Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

[BravoZulu]

5th Infantry Division Medics inspect captured equipment in Luxembourg, Jan. 1945

 

[BravoZulu]

Two Marines, having made the Iwo Jima beach, pause to consider what lies ahead of them before moving on.” From the Thayer Soule Collection (COLL/2266) at the Archives Branch, Marine Corps History Division

 

[BravoZulu]

German Troops during the Battle of Bialystok-Minsk, July 1941

 

[BravoZulu]

Colourised photo of the crew of the battleship Duilio (Italia) posed in front of one of her 17.7-inch turrets sometime in the 1890s. Note the small-caliber guns, 37mm 1-pounders, atop the turret.

 

[morris]

B-17 Flying Fortress crew members Gus Palmer (left), a citizen of the Kiowa nation and a side gunner, and Horace Poolaw (right), also a Kiowa and an aerial photographer, stand near their aircraft at MacDill Field, Florida., in about 1944.

 

[morris]

Battery in position. Austrian front. 1914-1916

 

[berkut76]

View attachment 238048
Battery in position. Austrian front. 1914-1916

6-inch siege gun M1877

 

[BravoZulu]

The U.S. Navy light cruiser USS Juneau (CL-52) off New York City (USA), 1 June 1942. A barge is alongside her starboard quarter. Her superstructure retains its original measure 12 "mottled pattern" camouflage scheme, but her hull has been repainted wave-style pattern.

 

[santana]

Generals Dwight Eisenhower and Omar Bradley share a laugh as they leave General Ira Wyche’s 79th Division headquarters in Huanville, Normandy, France, July 4, 1944.
(US National Archives)

 

[santana]

Saipan, June 28 - July 3rd, 1944
Viewed through the window of a wrecked building, a US 2nd Marine 37mm M3 anti-tank gun crew set up behind an abandoned enemy truck, and prepares to fire at Japanese hiding in the debris of the town of Garapan, the administrative center of Saipan.

 

[santana]

Cobra King - "FIRST IN BASTOGNE"

The "Cobra King" Sherman M4A3E2 Jumbo crew, from left, Pvt. Harold Hafner, Pvt. Hubert S. Smith, 1st Lt. Charles Boggess, Cpl. Milton Dickerman and Pvt. James G. Murphy, pose for a celebratory photo near Bastogne, Belgium. - 1944

"On Dec. 26, 1944, Army Lieut. Charles Boggess was in command of Cobra King, and driving with Gen. George Patton's Third Army to the relief of Bastogne. There American forces had been hemmed in by the famous German offensive that created the big bulge in the allied lines.
Boggess' tank was an experimental so-called "Jumbo" Sherman, better armed and armored than earlier Shermans, which had proved vulnerable to more potent German tanks. It had a V-8 500 HP gasoline engine, a 75 mm main gun and two machine guns.
Patton was close to Bastogne, and Boggess was ordered to take Cobra King and some other tanks and punch through the enemy lines.
Cobra King was already battle tested. It had been knocked out of action in France in November, 1944, repaired, and sent back to the fight.
The commander who preceded Boggess, Charles Trover, had been killed in Luxembourg by a sniper as he stood in the turret on Dec. 23. And now Cobra King was being ordered to dash into Bastogne. "It was a dramatic day," Boggess recalled. "It was a day that you didn't know if you would live or die."

Boggess and his crew - driver Hubert S. Smith, co-driver Harold Hafner, gunner Milton Dickerman, and loader James G. Murphy - pushed Cobra King at full speed, sweeping the road ahead with gunfire until they breached the German lines.The tank crew spotted some soldiers in the distance who through binoculars looked like Americans. But the tankers were wary because infiltrating German troops were said to be dressed as Americans. Finally, an America soldier strode up to the tank, stuck his hand out to Boggess and said, "Glad to see you."
But Cobra King's war wasn't over. It continued the push into Germany, until it was put of commission on March 27, 1945, during a doomed raid to try to rescue allied POWs from a German prison camp.
The mission was a fiasco, and the tank was hit by a round that penetrated its armor and started a fire inside.
The crew, different from the one at Bastogne, escaped. But the tank was abandoned, Jennings said. The Germans later torched the inside. "
info via MICHAEL E. RUANE

 

[santana]

Crown Prince Olav who just returned home to Norway being driving through the streets of Oslo, 13 May 1945. Sitting in the front passenger seat is Norwegian resistance fighter Max Manus.

Max Manus (9 December 1914 – 20 September 1996) was a Norwegian resistance fighter during World War II, specialising in sabotage in occupied Norway.

Manus went to fight as a volunteer in the Swedish Volunteer Corps during the Winter war in Finland. Manus later returned to Norway and fought during the Norwegian campaign, after which he decided to return to Oslo and work underground against the occupiers, both organising a resistance movement, illegal public propaganda and the manufacture of weaponry.

Manus soon became a wanted man by the Gestapo and was eventually caught in his apartment at Vidars gate, Oslo. However he managed to throw himself out the window. He survived but had to be treated in the main Oslo hospital. The doctor at the hospital lied to the Gestapo officers, saying Manus needed treatment for a broken back, an injured shoulder and a serious concussion. The truth, however, was that he was only bruised and had a light concussion. After 27 days, he managed to escape through a second-floor window and managed to cross the border into Sweden. And eventually made his way to the UK where he trained further and developed professional skills in sabotage and undercover work. In march 1943 he was parachuted into the forests near Oslo with a sabotage team.

