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Actually looks like my dad - but hey lets not go there
Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts
- Thread starter BravoZulu
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A camouflaged Springfield Rifle with telescopic sight used by snipers is shown, Badonviller, France, 18 May 1918.
The M1903 Springfield, formally the United States Rifle, Caliber .30-06, Model 1903, is an American five-round magazine fed, bolt-action service repeating rifle, used primarily during the first half of the 20th century.
It was officially adopted as a United States military bolt-action rifle on June 19, 1903, and saw service in World War I.
By the time of U.S. entry into World War I, 843,239 of these rifles had been produced at Springfield Armory and Rock Island Arsenal.
It was officially replaced as the standard infantry rifle by the faster-firing semi-automatic eight-round M1 Garand starting in 1936. However, the M1903 Springfield remained in service as a standard issue infantry rifle during World War II, since the U.S. entered the war without sufficient M1 rifles to arm all troops.
World War II saw new production of the Springfield at private manufacturers such as the Remington Arms and Smith-Corona Typewriter companies. Remington began production of the M1903 in September 1941, at serial number 3,000,000, using old tooling from the Rock Island Arsenal which had been in storage since 1919.The M1903A4 was the U.S. Army's sniper rifle of choice during the Second World War.
The rifle remained in service as a sniper rifle during World War II, the Korean War, and even in the early stages of the Vietnam War. It remains popular as a civilian firearm, historical collector's piece, a competitive shooting rifle, and as a military drill rifle.
Colour by Jake
The M1903 Springfield, formally the United States Rifle, Caliber .30-06, Model 1903, is an American five-round magazine fed, bolt-action service repeating rifle, used primarily during the first half of the 20th century.
It was officially adopted as a United States military bolt-action rifle on June 19, 1903, and saw service in World War I.
By the time of U.S. entry into World War I, 843,239 of these rifles had been produced at Springfield Armory and Rock Island Arsenal.
It was officially replaced as the standard infantry rifle by the faster-firing semi-automatic eight-round M1 Garand starting in 1936. However, the M1903 Springfield remained in service as a standard issue infantry rifle during World War II, since the U.S. entered the war without sufficient M1 rifles to arm all troops.
World War II saw new production of the Springfield at private manufacturers such as the Remington Arms and Smith-Corona Typewriter companies. Remington began production of the M1903 in September 1941, at serial number 3,000,000, using old tooling from the Rock Island Arsenal which had been in storage since 1919.The M1903A4 was the U.S. Army's sniper rifle of choice during the Second World War.
The rifle remained in service as a sniper rifle during World War II, the Korean War, and even in the early stages of the Vietnam War. It remains popular as a civilian firearm, historical collector's piece, a competitive shooting rifle, and as a military drill rifle.
Colour by Jake
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New Zealand soldiers pose with a captured German Tankgewehr M1918, taken near Grévellers, August 25, 1918
The World's First Tank Killer Rifle
What the Germans needed as much as tanks was something to stop the British and French tanks and this was the Mauser 13.2mm Tank Abwehr Gewehr Model 18 or "Mauser 1918 T-Gewehr." Known simply as the Tankgewehr, it was an upscaled bolt-action rifle that was based on the Mauser action. Unlike the Gewehr 98 – the standard service rifle used from 1898 to 1935, which featured an internal five round magazine – the T-Gewehr was a single-shot weapon that had to be manually loaded each tip. It also differed from other rifles of the era in that it had a pistol grip and bipod.
What the Tankgewehr lacked was anything to reduce the recoil, including a muzzle brake or even padded buttpad. Shooting multiple rounds could take a toll on the man charged with firing it. The rifle was developed after the British had launched the first full-scale tank offensive at Cambrai in the fall of November 1917, and pushed the Germans back some 20 kilometers.
The massive rifle was chambered to fire a powerful 13.2 TuF (Tank und Flieger-Tank and Aircraft), a .525-cablier jacketed, armor-piercing, steel-core cartridge. Effective range was about 500 meters, but gunners had to fire over iron sights.
Two to three T-Gewehrs were issued per regiment, and each was operated by a two-man gun crew. One man would be the primary gunner and would carry the rifle along with twenty of the specially designed TuF rounds, while the second man in the team would carry two shoulder bags with twenty rounds in each, as well as an ammunition box that contained an additional seventy-two cartridges.
