Photos WW2 British & Commonwealth Forces

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British re-enforcements land on Gold beach for the big push into the Normandy town of Caen. 16 June 1944.

 

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Royal Canadian Air Force Bristol Bolingbroke rear Gunner with his .303-inch machine-gun.
The Bristol Fairchild Bolingbroke was a maritime patrol aircraft and trainer used by the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War.
Built by Fairchild-Canada, it was a license-built version of the Bristol Blenheim Mk IV bomber.(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4292626)

 

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2/32nd Battalion troops with a captured 75mm field gun beside the Katika track near Finschhafen. Sergeant George Melsom holds three unfired shells. 11 November 1943. Photo by Gordon Short. AWM016104

 

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Soldiers of 1st Airborne Division take cover in a shell hole, Arnhem, 17th September 1944.

 

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Royal Marine McGeehan, a Royal Navy commando infantryman holds a large machete as he prepares to quench his thirst with milk from a coconut during jungle training in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) prior to combat January 1945.

 

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BUNA, PAPUA. FIGHTING DURING THE FINAL ASSAULT ON BUNA. AUSTRALIAN MACHINE GUNNERS IN ACTION AROUND 5.30 PM NEW YEARS DAY 1943. DEAD MAN ON LEFT WAS CORPORAL CHARLES KNIGHT. PRIVATE JOHN SENIOR IS BEHIND THE GUN AND TX678 SERGEANT G.C. LOWE ON THE RIGHT. THIS PHOTOGRAPH WAS TAKEN DURING THE ACTUAL FIGHTING

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An iconic Damien Parer photo, the gunners were firing into the tree tops shooting at snipers who had just killed the Vickers gunner. The No2 took over, yelled at Parer to get down and moments later he also was killed. The No 3 lying down then took over the gun

 

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RAF air rescue female volunteer

 

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Looking terrific in its as yet unpainted natural finish, a British contract Mustang 1A nears completion on the prodution line at North American Aviation's Inglewood Plant, California, autumn 1942.
Note the padded seat in the foreground.
(NASM)

 

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Venturas, Mitchells and Liberators waiting at Dorval before flying over to Great Britain, Dorval, Quebec, May 13th, 1942.
Photograph by Nicholas Morant. Department of National Defence / National Archives of Canada, PA-114759.

 

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The salvaged name-plates of German Battlecruisers from WW1 which decorate the little flower garden outside the Admiral Superintendent's office at Roysth Royal Navy Dockyard - August 11, 1944
Tending the garden is J. Henderson, who has worked at the dockyard since 1919, he lost an arm during WW1
IWM - Coote, R G G (Lt) Photographer

 

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A French boy, who wears a Scottish glengarry, saluting Canadian soldiers, Boissons, France, 19 June 1944.
https://amzn.to/3pBP24A

 

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Sherman tanks of 10th Canadian Armoured Regiment (Fort Garry Horse) with infantry of the Royal Regiment of Canada massing in preparation for the assault on Goch, 17 February 1945.
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T-17E1 Staghound armoured car of the 12th Manitoba Dragoons crossing a Bailey bridge, Elbeuf, France, 28 August 1944. Soldiers are offloading railway ties to reinforce or smooth out the road surface.
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D-DAY - BRITISH FORCES DURING THE INVASION OF NORMANDY 6 JUNE 1944.
Captain I S K Soboleff MC of 50th (Northumbrian) Division with two German paratroopers he captured, Gold area, 6 June 1944.
Creator: No. 5 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit.
Cource: © IWM B 5126

 

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This wartime poster bore the French caption :
"Un détachement de motocyclistes de l'armée britannique "
It actually depicts a special bracket which was fitted to the handlebars of motorcycles, like the Norton illustrated below, which enabled the rider to fire his Thompson on the move.
Well...it must have seemed like a good idea at the time?!

(Smithsonian Collection)

 

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Canadian soldiers in a Landing Craft Assault (LCA) head for the beachhead from HMCS Prince Henry during the Allied D-Day landings (Operation Overlord) in Normandy. More than 14,000 Canadian troops stormed the 8 km (5.0 mi) stretch of beach between Graye-sur-Mer and St. Aubin-sur-Mer on 6 June 1944. They were followed by 150,000 additional Canadian troops over the next few months. Canadian soldiers of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division and 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade, which formed the Canadian assault force on Juno Beach suffered 1,074 casualties, including 369 killed on the beach and in the countryside on the first day of the invasion. Near Courseulles-sur-Mer, Calvados, Lower Normandy, France. 6 June 1944. Image taken by Dennis Sullivan.
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Landing craft from HMCS Prince Henry training before D-Day.

 

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Low-level oblique photograph taken from Short Sunderland Mark III, EK591 'U', of No. 422 Squadron RCAF after sinking the German type VIIC submarine U-625 in the Atlantic Ocean. The surviving crew manoeuvre their dinghies together for support after abandoning the sinking U-boat some 500 miles west of Land's End. None of them survived their ordeal.
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Canadian Army Major William Ewing salutes at the funeral of 55 members of “A” Company of The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada who were killed in combat. The funeral was also attended by most of the Dutch townspeople. Ossendrecht, Netherlands. 26 October 1944.
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Canadian tanker shows damage to his Sherman suffered at St Lambert-sur-Dives, 18-21 August, 1944.
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