Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

[BravoZulu]

USS New Jersey (BB-62),with an Allen M. Sumner class destroyer alongside, probably late 1944-early 1945.

 

[Conhoon]

Machine Gun Corps Lieutenant and a Sergeant wearing trench waders, standing at the entrance of a captured German dug-out under the ruined Church at Beaumont Hamel, November, 1916.

They have stacked their Lee-Enfield rifles up against the wall of the dug-out nicknamed 'M.G.C. Ye Corner House'.
(Photo source - © IWM Q 1555)
Colourised by Doug

 

[Conhoon]

Mk IV (Male) tank H45 'Hyacinth' of H Battalion ditched in a German trench while supporting the 1st Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment, one mile west of Ribécourt. Some men of the battalion are resting in the trench, November 1917.

 

[Conhoon]

A group of Royal Marine Artillerymen, 63rd (Royal Naval) Division by a dump of 15-inch howitzer shells near Ypres, November 1916. On one of the shells in front of the group is written 'RMA Guarantee for Peace'.

(Photo source - National Museum of Scotland)
Colourised by Royston Leonard

 

[Conhoon]

Pilot Officer Owen Currin sketches a caricature of a follow squadron mate in front of a No. 2 Squadron Lockheed Hudson (NZ2066) while three others look on in awe at his artistic skills.
RNZAF Station, Nelson. November, 1942

Flight Lieutenant Currin served as a navigator on Hudsons in No 2 Squadron.
He survived the war and passed away on 8 April 2010, aged 93.
Hudson NZ2066 was transferred to No 4 Squadron in 1943.
She went missing on return trip from Nausori, Fiji to Whenuapai 20 August 1944.
The aircraft was part of a flight of 6 that left Nausori just after 0600 hours. The formation encountered thick cloud during the flight and broke up.
No trace of aircraft or occupants ever found despite intensive searches lasting for almost a week.
Flying Officer Beard, Sergeant Gillespie, Warrant Officer Dunstan, Sergeant Carey, Pilot Officer Johnson, Flight Sergeant Ward, and Flying Officer Waugh were killed.
I think the aircraft in the background is a mock-up Hurricane that the RNZAF used to to make it look like we had more fighters than we actually did to any potential Japanese recon planes.
The only other closed-cockpit, single engined monoplane we had at the time was the Kittyhawk, which this plane doesn't resemble.

 

[Conhoon]

Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) team in North Africa during World War II

 

[BravoZulu]

Battleship Fuso during a damage control exercise. The crew conducts tests to flood and drain the ship's compartments, Kure Naval Base~20 April 1941

 

[BravoZulu]

Battleship Tirpitz leaving Alta Fjord to attack Allied convoy PQ17 during Operation Rösselsprung, while being followed by cruisers Admiral Hipper and Admiral Scheer, escorted by destroyers. June 1942

 

[BravoZulu]

An Australian infantryman gives a drink to a wounded Turkish soldier during the Gallipoli Campaign, Turkey, 1915. Achi Baba is in the background

 

[santana]

A Lancaster bomber which was forced to make an emergency landing after a bombing mission over Berlin.

The port outer engine failed and was feathered. After jettisoning part of the bomb load, the crew continued to the target where they came under sustained attack from a Fw190.

Damage was done to the port inner engine, the flying controls and both turrets before they shook off the fighter.

Then it was hit by a burst of flak making both ailerons useless. Following a very difficult return flight the Lancaster touched down at 22:54 hrs and broke up.

(From left to right) Pilot F. Wooton Gallager and crew, Alfred Young, Ronald Scott, Selwyn Fawcett, Charles Stewart, Kenneth Waddington & Murray Sherman

The Pilot, P/O. Frederick Gallagher was awarded the DSO and the flight engineer Fl/Sgt. Charles Stewart the DFM.

Sadly, some of this crew were to be killed a short time later in June, on Lancaster ME827 EM-I.

From lostbombers/Bomber Command Losses:

Wireless Op/Air Gunner Selwyn Fawcett was killed flying with another crew on 27/04/44, whilst flying in Lancaster LM526 coded "EM-R" on an Op to Schweinfurt. He is buried in Durnbach cemetery.

