Photos WW2 British & Commonwealth Forces

G

guest0001

Guest

• Jul 10, 2021

• #901

Standard-Beaverettes were stop-gap armoured reconnaissance cars rapidly designed and built in the aftermath of Dunkirk when the BEF had abandoned almost all of its modern equipment.
They were built by the Standard Motor Company and were based upon the chassis of one of their existing civilian motor-cars.
Some 2800 of the various Marks were built.
They were lightly armoured and usually armed with either a Bren gun or .303 Vickers guns or sometimes a Boys A/T rifle.
Command vehicles were fitted for radio.
They were used by some Army units, such as the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards, Royal Armoured Corps, as pictured here in June of 1940...but also the RAF Regiment and of course the Home Guard.
(IWM)

 

G

guest0001

Guest

• Jul 10, 2021

• #902

State-of-the-art in its day, a signaller demonstrates the use of the man-portable "Set, Wireless, No. 18" at the British Army's School of Signals, Catterick Yorkshire, circa 1941.
The No. 18 was a High-Frequency radio transceiver with a range of up to 10 miles and which was used by the British Army throughout WW2.
(IWM)

 

G

guest0001

Guest

• Jul 10, 2021

• #903

An Ordnance QF 4.5" howitzer of 'D' Troop, 346th Battery, 87th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, Eastern Command, in a well camouflaged, log-built bunker, 16th July 1940.
The 4.5" howitzer was widely deployed by the British Army during WW1 and between the wars it was upgraded by the addition of a modern, pnuematic-tyred carriage.
(IWM)

 

G

guest0001

Guest

• Jul 10, 2021

• #904

WWII. UK. c 1940. Hawker Hurricane factory at Brooklands, Surrey.

 

G

guest0001

Guest

• Jul 10, 2021

• #905

Another one of "Hobart's Funnies" of the 79th Armoured Division was the Sherman-mounted AMRCR ( Anti-Mine Reconnaissance Castor Roller) examples of which are seen here both on the ranges and back at the depot.
October 1943.
(IWM)

 

G

guest0001

Guest

• Jul 10, 2021

• #906

A nice sharp profile shot of a Mk.II Vickers Medium of the Royal Tank Regiment on the ranges at Bovington Camp...home of The Tank Museum...and where I'll be headed again soon.
Image dated November 1939.
(IWM)

 

G

guest0001

Guest

• Jul 10, 2021

• #907

British Maunsell Forts, these original colour transparencies were taken by LIFE's Frank Scherschel.

 

G

guest0001

Guest

• Jul 10, 2021

• #908

Russian guns captured near Paterno in Sicily by the 2nd Cameronians - 30 August 1943

 

G

guest0001

Guest

• Jul 10, 2021

• #909

British "Sharpshooters" Sherman in Italy. Looks like the crew is having some fun with a captured flag.....obviously they do not need to ward off the Luftwaffe.

 

G

guest0001

Guest

• Jul 10, 2021

• #910

British soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, Black Watch Regiment with Morris Commercial Vehicles armed with Lewis Machine Guns. Julian Way, Jerusalem. 1938.

 

G

guest0001

Guest

• Jul 10, 2021

• #911

British troops from the 2nd Battalion Black Watch Regiment with Lewis machine gun in Palestine circa 1938

 

G

guest0001

Guest

• Jul 10, 2021

• #912

Maunsell Forts...named after Guy Maunsell, the engineer who designed them...were off-shore forts erected in the Thames and Mersey estuaries to protect the UK from potential incursions by German naval and air forces.
There were both "Army" and "Navy" forts manned by personnel from the respective services.
Here, a supply tender makes its way to an Army Maunsell Fort in the Thames estuary, November 1943.
Such forts were manned by gunners who operated the A/A and coastal defence guns...and signallers who monitored the airwaves.
(IWM)

 

G

guest0001

Guest

• Jul 10, 2021

• #913

At a glance you could be forgiven for mistaking these soldiers for a trio of Fallschirmjägers, albeit armed with "captured" weaponry...but they are in fact British paratroops during exercises with Eastern Command, 23rd June 1941.
The stunning successes by the Fallschirmjäger in the 1940 Campaign spurred-on Great Britain to develop its own specialised Airborne Forces.
As a consequence a version of the Fallschirmjäger's "Knochensack" (bonesack) jump-smock was produced...note the British Airborne jumpwings on the Corporal's sleeve.
Although not visible here, a rimless "HSAT" helmet with a similar profile to the Fallschirmjäger's M38 Stahlhelm was also issued.
However, most interesting are their boots...British-made copies of the Fallschirmjäger's distinctive side-laced jump-boots which were trialled...but never adopted.
Instead, British paratroopers wore the same "ammunition boots" with gaiters combination as the rest of the Army.
(IWM)

