Photos WW2 US Forces

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A pair of American WACs try out a derelict German 37mm Flak 43 Zwilling atop the massive Tiergarten Flakturm or "Zoo Tower", one of several such reinforced concrete towers erected around Berlin in an attempt to provide the city with some protection against Allied air-raids.

(LIFE / Vandivert 07/45)

 

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This is a rare collection of images of a Bantam RC pilot being put through its paces at Camp Holabird, Maryland, in November 1940.
As can be seen, the pilot version was very spartan indeed, lacking the various fittings seen on later models.
As we all know, the vehicle showed promise and awakened the Army's interest but the small Bantam Car Co. lacked the means to develop it further and to indulge in the necessary mass-production required.
Thus, Willys-Overland and Ford were brought into the program and the rest...as they say...is history!
(LIFE / David Scherman)

 

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Porter class destroyer USS Moffett (DD-362) underway at sea on 26 March 1944. Note that she still carries four twin 5"/38 low-angle gun mounts. The No. 3 mount was removed on most ships of the class to counter top heavyness.

 

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Pictures taken on USS Philadelphia CL-41 off of Safi Morocco during Operation Torch - November 1942
Partial repost of the 2018 album
LIFE Magazine Archives - Eliot Elisofon Photographer

 

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Portrait of Assembly and Repairs Department senior supervisor Eloise J. Ellis as she stands near the tail of a Navy plane at Naval Air Station, Corpus Christi, Texas, August 1942. (Photo by Howard R. Hollem/Getty Images)

 

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U.S. Marines from USS Philadelphia CL-41 board a boat to go ashore during Operation Torch off of Safi Morocco - November 10, 1942
Note early model M1918 BAR’s, M1 Garand & M1903 rifles, and M1928A1 Thompson SMG’s
The Marines landed at Port of Safi under command of 47th Infantry and proceeded to the Safi airport to guard it until being relieved the next day
LIFE Magazine Archives - Eliot Elisofon Photographer

 

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USS Trippe DD-403 during a convoy to Casablanca in early 1943
A Benham-class destroyer, she was built by Boston Navy Yard, commissioned November 1, 1939
Just before dawn on December 16, 1941, in Block Island Sound off of Long Island NY, a USAAF bomber approached her and after making several passes dropped bombs and reported sinking a German destroyer, however USS Trippe emerged unscathed as the bombs exploded some 200 yards off her bow
USS Trippe escorted several convoys to the Mediterranean in 1942 / 1943
Participating in the invasion of Sicily, she provided shore bombardment and shot down a German bomber during a bombing raid on Palermo
After Sicily, USS Trippe headed north with three PT Boats to accept the surrender of the Aeolian Islands of Lipari and Stromboli
During the invasion of Italy, USS Trippe provided shore bombardment supporting British troops landing at Reggio and supporting the landings at Salerno
On October 13, 1943, USS Trippe was escorting a convoy from Naples to Oran with USS Bristol when Bristol was sunk by U-571, Trippe rescued many of the Bristol survivors
In November 1943, USS Trippe assisted with escorting USS Iowa carrying President Roosevelt
On December 16, 1943, USS Trippe with USS Woolsey sank U-73 with radar assisted 5” gunfire
During the Anzio landings, USS Trippe pounded troop concentrations, vehicles, and demolished an observation post, she also rescued two downed British airmen who had to ditch their plane
Sent to the Pacific in 1945, she escorted several convoys and was en-route to Okinawa when the war ended
Damaged in testing at Bikini Atoll July 1946, USS Trippe was scuttled off of Kwajalein in February 1948
LIFE Magazine Archives - Dmitri Kessel Photographer

 

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USS Hornet CV 1944. Grumman F6F Hellcats parked on the carrier's flight deck above an anti-aircraft gun.

 

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Be honest....how many airplanes could take a Dodge WC54 body shell through their side cargo door like that?!
Well, the Curtiss C-46 Commando evidently could...with the aid of a Hyster tractor crane!
CBI, April 1944.
(LIFE/ Vandivert)

 

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41-12416 Curtiss C-46A-15-CU with Caterpillar D6 with Hyster D6N

 

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Native labourers help transfer a consignment of fuel drums from a CCKW aboard a Curtiss C-46 "Commando" of the USAAF Air Transport Command, ahead of a flight over "the hump" (ie the Himalayas)
The girth of the fuselage and the capacious door indicate what a large aircraft this was and what a large payload it could carry when compared with the C-47 Skytrain.
However, these advantages were apparently off-set by the C-46's maintenance issues, with the C-47 being a much more reliable and serviceable aircraft.

 

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Following the capture of Iwo Jima in March 1945, US Seabees moved in to rebuild facilities on the island.
In these two shots, Seabees with the 31st Naval Construction Battalion are building a road on the side of Mt. Suribachi - the very mountain where the famous photograph of six Marines raising the US flag was taken.
Photo U.S. Navy Seabee Museum

 

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In the annals of American Generalship it has to be said that Major-General Lloyd R. Fredendall did not exactly cover himself in glory.
Under his command, the US Army in the form of the 2nd Corps, suffered its worst defeat to that date at the Kasserine Pass in Tunisia.
Major-General Fredendall's grasp of the tactical situation was poor and he was responsible for some really questionable command decisions which cost his men dear.
He rarely visited the front. Instead, he ordered US Engineers to constuct an elaborate bunker system for him blasted out of solid rock some 70 miles behind the lines.
He also had an anti-aircraft assigned to him to protect his HQ from air attack.
When Generals Bradley and Eisenhower got wind of this they stopped by to "inspect" Fredendall's HQ.
Bradley was appalled at the waste of resources and Ike reminded him that he expected his Generals to lead from the front!
Following the debacle at Kasserine, Fredendall's sub-ordinate commanders had obviously lost confidence in him, so Supreme Commander General Eisenhower relieved him of his command and sent him back to the United States.
His first choice for a replacement commander was Major-General Earnest Harmon...but he declined.
So, the command of 2nd Army passed to Major-General George S. Patton.
The rest...as they say...is history!
Here we see Major-General Fredendall with his staff at his field HQ in Tunisia, February 1943, liasing with French General Marie-Joseph Welfert and his aide Lieutenant Henri Thewes who acted as their interpreter.
(LIFE / Elisofon)

 

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This series of shots is very interesting and rather "unusual".
They were taken in Tunisia in March 1943.
Apart from the date and location I have no other information.
At face value, an RAF officer has borrowed an M1 rifle (interesting sling) and appears to be demonstrating bayonet drill...but without a bayonet...to a group of GIs!
Quite how or why an RAF officer would be demonstarting such a thing to a bunch of iUS nfantrymen is not known...if indeed that is what he is doing?!
Note he is wearing a brown leather jerkin over his blue suervice dress.
(LIFE / Elisofon)

 

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M4A3 75mm Shermans in storage at Hawaii await shipment - December 1944 / January 1945
LIFE Magazine Archives - W. Eugene Smith Photographer