The rifle did a reasonably good job of stopping enemy tanks, which typically had just 12mm of armor protection at that point, but it was really too late to turn or even stop the tide. By the end of 1918, Germany surrendered and the T-Gewehr has largely been forgotten.
However, it was the only anti-tank rifle to see service in World War I, and there were later attempts – notably as the British Boys Anti-tank Rifle – to upsize a rifle to take out a tank, but none were remotely as successful as the T-Gewehr.
Colour by Jake
Photo: Lt. Thomas Keith Aitken
IWM Q 11264
The World's First Tank Killer Rifle
What the Germans needed as much as tanks was something to stop the British and French tanks and this was the Mauser 13.2mm Tank Abwehr Gewehr Model 18 or "Mauser 1918 T-Gewehr." Known simply as the Tankgewehr, it was an upscaled bolt-action rifle that was based on the Mauser action. Unlike the Gewehr 98 – the standard service rifle used from 1898 to 1935, which featured an internal five round magazine – the T-Gewehr was a single-shot weapon that had to be manually loaded each tip. It also differed from other rifles of the era in that it had a pistol grip and bipod.
What the Tankgewehr lacked was anything to reduce the recoil, including a muzzle brake or even padded buttpad. Shooting multiple rounds could take a toll on the man charged with firing it. The rifle was developed after the British had launched the first full-scale tank offensive at Cambrai in the fall of November 1917, and pushed the Germans back some 20 kilometers.
The massive rifle was chambered to fire a powerful 13.2 TuF (Tank und Flieger-Tank and Aircraft), a .525-cablier jacketed, armor-piercing, steel-core cartridge. Effective range was about 500 meters, but gunners had to fire over iron sights.
Two to three T-Gewehrs were issued per regiment, and each was operated by a two-man gun crew. One man would be the primary gunner and would carry the rifle along with twenty of the specially designed TuF rounds, while the second man in the team would carry two shoulder bags with twenty rounds in each, as well as an ammunition box that contained an additional seventy-two cartridges.
The rifle did a reasonably good job of stopping enemy tanks, which typically had just 12mm of armor protection at that point, but it was really too late to turn or even stop the tide. By the end of 1918, Germany surrendered and the T-Gewehr has largely been forgotten.
However, it was the only anti-tank rifle to see service in World War I, and there were later attempts – notably as the British Boys Anti-tank Rifle – to upsize a rifle to take out a tank, but none were remotely as successful as the T-Gewehr.
Colour by Jake
Photo: Lt. Thomas Keith Aitken
IWM Q 11264
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An Imperial German Pfalz E.I fighter about to land somewhere on the Western Front, April 1916.
When one thinks of Great War aviation one thinks of biplanes and triplanes but from the onset monoplanes were also present above the European battlefields.
The French in particular started the war with several monoplanes in service: the Morane Saulnier H and later in the year the L and N, the Deperdussin TT, the R.E.P. N, and the Nieuport 6M.
The Germans had the Rumpler Taube and the Pfalz A.I and E.I., and later in 1915 the most famous monoplane of the war: the Fokker E ‘Eindecker’, responsible for the period between July 1915 and early 1916 that became known to Allied pilots as the “Fokker scourge”.
The Pfalz E series were not as successful as the Fokker which was faster, sturdier and more maneuverable. The Pfalz E.I was basically a license-built Morane Saulnier H with later versions (E.II, III, IV and V) receiving more powerful engines and synchronized machine-guns. The variant produced in greater numbers was the Pfalz E.II with 130 machines built between September 1915 and February 1916.
Original: Brett Butterworth
When one thinks of Great War aviation one thinks of biplanes and triplanes but from the onset monoplanes were also present above the European battlefields.
The French in particular started the war with several monoplanes in service: the Morane Saulnier H and later in the year the L and N, the Deperdussin TT, the R.E.P. N, and the Nieuport 6M.
The Germans had the Rumpler Taube and the Pfalz A.I and E.I., and later in 1915 the most famous monoplane of the war: the Fokker E ‘Eindecker’, responsible for the period between July 1915 and early 1916 that became known to Allied pilots as the “Fokker scourge”.
