Photos WW2 British & Commonwealth Forces

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British Army "Buffalos" in the Scheldt.

 

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The last ever photo of HMS battlecruiser Hood. Hood would sink the next day due to a magazine detonation; ripping the ship in half and destroying the aft. Only 3 crew would survive; out of a complement of 1,418. Sunk by Kreigsmarine battleship Bismark, as we all know. The ensuing chase/revenge would lead to Bismark's demise.

 

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An Indian rifleman with a SMLE (Short Magazine Lee-Enfield) Mk III in the prone firing position, Egypt, 16 May 1940.

 

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Many of Germany 's captured new and experimental aircraft were displayed in an exhibition as part of London 's Thanksgiving week on September 14, 1945. Among the aircraft are a number of jet and rocket propelled planes. Here, a side view of the Heinkel He-162 "Volksjaeger", propelled by a turbo-jet unit mounted above the fuselage, in Hyde park, in London .

 

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On May 21, Colonel Bird, Commandant of Belsen Camp, gave the order for the last hut at Belsen Concentration Camp to be burned. A rifle salute was fired in honor of the dead, the British flag was run up at the same moment as a flame-thrower set fire to the last hut. A German flag and portrait of Hitler went up in flames inside the hut in June of 1945.

 

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Battle of Pearl Ridge
On the 30th of December 1944, Australians of the 25th Infantry Battalion fought against the Japanese in the Battle of Pearl Ridge in Bougainville, New Guinea. This battle, although a footnote in the wider campaign, still marked an Australian victory in the face of tough opposition.
Initially, the Australians believed that the ridge was held by less than a company of Japanese, and the Australians were confident during the initial four pronged attack. It rapidly became apparent that the defending force had been reinforced by a Brigade size element, bringing the force close to a Battalion in strength and almost equal to the attacking Australians.
After being held up on the right of their advance, the Australians dug-in overnight and repulsed a strong Japanese counterattack before resuming the attack on 31 December. During close quarter fighting which involved hand to hand combat in the forward pits, and ‘danger close’ artillery fire, the Australians resisted the Japanese attacks throughout the night and into the morning of the 31st. After the attack, Australian scouts found the ridge abandoned and further patrols found that the Japanese had been swept off the ridge.
During the battle, the Australians lost 10 killed and 25 wounded, whilst the Japanese casualties are estimated at 34 killed and 1 captured with an unknown number wounded.
Pearl Ridge would prove to be a vital strategic position for the remainder of the war as it it provided a vantage point where one could see from one side of Bougainville to the other, a distance of over 48km. The Australians later established an observation post on the ridge, which had commanding views of the whole island, and throughout the remainder of the campaign used it to control artillery fire as they advanced towards Japanese enclaves in the north and south of the island.
Image: Australian artillerymen fire a 25-pounder

 

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Two Spitfire IX's of No 241 Squadron, Royal Air Force, MA425/`RZ-R' and MH635/`RZ-U' piloted by Flying Officers H Cogman and J V Macdonald respectively flying over mountainous country south of Rome. January 1944.
Source: IWM

 

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A camouflaged Sherman Firefly of the Irish Guards and infantry guard a section of the Bremen-Hamburg autobahn, on April 20, 1945.

 

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February 1944 somewhere in the Atlantic, ice buildup on the Canadian corvette HMCS Brantford.

 

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A young woman escorting her soldier boyfriend to the train station. London. 17 June 1940.
Photo by: JA Hampton

 

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A British soldier inspects two knocked-out German PzKpfw V Panther tanks near Foy-Notre-Dame in Belgium on 29 December 1944. After the fighting, the area was a large graveyard of vehicles and equipment, destroyed or abandoned. Because the German Panthers and Panzer IV's tanks ran out of fuel and grenades, most were destroyed by the retreating German

 

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Evaluating downed equipment was vital to understanding the enemy and their capabilities, so as to combat them more effectively.
Here two british pilots study the engine of a Messerschmitt Bf 109E-4. Lieutenant Franz von Werra plane, shot down September 5th, 1940 over England in aerial combat with a Spitfire.
The emblem of the 2nd group of the 3rd Fighter Wing (II.JG3) is visible on the fuselage of the aircraft.
Photo Source - Pinterest

 

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The 'Cook'. Private W A Bowen of the Army Catering Corps, preparing potatoes at the main Headquarters of the Eighth Army in the San Angelo area of Italy. Private Bowen, a former painter and decorator, from Lisswerry, Newport, South Wales, served in a Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment before transferring to the Army Catering Corps. He left England in 1941, and served at Tobruk, Benghazi and Tunis before landing in Italy during September 1943.
Source: IWM

 

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B-17C-BO (Fortress Mk. I) #40-2052 (RAF AN521) 90 Squadron RAF RAF Serial incorrectly applied at factory as AM521
Delivered RAF [AN521] as part of Lend-Lease; 90 Squadron [WP-K] Polebrook 15-Apr-41 with Major Walsh, the first aircraft to the fly Atlantic to RAF, Watton; transferred 220 Squadron, ZZ-? Portreath 28-Oct-41; 107 MU Kasfareet; Fuka 5-Dec-41; engine fire and crash landed Shallufa, Egypt, 10-Jan-42 with F/O Sturmey, plus crew of five and two passengers; F/Sgt Hamish Mennie, Sgt Don Tuson fatally injured; Written off 3-Oct-43.
Image and information thanks americanairmuseum . com

 

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Damage control party dousing flames from a drop tank that fell from a Corsair MK.II on a British carrier in September 1944 after an attack on railroad installations at Sigli, Sumatra.

 

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HMS Ark Royal under attack

 

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The "go anywhere" Churchill was a very versatile tank.
Its robust hull and suspension was successfully used as the basis for a variety of specialised engineer vehicles, known collectively as AVREs ( Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers)
Here we see it in its bridgelayer configuration carrying a "Bridge, Tank, 30ft, No.2".
The operational images show such a bridge laid in the field enabling Churchill tanks of the 3rd Scots Guards / 6th Guards Tank Brigade, with infantry of 10th Highland Light Infantry aboard, to cross over a mine crater on a road between Celle and the River Elbe, 14 April 1945.

 

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A Churchill bridgelayer of 51st Royal Tank Regiment in action during a demonstration in the Mezzano area, 30 March 1945.

 

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U-boats were not the only threat to the convoys in northern latitudes. A watch had to be kept on the Arctic pack-ice, the extent and composition of which varied depending on the time of year. To this end No. 269 Squadron in Iceland flew regular 'ice patrols' over the Denmark Strait between Iceland and Greenland. The crew of a Lockheed Hudson prepares to climb aboard their aircraft, May 1942.
© IWM CS 166

 

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British Power Boat Company Type 2 'Whaleback' High Speed Launches of the RAF Marine Branch, at sea off Dover, 7 April 1941.
© IWM CH 2495