Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

Easter morning on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima



Their ardor undampened by a drizzling rain, Marines and Navy Seabees attend open-air divine services atop Mount Suribachi on blood-stained Iwo Jima. Covered by a poncho, a small organ provides musical accompaniment while a small choir sings hymns.
Even as Chaplain Alvo Martin conducted these Easter services, on 1 April, fellow Marines and Army troops were swarming ashore on Okinawa, hundreds of miles away.

Catalog #: USN 49025

Soldiers of the Army Service Corps working on an overturned Maudslay lorry. An infantry working-party marching past them. Near Arras, 3 April 1918.



(Photo source - © IWM Q 8660)
Lellan, David (Second Lieutenant) (Photographer)

Six Hurricane Mk IIBs of 'B' Flight, No. 601 Squadron RAF based at Duxford, Cambridgeshire, flying in starboard echelon formation near Thaxted, Essex.


601 Squadron was initially called the ‘Millionaires Squadron’ as it was formed on 14 October 1925 from a group of aristocratic and very ‘well-heeled’ young men. Most of them could afford to have their own aircraft and had previously been amateur pilots.
The idea to create a new Reserve (Auxiliary) Squadron of the RAF came to its first Commanding Officer Lord Edward Arthur ‘Ned’ Grosvenor at White’s Gentlemen Club. The legend is that Lord Grosvenor would test his potential recruits by plying them with alcohol to see if they would demonstrate some inappropriate behaviour while under the influence. Not unsurprisingly, many of them passed with flying colours.
However, the young millionaires didn’t pay much attention to the strict military discipline anyway. It was their tradition to line their uniform and helmet with silk, wear blue ties instead of black ones and to use bright red socks. To reflect this, when fully opened, the table cloths in our new restaurant Claude’s will be decorated with red socks and a history of 601 Squadron.
As many of the squadron members were very wealthy men, they could afford to make some alterations to their aircraft. For example, Sir Dermot Boyle, who was then just a Flight Lieutenant, altered his Avro 504 to use a Lynx-Avro engine. One of the best pilots in the RAF, he often put on a show for his Squadron, letting the tail of the Lynx-Avro rise off the ground until the propeller was cutting the grass during take-off.
With the outbreak of the war, 601 Squadron became a day fighter unit in 1940 and flew both the Hawker Hurricane and the Supermarine Spitfire. At that time the Squadron was as cosmopolitan as all other squadrons, as new members were recruited from all the parts of the Commonwealth to cover casualties and promotions.
One of the more famous squadron members was Sir John William Maxwell ‘Max’ Aitken, a Second Baronet, who flew with 601 Squadron from 1936 – 1940. Initially a Pilot Officer, he rose to Commanding Officer in June 1940, before leaving the Squadron. A British Flying Ace with 16 victories, he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1940 and Distinguished Service order in 1942 and later oversaw RAF operations in the Middle East and RAF Coastal Command, rising to the eventual rank of Group Captain.
Photographer: B. J. Daventry.
Wiki Commons Ref: CH3517.
Minor Image Repair & Colourisation - Nathan Howland

"Nurses of a field hospital who arrived in France via England and Egypt after three years service." Parker, August 12, 1944.


"A Group of US Army Nurses of the 10th Field Hospital (400-bed capacity) posing in front of a 1/4-Ton Truck. The 10th Fld. Hosp arrived in the MTO* March 19, 1943, spending more than a year in Tunisia, Sicily, and Italy, finally being transferred to the ETO* on November 1, 1944, where it saw action at the French Riviera and in the Moselle area." (med-dept.com)
"In total, over 59,000 Nurses served in the Army Nurse Corps during World War 2. They now worked closer to the front lines than they had ever before. Within the “chain of evacuation”, Nurses served under fire in Field Hospitals, Evacuation Hospitals, on Hospital Trains and Hospital Ships, and as Flight Nurses on medical transport aircraft. Their skill and dedication contributed to a lower post-injury mortality rate among the American military in every Theater of Operations." (med-dept.com)
(Nb. MTO* = Mediterranean Theater of Operations
ETO* = European Theater of Operations0
(The 'K' mark to the right of the photo is the editors 'cropping' notation)
(Source - US Signal Corps)
(Colorised by Patty Allison from the USA)

Easter, April 9, 1944. The Assault Company of the 3rd Vilnius Brigade of the Polish Home Army in military formation is leaving the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Turgiel. The soldiers of Lieutenant G. Fróg "Szczerbiec" participated in the solemn resurrection mass.


