Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

[Conhoon]

Red Army Scouts

The commander of the 389th separate reconnaissance company of the 330th rifle division, Captain M.I. Lomsadze gives instructions to scouts

Colour by Olga Shirnina (Klimbim)

 

[Connaught Ranger]

Waffen-SS POW of Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler

"A Collectors Guide To THIRD REICH MILITARIA by ROBIN LUMSDEN, Chapter 4 - Tunics, Page 122 Caption - A SS Sturmmann is questioned regarding Russian banknotes found in his possession. He wears the basic model 1943 feldbluse. IWM (Imperial war Museum)

 

[Conhoon]

The end result of PzKpfw V ‘Panther’ Ausf G ‘415’ failed attempt to cross a log bridge.

The tank belonged to the 1. Panzer-Division. Photo dated summer/autumn 1944. If this information is correct then the location would be Poland.

Concerning what the tank crewmen are doing and how they are going to retrieve the tank, the following possible explanation was found:

“The rope or cable they are putting on the barrel will be used to rotate the turret 90 degrees away from the camera. A Bergepanther or FAMO with a winch or another tank, could pull the rear of the Panther away from the embankment. As the rear is moved away from the wall the front will either slid down the face or roll down if someone is in the driver's seat to release the clutch. The engine would have to be checked to make sure oil has not filled the rear cylinders of the engine, if there is fluid in the chamber it will not compress like air/fuel and damage the engine. Otherwise the Panther should be good to go, now the driver's concussion might keep him from driving for a while.” (Jim Dodson (2018); Axis WWII AFV Discussion Group)
Original’s source unknown

 

[Conhoon]

Lt John Fothergill, Cpl Stan Walmsley, Tr. Jim Swain and L/Cpl David Thomas of 'B' Squadron, 5th Battalion, 107th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (King’s Own), 34th Tank Brigade, on their Mk IV Churchill "Briton" tank, in a bivouac area behind the front lines, south west of Caen. 17 July 1944.

John Alvin Fothergill, born Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire 22/8/1915 - died 14 August 1944

At the beginning of July 1944, 107 RAC embarked at Gosport for Normandy with the rest of 34th Tank Brigade. Fighting in the Normandy Campaign as an independent brigade under 21st Army Group command, it could be assigned to support any infantry division that required the assistance of tanks, its regiments usually split up to form brigade groups with the infantry.

107 RAC went into action on 15 July during Operation Greenline, part of the Second Battle of the Odon, designed to pin German forces so that they could not interfere with the planned breakout from the Normandy beachhead (codenamed Operation Cobra). The regiment supported 15th (Scottish) Division in a night attack towards Evreux. 107 RAC's War Diary records that 'the attack from the inf. point of view was a complete success', but complains that the regiment's tanks were blinded by the 'excellent' smoke laid down by the artillery and infantry, and were late withdrawing the following day. The regiment had lost six tanks, with six men killed, seven wounded, and one missing. On 22 July 107 RAC supported troops of 53rd (Welsh) Division in a raid, and then went to support 59th (Staffordshire) Division in case of counter-attack.
On 7 August, 107 RAC moved up in support of 176th Brigade, 59th Division who had established a bridgehead across the River Orne. A Squadron managed to ford the river, followed by C Sqn. The Germans put in a vigorous counter-attack and some of the British infantry withdrew, leaving 107 RAC's two forward squadrons exposed to attacks by Tiger and Panther tanks. Despite heavy casualties, the bridgehead was held, but 107's shattered squadrons had to be reformed as a single composite squadron until the regiment could be withdrawn from the line on 19 August.
(Photo source - © IWM B 7634)
Colour by Doug

 

[BravoZulu]

Lt John Fothergill, Cpl Stan Walmsley, Tr. Jim Swain and L/Cpl David Thomas of 'B' Squadron, 5th Battalion, 107th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (King’s Own), 34th Tank Brigade, on their Mk IV Churchill "Briton" tank, in a bivouac area behind the front lines, south west of Caen. 17 July 1944.

View attachment 241920

John Alvin Fothergill, born Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire 22/8/1915 - died 14 August 1944

At the beginning of July 1944, 107 RAC embarked at Gosport for Normandy with the rest of 34th Tank Brigade. Fighting in the Normandy Campaign as an independent brigade under 21st Army Group command, it could be assigned to support any infantry division that required the assistance of tanks, its regiments usually split up to form brigade groups with the infantry.

107 RAC went into action on 15 July during Operation Greenline, part of the Second Battle of the Odon, designed to pin German forces so that they could not interfere with the planned breakout from the Normandy beachhead (codenamed Operation Cobra). The regiment supported 15th (Scottish) Division in a night attack towards Evreux. 107 RAC's War Diary records that 'the attack from the inf. point of view was a complete success', but complains that the regiment's tanks were blinded by the 'excellent' smoke laid down by the artillery and infantry, and were late withdrawing the following day. The regiment had lost six tanks, with six men killed, seven wounded, and one missing. On 22 July 107 RAC supported troops of 53rd (Welsh) Division in a raid, and then went to support 59th (Staffordshire) Division in case of counter-attack.
On 7 August, 107 RAC moved up in support of 176th Brigade, 59th Division who had established a bridgehead across the River Orne. A Squadron managed to ford the river, followed by C Sqn. The Germans put in a vigorous counter-attack and some of the British infantry withdrew, leaving 107 RAC's two forward squadrons exposed to attacks by Tiger and Panther tanks. Despite heavy casualties, the bridgehead was held, but 107's shattered squadrons had to be reformed as a single composite squadron until the regiment could be withdrawn from the line on 19 August.
(Photo source - © IWM B 7634)
Colour by Doug

Fantastic info there @Conhoon

 

[Conhoon]

Soviet soldiers knock the Germans out of the western part of the village of Krymskaya, 1943

Photo by Max Alpert, colour by Olga Shirnina

 

[berkut76]

Soviet soldiers knock the Germans out of the western part of the village of Krymskaya, 1943

View attachment 242100
Photo by Max Alpert, colour by Olga Shirnina

Unfortunately, the vast majority of the Soviet WW2 photos are so poorly staged bordering on ridiculous.

