WW2 Photos

CAG operator with MWD (2025)

During WWII, workers at the Henry Ford aircraft factory Willow Run built a staggering 8,685 B-24 bombers in three years!

No one had ever manufactured aircraft on such a scale before. At its peak in 1944, it produced a B-24 every hour.

Additional fun fact: Rosie the Riveter worked at this plant.

On the evening of 6 June 1944, as the D-Day invasion pushed inland from the Normandy beaches, a dramatic second act unfolded in the skies....glider-borne reinforcements soaring silently toward the Cotentin Peninsula.

Towed by Douglas C-47 Skytrains, these gliders carried vital troops, weapons, and supplies to support the hard-pressed airborne divisions, notably the 82nd and 101st Airborne.

While the paratroopers had jumped in during the early hours of D-Day, often landing scattered and under fire, the gliders delivered more cohesive units, including anti-tank guns, jeeps, signal equipment, and even small artillery pieces.

The gliders themselves, typically Waco CG-4A or British Horsa models, were lightweight, canvas-and-plywood aircraft with no engines.

A farmer’s wife pumps water into a metal cup as her youngest child stands nearby in Malheur County, Oregon, 1939.

T-34 tanks accompanied by a horse-drawn supply sled in southern Russia dates from November 1942, during Operation Uranus, the decisive Soviet counteroffensive that encircled the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad.

Operation Uranus was launched across vast, snow-covered steppe terrain where roads were few and often impassable.

Although the Red Army fielded large numbers of modern tanks like the T-34, valued for their wide tracks, sloped armour, and reliability in extreme cold, it still relied heavily on traditional logistics. Horse-drawn sleds remained essential for moving ammunition, fuel, food, and medical supplies, especially where vehicles bogged down in snow or mud and fuel shortages were acute.

The combination of armoured forces and animal transport highlights the hybrid nature of Soviet warfare in 1942. While tanks spearheaded breakthroughs against overstretched Axis forces- many of them Romanian and Italian units guarding the German flanks, horses ensured supply lines continued to function under harsh winter conditions. This logistical flexibility was crucial to maintaining momentum during the encirclement.

As Germany’s war continued, the Kriegsmarine and Wehrmacht both faced shortages in manpower and raw material.

New addition to the Jumbo Shrimp´s American Liberator collection: MG 15 🇩🇪

Originally designed as an aircraft machine gun for the Luftwaffe, the MG 15 later found a second life on the ground, adapted for infantry use as Germany’s air superiority faded.
With its distinctive double-drum magazine and elegant engineering, it’s a perfect example of how necessity reshapes military design in wartime.

Dressing station of the Fallschirmjäger around Carentan, France 1944. Is that a Gewehr 41 on the left?

A Humber Mk II armoured car of the UK 12th Royal Lancers on patrol in the Western Desert, Egypt, on August 10, 1942.

Manfred von Richthofen “The Red Baron” petting his dog on an airfield, 1916. His dog was apparently called "Moritz"

On this day, 81 years ago, December 21, 1944, 19-year-old Private First Class Francis S. Currey of the United States Army was guarding a bridge and strongpoint on the edge of Malmedy, Belgium, when German tanks and infantry hit his position in the Battle of the Bulge.

He was an automatic rifleman with the 3rd Platoon, Company K, 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division, manning a defensive line that covered the bridge and nearby buildings when a powerful German attack overran American tank destroyers and antitank guns supporting the strongpoint.

As the German armor advanced and heavy fire swept the area, Pfc. Currey used his Browning Automatic Rifle to engage enemy infantry, exposing himself to fire as he shot and killed several German soldiers who were trying to push in behind the tanks.

Under the weight of tanks and troops, the position became untenable and the remnants of the 3rd Platoon pulled back to a nearby factory building, which offered some cover but was threatened by German armor now close to the bridge.

From the factory, Currey saw that a group of five American soldiers, two of them already wounded, were trapped in another building across the way, pinned down by tank and machine‑gun fire and unable to escape while the German armor and infantry covered every approach.

