Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

[Fluff]

A seasoned German soldier displaying the tools of trade of the specially trained ‘Sturmtruppen’. Late WWI period.

View attachment 280256
In his hands and belt he carries M1917 Stielhandgranate, together with a M1911 wire cutters. He is wearing a M16 steel helmet and trousers with leather reinforced knees. Quite interestingly, he used some wire to attach a branch of a needle-leaved tree to camouflage himself. As typical for assault troops, the rifle (Kar98) was carried on the back as they relied on grenades and small arms to break through the enemy’s defenses.
At his feet lies a 'Geballte Ladung' (concentrated charge). The 'Geballte Ladung' consisted of a normal stick grenade which was complemented with 6 to 9 grenade heads. The additional charges were fixed to the central stick with wire and were fitted with detonators using small slivers of wood. A rarely seen device in WWI photos.
Text adapted from the original by S. Wouters
Original: Unused postcard property of S. Wouters Collection

You wouldnt want to meet him when you just nipped out of the trench for a dump in the night!

 

[Conhoon]

You wouldnt want to meet him when you just nipped out of the trench for a dump in the night!

Nobody would.

 

[Conhoon]

Maschinengewehr 08 anti-aircraft position being manned by members of a Garde-Korps regiment.

The Maschinengewehr 08, or simply MG08 made an excellent light anti-aircraft weapon that fire at a rate of up to 400 rounds per minute using 250-round fabric belts of 7.9mm ammunition.
(Photo source - 'Drakegoodman')
Color: Christiane Wittel

 

[Conhoon]

WW1 - Italian sniper with Carcano M.91 and Alpini soldiers.

The Carcano Mod. 91 (also known as Mannlicher-Carcano-Parravicino) was a slide-and-swivel bolt action rifle adopted by the Italian Royal Army from 1891 to 1945.
Adopted to replace the Vetterli-Vitali Mod. 1870/87, it was the service weapon of the Italian army until the end of the Second World War, and used a small caliber of 6.5 × 52 mm Mannlicher-Carcano.

 

[NebrHogger]

Found a small photoset from WW1 - mostly from the German perspective.

German trench

Remains of a village in the Marne area

German cemetery

German position near Champagne

There was no caption for this one

Another German trench

MG position. MG appears to have an optic sight

A scene from the Vosges front

Ruins of a French church

Mt. Hartsmanweiler 1916

Verdun village

I'm not sure where this is - possibly the Verdun region

 

[Conhoon]

Pic of four soldiers of the Territorial RAMC, West Yorks.
Top right could be Pte. Joshua Riley (Regt. Nº 230) from Leeds, West Yorkshire. Born 31/12/1893 - died 1972

Photographed by Louis and Antoinette Thuillier
Original Image courtesy of Ross Coulthart, author of ‘The Lost Tommies’ & The Kerry Stokes Collection - Louis & Antoinette Thuillier Images.
Colourised by Doug

 

[Conhoon]

The Polish Navy destroyer ORP Burza in the port of Stockholm, 1932

 

[Conhoon]

Soviet sniper team, WW2

Colour by Olga Shirnina (Klimbim)

 

[AudieM249]

Yokosuka D4Y3 Type 33 Judy in a suicide dive against the USS Essex 11-25-44 12-56

An assault party led by Lt. Alexander Bonnyman (fourth from right) storms a Japanese stronghold on Tarawa. Lt. Bonnyman was killed in the attack but later received the Medal of Honor for the part he played in taking the vital position. November 23, 1943
Better black and white photo

Ulithi Atoll and the Pacific Fleet of the United States Navy 1944 - 1945

 

[Conhoon]

Legionnaire Luis Osorio Moreno, the Duke of Montemar. He was the standard bearer of the Second Bandera (Battalion) of the Tercio de Extranjeros, the Spanish Foreign Legion. Osorio enlisted in the Legion as a private, rejecting any privileges associated with his noble title, and eventually attained the rank of warrant officer.
Photo taken in the Tauima Position, northern Morocco (1921).

 

[Conhoon]

On the 23rd of February 1942, the majority of the Australian detachment sent to defend Dutch Timor (codenamed Sparrow Force) surrendered to the attacking Japanese forces. Arriving in Timor on the 12th of December 1941, the 1400 strong detachment was primarily drawn from the 2/40th Infantry Battalion from Tasmania and the 2/2nd Independent Company.

