Photos WW2 US Forces

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After his combat jump onto Corregidor, a paratrooper of the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment fires his Browning Automatic Rifle at Japanese positions in February of 1945.

 

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M5 of 744 Lt Tank Bn that struck a mine, Normandy, Late June 1944

 

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105 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M7 advances past an ominous inscription in Worms on the West bank of the Rhine in March 1945

 

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After their 1st combat jump into Normandy, paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division gather in St. Marcouf, France near Utah Beach.

 

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642nd Bomb Squadron, 409th Bomb Group A-26B Invader #43-22359 plummets towards the ground after its port wing was blown off by flak over Velen in Germany on March 21st 1945

Lt Col Lewis W. Stocking, commander of the 642nd Bomb Squadron, gave the following testimony:

I was flying in number seven position in the second flight of the first box. On the bomb run, while we were receiving very accurate Flak, I saw number two airplane of the first flight receive a direct hit. There was a brilliant red flash, the left wing was torn off and, together with the debris, the airplane immediately disappeared from the formation. I didn’t watch him down, but during the time the airplane was within the field of vision, I didn’t observe any parachute…

1LT Donald J. Cotton (Pilot), Ssgt Don E. Nord (Navigator) and Ssgt Loring E. Lord (Gunner) were all killed in action, although the remains of the latter were never recovered.

 

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M31 Tank Recovery Vehicles prepare to recover a knocked out Sherman near Beggendorf in 1945

 

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A Staff Sergeant with the 36th Infantry Division smiles while holding a bottle of wine near Cori, Italy in May of 1944

 

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A Japanese bomb dropped by pilot Kazumi Horie exploding on the flight deck of aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6), just aft of the island, during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons on 24 August 1942.

If you look further astern you can see the smoking hole from the first hit caused by a 500 lb armour piercing bomb that went through the deck into the hanger and started a fire.

The explosion you see here was not from another armour piercing bomb like the first. For some unknown reason a ground attack bomb was dropped but it did not pierce the deck.

 

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One of 177 1st Bomb Division B-17 Flying Fortress bombers dispatched to bomb Apparatebau GmbH Oschersleben under attack by one of the Fw 190s that had been manufactured at the same plant. January 11th 1944

Three aviation industry targets in Germany were bombed on January 11th 1944. The bomber force consists of 291 B-17s dispatched from 1st Bomb Division in two elements, one element of 177 B-17s is dispatched to Oschersleben as the primary target, the other element is composed of 114 B-17s dispatched to Halberstadt as their primary target. These two elements were attacked by approximately 500 German fighters, the heaviest fighter resistance encountered since the October 14th 1943 attack on Schweinfurt in Germany.

A combined force of 234 B-17s was also dispatched from 3rd Bomb Division with the aircraft factories at Brunswick in Germany as their primary target.

Of the first element, 34 aircraft failed to return and on those aircraft 122 men were killed, 235 were taken prisoner and 6 evaded capture. Of the bombers that made it back, 88 aircraft were damaged of which two were beyond repair and three heavily damaged. On these aircraft 9 men were killed in action, 11 wounded and four taken prisoner having bailed out over enemy territory.

 

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The crew of USS Honolulu (CL-48) stack empty powder cartridge cases fired during Battle of Kula Gulf, 5-6 July 1943

Funeral services onboard USS Honolulu (CL-48) for Irvin L. Edwards who died onboard USS Nicholas (DD-449) after being picked up when USS Helena (CL-50) was sunk during the battle of Kula Gulf. Admiral Walden L. Ainsworth has his hat on his chest. 6 July 1943

Aboard USS Nicholas (DD-449) a survivor of USS Helena (CL-50) which was torpedoed and sunk by the Japanese during the Battle of Kula Gulf, is given first aid after being temporarily blinded by oil while swimming. 6 July 1943

Marines aboard the U.S. Navy light cruiser USS Honolulu (CL-48) fire a salute during funeral services for a casualty from the sunken USS Helena (CL-50), following the Battle of Kula Gulf. July 1943

 

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Marines of 2nd Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, come off the front lines after twenty days of combat. Saipan, 5 July, 1944

 

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A formation of B-17 Flying Fortress of the 8th Air Force escorted by a P-51 Mustang, ETO, 1944. (Original color photo)

 

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P-51B of the 355th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force, somewhere over England, 1944 [1600x1324] (Original color photo)

 

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Troops of the U.S. 45th Infantry Division in a transport bound for Sicily in June, 1943.

 

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B-17 Flying Fortress “L’il Satan” was hit by flak while returning from a mission; the navigator and bombardier were KIA, the pilot managed to get her back to base in England. June 25, 1944.

Those killed in action were 2LT Arthur Matt Maatta, bombardier, and 2LT Robert Walter Evans Jr., navigator.

After the hit one of the waist gunners SSGT Joseph Simoncini also bailed out. He was taken prisoner but survived the war and passed away in 1985.

The man in the picture pointing at the plane is the pilot Karl Edmund Becker Sr.. He passed away in 2006 age 90.

 

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As a German lies dead in the street, G.I.’s inspect a Stuart tank captured and put to use by German forces before the town fell to troops of the U.S. Ninth Army. Rheindahlen, Germany. 27 February 1945.

 

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Sgt. Robert Martin "Bob" Waddell, an American bomber mechanic with the 323rd Squadron, talking with a local British girl who rode by his base at Bassingbourn. They were later married.

 

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Major General J. Lawton 'Lightning Joe' Collins, commander of the 25th Infantry Division at Guadalcanal. 1942.

 

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A U.S. Marine commanding officer goes over the plans of attack with his platoon leaders and squad leaders. Saipan. 6-7 July, 1944

 

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Marines inspect destroyed Japanese Type 95s on Peleliu airfield, Sept 1944