Photos WW2 British & Commonwealth Forces

[BravoZulu]

New Guinea Campaign. Gona. 4 December 1942. Two weary but happy diggers from 2/33rd Battalion, 25th Brigade, 7th Division (Australia) come out of the jungle for a spell from their own position which was then just one hundred yards from the Japanese. Identified is NX44907 Sergeant Stanley Pretty, of Engadine, NSW (right).

 

[BravoZulu]

HMS King George V, Oct., 1941 during preparations for the Norwegian campaign.

THE TIRPITZ ATTACK. 3 APRIL 1944, ON BOARD THE ESCORT CARRIER HMS EMPEROR WHEN SHE WAS PART OF THE FORCE.
The force of HM Ships off the Norwegian Coast just before the attack began. Left to right: a destroyer, FURIOUS, VICTORIOUS, ANSON, BELFAST and another destroyer.

HMS Formidable underway in the Indian Ocean off Mombasa, Kenya, date unknown

 

[BravoZulu]

HMS Prince of Wales in drydock, Rosyth, 1940

For'r'd 14" turrets and superstructure of battleship HMS King George V, March 1941

HMS Warspite bombarding gun positions in the Caen area, June 7, 1944

HMS King George V entering Guam, May 1945. The crew of HMS KING GEORGE V dressing ship as the battleship steams past Orote Peninsula.

 

[BravoZulu]

New Britain. 4 April 1945. Private Leon Ravet of Parramatta, NSW (left), and Pte Bernard Kentwell of Cronulla, NSW, on the alert while on patrol duty with their Owen sub machine guns. Both men served with the 19th Battalion (South Sydney Regiment)

A soldier from the Australian 2/43rd Battalion armed with an Owen Gun in a bomber dispersal bay at Labuan airstrip on the day of the Australian landing there

Troops from the Australian 2/43rd Infantry Battalion advance with a Matilda tank on Labuan, June 1945.

Australian soldiers and local civilians on Labuan Island, Borneo. The soldier on the right is armed with a US M1 Carbine, which was not normally issued to Australian soldiers.

 

[BravoZulu]

Sergeant Hosotani Naoji (left, seated) of the Kenpeitai (Japanese secret police) at Sandakan is interrogated by Squadron Leader F. G. Birchall (second right) of the Missing Servicemen Section and U. S. Army Sergeant Mamo (right) of the Allied Translator and Interpreter Service on October 26, 1945. Naoji confessed to shooting two Australian POWs and five Chinese civilians. He was subsequently charged with perpetrating War Crimes, tried in a military court, convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Naoji was executed by firing squad on 6th March 1946. (Photographer: Frank Burke)

Sepik River Area, New Guinea. 1944-08-05. 427 Sergeant Bengari, MM of A Company, Papuan Infantry Battalion, who has 104 Japanese to his credit and has been recommended for the DCM.

Three infantrymen of the Australian 2/6th Battalion training in the Watsonville area of North Queensland. The man in the foreground is armed with a Lee-Enfield 0.303 rifle and the two other men carry Owen Guns.

 

[BravoZulu]

Borneo Campaign. 17 June 1945. After landing at Weston in American amphibious landing vehicle tractors, Australian soldiers of 2/32nd Battalion, 9th Division, prepare to patrol towards their objective.

 

[BravoZulu]

Operation Crusader. Libya. 27 November 1941. Troops of the 2nd New Zealand Division and a Matilda tank of the British 4th Royal Tank Regiment (4RTR) link up at Ed Duda.

 

[BravoZulu]

A scout car crew of 6th Duke of Connaught's own Lancers , Indian Armoured Corps, chat with youngsters in San Felice , Italy, during the advance towards the River Sangro

 

[BravoZulu]

Borneo Campaign. Battle of Balikpapan. 20 July 1945. Members of 2/3rd Commando Squadron (Australia) head out on a patrol.

 

[digrar]

2/3, that was Peter Pinney's unit. If you're looking for some excellent reading, his books, the Glass Cannon, The Barbarians and the Devils garden are three ripping books (can be found combined into one book Signaller Johnston’s Secret War).

 

[BravoZulu]

The Battle of Amba Alagi was fought in May 1941, during World War II, part of the East African Campaign. After the Italian defeat at Keren in April 1941, Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta withdrew his forces to the mountain stronghold at Amba Alagi. The mountain had galleries carved into the rock to protect the defending troops and hold ample ammunition and stores and the Italian troops thought themselves to be impregnable. According to other sources, however, the fortress was easily defendable thanks to its position and the mountainous terrain, but lacked food and water, so that Marshal Enrico Caviglia later criticised the Duke for having chosen it for his last stand, calling the Amba Alagi "uno scoglio senz'acqua e senza viveri" ("a rock with neither water nor food"). The initial attacks on the approaches to Amba Alagi by British troops under Major-General Mayne from the north, commenced on 4 May with a pincer from the eastern and western sides.

