Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

[Conhoon]

A captured German Maxim machine gun being used by the Battalion machine gun officer of the Australian 3rd Division near Marett Wood, Somme as a camp defence against enemy aeroplanes.
5 May 1918

British Army issue 'trench waders'. Waders were classified as trench stores and issued to soldiers engaged in duties that required them to work in deep water and mud - especially common in the trenches during the winter months.
(Photo source - AWM E02200)
Colourised by Doug - DBColour

 

[Conhoon]

Men of the 8th/10th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders filling sandbags near Roclincourt, northern France. 24 January 1918.

(Photo source - © IWM Q 10629)
Aitken, Thomas Keith (Second Lieutenant) (Photographer)
Colourised by Doug - DBColour

 

[Conhoon]

22 June 1942 - The Polish Navy destroyer ORP Ślązak underway.

Source: Mateusz Prociak

 

[Conhoon]

Operation TONGA. Short Stirling Mark IVs of Nos. 196 and 299 Squadrons RAF, lining the runway at RAF Keevil, Wiltshire, UK, on the evening of 5th June 1944, before enplaning paratroops of the 5th Parachute Brigade Group for the invasion of Normandy.

Operation Tonga was the code-name given to the airborne operation undertaken by the British 6th Airborne Division between 5th June and 7th June 1944 as a part of Operation Overlord and the D-Day landings during World War II.
The 5th Parachute Brigade first saw action in the British airborne landings on D-Day Operation Tonga, where it was responsible for capturing bridges over the Caen Canal and the River Orne in Operation Deadstick. The brigade remained in Normandy until September 1944, by which time it had advanced to the mouth of the River Seine. Its next engagement was in reaction to the surprise German offensive in the Ardennes, the Battle of the Bulge. This was followed by Operation Varsity, the last Allied airborne mission of the war. After this, the brigade advanced across Germany, reaching the Baltic Sea by the end of fighting in the European theatre.
Photographer: F/O N. S. Clark.
Photo: WikiCommons Ref: CH13298.
Colourisation - Nathan Howland

 

[Conhoon]

A fantastically colorized photo of a German soldier surrenders to Soviet infantry during the Battle of Moscow, sometime in December of 1941 or January 1942.

The Battle of Moscow was incredibly strategically significant, as it began the complete reversal of all headway gained in Operation Barbarossa, and along side the Battle of Stalingrad, the begining of the end for the German military.
*Colorized by Marina Amaral*

 

[Conhoon]

27 January 1943
General Bernard Montgomery stands beside an M3 Grant command tank near Tripoli, Libya.

The British Eighth Army entered Tripoli on the 23rd January, exactly three months since they had launched the offensive against the Afrika Korps at El Alamein, on 23rd October. They had been pursuing the Germans and Italians, led by Rommel, all the way west ever since.
The myth of Rommel had been broken, at least as far as the Eighth Army was concerned.
Rommel wrote how he could easily have broken the weak British line of advance if only he had had enough petrol. He was never to learn that Montgomery had been able to plan his dispositions in the full knowledge that Rommel did not have any petrol – because of British Enigma intelligence.
(Photo source - © IWM E 21701) - Photographer Capt. Poston)
Colourised by Paul Reynolds.

 

[Conhoon]

Squadron Leader R R Stanford Tuck, Commanding Officer of No. 257 Squadron RAF, in his Hawker Hurricane Mark I, V6864 'DT-A', prepares to lead a section of Hurricanes to their take-off point, in the snow at Coltishall, Norfolk, England.

Colour by RJM

 

[downsizer]

RAF Coltishall was the last active BoB fighter station left in the air force. Sadly closed now and it's a prison for sex offenders.

I once dropped 8 1000lb HE bombs onto the peritrack off the back of a truck there. Lesson - strap down the load.

 

[Conhoon]

On January 27, 1945, Soviet troops entered Poland and liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest concentration camp in the territory occupied by Nazi Germany.

Young Polish women murdered in the Nazi German death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. They did not live to see liberation ...

