Photos WW2 British & Commonwealth Forces

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Female German Luftwaffe POWs with British guard at Camp Vilvoorde. The camp was managed by British forces of the 21st Army Group and housed over 12,000 Axis POWs, both men and women. Vilvoorde, Flemish Brabant, Belgium. June 1945. Image taken by Lt. O’Brien, No. 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit.

 

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Canadian Calgary Highlanders Sniping Platoon Sergeant Harold A. Marshall posing with his Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk. I rifle (with a No.32 Mk.III scope), Kapellen, Belgium, Oct 6, 1944. Looks like he might also be armed with a Kukri fighting knife with its handle appearing on his left hip.
Library and Archives Canada

 

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Battle of Shaggy Ridge
On the 6th of October 1943, Australians of the 7th Division commenced the assault on Shaggy Ridge, New Guinea as part of the Finisterre Range Campaign. Shaggy Ridge was a vital Japanese defensive position and battles raged until the 31st of January 1944.
A 6.5km spur dotted by several rocky outposts, Shaggy Ridge had only a single track along the ridge line which in places was only wide enough for one man to pass with sheer drops on either side. The position was defended by the Japanese 7th Infantry Regiment, with artillery support, and totalled a force of approximately 3,000 men. The Australians of the 7th Division were supported by artillery from the 2/4th Field Regiment and aircraft from the RAAF and USAF.
In December 1943, the Australian assault began on one of the outcrops nicknamed by the Australians as ‘The Pimple’. After heavy artillery and aerial bombardments, the Australians captured the position on the 27th of December, and proceeded to hold it against further counterattacks. Despite their gains, the Japanese continued to hold the remainder of Shaggy Ridge in strength.
In January 1944 the Australians resumed the attack in earnest, advancing on the eastern face of Shaggy Ridge. Sustaining heavy casualties against the well entrenched Japanese machinegun and artillery positions firing from fortified bunkers, the Australians nonetheless secured the Ridge in early February after continuous fighting against dug-in strong Japanese defensive positions.
In total, casualties during the fighting to secure Shaggy Ridge amounted to 46 Australians killed and 147 wounded. The Japanese suffered an estimated 500 killed and an unknown number further injured.
The gruelling fighting was ultimately a success, but proved to be a harrowing experience for the Australian soldiers. With the track only wide enough for one person to advance at a time, the soldiers who fought there would come to describe the battle of Shaggy Ridge as occurring on a one-man front.
Image: Image: Members of "C" Company, 2/9th Infantry Battalion digging into a newly occupied part of Shaggy Ridge.

 

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British Auxiliary Territorial Service Lance Corporal Jean Burck of New Malden, Surrey, England speaks to a group of female German POWs at Camp Vilvoorde. The camp was managed by British forces of the 21st Army Group and housed over 12,000 Axis POWs, both men and women. Vilvoorde, Flemish Brabant, Belgium. June 1945. Image taken by Lt. O’Brien, No. 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit.

 

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Kirton-in-Lindsey airfield. Boulton Paul Defiants from 264 Squadron. They had no forward-firing guns and were vulnerable to fighter planes. (PO Kay, in the first plane, piloted the only plane that came back from a six-plane mission on 13 May 1940, above Holland.)

 

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German soldiers inspect a British tank Cruiser Mk. IV, knocked out near Dunkirk - May, 1940

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A pair of Canadian M4 Shermans of the 2nd Canadian Armoured Division knocked out in the French town of Rho after a battle with the "Hitler Youth" - 15 June, 1944

 

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26 Oct 1944, Den Bosch, Netherlands. Jo van der Sande, and his daughters Toos (4) and Coletta (5) escaping to safety after being shelled. (And, a Sherman from "B" Squadron East Riding Yeomanry.)

26th Oct, 1944. Den Bosch.

Den Bosch. A Challenger tank crossing a Bailey bridge.

OTD, 1944, Den Bosch (or'-Hertogenbosch) is liberated. The last of the fighting. Note the totally unprotected anti-tank gun

 

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26th Oct 1942, El Alamein.

OTD 1942, North Africa. A 6-pounder anti-tank gun portee (apparently) camouflaged to look like an ordinary lorry.

 

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26th Oct 1944. Men from 8 Royal Scots pausing during 15 "Scottish" Infantry Division's advance on Tilburg.

Churchill tanks from 6 Guards Tank Brigade assembling, in support of 15 "Scottish" Infantry Division's advance on Tilburg.

