Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

T-34-85 Soviet medium tank of the 55th Guards Tank Brigade, 7th Guards Tank Corps, 3rd Guards Tank Army, carrying troops across a river in Poland. February 1945

51381953_1923584334438016_3222701188403167232_n.webp
 
Marines of 'C' troop, 45 Royal Marine Commando with battle trophies in Drevenack, Germany 28 March 1945.

29662442_1520002874796166_5249791323438522862_o.webp


They are Marine W J Lebow, of Ilford, Essex; Marine John Benson, of Leeds, Yorks; Marine Douglas H Morris, of Hereford; and Marine Walter Crouch, of Worthing, Sussex.

Marines John Benson and Walter Crouch both died on 12th April 1945 and are remembered with honour at Becklingen War Cemetery, Wietzendorf, Germany.

(Photo source - © IWM A 27931)
Lt. Oulds, D C
 
PFC Emil Raths from Saginaw County, Michigan of the 2nd Battalion, HQs Company, 129th Infantry Regiment, 37th Infantry Division, attacking a Japanese occupied pillbox with an M1A1 flamethrower, at least 10 of the enemy were killed.
Bougainville, Territory of New Guinea, 17 March 1944.

68527558_2237636836366096_3551467315570671616_n.webp


Ten days later, Emil Raths was killed in action on March 27 1944 (aged 33)

On 27 March, the Japanese were driven off of Hill 260, and the battle came to a close.
 
August 24, 1940, the Battle of Britain rages on. After a quick lunch, 29 year old Ofw. Fritz Beeck takes off from his French base with seven other aircraft from 6./JG 51. Over the Channel they rendezvous with 20 bombers and head on to Great Britain. The objective is once again Manston airfield. Beek’s first escort sortie earlier that day had been uneventful but this time the RAF showed up.

69161634_2244780242318422_7921010284804702208_o.webp


During the ensuing dogfight with a number of Hurricanes and a few Spitfires, Beek’s Bf 109E-4 ‘Yellow 10’ is hit in the engine. Unaware of the damage, Ofw. Beek was flying home when an oil duct broke and the engine began to falter leaving him no choice but to make a forced landing. He managed to land in a field at East Langdon, Kent, where, at 12.55 hrs, he was captured unhurt by a local policeman.

On the tail of Beek’s aircraft, near the swastika, three yellow victory stripes can be seen. On the rear fuselage, to the right of the ‘Balkenkreuz’, the II. Gruppe ‘runny-nose raven’ emblem, complete with umbrella (a parody of former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain) and the legend ‘Gott strafe England’ (‘May God Punish England’), a vintage slogan created by Ernst Lissauer, a German-Jewish poet.

Beek’s Bf 109E-4 ended his days in a field at Elham on the North Downs in Southern England. Photos of the derelict aircraft show that the ‘runny-nose raven’ emblems were at some point ‘liberated’ by anonymous hands. Where are they today, one wonders?

Note: Camo scheme on the upper surfaces is a mottled pattern of RLM 02 and 71.
 
26 August, 1944. Sherman tanks of the 1st Canadian Armored Brigade in Italy, advancing towards the Gothic Line. (IWM caption)

69676703_2247899935339786_6092410572505088000_n.webp


The brigade took part in the British Eighth Army's assault landing on the toe of Italy in Operation Baytown on September 1943. Its regiments participated in the Battles of Potenza, Termoli, Ortona. During the fourth and final Battle of Monte Cassino in May 1944, the brigade helped break the Gustav Line, crossing the Gari River in support of the 8th Indian Division. Its regiments helped the 1st Canadian Division and the British 78th Division in breaking the Hitler Line. It cooperated with the British XIII Corps in the Battle of Lake Trasimeno. It was active in the crossing of the Arno River and later fought on the Gothic Line. (Wikipedia)

Photo source: © IWM (NA 18051)
No. 2 Army Film & Photographic Unit - Sgt. Palmer
(Colorized by Nikos Hatzitsirou)
 
T/Sgt Johnny Yanak, ‘A’ Company, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, seen here carrying his Thompson SMG in the hedgerows of Brest in Brittany, France, 26 August 1944
69945754_2251916051604841_8503519454867488768_n.webp

(Photo source - US Army Signal Corps #193504)
 
22 September 1941 Workers at the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company celebrate the handing over of the first of many Valentine MK2 tanks made for the Russian front , in front of a workshop in Smethwick

42288329_1744537755676009_6156796710707265536_n.webp


The Victory-V signs decorating the tank were made of stickers that read: "Speed the Tanks – for Russia!"
 