️From the left: Krysia Trześniewska, age 14.
Czesia Kwoka, age 14. A girl was whipped for obedience before taking this photo - Before it was taken, she wiped the tears from her face and the blood from her cut lips - admitted the author. "She was crying but there was nothing she could do." Murdered with an injection of phenol. Her mother Katarzyna also died in the camp.
Anna Smoleńska, 23, author of the "Fighting Poland" emblem, a symbol of hope for Poles fighting against the German occupier. Three members of her family also died in the camp.
All were classified as "Political Prisoners"

 

[Conhoon]

First Battles of the Somme 1918.
Whippet tanks preparing to retire near Albert, 28 March 1918.

Whippet A267 "Cork II" and others with wooden 'track spuds' stowed at the rear.
Whippet tanks of the 3rd Battalion were the first ever to come into action at Mailly-Maillet on 26 March 1918.
(Photo source - © IWM Q 9817)
Colourised by Doug - DBColour

 

[Conhoon]

Lanchester armoured car of the Royal Naval Air Service Armoured Car Expeditionary Force (Russian Armoured Car Division) bogged down in the mud of Galicia, Austria-Hungary, during the Kerensky Offensive. June 1917

In 1916 No 1 Squadron, Royal Naval Armoured Car Division, returned to Russia with their Lanchesters and other vehicles, and the entire unit drove to the Caucasus, the majority of the force operating throughout the Caucasus down to the Turkish border, whilst a detachment went into north Persia. When the rainy season arrived in October, the force drove via the northern shores of the Black Sea into Romania. In June 1917 the unit moved into Galicia to support the unsuccessful Kerensky Offensive. In November 1917 the Russian Revolution had overthrown the Imperial government, putting an end to the force's operations, so in January 1918 the entire unit was evacuated out of Archangel back to England.
In December 1914, the prototype of what was to become the Lancaster armoured car was produced from a Lancaster Sporting Forty in the service of the Royal Naval Air Service
(Photo source - © IWM Q 81097)
Turner (Lieutenant) (Photographer)
Colourised by Doug - DBColour

 

[Conhoon]

Captain Manfred von Richthofen with the officers of the Jagdstaffel 11. From left to fight - unknown, unknown, Kurt Wolff, Ernst Udet, Werner Voss, unknown, Friedrich Noltenius, Karl Emil Schafer, unknown, Karl Allmenroder.

Colour by RJM

 

[Conhoon]

Major Syd Addison and Lieutenant Hudson Fysh, of No.1 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, in a Bristol F2B Fighter aircraft at Mejdel, Palestine, probably 29 December 1917.

Both Addison and Fysh came from Tasmania, and while Addison was for a time commanding officer of No.1 Squadron, it would be Fysh who would leave a more permanent mark on Australian aviation.
He served at Gallipoli and in the Palestine campaign as a lieutenant in the Australian Light Horse Brigade, before becoming an observer and gunner in the Australian Flying Corp. He was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross after the war for his services to aerial warfare.
In November 1920, he co-founded the Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited - QANTAS - which continues today as one of Australia's most recognised airlines.
Fysh was knighted in 1953 for his contribution to international aviation, becoming a Knight-Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He died in 1974, aged seventy-nine.
(Image courtesy of the Australian War Memorial, B02040)
Colourised and Researched by Benjamin Thomas

 

[Conhoon]

The Interior of a German military kitchen, ca. 1917.

The commanders of both sides involved in the conflict, initially thought that their troops were going to stay in the trenches just for a brief period: they were wrong.
It became quite clear that it was necessary to create a reliable system to feed a large number of men.
Food was usually prepared in field kitchens located in the rear, places sometimes very distant from the endless front line: it was therefore inevitable that, after a long and difficult transport, rations reached their destinations in terrible conditions.
The quantity and quality of these rations, aspects initially underestimated, proved instead to be crucial for the war effort: something that could affect the morale and the performance of soldiers, greatly influencing their combat effectiveness.
It was evident that the faction that could better feed its troops, in the end would probably win the war.
The meat ration for German soldiers was reduced progressively during the war, and one meatless day per week was introduced from June 1916; by the end of that year it was 250g (8 3/4 oz.) fresh meat or 150g (5 1/4 oz.) preserved, or 200g (7 oz) fresh meat for support and train personnel. At the same time the sugar ration was only 17g (6/10 oz.).
Food acquired a fundamental role, becoming a kind of weapon, perhaps even the most effective. So it’s no coincidence that both sides tried to destroy enemy supplies whenever it was possible.
Colour by Jake

Photo: Drake Goodman Collection

 

[Conhoon]

Norwegian resistance members of Milorg at Grenskogen in Sigdal, Viken, Norway 1945.

