Germans on Donkeys

Gebirgsjägern in Bulgaria, 1941, riding donkeys.

Salute the Soldier

A New Zealand poster used during World War II.

Mortar Fire

Members of the Co. D, 37th Infantry Regt., 9th Division, prepare to fire their mortar from newly captured ground in Germany.

Battle Planning

British Lieutenant General Oliver Leese and General Henry Wilson, Mignano Monte Lungo, Italy, April 30, 1944 (Imperial War Museum).

Zero

Mitsubishi A6M-3 type22 Zero, "zeke", JNAF 251 Kokutai (tail code UI 105) flown by japanese ace Hiroyoshi Nishizawa known as the "red devil of rabaul" by the alies.Seen here flying over the Solomon islands in 1943.  Colorization by Doug Banks.

My Honor

An SS propaganda poster that translates to "My Honor".

Gebirgsjäger

German Gebirgsjäger.

Sweetheart Grips

During WWII, soldiers were known to take precious family photos (and Pinup Girl photos) and put them under clear grips on their 1911 pistols - called Sweetheart Grips. Many of the grips were made from pieces of broken plastic windows from bombers.

Armored Column

From World War II Pictures in Detail...

"Blurred but interesting shot of 6. Panzer-Division's second echelon passing through the supply convoys of the first echelon - the large number of vehicles visible in this photograph is the reminder of the enormous logistic 'tail' necessary to keep an armoured division moving. The Panzerkampfwagen 35(t) on the right carries air recognition flag draped over the crew bedrolls on the rear deck. Note wooden stakes marking the edges of the rollbahn!"

Photo taken in Vyazma, Smolensk Oblast, Soviet Union, October, 1941.

American War Dads Canteen

A color postcard of the War Dads Canteen in Springfield, Missouri.

War Dads’ Canteen, at the Frisco railroad station in Springfield, Missouri. The War Dads of Springfield were very active in supporting the morale of the patients at O’Reilly hopsital; for example, in 1945, they paid all expenses for 65 mothers to visit their sons at the hospital. February 21, 1944.

Source

Soviet Fighter Pilot

Sergey Mikhalkov, a Soviet fighter pilot during World War II.  Colorized by Za Rodinu.

Engine Swap

ME-109 engine swap, Kresna Pass, Bulgaria. 1941.

Chow Time

An American soldier on a meal break during the drive towards Rome, 1944.

Supreme Command

Walter Model visiting the Supreme Command of the Hungarian 1st Army.

Ju 188

A captured German Junkers Ju 188, Italy, 1944-45.

German Red Cross

A World War II poster that reads: "Donate to the War Relief of the German Red Cross".

Volleyball

South African pilots play volleyball in Tunisia, 1943.

Source:  IWM

The Casualties are Coming

View of military ambulances lined up on shore at Guam, awaiting the arrival of the USS Solace with casualties from Okinawa, June, 1945. 

Young Soviet Soldier

A young Soviet soldier carrying an MG 34.  Colorization by Doug Banks.

Gebirgsjäger

A Gebirgsjäger cleans his rifle. Most likely during the Battle of the Caucasus, late 1942.

Dead Man Walking

Luftwaffe troops securing areas recently overran by Soviet troops at Stalingrad, suburb of Minina, September 19, 1942. The man in the foreground, Oberleutnant der Reserve Helmut Wilhelm Schnatz, Chef of 3.Batterie/Flak-Regiment 25, would die later that same day. Possibly the last photograph of him.

B Company

Infantry men of "B" company, 44th armored infantry battalion, 6th division, cross the street pass the body of PFC Robert Vardy Wayne, who was just been shot by a sniper, age 19, 1945, in Germany. Colorized by Sanna Dullaway.

Poker Game

During Pacific operations, crewmen relax by playing a game of poker in the cramped quarters of the USS New Mexico.

Execution

A German soldier finishes off Serbian civilians executed at random in Pancevo, north of Belgrade, Serbia, on April 22, 1941. The executions were filmed in color by Gottfried Kessel of the propaganda company of the Gross Deutschland Regiment.

Motorcycle Messenger

A German motorcycle messenger wearing his rain gear, to keep dirt and dust off his uniform.

African-American Marines

March 10, 1945: U.S. troops in the Pacific islands continued to find enemy holdouts long after the main Japanese forces had either surrendered or disappeared. Guam was considered cleared by August 12, 1944, but parts of the island were still dangerous half a year later. Here, patrolling Marines pass a dead Japanese sniper. These Marines may belong to the Fifty-second Defense Battalion, one of two black units sent to the Pacific.

Polish POWs

Polish soldiers captured by Germans during the invasion of Poland,September,1939.

Indian Infantry

An Indian infantry section of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Rajput Regiment, 4th Indian Infantry Brigade, 26th Indian Infantry Division about to go on patrol on the Arakan front, Burma. May, 1944.  Colorization by Doug Banks.

Home Guard

A Kodachrome color photograph of Howard Crane wearing a Home Guard uniform and carrying a Tommy gun, taken by JCA Redhead (1886-1954) during World War Two. Crane is photographed wearing the uniform of a corporal in the Home Guard. Established in 1940 to protect Britain from invasion, they were 1.8 million strong by March 1943. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images).

War Mule

An American soldier attends to a mule while the animals were being loaded onto LST boats in preparation for the invasion of Italy, 1944.

Field Marshals

Marshal Erwin Rommel & Marshal of Italy, Ettore Bastico.

Gigant

A Marder II being loaded onto a Messerschmitt Gigant.

Keep That Lumber Coming

An American poster, from the home front.

A Toast

An American version of a sidewalk cafe, in fallen La Haye du Puits, France on July 15, 1944, as Robert McCurty, left, from Newark, New Jersey, Sgt. Harold Smith, of Brush Creek, Tennessee, and Sgt. Richard Bennett, from Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, raise their glasses in a toast.

Pagoda Hill

British soldiers look down from Pagoda Hill on the battle raging below for possession of Fort Dufferin, Burma, 1945. 

Scouts

Kübelwagen scout car in southern Russia, 1941-1943.

On the Normandy Coast

Canadian soldiers on a DUKW craft on the Normandy coast,  June, 1944.

Medics of the 100th Infantry Battalion

Medics of the 100th Infantry Battalion, composed of Japanese-Americans, use a jeep as an ambulance vehicle during fighting in Italy.

Assault Column

German Sturmgeschütz (assault gun) column in Russia.  Colorization by Lex.

Mass

Sixth German army soldiers celebrating mass, summer 1942.

Mortar Crew

A mortar crew fires at a Japanese position on Bouganville Island. April. 1944.

A View from a German Bunker

The view from inside a German bunker at Utah Beach.

Soviet Sniper

A Soviet sniper in Stalingrad, 1942.  Colorization by Za Roadinu.

8th Weather Squadron

The shoulder patch from the United States Air Force's 8th Weather Squadron, active during World War II.

Gone Fishing

American crewmen fish from on board an LCI, during a training exercise in the Pacific, at sea, 1944. The ship's cook, W.H. Porter, holds the ship's mascot dog, Trixie. 

Afrika Korps

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel standing beside members of his Afrika Korps, N. Africa. Date taken: 1942.

Marine Corps Ace

Second Lieutenant Stuart C Alley Jr. of VMF-323 ‘Death Rattlers’, Okinawa 1945. Alley was a Marine Corps fighter Ace with 5 confirmed kills.

K-Rat Crate

An example of the crates used to deliver K-rations to American soldiers.