On Easter Sunday, large numbers of residents gathered in the market square in Turgiel, and the soldiers of the 3rd Brigade stood in a line. Everyone was waiting for Lt. Aleksander Krzyżanowski 'Wilk', who, assisted by his adjutant, Lieutenant Edward Dzimiszkiewicz "Bem", was greeted by Lieutenant Gracjan Fróg "Szczerbiec". resurrection mass.

Easter April 9, 1944, Turgiele. Lieutenant Gracjan Fróg "Szczerbiec" consists of Lt. Aleksander Krzyżanowski 'Wilk' a report about the brigade's readiness for the ceremonial inspection.

Easter April 9, 1944, Turgiele.
Lieutenant Gracjan Fróg "Szczerbiec" and the soldiers of the 3rd Vilnius Brigade of the Polish Home Army in front of the church in Turgiele.

Nickel plated PPSh? That's different.

NebrHogger said:

Nickel plated PPSh? That's different.

Click to expand...

Rather weak oxidation (blackening) and intensive exploitation exposed the steel.

4 April 1945
A group of young German prisoners, members of a Luftwaffe anti-air squad (Flakhelfer), captured by the advancing British 11th Armoured Division in the village of Levern, Germany.


In the closing months of the war the advancing allied forces encountered increasingly young combatants, forced to fight in a last ditch defence of their home land.
Young soldiers were being fielded in a number of different branches of the armed forces. The Luftwaffe frequently fielded young soldiers in Flak, anti-aircraft divisions to which these boys belong.
While some of the children were willing to surrender at the first chance, those who had fallen victim of fascist indoctrination would fight fiercely as if surrender was not an option.
(Source - IWM BU 3048 - Sgt. Norris No 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit)
(Colourised by Joshua Barrett)

Somme 1916 - 36th Ulster Division

Operation HUSKY: an Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle Mark I of No. 296 Squadron RAF takes of in the evening light from Goubrine II, Tunisia, during the airborne landings on Sicily; possibly carrying a team from No. 2 Special Air Service on Operation CHESTNUT, 12th July 1943.


No. 296 Squadron was formed at Ringway Airport near Manchester on 25th January 1942 from the Glider Exercise Unit as an airborne forces unit, equipped with obsolete Hawker Hectors and Hawker Harts, and moved to RAF Netheravon to concentrate on glider training.
In June 1942 it began to receive the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley and in October 1942 began flying leaflet dropping missions over France. In early 1943 the squadron converted to the Albemarle Mk.I and in Summer 1943 moved 32 aircraft to Froha, Algeria to take part in Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, returning later in the year.
The Squadron was involved in the first part of the D-Day landings. On the night of 5th/6th June 1944, as part of Operation Tonga, three Albemarles flew Pathfinder parachutists to Normandy followed by eight more loaded with paratroops of 5th Parachute Brigade. During 6 June the squadron returned with a further eight towing Horsa gliders. For Operation Mallard which immediately followed, 296 squadron despatched 19 aircraft towing gliders to Normandy. Other missions involved dropping SAS sabotage teams behind enemy lines. The Albemarle's last major mission came during the battle of Arnhem, where the squadron towed across forty-six gliders in two waves from Manston aerodrome without loss in the first two days of the battle.
The Albemarles gave way in September 1944 to the Handley Page Halifax of which 30 were provided for Operation Varsity, the Rhine crossings. At the end of the war the squadron was used to ferry troops to Norway and Denmark to take the German surrender and to bring liberated POWs back to Britain.
Photographer: F/O J. Trievnor
Wiki Commons Ref: CNA4066.
Minor Image Repair & Colourisation - Nathan Howland

The Flying Nightingales
The first WAAF nursing orderlies selected to fly on air-ambulance duties to France, standing in front of a Douglas Dakota Mark III of No. 233 Squadron RAF at B2/Bazenville, Normandy. June, 1944.


