Photos WW2 British & Commonwealth Forces

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Under the supervision of NCOs, troops learn to handle mines and booby-trap devices 'blind' using a special screen at X Corps Mine School, Sparanise, Italy, 28th December 1943.
(IWM)

 

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That's handy and great training! Would be excellent for wpns handling & assembly

 

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General Sir Oliver Leese, Commanding General, British Eighth Army, inspects a line-up of captured German and Italian armoured fighting vehicles, Italy, 2nd June 1944.

In the foreground is a 75mm StuG IV, typically with a cast "saukopf" mantlet, a coating of zimmerit and schürzen rails. This was reputedly the first of its type to be captured intact by the allies.

Behind it is the much more numerous 75mm Stug III and behind that two Marder 75mm tank destroyers...the nearest appears to be a Marder II and the other a Marder III.

In the distant background are two Italian Semovente SP guns one of which appears to be a 105 / 25...note its side-skirts.

 

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Together in the thick of it!
Infantrymen of 'D' Company, 1st Battalion The Green Howards together with their comrades of the 7th Cheshire Regiment, 5th Infantry Division, take cover in a captured German communications trench during the offensive at Anzio, 22nd May 1944.
(IWM)

 

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"Lance-Corporal A.P. Proctor, a well-known character of the 56th Division, now with the American Fifth Army, who was recently awarded the Military Medal for his heroic missions which he carried out behind enemy lines.
Lance-Corporal Proctor hails from Vancouver, Canada. During his patrols he wears either slippers or just socks, carrying a sniper's rifle, Tommy-gun or knife, whichever is suitable for a particular patrol.
His recent tasks have taken him many miles behind enemy lines to gain information on enemy positions and strengths."
Obviously an exceptionally brave soldier, L/ Cpl. Proctor is seen here cleaning his trusty No.4T sniper rifle.

 

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HMS Ark Royal seen here with HMS Glorious just aft taking on supplies before steaming back to the Coast of Norway April 1940.
The Royal navy's Carrier Operations around Norway would help them perfect new tactics and command and control methods that would eventually become standard procedure for both the Royal navy in their epic fights in the Mediterranean, and also the US Navy would use in their fights with the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Pacific.
The Operations would also see the first time a Carrier Strike Force of three Carriers or more work together in action, with HMS Ark Royal, Glorious, and her near sister Furious working together in conjunction for several operations.
tactically Norway was also the first time that CAP was used to protect the Carriers and also the first time that Radar was used to direct the CAP to intercept enemy targets.
These tactics would prove to be incredibly effective at protecting that task force from German attack, and would be famously used by the RN during Operation Pedestal.
Glorious would be sunk later this year in June 1940, with heavy loss of life, and Ark Royal would continue to serve the Royal Navy in vital operations until November 1941.

 

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Senior British Commanders....General Sir Harold Alexander, Supreme Commander Allied Mediterranean Forces (right), with Lt. General Sir Oliver Leese, Commander Eighth Army (left) and Lt. General John Harding, Alex's Chief of Staff, (centre) inspect one of the Panther 75mm tank turrets which formed part of the Germans' "Gothic Line" defences, Italy, September,1944.
These "Panther-Stellungs" were mounted on prefabricated concrete bases set into the ground and functioned as armoured pillboxes.
Note that the turret has a flush hatch and is devoid of all of the fittings it would have had if it had been fitted on a tank.
(IWM)

 

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Both the steering and suspension of the Scammell Pioneer were extremely flexible, as evident in this image.
Here, a Scammell tractor hauls a BL 7.2" howitzer of 18/56th Heavy Regiment, Royal Artillery, around a tight corner in the 46th Division sector, Italy, 23rd December 1943.
(IWM)

 

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Just this one shot of a patrol from the 10th Royal Berkshire Regiment moving up to the heights of Calvi-Risorta, Italy, 27th October 1943, gives an indication of how difficult the Italian campaign was for ordinary infantrymen.
The Italian infra-structure was under-developed with very few metalled roads. Such roads that there were rapidly became quagmires in the winter, made worse by the passage of the Allies' columns of tracked and wheeled military vehicles.
Italy's topography, which comprised of endless rocky hills and mountains with steep-sided valleys punctuated by many rivers which became swollen during the winter, was extremely challenging.
A nightmare for the Allied attackers but ideal for the German defenders who commanded the high ground from their carefully prepared defensive lines, so that a relatively small number of them could hold up the progress of an entire Allied division!
Thus, the infantrymen frequently had to progress from ridge to ridge and peak to peak along narrow mountain tracks in order to flush them out.
They were not called "the poor bloody infantry" for nothing!

