Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

[santana]

A newly painted Bf109E-7 of III./JG 53 'Pik As' based at Wiesbaden–Erbenheim, being admired by it's young pilot, in the late Summer of 1940.

 

[uktabber]

Lt. Ted Hutchins of Port Charlotte, Fla. climbs out of his Kingfisher spotter-plane after coming back aboard the Battleship South Dakota off Okinawa in World War II. Ensign Stark, in the back cockpit, had just been rescued after his Hellcat fighter plane was shot down. Jan. 22, 1945

This is a great picture mate, the first iteration of CSAR at work in WWII, great pictures!!!

 

[Conhoon]

“Sittin’ On Top of the World.”
Of all things, Marine Private First Class Raymond L. Hubert, of Detroit, Michigan, chooses a huge unexploded naval shell for a sofa as he removes a three day accumulation of Saipan sand from his field shoes.
PHOTOGRAPH BY STAFF SGT. ANDREW B. KNIGHT, U.S. MARINE

Colour by Jecinci

 

[Conhoon]

ISU-152 spg, Latvia, 1944

Photo: Grebnev
Colour by Olga Shirnina (Klimbim)

 

[Conhoon]

General Francisco "Pancho" Villa - 1914. Mexican revolutionary general and one of the most prominent figures of the Mexican Revolution.

José Doroteo Arango Arámbula,
5 June 1878 – 20 July 1923

Colour by Jecinci

 

[Conhoon]

Rear Adm. John A. Dahlgren, officer of the Federal Navy - 1860s

John Adolphus Bernard Dahlgren
November 13, 1809 – July 12, 1870

"United States Navy officer who founded his service's Ordnance Department and launched major advances in gunnery.

Dahlgren devised a smoothbore howitzer, adaptable for many sizes of craft as well as shore installations. He then introduced a cast-iron muzzle-loading cannon with vastly increased range and accuracy, known as the Dahlgren gun, that became the Navy's standard armament.

In the Civil War, Dahlgren was made Commander of the Washington Navy Yard, where he established the Bureau of Ordnance. In 1863, he took command of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron at the rank of Rear Admiral, and helped William Tecumseh Sherman secure Savannah, Georgia." - wiki

 

[santana]

Mid-day on the 4 December 1943

A Japanese Nakajima B6N 'Tenzan' torpedeo bomber is hit by a 5 inch shell while attacking the USS 'Yorktown' aircraft carrier off Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands, North Pacific.
Deck side account, "At 300 yards, the Jap plane took a shell in its left wing and flames spurted out. The pilot then veered to try to crash into the Yorktown, skimming the flight deck so close that the flames singed the beard of one of the Yorktown gunners. The plane finally crashed into the sea 100 yards close aboard and exploded in a ball of smoke and flame."

(Photo taken from the aft end of Yorktown's flight deck, by Chief Petty Officer Photographer’s Mate , Alfred N. Cooperman)

 

[santana]

"New Zealanders take prisoner the crew of a Matilda tank, captured by the Germans and used in an attempt to break through the Allied lines, during which it was knocked out by an anti-tank gun, 3 December 1941."

If the date is correct, then these could be advance guard units led by Oberst Erich Geissler apprehended by Kiwis from NZ 5th Brigade near Menastir during 'Operation Crusader'

(This was a British offensive intended to lift the Axis siege of Tobruk (18 November 1941 - 6 January 1942).

"Yet again, Rommel became concerned with his units isolated in the border strongpoints and on 2 December, believing that the battle at Tobruk had been won, sent battalion-sized advance guard units led by Oberst Erich Geissler and Oberstleutnant Gustav-Georg Knabe to open the routes to Bardia and to Capuzzo, and thence Sollum. On 3 December Geissler’s unit was heavily defeated by elements of New Zealand 5th Brigade on the Bardia road at near Menastir. To the south, Knabe’s unit at the same time fared slightly better on the Trigh Capuzzo (the main track to Capuzzo), coming up against ‘Gold’ Force that was based on the Central India Horse reconnaissance regiment of the New Zealand 2nd Division and pulling back after an exchange of artillery fire.
(codenames.info)

In the aftermath of Crusader, the New Zealanders licked their wounds back in Egypt. With 879 dead and 1700 wounded, the New Zealand Division had fought its most costly battle of the war. In February 1942, at the New Zealand government's insistence, they moved to Syria to recover.

 

[santana]

"Holding a Napoleonic era helmet in one hand and his own 20th century head gear in the other, Capt. Frederick J. Saam, of Calumet, Mich., presents a contrast in two distant epochs of war which the antique town of Anzio has witnessed.' Anzio, Italy. 31 January 1944"
(The helmet is an Italian Savoia Cavalleria 1860 model)

Captain Saam of the 1st US Rangers Battalion, and 740+ other US Rangers were captured at the Battle of Cisterna, just a few days after this pic was taken. He was sent to 'Oflag 64' POW camp in Poland.

Later intelligence revealed that the Ranger attack on Cisterna had thwarted the planned German counterattack, but at an extremely high cost.

 

[santana]

DUTCH SUBMARINE SINKS GERMAN U-BOAT IN THE MEDITERRANEAN. 28 NOVEMBER 1941, GIBRALTAR.

There were 12 survivors including Kapitänleutnant Schreiber. They were taken prisoner by the Dutch and landed at Gibralter 8 hours later.

The last war patrol of Dutch submarine Hr.Ms O-21 in the Mediterranean would be her most successful.

