Photos WW2 British & Commonwealth Forces

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WWII. New Britain Campaign. Jacquinot Bay. 6 November 1944. Soldiers of B Company, 1st New Guinea Infantry Battalion aboard the former Hawkesbury River (New South Wales) vehicle ferry the Francis Peat. It will transport them to Pomio village where the unit will establish it's HQ. Identified is CSM Kube (with machete). [AWM 076702]

 

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The Pipe Band of the London Irish Rifles on parade with their Irish Wolfhound mascot, near Tunbridge Wells, Kent, 31st December 1940.
The buildings with the conical roofs are a distinctive feature of the Kentish landscape and are known as "Oast Houses".
Kent is the centre of English hop-growing. The harvested hops were stored in the Oast Houses for drying. The ventilators at the apex turned into the wind and allowed in the drying air-flow.
The famous Whitbread Hop Farm in this area of Kent is a popular visitor attraction today ( see image below)
The London Irish wore traditional large green "Caubeen" berets with a feathered hackle.
Their kilts were overall "saffron"...a dark shade of orange.
(IWM)

 

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Known as the "Wasp", a Universal Carrier fitted with a flame projector demonstrates its capabilities during trials, somewhere in Scotland, March 1942.
(IWM)

 

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WWII. Borneo Campaign. Battle of Balikpapan. 3 July 1945. Australian troops of A Company, 2/10 Infantry Battalion (The Adelaide Rifles), 7th Division, and Matilda tanks of B Squadron, 1st Armoured Regiment, move through the Shell oil refinery while clearing Japanese soldiers out of the area during Operation Oboe Two. The tank is named 'Bull Terrier'. [AWM 110913]

 

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British Soldiers in Italy with an Ordnance QF 6-pounder 57mm gun - February 1944

LIFE Magazine Archives - George Rodger Photographer

 

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Before he was catapulted to fame as the GOC 8th Army, Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery was GOC V Corps.
Seen here during large scale exercises in Southern England in March 1941, "Monty" is surrounded by a group of War Correspondents who were assigned to cover them.
(IWM)

 

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WWII. Normandy Campaign, France. 19 June 1944. Lance Corporal W. J. Curtis of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC) treating an injured child near Villons-les-Buissons.

 

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Battle school.
Men of the 6th Royal Berkshires defend a road barricade against a mocked-up "enemy tank" during realistic battle training at Coleraine in Northern Ireland, 16th June 1941.
Note that their helmets have had camouflage patterns applied.
(IWM)

 

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Smartly turned out men of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders in full Highland service dress are inspected by their officer before going on ceremonial guard duties at Aldershot, circa 1939.
The men wear regimental Glengarries.
The reason for the Highland regiments' cutaway service coat is evident here. The cutaway was to allow for the wearing of the traditional sporran.
Their kilts are in Cameron of Eracht tartan.
White spats are worn over their gartered hose.
The officer wears trews also in Cameron of Eracht tartan.
(IWM)

 

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Tommys inspect an Italian truck mounted tank destroyer utilising a Cannone da 90/53 90mm gun fitted to a Lancia 3Ro chassis near El Guettar - 27 March 1943 B.

 

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M3 half-track based 75mm self-propelled gun 'Acorn Inn' of the 27th Lancers in action north-west of Mezzano in Italy - 18 February 1945

 

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Female personnel of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) unpack Winchester Model 74 .22 rifles received from the United States at the Central Ordnance Depot in Northamptonshire.
These rifles were not intended for general military issue.
Rather, they were intended to arm clandestine "resistance groups" which had been organised across the UK in the event of a German invasion.
Secret underground bunkers were built for these groups, some of which survive today.
Each rifle was threaded for a silencer and the receiver was drilled to take optical sights.

 

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A Universal Carrier of the 1st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars fitted with an experimental armoured roof passes through Dorking, Surrey, 23rd July 1940.
Following behind is a Carrier, Bren No. 2. which pre-dated the Universal Carrier.
The staff-car on the left is an Austin 8 AP Tourer.

 

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An interesting WW2 weapon about which information is scarce.
A lorry-mounted QF 4" gun of the British Army...probably a re-purposed naval piece?
The photograph was taken at Littlestone-on-Sea, near Dungeness in Kent, 29th July 1940.
The date and coastal location suggests it was intended as a mobile anti-invasion weapon.
(IWM)

 

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General view of the huts and compound at Stalag Luft III prisoner of war camp.
© IWM (HU 21013)

 

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British troops returning to Greenock, Scotland in June 1940 after evacuation from Norway.

Operation Alphabet was an evacuation, authorised on 24 May 1940, of Allied (British, French and Polish) troops from the harbour of Narvik in northern Norway marking the success of Operation Weserübung (the German invasion of 9 April) and the end of the Allied campaign in Norway during World War II. The evacuation was completed by 8 June.

 

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A little girl sits in the ruins of her bombed home during the Battle of Britain- August 24, 1940.