Photos WW2 British & Commonwealth Forces

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Churchill tanks from 25 Tank Brigade supporting Canadian 1 Infantry Division, May 17, 1944, Italy.

 

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German gunner's view through the nose of a Heinkel He111 bomber of a Supermarine Stranraer flying boat in 1940.

 

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10 June 1940, tramway men pictured walking through Newtown, Sydney, to enlist in the Australian Infantry Force.

A total of 730,000 personnel enlisted in the Australian Army during the war, a figure which represented around 10 percent of the population. Nearly 400,000 men ultimately served overseas, with 40 percent of the total force serving in front line areas. As a proportion of its population, the Australian Army was ultimately one of the largest Allied armies during World War II.

 

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Labuan Island, Borneo - 13th June, 1945. Australian infantrymen who were wounded in the final mopping-up operation, receiving medical attention at a roadside clearing station on ambulance jeeps.

 

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Bristol Beaufort Mk. I (Serial No. N1030), coded N, No. 149 (Torpedo Bomber) Squadron, RCAF, on patrol over Patricia bay, British Columbia, 18th June 1943.

 

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June 13, 1944. Centaur IV tank with 95mm howitzer from Royal Marine Armoured Support Group.

 

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A Churchill Mark VII Crocodile flame-throwing tank developed under Major-General Percy Hobart and informally known as "Hobart's Funnies" on the move with the British 79th Armoured Division on 12th September 1944 during operations to take Brest following the Allied D-Day landings in France.

 

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6th Airborne Division glider troops pose with a local French girl on a motorcycle in Normandy - June 15, 1944

 

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Knocked-out Sherman tank in Lingèvres, Normandy - June 20, 1944

 

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Australian soldiers of he 24th Brigade, 9th Division get some well needed rest after shifting ammunition loads on Labuan Island, Borneo. June 1945

In April 1945 the 9th Division was transported to Morotai, which was being used as a staging area in preparation for the 7th and 9th Divisions amphibious operations on Borneo. As part of a series of landings, the 24th Brigade landed on "Brown Beach" on Labuan Island on 10 June. It took the 2/43rd and 2/28th 11 days to clear the island. With the Japanese falling back in British North Borneo, the 9th Division commander decided to clear the Klias Peninsula and then follow the railway from Weston to Papar. Crossing Brunei Bay in landing craft, the 2/32nd Battalion landed at Weston on 17 June. The 2/43rd and 2/11th Commando Squadron landed at Menumbok and Mempakul two days later.
A total of 389 Japanese personnel were killed on Labuan and 11 were captured. Australian casualties included 34 killed.

 

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Lance Corporal R. Hearn and Private F. Slater (nearest camera) of the 1st Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment aim their weapons in the ruins of Kervenheim, 3 March 1945.

 

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26 June 1944. Men of 12 Platoon, 'B' Company, 6th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers, 15th (Scottish) Division, take cover in Saint-Manvieu-Norrey in Calvados, during 'Operation Epsom'.

 

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Supermarine Seafire Mk. XV of 801 Squadron loses its undercarriage and auxiliary tank to the wire while attempting to land on HMS Implacable, 1945. you can see that the aircraft has carried through the crash barriers.

 

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Royal Navy Fairey Swordfish in elevator 2 of USS Wasp, at that time the USN carrier was transferring planes to the island of Malta in the Mediterranean. May 1942.

 

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General Bernard Montgomery salutes his troops from a DUKW in the streets of Reggio, 3 September 1943.

 

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Tankers pose with an intact German Panzer IV tank (Pz.Kpfw. IV) which they successfully recovered and brought back to the 27th Armoured Brigade workshops near Château de la Londe, Normandy - July 3, 1944

 

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Able Seaman Earl Jackson, Royal Canadian Navy Beach Commando “W”, at HMS Armadillo, a training establishment at Ardentinny, Scotland, February 1944.

 

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Men of the 26th Indian Infantry Division preparing a meal beside a temple on Ramree Island, Burma,January 1945.

 

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Fairey Swordfish IV's, No. 1 Naval Air Gunnery School, Royal Navy, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, 29 Sep 1944.

 

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Five Royal Navy Hawker Sea Hurricanes and a single Supermarine Seafire lined up in the hangar of HMS Argus (I49), with several mechanics working on them. The base of the lift is in the foreground. Note the space needed for aircraft with non-folding wings. A fifth Hurricane or possibly a Fulmar is in the very back of the hangar. 1942-44