The Pfalz E series were not as successful as the Fokker which was faster, sturdier and more maneuverable. The Pfalz E.I was basically a license-built Morane Saulnier H with later versions (E.II, III, IV and V) receiving more powerful engines and synchronized machine-guns. The variant produced in greater numbers was the Pfalz E.II with 130 machines built between September 1915 and February 1916.
Original: Brett Butterworth
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An observation balloon above the ruins of Ypres, Belgium, 27 October 1917.
Photographer: Unknown Australian Official Photographer
Image courtesy of the Australian War Memorial
Colour by Benjamin Thomas
Photographer: Unknown Australian Official Photographer
Image courtesy of the Australian War Memorial
Colour by Benjamin Thomas
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12 October 1917
A group of guards, including Coldstream and Irish Guards, crouching outside a captured German dugout, examining a muddy German rifle, near Langemarck (Langemark-Poelkpelle).
(Photo source - © IWM Q 3011)
Colour by Doug
A group of guards, including Coldstream and Irish Guards, crouching outside a captured German dugout, examining a muddy German rifle, near Langemarck (Langemark-Poelkpelle).
(Photo source - © IWM Q 3011)
Colour by Doug
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U.S. Army Company A, Ninth Machine Gun Battalion, 6th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, AEF.
Three soldiers man a Hotchkiss Mle1914 machine gun set up in a destroyed railroad shop in Chateau Thierry, France, on June 7th, 1918.
This was during the Aisne Defensive, which in days saw the entire division take to the front line for the first time and three weeks later switched to holding the southern crossing of the Marne against the Germans even when surrounding units retreated.
Although the U.S. military had access to a number of machine guns going into WWI– including the 25-pound Model 1909 Benet Mercie, which was cranky but proved its worth in repelling Villa’s raid on Columbus, NM in 1916; as well as the 35-pound Colt-Browning M1895 “Potato Digger” which was mass-produced by Marlin during the war; and the excellent 28-pound Lewis light machine gun– the American Expeditionary Force to France was armed in large part with 7,000 French Mle 1914 Hotchkiss machine gun of the example shown above.
The unit shown above, the 9th Machine Gun Battalion was formed just for the war in October 1917 and fought with the 3rd ID through Chateau Thierry, and the Meuse-Argonne, leaving a number of its brave gunners “Over There.”
General Pershing called the stand of the 3rd ID along the Marne “one of the most brilliant pages of our military annals,” and today the division is known, of course, as “The Rock of the Marne.”
Colour by Jake
Source: NARA
Three soldiers man a Hotchkiss Mle1914 machine gun set up in a destroyed railroad shop in Chateau Thierry, France, on June 7th, 1918.
This was during the Aisne Defensive, which in days saw the entire division take to the front line for the first time and three weeks later switched to holding the southern crossing of the Marne against the Germans even when surrounding units retreated.
Although the U.S. military had access to a number of machine guns going into WWI– including the 25-pound Model 1909 Benet Mercie, which was cranky but proved its worth in repelling Villa’s raid on Columbus, NM in 1916; as well as the 35-pound Colt-Browning M1895 “Potato Digger” which was mass-produced by Marlin during the war; and the excellent 28-pound Lewis light machine gun– the American Expeditionary Force to France was armed in large part with 7,000 French Mle 1914 Hotchkiss machine gun of the example shown above.
The unit shown above, the 9th Machine Gun Battalion was formed just for the war in October 1917 and fought with the 3rd ID through Chateau Thierry, and the Meuse-Argonne, leaving a number of its brave gunners “Over There.”
General Pershing called the stand of the 3rd ID along the Marne “one of the most brilliant pages of our military annals,” and today the division is known, of course, as “The Rock of the Marne.”
Colour by Jake
Source: NARA
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Battle of the Menin Road Ridge.
Troops of the 13th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry preparing to advance on the village of Veldhoek. 20 September 1917.
(Photo source - © IWM Q 5970)
Brooke, John Warwick (Lieutenant) (Photographer)
Colour by Doug
Troops of the 13th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry preparing to advance on the village of Veldhoek. 20 September 1917.
