World War 2 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 and WW2 Colourised Photos
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’ – 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)
Members of the 101st Airborne Infantry Division and the 4th Infantry Division crowd aboard an LCT on the way to Utah Beach, June 6, 1944. (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 – ‘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)
Troops of the US 5th Engineer Special Brigade, wade through the surf to the northern coast of France, at Fox Green Sector of Omaha Beach, Normandy. 8 June 1944. (Colorized by Paul Reynolds)
British 4 Commando, 1st Special Service Brigade after landing on ‘Queen Red’ beach, Sword area and ready to advance into Ouistreham. 6 June 1944. (Colorized by Royston Leonard)
Landing ships putting cargo ashore on Omaha Beach, at low tide during the first days of the operation, June 1944. (Colorized by Royston Leonard)
A British Cromwell Tank fitted with deep wading trunks heads an armoured column of the 4th County of London Yeomanry, 22nd Armoured Brigade, 7th Armoured Division inland from Gold Beach, Normandy June 7 1944. (Colorized by Joshua Barrett)
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. (Colorized by Royston Leonard)
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)
Pz. VI Ausf E Tiger I #133 of s.Pz.Abt 101, 1.Kompanie, 3.Zug, 3rd vehicle, commanded by SS-Oberscharführer Fritz Zahner passes the Hotel du Lion d’Or in the Rue André Carpentier, Morgny, Normandy. June 8 1944. (Colorized by Royston Leonard)
SS-Unterscharführer Kurt “Quax” Kleber in his Panzer VI “Tiger I” Turmnummer Nº 232 of 2. Kompanie / 3.Zug (Platoon) 2nd Vehicle of the SS-Pz. Abt.101. France, 6-12 June 1944. (Colorized by Royston Leonard)
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, Medics from the 2nd Naval Beach Battalion and the 261st Medical Medical Battalion, 1st Engineer Special Brigade assist a paratrooper as he steps onto the ramp of a LCVP that has pulled to Utah Beach at high tide. (Colorized by Richard J. Molloy)
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)
Cagny, Caen, Normandy during ‘Operation Goodwood’. The Company Commander, Maj J. D. A. Syrett, is seen indicating a mortar target to Sgt Vessey. Gdsm Kitchen is in the foreground and Gdsm Fenwick is the Bren gunner. Major Syrett was killed a few days later. (Colorized by Tom Marshall)
A group of veteran German prisoners captured at Maltot, south west of Caen, Normandy. 23rd of July 1944. (Colorized by Paul Kerestes)
‘Easy Company,’ 2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, at Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, Normandy. (Colorized by Royston Leonard)
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)
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 or July 1944. (Colorized by Doug Banks)
G.I.’s from (possibly) the 1st Btn, 314th Inf. Rgt. of the US 79th Inf. Div., during an attack on the Bolleville road, just north west of La Haye-du-Puits in Normandy. (Colorized by Allan White)
A Sherman tank of 24th Lancers, 8th Armoured Brigade, passing a knocked-out German PzKpfw V Panther #204 of 2. Kompanie/
A 6-pounder anti-tank gun of the 1st Battalion, King’s Own Scottish Borderers, part of the 9th Brigade of the British 3rd Division, along with two Sherman tanks in Rue Montoir Poissonnerie near St-Pierre Church, Caen. (Colorized by Gabriel Bîrsanu)
A US tank crew of the 703rd Tank Destroyer Battalion posing for the camera from a foxhole beneath their M-10 tank destroyer, north of Marigny, Normandy on July 26, 1944. (Colorized by Benjamin Thomas)
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)
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)
A Landing Ship unloads at low tide on Normandy Beach six days after D-Day. June 12, 1944. (Colorized by Jared Enos)
See Operation Market Garden brought in stunning colorized images.
The picture captioned: “U.S. Army troops of the 2nd Infantry Division march through the liberated village of Colleville-sur-Mer on the 8th of June 1944.” brings to mind what I saw on a similar road in August 2017 near Sainte Marie Eglise.
The thing that amazed me most when I visited Normandy in August 2017 was the gratitude of the locals towards their liberators so prominently on display.
There were the prominent displays such as in the village of Saint Marie Eglise, but also seen in the ordinary. I recall driving down the road towards Saint Marie Eglise and caught a scene of a second story window that illustrates gratitude. Hanging out from a window similar to this scene from 1944 were three small and tattered flags: French, British and American.
Thank you for working to keep the memories of these people alive to the younger generations.