Photos WW2 British & Commonwealth Forces

[BravoZulu]

Supermarine Spitfire aircraft of No. 452 Squadron RAAF seen from the escorting Lockheed aircraft of No. 37 Squadron RAAF shortly after leaving Sattler airfield near Darwin en route to Merauke, Dutch New Guinea, the first stop on the move of the squadron from Sattler to Morotai Island. December 1944.

 

[BravoZulu]

Infantrymen from the 6th Infantry Division of the Western Desert Force wearing gas masks take aim with their fixed bayoneted Short Magazine Lee-Enfield (SMLE) MkIII bolt action rifles from a sandbagged defensive trench during a training exercise in the desert on 3rd June 1940 near Mersa Matruh, Egypt.

 

[BravoZulu]

Sergeant V. R. Francis of 19th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery with a captured German Panzerschreck reusable anti-tank rocket launcher and an 88mm round in France, June 16, 1944

 

[BravoZulu]

Soldiers inspect graves at the South African WW1 cemetery at Delville Wood / Bois d'Elville France - November 13, 1944

 

[BravoZulu]

Two soldiers of the 6th Durham Light Infantry chat with an US paratrooper in Avola Sicily on 11 July 1943

 

[BravoZulu]

Humber Light Reconnaissance Cars Mk II of 29th Independent Squadron of British Reconnaissance Corps at Shanklin, Isle of Wight, March, 1942.

 

[BravoZulu]

Churchill ARK bridgelaying tanks near Forli, Italy - November 9, 1944
These are "Italian pattern" ARKs, that were locally modified in Italy by taking a Churchill MkIII chassis and putting on US made ramps.
UK produced ARKs had ramps and trackway above the chassis, the Italian pattern didn't have the trackways above the chassis, so vehicles would drive directly on the tracks.

 

[BravoZulu]

No. 617 Squadron Avro Lancaster B.I EE146 at RAF Woodhall Spa with her crew the day after the successful raid on the German battleship Tirpitz in Tromso Fjord, Norway, on November 13, 1944.

 

[BravoZulu]

Māori recruits in New Zealand are instructed on the operation of the Enfield SMLE Mk III* Rifle - 1942
The condition of the rifles indicates they are probably new production from the Lithgow Small Arms Factory in Australia, Lithgow produced the SMLE Mk III* until 1953