La Segunda Guerra Mundial en Color

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French children surround a U.S. Army soldier as he lets them rummage through his rucksack for sweets following the U.S. victory of the Battle of Carentan and the liberation of the village from German forces. Carentan, Manche, Lower Normandy, France. 15 June 1944.

In the immediate aftermath of the landings, the priority for the Allies at Utah Beach was to link up with the main Allied landings further east, and this job was tasked to the 101st division, who had landed in the area and had been conducting raids against inland targets—mainly artillery emplacements helping secure and cut off the landings from such threats as well as reinforcements. On June 9, the 101st Airborne Division had reorganised sufficiently from the haphazard scattering of its component units and managed to cross the flooded Douve River valley exploiting their superior training and utilising the few causeways passing through the flooded fields, and they captured Carentan the next day after a dawn attack in the all-day hard fought house to house fighting in the Battle of Carentan, where the German troops fought from strong prepared positions amongst the stone houses of the town. The capture of the town gave the Allies a continuous front joining Omaha to Utah Beach and the other three lodgements to the east of Utah. Possession of the town was maintained despite a German armour reinforced counterattack just to the south-west of town on the 13th known as the Battle of Bloody Gulch.

(Colorised by Aurelijus Gančierius from Lithuania)

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Ensign Robert "Bob" T. King in his damaged TBM-3 'Avenger' White 113 of VT-82, USS Bennington (CV-20), 18th of February 1945.

(Standard early 1945 colours were blue overall with the Bennington 'Christmas tree', or arrowhead, repeated on the upper starboard wing, overlapping the aileron.)

This Avenger was subject to one of the most dramatic aircraft photos of World War 2.

A mid-air collision resulted in the loss of nearly half the port wing, in addition to a five foot section of fuselage decking immediately aft of the turret. Bob King skilfully retained control of his doomed TBM long enough to make a successful water landing.

On February 18,1945 his squadron was to attack shipping and waterfront installations at Chi Chi Jima in the China Sea. (240 kilometres/150 miles north of Iwo Jima).

As they were approaching the waterfront installations they came under heavy anti-aircraft fire. An Avenger in a flight above them got hit by the anti-aircraft fire and it's right wing was blown off, it went into a spin and crashed into Bob King's plane. The propeller took off about four feet of the left wing and damaged the fuselage. The first Avenger crashed into the sea with no known survivors.

Starting to lose control of his plane, Bob King ordered his crew to bail out. As he started to lose altitude he was able to regain some control of his plane and was able to make it back to the task force and made a water landing and was rescued.

His crew of (Gunner) Grady Alvan York and (Radio) James Wesley Dye landed safely but were captured by the Japanese and both executed in captivity, on the orders of Japanese Navy Captain Shizuo Yoshii, who in 1947 was tried as a war criminal on Guam, found guilty, hanged and buried in an unmarked grave.

(Colourised by Paul Reynolds)

 

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Lieutenant Robert Boscawen on the left with radiophones, commander of 2 Troop, 1st Battalion, Coldstream Guards, Guards Armoured Division, XXX Corps, in a Sherman Firefly IC Hybrid with a 17-pounder anti-tank gun as it's main armament,
Patrolling the river Muese at Namur in Belgium.
Monday, December 25, 1944

Note camouflage cloth on the hull, extra road wheels, and tracks on front hull and turret. The number "52" indicates the 1st Armoured Batt. Coldstream Guards. This tank, actually commanded by Sergeant Bastone (kneeling on right), and the rest of 1st Battalion cut off the German advance through the Ardennes to the Meuse. The IC Hybrid was an American-built late production M4 Sherman with a cast composite hull that mounted a specially designed 17-pounder 77mm (3 inch) anti-tank gun. Sherman Fireflies were the only Allied tank capable of penetrating the German Tiger and Panther panzers. As the situation on the Ardennes front grew critical on December 17-18, 1944, the 21st Army Group realised that the German offensive either targeted the port of Antwerp or Paris itself. Several divisions, including the Guards Armoured, were to reinforce XXX Corps. While scratch units of supply troops and light infantry were immediately rushed in from France, Holland and England on December the 17th to secure the bridges and the vast supply dumps along the Meuse, heavy mechanised formations arrived on December 19th. The 1st Battalion of the Coldstream Guards took up positions in Namur, one of the few remaining bridges. The masonry bridge had been blown by the retreating Germans in August 1944 and repaired by an American engineering unit with a Bailey Bridge.
Boscawen survived hits on four tanks that were burned out or "brewed" during the war. The fourth loss caused severe burns to him and his driver; the rest of the crew died. He was severely wounded and left disfigured, with burns to his face and body, when an enemy shell pierced his tank in April 1945 - the last month of the war.
He was evacuated to the pioneering plastic surgery unit at East Grinstead, West Sussex - known as the Guinea Pig Club - where he spent three years in and out of hospital recovering alongside Battle of Britain Spitfire pilots.

