The War in View #4

Regianne Re.2005 prototype.

 

Reggiane Re.2005 Sagittario. First flying in May 1942, with production examples entering service in May 1943, the Regianne Re.2005 was a single-seat Italian fighter. Powered by the  Daimler-Benz DB 605 engine, it suffered from a rear fuselage weakness which limited its true airspeed to 410mph to avoid flutter and potential failure of the structure.

Only 48 were delivered before the armistice, most of which were destroyed in combat or in bombing raids. Six were used by the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana (ANR) the air force of the German allied Italian Social Republic. Another thirteen were used by the Luftwaffe.

 

Dead Hitler Digs His Way To Hell. Axis Series No. 57. WWII humor card.

 

The battleship HMS Malaya entering drydock at Scapa Flow, 1943. This view gives a good view of how the foredeck is cut away to give the 6-inch battery firing angles forward.

 

Standing of the top ten fighter groups (USAAF).

 

 

 Rare soviet poster from 1941. Translation - "Glory to the heroes of the Patriotic War. Glory to Stalin’s falcons " By P.Vandishev and L.Torich.

The German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin undergoing modifications in the Spring of 1940. Workers have erected scaffolding around the bow of the German ship as they rebuild the carrier with an "Atlantic" bow. 

 An F4U-1D of VMF-114 taxis on Peleliu with a C-46 Commando in the background, September 1944. 

"Which of these two is the real Dutchman?" Recruiting poster produced by Germans in the occupied Netherlands, 1943. 

B-17 Flying Fortress "Maiden America" 43-38736 385BG is escorted on a mission by two P-51 Mustangs. The closest Mustang is P-51D 44-63195 G4-K "MARYMAE", pilot Lt. Richard "Rip" Potter, 362FS, 357FG.

Seria, Borneo, 12 July 1945. Two 25-pounder guns and members C Troop, 16 Battery, 2/8 Field Regiment, RAA, were brought to Seria from Badas by train. The small flat cars were made wider to take the guns. Shown, gun coming down off the platform.

An Archer 17-pdr self-propelled gun drives off a raft after being ferried across flooded countryside near Kranenburg in Germany, 23 February 1945.

Civil Defence rescue workers search for survivors under a huge pile of rubble and timbers following a V1 attack in the Highland Road and Lunham Road area of Upper Norwood, UK, as two policemen, a Civil Defence officer and a National Fire Service officer look on.  An ambulance of the American Ambulance Great Britain can be seen in the foreground.  The ambulance was "presented by the tenants and friends of the Garment Center Buildings, New York City".

Liberation of Amersfoort, Holland. British armored car after the capitulation viewed by still-armed German soldiers.

DUKW and Universal carriers of 5th Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 43rd Division, Holland, 18 September 1944.

A universal carrier crossing a temporary bridge in Moergestel, Holland, 26 October 1944.

Marine Private First Class Douglas Lightheart (right) cradles a .30 caliber machine gun in his lap.

American T28/T95 Super Heavy Tank.

105mm Howitzer Motor Carriage T19 (W-403610), “Cathy.”

T19 Howitzer Motor Carriage with trailer.

A line-up of T19 HMCs of the 9th Field Artillery at Newport News, Virginia, 20 October 1942. These units were part of Task Force A, en route to North Africa.

105mm Howitzer Motor Carriage T19.

Front view of 105mm Howitzer Motor Carriage T19.

Rear view of 105mm Howitzer Motor Carriage T19.

Light Tank T2.

Light Tank T2.

Light Tank T2 (Modified).

Light Tank T2E1.

June 1944, Juno Beach sector, France. Two French women place flowers on the grave of a Canadian Army soldier who was killed during the Allied D-Day landings of Normandy. He was later re-interred at Bény-sur-Mer.

Zhukov on a white horse in the Victory Day Parade 1945.

Red Army soldiers holding captured German regiment standards, 1945 Moscow Victory Parade.

Chinese armored train during the war with Japan, 1938.

Finnish tank crew in captured Soviet tank, July 8, 1941.

Finnish tank crews with captured Soviet tanks in Finnish service.

Finnish motorcycle and captured Soviet tank in Finnish service.

A parked bicycle, camouflaged. Ontrosenvaara, Finland, August 17, 1941.

A Finnish armored train.

Finnish propeller-driven snowmobile near Haapasaari, Finland. The swastika was used as the official national marking of the Finnish Air Force and Tank Corps between 1918 and 1945.

Armored train on display at the Parola Tank Museum in Finland.

Armored train on display at the Parola Tank Museum in Finland.

Armored train on display at the Parola Tank Museum in Finland.

A Finnish troop train passes through a scene of an earlier explosion which wrecked one train, tearing up the rails and embankment, on October 19, 1941.

With flak bursts exploding in their midst, B-17 bombers of the 69th Bomb Squadron head to their targets over Austria.