In Norway, he resumed his organizational work and made various sabotages on ships in the Oslofjord. Alongside other actions like the destruction of offices with archives that could have caused tens of thousands of young Norwegian men to be recruited into German war service through the Reichsarbeitsdienst (the Norwegian Labor Service).

Manus made numerous trips back and forth across the border to Sweden, where he was able to get a respite from the constant mental and physical pressures of being undercover. Many of his comrades-in-arms were killed, captured and tortured, but Manus managed to survive.

When peace was declared, Manus found himself chosen to be the personal protection officer of the then Crown Prince of Norway on his triumphal parade in Oslo, and then also with King Haakon VII.

Manus suffered from nightmares, alcoholism and bouts of depression after his experiences in the war, some of which he talked about in interviews. After retirement from his office supply business, Max and his wife Tikken moved to Spain. Max died there in 1996 aged 81.

 

[santana]

Infantry and carriers of 8th Royal Scots pause during the attack by 15th (Scottish) Division on Tilburg, in the Netherlands. 27 October 1944.

 

[santana]

An American MP stands guard in the barnyard where a German sniper was located and neutralized, Normandy, France, 15 June 1944.

In the background a completely destroyed MG 42 is visible. There also seem to be small mortar shells next to the canteen at the base of the shed.

Photograph taken by US Signal Corpsman Bowen.

 

[santana]

30 June 1944

A Sherman tank of 24th Lancers, 8th Armoured Brigade, passing a knocked-out German PzKpfw V Panther #204 of 2.Kompanie/SS-Panzer-Regiment 12, 12th SS-HJ near Rauray, Normandy.

(Nb. #204 is thought to have been the Panther of SS-Obersturmführer Helmut Gaede 2.Company Commander I./SS Pz Rgt 12, 12.SS Pz Division “Hitlerjugend”)
The "bag" for that day (26th June) claimed by 49th (West Riding) Div. was 4 Tigers, 2 Panthers (one of which was this one)

With the 8th Armoured Brigade, the 24th Lancers landed on Gold Beach, in the second wave of the Operation Overlord landings, supporting the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division. Shortly after landing, it was involved in the fighting around Putot-en-Bessin and Villers Bocage. After intensive action in the Tilly-sur-Seulles, Fontenay-le-Pesnel, Tessel Wood and Rauray areas, the Regiment was disbanded towards the end of July 1944 and personnel transferred to other Regiments. Most went to the 23rd Hussars or other units in the 8th Armoured Brigade or the 29th Armoured Brigade in the 11th Armoured Division.

(Photo source © IWM - B 6226)
Sgt. Christie, No 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit

 

[santana]

Two US 1st Army medics give first aid to an injured French dog they had found amid the ruins of Carentan in Normandy, France on July 1 1944.

 

[santana]

A German soldier relaxes after receiving first aid and a cigarette from medical Corporal Al Langdon of the 82nd U.S. Airborne Division during the first five days of the Allied campaign in the Sainte-Mère-Eglise sector (France), June, 1944.

Of special interest is the "rigger-made" medical bag the GI is carrying, and also the fact that Langdon wears an unmodified M1942 Jumpsuit

 

[santana]

Wing Commander Robert Roland Stanford Tuck, DSO, DFC & Two Bars, AFC (1 July 1916 – 5 May 1987) was a British fighter pilot, flying ace and test pilot. Tuck joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1935 and first engaged in combat during the Battle of France, over Dunkirk, claiming his first victories. In September 1940 he was promoted to squadron leader and commanded a Hawker Hurricane squadron. In 1941–1942, Tuck participated in fighter sweeps over northern France. On 28 January 1942, he was hit by anti-aircraft fire, was forced to land in France, and was taken prisoner. At the time of his capture, Tuck had claimed 29 enemy aircraft destroyed, two shared destroyed, six probably destroyed, six damaged and one shared damaged.

 

[santana]

Two PzKpfw VI Tiger II Ausf. B from 1. Kompanie, Schwere Panzerabteilung 503, parked under cover in the path leading to the Battalion’s HQ at the Château de Canteloup. Normandy, first half of July 1944. Tiger ‘114’ on the foreground.

The 1. Kompanie of s.Pz.Abt.503 was the only unit to be equipped with the brand new Königstiger (King or Royal Tiger in British/US literature) during the Normandy campaign.

Veterans of Kursk, elements of s.Pz.Abt.503 arrived in Normandy only days before D-Day. For tactical purposes attached to Panzer Regiment 22, 21. Panzer Division, the battalion was heavily involved in the fighting around Caen during July.

Not having taken part in the Normandy campaign, by mid-August only the 3. Kompanie -at the time also partly re-equipped with Königstigers- was still operational.

Note: Both tanks in this photo have ‘Porsche’ turrets, thus commonly named because originally they were supposed to be installed on the hull designed by Porsche. Something that never happened because the Henschel prototype was chosen for production instead.
Both the 'Porsche' and 'Henschel' turrets were actually designed and manufactured by Krupp.

 

[santana]

British Infantry of 49th Division digging in beside a Sherman tank of the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, near Rauray, between Tilly and Caen. 30 June 1944.