Photos WW2 British & Commonwealth Forces

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Soldiers of the 43rd Wessex Division seek shelter from German mortar attacks, 10 July 1944. Battle for Caen 6 June – 6 August 1944

 

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D-Day, Operation Neptune landed 156,000 Allied troops on 5 beaches in Normandy as part of the invasion of Europe under Operation Overlord. 6833 ships used including 5,300 warships and landing craft, 78% of which are British

 

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RAF aircraft drop paratroopers of the 6th Airborne Division over Ranville, Merville, Trouffeville and Troarn. Their aim is to take out the battery of Merville, capture Troarn to prevent the arrival of German reinforcements during the landings.

British 6th Airborne under the command of Major-Gal Richard Gale land near Ranville, the first liberated village on D-Day

 

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Dutch New Guinea. 12 April 1944. Gunner Jim Scott of Tamworth, NSW on patrol through the swamps. There are 60,000 square miles of swamps, much of which is kept under constant surveillance by Australian patrols.

I believe this is Gunner James Mackay Scott, NX40715 of 2/9th Field Artillery Regiment, discharged 8th Jan 1945. He was born 6th July 1922 however, he gave his DOB as 6th June 1920 on enlisting on 1st July 1940 as he was under 18. He survived and died 14th April 2009

 

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New Guinea Campaign. Battle of Sio. 10 February 1944. Private Keith Waller (left) receives a cigarette and light from PFC Archie Norman after the link up of the 30th Australian Infantry Battalion with US Army troops at Yuat River.

I believe this is WALLER, Keith N443667 of the 30th infantry battalion, enlisted at 18 on 28 Oct 1942 and discharged 02 Apr 1946

 

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Canadian infantrymen going ashore from the HMCS Prince Henry, June 6th, 1944

 

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Sherman tank of the Canadian Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment rolls through the outskirts of Caen, France (July 10, 1944)

Colourised by Mike Gepp

 

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Sherman DD tanks of 'B' Squadron, 13th/18th Royal Hussars support men of No. 4 Army Commando on the Rue de Riva- Bella in Ouistreham, 6 June 1944.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205021847

 

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Troops of British 6th Airborne troops with Horsa gliders as they prepare to fly out as part of the second drop on Normandy on the night of June 6, 1944
IWM - Malindine E G (Capt) Photographer

 

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A Canadian Soldier of the South Saskatchewan Regiment armed with a Bren gun. Belgium, September 1944.

 

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British armour rolling ashore along the Mulberry "B" floating roadway at Arromanches-les-Bains.
The British Mulberry was not as badly damaged by The Great Storm as the American Mulberry "A" along the coast and continued to function as intended throughout the Normandy campaign.
Surviving concrete caissons can still be seen offshore and on the beach at low tide even today.
Also, the D-Day museum has an excellent working scale model of the Mulberry "B" in action.

 

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Allied warships of Bombarding Force 'C', which supported the landings in the Omaha Beach area on June 6, 1944
The column is led by USS Texas BB-35 (left) with HMS Glasgow C21, USS Arkansas BB-33, FFS George Leygues and FFS Montcalm following
Picture taken from HMS Holmes K581
IWM - McNeill, M H A (Lt) Photographer

 

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HMS Argonaut, Dido class cruiser, fired 394 shells in support of the Normandy landings 6th June 1944, and over the course of following days 4395 in total.
She was stationed off Gold Beach for the initial landings, her Captain informed the crew that if the ship was seriously hit, he would drive her ashore, beach her and carry on fighting.
She did receive one hit, which passed through the Quarter Deck, then an officers cabin and out of the ships side just above the waterline. It was observed that this shell had actually come from a German tank. This would indicate how close Argonaut and other ships got into the shore
She was congratulated by General Miles Dempsey for her accurate Gunnery in support of operations around Caen.

Chief Petty Officer Percy Hancock member of the crew of HMS Argonaut.

 

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The rather dour face of Group-Captain James Stagg, the Scottish RAF meteorologist whose weather forecasts were instrumental in influencing "Ike" to make the decisions to first postpone D-Day...and then to give the order to "Go!"
Back then in 1944 the forecaster was reliant on pure weather observations provided by the RAF's No. 518 Weather Observation Squadron who flew long missions out over the Atlantic monitoring weather fronts and reporting back.
The data they provided was turned into the detailed charts which Stagg and his colleagues pored over and interpreted accordingly.
The rest...as they say...is history.

 

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Sherman V DD from 13/18 Hussars, pictured by Sgt Christie of 5AFPU, near Ranville, 10th June 1944.

 

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Allied soldiers look over a knocked out Panzer III in North Africa, 1942

 

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Bristol_Blenheims, 62 Squadron RAF, Singapore, Feb 1941

 

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June 12, 1944: A third and final wave of Allied forces lands on Normandy as the force that landed on D Day continued to fight through initial defences. There are now 326,000+ troops, 104,000 tons of supplies and 54k vehicles deployed as part of Operation Overlord.

 

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A Churchill tank of the 31st Armoured Brigade during Operation Epsom, France, June 1944.