Flt Frederick Wooton Gallagher, WO2 Murray Sherman (RCAF), F.S Ronald Parson Scott and Sgt Kenneth Waddington were all killed when Lancaster ME827 (Coded EM-I) came down in Holland on 22/06/44. Cause not established.

Sgts M.B Millward and Sgt R.W Lloyd were also killed. They are all buried in Bergen-Op-Zoom cemetery.

WO Alfred Young baled out and was made POW.

All No 207 Squadron.

 

[santana]

Easy Company's Pvt. Joseph D. Liebgott
'Joe' Liebgott takes a break in the streets of Eindhoven. In the back sit an unknown trooper (often misidentified as Eugene G. Roe) and Burton P. Christenson, from 1st Platoon, E Company, 2nd BN, 506th PIR. Location, Eindhoven, September 1944, The Netherlands.

Liebgott's parents moved from Austria to the United States. Joseph, Jr, was born in Lansing, Michigan, the oldest of six children. The children were raised Roman Catholic and attended Catholic school. His family moved to San Francisco, California, before the War. He worked mainly as a barber.

Military service
Liebgott's fellow soldiers often assumed he was Jewish based on his name, his appearance, and his general hatred of Germans and Nazis in particular. He also spoke an Austrian dialect of German, which was confused with Yiddish. Liebgott generally didn't bother to refute this assumption, finding it amusing and occasionally to his advantage.

As they prepared to jump for the invasion of Normandy, Liebgott and Forrest Guth gave haircuts to the men of the 101st for $0.15 per head. Many of the men either had their heads shaved or got Mohawks.
Liebgott participated in the Brécourt Manor Assault, manning a machine gun with Cleveland Petty. For this action Robert Sink awarded both men the Bronze Star. On D-Day+4 Liebgott showed Roderick Strohl a ring that he had cut off the finger of a dead German whom he had killed with his bayonet.

During the attack on Carentan he was clearing a house with Edward Tipper when an explosion wounded Tipper, breaking both of his legs. Liebgott and Harry Welsh dragged Tipper to safety.

He received minor wounds on October 5, 1944, at about 0330, when Easy was on line on "The Island", in the Netherlands, on the south side of the Rhine. While on patrol, the group that he was with encountered a German patrol, and an incoming grenade wounded him (in the arm) and Roderick Strohl slightly, while James Alley and Joseph Lesniewski were wounded more severely. Alley had thirty-two wounds in his left side, face, neck, and arm, while Lesniewski got hit in the neck by shrapnel. Later after Easy Company commanding officer Richard Winters led the charge up on the dike, the German artillery opened up on the crossroads and in return American artillery returned fire. One of the American' shells exploded near Liebgott, wounding his elbow.

He was noted by Winters as being an extremely good combat soldier and loyal friend. However, Liebgott had a rather rough attitude towards prisoners. After the battle at the crossroads on "The Island", in October 1944, Winters handed over 11 German prisoners to Liebgott to be taken back to the battalion command post. Liebgott was ordered to drop all his ammunition but one round, as to ensure that the German prisoners made it back.

Liebgott was described by fellow comrade David Kenyon Webster as being "120-pound Liebgott, ex-San Francisco cabby, was the skinniest and, at non-financial moments, one of the funniest men in E Company. He had the added distinction of being one of the few Jews in the paratroops". After being sent to England to the hospital, Liebgott wanted to get back to the men; he requested and received a discharge from the hospital and returned to France.

After fighting in Normandy and the Netherlands, Liebgott was nearing a breaking point at Bastogne, during the Battle of the Bulge. Winters pulled him off the line and made him his Command Post (CP) runner. After a few days he returned to the line to be with his buddies, but Liebgott's feelings of stress and tension also returned. This time Winters assigned him to 101st Division Headquarters S-2 (intelligence), due to his ability to speak German and interrogate the prisoners. This move Winters would regret because Winters thought that Liebgott was Jewish and his hatred for the Germans came through when he questioned the prisoners.