(Photo source - © IWM Q 5970)
Brooke, John Warwick (Lieutenant) (Photographer)
Colour by Doug
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Captain Mikhail Alekseyevich Dashkov, of the 9th Russian Army under the command of General Lechitsky.
Photo taken November 19, 1914 in the city of Rzeszów in the Carpathians (currently Poland).
Colorised by Olga Shirnina (Klimbim)
Photo taken November 19, 1914 in the city of Rzeszów in the Carpathians (currently Poland).
Colorised by Olga Shirnina (Klimbim)
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A soldier of the 71st Regiment Infantry, New York National Guard, says goodbye to his sweetheart as his regiment leaves for Camp Wadsworth, Spartanburg, South Carolina, where the Division is set to train for service, 1917.
(Colorised by Frédéric Duriez from France)
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A Sentry of the 1/4th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment in a sap-head at Givenchy-lès-la-Bassée, Pas-de-Calais, France, 28 January 1918.
Note a camouflaged periscope.
A ‘Listening Post’ also commonly referred to as a ‘sap-head’, was a shallow, narrow, often disguised position somewhat in advance of the front trench line – that is, in No Man’s Land.
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105mm M14 lFH Skoda Feldhaubitzenbatterie 3/55 c.1917.
105mm M14 lFH Skoda – was the standard Light Field Howitzer of the Austria-Hungarian Army and was also used by Germany.
(Photo source: bildarchivaustria – WK1/ALB051/13945)
(Colorised by Frédéric Duriez from France)
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US servicemen standing in a field with a crash-landed RAF Spitfire LF.IX in the Loiano Area of Bologna, Italy. November 22, 1944.
RAF 87 Squadron, Fl/Sgt. William Henry Bundock, (Colchester, Essex, England), was forced to crash land in a field near Loiano due to a ruptured oil line caused by enemy flak. Bundock luckily received only a scratched hand and a small scratch on the face.
Sgt. Clifford Caole of Trinity, N.C. [North Carolina] saw the plane coming in, while working on a road detail nearby. He secured the nearest first aid kit and ran in the direction of the plane, which crashed about 200 yards from where he was working.
(Photo by Wiedenmayer. 3131 Signal Service Co.
U.S. Army Signal Corp - 5/MM-44-30168.)
Colour by Jake
RAF 87 Squadron, Fl/Sgt. William Henry Bundock, (Colchester, Essex, England), was forced to crash land in a field near Loiano due to a ruptured oil line caused by enemy flak. Bundock luckily received only a scratched hand and a small scratch on the face.
Sgt. Clifford Caole of Trinity, N.C. [North Carolina] saw the plane coming in, while working on a road detail nearby. He secured the nearest first aid kit and ran in the direction of the plane, which crashed about 200 yards from where he was working.
(Photo by Wiedenmayer. 3131 Signal Service Co.
U.S. Army Signal Corp - 5/MM-44-30168.)
Colour by Jake
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Men of the Dutch submarine Hr.Ms. K-XV test fire their 40 mm Vickers-Armstrong 'Pom Pom' machine gun. c. 1941, Netherlands East Indies. The machine gun could be retracted into a closed compartment while the boat was submerged.
The submarine was laid down in Rotterdam at the shipyard of the 'Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij' (RDM) on 31 May 1930. On 30 December 1933 the boat was commissioned in the Dutch navy.
During WW2 K-XV sank several Japanese ships. She survived the war and was decommissioned on 23 April 1946 and scrapped in 1950.
Colour by Jake (Colourised PIECE of JAKE)
Source: Photo Collection Royal Dutch Navy
The submarine was laid down in Rotterdam at the shipyard of the 'Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij' (RDM) on 31 May 1930. On 30 December 1933 the boat was commissioned in the Dutch navy.
During WW2 K-XV sank several Japanese ships. She survived the war and was decommissioned on 23 April 1946 and scrapped in 1950.
Colour by Jake (Colourised PIECE of JAKE)
Source: Photo Collection Royal Dutch Navy
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Company E, U.S. 4th Colored Infantry, Fort Lincoln, District of Columbia.
Assigned detachment to guard the nation's capitol in one of the several fortifications.
Also present is the First Sergeant in shell jacket with non commissioned Officer's sword.
