Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

[Conhoon]

Everything stops for tea !
"A British Army Sherman tank crewman finds the mud heavy going in Germany, 24 November 1944." (IWM caption)

(Photo source - © IWM B 12044)
Malindine E G (Capt)
No. 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit
Colourised by Doug - DBColour

 

[Conhoon]

Members of the Mine Recovery and Disposal Squad towing away a naval mine from the beach at Tayport in Scotland, with the aid of a Universal Bren gun carrier being operated by troops of the 1st Polish Corps.
25 November 1941.

** Long, wooden poles stood upright along the coastline to prevent enemy gliders from easily landing behind defence lines. At low tide, you can still spot some of these poles at Tentsmuir beach. **
Polish Forces based in Scotland constructed the World War 2 defences whose remains are still evident at Tentsmuir in Fife, on both the beach and hidden deep within the forest.
An important defence
The sandy beaches at Tentsmuir would have made an ideal landing location for German invasion troops in 1940, so defending the coast was essential.
Along with the Polish Army, locals helped build a system of linear defences as part of the overall plan to protect Britain from enemy invasion. The defences ran north from Leuchars Airfield, also a prime target for attack, to Lundin Bridge. Defences included lines of concrete anti-tank blocks, observation towers and pillboxes, all designed to slow down enemy movement inland.
** Long, wooden poles stood upright along the coastline to prevent enemy gliders from easily landing behind defence lines. At low tide, you can still spot some of these poles at Tentsmuir beach. **
The Polish soldiers constructed, and lived in, a camp at the forest. Once they had constructed the defences, many remained to man the guns and patrol the area.
Tentsmuir today
Nowadays little remains of the dismantled camp where the Polish soldiers once lived. Look closely, however, and impressed in the concrete wall of an old well you can find the coat of arms of the Polish Army: a lion and an eagle. This survives as a reminder of the Poles who defended the beaches of Fife.
(Photo source - © IWM A 6427)
Smith, J H (Lt)
Pelman, L (Lt)
Royal Navy official photographer
(Color by Alex Wolf)

 

[BravoZulu]

M8 Greyhound Armoured Car delivers captured German soldiers to the assembly point (M3A1 Half-Track) of 4th Cavalry

 

[BravoZulu]

Sept 1944, Swiss cyclist soldiers (recognisable by the two-buckle leather gaiters) encounter two Wehrmacht soldiers at the border fence. Two cyclists are armed and wearing ammunition bandoleer, which indicates that they are on watch or patrol duty. The middle of the trio is, according to his tenu, just assigned to work. The two Wehrmacht soldiers wear the model 1943 uniform. The leather shortage in the German Reich can be seen on the shoes, as the high boots were replaced by marching shoes with canvas gaiters. Apparently there is no fighting to be feared, because none of the Germans wears a weapon, steel helmet or combat equipment. The shovel in the hand of one of them suggests that digging work is being carried out on positions nearby. Swiss and Germans are in casual conversation, there is smoking. Although smoking was strictly forbidden on duty, it often happened at the border that German soldiers who happened to be met were in "kamerads

 

[BravoZulu]

Wing Commander of the Jagdgeschwader 2 "Richthofen" and fighter ace Egon Mayer with Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak leaves in front of a B-17F he shot down on July 14, 1943. France, Berengeville-la-Campagne, 1943, colourised by Richard James Molloy

This victory was against B-17F-1-35-DL, 42-3190, of the 322nd Bombardment Squadron. Witness Ed Burford said “Whoever it was gave a riveting display of aerobatics out in front of our entire 102nd Combat Wing before slashing in to fatally damage the leading ship of the 322nd Bombardment Squadron in the low slot. The attack took place at 08:18 near Etampes, southwest of Paris. After fires broke out between the #2 and the fuselage, and between the #3 and #4 engines, the ship nosed down in a spin - somehow seven men managed to hit the silk. I had never seen such a tremendous volume of tracer go after that one plane with a wingman in tow. Downright discouraging to hit nothing but air.”

Among his 102 air victories are 25 heavy bombers of Boeing B-17 and Consolidated B-24, which were shot down with a new frontal attack tactic developed by him and Georg-Peter Eder.

Especially against B-17 squadrons the approaching fighter plane was below the firing angle of the upper twin gun turret and above the angle of the lower machine gun turret.

