Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

Soviet sappers show defused German anti-tank mines. The sapper holds a T.Mi.42 mine in his right hand and T.Mi. in his left. "Pilz" 43. 1944.


The Teller mine was a German-made antitank mine common during World War II. With explosives sealed inside a sheet metal casing and fitted with a pressure-actuated fuze, Teller mines had a built-in carrying handle on the side. As the name suggests (Teller is the German word for dish or plate) the mines were plate-shaped.
Containing little more than 5.5 kilograms of TNT and a fuze activation pressure of approximately 200 lb (91 kg), the Teller mine was capable of blasting the tracks off any World War II-era tank or destroying a lightly armoured vehicle. Because of its rather high operating pressure, only a vehicle or heavy object passing over the Teller mine would set it off.
Of the two types of pressure-fuze available for Teller mines, the T.Mi.Z.43 fuze was notable for featuring an integral anti-handling device as standard: when the T.Mi.Z.43 fuze is inserted and the pressure plate (or screw cap) is screwed down into place, it shears a weak arming pin inside the fuze with an audible "snap". This action arms the anti-handling device. Thereafter, any attempt to disarm the mine by unscrewing the pressure plate (or screw cap) to remove the fuze will automatically release the spring-loaded firing pin inside it, triggering detonation.
Since it is impossible to determine which fuze type has been installed, no pressure plate or screw cap can ever be safely removed from a Teller mine. The T.Mi.Z.43 fuze can be fitted to the Teller mine 35, 42 and 43 series.
To hinder demining, all Teller mines featured two additional fuze wells (located on the side and underneath) to enable anti-handling devices to be attached, typically some form of pull-fuze.
There were four models of Teller mine made during World War II:
Teller mine 43
Teller mine 42
Teller mine 35
Teller mine 29
Approximately 3,622,900 of these mines were produced by Germany for the Wehrmacht from 1943 to 1944.

Tiger tanks (left ‘222’, right '224’) from 503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion in Normandy, late summer of 1944.


The textured pattern on the vehicles is called Zimmerit. Zimmerit was a paste-like coating used on mid and late war German armoured fighting vehicles during World War II. It was used to produce a hard layer covering the metal armour of the vehicle, providing enough separation that magnetically attached anti-tank mines would fail to stick to the vehicle, although Germany was the only country to use magnetic anti-tank mines in numbers. Zimmerit was often left off late-war vehicles due to the unfounded concern that it could catch fire when hit. It was developed by the German company Chemische Werke Zimmer & Co (Berlin).

Group photo of Japanese Kamikaze pilots at Chōshi airfield, Japan, November 1944.


Only 1, Toshio Yoshitake, of the 18 men in the photo would survive the war after his aircraft was shot down by an American fighter aircraft.
Only about 19% of all kamikaze attacks were successful and about 3,800, mostly young men, died in those missions during the war.

A German A7V Sturmpanzerwagen (Nº504 "Schnuck") of Abteilung 2.
Captured by the New Zealand Division at Frémicourt, Nord-Pas-de-Calais on the 31 August 1918 (photo taken 18/9/18).


The A7V had a crew of 18 men and was powered by two 100hp Daimler engines. It was armed with one 57mm Gun and six machine guns.
"Schnuck" was displayed in London on Horse Guards Parade in 1918/19 and given to the Imperial War Museum in 1919 but disposed of in 1922 with only the main gun kept.
(Nb. "Schnuck" was a Hybrid, combining the vehicles Nº504 and Nº544)
In some ways the A7V was a better tank than the British Mark IV, it had two engines which gave it more power and a top speed of 8 mph (12km/h) and was protected by 30 mm (1 3/16 inch) armour. In other ways, however, it was inferior: its high centre of gravity made it somewhat unstable over rough terrain and it could only traverse trenches under 6 feet (1.82 meters) across. The Germans did not have a lot of confidence in their own tanks, only about 20 A7V's were built, and they preferred to use captured Mark IV's. In fact the German army was so enamoured with the British Mark IV tank that the High Command ordered a German tank to be built based on the Mark IV design, which gave birth to the A7V/U. It had all-round tracks like the British machine, but kept all the internal components of the old A7V. Still, only a prototype was ever built.
(http://www.tanks.net/)
Color by Leo Courvoisier

On the 31st of August 1918, Australians of the 2nd Division crossed the Somme River and attacked Mont St Quentin at 0500 from the unexpected position of the northwest.