Two B-17 bombers fly over the snow-capped Italian Alps.

B-17G 44-6537 97 BG 341 BS dropping a load of fragmentation bombs over a target in Italy. Delivered Hunter 4/9/44; Grenier 22/9/44; Assigned 483BG Sterparone 9/10/44; Returned to the USA Bradley 25/7/45; Independence 27/7/45; Reconstruction Finance Corporation (sold for scrap metal in USA) Kingman 21/12/45.

The crew of the B-17 "Great Speckled Bird" poses in front of their damaged Number One engine, which caught fire during a mission over Austria. The pilot, Captain Clifford Foos, earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for returning the crew safely home.

U.S. Navy carrier planes fly in formation over USS Missouri (BB-63) during the surrender ceremonies, 2 September 1945. US Naval History and Heritage Command.

B-17 42-31330 / Dog Breath. Delivered Cheyenne 22/10/43; Walla Walla 9/11/43; Assigned 728BS/452BG [9Z-O] Deopham Green 3/1/44; return from mission 26/3/44 with Herman Beuchat, Co-pilot: Everett Phillips, Navigator: Capt Art Miller, Bombardier: Bob Davis, Bombardier: Lt Jack Miller (KIA-died in nav’s arms), rest unknown; Missing in Action Bordeaux 19/6/44 with Clark Graham, Co-pilot: Bob Jones, Navigator: Chas Weinberger, Bombardier: Herb Fletcher, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Wayne England, Radio Operator: Jim Warnick, Ball turret gunner: Bob Stittsworth, Waist gunner: Gordon Hansen, Waist gunner: Jesse Roberts,Tail gunner: Bill Holmes (10INT); flak hit in #1, the #2 failed, force landed Luceni, near Zaragoza, Spain. Missing Air Crew Report 5931. DOG BREATH.

Consolidated B-24 "The Ark".

Junkers Ju 90B-1 transport (J4+JH) of Lufttransportstaffel 290 under attack by a Martin B-26 Marauder, flown by Wing Commander WSG Maydwell, the Commanding Officer of No. 14 Squadron RAF flying from Tunisia, 23.7.43. The Ju 90 headed for shore at Bastia, the Marauder then breaking off to avoid Flak. The Ju 90 was hit by the Marauder and Flak. The pilot, Oberfeldwebel H H Boldt, ditched it in the sea, where it remains for the enjoyment of divers. Wg Cdr Maydwell’s crews had 3 confirmed kills, all large transports: this Ju 90, a Messerschmitt Me 323 Gigant and a Savoia Marchetti SM.82.

 Close up view of this Lancaster showing the nose-art and also bomb tally below the pilot's window. Like NN742, she flew only with 150 Sqn and was broken-up in May 1947. 

B-17G-45-BO 42-97175 Lady Satan.

B-17 42-97175 / Lady Satan. Delivered Cheyenne 5/2/44; Hunter 24/2/44; Presque Is 13/3/44; Slated 447BG, Assigned 728BS/452BG [9Z-C] Deopham Green 14/3/44; on Cologne mission Radio Operator: Alf Battaling (Killed in Action) 5/1/44; Missing in Action 85m Strasbourg 6/2/45 with Jim Bayless, Navigator: Harry Brodd, Bombardier: Sgt John YoungWounded in Action, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Ray Jarrill, Radio Operator: Hubert Salyer, Ball turret gunner: Dave Sullivan, Waist gunner: Alex Jacobs,Tail gunner: Carl Porterfield (8 Prisoner of War); Co-pilot: Harry McComb (Killed in Action); flak, crash landed Simmeral, 30 miles NW Kaiserlautern, Ger. Missing Air Crew Report 12240. LADY SATAN.

Eyewitness Statements: A/C # 175 was hit by flak over Wiesbaden, setting the #3 engine on fire. Shortly afterwards the engine fell off and the fire went out. Four chutes were seen from the A/C at 4952-0749 (Gee Fix) at 1248 hours and then the A/C, losing altitude in a glide, disappeared into the clouds still under control.

 SBD Dauntlesses of USS Enterprise on loan to the Cactus Air Force of Guadalcanal, September 1942.

313th Bomb Wing B-29 escorting unidentified 7th Fighter Command P-51 Mustangs from Iwo Jima to Japan.

With one wing gone, a B-29 falls in flames after a direct hit by enemy flak over Japan. [US Air Force photo]

Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring (left) and German Foreign Minister Baron Konstantin von Neurath chat during a state function.

Several German Ju-52 transport planes landed on Hartvig Lake, froze solid into the ice, and were abandoned. The Norwegians later captured the planes, which were eventually recovered by their original owners or destroyed.

German planes sit on the airfield at Fornebu, near the Norwegian capital of Oslo, in April 1940, as smoke from a British air raid rises in the background.

n April 10, 1940, German Junkers Ju-52 transport aircraft, laden with troops and supplies, fly above a Danish village. German aircraft losses were high during the invasion of Denmark and Norway.