Robert "Bob" Thomas Boscawen, MC, PC (17 March 1923 - 28 December 2013) also served as an MP in the British Parliament until 1992.

(Colourised by Royston Leonard UK)

 

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The German city of Aachen, located near the Belgian border, was a pivotal battleground for American soldiers breaching the fortified Siegfried Line during the latter part of 1944.

The defenders of Aachen were made up of elements of the 3rd Panzer Division and a few Waffen SS. Kampfgruppen. The ancient city was hallowed ground for Germany, as the birthplace and site of the coronation of Charlemagne, Aachen was the home of the Holy Roman Empire. As the first major city on German soil to face invasion from the Allies, Hitler personally directed that Aachen be held — at all costs.

In the thickest of the fighting were the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, supported by the 745th Tank Battalion. They attacked from the southern suburbs, with the 30th Infantry Division moving into the city from the north. But resistance was fierce; in a matter of days the 30th Infantry Division sustained more than 2,000 casualties. Elements of the 29th Infantry Division had to be called in to help. When the last remaining defenders surrendered on October the 21st, the Germans had lost over 5,000 casualties and 5,600 prisoners. U.S. losses were put at 5,000 killed, wounded or missing.

In spite of more than 170 tons of bombs and nearly 10,000 rounds of artillery shells fired into the city, the City's great cathedral that housed the tomb of Emperor Charlemagne emerged intact.

(Colourised by Royston Leonard UK)

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German SS gunners (probably 1st SS-Pz.Div. LSSAH) man a 7.5cm le.IG 18 Light Infantry Gun (7,5-cm-leichtes Infanteriegeschütz 18, or 7,5 cm le.IG 18) during the Battle of Uman; the German and Axis allied encirclement of the 6th and 12th Soviet armies south of the city of Uman during the initial offensive operations of German Army Group South. Near Uman, Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine, Soviet Union. 18 August 1941.

(Colourised by Doug)

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A U.S. Navy Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless of bombing squadron VB-16 flies an antisubmarine patrol low over the battleship USS Washington (BB-56) en route to the invasion of the Gilbert Islands, 12 November 1943. The ship in the background is USS Lexington (CV-16), the aircraft's home carrier. Note the depth charge below the SBD.

USN VB-16 consisted of 36 Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless operating from the USS Lexington from September 1943 – June 1944. Starting in June 1943 the aircraft carried the new tri-color national insignia with a red surround with false gun ports painted on the wings leading edges. However in mid September 1943 the red surround slowly began to be replaced by Insignia Blue. In November 1943 the U.S. Marines began their assault on the Gilbert Islands and the SBD-5's of VB-16 took part with some still wearing the red surround.

(U.S. Navy photo 80-G-204897 - U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation photo No. 1996.253.680)
(Colorised by Tom Thounaojam)

 

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General Dwight D. Eisenhower meeting with men from Co. E, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment (Strike) 101st Airborne Division, just before they load up for the drop on Normandy, June 5, 1944. The majority of the men in this photo were killed or wounded in battle a few hours later.

They were designated in drop zone 'A' scheduled for jumping off at 00.48 hours 6/6/44. Although the 2nd Battalion 502nd PIR was dropped as a compact unit, it jumped on the wrong drop zone, while its commander, Lt Col. Steve A. Chappuis, came down virtually alone on the correct drop zone. Chappuis and this stick captured the coastal battery soon after assembling, and found that it had already been dismantled after an air raid.

The 502nd jumped into Normandy with 792 men. After six days of desperate fighting, only 129 were still standing and able to make the road march back to St. Come-du-Mount.

