Two US Ground Crew Paint Easter Message to the Bomb

Image size: 1600 x 1199 pixel. 581 KB
Date: Friday, 31 March 1944
Place: Somewhere in Southern Italy
Photographer: Arnoldo Mondadori

Two USSAF ground crewmen paint an "Easter Eggs", which are really AN-M65 1,000 Lb bombs with the message "Happy Easter to Adolph!" in Southern Italy, 31 March 1944. The ground crew were an essential yet forgotten component for the success of bombing campaigns during and throughout the war. They were a rough and tough bunch, usually from rural backgrounds. They liked to play their hamonicas, joke, and have a game of craps like most soldiers during the time. They saw the bomber's as their own and did everything to ensure it was safe and fully capable.

Source :
https://www.agefotostock.com/age/en/Stock-Images/Rights-Managed/MDO-AA323333
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhCL7m6H1SF/

Cheerful Divisional Personnel Pose with a Wrecked Soviet T-28B tank

Image size: 1600 x 1245 pixel. 787 KB
Date: July 1941
Place: Soviet Union
Photographer: Helmut Ritgen

Cheerful divisional personnel from 6. Panzer-Division pose with a wrecked Soviet T-28B tank in the first weeks of the Russian campaign. This 25-ton Russian derivative of the British Vickers A6E1 design was armed with a 76.2mm main gun and three MGs, and was first unveiled at a parade in October 1932. Note soldier clowning with 76.2mm round! Also unidentified brigade and battalion markings on turret. In the Operation Barbarossa, the 6th Panzer-Division fighting at first under Heeresgruppe Nord (Army Group North) for Leningrad but soon transferring to Heeresgruppe Mitte (Army Group Center), where it fought in the Battle of Moscow and the Rzhev-Vyazma Salient. 

Source:

Helmut Ritgen photo collection

Book "The 6th Panzer Division: 1937-45" by Oberst a.D. Helmut Ritgen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6th_Panzer_Division_(Wehrmacht)

Günther Rall and His Men with Unit Mascot

Image size: 1600 x 1184 pixel. 408 KB
Date: Saturday, 6 March 1943
Place: Kerch Strait, Crimea, Soviet Union
Photographer: Reissmüller

"Wie spricht Rata?" (how does Rata?) Eichenlaubträger Oberleutnant Günther Rall (Staffelkapitän 8.Staffel/Jagdgeschwader 52) and the men of his Staffel (Fighter Wing) during a short break between two feindflüge (combat missions). The standing squadron dog is named "Rata". Front, from left to right: Unteroffizier Manfred Lotzmann (15 Abschüsse), Unteroffizier Werner Höhenberg (33 Abschüsse), and Leutnant Hans Funcke (19 Abschüsse). Rear : Oberleutnant Günther Rall (275 Abschüsse), Leutnant Hans Martin Markoff (15 Abschüsse), Feldwebel Karl-Friedrich Schumacher (56 Abschüsse), and Oberleutnant Gerhard Luety (38 Abschüsse). The picture was taken by Kriegsberichter Reissmüller in March 1943. Günther Rall (10 March 1918 – 4 October 2009) was the third most successful fighter ace in history. He achieved a total of 275 victories during World War II: 272 on the Eastern Front, of which 241 were against Soviet fighters. He flew a total of 621 combat missions, was shot down 8 times and was wounded 3 times. He fought in the invasion of France, the Battle of Britain, in the Balkan Campaign and over Crete. He began the conflict as a young Leutnant (Second Lieutenant), and was a Major and Kommodore of JG 300 at the surrender. He claimed all of his victories in the Messerschmitt Bf 109.

Source:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-J14142,_Jagdflieger_G%C3%BCnther_Rall_mit_Kameraden.jpg

http://www.jg52.net/2010/05

General Douglas MacArthur and General Jonathan Wainwright Greet Each Other at the New Grand Hotel

Image size: 1102 x 1600 pixel. 475 KB
Date: Friday, 31 August 1945
Place: Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Photographer: Unknown