Similar to its counterpart ‘Gull Force’ in Ambon, the force sent to Timor was deemed to be inadequately manned and supplied to provide a proper defence against the numerically superior Japanese. This became apparent following the initial attack on Timor on the 19th of February 1942,involving amphibious troops and paratroopers on the same day Darwin was bombed for the first time.
Sparrow Force fought hard but were hampered by a lack of effective communications and also significantly outnumbered. Despite this, they successfully recaptured he villages of Babau and Usau from the Japanese, and inflicted at least 600 Japanese casualties in three days of fighting.
Despite the Australian tenacity, their situation was rapidly becoming untenable. On the morning of 23 February 1942, the main body of Sparrow Force was at Airkom, preparing to move towards Champlong, when a Japanese convoy came up to the rear of the force. The Japanese commander said that if there was no surrender by 10 a.m., the Australians would be bombed continuously. Sparrow Force surrendered before that time, however, Australian and Japanese troops were bombed by Japanese aircraft in two attacks after the surrender. More Australian troops surrendered or were captured after the main surrender at Airkom, some after a considerable period, with approximately 1100 Australians of Sparrow Force in total becoming prisoners.
Over 200 Australians in Dutch Timor, including the force commander Brigadier Veale, avoided capture and reached Portuguese Timor, where the 2/2nd Independent company was still operational. The 2/2nd continued to fight the Japanese on Timor in a widespread guerrilla campaign until the unit was withdrawn at the end of 1942.
Sparrow Force personnel were initially held in captivity on Dutch Timor, until later in 1942 when they were moved to Java. While some men spent the rest of the war on Java, the majority were moved onto a number of locations as POWs, including Sumatra, Singapore, Thailand and Japan. Approximately 340 members of Sparrow Force did not survive the war, including deaths in action and captivity.
Today we pause to pay our respects to the brave men of Sparrow Force.
Lest we forget.
Note: Image colourised by AI

 

[NebrHogger]

A small photoset this time.


US Navy?

Imperial Russian troops

I'd sure like to have a closer look at those swords!

Elvis Presley with his father and grandmother 1959. Doesn't actually fit in here, but I'll never be able to find it again.

Giving bullet proof vests the iron test.

 

[BravoZulu]

HMS Hood and HMS Resolution with the Admiral Graf Spee in 1937 for the coronation of King George VI

 

[BravoZulu]

Ironclad ram Kōtetsu in Yokosuka, Japan, 1878 - Built by the French as Sphinx, sold to the confederates through Denmark as CSS Stonewall, confiscated by the Union, and then finally sold to Japan in 1867

 

[BravoZulu]

US Paratrooper Harry Hudec (1922-2007) of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment 82nd Airborne Division. He is wearing a captured German canvas MP40 machine pistol magazine pouch for use with his M1A1 Thompson magazines. c.1944

 

[BravoZulu]

German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, during sea trials in the Baltic Sea, October 1940. The pink colour is actually a light shade of red in reality, used for identification to friendly aircraft

The photograph is original colour taken on Agfacolor film, not a colorization.

 

[BravoZulu]

Landing craft carrying US Marines to Iwo Jima, February 19th, 1945

 

[Conhoon]

Party like it's 1916.
A group of quite intoxicated German officers during a birthday party for a ‘Leutnant Stobwasser’, Hohensalza (today Inowrocław, Poland),14 October 1916.

In attendance we have officers of I.R. 140, in no particular order:
-Ltn. Kurt Le Fèvre (MIA 08/08/1918, first day of the 2nd battle of Arras) (while serving Gren-Rgt 11) (From Wilmersdorf, Berlin)
-Ltn Pfaul
-Ltn.d.R Hans Weißenstein (Lightly Wounded 14/06/1916) (From Nordhausen, Erfurt)
-Ltn Hartmann
-Ltn Stobwasser (the birthday boy)
-Ltn Hug
-Ltn Karn
-Ltn Werner
+ at least 2 unknown Ltns from IR 31
Color by Julius Jääskeläinen colorizations

 

[Connaught Ranger]

Party like it's 1916.
A group of quite intoxicated German officers during a birthday party for a ‘Leutnant Stobwasser’, Hohensalza (today Inowrocław, Poland),14 October 1916.

View attachment 283356
In attendance we have officers of I.R. 140, in no particular order:
-Ltn. Kurt Le Fèvre (MIA 08/08/1918, first day of the 2nd battle of Arras) (while serving Gren-Rgt 11) (From Wilmersdorf, Berlin)
-Ltn Pfaul
-Ltn.d.R Hans Weißenstein (Lightly Wounded 14/06/1916) (From Nordhausen, Erfurt)
-Ltn Hartmann
-Ltn Stobwasser (the birthday boy)
-Ltn Hug
-Ltn Karn
-Ltn Werner
+ at least 2 unknown Ltns from IR 31
Color by Julius Jääskeläinen colorizations

At least 6 Iron Cross Model 1914, II Class winners in the group.

 

[BravoZulu]

Despite her injuries, she is proud and smiling. Julita Cyrus Sobolewska ps. "Lidka", a 21-year-old liaison officer during the Warsaw Uprising.
The photo was taken shortly after a shell hit the tenement house at ul. Świętokrzyska.
Julita survived the war and died in 1993.