1st Lt. Wallace C. Strobel, centre, seen here talking to Eisenhower, wears a placard around his neck indicating he is the jumpmaster for chalk 23 of the 438 TCG (troop carrier group).
"The picture was taken at Greenham Common Airfield in England about 8:30 p.m. on June 5th 1944, my 22nd birthday. It was shortly before we were to leave the tented assembly area to which, for security reasons, we had been confined for about 5 days. We had darkened our faces and hands with burned cork, cocoa and cooking oil to be able to blend into the darkness and prevent reflection from the moon. We were all very well prepared emotionally for the operation ..........
...... within minutes of his visit we gathered our equipment and walked to our planes. I especially remember that as our plane took off at dusk and as I stood in the open doorway of the plane I could see a group of men watching and waving at the planes and I understood later that it was General Eisenhower and his staff. (Wallace C. Strobe 1922-1999).

(Colorised by Tom Thounaojam from Imphal in India)

 

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A Panzer II crew removing or replacing the small calibre barrel for cleaning purposes.
This is the Panzer-Abteilung z.b.V.40 unit in Raatevaara, Finland. 27th June 1941.
(Many thanks to Mikko Rautiainen and John Winner for all the technical facts.

 

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Three soldiers of the 29th US Infantry Division checking deserted buildings in Rue Saint Georges, Saint-Lô.
19th-20th July 1944.

(Colourised by Doug UK)

 

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SS-Unterscharführer Kurt Kleber in his Panzer VI "Tiger I" (Nº 232) of 1. SS-Pz. Korps "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler" (2. Kompanie der SS-Pz. Abt.101) France. June 1944.
(Colourised by Royston Leonard from the UK)

 

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Heinkel He 111H-6 (A1+HT)(WNr 4566) of 9./KG 53 at Gostkino, Leningrad Oblast, late 1942.
Kampfgeschwader 53 supported 'Fall Blau' and the German Sixth Army at the Battle of Stalingrad, and took part in the desperate resupply operation after the Russian counteroffensive had encircled the Sixth Army. Attacks were also carried out in northern Russia, against Leningrad.
(Colorised by Scott Spencer from America)

 

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B-17F-50-DL 42-3352 - 'Virgin's Delight', piloted by Lt. R E 'Dick' Le Pore of the 410th BS/94th BG and photographed by Capt. Roy D Miller, the BS Flight Surgeon.
96 B-17s successfully bombed the Focke Wulf 190 factory at Marienburg on the 9th October 1943, with a loss of two bombers.
'Virgins Delight' and eight of her ten-man crew were lost on the 29th November 1943 when it ditched into the North Sea off the coast of Germany.
(Colorised by Nils Hagemann and Ben Nightingale)

 

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P-47 Thunderbolt (U-07) 514th Fighter Squadron, 406th Fighter Group at the 'Advanced Landing Ground 6' near Utah Beach, Normandy, 21st June 1944 only a few days after the station opened.
(It appears to have crashed on take-off as the anti-personnel mines are still hanging under the wings, and the twisted blades show the engine was running)

 

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Sturmhaubitze 42 L/28 Ausf. G, Sturmgeschütz-Brigade 303 in Karelian Isthmus, Sth.Eastern Finland, August 1944

 

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A company of M3A1 Half Tracks of the US 4th Armored Division, passing through the liberated town of Avranches, Normandy. August 1944

 

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An MG.34 team, 5th Gebirgs Division and Stug III Ausf.C/D's - Near Leningrad, in the Volkhov region - Summer 1942

 

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A trainee tank driver at the controls of a 'Crusader' Mk.II tank of the 6th South African Armoured Division in the desert at Khataba, north west of Cairo, September 1943. (IWM E 4203E)

 

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StuG III of Sturmgeschütz-Brigade 394 in rue Saint-Michel à Lonlay L'Abbaye, Normandy, June 1944.

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Five Marines and one Navy corpsman raising the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima’s Mt. Suribachi on 23 February 1945 (Photographer Joe Rosenthal)

 

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Fallschirmjäger 'posing' with a Granatwerfer (8 cm GrW. 34) - Monte Cassino, 1944 (Bundesarchiv)