 

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Two shot-down Luftwaffe officers under RAF guard, April 1940.
Source: IWM

 

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Major Stewart Fotheringham and CSM Low of 'X' Company Scots Guards (under command of 1st Welsh Guards) watch mopping up operations during the advance on Brussels, 4 September 1944. The Major is carrying a German KAR 98 rifle.

 

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General Montgomery stands before a poster which features a likeness of himself at his Eighth Army HQ, Termoli, Italy, November 1943.
Printed on the poster, top left, is a message of support from the miners of South Wales, which was one of Britain's most productive coalfields throughout the 19th and most of the 20th Century...and as such vital for the war effort.
Below it is General Montgomery's response.
Copies of this poster would have been distributed throughout South Wales as a part of the "Homefront" effort.

 

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Some images of Hull taken during the Blitz on the city during 1941.
Originally it was thought bombing had killed around 1200 civilians of the population, however modern research conducted in the City's History Centre has concluded that the actual number may be closer to 1500, and could still rise even now after 80 years.

Warehouses that back onto the River Hull burn after the Air raid of the 8th of May.
So far as I can see this is the River Hull as it winds through an area of the City called Wincolmlee, and has largely been redeveloped by industry.

Queen Victoria Square in the City Centre, showing extensive bomb damage after a raid on May 8th 1941. This pic it taken from the building that is now the Feren's Art Gallery, and looking towards King Edward Street.

Queen Victoria Square 9th May 1941, showing City Hall (on the far left) and the tower as all that remains of the Prudential Building. The image was taken from roughly in front of the Punch and Judy Hotel (which alongside City Hall still stand to this day). The Pru Building took a direct hit from bombs during the previous night raid which totally destroyed the building, and leaving just the Pru Tower, in what for Hull, is now an iconic image.
There was widespread damage around the Square, and high casualties, although no one knows exactly how many were in the Pru Building when it was hit, its though around 75 were killed.

The Shell Max Building after being hit by an Air Mine, just off Ferensway, 31st March 1941. At least 7 were killed including 38 year Old Susan Wood, and her three children; Joyce, 14, Geoffrey, 11, and Mavis, just 7.
The building survived the war and was rebuilt, and still stands to this day, now largely hidden by St. Stephen's Shopping Centre.

Rescue Teams search through the rubble of houses hit on Mulgrave Street in East Hull. 18th July 1941. Located just off Cleveland Street, Mulgrave Street took a direct hit destroying a communal shelter and many houses. Among the victims were Bernard and Doris Catterick, both in their 20s, who had married in Sutton only a month earlier. Families who lost members in this unimaginable tragedy included the Adamsons, Bakers, Brocks, Chapmans, Goodbarnes, Harrisons, McDonalds, Overtons, Scargills, Tomlinsons, and Warreners. The cleanup operation also found a number of bodies that could not be identified, including a six-month-old boy.

 

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Men of 2nd Seaforth Highlanders, 51st (Highland) Division, at ease around a dugout on the west bank of the Rhine, 23 March 1945

 

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Canadians clear snipers from the railway station at Falaise, August, 1944.
https://amzn.to/2TTXLAM

 

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A column of 'Alligator' amphibious vehicles passing Terrepin amphibious vehicles on the Scheldt River near Terneuzen, October 13th, 1944.

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Corporal Kormendy, a scout from the Calgary Highlanders Scout and Sniper Platoon, in a shot from a series of staged photos by Army photographer Ken Bell, taken near Kapellen, October 1944 during Operation Switchback. The aforementioned operation was part of the Battle of the Scheldt, which was a series of military operations by the Canadian First Army - consisting of Canadian, British and Polish formations - to open up the port of Antwerp so that it could be used to supply the Allies in north-west Europe.

https://amzn.to/360VB89

 

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Infantrymen of The Royal 22e Régiment receiving Holy Communion from the unit's Chaplain, H / Major Leo Grattan, before going on a reconnaissance patrol, Italy, October 1943. (Front row, LR): Privates Pierre Thibeault, Paul Vigneault, Pierre Senneville, Lance-Corporal Dieudonny Bouchard, Private Romeo Carbone. (Rear row, LR): Privates Florent Morrissette, Alcide Phaneur, Alphonse Arsenault, Lucien Bourgouin.

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Corporal E.H. Pruner of The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment, carrying a PIAT anti-tank weapon and a Thompson sub-machine gun with a short box magazine, Motta, Italy, 2 October 1943.

https://amzn.to/32az2fY

 

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Sten gun magazines being reloaded, Munderloh, Germany, 29 Apr 1945.

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