Air force Lieutenant General V. G. Ryazanov with the heroes of the 155th guards assault aviation regiment / Генерал-лейтенант авиации В.Г. Рязанов с Героями 155-го гвардейского штурмового авиаполка

28071208_1482125505250570_2614344319285198693_o.webp


(Color by Konstantin Fiev)
 
Maria Dolina (1922–2010) was a Soviet pilot and acting squadron commander of the 125th “Marina M. Raskova” Borisov Guards dive bomber Regiment. She was active primarily on the 1st Baltic Front during World War II. Performed 72 sorties by plane Pe-2, dropping 45,000 kg bombs. In six aerial combats the crew of Maria shot down 3 enemy fighters (in the group). On August 18, 1945 Dolina was awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

28277078_1482125285250592_8831279291280333367_n.webp


(Color by Klimbim)
 
US 32nd Infantry Division soldier in Buna, New Guinea with a captured Japanese Lewis Type 92 light machine gun.
ca. November-December 1942

27972884_1478079835655137_1173908586805230129_n.webp


The Japanese manufactured the Lewis M/G for their Special Naval Landing Forces as the type 92 in 7.7X57SR and were used in the Pacific theatre.

The Battle of Buna, 19 November 1942 - 2 January 1943, was one part of the Allied attack on the Japanese beach-head on the northern coast of Papua (along with the battles of Gona and Sanananda). This beach-head had been established to allow the Japanese to launch an overland assault over the Kokoda Trail to Port Moresby, the Capital of Papua New Guinea.
This attack came within thirty miles of Port Moresby, before an Australian counterattack forced the Japanese back along the trail.

Photo by George Strock for the February 1943 'Life' magazine.
 
20 September 1942. The crew of a Crusader tank Mk II prepare a meal in the Western Desert.

42094428_1741208622675589_6885852200724070400_n.webp


For some crews acclimatising to the desert was a rough uncomfortable affair,but many men had been in the desert for a long time and had adjusted to the conditions. For these men there were weeks and months of uninterrupted routine living in the most basic conditions.

Crusader tanks fought alongside Matilda infantry tanks, using their speed for screening tactics. No Italian tank was a threat and could deal with most German Panzer I and IIs, but this would change with the arrival of Rommel in Africa and his Panzer III and Panzer IVs.
There were also issues with the engine overheating, oil leaking, and problems
with the cooling filter system, mostly caused by sand erosion.

Crusader tanks were still in action in Tunisia, Sicily, and Italy until 1943. By mid-1944, many were converted on the stocks, or remained in home defense units, and were used for tactical drilling until 1945.

Photo source © IWM (E 17100)

(Colorized by Nikos Hatzitsirou)
 
1 September 1939: Germany invades Poland

69462111_2644711738892652_6192387592860729344_n.webp


On September 1, 1939, at 4:30 in the morning, the German battleship 'Schleswig-Holstein' slowly began to approach Westerplatte. Fifteen minutes later, the battleship opened fire. Over 3,000 German soldiers from the sea, land and air rushed to attack the Military Transit Depot.

69933513_2257517654378014_6506297982202150912_n.webp
 
Private First Class Frank Pomroy, 'H' Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, USMC., in the marshes of Peleliu Island, Western Pacific. September 1944

69546657_2258941387568974_8122621869359628288_o.webp


Here he is slumped, exhausted and covered in his, and an enemy soldier's blood.
 

Similar threads

Back
Top