Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts

[santana]

Panzergruppe Guderian ( white G ) in russia 1941

 

[Conhoon]

3 August 1944
'C' Squadron "Pat" Sherman M4A2 tank and infantry advance through Impruneta, Firenze, Italy.

(Photo source - © IWM NA 17567)
Johnson (Sergeant)
No. 2 Army Film & Photographic Unit

 

[Conhoon]

Polish ace Bolesław Michał Gładych in 1944.

Gładych is one of the leading Polish aces, ranking 5th with an official record of 14 confirmed victories, 2 probables, and one team damage. He was credited with three more victories in the USA (a total of 10 in American service), although these were not recognized by the Polish Bajan Commission . All of Bolesław Gładych's personal aircraft, which he flew from the moment he began flying in the British Isles, were marked with the penguin emblem with the inscription "Pengie" (the nickname of his girlfriend, a Canadian from the WAAF ). He encountered the famous German ace Georg-Peter Eder several times in the air, known for not attacking heavily damaged enemy aircraft.

 

[Conhoon]

A British Lance-Corporal tending to the grave of two unknown Austro-Hungarian soldiers on the Italian front, 1918.

Photo: Lieutenant Ernest Brooks
Colorized by: juliusbackman

 

[santana]

On June 14th 1945, Bob Lewis ferried a modified B-29 known only as Superfortress 44-86292 to the Utah base where the 509th Composite Group was training for its special assignment. Mission leader Paul W. Tibbets standing at far.

 

[santana]

Destroyed panthers Belgium 1945

 

[BravoZulu]

Army officers watch from their jeep as Curtiss Kittyhawk Mark IIIs of No. 112 Squadron RAF take off on a sortie at Foggia, Italy, 1943.

 

[Conhoon]

7 August 1916
Men of the Wiltshire Regiment advancing to the attack through the wire, Thiepval.

(Believed to be the 1st Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment, part of 7th Brigade, 25th Division)
"At the start of 1916 the 1st Battalion were in reserve at Papot. They remained here for three months when they went south spending three weeks near St Pol. After relieving the French at Vimy Ridge they spent two months engaged in trench warfare near La Targette. Unspectacular work but it still resulted in 82 casualties. In July the Battalion moved towards the Somme area. They did not take part in the attack on the 1st July but did go into action at Thiepval on the 4th. On the 22nd together with the 3rd Worcestershire Regiment they assaulted and captured the Lepzig Salient, including the Hindenburg trench. They withstood a number of counter attacks by the Prussian Guards all of which were beaten off. Other attacks followed together with more time spent in the trenches. In October they moved north and took up a position in the Ploegstreert where they were at the end of the year."
(Photo source - © IWM Q 1142)
Brooks, Ernest (Lieutenant) (Photographer)
Colourised by Doug

 

[BravoZulu]

Lead battleship of her class USS Colorado (BB-45) steams off lower Manhattan (New York City, USA), circa 1932

 

[Conhoon]

8 August 1918.
Diggers of the 29th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, Warfusee-Abancourt, enroute to Vauvillers, France.

Lieutenant Rupert Frederick Arding Downes MC addressing his Platoon from B Company, 29th Battalion, during a rest near the villages of Warfusee and Lamotte before the advance onto Harbonnieres, the battalion's second objective. The background is obscured by the smoke of heavy shellfire.
Pictured, left to right: 5085 Sergeant (Sgt) William Patrick O'Brien; 4271 Private (Pte) James Cryer; 4103 Pte Charles Alfred Olive; 677 Lance Corporal (L Cpl) Louis Price MM; 5095 Pte Harry James Phillips; 4733 Pte Horace Joseph Buckley; 509 L Cpl Alexander Bethuen Craven; 5088 Pte Patrick O'Grady; 5057 Pte Timothy Leyden; 5116 Pte Edward Thomlinson; 5014 Pte Herbert Davidson; 6827 Pte Horace John Towers; 4349 L Cpl Thomas John Barrett Pope; 2568 Pte John Leslie Gordon Arlow; 3207 L Cpl John Bird; 560 Pte Frederick George Hall (front of line); Lieutenant R. F. A. Downes MC (right).
Note: Sgt O'Brien, of Gordon, Vic, a schoolteacher in civilian life, was killed in action on 9 August 1918;
Pte Cryer was born at Bury, Lancashire, a farmer when he enlisted at Armidale, NSW, later transferring to the 32nd Battalion;
Pte Olive of Lara, Vic, initially rejected before enlisting in September 1916, was killed in action near Bellicourt on 30 September 1918;
L Cpl Price MM of Maryborough, Vic, an original member of B company, was awarded the Military Medal for bravery in Belgium in 1917, and later transferred to the 32nd Battalion; Pte Phillips, a packer in civilian life, the youngest in the platoon at nineteen years of age, was wounded on 29 August 1918, returning to Australia in December 1918;
Pte Buckley, a clerk of Kyneton, Vic, was wounded in action on 9 August 1918, later transferring to the 32nd Battalion where his frequent periods of absenteeism continued;
L Cpl Craven, a labourer of Ballarat, Vic, served three years with the battalion before transferring to the 32nd Battalion;
Pte O'Grady of Galway, Ireland was employed as a miller in Melbourne, Vic, before enlistment and he also transferred to the 32nd Battalion;
Pte Leyden of Trentham, Vic, a railway employee in civilian life, was gassed on 27 August 1918, transferring to the 5th Battalion on 22 November 1918;
Pte Thomlinson a driver of Stawell, Vic, the oldest member of the platoon at forty four years of age, was taken on strength with the battalion on 6 June 1918, later transferring to the 32nd Battalion, as did Pte Davidson, a leather worker of Brunswick, Vic;
Pte Towers a farm labourer of Cootamundra, NSW, later transferred to the 32nd Battalion, and was admitted to the Abbeville Hospital on 9 November 1918 suffering broncho-pneumonia where he died on 11 November 1918;
L Cpl Pope, born at Westbury-on-Tyne, Gloucestershire, a farmer of Sydney, NSW, was wounded in action on 30 September 1918;
Pte Arlow of Warrnambool, Vic, a blacksmith in civilian life, was killed in action near Bellicourt on 30 September 1918;
L Cpl Bird, a carpenter of South Melbourne, Vic, later transferred to the 32nd Battalion;
Pte Hall, an iron moulder of South Melbourne, Vic, an original member of B company, was wounded in action twice. Lieutenant Downes MC of Camden, NSW, was an orchardist prior to enlistment, sailed as a second lieutenant and was promoted to lieutenant in May 1917. He was awarded the Military Cross for "conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty" at Morlancourt in July 1918 and like most of his men was transferred to the 32nd Battalion with the reorganisation of battalions which took place in 1918.
(Photo source - AWM EO2790)
Colourised by Doug