Milorg (abbreviation of militær organisasjon – military organization) was the main Norwegian resistance movement. Their activities included intelligence gathering, sabotage, supply-missions, raids, espionage, transport of goods imported to the country, release of Norwegian prisoners and escort for citizens fleeing over the border to neutral Sweden.
Following the German occupation of Norway in April 1940, Milorg was formed in May 1941 as a way of organizing the various groups that wanted to participate in an internal military resistance. At first, Milorg was not well coordinated with the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the British organization to plan and lead resistance in occupied countries. In November 1941 the Milorg became integrated with the High Command of the Norwegian government in exile in London, answering to the British Army's Department British Field Office IV, which dealt with sabotage operations, but Milorg's British counterpart, SOE, was still operating independently. This lack of coordination led to a number of tragic incidents, creating bitterness within Milorg. SOE changed its policy at the end of 1942, and from then on Milorg and SOE efforts were coordinated. Mainly for fear of retaliation, Milorg kept a low profile at first. But they became more active as the war progressed. Its first permanent bases were established in the summer of 1944. At the time of the German capitulation on 8 May 1945, Milorg had been able to train and supply about 40,000 soldiers.

 

[Fluff]

RAF Coltishall was the last active BoB fighter station left in the air force. Sadly closed now and it's a prison for sex offenders.

I once dropped 8 1000lb HE bombs onto the peritrack of the back of a truck their. Lesson - strap down the load.

Ha ha! I once lost my trailer sized camera pack- it was sitting right in the middle of the threshold.....Lesson dont trust the idiots that loaded the trailer.

I still had the trailer on my lanny, just the camera had wheels of its own.

That was at Wyton.

 

[Conhoon]

Battle of the Ancre.
Field kitchen of the 2nd Battalion of the Manchester Regiment on a water-logged site. Near St.Pierre Divion, November1916.

(Photo source - IWM Q 45760)
Brooke, John Warwick (Lieutenant) (Photographer)

 

[Conhoon]

Soldiers from the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division, equipped with P14 and SMLE rifles, gather during Sniper training, England, 24 April, 1943.

Colour by Jake
Photo by Lieut. Dwight E. Dolan (L&AC PA-177141 MIKAN 3260082)

 

[Conhoon]

WW1 - An American ambulance evacuates the wounded in the French town Récourt-le-Creux, south of Verdun, on July 15, 1916. BDIC archives.

At the end of February 1916, AFS-American Field Service volunteers were called to treat the many wounded at the Battle of Verdun – one of the largest and bloodiest battles of World War I. During the 10 months of fighting that ensued between the French and Germans, they cared for an estimated 60 men using specially equipped Model-T Ford ambulances. These young Americans were witnesses to the carnage taking place on French soil.

 

[Conhoon]

Dakota Mark III, FD857 S, of No. 267 Squadron RAF based at Bari, Italy, flying along the Balkan coast line, 27th December 1944. Note the Squadron's "Pegasus" emblem painted on the nose.

On 19th August 1940, the squadron was reformed from Communication Unit, Heliopolis RAF as a transport squadron for operational duties in Egypt. In August 1942, operations extended to transport throughout the Mediterranean area and also undertook supply-dropping missions to resistance fighters in Italy and the Balkans, including 'Operation Wildhorn', the operation to bring back parts of a recovered V-2 rocket from Poland. The squadron moved to Italy in November 1943 and later to India in February 1945 during the Fourteenth Army's final offensive during the Burma campaign. The squadron disbanded on 30 June 1946, although continued operations until 21 July.
Photographer: F/Lt. L. H. Abbott.
Photo: WikiCommons Ref: CNA3328.
Minor Image Repair & Colourisation - Nathan Howland