads on Labuan Island, Borneo. June 1945

In April 1945 the 9th Division was transported to Morotai, which was being used as a staging area in preparation for the 7th and 9th Divisions amphibious operations on Borneo. As part of a series of landings, the 24th Brigade landed on "Brown Beach" on Labuan Island on 10 June. It took the 2/43rd and 2/28th 11 days to clear the island. With the Japanese falling back in British North Borneo, the 9th Division commander decided to clear the Klias Peninsula and then follow the railway from Weston to Papar. Crossing Brunei Bay in landing craft, the 2/32nd Battalion landed at Weston on 17 June. The 2/43rd and 2/11th Commando Squadron landed at Menumbok and Mempakul two days later.
A total of 389 Japanese personnel were killed on Labuan and 11 were captured. Australian casualties included 34 killed.

 

[BravoZulu]

Lance Corporal R. Hearn and Private F. Slater (nearest camera) of the 1st Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment aim their weapons in the ruins of Kervenheim, 3 March 1945.

 

[Conhoon]

Two Scottish soldiers probably 52nd Lowland Division enjoying a cup of tea during a break in the fightings in Vlissingen, part of Commando operations during the capture of Walcheren Island, November 1944.

 

[Redav]

The French Armistice of 1940 is signed by the French Delegation in the Glade of the Armistice in the original railroad carriage the German Delegation had signed the Armistice ending WW1 in 1918 - June 22, 1940

The Glade of the Armistice in the Forest of Compiègne France was a monument to the defeat of Imperial Germany in WW1.
On June 22, 1940, the same location was intentionally chosen for the French Delegation to sign the Armistice after their defeat by Germany in 1940. The original railroad carriage was towed out of a nearby museum to the exact spot the 1918 Armistice was signed at.

The Armistice site was demolished three days after the signing of the 1940 Armistice. The carriage itself was taken to Berlin as a trophy of war. The Alsace-Lorraine monument was also destroyed, and all evidence of the site was obliterated, with the notable exception of the statue of Marshal Foch.

The railway carriage was destroyed in 1945 as Allied forces advanced into Germany.
After the war, the Compiègne site was restored by German POW labor. On Armistice Day in 1950, a replacement railway carriage identical to the original was re-dedicated.

LIFE Magazine Archives - Hugo Jaeger Photographer

 

[Conhoon]

1944 - While in port the opportunity is taken to paint and smarten up the Polish Navy destroyer ORP Piorun.

 

[BravoZulu]

1944 - While in port the opportunity is taken to paint and smarten up the Polish Navy destroyer ORP Piorun.

View attachment 482596

Spent hundreds of hours doing exactly the same in the 70's and 80's

 

[santana]

Surrender of the German submarine U-889 to the Royal Canadian Navy near Shelburne, Nova Scotia, on 13 May 1945. On 8 May, Kapitänleutnant Friedrich Braeucker received the order from Submarine Headquarters (Admiral Donitz), to surrender , Transferred to US Navy 10 January 1946, arriving Portsmouth Navy Yard, NH 12 January 1946. Sunk 20 November 1947 off Cape Cod by US submarine USS Flying Fish .

 

[santana]

EASY COMPANY OFFICER 1st Lieutenant Lynn Buck Compton Easy Company 506th PIR 101st Airborne Division

 

[Redav]

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[Jaguar]

Members of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force lunching on top of their M8 Greyhound, in the city of Massarosa, Italy, 1944.

 

[Jaguar]

Brazilian Expeditionary Force's M8 Greyhound, in the city of Massarosa, Italy, 1944.

 

[Redav]

Italy
Battleship Roma : the Littorio Class, even if slightly superior with weaponry and velocity to its German counterpart, had the fuel capacity lower than 3.700 t compared to the Bismarck. The battleship Roma was conceived to be a Mediterrean ship for fast and short actions against the French navy, without Atlantic or global roles .

 

[Redav]

Soldiers of the 91. (Luftlande-) Infanterie-Division armed with Sturmgewehr 44 Assault Rifles during urban combat in Cherbourg. Normandy, June 1944

 

[BravoZulu]

Trainee pilot Madge Rutherford from the Women's Flying Training Detachment writes a letter home after finishing a Coca Cola. A Vultee BT-13 Valiant can be seen in the background. Avenger Field, Texas, July 1943.

Madge Rutherford Minton, 84, of Indianapolis died Sunday November 7th, 2004.