From left to right: Leading Aircraftwoman Myra Roberts of Oswestry, Corporal Lydia Alford of Eastleigh and Leading Aircraftwoman Edna Birbeck of Wellingborough.
Nursing Orderlies of the WAAF flew on RAF transport planes to evacuate the wounded from the Normandy battlefields. They were dubbed Flying Nightingales by the press. The RAF Air Ambulance Unit flew under 46 Group Transport Command from RAF Down Ampney, RAF Broadwell, and RAF Blakehill Farm. RAF Dakota aircraft carried military supplies and ammunition so could not display the Red Cross.
Training for air ambulance nursing duties included instruction in the use of oxygen, injections, learning how to deal with certain types of injuries such as broken bones, missing limb cases, head injuries, burns and colostomies; and to learn the effects of air travel and altitude.
© IWM CL 122
Colourised by Daniel Rarity

Greek Army soldiers use a rangefinder to target invading enemy Italian positions in the Pindus mountain range during the Greco-Italian War. Epirus Region, Greece, November 1940.


Germany invaded Greece and Yugoslavia on April 6th 1941.
Greece entered the war on 28 October 1940, when the Italian Army invaded from Albania, beginning the Greco-Italian War. The Greek Army was able to stop the invasion and was even able to push the Italians back into Albania, thereby winning one of the first victories for the Allies. The Greek successes and the inability of the Italians to reverse the situation forced Germany to intervene in order to protect their main Axis partner’s prestige.
The Germans invaded Greece and Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941, and overran both countries within a month, despite British aid to Greece in the form of an expeditionary corps.
Color by Nikos Hatzitsirou

Soviet soldiers fighting in the steppes.

Throughout the war, the Red Army was equipped with an improved version of the famous Maxim machine gun, named PM1910. It is characterized by a shield to protect the shooter, as well as wheels. Water-cooling, it also has a larger hole on top of the barrel to be able to cool the gun in winter. This machine gun was old and very bulky (67 kilos in total), it was replaced by the SG-43 around 1943-44.

General George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a US Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars.

His life came to an end at the Little Bighorn, Montana. As the troopers of Custer's five companies were cut down, the native warriors stripped the dead of their firearms and ammunition, with the result that the return fire from the cavalry steadily decreased, while the fire from the Indians constantly increased. The surviving troopers apparently shot their remaining horses to use as breastworks for a final stand on the knoll at the north end of the ridge. The warriors closed in for the final attack and killed every man in Custer's command. As a result, the Battle of the Little Bighorn has come to be popularly known as "Custer's Last Stand".
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Photographed in 1865 at Mathew Brady’s studio. Photo provided by the National Archives,

Sergt. F. Sturgis and group (ca. 1862-1865) Sturgis on right.

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Photo provided by The National Archives of United States of America.

Pilots of No. 43 Squadron sitting round the stove at readiness in their dispersal hut, at the RAF station just north of the Village of Dream in East Lothian, Scotland 25 April 1941.

A young Dutch boy on wooden shoes helps a Canadian Motorcycle Despatch Rider 'ploughing' through a muddy road in The Netherlands, 11 December, 1944.


During World War II despatch riders were often referred to as Don Rs (from phonetic spelling for D in "DR") in Commonwealth forces.
In World War II, Royal Corps of Signals soldiers carried out the role and the Royal Signals Motorcycle Display Team was formed from their number.
They were also used by the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy, where they maintained contact with land bases and some of the riders were members of the Women's Royal Naval Service.
In the UK Bletchley Park used to receive transmissions from the listening stations (Y-stations) by despatch riders, although later this was switched to teleprinter transmission.
The British military often used Triumph, Norton, BSA, Matchless and Ariel for despatch riders, and although radio communications were much more advanced during WW II than WW I - huge numbers were produced (e.g. over 75,000 Norton 16H models).

Photo: IWM

British troops queueing up to the money exchange office while arriving on leave at Victoria Station, London. 1918


(Photo source - © IWM Q 30516)