Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

[Conhoon]

German Fallschirmjäger (paratrooper) with a KS750 motorcycle, Italy, September 1943

 

[Chazman]

 

[Conhoon]

Messerschmitt Bf. 110G-4 'C9 + AK' of 2/NJG5 sitting half in the river, by the Old Mill and Ale House in St. Dizier, France, in the Spring of 1945.

It had crash there in the February of 1944, and stayed there with it's nose dipped in the river until finally fished out and moved, and later broken up for scrap after the end of hostilities a few months later. Credit: The Bundes Archive.

 

[Chazman]

France, 1940.

 

[Conhoon]

20 November 1917
The Battle of Cambrai (November - December 1917)
Group of the Royal Irish Rifles, 36th Ulster Division, before parading for the trenches. Near Bertincourt, Pas-de-Calais, France.

Brooks, Ernest (Lieutenant) (Photographer)
(Photo source © Imperial War Museums Q 3175)
Color by Leo Courvoisier

 

[BravoZulu]

Heinkel III crews. Colourised by Doug

 

[BravoZulu]

No.18 Squadron NEI-RAAF Dutch Orderly Room at MacDonald Field (146 Mile Peg) Northern Territory Australia in early 1943. Note the Dutch airman pinning up a copy of the Army News paper to the notice board. This paper was produced in Darwin for and was free for allied forces in the North West area.

 

[Chazman]

A G.I of the 2nd Armored Division poses with some war trophies in a city near the Siegfried Line, Germany, April 1945.
Amongst the the souvenirs are 3 pistol holsters,
3 Portepees (rope with knot) attached to ceremonial police daggers and a sword.
It looks like this G.I. visited a German Police Station since these are portepees worn by the German police. The left one was worn by a 'Hauptwachtmeister' The portepee in the middle is a Wehrmacht version but was usually worn by policemen with a reserve officer rank in the 'Heer'. The portepee on the right was worn by regular police officers.
Originally the portepees served a purpose in preventing a sword from being lost if dropped but later became more decorative and to distinguish military rank/class for various bladed weapons.
For example, forestry officers wore sword-tails with a silver-colored acorn on a green and silver textile band. However, if you were also a reserve officer, you could wear the normal officer sword-tail instead.
Colourised Piece of Jake

 

[santana]

USAAF

 

[santana]

USS Midway (CVB-41) is launched at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia, in March 1945.

The Midways were the first “super carriers” of the us navy, being classified as “heavy aircraft carriers” (CVB)

 

[BravoZulu]

Hedgehog, a 24 barrelled anti-submarine mortar mounted on the forecastle of W-class destroyer HMS Westcott (D47)

 

[BravoZulu]

A crippled Yokosuka P1Y Ginga "Frances" glides past the escort carrier USS Ommaney Bay in the Sulu Sea, Philippines, on December 15, 1944.

 

[Conhoon]

Sentry of the 1/4th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment in a sap-head at Givenchy, 28 January 1918.
Image: IWM (Q 6480) - Brooke, John Warwick (Lieutenant) (Photographer)

 

[Conhoon]

The Blohm & Voss BV 138, also known as the “Seedrache” (Sea Dragon).

 

[Redav]

Luftwaffe personnel after the surrender (?)

 

[Conhoon]

Men of the 5th Northamptonshire Regiment marching near Coldragone, Italy, 25 May 1944

© IWM NA 15513

 

[Conhoon]

Troops of a Light Infantry Pioneer Battalion during a halt for dinner. Maurepas, on the Somme front. December 1916.

(Photo source - © IWM Q 4633)
Colourised by DBColour

 

[BravoZulu]

An RAF Regiment Humber light reconnaissance car near the Stations Bridge in Middelburg, Holland, November 1944.

 

[BravoZulu]

Armourers of No. (NZ) 486 Squadron perform maintenance on a 20mm Mark V Hispano cannon. The squadrons Hawker Tempest Mk Vs can be seen in the background. Taken at RAF Station Volkel, Holland. 1945

 

[BravoZulu]

A Heinkel He 111 flies over the Eastern Front, equipped with an MG FF 20mm cannon in the nose and an SC1000 bomb beneath the fuselage.