This attack is sometimes regarded as the finest achievement of the AIF in WWI, and was crucial in clearing the final German Stronghold at Mont St Quentin which provided a perfect observation point over the Somme River and the town of Peronne.
Under command of Lieutenant General Sir John Monash, the Australians fought uphill, across very open ground and exposed to attack from the German heights above. By 7 am, the troops had gained the village of Mont St Quentin and the slope and summit of the hill, by working in small groups. The five German divisions defending the town were confused and dispersed, and many had fled.
However, the Germans quickly regrouped and launched a counter-attack, and the first day of September saw fierce fighting and heavy losses. Germans attacked and heavily shelled Péronne. Much of the fighting was hand-to-hand combat.
The outnumbered Australians were pushed back off the summit of Mont St Quentin, and lost Feuillaucourt. Relief battalions were sent, and with their reinforcement, all the areas were retaken by the Australians, but at the cost of 3,000 casualties.
After heavy and exhausting fighting, the Australians established a stronghold on the area and forced the complete withdrawal of the Germans from Péronne. By the night of 3 September, the Australians held Péronne. They captured Flamicourt the next day, and advanced 2 miles to the east.
The fighting around Mont St Quentin was unique in that it included battalions from every Australian state. Consisting of three divisions operating simultaneously side by side, it has been described as the greatest feat by Australian troops under Monash’s command during the war.
Image: Members of the 24th Battalion in a trench about 1.20 p.m., awaiting the lifting of the artillery barrage before the renewed attack which led to the capture of Mont St. Quentin by troops of the 2nd Australian Division

The Polish Navy destroyer ORP Wicher stationary, 1932.

The American combat medic Desmond Doss, next to his wife Dorothy, on October 12, 1945, after receiving the Medal of Honor from President Harry Truman for saving around 75 wounded soldiers on the cliff 'Maeda Scarf' (more known as Hacksaw Ridge), during the Battle of Okinawa, despite being wounded 4 times.

santana said:

View attachment 331948

American combat physician Desmond Doss, alongside his wife Dorothy, on October 12, 1945, after receiving from President Harry Truman the Medal of Honor for rescuing about 75 wounded soldiers on the 'Maeda Scarf' cliff (more known as Hacksaw Ridge), during the Battle of Okinawa, despite being wounded 4 times.

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English Translation added!

Connaught Ranger said:

English Translation added!

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Ohh Sorry my bad, I got the text in spanish!!! I forgot to translate to english. Thanks by the way!!!

82 years ago on September 1, 1939 at 4:40 The Germans bombed the defenseless Polish city of Wieluń.


The first war crime against the city's defenseless population was committed here. At least several hundred inhabitants died. Many people have not woken up anymore ..
The raid was carried out suddenly, without any declaration of war to Poland by the Third Reich. It resulted in the destruction of the town's buildings in 75%, including the hospital and monuments.
One of the darkest chapters in human history has begun


On September 1, 1939, at 4:45 a.m., the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on the Polish Military Transit Depot at Westerplatte. Over 3,000 German soldiers from sea, land and air set off to storm the Military Transit Depot.


The battleship arrived on a training and courtesy mission to the Free City of Gdańsk, and on the morning of September 1, 1939, it opened fire without declaring war.



Warsaw, September 1939
A Polish soldier oversees a group of civilians who are digging an anti-tank ditch along the street to slow down the movement of the German army.

Photo: Julien Bryan


Father and daughter at the first aid station.

They were wounded during the German bomb attack on Warsaw in September 1939 in a place with no military targets.
The first German bombs fell on the capital on September 1. The bombing lasted until September 27, 1939. Bombs were intentionally dropped on hospitals and cemeteries, and German planes flew very low over the city to be able to shoot people with machine guns.
Photo: Julien Bryan


Children digging anti-aircraft ditches together with the director of the kindergarten, Irena Zgrych, the sister of the author of the photograph.
The works were carried out next to the kindergarten at 10 Bugaj Street.



The author of the photo: Tadeusz Bukowski

September 1, 1939 - The attack of the Germans on the Polish Post Office in Gdańsk.

The postmen retreated to the cellars. The Germans poured hectoliters of benzol and gasoline into the building and set the building on fire.
At 7 p.m., the postmen surrendered. The first to come out with a white flag was the last director of the Gdańsk Post and Telegraph District, Dr. Jan Michoń, at whom the Germans fired a machine gun. He died on the spot, receiving a fatal gunshot wound to the abdomen. He was followed by the last head of the Polish Post Office in Gdańsk, Józef Wąsik, whom the Germans set on fire with a flamethrower. The other postal workers could not count on honorary treatment either. They were not soldiers, the Germans found them guilty of unjustified resistance.
The defense lasted from morning to evening on September 1, 1939.
By the end of September, 38 postmen were sentenced to death. They were shot on October 5.