Realizing that the tanks and their supporting guns had to be stopped before the men could get out, he left the relative safety of the factory and ran through intense enemy fire to a knocked‑out American antitank position near the bridge.

There he found a bazooka and antitank rockets.

He grabbed the weapon and ammunition, then moved back into the open, using what little cover he could find as three German tanks rounded a corner and headed for the bridge and the factory.

Currey took up a firing position, aimed at the lead tank, and fired, disabling it and forcing the crew to abandon or withdraw the vehicle.

He then shifted his fire to the accompanying tanks, firing more rockets until all three had been hit and either knocked out or forced to retreat from the crossing, removing the immediate armored threat to the strongpoint and the trapped men.

Even with the tanks stopped, German infantry and machine‑gun positions still pinned down the five Americans across the way.

Currey moved again under fire, carrying the bazooka and also collecting additional weapons, including a Browning machine gun and an armful of ammunition.

From an exposed position, he laid down heavy suppressive fire with the machine gun against the German positions that covered the street and the building where the five soldiers were trapped, raking the doorways, windows, and emplacements that were firing into the area.

He alternated between weapons, using rifles, the automatic rifle, and the machine gun to keep enemy heads down and prevent them from firing accurately at the wounded and isolated men.

While Currey maintained this covering fire, the trapped Americans took their chance, scrambled out of the building, and ran toward the factory, two of them limping and bleeding as they crossed the open ground.

He kept firing until all five men reached safety inside the factory, then pulled back himself before enemy fire could zero in on his position.

Later in the day, as German forces continued to probe and try to force the river crossing, Currey again moved among positions, using his knowledge of different weapons to man and reposition guns that could cover key approaches and deny the enemy access to the bridge and the roads beyond.

Deprived of tanks at the crossing and hammered by his fire, the German force at that sector finally pulled back, abandoning the attempt to flank his battalion’s position at Malmedy through that route.

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty near Malmedy, Belgium, on December 21, 1944, Private First Class Francis Sherman Currey was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Francis S. Currey survived the war, later worked for the Veterans Administration in Albany, New York, and lived quietly in upstate New York in his later years.
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He died on October 8, 2019, at the age of 94, at his home in Selkirk, New York, after health complications of old age, and he was laid to rest in Calvary Cemetery in Glenmont, New York.

This photograph captures a 1920 Pattern Rolls-Royce Armoured Car operated by the North Irish Horse, a yeomanry regiment of the British Army, as it pauses along a quiet rural road in Northern Ireland on 28 January 1941. Although far removed from the main battlefronts of World War II, Northern Ireland held significant strategic importance to the United Kingdom, necessitating a visible and sustained military presence throughout the war.

The Rolls-Royce armoured car, originally developed during the First World War, remained in service well into the Second World War due to its reliability, robust engineering, and adaptability. The 1920 Pattern variant featured improved armor protection, a fully enclosed turret, and was typically armed with a Vickers .303 machine gun. By 1941, these vehicles were considered outdated for frontline armored warfare but remained highly effective for patrol, reconnaissance, and internal security duties, particularly in areas where heavy opposition was unlikely but rapid response and deterrence were essential.

The North Irish Horse, reconstituted in the interwar period and mobilized at the outbreak of World War II, was tasked with a range of defensive responsibilities within Northern Ireland. These included internal security patrols, protection of key infrastructure, guarding transportation routes, and maintaining readiness against potential German invasion threats, especially following the fall of France in 1940. Northern Ireland’s coastline, ports, and airfields were vital to Atlantic defense and convoy operations, making the region a critical rear-area stronghold.

Internal security duties also reflected lingering political sensitivities within Northern Ireland. While large-scale unrest was absent during this period, the British government remained cautious about sabotage, espionage, and civil disturbance. The presence of armoured vehicles on rural roads served both practical and psychological purposes—demonstrating authority, ensuring rapid mobility, and reassuring the local population amid wartime uncertainty.