Friday, November 3, 2017

Color Photos of World War II

Roza Shanina Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com
Soviet sniper Roza Shanina circa 1944. 59 confirmed kills. KIA 28 January 1945.

As anyone who has browsed through a few pages of this blog realizes, it is a sea of black-and-white. Not just the text and the background, but the pictures are all like that, too. Yes, it can get a bit dull not seeing color, but the fact is that the vast majority of World War II pictures were taken using standard black-and-white film. That film had many advantages back in the 1940s, including the fact that it was about five times cheaper than color film and more readily obtainable.

Anyway, just to provide a splash of color, I have assembled some of my favorite color photographs of the war here. There is no theme to these pictures aside from their being color shots and taken during the World War II period. Some of them may be colorized, but, if so, whoever colorized them did an excellent job.

The biggest issue with color shots of World War II is trying to weed out the ones from later films and other recreations. For instance, there are many outstanding color shots of World War II aircraft that unfortunately derive from the 1969 "Battle of Britain" film. It was a great film and done with as much authentic equipment that they could find (in fact, they went to extreme lengths to get appropriate aircraft), but those are not authentic shots so I try not to use them.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these color (or colorized) photos from the war. This is the first page of a lengthy series on this site showing color or colorized photos of World War II.

You may find more color photos of World War II on page 1 and page 2 and page 3 and page 4 and page 5 and page 6 and page 7 and page 8 and page 9 and page 10 and page 11 and page 12 and page 13 and page 14 and page 15 and page 16 of this series.

Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com
This was taken in The Netherlands in 1940.

Republic P-43 Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com
Republic P-43 Lancer., used mainly for long-range, high-altitude photo recon missions.
Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com
General Heinz Guderian goes over strategy late in the war.

Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com

Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com

B-17 Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.

Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com

Bf-109 Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com
German Focke-Wulf FW-190 fighters nicely silhouetted against the horizon. 
Panzerfaust Hitler Youth Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com
A German boy wields a Panzerfaust (colorized).

Operation Hobgoblin Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com
During 1942, the Germans attempted to interdict traffic across Lake Ladoga to besieged Leningrad. If successful, Operation Hobgoblin might have had an effect on the outcome of the war. However, the German grasp on the shores of the lake was too tenuous to mount a serious presence. I believe those are Siebel ferries.

Operation Hobgoblin Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com
Another Operation Hobgoblin photo.

Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com

Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com
Spanish soldiers of the Blue Division (Division Azul). They were stationed south of Leningrad.

Churchill tank Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com
"Churchill tanks of A and B Squadrons, 43rd Battalion, Royal Tank Regiment, 33rd Brigade moving across rough terrain." ©IWM TR213.

Macchi MC.200 Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com
In Cyrenaica, Libya, Summer/Autumn 1941, East Sector’s Commander of 'Aeronautica della Libia', Generale di Brigata Aerea Ferdinando Raffaelli, prepares for life-off in a Macchi MC.200 of the Regia Aeronautica Italiana’s 373rd Squadriglia, 150th Gruppo Autonomo Caccia “Asso di Bastoni” (Ace of Clubs). Note Raffaelli's insignia of one red star over a light blue background on the fuselage.

Consolidated PBY Catalina Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com
 A Consolidated PBY 5 Catalina.
Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com
Three Estonian officers (Alfons Rebane, Harald Nugiseks, Harald Ripalu) on 25 December 1944.

Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com

Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com
A soldier holding a 88 mm shell.

Sherman Tank Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com
A Sherman tank of the 1st Armored Division in Italy.

Churchill tank Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com
Churchill tank of the 4th battalion Grenadier guards, 6th British guards armoured brigade (4th Battalion, Grenadier Guards, 6th Guards Armoured Brigade) with troops in the Saint-Pierre-Terenten (Saint-Pierre-Tarentaine).

Fiat G.50 Freccia Arrow Italian fighters Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com
 Fiat G.50 Freccia ("Arrow") Italian fighters.
Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com
Penal troops in the Wehrmacht.

Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com

Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com

Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com

Ski troops Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com

Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com

Pearl Harbor Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com
Pearl Harbor.

Pearl Harbor Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com
Pearl Harbor.

Flamethrower Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com

Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com

Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com
Danish soldiers of Freikorps Danmark.

Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com
Tanks during the Battle of the Bulge, 1944/45.

Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com
Punishment for collaboration, Montelimar, France, 1944 (colorized).

Color photos World War II worldwartwo.filminspector.com


2018

1 comment:

  1. The photo above that says "Bf 109" is wrong. The plane is a FW-190.
    by David J. Smith ([email protected])

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