 

[Conhoon]

A Sherman Firefly passes a 7th Armoured Div., Brigade Motor Btn. Humber scout car crew during the advance towards Aunay-sur-Odon from Caumont in Calvados, Normandy. 31 July 1944.

(Photo source - © IWM B 8371)

Colour by Doug

 

[Fish&Chips]

Sherman tank of the 9th Royal Deccan Horse, 255th Indian Tank Brigade, Burma 1945

Main battle tanks now and then. The model with tusks and a trunk was already used by Hannibal. ?

 

[BravoZulu]

USS Yorktown (CV-10) circa mid-1943 with Hellcat fighters and Helldiver dive bombers on her flight deck

Battleship USS West Virginia, sunk in the Pearl Harbor Attack 7 Dec 1941 and then given temporary repairs at Pearl Harbor, is about to leave Hawaii for further repairs in the United States, 30 Apr 1943.

 

[BravoZulu]

MG 34 position near Gazala. Libya, June 1942

 

[berkut76]

Three of the four Tegetthoff-Klasse dreadnoughts of the Austrian Imperial and Royal Navy. Naval Base Pola, 1917

 

[Conhoon]

"Hour W" , Warsaw, Wola District, concentration of insurgents from the "Pięść" Battalion at the Evangelical-Augsburg cemetery, just before the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising (August 1, 1944).

author of the photo: Stefan Bałuk

 

[BravoZulu]

8 U.S. Navy Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless dive bombers & 6 Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat fighters on the flight deck of the escort carrier USS Santee (ACV-29, then CVE-29) during Operation Torch in November 1942. Note the yellow Operation Torch markings & temporary deck markings

 

[BravoZulu]

Finnish soldiers showing off a captured Soviet flag after the retaking of Sortavala Karelia August 15, 1941

 

[BravoZulu]

19yo Princess Elizabeth standing in front of an Austin K2/Y ambulance during her time in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, 1945

 

[Conhoon]

′′ The price was death for freedom taste ′′

Warsaw insurgent at the entrance to the lower part of the church of st. The cross. In the background a tenement house ′′ near Messala ′′ near Krakow's suburbs 16/18. North Downtown.
photo author: Eugene Haneman
Source: MPW

 

[Conhoon]

Cromwell tanks of the HQ Armoured Brigade, 7th Armoured Division pass a French farmer with his horses, while moving up at the start of Operation 'Bluecoat', the British offensive south-east of Caumont, Calvados. 30 July 1944.

Allied offensive preparations
Operation Bluecoat: Cromwell tanks of the 7th Armoured Division move up in the morning of 30 July 1944
The boundary between the British Second Army (Lieutenant-General Sir Miles Dempsey) and the US First Army was moved, the British taking over from the US V Corps, against which were lightly-armed but well dug in German infantry, which gave an opportunity for a new operation to keep tying down German armour. The VIII Corps headquarters and the 7th, 11th and Guards Armoured divisions were moved westwards toward Caumont on the western flank of XXX Corps. Dempsey planned to attack on 2 August but the speed of events forced him to advance the date.

German defensive preparations
From 21 July the 2nd Panzer Division had been withdrawn from the area south of Caumont and relieved by the 326th Division, which took over a 10 mi (16 km) front from the east of Villers-Bocage, next to the 276th Volksgrenadier Division, westwards to the Drôme river, the boundary between the LXXIV Korps of Panzergruppe West and the 7th Army. The 326th Division, south and east of Caumont, was up to strength and took over a large number of field defences and camouflaged firing positions, behind extensive minefields in the ideal defensive terrain of the Suisse Normande bocage.
Photo source - © IWM B 8183
Hardy, Bert (Sergeant)
No. 5 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit
Colour by Doug

 

[Conhoon]

Panzer VI Ausf.E 'Tiger' tank of 3rd company, s.Pz.Abt.508 captured intact by 22nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 2nd NZ Division at La Romola, Italy. 2 August 1944.

The village of La Romola was defended on the night of July 30/31st by elements of the I/Bn. Grenadier-Regiment 15 (mot) and a few 'Tiger' tanks of 3./Panzer-Abteilung 508, one of which was knocked out, or broke down during the battles.

(Photo source - © IWM NA 17526)
Menzies (Sergeant)
No. 2 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit

Colour by Doug

 

[Conhoon]

Sgt. F J Petrie of Cirencester and Sapper L Roberts of Conisbrough [43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division] examine a captured German 'Panzerschreck' anti-tank weapon during the offensive south of Caumont, Calvados. 31 July 1944.

(Photo source - © IWM B 8311)
Malindine E G (Capt)
No. 5 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit

Colour by Doug