General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright greet each other at the New Grand Hotel, Yokohama, Japan, in their first meeting since they parted on Corregidor more that three years before. TIME Magazine, September 10, 1945: "The thin, tired man who had seen the Stars & Stripes pulled down in the Pacific went on to see it raised over the home islands of Japan. At Yokohama's New Grand Hotel he was embraced by his old commander, sat down to dinner served by bowing Japanese. There was a pistol at his hip. To U.S. correspondents on Japanese soil "Skinny" Wainwright said: "It's good to be back a free man and an American soldier wearing a gun again." On May 6, 1942, in the interest of minimising casualties, Wainwright surrendered Corregidor and Luzon. By June 9, Allied forces had completely surrendered. Wainwright was then held in prison camps in northern Luzon, Formosa, and Manchuria until his liberation by a team of O.S.S. operatives led by Major Robert H. Helm in August 1945. He was the highest-ranking American POW, and despite his rank, his treatment at the hands of the Japanese was not pleasant. After witnessing the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri (BB-63) on September 2, together with Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival he returned to the Philippines to receive the surrender of the local Japanese commander, Lieutenant-General Tomoyuki Yamashita. Dubbed by his men a "fighting" general who was willing to get down in the foxholes, Wainwright won the respect of all who were imprisoned with him. He agonized over his decision to surrender Bataan all during his captivity, feeling that he had let his country down. Upon release, the first question he asked was "How am I thought of back in the states?" He was amazed when told he was considered a hero. He was later awarded the Medal of Honor. During Wainwright's imprisonment, General Douglas MacArthur wrote a memorandum that derided Wainwright's leadership abilities, implied that he was both a coward and an alcoholic, and concluded that Wainwright should be denied the Medal of Honor. He forwarded this to Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall. Ironically, MacArthur was widely scorned for leaving the Philippines and many felt his Medal of Honor was more of a publicity ploy by President Roosevelt because, unlike General Wainwright, MacArthur as army commander did not have the opportunity visit the front lines as often as he wished. Yet, despite the attitudes present at the time and later, Wainwright and MacArthur were two commanders who held off the Japanese onslaught for months, while other countries and allies were falling often with token resistance or by disastrous mistakes. After General Wainwright was released MacArthur embraced and extended every courtesy to Wainwright, even providing him a place of honor at the surrender ceremony. It was because of MacArthur that Wainwright assumed command of an army corps. Even after learning of MacArthur's criticisms, Wainwright still remained friends with the man and even supported him in his Presidential bid in 1952. His Medal of Honor citation reads: "Distinguished himself by intrepid and determined leadership against greatly superior enemy forces. At the repeated risk of life above and beyond the call of duty in his position, he frequented the firing line of his troops where his presence provided the example and incentive that helped make the gallant efforts of these men possible. The final stand on beleaguered Corregidor, for which he was in an important measure personally responsible, commanded the admiration of the Nation's allies. It reflected the high morale of American arms in the face of overwhelming odds. His courage and resolution were a vitally needed inspiration to the then sorely pressed freedom-loving peoples of the world." On September 5, 1945, shortly after the Japanese surrender, he received his 4th star. In January 1946, Wainwright became the commander of the 4th Army, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He retired in August 1947. He died in 1953 and is buried in Arlington Cemetery. 

Source:

NARA (National Archives) Identifier 531310. Record group: Record Group 111: Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, 1860 - 1985 (ARC identifier: 440). Series: Signal Corps Photographs of American Military Activity, compiled 1754 - 1954 (ARC identifier: 530707). NAIL Control Number: NWDNS-111-SC-210621

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:General_of_the_Army_Douglas_MacArthur_and_Lieutenant_General_Jonathan_Wainwright_greet_each_other_at_the_New_Grand..._-_NARA_-_531310.tif

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1028

The crew of B-29 Superfortress 42-24598 "Waddy's Wagon"

Image size: 1600 x 1289 pixel. 684 KB
Date: Friday, 24 November 1944
Place: Isley Field, Saipan, Marianas
Photographer: Unknown

The crew of B-29 Superfortress 42-24598 "Waddy's Wagon", 20th Air Force, 73rd Bomb Wing, 497th Bomb Group, 869th Bomb Squadron, the fifth B-29 to take off on the first Tokyo mission from Saipan on November 24, 1944, and first to land back at Isley Field after bombing the target. Crew members, posing here to duplicate their caricatures on the plane, are : Plane Commander, Captain Walter R. "Waddy" Young, Ponca City, Oklahoma, former All-American end; Lieutenant Jack H. Vetters, Corpus Christi, Texas, pilot; Lieutenant John F. Ellis, Moberly, Missouri, bombardier; Lieutenant Paul R. Garrison, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, navigator; Sergeant George E. Avon, Syracuse, New York, radio operator; Lieutenant Bernard S. Black, Woodhaven, New York, Flight Engineer; Sergeant Kenneth M. Mansie of Randolph, Maine, Flight Technician; and gunners - Sargeants Lawrence L. Lee of Max, North Dakota; Wilbur J. Chapman of Panhandle, Texas; Corbett L. Carnegie, Grindstone Island, New York; and Joseph J. Gatto, Falconer, New York. All were killed when "Waddy's Wagon" was shot down attempting to guide a crippled B-29 back to safety during a mission against the Nakajima aircraft factory in Musashino, Japan on January 9, 1945. 

