Photos WW2 British & Commonwealth Forces

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Warships of the British Mediterranean Fleet bombarded Fort Cupuzzo at Bardia, Libya, on 21 June 1940. On board one of the battleships was an official photographer who recorded pictures during the bombardment. Anti-aircraft pom-pom guns stand ready for action.

 

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80 Years ago in 1941 The Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) was formed after more than a year of lobbying by women keen to serve and help the war effort.
From just 19 airwomen, the WAAAF would grow to 18,667. Airwomen of the WAAAF worked in 73 different musterings (trades) across the organisation, including highly skilled technical employment on aircraft. The women became truck drivers, signallers, electricians and anti-gas instructors; others were armament workers, electricians, fitters, flight mechanics, fabric workers, instrument makers and meteorological assistants as well as working in clerical, medical, transport, catering, equipment, cypher, signals and radar roles.
With the end of the Second World War, the WAAAF was progressively disbanded. Between March 1941 and July 1947, approximately 27, 000 women saw service. The WAAAF was the largest of the Second World War women's services.

 

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Unidentified personnel of the Canadian Armoured Corps (C.A.C.) using wireless signal information to plot enemy movements in the Normandy beachhead, France, 6 June 1944.
Photographer: Ken Bell

 

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In the English countryside, a woman paints stripes on her cow to increase its visibility at night and prevent car accidents should it wander onto the road during blackout conditions.
The year is 1940.

 

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A Humber Scout Car passes along a column of German POW'S.

 

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Men from the 6th Scots Royal Fusiliers... 15th (Scottish) Division, moving through a French village during Operation Epsom, June 26, 1944.

 

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A British Cromwell tank raises a cloud of dust as it advances through a village in Normandy. 14 August 1944.

 

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Danger...UXB!
Men of the RAF's Disarmament Wing prepare to detonate a stock of unused Luftwaffe bombs, occupied Germany, July 1945.
(IWM)

 

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Seasonal re-cycling.
Before the war, Germany's toymakers enjoyed a reputation for the quality of their "tinplate" toys...even today original examples are highly collectible and sought after.
Fast forward to late 1945 after the German surrender.
This former Luftwaffe airman is salvaging some duralumin from the wing of a wrecked Bf 109 in order to make some "tinplate" type toys to earn himself a little money by selling them at Christmas-time to the Allied occupation forces.
Location Detmold, Germany.
(IWM)

 

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The net closes!
Men of 'A' Company, 1st Battalion, The Cheshire Regiment enter the 'Sportschule' in Mürwik, a few miles from Flensburg, in which members of the German Government were sheltering, 23 May 1945.
Twelve 'Grade 1' prisoners were taken including Generaloberst Jodl, seen here on the steps shortly after his capture.
Generaloberst Jodl served as the Chief of the Operations Staff of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, (OKW) the German Armed Forces High Command, throughout World War II.
He was one of Hitler's principal lackeys.
He was charged with war crimes, tried at Nuremberg and found guilty on all counts.
He was subsequently sentenced to death and executed in October 1946.
(IWM)

 

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Banned pictures reveal the Christmas charity performance by home defence troops in Gravesend, Kent which was interrupted by a coastal alert forcing the troops to wear dresses in the field with their compulsory helmets. The six men show off stockings under petticoats and long taffetta dresses complete with bonnets.
The set of photographs, taken by John Topham while working in RAF intelligence, was censored by the British Ministry of Information. (c) Daily Mail

 

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This road-sign was put up by Canadian MPs at s'Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands.
It applied to drivers of all BLA vehicles (British Liberation Army)
January 1945.
(IWM)

 

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An instant collection!
Lance-Corporal J. Ware of the RASC shows his collection of newly acquired Nazi medals to his mate, Driver R. Rose.
L/C Ware found the medals whilst exploring the ruins of the Reichskanzlei in Berlin, June 1945.
The medal he is showing Driver Rose is the "Mutterehrenkreuz" which was awarded to mothers who had demonstrated exemplary motherhood and had produced four or more aryan children for the Reich.
No doubt such medals would be highly collectable and quite valuable today.
(IWM)

 

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WWII. Operation Veritable. Germany. February 1945. Soldiers of the 5/7th Gordon Highlanders in the Reichswald forest.

 

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As signage goes, this one in the Anzio area was pretty unique.
A great number of Sprengbombe Dickwandig 2kg anti-personnel devices...ie "butterfly bombs"...had been dropped by the Luftwaffe on the bridgehead.
This prompted CSM Plunkett to erect this sign in his Company's area to which he attached an actual "butterfly bomb"...inert of course...in order to warn his men and to save lives and prevent injuries.
March 1944.
(IWM)

 

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An instant collection!
Lance-Corporal J. Ware of the RASC shows his collection of newly acquired Nazi medals to his mate, Driver R. Rose.
L/C Ware found the medals whilst exploring the ruins of the Reichskanzlei in Berlin, June 1945.
The medal he is showing Driver Rose is the "Mutterehrenkreuz" which was awarded to mothers who had demonstrated exemplary motherhood and had produced four or more aryan children for the Reich.
No doubt such medals would be highly collectable and quite valuable today.
(IWM)

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Soldier on the right sports -

Iron Cross II Class around the neck in imitation of a Knights Cross of the Iron cross,
Right breast upper Silver or gold wound badge, below that a Third Reich Fire Brigade Cross I Class.

On his left breast are 4 Civil Service Crosses either I or II Class, The Return of Memel Commemorative Medal
and the 1 October 1938 Commemorative Medal for the return of the Sudetenland.

Above the belt buckle is a War merit Cross I Class.

Worth about 1,200 Euro today if wanted for a collection.

 

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A wounded Māori soldier is helped ashore at Alexandria in Egypt after being evacuated from Crete. June 1941.

 

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At Vaenga airfield near Murmansk, Hurricanes of No.151 Wing RAF on a muddy terrain. One of only three Western Allied units to fight in the USSR during WWII.
The year is 1941.

 

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In The Netherlands, a Canadian soldier wearing Dutch Klompen (wooden shoes) received some good news from home.
Letters from home have always kept enlisted men going.
The year is 1945.