Photos WW2 British & Commonwealth Forces

[guest0001]

American medium tank M3 "Lee" (M3 Lee), destroyed at a railway station during the fighting in Egypt. A modification of this vehicle was in service with the British forces under the designation M3 Grant. October 1942.
Source: worldwarphotos

 

[BravoZulu]

WWII. New Guinea Campaign. Battle of Buna–Gona. 1 January 1943. Fighting during the final assault on Buna. Australian machine gunners in action around 5:30pm. (L-R) Corporal Charles Knight (KIA), Private John Senior behind the Vickers gun and Sergeant G.C. Lowe. Photo by George Silk. [AWM 014037]

View attachment 336515

This image is so powerful to me. George Silk took a series of photo's in this vignette.

The Vickers was being used to strafe the tops of the coconut trees for snipers, one of which has just killed the 1st gunner, Corp Knight. Private Senior took over the gun, telling Silk to take cover as the sniper had just killed Knight. Senior in turn (the gunner in this image) was killed by the sniper just after this photo, pulled out of the way and another gunner stepping up to take over the gun.

 

[BravoZulu]

Pilots of No. 457 'Grey Nurse' Squadron RAAF pose for the camera in front of one of their Supermarine Spitfires in Morotai, Netherlands East Indies, on April 9, 1945.

 

[BravoZulu]

Three British glider pilots pose with captured German soldiers from the 9th SS Reconnaissance Battalion at Arnhem, September 1944.

The POWs were taken immediately after the Krafft ambush of Gough's Recce column. The Glider Pilots are L-R Joe Kitchener, Duffy Edwards, and George Millburn.

 

[BravoZulu]

Captain Killick, 89th Field Security Section, on patrol in the streets of Arnhem, with the intent to scout for nearby friendly forces in the area, 18 September 1944. The patrol was able to pick up stragglers from the 2nd Parachute Battalion who lost their way to the bridge.

Capt Killick survived the war and went on to be The UK Ambassador to NATO.

 

[guest0001]

The British Army in North Africa 1941. 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars training with their new Stuart tanks, 28 August 1941.

 

[guest0001]

August 16th 1940. JU87-B2 T6+KL Wk Nr 5618 of 3./StG2 in a field at Bowley Farm West Sussex after being shot down by a Hurricane of 601 Sqn during the raid on RAF Tangmere.

 

[guest0001]

Troops crouch behind a low wall as they enter Ywithitgyi village, Burma. February 1945.

 

[guest0001]

A British CMP (Canadian Military Pattern - based on a Chevrolet C15 or Ford F15 with an early cab) truck abandoned in the North African desert. 1941.

 

[guest0001]

North African Campaign. Kairouan, Tunisia. c 18 April 1943. Ground crew hard at work on the engine of a Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk fighter-bomber of No. 450 Squadron RAAF during the Tunisian Campaign. Photo by Laurence Le Guay. [AWM MEC0447]

 

[guest0001]

A RAF Spitfire flies over sometime during WW2 circa 1940 or 41, These fighter planes helped repell the Nazi invasion of England when well trained pilots fought off German Luftwaffe over British airspace.

 

[guest0001]

Italian M13/40 tank captured and used by Australian troops that has been recaptured by German forces at Tobruk in 1941

 

[guest0001]

Men of the 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders training with a Lanchester six-wheeled armoured car in the Malayan jungle, 13 November 1941.

 

[guest0001]

BATTLE TRAINING FOR MARINES. 5 JANUARY 1944, ROYAL MARINE DEPOT, DEAL, KENT. MARINES TRAINING IN BATTLE TACTICS FOR THEIR PART IN THE COMING ALLIED INVASION ACTIVITIES.
Lieutenant S L Ashton, of Poneland, Newcastle, giving "sand table" lectures to students at the NCO school.
The sand table is used for teaching tactics indoors in miniature when outdoor conditions are not suitable.
Creator: McNeill, M H A (Lt).
Source: © IWM A 21242

 

[BravoZulu]

A34 Cruiser Tank Comet Mark I Type A with double ‘Normandy cowling’ exhaust covers. This enabled six troops to sit on the back of the tank. Notice the strong rear tow hook to enable a 17pdr gun to be towed – Photographer unknown

 

[BravoZulu]

North African Campaign. 28 August 1941. The British Army's 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars train with their new M3 Stuart light tanks.

 

[BravoZulu]

A Crusader Mk III tank, 1 January 1943

 

[guest0001]

Lieutenant M.G. Aubut and Private C.D. Walker of The North Shore Regiment examining a German cross-Channel gun, Sangatte, France, 26 September 1944.
Photographer: Donald I. Grant
Source: Library and Archives Canada (Credit: Lieut. Donald I. Grant / Canada. Dept. of National Defence / Library and Archives Canada / PA-133141)

 

[guest0001]

Instructor showing men of the Royal Welch Fusiliers how to fire a 2-inch mortar from the hip, Northern Ireland. 21 August 1942.
Source: IWM

 

[guest0001]

October 2nd 1944, areal view of the *Galeries Lafayette *over central *Caen *in Normandie, France.