WWII History comes alive when following stunning black and white photographs from Operation Overlord, Normandy 1944, are colorized and depict the true colors of Happiness, Horror and Fatigue of the Second World War.
The following featured photographs, colorized by Dave Ford, Doug Banks, Gisele Nash, Jordan Lloyd, Paul Kerestes, Paul Reynolds and Royston Leonard, capture in vivid detail the Allied Troops on the battlefields of World War II. Their photos are also featured among the hundreds of colored photos on the WW1 Colourised Photos, WW2 Colourised Photos and Colourized Pictures of the world war and other time periods.
Editor’s note: Photos and photo captions are courtesy of artists’ Facebook pages, but may be edited for brevity. Photos featured are from Defense of Department (includes U.S. Navy, Marines, Army, Coast Guard and Air Force) and military service pages, Imperial War Museum, National Archives, Library of Congress, newspapers or donated by third parties. Permission was granted to feature the colorized photographs on Argunners Magazine.
‘Mission Albany’ –Â Taking off just after midnight 6th June 1944 over 2000 airborne troops would spearhead the D-Day landings by dropping behind enemy lines 5hrs before the first troops got their boots wet on the Normandy beaches. (Colorized by Paul Reynolds)
The Final Embarkation: Four ‘stick’ commanders of 22nd Independent Parachute Company, British 6th Airborne Division, synchronising their watches in front of an Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle of 295 Squadron, No 38 Group, Royal Air Force, at about 23.30 on the 5th of June, just prior to take off from RAF Harwell, Oxfordshire. This pathfinder unit parachuted into Normandy in advance of the rest of the division in order to mark out the landing zones, and these officers, (left to right, – Lieutenants, Bobby de Lautour, Don Wells, John Vischer and Bob Midwood), were among the first Allied troops to land in France. (Colorized by Royston Leonard)
British Commandos of HQ 4th Special Service Brigade, 48th Royal Marines coming ashore from LCI(S) landing craft at ‘Nan Red Sector’ Juno Beach, Saint-Aubin-sur-mer, Normandy, France, at approximately 0845 on D-Day, 6th June 1944. (Colorized by Royston Leonard)
Another ‘Shaky’ Robert Capa photograph taken on Omaha Beach –Â ‘Easy Red Sector’, Omaha Beach – approx. 0700 on the 6th June 1944. (Colorized by Royston Leonard)
U.S. troops disembarking on Utah Beach, 6 June 1944. The LCVP in the foreground was assigned to the U.S. Navy attack transport USS Joseph T. Dickman (APA-13), which had sailed from England on 5 June and arrived off Utah Beach early the next day. Joseph T. Dickman landed her troops without a mishap, and steamed to Portland with casualties in the afternoon of 6 June 1944. (Colorized by Royston Leonard)
D Day plus one (7th June 1944). On the shingle of Omaha Beach Dog White sector, at Saint-Laurent sur Mer, Normandy. (Colorized by Dave Ford)
Landing ships putting cargo ashore on Omaha Beach, at low tide during the first days of the operation, June 1944. (Colorized by Royston Leonard)
US Airborne glider pilots aboard an LCVP ((Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel) on their way from the Normandy beaches to a transport to take them back to England, June 9, 1944.
U.S. Army troops of the 2nd Infantry Division march through the liberated village of Colleville-sur-Mer on the 8th of June 1944. The beach next to the coastal village was one of the principal beachheads during the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, designated Omaha Beach. Colleville-sur-Mer, Calvados, Lower Normandy, France. (Colorized by Doug Banks)
Three US infantrymen advance at a crouching run using a Bocage hedgerow and embankment as cover. This picture shows to advantage the close nature of fighting in Normandy bocage country where the Germans became adept at digging into these hedgerows turning each field into a potential ambush.
June/July 1944. (Colorized by Doug Banks)
General Sir Bernard Montgomery passes German POWs while being driven along a road in a jeep, shortly after arriving in Normandy, 8th of June 1944. (Colorized by Doug Banks)
U.S. Army Pfc. Jesse E. Devore (born in Oklahoma) of the 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, holds a young French boy following the Allied Landings at Normandy and the liberation of Trévières on the 10th of June 1944. Devore was killed in action at the age of 23, just two weeks after this photograph was taken, and was buried in the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, Calvados, Lower Normandy, France on the 27th of June 1944. (Colorized by Gisele Nash)
D-Day + 6. Jeeps of the 261st Amphibious Medical Battalion’s A-Company race across Utah Beach to deliver front line casualties to the waiting Landing Ship Tank USS-134 for transport to hospitals in Great Britain. 12th June 1944. (Colorized Jordan Lloyd)
M4 Sherman “Hurricane” (Nº3033967), ‘H’ Company, 66th Armored Regiment, 2nd U.S. Armored Division, having a Continental R-975-C4 engine change at a repair depot near the front lines, Le Teilleul, Normandy.
16th August 1944. (Colorized by Allan White)
A Sergeant of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps bandages the wounded ear of a mine-detection Labrador dog named ‘Jasper’ at Bayeux in Normandy, 5th of July 1944. (Colorized by Royston Leonard)
German troops, accepting a drink from a French villager somewhere in Normandy. Mid. June 1944, after the commencement of the allied invasion. (Colorized by Doug Banks)
A group of veteran German prisoners captured at Maltot, south west of Caen, Normandy. 23rd of July 1944. (Colorized by Paul Kerestes)
Three soldiers of the 29th US Infantry Division checking deserted buildings in Rue Saint Georges, Saint-Lô.
19th-20th July 1944. (Colorized by Doug Banks)
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. (Colorized by Doug Banks)