 

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Oct 1943. A Typhoon IB from 486 Squadron. It was frequently mistaken for a FW190. Hence, the identification markings.

 

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Juno Beach, D-Day 1944

 

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November 1942, Netheravon airfield. Six man parties from British 1 Airborne Division marching toward Hotspur gliders from the Glider Pilot Exercise Unit.

 

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The occupation of Winnipeg, Canada by an invading German force - 19 February 1942

If Day (French: "Si un jour", "If one day")[1] was a simulated Nazi German invasion and occupation of the Canadian city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and surrounding areas on 19 February 1942, during the Second World War. It was organized as a war bond promotion by the Greater Winnipeg Victory Loan organization, which was led by prominent Winnipeg businessman J. D. Perrin. The event was the largest military exercise in Winnipeg to that point.[2]
If Day included a staged firefight between Canadian troops and volunteers dressed as German soldiers, the internment of prominent politicians, the imposition of Nazi rule, and a parade. The event was a fundraiser for the war effort: over $3 million was collected in Winnipeg on that day. Organizers believed that the fear induced by the event would help increase fundraising objectives. It was the subject of a 2006 documentary, and was included in Guy Maddin's film My Winnipeg.

 

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Troopers of the 1st Lothians and Border Yeomanry, 48th Division, work on their Mk VI Light Tanks at Ayette, 1 April 1940.

 

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On this day in 1941, aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal is torpedoed in the Mediterranean by the German submarine U-81. Only one sailor is killed in the attack, but the ship will sink the following day.

 

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Beaufighter TF Mark Xs of No. 404 Squadron based at Dallachy, Morayshire, break formation during a flight along the Scottish coast.

 

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Oberleutnant Schmidt CO of the 1. Kompanie Panzer-regiment 22 points out the holes in Achilles TD "Chelsea" of C Troop, 245 Battery 62nd Anti-Tank Regiment knocked out southeast of Escoville on June 18th 1944.

On June 16, Panzer-Aufklarungs-Abteilung 21 of the 21st Panzer-Division attacked to take Escoville and then north to Herouvillette. The strongly defended road triangle was a threat to the rear elements of the attack force that had advanced to Herouvillette and along with extremely heavy allied artillery fire to the west of the triangle, the Aufklarungs Abteilung was forced to withdraw from Herouvillette and Escoville. German artillery fire aided the unit’s withdrawal and two armoured vehicles and a halftrack were lost. From the south, II./Pz.Gren.Rgt 125 grenadiers renewed the attack on the road triangle and overran the foremost positions but the British counterattacked. Two PzKpfw IVs of Panzer-regiment 22 moved forward and were knocked out by a 6 pounder (57mm) AT gun. The 5/7 Gordons were weakened and eventually forced to withdraw north of the triangle. By midnight the road triangle was firmly occupied by the Germans. At 1730 hours, II./Pz.Gren.Rgt 125 supported by Panzer-regiment 22 panzers attacked from the road triangle northwest towards Escoville. A 17 pounder AT gun was knocked out but another 17 pounder AT gun knocked out two panzers and the attack stalled. At 1930 and at 2030 hours, renewed attacks also failed. At the end of the day, I. Abteilung, Panzer-regiment 22 lost 6 panzers and 6 more were damaged.

There was no fighting on June 17 allowing both sides to regroup and replace their losses. On June 18, II./Pz.Gren.Rgt 125 grenadiers supported by Panzer-regiment 22 panzers attacked along the weak boundary between the 51st Infantry Division and the 6th Airborne Division in the Bois de Bavent which resulted only in small gains where four British vehicles were destroyed. The 5/7 Gordons supported by 245 Battery, 62nd Anti-Tank Regiment counterattacked and in this action Achilles Chelsea was knocked out near the northeast intersection of the road triangle. On June 18, the 62nd Anti-Tank Regiment only listed a Lieutenant P. Loose as MIA. The area became stable and quiet for the next four weeks with only local patrolling by both sides.

Achilles Chelsea then became an interest to the Germans where groups of officers and panzer crews examined it with interest. At the time, the Germans were not familiar with the Achilles, only the British Sherman Firefly which was also armed with the same 17 pounder gun and the Germans often mis-identified the Achilles.

 

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M3 Grant tank after a catastrophic explosion at El Alamein in 1942

 

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Bougainville Campaign. 14 April 1945. Private J. E. Davies, 2/24th Australian Infantry Battalion, conceals himself behind a tree with his trusty Bren gun during an attack against the Japanese at the Hatai Junction on Buin Road.