Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

[BravoZulu]

Panther of the 12th SS Panzer Division knocked out in Normandy - 1944
After the failure of the 1st Abteilung's 1st and 4th Companies of the 12th SS Panzer Regiemnt to seize Bretteville-l'Orgueilleuse on the night of June 8-9, 1944, SS-Oberfuhrer (later SS-Brigadefuhrer) Kurt "Panzer" Meyer ordered the recently arrived 3rd Company to attack Norrey in a daring daylight armored thrust. Again outpacing their infantry with orders to stop only to fire, the Panthers turned from the Caen-Bayeux Highway into the fields to attack the 1st Battalion, The Regina Rifle Regiment, 3rd Canadian Division. However, expecting the Canadians to open fire with their 6-pounder 57mm (2.24 inch) anti-tank guns and thus turning towards them to put their 80mm frontal armor to the Canadians, the Panthers under Hauptmann Luedemann exposed their side and rear flanks to fire from nine Canadian Shermans of C Squadron, 25th Armored Delivery "Elgin Regiment" who were bringing replacement tanks as reinforcements from Juno Beach. The Elgins' tanks included Sherman Fireflies armed with a 17-pounder 77mm (3 inch) anti-tank gun. Seven Panthers were destroyed; fifteen of thirty-five crewmen were killed; the rest were burned or wounded.

 

[BravoZulu]

Razorback P-47 of the 355th Fighter Group at rest at Steeple Morden, Cambridgeshire, England, UK, 1943-44 and Cletrac M-2 High Speed Tractor.

 

[Conhoon]

Pilot Officer Józef Stasik of No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron playing with Misia, the dog-mascot of the Squadron, on the wing of his Spitfire at RAF Northolt, 10 April 1942. (KIA 31/8/44)

(Photo source - © IWM CH 5515)

(Colour by Doug)

 

[BravoZulu]

Pz.Kpfw III Auf D

 

[BravoZulu]

Lithuanian military parade in the old capital of Vilnius, October 15th, 1939

 

[santana]

Finnish soldier Jouni Klemet Halonen from Utsjoki, Lapland (Born in 1910), enjoys a bit of scarse sunlight with his reindeer (Rangifer Tarandus) in Lapland, May 1944 during the Continuation War.

He served in Petsamon Erillisosasto/Er.Os.P. (Detached Battalion Petsamo) the so called "Luton miehet"/"Men of Lutto",
and is carrying a pistol machine gun Suomi KP/31 holding a 50 round "coffin" magazine.

Also reindeer were the perfect beast of burden in a frozen environment. Finnish troops had relied on Sámi reindeer to transport equipment on sledges during the Winter War. A year later, the Red army started using Reindeer as well. The Germans, hired Sámi people too for carrying supplies, paying them very well, which boosted the Lapland economy.
However, when the Finnish troops invaded the German occupied areas of Finland in 1944 known as the “Lappland War” to force them out, the Germans became very angered.
To avenge this declaration of war by the Finnish Sami troops, the Germans used the tactic of scorched earth and destroyed most of was built up in the past.

 

[santana]

Norwegian pilot Erik Haabjørn of 56 Squadron showing the squadron scoreboard at RAF Matlaske, (Coltishall satellite station). Hawker Typhoon Mk.Ib. February 1943

The striping underneath the wing are not invasion stripes. The Tiffy looked enough like an Fw-190 from certain angles (apparently that huge intake looks like a radial engine at a distance from the ground) that there were friendly fire incidents with airfield AA, so they put the stripes on.
Broad white stripes and narrow black ones.

They were introduced in December 1942 and phased out in February 1944.

 

[santana]

381st BG bombers on a mission. Note the exploding Flak shells underneath, spraying the bombers with deadly shrapnel.
Location unknown.

Bomber VE-H 'The Joker II' was lost of the 3rd Feb 1945. The nearest aircraft is VE-D 'Century Note' survived the war.

 

[BravoZulu]

2 mates that joined the North Somerset Yeomanry (cavalry) in May 1915, Richard James Dufty on the left. In March 1918 they both were attached to the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons, until the end of the war.

Their history can be found here:

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https://www.dropbox.com/s/8peszx48k6ysp85/Richard James Dufty's memoirs online ver.pdf?dl=0

 

[BravoZulu]

April 1944, Grossdeutschland Tiger tanks deploy near Iasi, Romania. In a series of actions along the frontier between Romania and Ukraine, Lt. Gen. Hasso von Manteuffel's Panzer Division Grossdeutschland and supporting units effectively destroyed four Soviet tank corps and their supporting infantry. Five years after the war Manteuffel, known as the "Panzer Lion," would help the Allies analyze these battles.

https://militaryimages.net/threads/ww2-german-forces.7111/page-3

 

[BravoZulu]

Panzer II's and III's in an occupied Russian village in December 1941

https://militaryimages.net/threads/ww2-german-forces.7111/page-3

 

[Conhoon]

The Polish Navy destroyer ORP Ślązak stationary, 1943.

 

[berkut76]

Austro Hungarian anti-aircraft machine gun position at Mihalyszallas 1917

 

[Conhoon]

Eastern front, 1943

 

[Conhoon]

Soviet soldiers examine German anti-tank gun delivered by scouts, 1944

Photo: Grebnev

 

[BravoZulu]

Men of 2nd/6th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment - 1915

 

[BravoZulu]

Comrades watch as a soldier gets some sleep, Thievpal, France,WW1

 

[BravoZulu]

Frostbitten Bavarian Pilot/Observer after a mission, 1916

 

[Conhoon]

THE BATTLE OF ARRAS, APRIL-MAY 1917
Forward scouts of the 9th Hodson's Horse (Bengal Lancers), Indian Army, pause to consult a map, near Vraignes-en-Vermandois, Somme, France, April 1917.

Hodson's Horse served in France from November 1914 until the Indian Cavalry left the Western Front in February 1918. They fought at Givenchy in 1914, on the Somme in 1916 and at Cambrai in 1917. On leaving France they went to Palestine

During their period of duty in France the Sowars (Cavalrymen) of both the 1st and 2nd Indian Cavalry Divisions sometimes served in the trenches as infantry.
(Photo source - © IWM Q 2061)
(Colour by Doug)

 

[BravoZulu]

HMS Hood and HMS Repulse at anchor off Outer Harbour during a visit by the Special Service Squadron to South Australia, as a part of The Empire Cruise in 1924. Colourised