Loire 210 floatplane fighter of the French naval air force. Conceived to operate from catapults, the type entered service in August 1939, one month before the outbreak of World War II. However, in the first weeks of service the type suffered wing structural failures and all units were grounded, never coming back.

The first operational Gloster Meteor squadron saw service in Europe in April 1945. Because the Luftwaffe was largely decimated by that time, the Meteor never had an opportunity to pit itself against German jet fighters and was used largely for ground attack.

Meteor being prepared for take-off at an airfield on the Continent.

Me 109 being tested in Japan.

Fairey Seafox floatplane.

This pattern of anti-aircraft fire provides a protective screen over Algiers at night. The photo, recording several moments of gunfire, shows a defense thrown up during an axis raid upon Algiers in North Africa on April 13, 1943.

Himmelbett fighter control stations at the end of 1942. The Himmelbett system provided expansive coverage but could easily be overwhelmed by a concentrated stream of enemy aircraft.

Boeing B-29 Superfortress serial number 42-63432 on 1 January 1944.

After being hit in a Japanese air raid, a B-29 Superfortress explodes in ball of fire, while crewmen of the U.S. air base try to fight the inferno on Saipan, Mariana Islands. December 12, 1944.

Boeing B-29 Superfortress being prepared for a mission to Tokyo. 1945.

A B-29 Superfortress rests on a dirt mound after it crash landed with two engines working at Iwo Jima, Japan during World War II. The U.S. Air Force plane was damaged in a raid over Tokyo. April 21, 1945.

A B-29 burns furiously after an emergency landing on Iwo Jima, Japan while returning from a raid on the Japanese Mainland. Army Air Forces caption says the plane was badly shot up on the raid but the fire resulted from damage to hydraulic systems which caused a locked brake and a crash upon landing. July 9, 1945.

U.S. soldiers at the Saipan airbase, in the Mariana Islands, watch as a B-29 Superfortress takes off for an air raid on the Japanese mainland. December 1944.

Dresden in ruins after Allied bombings, February 1945.

Beginning on the night of February 13, 1945, more than 1,200 heavy bombers dropped nearly 4,000 tons of high-explosive and incendiary bombs on Dresden in four successive raids.

The demolished city of Dresden.

In this British Official Photo, on the night of February 13 and the morning of February 14, 1945, Lancasters of RAF Bomber Command made two very heavy attacks on Dresden, Ger-many. Heavy bombers of the US 8th Air Force attacked this target the following day. The smoke from fires still burning drifted across Dresden on February 14, 1945.

The destruction of the city provoked unease in intellectual circles in Britain. According to historian Max Hastings, by February 1945, attacks upon German cities had become largely irrelevant to the outcome of the war and the name of Dresden resonated with cultured people all over Europe.

Children cleaning up the ruined city of Dresden.

Women cleaning up the destroyed city of Dresden.

The destruction of Dresden was appalling.

The attack had been prompted by Dresden’s position as a significant hub for both transport and industry.

More than half of that bombing’s mass were explosives, wrecking Dresden’s buildings.

The explosive force created a firestorm in Dresden, at a temperature above 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

Even at the time, the attack was questioned by Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Great Britain at the time. As he put it, “The destruction of Dresden remains a serious query against the conduct of Allied bombing.”

A pile of bodies awaits cremation after the firebombing of Dresden, February 1945.

A pile of bodies being cremated after the firebombing of Dresden, February 1945.

A mother and her children burned to death during the bombing of Dresden.

American soldiers cling to a small hill, protecting themselves from enemy fire outside Brest.

German parachute troops occupy a dugout in the French hedgerows in the presence of a dead American soldier.

Multiple craters surrounding this French fort outside Brest.

Red Cross markers denote this US hospital evacuation center in France. 

Soldiers of the 8th Infantry advance through the French town of Brehal on their way to Avranches.

A Marine corporal relaxes on Guam in 1944.

On June 9, 1944, Bushmasters establish communications lines along the banks of Wakde’s Trifoam River.

Moving cautiously through a devastated grove of palm trees, American soldiers steadily force the defending Japanese into a narrow perimeter on Wakde.

Shirtless crewmen fire 81mm mortar shells at well-defended Japanese positions on Hill 225. The strategically important hill sat adjacent to Maffin Airstrip on Wakde Island.

Soldiers of the 158th Regimental Combat Team, nicknamed the Bushmasters, advance up a road carved out of the Wakde Island jungle on June 9, 1944.

Under heavy Japanese fire, American soldiers seek safety behind a jumble of fallen trees and brush on the island of Wakde, May 17, 1944.

In Evacuation Under Fire by Franklin Boggs, members of the 158th RCT carry their wounded to an aid station after a fierce battle with Japanese troops in the rugged New Guinea terrain.