Photos WW2 British & Commonwealth Forces

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First Special Service Force (FSSF) soldiers with Browning 30. cal GPMG, Anzio beachhead, Italy, 27 Apr 1944.

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Lifebuoy Flamethrower, Balgerhoek, Beligum, 4 Oct 1944.

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Lifebuoy flamethrower, Xanten, Germany, 10 Mar 1945.

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Soldier of the Highland Light Infantry of Canada, who is armed with a Boys anti-tank rifle, taking part in a training exercise, Bognor Regis, England, 7 April 1942.

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Parachute-qualified soldier, who is armed with a PIAT anti-tank weapon, undertaking winter infantry training at A-35 Canadian Parachute Training Centre (Canadian Army Training Centres and Schools), Camp Shilo, Manitoba, Canada, 20 March 1945.

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Hull City burns after a bombing raid by the Luftwaffe, May 1941.
Positioned on the Humber which is still used as a geographic marker by pilots to this day, Hull couldnt hide with a Blackout in the same way that inland cities could try to do. And often times German bombers if they had bombs left over after a raid would dump them on the East Riding Port City.
As a result Hull was one of the most heavily bombed Cities after London during the Blitz.

 

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A car full of brass!
I wonder how the driver felt about having to drive General Sir Harold Alexander, Supreme Allied Commander Mediterranean Forces...General Sir Bernard Montgomery, Commander Eighth Army and General Sir Alan Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff ?!
General Alexander wears a USAAF issue B3 jacket and "Monty" wears an RAF issue Irvin jacket.
The car is "Monty's" Humber Snipe staff car which is preserved today in the IWM.
These commanders were photographed during an inspection of the 8th Indian Division HQ, Italy, 15th December,1943.

 

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There was always time for a "brew-up"!
The crew of an overturned M4A1 Sherman tank of 7th Armoured Brigade enjoy a 'brew' beside their vehicle whilst awaiting a REME recovery team near the Gothic Line, Italy, 13th September 1944.
Their tank apparently overturned after slipping off a narrow road in the dark.
(IWM)

 

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The entire length of the Italian penninsula was criss-crossed with many rivers and water-courses which favoured the German defenders as they gradually withdrew to the north of the country.
Had it not been for the "Bailey Bridge" the Allied advance would have been even more difficult than it was.
Many such bridges were erected by Allied engineers thus enabling their forces to cross the many water-obstacles which required bridging.
Here, a Bailey Bridge constructed by Royal Engineers carries Allied military traffic over a river in Italy while Italian labourers work at repairing the original bridge which was destroyed by the retreating Germans.
(IWM)

 

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Phyllis Stanley is playing to a naval audience during a show on the packed deck of HMS NELSON in Gibraltar.
Note the sailors sitting on one of the gleaming 16 inch Rifles in the foreground....Date 7 January 1943. Nelson was busy at this time (being part of the legendary Force H) in convoy, escort duties in the western Mediterranean, and supporting military operations in North Africa.
Creator
Roper, F G (Lt) Royal Navy official photographer
© IWM A 14185

 

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A Cup of cheer...... forces Sweetheart Vera Lynn opens a Variety Ladies Guild YMCA tea car in London - June 1942.

Photo source - Pinterest.

 

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Time to pause and remember fallen comrades.
The plaque reads:
" In memory of the officers and men of the Parachute Brigade of the British Army who gave their lives for King and Country, November 1942 - April 1943"
During the Tunisian campaign the Parachute Brigade fought as elite infantry.
One of their outstanding officers during the campaign was Major John Frost who, a year or so later, led the airborne troops during the assault on the bridge at Arnhem.
The paratrooper below was Sgt. M. Lewis of the 2nd Parachute Battalion.
The memorial to the 1st Parachute Brigade was situated on the Nefza-Sedjenane road in Tunisia's Tamara Valley.
Dated 14th October, 1943.
(IWM)

 

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A informal portrait by Cecil Beaton of Air-Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, when he was AOC, RAF Middle East Command.
Together with Air-Marshal Arthur "Mary" Coningham, Air-Marshal Tommy Elmhirst, General Carl "Tooey" Spaatz and Brigadier Larry Kuter, USAAF, he was instrumental in the overseeing of and building up the Allies' unbeatable Desert Air Force and North African Tactical Air Force.
Following the Allied victory in N. Africa he became first the Commander of the Mediterranean Air Command and then Commander of the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces.
He was then "moved upstairs" and became Deputy Supreme Commander at SHAEF under General Eisenhower, ahead of "Operation Overlord".
(IWM / Beaton)

 

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The crew of a Universal Carrier pauses to read the signage on the wall of a ruined building at Mareth, Tunisia, March 1943.
Tunisia had been a French protectorate since 1881 so French was widely spoken along with the native Tunisian Arabic.
(IWM)

 

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'My grandfather's hidden wartime photo album'

Peter Goffin's grandfather told stories about the war, but never showed anyone his collection of 300 photos.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

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Infantrymen of the Grenadier Guards supported by a Sherman tank move cautiously through the rubble that was once the town of Cassino during "mopping up" operations, May 18th, 1944.
(IWM)

 

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Against the backdrop of the rugged Italian hills and protected by barrage balloons, these DUKWs of the 1st Battalion, Scots Guards, are in the process of being loaded into their LSTs at Salerno harbour ahead of "Operation Shingle".... the landings along the coast at Anzio, January 22nd, 1944.
(IWM)

 

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Exhausted soldiers will sleep anywhere.
This infantryman getting his head down in an Italian barn during a break in the fighting in Garigliano River Valley in January 1944 is indentified as Lance-Corporal A. Durrent, of Bethnal Green, London.
Note his M1928 Thompson SMG is close at hand.
(IWM / Original colour transparency)

 

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After three bloody and unsuccessful attempts, the German stronghold of Monte Cassino was finally taken by General Anders' Polish forces on May 18th, 1944.
This image of an Allied Bren-gunner in the ruins of the abbey illustrates why it was such a difficult position to take.
The German Fallschirmjäger who held the high ground made good use of the cover provided by the rubble created by the Allied bombing.
Thus, a relatively small number of determined men with carefully-sited MG 42s could succesfully repel attacks by much larger numbers of troops and were extremely difficult to winkle out.
Note the badly worn footwear on this individual.
They are definitely not hobnailed "ammunition boots" which would not be the best thing for walking over the rubble!
They appear to be soft-soled, not unlike plimsoles ( see enlargement below)
(IWM / Original colour transparency)

 

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For them the war was over.
Three German prisoners walk back through a scene of devastation towards the Allied lines at Cassino in Italy, May 1944.
(IWM / Original colour transparency)