 

G

guest0001

Guest

• Jul 10, 2021

• #914

Men of the 11th Royal Scots Fusiliers make a bayonet charge through Artillery Fire during a training exercise in December 1943.
At Rothesay on the Isle of Bute the Battalion practised and mastered beach landings from LCA (Landing Craft Assault) boats, the very same ones that would be used in Normandy the following year.
In Perthshire, Engineers constructed full scale German fortifications with all of the barbed wire, trenchworks and gun positions that were known to be defending the Normandy beaches. Lieutenant William Douglas (later Colonel Douglas), described this part of the training and the readiness of his men thus 'We practised with Bangalore torpedoes, you know the thing like a drain pipe full of explosives which you push through the barbed wire, bang and up it goes, storming in, flame throwers, grenades, through the slit trenches and so on and we got to the stage where we could do it in the daylight, we could do it in the dark. You didn’t really have to give any orders to your men, you just sort of said ‘There it is, usual plan, off we go!’'
These exercises were conducted as the 49th Division had been identified as one if the Assault Divisions due to lead the Assault on part of Gold Beach.
As it was Field Marshall Montgomery expressed the opinion that as a formation thus far untested in the field, the 49th Division should be replaced as a beach assault division by one that had recent battle experience. One such division was 3rd Division, also known as the Iron Sides, a division that had previously been under the command of Montgomery himself. The 3rd Division took the place of the 49th Division, who in turn were to become a 'follow up' division to the main invasion force.
To the Men of the Battalion this was a bitter blow, as they felt at the time they were ready and able to carry out the Beach Assualt successfully.

 

G

guest0001

Guest

• Jul 10, 2021

• #915

Demonstration of improvised camouflage clothing...sort of variations of the "ghillie suit", not unlike similar types used during WW1.
The rough-weave hessian (burlap) was fashioned into loose-fitting hooded garments and painted with a range of disruptive patterns.
Despite their "bizzare" appearance, no doubt a sniper hunkered-down in a field wearing such a get-up would indeed be well camouflaged!
Photograph taken at Langford near Redlinch, Somerset, 13th March 1941.
(IWM)

 

G

guest0001

Guest

• Jul 10, 2021

• #916

A British "Tommy", safely arrived back in the UK having recently been evacuated with the BEF, enjoys some light refreshments whilst showing his mates where a German bullet passed right through the shell of his Mk.II helmet.
(IWM)

 

G

guest0001

Guest

• Jul 10, 2021

• #917

British Airborne troops, with blackened faces and camouflaged with grass, with their "Blitz Buggy" / Jeep, on exercises in December 1942.
The windshield is wrapped in its canvas anti-glare cover.
The faint outline of the "Mickey Mouse" pattern camo is just visible ahead of the boot on the running board.
These men wear regular battledress uniforms rather than the camouflaged Denison smocks usually associated with the Airborne Forces.
Note the "Pegasus" Airborne sleeve insignia. Pale blue on a maroon ground.
All wear the special rimless HSATs...( Helmet, Special, Airborne Troops) which were influenced by the Fallschirmjäger's "M38" pattern stahlelm.
(IWM)

 

G

guest0001

Guest

• Jul 10, 2021

• #918

Just like their counterparts in the US Airborne Forces at Fort Benning, Ga., British paratroopers also used a specially constructed "parachute tower" to practise their jumping and descent techniques.
These men are at the Parachute Training & Depot School, Hardwick Camp near Chesterfield in Derbyshire, September 1942.
(IWM)

 

G

guest0001

Guest

• Jul 10, 2021

• #919

AIF training at Mt. Martha and Balcombe taking part in reviews and inspections 1939 - 1940

 

G

guest0001

Guest

• Jul 10, 2021

• #920

Civilians take cover as British soldiers exchange fire with German troops: the 1st British Army Corps advanced in the direction of Tilburg and Den Bosch, denying Crerar the flank support that he deemed necessary. Photo Beeldbank NIMH