WW II Historical Thread, Discussion, Pics, Videos

Military equipment of Hitler's army will be remove the islands of the Gulf of Finland


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Operation Plunder
89th Infantry taking cover in an assault boat during the Rhine Crossing March 1945.
The S/Sgt with the stripes showing is S/Sgt C.W. Johnson


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A Coast Guard-manned LCVP from the USS Samuel Chase 6th June 1944 D-Day.

The men of E Company, 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry, 1st Division - "The Big Red One" many of them veterans of the landings in North Africa and Sicily and battles such... as Kessarine Pass, Le Senia Airfield and Gela were chosen to land early because of their battle experience.

Some 11 miles of the coast of France June 6th 1944 the USS Samuel Chase drops her anchor into the channel at 3:15 am.
All was quiet on the Samuel Chase when the order was given to "lower away" at 5:30 am. All that could be heard was the squeaking of the davits and the quiet whispers of the soldiers as they loaded into the LCVPs.
The landing craft were lowered into the swells and headed towards France. Here too, as at Utah, they were well away from the coast and subjected to the unsheltered waters of the Channel. All of the Chase's boats got away without incident but seasickness soon overtook most of the soldiers. They had to go through 11 miles of rough seas, strong currents, and minefields. They soon passed the battleships on their journey in and the soldiers winced as the 14-inch guns fired over their heads.

Landing on 'Easy Red' Omaha Beach at 06:45 in the face of murderous fire, two-thirds of E Company were immediate casualties (100 KIA out of 183 landing), but those remaining kept wading right into everything the enemy had and took their objective, which provided the only exit from the beach that the entire Fifth Corps had for 48 hours.



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December 7, 1941. Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
A small boat rescues a seaman from the 31,800-ton USS West Virginia. Note the two men in the superstructure. The USS Tennessee is inboard.

USS West Virginia (BB-48), a Colorado-class battleship, was the second ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the 35th state.

Shortly before 0800, Japanese planes, flying from a six-carrier task force, commenced a well-planned attack on Pearl Harbor. Seven 18 inches aerial torpedoes struck the port side of West Virginia. One or possibly two torpedoes entered the ship through holes made by the first torpedoes while the ship was listing and exploded on the armored second deck. She was also hit by two Type-99 #80 Mk5 bombs made from 16 in armor-piercing naval shells fitted with fins.

Prompt counter-flooding by the four damage control parties under the command of LCDR J.S. Harper, First Lieutenant together with the early closure of all water doors and hatches ordered by Harper's assistant Ensign Archie P. Kelley prevented the ship from capsizing.

With a patch over the damaged area of her hull, the battleship was pumped out and ultimately re-floated on May 17th, 1942, and docked in Dry-dock #1 on the 9th June.
During the ensuing repairs, workers located 66 bodies of West Virginia sailors who had been trapped below when the ship sank. Three bodies were found in a storeroom compartment, where the sailors had lived on emergency rations and fresh water from a battle station. A calendar found with them indicated they had lived through to December 23. The task confronting the nucleus crew and shipyard workers was a monumental one, so great was the damage on the battleship's port side.
Ultimately, however, West Virginia departed Pearl Harbor on May 7th, 1943, for the west coast and a complete rebuilding at the Puget Sound Navy Yard at Bremerton, Washington



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King George VI and Queen Elizabeth with a young Elizabeth (future Queen) visiting the British 6th Airborne Division on 19th May 1944.

The aircraft in the background is a Halifax ready to tow a Hamilcar glider (out of shot) and the other is a Short Sterling with a Horsa glider in tow (out of shot).

These Paratroopers are standing in front of a Albermarle transport plane. (out of shot).


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F-Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne Division underway to Normandy aboard there C-47 #12. At 01.20 hours D-Day they jumped over DZ "C" (Hiesville).
L to R: William G. Olanie
Frank D. Griffin
Robert J "Bob" Noody,
Lester T. Hegland.

Robert "Bob" Noody second from right with the Bazooka.

"Bob landed behind the mayor’s house at Ste-Mere-Eglise. In the ensuing days, Noody utilized his bazooka to destroy a German tank that threatened his unit outside of Carentan."

Later in the war he made the Operation Market Garden jump and fought with Fox Company from Eindhoven to the Rhine. His unit was rushed to stem the German breakthrough at Bastogne. They held the line in woods next to Easy Company. He was wounded by friendly fire, and re-joined his unit at Hagenau."

He was only 20yrs old on D-Day.


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Lance Corporals A Burton and L Barnett, Corps of Military Police, British 6th Airborne Divisional Provost Company, guarding a road junction near Ranville, Normandy on the 9th of June 1944.

Horsa gliders can be seen in the field behind.


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The USS Franklin (CV-13) nicknamed "Big Ben" listing, with crew on deck, 19 March 1945, photo taken from the USS Santa Fe (CL-60) running along side in preparation to evacuate wounded crew.

