Photos WW2 British & Commonwealth Forces

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Operation Python survivors aboard USS Harder. Identified, left to right, back row: Lindsay Cottee; Frederick Gordon (Fred) Olson; Stan Dodds; Stan Neil. Front row: Bill Jinkins; Alexander (Alec) Chew; Lieutenant Colonel Francis George Leach 'Gort' Chester DSO, OBE; Lloyd Woods.
Operation Python was carried out by members of the Z Special Unit. The objective of the mission was to set up a wireless station near Labuan Point, North Borneo, and undertake covert operations reporting on the sea lane of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Sibutu Passage and the Balabac Strait of the Sulu Sea. The operation was split into Python I and Python II.
Operation Python I was led by Major F Gort L Chester, the Z Special Unit operatives landed along Labuan Point in early October 1943. In January 1944, Bill Jinkins led Z Special Unit operatives on Operation Python II, with the objective of organising the local population for warfare.

 

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Private A Web and Private J. R. Roswell, both members of the Australian 2/2nd Infantry Battalion in Dagua New Guinea compare swords while taking a break on the way back from a local airstrip. 25 March, 1945

 

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Stuart I and Sherman I of 144th RAC (8th Battalion East Lancashire Regiment), 33rd Armoured Brigade, during Operation 'Charnwood', the attack on Caen - 8 July 1944

 

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Sherman VC Firefly ‘SPITFIRE’, with the British East Riding Yeomanry, 27th Armoured Brigade, and a Universal Carrier from 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division, possibly 1/7th Warwicks near Saint-Contest Normandy during the Advance on Caen - 9 July 1944

Universal Carrier from 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division, possibly 1/7th Warwicks near Saint-Contest Normandy during the Advance on Caen - 9 July 1944

Sherman VC Firefly with the British East Riding Yeomanry, 27th Armoured Brigade, and a Universal Carrier from 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division, possibly 1/7th Warwicks near Saint-Contest Normandy during the Advance on Caen - 9 July 1944

 

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No. 48 Commando at the Liberation of Walcheren.

No. 48 (Royal Marine) Commando was a battalion-sized formation of the British Commandos, formed in 1944. No. 48 Commando was assigned to the 4th Special Service Brigade and served in North West Europe, taking part in the Normandy landings and operations around Ostend and Antwerp before being disbanded after the war in January 1946

 

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Matilda II knocked out by Italian troops in North Africa, 1941

 

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The crew of a Staghound armoured car of 1st King's Dragoon Guards shelter from the sun beneath a parasol fitted to the turret of their vehicle, 13 July 1944.

 

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Demobilised soldiers of the 6th Australian Division on the flight deck of lead aircraft carrier of her class, HMS Implacable in Sydney Harbour, on their return from Wewak, Papua New Guinea. 18 Dec. 1945

 

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Pierre Lefevre, a Free French BBC war correspondent, making a broadcast as a Guards Armoured Division Sherman Vc Firefly "Banshee II" moves up to the battle area south of Caumont-l'Éventé during 'Operation Bluecoat'. 5 August 1944.

 

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6-pounder anti-tank gun of the British 3rd Division, along with Canadian Sherman tanks in Rue Montoir Poissonnerie near St-Pierre Church, Caen. Normandy, 10 July 1944

 

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M3A3 Stuart V reconnaissance tank and a Sherman of the 26th Armoured Brigade, 6th Armoured Division in Corso Italia, Arezzo, Tuscany in Italy.

The Germans made a stand in front of Arezzo early in July 1944 and there was fierce fighting before the town was taken on 16 July by the 6th Armoured Division with the aid of the 2nd New Zealand Division.

 

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RAF reconnaissance aircraft snapped this photo of the north end of Arnhem bridge and the destroyed German armoured vehicles that were knocked out by British paras on the second day of fighting during Operation Market-Garden.

 

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At sea of off Morotai, 14 May 1945. Cook S5728 Leslie Donald 'Dick' Bateup at work as the ship's baker aboard River class frigate HMAS Lachlan. Bateup was one of three brothers from Yass, NSW who served as Cooks in the navy in the Second World War. Both he and his younger brother S7434 Edward Bateup were discharged in 1946. Their elder brother 23340 Harley George Bateup was killed aboard HMAS Perth when it was sunk during the Battle of Sunda Strait on 1 March 1942.

 

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Sea Hurricanes flying exercises on HMS Victorious 25-27 June 1942

Sea Hurricanes of 885 Squadron FAA with engines running, on the deck of HMS Victorious

 

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Australian soldiers from A Company, 2/11th Battalion resting on a river bank before attacking Japanese positions near Matapau in New Guinea. 2 Jan 1945

 

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A British lorry and trailer burning after being attacked by Luftwaffe aircraft. Battle for Crete 20 - 31 MAY 1941

 

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A Churchill tank in the shattered village of Maltot, 26 July 1944

 

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After a reconnaissance flight, a Fairey Swordfish float plane returns to battleship HMS Malaya and is hoisted in board. Oct 1941

 

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Hawker Tempest Mk V fighters of 501 Squadron RAF in flight. July 1944

 

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Sherman Hybrid I with 4th/7th Dragoon Guards, 8th Armoured Brigade, advancing during 'Operation Bluecoat' southeast of Caumont-sur-Aure, Normandy - 30 July 1944
“Hybrid” was the British designation for a composite Sherman hull (cast front, welded rear)