At Noville, while patrolling with Sergeant Earl Hale, the two men went into a barn and captured six German SS officers. When a shell exploded outside the barn one of the SS officers pulled a knife from his boot and slit Hale's throat, although not fatally. Liebgott shot the officer, killing him. (Later General George Patton berated Hale for not wearing a necktie, until Hale produced a letter from the doctor who treated him that exempted him from wearing one.

While on occupation duty in Austria, Easy Company commander Ronald Speirs assigned Liebgott, along with John C. Lynch, Don Moone, and Wayne Sisk, to "eliminate" a German who had been the head of a labor camp. When they found the man, Liebgott interrogated him for about 30 minutes, confirming that he was the man they wanted. They drove him to a ravine and Liebgott shot him twice. Wounded, the German ran up a hill and Lynch ordered Moone to shoot him. Moone refused, and Sisk killed the man with a fatal rifle shot.

Later life
After the war, Liebgott returned to San Francisco. He later moved to Los Angeles and became a barber. He married and had eight children, naming one son after himself, while all the other children's names began with a 'J'.

He didn't talk about his war years, nor did he attend any reunions. He died on June 28, 1992 at the age of 77.

 

[BravoZulu]

View attachment 351251

Easy Company's Pvt. Joseph D. Liebgott
'Joe' Liebgott takes a break in the streets of Eindhoven. In the back sit an unknown trooper (often misidentified as Eugene G. Roe) and Burton P. Christenson, from 1st Platoon, E Company, 2nd BN, 506th PIR. Location, Eindhoven, September 1944, The Netherlands.

Liebgott's parents moved from Austria to the United States. Joseph, Jr, was born in Lansing, Michigan, the oldest of six children. The children were raised Roman Catholic and attended Catholic school. His family moved to San Francisco, California, before the War. He worked mainly as a barber.

Military service
Liebgott's fellow soldiers often assumed he was Jewish based on his name, his appearance, and his general hatred of Germans and Nazis in particular. He also spoke an Austrian dialect of German, which was confused with Yiddish. Liebgott generally didn't bother to refute this assumption, finding it amusing and occasionally to his advantage.

As they prepared to jump for the invasion of Normandy, Liebgott and Forrest Guth gave haircuts to the men of the 101st for $0.15 per head. Many of the men either had their heads shaved or got Mohawks.
Liebgott participated in the Brécourt Manor Assault, manning a machine gun with Cleveland Petty. For this action Robert Sink awarded both men the Bronze Star. On D-Day+4 Liebgott showed Roderick Strohl a ring that he had cut off the finger of a dead German whom he had killed with his bayonet.

During the attack on Carentan he was clearing a house with Edward Tipper when an explosion wounded Tipper, breaking both of his legs. Liebgott and Harry Welsh dragged Tipper to safety.

He received minor wounds on October 5, 1944, at about 0330, when Easy was on line on "The Island", in the Netherlands, on the south side of the Rhine. While on patrol, the group that he was with encountered a German patrol, and an incoming grenade wounded him (in the arm) and Roderick Strohl slightly, while James Alley and Joseph Lesniewski were wounded more severely. Alley had thirty-two wounds in his left side, face, neck, and arm, while Lesniewski got hit in the neck by shrapnel. Later after Easy Company commanding officer Richard Winters led the charge up on the dike, the German artillery opened up on the crossroads and in return American artillery returned fire. One of the American' shells exploded near Liebgott, wounding his elbow.

He was noted by Winters as being an extremely good combat soldier and loyal friend. However, Liebgott had a rather rough attitude towards prisoners. After the battle at the crossroads on "The Island", in October 1944, Winters handed over 11 German prisoners to Liebgott to be taken back to the battalion command post. Liebgott was ordered to drop all his ammunition but one round, as to ensure that the German prisoners made it back.

Liebgott was described by fellow comrade David Kenyon Webster as being "120-pound Liebgott, ex-San Francisco cabby, was the skinniest and, at non-financial moments, one of the funniest men in E Company. He had the added distinction of being one of the few Jews in the paratroops". After being sent to England to the hospital, Liebgott wanted to get back to the men; he requested and received a discharge from the hospital and returned to France.