Before dawn on 19 March 1945, Franklin, which had maneuvered to within 80 km (50 miles) of the Japanese mainland, closer than had any other U.S. carrier during the war, launched a fighter sweep against Honshū and later a strike against shipping in Kobe Harbour. The Franklin crew aboard had been called to battle stations 12 times within six hours that night and Gehres downgraded the alert status to Condition III, allowing his men free to eat or sleep, although gunnery crews remained at their stations. Suddenly, a single Japanese aircraft pierced the cloud cover and made a low level run on the ship to drop two semi-armour-piercing bombs. The damage analysis came to the conclusion that the bombs were 550 lb (250 kg), the Aichi B7A "Grace" had this capability (reports of the exact aircraft type are still inconclusive, also as to whether the plane was shot down or escaped). One bomb struck the flight deck centerline, penetrating to the hangar deck, effecting destruction and igniting fires through the second and third decks, and knocking out the Combat Information Center and air plot. The second hit aft, tearing through two decks.

At the time she was struck, Franklin had 31 armed and fueled aircraft warming up on her flight deck. The hangar deck contained 22 additional planes, of which 16 were fueled and five were armed. The forward gasoline system had been secured, but the aft system was operating. The explosion on the hangar deck ignited the fuel tanks on the aircraft, and gasoline vapour explosion devastated the deck. Only two crewmen survived the fire on the hangar deck. The explosion also jumbled aircraft together on the flight deck above, causing further fires and explosions, including the detonation of 12 "Tiny Tim" air-to-surface rockets.

Franklin lay dead in the water, took a 13° starboard list, lost all radio communications, and broiled under the heat from enveloping fires. Many of the crew were blown overboard, driven off by fire, killed or wounded, but the hundreds of officers and enlisted who voluntarily remained saved their ship. A recent count by Franklin historian and researcher Joseph A Springer brings total 19th March 1945 casualty figures to 807 killed and more than 487 wounded. Certainly, the casualty figures would have far exceeded this number, but for the work of many survivors. Among these were the Medal of Honor recipients Lieutenant Commander Joseph T. O'Callahan, the warship's Catholic chaplain, who administered the last rites, organized and directed firefighting and rescue parties, and led men below to wet down magazines that threatened to explode; and also Lieutenant JG Donald A. Gary, who discovered 300 men trapped in a blackened mess compartment and, finding an exit, returned repeatedly to lead groups to safety. Gary later organized and led fire-fighting parties to battle fires on the hangar deck and entered the No. 3 fireroom to raise steam in one boiler. The Santa Fe rescued crewmen from the sea and approached Franklin to take off the numerous wounded and nonessential personnel.

Franklin, like many other wartime ships, had been modified with additional armament, requiring larger crews and substantial ammunition stocks. Aircraft were both more numerous and heavier than originally planned for, and thus the flight deck had been strengthened. The aircraft carrier, therefore, displaced more than originally planned, her freeboard was reduced, and her stability characteristics had been altered. The enormous quantities of water poured aboard her to fight the fires further reduced freeboard (exacerbated, on her starboard side, by the list), and her stability was seriously impaired, such that her survival was in jeopardy. Franklin had suffered the most severe damage experienced by any U.S. fleet carrier that survived World War II.

USS Franklin was taken in tow by the heavy cruiser USS Pittsburgh until she was able to raise enough steam to reach a speed of 14 kts (26 km/h), and then she proceeded to Ulithi Atoll under her own power for emergency repairs. Next, she steamed to Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, where repairs permitted her to steam to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York, via the Panama Canal, where she arrived on 28 April 1945.

She was eventually restored to active service after WWII had ended.
USS Franklin received four battle stars for her World War II service.


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Miragedriver said:

The USS Franklin (CV-13) nicknamed "Big Ben" listing, with crew on deck, 19 March 1945, photo taken from the USS Santa Fe (CL-60) running along side in preparation to evacuate wounded crew.

Click to expand...

Franklin would certainly have sunk but for the heroic damage control efforts of her crew (including two medal of honor recipients).

She lost over 800 killed and 480 injured, the most of any attacked US warship in World War II that survived her attack, and second only to the USS Arizona in terms of deaths and injuries from the attack itself.

I recommend the book, "INFERNO: The Epic Life and Death Struggle of the USS Franklin," in World War II. It's an amazing story.

A jeep manned by Sergeant A Schofield and Trooper O Jeavons of 1 SAS near Geilenkirchen in Germany Nov 1944. The jeep is armed with three Vickers 'K' guns (2 double and 1 single mount), and fitted with armoured glass shields in place of a windscreen. The SAS were involved at this time in clearing snipers in the 43rd Wessex Division area.

No 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit
Hewitt (Sgt)


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