12-year-old Kazia Mika over the body of her sister killed during a German air raid in September 1939 in Warsaw.

"Young girls pick up the last potatoes from the field. German planes are coming. They shoot once, twice, drop bombs. Andzia falls. 12-year-old Kazia leans over her sister's corpse. Julien Bryan, an American photographer, sees the scene. .
Photo by Julien Bryan


Defense Campaign, September 1939
A German looking at the bodies of fallen Polish soldiers.

An early PzKpfw II Ausf. C rolls down a sandy road into Poland, September 1939


Original: Bundesarchiv
Color by: In Colore Veritas

Captain Byron Bruce Bradford of F Company, 2nd Battalion, 127th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Division is pictured during the Battle of Buna-Gona, sitting in a dug-out during the fight against Japanese forces holding the area.
Buna-Gona, Papua New Guinea. November 1942 - January 1943.


Byron Bruce Bradford was born on November 25, 1911 at Reynolds, Illinois.
He served in the Minnesota National Guard beginning in early 1933. He entered active service February 10, 1941 and would become a member of the US 32nd Infantry Division, serving as captain of F Company, 2nd Battalion, 127th Infantry Regiment. He was commissioned as Captain on August 11, 1942.
Byron fought throughout the Pacific during WWII and would go on to serve in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
He passed away on October 29, 1975 in Auburn, California.
Colour by Jake Colourised PIECE of JAKE
Photographer:George Strock

Pictured here are (left to right) Private Cullen, A Company, 53rd Battalion; Private Albert Storen, A Company, 54th Battalion; unidentified (standing at back); Sergeant Kelly, 54th Battalion and Private McSweeney, 54th Battalion, Péronne, Somme.


Although currently recorded as being taken by an unknown Australian Official Photographer, details noted in the 54th Battalion's diary now shed sufficient light to attribute the image. It records on the 2nd September:
'Desultory shelling of the town continued by the enemy through the day but nothing of incident occurred. The enterprising official photographer Captain Wilkins M.C. took photos about mid-day of the gateway by which the 54th Battalion entered Péronne and of some of the posts occupied by us on the morning of the 1st of September. Before leaving he took a snap of Private Sweeney of "B" Coy. who was shortly afterwards killed.'
McSweeney's service record shows that he was wounded in action later that afternoon, and died the following day.
(Photo source - Australian War memorial E03138)
Colour by Benjamin Thomas

The Polish city of Wieluń after the German air raids. September 1939

A Polish army battalion on maneuvers with Antitank gun, Bofors 37-мм anti-tank gun wz.36 during 1939


The Polish guns were used during the German and Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939. Wołyńska Cavalry Brigade equipped with the Bofors 37 mm antitank gun beat the German Panzer Divisions in one of the first battles of the invasion; the Battle of Mokra.
At the time, German armor consisted mainly of light Panzer I and Panzer II tanks which were vulnerable to the Bofors gun. Early models of the Panzer III and Panzer IV could also be penetrated at ranges up to 500 m. After Poland was occupied, most of the guns fell into German and Soviet hands. The weapon was considered obsolete by 1941 during Operation Barbarossa.

Two Australian regimental cooks cutting up meat for a stew in a support line in front of Zillebeke, 21 September 1917.



Brooke, John Warwick (Lieutenant) (Photographer)
1917-09-21
Q 5993
Part of MINISTRY OF INFORMATION FIRST WORLD WAR OFFICIAL COLLECTION

Conhoon said:

Two Australian regimental cooks cutting up meat for a stew in a support line in front of Zillebeke, 21 September 1917.


View attachment 332326
Brooke, John Warwick (Lieutenant) (Photographer)
1917-09-21
Q 5993
Part of MINISTRY OF INFORMATION FIRST WORLD WAR OFFICIAL COLLECTION

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Most likely horsemeat

M3 Stuart Tank of 'B' Squadron of the Indian 7th Light Cavalry, 254th Indian Tank Brigade, IV Corps, XIV Army in Imphal, India. 1944.

Do any of you guys know on how to upload photos here on

Colourised Images of WW2 & earlier conflicts​

Joseph 101 said:

Do any of you guys know on how to upload photos here on

Colourised Images of WW2 & earlier conflicts​

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Read this:
https://militaryimages.net/threads/embeds-did-you-know.5847/