Shortly after midnight on the 28th, the officer of the guard, 1st Lieutenetant A.T. Elbers, observed a silhouette of a submarine from the bridge of the surfacing O-21. The O-21 was only a few hours away from its base at that time. Immediately the Dutch were on high alarm and two tubes were prepared. Suddenly the O-21 noticed a signal sent from the unknown submarine. The British signaller aboard Hr.Ms O-21 immediately recognized the signals as German. Lieutenant Commander Van Dulm later wrote: “Her doubts about our identity sealed her fate".

"Immediately we started the attack and launched the torpedo from the starboard tube. We clearly saw how the bubbles stood out in the calm sea. But not only we had seen this threatening line, also the enemy. He reacted immediately by turning away. I imagined he would. I now launched the second torpedo on the rapidly growing silhouette. Although the first torpedo missed its target, the second one didn't! "

To collect evidence for the sinking of the U-boat, Hr. Ms O-21 hurried to the place where the U-boat had sunk. Here, 12 survivors were found swimming, and all were picked up. Among the drowning men was the U-boat commander, Kapitänleutnant G. Schreiber. “Immediately after the last survivor was hoisted on board, we had refitted the diesel engines and continued our journey back to Gibraltar". It was then ten minutes past one; the entire action, with the rescue of the drowning people, had only delayed us for half an hour, "reported van Dulm reported. Gibraltar was informed by radio of the success. More than eight hours after the U-boat was sunk, Hr. Ms O-21 sailed into Gibraltar's harbour.

The crew members of the British warships present for the occasion on deck enthusiastically welcomed the passing Dutch submarine. Admiral J. Somerville, commander of the British squadron in Gibraltar personally came to congratulate him aboard Hr. Ms O-21.

The U-boat turned out to be U-95, a very modern type VIIC submarine of 769 tons. The German commander had doubts about the sighting of the Dutch submarine. The boat was clearly on its way to Gibraltar but the silhouette did not look like a British submarine but more like a U-boat. That is why he had signalled to the unknown submarine on which the crew of Hr. Ms O-21 responded very quickly.

During the entire Second World War, only 14 U-boats were sunk by Allied submarines. The positive result of the direct confrontation between the Dutch submarine and U-95 for the O-21 may therefore be seen as an exceptionally large achievement. One of the other remaining 13 U-boats that were sunk by allied submarines was U-168. She was sunk by Hr. Ms Zwaardvisch (Swordfish) after she was hit by three torpedoes of which only one exploded.

 

[santana]

‘Iron Fists’: Two early production Stug III Gs secure a road towards Lysyanka in frozen wastelands of the Korsun-Cherkassy pocket in February 1944. The two assault guns belong to the 5. SS-StuG.-Abt. (Wiking) - then part of the famous ‘Gruppe Stemmermann’.

The truly hair-raising story of the break-out of ‘Hell’s Gate’ is best described the books of Douglas Nash and Niklas Zetterling, there is no room to go into detail here BUT:

In the upcoming edition of Iron Cross (December 18), Dr. Adrian Wettstein (MILAC, ETH Zurich*), will tell the story of the service branch of the ‘Sturmartillerie’ - the so-called ‘Iron Fist of the Infantry’.

 

[santana]

"Вперед к победе! = Forward to victory!"

Soviet US lend lease M4A2 (76)W Sherman tank from the 8th Guards Mechanized Corps, 1st Guards Tank Army, 1st Belorussian Front in the German town of Grabow. 3 May 1945

 

[santana]

Groundcrew refuelling a Hawker Hurricane Mark I of No. 501 Squadron RAF from a petrol bowser at Betheniville, shortly after its return from a sortie.

 

[santana]

THE BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE (BEF) IN FRANCE 1939-1940
The Royal Air Force in France 1939 - 1940: A Hawker Hurricane fighter is loaded with ammunition before a mission.

 

[santana]

Westland Lysander Mark II, R1999 'LX-P', of No. 225 Squadron RAF, undergoing maintenance at Tilshead, Wiltshire. July-November 1940.

Note the single Lewis Mark III machine gun on its mounting in the rear of the cockpit.

 

[santana]

Men of an RAF Repair and Salvage Unit working on a damaged Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX of No 403 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, at a forward airstrip in Normandy.

 

[santana]

A unit of the US 25th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mechanized), 4th Armored Division moves through the village of Le Repas, commune de Folligny (Manche), in Normandy on July 31, 1944.

Up front are two M8 Greyhounds and behind them, a M3A1 Halftrack and Jeeps.

The wreck on the left is an Opel Blitz from the 9./(Flak) SS-Panzer-Regiment 2, 2./SS-Panzer-Division "Das Reich"

 

[santana]

Messerschmitt Me-262A-1a (Wk.Nr 112385) "Yellow 8", 3. staffel Jagdgeschwader 7 captured at Stendal Airfield by the US 5th Armored Division, April 15 1945.

(Stendal airfield (Fliegerhorst), 3.5 km NNW of Stendal in Anhalt, 107 km WNW of Berlin)

 

[santana]

German Albatros D.V (serial number D2359/17) Ltn. Otto Hohmuth, Jasta 23b, which was forced to land at Feuchy, being examined by British servicemen, 7 March 1918.

 

[santana]

Ground staff work on a No 610 'County of Chester' Squadron Spitfire V at Westhampnett, 11 April 1943. Corporal Houseman (top), Corporal Phenna (with oil can) and Sergeant Moore (below) had all been with the Squadron since its formation in February 1936.