This frontal attack became the standard attack procedure against closed bomber formations, because the dangerous and slow assault from behind was mostly repelled by the efficient defensive guns of the bombers. Mayer introduced this tactic during an attack on enemy bombers above the U-Boat base St. Nazaire on November 23, 1942.

On March 2 1944, Kommodore Egon Mayer was shot down and killed during a fight with a P47 "Thunderbolt" near Montmédy.

 

[BravoZulu]

Defenders of Lwów during the Polish-Soviet War, 1920 with Austrian M15 3.7 cm Infanteriegeschütz (Infantry Support Gun), a small 3.7cm cannon for trench warfare produced by Skoda

 

[morris]

A Messerschmitt Bf-109F in service with the Royal Hungarian Air Force, somewhere on the Soviet snowfield.

 

[morris]

Hungarian military on a road in Northern Transylvania (Erdély). In the foreground is a field kitchen and a cook serving food to soldiers; 1940.

 

[morris]

Hungarian army generals on a road in northern Transylvania (Erdély) as the Kingdom of Hungary reclaimed it from Romania as lost territory; August 30, 1940.

 

[Conhoon]

Three Supermarine Spitfires (R-F) F. MK21 serial LA232,F. Mk21 serial LA217, and nearest, the prototype F. MK22 serial PK312, flying over Castle Bromwich, in March of 1945.

 

[Conhoon]

1941 - The Polish Navy Motor Gun Boat S.1 underway.

 

[BravoZulu]

Pre-dreadnought Japanese battleship Mikasa. Built by Vickers of Barrow she was a modified version of the Formidable class battleships of the Royal Navy. Colourised by Irootoko Jr.

 

[Conhoon]

28 November 1941
The crew of A12 Matilda MkII 'Defiance' (T 6849), 4th Royal Tank Regiment, 32nd Army Tank Brigade, take a break during the fighting near Tobruk, Libya.

After evacuation at Dunkirk the Battalion was re-formed in September 1940. B Squadron was sent to Eritrea, with sixteen Matilda tanks, in October 1940 to support the campaign against the Italians, taking part in the battle for Keren in March 1941. The rest of 4th RTR arrived in North Africa in December 1940 and it later served as part of 4th Armoured Brigade in May and June 1941, during Operations Brevity and Battleaxe. After Operation Crusader it helped in the lifting of the siege of Tobruk and 4th RTR joined 32nd Army Tank Brigade as part of the Tobruk Garrison, but in June 1942 it was lost when Tobruk fell to the Germans.
(Photo source - © IWM E 6804)
No 1 Army Film & Photographic Unit
Major Geoffrey Keating
Colorised by Gabriel Bîrsanu

 

[morris]

New Zealand soldiers examine the papers of German prisoners of war during the seizure of Bapaume in the Battle of Amiens. A bare-headed prisoner standing in the foreground has a shoulder strap which shows his unit as the 418.(Saxon) Infanterie-Regiment belonging to the 183. Infanterie-Division.
(Colourised by Royston Leonard from the UK)

 

[morris]

New Zealand troops on the Western front laughing and smiling in a trench

 

[Conhoon]

Captured German PzKpfw V 'Panther' tank, rolling along a dirt road in northwest Europe and used here by the 4th Coldstream Guards, 6th Guards Tank Brigade, 29 November 1944

One of the best-documented cases, is that of the Panther renamed 'Cuckoo'. The tank was found abandoned in a barn during the fighting for the village of Overloon. Before its capture, the tank had belonged to the 2./Panzer Brigade 107. The British tankers assigned 'Cuckoo' to the 4th Battalion Coldstream Guards alongside their issued Churchills, apparently to a staff section. These staff tanks were all named after birds, such as Eagle and Vulture; hence, the name 'Cuckoo'. In preparing the tank for its new owners, a new coat of paint was applied, most likely the same khaki as the Churchills. Cuckoo’s new operators were impressed and happy with their acquisition; in particular, they admired the high quality of the optics in the tank’s sights, something for which the Germans were noted.
'Cuckoo' participated in the attack on Geijsteren Castle and then took part in Operation Blackcock in January 1945. This attack was designed to push the Germans out of a triangular area of ground between the Dutch towns of Roermond, Heinsburg, and Sittard. 'Cuckoo' was employed in an attack on the town of Waldenrath in the southeastern corner of this triangle. The winter was harsh, and icy conditions made for difficult going. 'Cuckoo' both impressed and angered its new owners. While the Churchill tanks seemed to constantly slide and become stuck on the icy roads, the Panther kept moving with absolutely no problem at all, oblivious to the conditions plaguing the British armour.
The tank was used again during Operation Veritable, a campaign designed to clear the area between the Roer and Rhine Rivers in Germany. During this operation the British were involved in heavy fighting in the Reichswald, which was forested and inhospitable terrain for tanks. Nevertheless, 'Cuckoo' fought here for its new owners. Unfortunately, during this campaign the Panther’s fuel pump failed and could not be fixed or replaced. Abandoning the tank, the Coldstream Guards went on to finish the war with their Churchills.
(Photo source - © IWM B 12187)
No 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit - Sgt. Laing
Colorised by Gabriel Birsanu

