Photos WW2 US Forces

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Paratroopers of the US 101st and 82nd Airborne Division are dropped near Sainte-Mère-l'Eglise and Sainte Marie-du-Mont, behind landing beach "Utah"

 

[BravoZulu]

6 June 1944. Operation Neptune, Captain Thomas Francis Mantell, Jr., His Douglas C-47 Skytrain (6Z), glider tug, `Vulture’s Delight', 96th Troop Carrier Squadron, was hit by flak. He successfully completed his mission, returned to England and was awarded the DFC.

 

[BravoZulu]

USS Nevada took part in the Normandy bombardment.

 

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M4 tank of Armoured battalion attached to 2d Infantry Division, U.S. First Army, burns at the intersection of Karl Heine Str. and Zschochersche Str. Leipzig, Germany. 741st Tank Battalion attached to 23d Infantry Regiment, 2d Infantry Division. 18 April 1945 (T/5 R. W. Crampton)

There's a memorial at this spot today. On it it says that the Sherman was attacked by a boy from the Hitler youth with a Panzerfaust. Unfortunately the whole crew died, their names are engraved in the same memorial. The building that the boy was (probably) shooting from btb in the background.

 

[BravoZulu]

Omaha beach June 1944

Apprehensive GIs load onto a British landing craft for the invasion of Normandy. D-Day 1944.(US National Archives original color photo)

 

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A LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel) from the U.S. Coast Guard-manned USS Samuel Chase disembarks troops of Company E, 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division (the Big Red One) wading onto the Fox Green section of Omaha Beach (Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France) on the morning of June 6, 1944. American soldiers encountered the newly formed German 352nd Division when landing. During the initial landing two-thirds of Company E became casualties. 0830hrs by Chief Photographer's Mate (CPHoM) Robert F. Sargent (he survived WW2)

 

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A Willys MA armed with a water-cooled .30 cal M1917 Browning.
The other Jeep is also probably another MA as that seems to be the most common type in use during the maneuvers ( August 1941)
In the background is an M2A4 light Tank.
(LIFE / Morse)

 

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A pair of GIs...one of whom appears to be sucking on a stogie...shoot the breeze with a tanker, alongside his M3 Light Tank during the Lousiana Maneuvers of 1941.
Both GIs wear the pre-war blue denim fatigues. These were intended as work-wear and obviously had no camouflage qualities whatsoever.
Thus, they were soon to be replaced by OD HBT (Herringbone Twill) fatigues which, although also intended as work-wear, were increasingly worn as combat-wear as the war progressed.
The tanker wears OD HBT coveralls, and they all wear "Daisy Mae" hats, later to be replaced with OD HBT peaked field caps.
(LIFE / Morse)

 

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Some kids check out the tank which stopped on their street during the 1941 Louisiana Maneuvers.
The officer and men seem quite happy to allow them to satisfy their natural curiosity.
(LIFE / Morse)

 

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WW2 "nose-art" was a very American art-form.
When you had hundreds of planes which were all alike, the addition of nose-art personalised them and gave them an individual character. Without it "Memphis Belle" would have been just another B-17...or "Enola Gay" just another B-29.
The artistic quality of the nose-art was often stunning...there always seemed to be guys on the base with the necessary artistic talent...or signwriters to do the lettering.
The common themes were Vargas-style pin-ups (often quite risqué!)...wives & sweethearts...hometowns...popular cartoon characters...gung-ho names etc., invariably done with a degree of panache and wit!
Here is a compilation of typical WW2 USAAF nose-art applied to a variety of bombers and transport planes recorded via the camera lens of LIFE magazine's Thomas Mac Avoy, circa 1943.

 

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[uktabber]

Cool Pics!!!! Thanks for posting those!

 

[BravoZulu]

This day in 1944, troops of the US 101st Airborne Division captured the town of Carentan, France. Elements of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division tried to recapture the city but were repulsed by the American paratroopers and forces of the 2nd Armored Division.

 

[BravoZulu]

Street fighting with the 82nd Airborne in Normandy by the great Robert Capa.