Photos WW2 British & Commonwealth Forces

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An actual combat photograph of the 1st East Lancashire’s anti-tank platoon in action in S’Hertogensbosch, Netherlands, in October 1944. The platoon has exposed itself and its gun while the attention of a German tank, out of sight to the left, is distracted. The platoon has seconds in which to set up and get their gun into action before the tank can target them. The NCO in charge (2nd from right) was awarded the Military Medal for this action

 

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New Guinea Campaign. 7 January 1943. Supported by M3 Stuart light tanks, Australian infantry from the 2/12th Battalion attack Japanese pillboxes during the Battle of Buna–Gona.

 

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On the 12th May 1944, the Lancaster aircraft known as ‘Sugar’ of 467 Squadron at RAF Waddington became the first Lancaster to safely return from 100 operational sorties.
The Scolefield crew, who flew the aircraft, knew how lucky they had been having fought off the combined attacks of two Ju-88 night fighters on their return leg.
Out of the seven and a half thousand Lancasters built during the war, only 35 achieved this same feat. After going on to complete a total of 137 operational sorties and surviving the war, ‘Sugar’ now resides in the RAF Museum at Hendon.
Pictured below is the Scolefield crew (left) watching on from the scaffolding as Ted Willoughby, a junior member of Sugar’s groundcrew, adds the 100th bomb to her nose art.

 

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OTD in 1942, North Africa. The successes of the Special Air Service depended on a good and close cooperation with the Long Range Desert Group.

 

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Two Australian soldiers cool off in a stream after a patrol in the Wonginara area of New Guinea (in the Torricelli mountains inland from Dagua).
Signalman H Hobson pours a hatful of water over Private L Thwaites of 2/3 Australian Infantry Battalion.

 

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RAF Pilots Richard H. A. ‘Dickie’ Lee (L) and Albert Gerald Lewis (R) of No. 85 Squadron (VY) at RAF Debden in June 1940
‘Dickie’ Lee went Missing in Action in the English Channel on August 18, 1940 while chasing three Luftwaffe Bf109’s, he was 23 years old
Albert Lewis survived WW2 with 18 confirmed kills and passed away on December 14, 1982 at the age of 64
The second picture is Hurricane Mk I P2923 that ‘Dickie’ Lee was piloting when he went missing, it was built by Gloster Aircraft Co at Brockworth and delivered around January/February 1940

RAF Pilots Richard H. A. ‘Dickie’ Lee (L) and Albert Gerald Lewis (R) of No. 85 Squadron (VY) at RAF Debden in June 1940

Hurricane Mk I P2923 that ‘Dickie’ Lee was piloting when he went missing, it was built by Gloster Aircraft Co at Brockworth and delivered around January/February 1940

 

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"DESERT RATS" ON THE KAISER WILHELM CANAL.
Original wartime caption: Tanks of the 7th Armoured Division crossing the bridge over the Kaiser Wilhelm canal. 09-05-1945.
Creator: Sergeant Smith, No. 5 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit.
Source: © IWM BU 6131

 

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WWII. New Guinea Campaign. Battle of Buna–Gona. 25 December 1942. A wounded Australian Army Private Gearge C. 'Dick' Whittington, 2/10th Battalion, 7th Division, is led to a field hospital at Dobodura. The Papuan 'Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel' helping him is Raphael Oimbari. Private Whittington recovered from his wounds but sadly died of scrub typhus at Port Moresby on 12 February 1943. Photo by George Silk. [AWM 014028]

 

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WWII. North African Campaign. 21 July 1942. South African and Australian soldiers enjoy a game of cards in a gun pit. Photo by Sergeant Travis. [IWM E 14671]

 

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A directional sign improvised from a sheet of corrugated iron, two wooden posts...and a pair of sand-filled oil drums.
The name it bears..."El Alamein"...was the location of one of WW2's most pivotal battles, which occurred between October - November. It marked the turning point in the desert war when General Montgomery's Eighth Army forced Rommel's Afrika Korps into a long and irreversible retreat.
A number of German POWs can be seen in the photograph.

 

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American pilots of No 71 ‘Eagle’ Squadron rush to their Hurricanes at Kirton-in-Lindsey, 17 March 1941 (Imperial War Museum: CH 2401)

 

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1940, the signal goes out to begin a mass evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk. Over the next eight days, OperationDynamo will save 338,000 men.

 

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Sikhs of the 7th Indian Division at an observation post in the Ngakyeduak Pass area during the fierce fighting which followed the Japanese offensive launched on February 6, 1944.

 

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Two armourers of No. 440 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, trudge through the mud of an airfield near Eindhoven to re-arm a Hawker Typhoon fighter-bomber, 1944.

 

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Sergeant D Cameron, the pilot of Handley Page Halifax B Mark II, HR837 'NP-F', of No. 158 Squadron RAF, poses with two of his crew amidst the damage caused when it was hit by a falling bomb from another aircraft while raiding Cologne on the night of 28/29 June 1943. In spite of the severe damage to the fuselage, none of the crew were injured and Cameron managed to fly HR837 back to the Squadron's base at Lisset, Yorkshire. HR837 was repaired and flew a further 11 operations with the Squadron before being turned over to No. 1656 Heavy Conversion Unit.

 

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Borneo Campaign. Battle of Balikpapan. 2 July 1945. Australian Vickers machine gunners from the 2/1st Machine Gun Battalion, 7th Division, in action.

 

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6pdr portee in 1942, North Africa.

 

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Men of 'A' Company of the 5th Battalion, Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment advance along a road past an abandoned German 75mm anti-tank gun in the Rapido bridgehead, Italy, 16 May 1944.

 

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An ammunition carrier of the British 11th Armoured Division explodes after it is hit by a mortar round during Operation Epsom, 26 June 1944.

 

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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