 

[Conhoon]

British troops coming out of the trenches near Guillemont, 27 November 1916.

(Guillemont is a commune approximately 13 km east of Albert in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.)
(Photo source - © IWM Q 58340)
Colour by DBColour

 

[Conhoon]

A German A7V Sturmpanzerwagen (Nº504 "Schnuck") of Abteilung 2.
Captured by the New Zealand Division at Frémicourt, Nord-Pas-de-Calais on the 31 August 1918 (photo taken 18/9/18).

The A7V had a crew of 18 men and was powered by two 100hp Daimler engines. It was armed with one 57mm Gun and six machine guns.

"Schnuck" was displayed in London on Horse Guards Parade in 1918/19 and given to the Imperial War Museum in 1919 but disposed of in 1922 with only the main gun kept.

(Nb. "Schnuck" was a Hybrid, combining the vehicles Nº504 and Nº544)

In some ways the A7V was a better tank than the British Mark IV, it had two engines which gave it more power and a top speed of 8 mph (12km/h) and was protected by 30 mm (1 3/16 inch) armour. In other ways, however, it was inferior: its high centre of gravity made it somewhat unstable over rough terrain and it could only traverse trenches under 6 feet (1.82 meters) across. The Germans did not have a lot of confidence in their own tanks, only about 20 A7V's were built, and they preferred to use captured Mark IV's. In fact the German army was so enamoured with the British Mark IV tank that the High Command ordered a German tank to be built based on the Mark IV design, which gave birth to the A7V/U. It had all-round tracks like the British machine, but kept all the internal components of the old A7V. Still, only a prototype was ever built.

Color by Leo Courvoisier

 

[Conhoon]

French soldiers observe the effects of machine gun bullets on the armor of their Schneider tank.

The Schneider CA 1 (originally named the Schneider CA) was the first French tank, developed during the First World War.

The Schneider was inspired by the need to overcome the stalemate of trench warfare which on the Western Front prevailed during most of the Great War. It was designed specifically to open passages for the infantry through barbed wire and then to suppress German machine gun nests.

 

[Conhoon]

German pilot Kurt Monnington aboard his Albatros D. V. while serving with Jasta 15, 1917-18

Prior to becoming a pilot, Kurt Monnington saw service as an infantryman in Grenadier-Regt Nr 119 and Infanterie-Regt Nr 120. In June 1915 he received the EKII.

After transferring to the German Air Force, Monnington served with FA 62 before being posted to Jasta 15 in 1917. He was awarded the EKI in December, 1917. In March 1918, he was reassigned to Jasta 18 where he scored his first victory on 18 May 1918, downing an S.E.5a near Bailleul. By the end of the war, he downed seven more enemy aircraft for a final tally of eight, including five D.H.9 bombers attached to the Independent Air Force. On June 6, 1918 he was awarded the Royal Württemberg Military Order of Merit .

The death’s head was Kurt’s personal emblem and a somewhat curious choice. According to author Greg Van Wyngarden “he never served in any of the three death's head Hussar Regiments. Apparently he simply liked the emblem. His staffel comrades remembered him as a very cheerful fellow with a happy disposition.”

Kurt Monnington survived the war but little is known of his remaining life. Apparently he got married, never had children, got divorced and died of pneumonia in Hamburg on February 17, 1939.

Original: Van Wyngarden (The copy I colourised didn’t have a watermark. The ones I found credited where credited to this person)