There was hard fighting in the jagged mountainous terrain but Mayne's troops were joined on 12 May by Brigadier Dan Pienaar's 1st South African Brigade, which had captured the Italian garrison of Dessie (20 April) located 200 miles (320 km) south of Amba Alagi, and by 14 May Amba Alagi was completely surrounded. A final assault was planned for the next day but a lucky strike by an artillery shell hit an Italian fuel dump, sending a stream of oil into the last remaining Italian drinking water, forcing the garrison to end its resistance.

The Italian commander began ceasefire negotiations on 16 May 1941. The Duke of Aosta and his garrison surrendered to the British commander, Lieutenant-General Sir Alan Cunningham, on 19 May 1941. The Duke and the garrison were accorded the honours of war.


Commonwealth forces grant the Italian garrison of Amba Alagi the full honours of war upon the fortress's capitulation, 19th of May 1941. It is the last time in history that such accords were granted to a defeated Army

 

[BravoZulu]

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

 

[BravoZulu]

HMS Hermione's forward turrets with HMS Ark Royal and HMS Nelson in the distance

HMS Berwick and HMS Liverpool in drydock at Rosyth, 1943

HMS Coventry shown after her conversion into an anti-aircraft cruiser. This refit involved the removal of her 6-inch guns and torpedo tubes, and the fitting of 10 QF 4-inch Mk V guns on single high-angle mountings and 2 octuple-mounted QF 40mm 'pom-pom' autocannon. The 12-pounder AA guns were retained.

HMS Fury leading other destroyers out of Scapa Flow to accompany convoy PQ-17, June 1942.

 

[BravoZulu]

HMAS Arunta was the first of three Tribal-class destroyers to be commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy on 30 March 1942.

HMCS Pictou (K-146) while on convoy duty in the Atlantic, circa 1944-1945

 

[BravoZulu]

Bow view of HMS Prince of Wales, 20 April 1941

HMS Argonaut steaming at high speed, 1942

HMS Duke of York and HMS King George V escorting an Arctic convoy, March 1942

HMS Duke of York firing a salvo from her forward turrets

Port bow view of HMS Duke of York

 

[BravoZulu]

HMS Punjabi was a Tribal-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that saw service in the Second World War, being sunk in a collision with the battleship King George V. She has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name "Punjabi" which, in common with the other ships of the Tribal class, was named after various ethnic groups of the world, mainly those of the British Empire.

Punjabi was deployed on 26 April as part of the screen providing distant cover for the passage of Convoy PQ 15. They sailed from Hvalfjörður on 29 April. On 1 May, she was rammed and sunk in a collision with the battleship HMS King George V in foggy conditions. While steaming in formation in heavy fog, the lookout on Punjabi reported what he believed to be a mine dead ahead; the captain reflexively (and regrettably) ordered a 15-point emergency turn to port; in so doing, she sailed directly into the path of King George V and was sliced in two by the battleship's bow. 169 of the ship’s company were rescued from the forward section, and another 40 were picked up from the sea by other escorts, including Marne. Those crew left in the aft section, which sank very quickly, were killed when her depth charges detonated; 49 of her crew lost their lives in the accident. She sank directly in the path of the US battleship USS Washington, which had to sail between the halves of the sinking destroyer. Washington suffered slight damage from the detonation of the depth charges. King George V sustained serious damage to her bow, and was forced to return to port for repairs. Further investigation revealed no mines in the area, or indeed in any part of the convoy's eventual path. It is unknown what the lookout actually spotted, if anything.

King George V, photographed with a huge hole in the bows after she had collided with Punjabi in dense fog on 1 May 1942

HMS King George V in drydock after her collision with destroyer HMS Punjabi, 17 May 1942

 

[BravoZulu]

Dido class AA cruiser, HMS Bonaventure

Fairey Albacores landing on VICTORIOUS after a very rough flight over the Norway Coast. October 1941

HMS Whelp and HMS Wager topping up with oil from HMS Duke of York while bound for Tokyo, 1945

 

[BravoZulu]

30th July 1943, the liner RMS Queen Mary arrived on the Clyde from New York in her role as a Troop Ship. She was carrying 16,683 souls, the greatest number of people ever embarked in one ship. She was escorted by the Royal Navy and averaged 28 Knots during the passage

 

[Fluff]

30th July 1943, the liner RMS Queen Mary arrived on the Clyde from New York in her role as a Troop Ship. She was carrying 16,683 souls, the greatest number of people ever embarked in one ship. She was escorted by the Royal Navy and averaged 28 Knots during the passage

Wow. 16,000 souls, I guess she was too fast for the u boats. There cannot be enough lifeboats, had anything gone wrong...

 

[BravoZulu]

HMS Javelin as seen from HMS Emperor during oiling operations off the coast of Noway, May 1944

HMS Rodney as she trains all her guns to port

HMS Duke of York as seen in 1942

"Crossing The Line" ceremony on HMS Duke of York, June 18, 1945