 

[Conhoon]

9 August 1918
Battle of Amiens. Capture of the Chipilly Ridge by the 58th (London) Division. Royal Engineers and infantry of the Division in reserve, resting in a trench near Albert.

(IWM Q9190)
Colourised by Doug

 

[BravoZulu]

Infantry of the 5th Battalion, Coldstream Guards patrol through Arras, 1 September 1944.

 

[BravoZulu]

August 9, 1943
Administering blood plasma to Pvt. Roy W. Humphrey (from Toledo, Ohio) at the 7th Infantry Regiment (3d Infantry Division) Aid Station, Sant’Agata, Sicily, after he was wounded by shrapnel.
(Pvt. Humphrey died the next day, August 10, 1943, at the 93rd Evacuation Hospital in San Stefano, close to where the photo was taken.)

 

[santana]

The Battle of Castle Itter is one of the most extraordinary engagements of World War II, notable for being the only known instance where American and German troops fought side-by-side against the SS.

Major Josef Gangl was a German Army officer whose remarkable actions in the final days of World War II set him apart as one of the few Wehrmacht officers to actively fight against the SS in defence of civilians and political prisoners.

By early May 1945, Germany was on the brink of collapse. Gangl, formerly a career artillery officer in the Wehrmacht, had become increasingly disillusioned with the Nazi regime and its destructive policies.

As American forces approached the Austrian town of Wörgl, Gangl made contact with the U.S. Army, specifically with Captain John C. “Jack” Lee Jr., commander of a small tank unit in the 23rd Tank Battalion of the 12th Armored Division.

At this point, Gangl and a handful of German soldiers had defected from regular Wehrmacht service, aligning themselves with local Austrian resistance fighters. He proposed to assist the Americans in liberating Schloss Itter (Castle Itter)—a medieval fortress in the Austrian Tyrol that was being used by the SS to imprison high-profile French political prisoners.


On May 5, 1945, a combined force of about 10–14 American soldiers, Gangl’s small contingent of defected German soldiers, and Austrian resistance fighters launched a desperate defence of Castle Itter against a much larger Waffen- SS force still loyal to the regime.

During the fighting, Major Gangl was shot and killed by a sniper while trying to protect Paul Reynaud, the elderly former prime minister. Gangl’s sacrifice saved Reynaud’s life and allowed the defenders to hold out long enough for American reinforcements to arrive and repel the SS attackers.

The Battle of Castle Itter is one of the most extraordinary engagements of World War II, notable for being the only known instance where American and German troops fought side-by-side against the SS.

Major Josef Gangl was later honoured as a hero of the Austrian resistance, and a street in Wörgl was named after him.

 

[santana]

During the Battle of El Guettar, Tunisia, in April 1943, a U.S. Army combat engineer was seen placing several half-pound cans of TNT explosive under an abandoned German Tiger tank.

By placing explosives under the Tiger tank, the engineer ensured that it could not be recovered or used by the Axis forces.

 

[santana]

A US paratrooper from the American 17th Airborne Division shares a moment with a Churchill tank crewman from the 6th Guards Armoured Brigade near Dorsten in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on 29th March 1945.

As they pushed deeper into German territory, units like the 17th Airborne and the 6th Guards Armoured Brigade worked together in coordinated efforts to liberate towns and defeat Axis forces

 

[santana]

A German 8.8-cm-Flak gun, originally designed as an anti-aircraft weapon, was repurposed during North African campaigns as an anti-tank gun.

In this scene, the 8.8-cm-Flak is being operated by Italian troops

 

[santana]

On March 17, 1944, at Anzio, Italy, a group of German prisoners of war captured by American forces awaits transportation to a POW camp in the rear.

These soldiers were taken during the fierce Allied push in Italy.

Note the soldier wearing Italian Cammo suit.

 

[santana]

In May 1940, during the early stages of World War II, a Dutch soldier, a Wehrmacht infantryman, and a Luftwaffe Gefreiter shared a moment of camaraderie while smoking a cigarette next to the wreck of a German Ju 52 transport plane.

The Ju 52, a well-known German transport aircraft, was used extensively by the Luftwaffe during the invasion of the Netherlands

 

[Conhoon]

A squad from the Royal Bavarian Landwehr Infantry Regiment No. 6 with a Maschinengewehr 1908 (MG08).

Source: Property of Drakegoodman Collection
Colorized by: Aleksander Colouring