Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

[Conhoon]

78 years ago, on February 14, 1942, the "Armia Krajowa" ("Home Army") was created in Poland - the largest and strongest underground army in occupied Europe.

 

[BravoZulu]

SS Totenkopf men move in Poland past a burning T-34 tank. (Picture by Grenart. Taken on Aug. 18, 1944)

The radio operator/gunner’s view, looking forward toward the pilot, in a Messerschmitt Bf 110 cockpit. France November 1940.
(Photo source - Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-405-0555-34)
(Colour by RJM)

 

[BravoZulu]

Soviet and American soldiers on the banks of the Elbe River study weapons, the city of Torgau, 1945.

 

[BravoZulu]

Russian troops with fixed bayonets somewhere in trench on Eastern front, taken during Brusilov offensive ( one of most lethal offensives in history), 1916

 

[BravoZulu]

A USN chaplain performing mass on the deck of USS Iowa as they approached the Mariana Islands, Jun 1944.

 

[BravoZulu]

Surrendered German U-boat U776, Arrives at Westminster pier, on river Thames, near the Houses of Parliament London 1945

 

[Conhoon]

USS Salt Lake City (CA-25) off the Mare Island Naval Shipyard on 21 June 1944 (19-N-67713)

Salt Lake City received 11 battle stars for her World War II service

 

[BravoZulu]

HMS Nelson Ship's Company mustered for inspection at the port of Algiers

 

[Conhoon]

HMS Kent, coming from Liverpool, presumably the beginning of 1943.

From the IWM collection.

 

[Conhoon]

February 24 1945.
M4A3 (76)'Sherman' of the 771st Tank Battalion, US 84th "Rail -Splitter" Division after the fighting in ruins of the German town of Linnich.

On the right is an 'HQ' Dodge WC-52f (with what looks like 9th Armored Div markings on the fender)

'Operation Grenade'
The Roer River rose to historical prominence in the winter of 1944/1945 when it became an integral part of the German western border defenses. It effectively closed the 25 mile gap in the Siegfried Line which the American advance through Aachen had made. For the 9A a further invasion of Germany to reach the Rhine depended upon the forcing of the Roer River.
Roughly, the Roer River runs parallel to the German frontier from Roermond in the north, where it joins the Meuse River to Düren in the south. It also parallels the Rhine River about 25 miles further east and is an effective barrier to any attack from the west aimed at the Ruhr Industrial Area. The advance to the river had been a slow fight against determined resistance and the enemy was quick to respond to any probing of the east bank. The situation called for the build-up of a powerful attacking force before a crossing could be forced. Detailed plans for the Roer crossing were formulated early in December after elements of the XIX Corps and the XIII Corps in the 9A zone reached the river at Jülich and Linnich. However, the operation was delayed for more than a month by the German Counter Offensive in the Belgian Ardenne.
Photo source - US Army Signals Corps.
Colourised by Richard James Molloy

 

[Conhoon]

The art of camouflage had reached a high degree of perfection since World War I.

Here U.S. Army Ranger Scouts wear the M1942 camouflage suit that features one of the first U.S. military issued camouflage patterns. This pattern was widely issued at the request of General Douglas MacArthur to Marines in the Pacific theater of WWII, sometime after the Battle of Tarawa. The two-sided motif (lighter color camo for spring and darker for fall) also briefly saw action in the European theater, but was scrapped because of its similarity to German camouflage patterns.

Colour: Colourised PIECE of JAKE
Source: U.S. Army Signal Corps.
United States. Office of War Information.
Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944.

 

[berkut76]

The art of camouflage had reached a high degree of perfection since World War I.

View attachment 209780
Here U.S. Army Ranger Scouts wear the M1942 camouflage suit that features one of the first U.S. military issued camouflage patterns. This pattern was widely issued at the request of General Douglas MacArthur to Marines in the Pacific theater of WWII, sometime after the Battle of Tarawa. The two-sided motif (lighter color camo for spring and darker for fall) also briefly saw action in the European theater, but was scrapped because of its similarity to German camouflage patterns.

Colour: Colourised PIECE of JAKE
Source: U.S. Army Signal Corps.
United States. Office of War Information.
Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944.

Still carrying Springfileds I presume. Really odd during that period in the war.

 

[Conhoon]

A Madagascar soldier of the 11th régiment d'artillerie coloniale (Colonial artillery regiment), France, 1939.

Photograph taken by André Zucca.

 

[berkut76]

Japanese kamikaze before their final mission on June 15th, 1945

 

[berkut76]

Fokker Dr.I marked with the yellow cowlings & tails of Royal Prussian Jasta 27 are readied for takeoff at Halluin-Ost aerodrome in May 1918

 

[BravoZulu]

A Douglas SBD Dauntless balances on its nose after crash landing on a carrier flight deck in the Pacific, June 21, 1943

 

[BravoZulu]

5.5-inch gun crew from 75th Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery, in action in Italy, September 1943

 

[BravoZulu]

A paratrooper of the 6th Airborne Division, using a Sten Mk II SMG during a training before Operation Tonga, May-June 1944

 

[Conhoon]

Training of Polish soldiers in Scotland. Photos of those who survived the battle for Narvik in Norway and after the dissolution of the Independent Podhale Rifles Brigade (formed alongside the French Army in 1940) joined the Podhale Rifles Battalion (part of the Polish 1st Armored Division alongside the British Army).

 

[Conhoon]

Grenadiers of the 9th Panzer-Grenadier Regiment "Germania" of the 5th Panzer Division "Wiking" in Sd.Kfz 251/1 Ausf. D counter attacking in the Nurzec-Stacja area, occupied Poland, 22 July 1944.