Raised in Baltimore, Maryland, during the summer of 1863 and took part in the Petersburg and Carolinas campaigns, including the capture of Fort Fisher,North Carolina, January 13-15, 1865, as well as the last viable Port of the Confederacy - Wilmington,North Carolina, which fell to the Union on February 22.
The 4th were present and witnessed the surrender of the last Confederate army, that of Joseph E. Johnston, at Bennett Place,North Carolina,on April 26,1865.
Regiment lost during service.
3 Officers and 102 enlisted men killed and mortality wounded,and 1 Officer and 186 men by disease. Total 292.
photosource- library of Congress LC-B817-7890.
Photographer- Smith, William Morris.
(official date unrecorded 1864-65)
Colourised by Luke Young.
Assigned detachment to guard the nation's capitol in one of the several fortifications.
Also present is the First Sergeant in shell jacket with non commissioned Officer's sword.
Raised in Baltimore, Maryland, during the summer of 1863 and took part in the Petersburg and Carolinas campaigns, including the capture of Fort Fisher,North Carolina, January 13-15, 1865, as well as the last viable Port of the Confederacy - Wilmington,North Carolina, which fell to the Union on February 22.
The 4th were present and witnessed the surrender of the last Confederate army, that of Joseph E. Johnston, at Bennett Place,North Carolina,on April 26,1865.
Regiment lost during service.
3 Officers and 102 enlisted men killed and mortality wounded,and 1 Officer and 186 men by disease. Total 292.
photosource- library of Congress LC-B817-7890.
Photographer- Smith, William Morris.
(official date unrecorded 1864-65)
Colourised by Luke Young.
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A Jeep manned by Sergeant A. Schofield and Trooper O. Jeavons of 1 SAS near Geilenkirchen in Germany, 18 November 1944.
The Jeep is armed with three Vickers 'K' guns
and fitted with Armoured glass shields in place of a windscreen.
The SAS (Special Air Service) were involved at this point in clearing snipers in the 43rd Wessex Division area(Operation Clipper).
Photosource-© IWM (B 11921)
Photographer- Hewitt C.H(Sergeant)
No.5 Army Film & Photography Unit.
Colourised by Paul Reynolds.
The Jeep is armed with three Vickers 'K' guns
and fitted with Armoured glass shields in place of a windscreen.
The SAS (Special Air Service) were involved at this point in clearing snipers in the 43rd Wessex Division area(Operation Clipper).
Photosource-© IWM (B 11921)
Photographer- Hewitt C.H(Sergeant)
No.5 Army Film & Photography Unit.
Colourised by Paul Reynolds.
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A Matilda tank of 'B' Squadron,2/4th Australian Armoured Regiment,with supporting Infantry moving along the Buin road, South of the Hongorai River during mopping-up operations on Bougainville in the South Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea 1945.
Photosource-© IWM (HU 69099)
Photographer-Australian official Photographer
Colourised by Joshua Barrett
Photosource-© IWM (HU 69099)
Photographer-Australian official Photographer
Colourised by Joshua Barrett
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Two Waffen SS NCOs inspect a crash landed FW-190 A6 belonging to 2./ Jagdgeschwader 54 based in either Vitebsk or Orsha in December 1943 or January 1944.
The pilot, Has Sortenmann survived the crash landing.
Figure in cockpit is likely ground recovery crew.
Photosource- unknown.
Colourised by Joshua Barrett
The pilot, Has Sortenmann survived the crash landing.
Figure in cockpit is likely ground recovery crew.
Photosource- unknown.
Colourised by Joshua Barrett
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"Medical details of the 45th Battalion sheltering in a trench at Anzac Ridge, in the Ypres Sector" (Official caption).
Identified, left to right: 3237 Private (Pte) Isaac John H Steele; Pte J J Robinson; Pte G H Walker; Captain Owen Dibbs, who was killed in action on 28 March 1918, at Dernancourt.
(Photo source - AWM E00839)
Colour by Doug
Identified, left to right: 3237 Private (Pte) Isaac John H Steele; Pte J J Robinson; Pte G H Walker; Captain Owen Dibbs, who was killed in action on 28 March 1918, at Dernancourt.
(Photo source - AWM E00839)
Colour by Doug
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