After fighting in Normandy and the Netherlands, Liebgott was nearing a breaking point at Bastogne, during the Battle of the Bulge. Winters pulled him off the line and made him his Command Post (CP) runner. After a few days he returned to the line to be with his buddies, but Liebgott's feelings of stress and tension also returned. This time Winters assigned him to 101st Division Headquarters S-2 (intelligence), due to his ability to speak German and interrogate the prisoners. This move Winters would regret because Winters thought that Liebgott was Jewish and his hatred for the Germans came through when he questioned the prisoners.

At Noville, while patrolling with Sergeant Earl Hale, the two men went into a barn and captured six German SS officers. When a shell exploded outside the barn one of the SS officers pulled a knife from his boot and slit Hale's throat, although not fatally. Liebgott shot the officer, killing him. (Later General George Patton berated Hale for not wearing a necktie, until Hale produced a letter from the doctor who treated him that exempted him from wearing one.

While on occupation duty in Austria, Easy Company commander Ronald Speirs assigned Liebgott, along with John C. Lynch, Don Moone, and Wayne Sisk, to "eliminate" a German who had been the head of a labor camp. When they found the man, Liebgott interrogated him for about 30 minutes, confirming that he was the man they wanted. They drove him to a ravine and Liebgott shot him twice. Wounded, the German ran up a hill and Lynch ordered Moone to shoot him. Moone refused, and Sisk killed the man with a fatal rifle shot.

Later life
After the war, Liebgott returned to San Francisco. He later moved to Los Angeles and became a barber. He married and had eight children, naming one son after himself, while all the other children's names began with a 'J'.

He didn't talk about his war years, nor did he attend any reunions. He died on June 28, 1992 at the age of 77.

In a war zone he is the guy you want next to you

 

[Conhoon]

"Petersburg, Va. Officers of the 114th Pennsylvania Infantry playing cards in front of tents. The siege of Petersburg, August 1864."

The Petersburg Campaign (June 1864-March 1865), also known as the Siege of Petersburg, was a climactic series of battles in southern Virginia during the American Civil War (1861-65), in which Union General Ulysses S. Grant faced off against Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The campaign saw one of the most protracted uses of trench warfare during the war, as the two armies clashed for more than nine months along a series of trenches more than 30 miles long. By late March, with Confederate supplies dwindling and Union pressure mounting, Lee was forced to retreat; abandoning both Petersburg and the nearby Confederate capital of Richmond and leading to his surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.

 

[Conhoon]

A pack horse loaded with rubber trench boots (waders), is led through the mud near Beaumont Hamel on the Somme battlefield, November 1916.

(Photo source - © IWM Q 1565)
Colourised by Doug

 

[BravoZulu]

Littorio class battleship Littorio at her mooring (colourised)

 

[BravoZulu]

Jürgen Stroop and his aide Erich Steidtmann with SD men Heinrich Klaustermeyer and Josef Blösche during the liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto, (from April 19 to May 16, 1943) Stroop was executed for crimes against humanity in 1952, Blösche in 1969, Klaustermeyer received life in prison and died in 1976, Steidtmann escaped justice and died in 2010

 

[BravoZulu]

German forces next to an incapacitated French heavy tank on the side of the road, 1940.

 

[BravoZulu]

Two smiling soldiers of (probably) the 4th Moroccan Mountain Division of the 1st French Corps, fill the hands of American soldiers of the 12th U.S. Armoured Division with candy, in Rouffach, France, after the closing of the Colmar pocket. February 5, 1945

 

[Chazman]

Note the captured German belt on the American.

 

[santana]

The effect of the Luftwaffe bombing raids on Coventry.
14 November 1940.

Earl Street as seen from Jordan Well. The stream of people still attempting to file into work the next day, picking their way through the rubble, highlighted perfectly the point that the world's press wanted to make.... the Germans cannot bomb us into submission!
The Council House clock tower is clearly visible through the haze of smoke, and although the building had virtually all its windows blown in by bomb blast, it survived the night of November 14th 1940 remarkably unscathed - just a scattering of wounds in the stone work, which can still be seen as you pass by.