Source:

National Archives (NARA) Identifier 292576

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Air_Force_personnel_%5Eamp,_equipment._The_Pacific,_England,_Wash._DC._1942-44_%28mostly_1943%29_-_NARA_-_292576.jpg

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1017

British Paratroopers with German Prisoner at Arnhem

Image size: 1600 x 1203 pixel. 414 KB
Date: Monday, 18 September 1944
Place: Arnhem, Gelderland, Netherland
Photographer: Sam Presser

An eight-man patrol of mixed units, led by Captain John Killick of the 89th Field Security Section, edging westwards from the bridge in an attempt to locate the 1st Para Brigade moving into Arnhem. In the event the patrol made little ground before they realised they were in danger of being cut off and so withdrew to the bridge, having suffered no casualties and collected several stragglers and a prisoner (seen standing in the centre). They reported that there were no sounds of battle to the west of Arnhem and so it was correctly assumed that the 1st and 3rd Battalions were some distance away. Captain Killick can be seen partially obscured on the extreme left. Standing beside him with the butt of his rifle resting on the ground is Private Bernard Salt, and in the foreground, third from the right carrying a Sten gun, is Sergeant Larry Ansell, both men are of No.6 Platoon, B Company, the 2nd Battalion. Bernard Salt enlisted into The Gloucestershire Regiment and later volunteered for airborne forces in World War II. He qualified as a military parachutist on Course 101 which ran at RAF Ringway from 31 January to 13 February 1944. The course instructors' notes record that Bernard was "very confident and a good stick jumper." By September 1944, he was serving as a Bren Gun No 1 in Larry Ansell's No 8 Section in 6 Platoon, B Company, 2nd Parachute Battalion. He jumped with the Battalion as part of the 1st Airborne Division's assault to capture the Rhine Crossings at Arnhem during Operation Market Garden on 17 September 1944. Bernard was photographed by Sam Presser, a press cameraman, on the Monday after they had landed, having just captured a German soldier. The image later became well known and features prominently in the exhibition at the Hartenstein Museum. Bernard was shot through both legs while fighting at the bridge and was later held as a POW in Germany. Larry Ansell enlisted into The Royal Berkshire Regiment and later volunteered for airborne forces in World War II while he was a corporal. He qualified as a military parachutist on Course 63 which ran at RAF Ringway from 4 to 17 May 1943. The course instructors' notes record that Larry was "conscientious and a hard worker. An excellent performer." Larry was later promoted to sergeant and by September 1944 was serving as commander of No 8 Section in 6 Platoon, B Company, 2nd Parachute Battalion. He jumped with the Battalion as part of the 1st Airborne Division's assault to capture the Rhine Crossings at Arnhem during Operation Market Garden on 17 September 1944. Larry was photographed by Sem Presser, a press cameraman, on the Monday after they had landed, having just captured a German soldier. The image later became well known and features prominently in the exhibition at the Hartenstein Museum. After days of fighting at the bridge, Larry was eventually captured and  later held as a POW in Germany. Sir John Killick served as an officer in the Intelligence Corps during World War II, most notably as Officer Commanding 89th Parachute Field Security Section at the Battle of Arnhem in September 1944. John Killick had joined airborne forces in 1943 and qualified as a military parachutist on Course 93 which ran at RAF Ringway from 29 November to 13 December. He was appointed as Officer Commanding 89 Field Security Section in early 1944. Some members of 89 FSS, including John Killick, accompanied elements of the 2nd Parachute Battalion into Arnhem and his patrol was photographed by Sem Presser, a press cameraman, in a sequence of shots which subsequently became very well known images of the battle. After the war he rose to become a senior diplomat in the Foreign Office, culminating in his appointment as UK Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, a post which he held until he retired. As a last resort, please note the unidentified para third from the left, holding a Sten gun with bayonette. His face is what we call today: Schwarzenegger!

Source:

http://www.arrse.co.uk/weapons-equipment-rations/46615-search-*ally*-star-454.html