Photos WW2 British & Commonwealth Forces

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Crusader tanks of the 1st Armoured Division enter El Hamma, 29 March 1943.

 

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A New Zealand Sherman tank climbs over the ruined buildings in a village in the forward area of the Cassino Front. 9th April 1944

 

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A motorcycle despatch rider passes a knocked-out Sherman tank and behind, a German Panther at Fontenay-le-Pesnel, 27 June 1944.

 

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The driver of a M3 Grant tank takes a closer look at a gouge in the armour plate made by a 50mm anti-tank round, Libya, June 1942.

 

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The anti-submarine cabin of the corvette HMCS Cobourg, Halifax, Nova Scotia. 13 July 1944.

 

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OTD in 1941, Castlerock in Northern Ireland. Men from 5 Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry scrambling up cliffs during "toughening up" exercises.

 

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OTD in 1944, Cagny area, France. Soldiers from 1 Welsh Guards

 

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OTD in 1944, Caen area, France. A French woman and a German prisoner, under Canadian guard

 

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OTD in 1944, Faubourg de Vaucelles, France

 

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Daimler Dingo Scout Car "Hector" of the 14th Canadian Army Tank Regiment at Dieppe - 19 August 1942

 

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L/Cpl R. Pankaski waiting for the end of an artillery barrage before moving forward during Operation SPRING near Ifs, France, 25 July 1944

 

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Handley Page Hampden bomber, taken in May 1942. The aircraft was part of 455 Sqn RAAF, then based at RAF Leuchars in Scotland. As well as the canopy being open, the navigator/bomb-aimer also appears to have opened a window in the nose glazing too.

 

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Bedford OXA of the Home Guard during large-scale manoeuvres near Thetford in Norfolk, 26-28 April 1941.

 

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''BELLMAN'', an M3 Stuart tank of 8th Hussars, 7th Armoured Division, knocked out near Tobruk, 15 Dec 1941.

Bellman was knocked out by the 5th Panzer Regiment about 5 miles north-east of Gabr Saleh and was left behind during the retreat.

 

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OTD in 1943. Two bomber aircrew, Sergeant J. Dickinson from Canada and Sergeant F. Gilkes (MIA 3 August 1943) from Trinidad waiting to board their aircraft for a raid on Hamburg

Bomber Command diary for 2/3 August says "740 aircraft - 329 Lancasters, 235 Halifaxes, 105 Stirlings, 66 Wellingtons, 5 Mosquitos despatched on a failed raid to Hamburg...30 aircraft - 13 Lancasters, 10 Halifaxes, 4 Wellingtons, 3 Stirlings - lost, 4.1 per cent of the force"

 

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OTD in 1944, Caumont area, France. Operation Bluecoat. A mortar platoon carrier passing a group of German prisoners being escorted by a military policeman on a motorcycle

OTD in 1944, Briquessard area, France. A Bren gunner resting in a wheat field

 

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Gurkhas, manning a 3" mortar during training exercises in what was then British-occupied Malaya, January 1942

 

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New Guinea Campaign. 1943. Australian commandos from the 2/6th Independent Company push through long kunai grass returning from a reconnaissance patrol in the Finisterre Range.

 

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Matilda IIs on Malta, 1942. Four were sent to the island and given a distinctive camouflage that was intended to blend into the rocky landscape. The island was never invaded so they never saw combat, but were put to use as aircraft tugs.

 

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Scout car of 40th Royal Tank Regiment, 8th Armoured Division at Warren Camp, Crowborough in Sussex, 22 December 1941. The regiment was about to embark for the Middle East, hence the desert camouflage.