 A New Zealand artillery crew of the 87mm divisional 25-pounder cannon (Ordnance QF 25-pounder) moves the gun trail after adjusting to a new target in the vicinity of the town of Cassino, Italy; May 17, 1944.

Adjust for a new target

Slovak soldier on guard by the sea of azov

New Zealand soldiers serve lunch to Italian POWs captured in Egypt during the early days of the Western Desert Campaign. Their meal consists of Australian field rations; Wadi Sarar railway station, Palestine, 21 December 1940. 

Italian POWs get fed by Kiwis

A group of New Zealand soldiers rest on the ruins of Cassino, Italy; May 4, 1944.

A well-deserved rest

An Italian tanquette under new management in Albania with the Greek inscription "the revenge of Elli" meaning the Greek light cruiser Elli sunk by the Italian submarine Delfino on August 15 1940 before the Greco-Italian war, which was initiated by the Italians on October 28 1940.
tajen from fb/WW2 wrecks in Greece

Italian tankette under new flag

New Zealand soldiers put a smokescreen in front of an Allied attack in Cassino, Italy; May 18, 1944.

Concealing smoke cover

New Zealand Army vehicles on a road in the Sangro River area, east-central Italy. On the right, a towed British 57-mm anti-tank gun (Ordnance QF 6-pounder 7cwt). On the left, four-wheel drive military trucks СМР (Canadian Military Pattern), manufactured by Chevrolet; Nov. 29, 1943.

Far away from home

After escaping the German occupation of Norway, Jan Sigurd Baalsrud fled the country in order to join the British SOE to take the fight to the enemy.

In March 1943, Baalsrud and 11 other commandos were tasked with destroying a German air control tower near Bardufoss, Norway. Upon reaching the coast, the team was betrayed by their resistance contact and the mission compromised.

Forced to swim in the freezing ocean and with the rest of the team either killed or captured in the ambush, Baalsrud was the only one who evaded; beginning his 2 month fight for survival.

Soaking wet and missing one boot, he escaped up into a snow gully, where he shot and killed a German Gestapo officer with his pistol.

Fighting frostbite and snow blindness, he marched across the freezing landscape, evading patrols and fighting the elements. In order to survive, he had to amputate his toes with a pocket knife to stop the spread of gangrene. He also survived an avalanche when he tried to climb a 3000ft mountain.

Nearing death, he was lucky enough to get help from the Norwegian resistance who carried him via stretcher for 27 days across Finland and into neutral Sweden.

Weighing only 80 lbs, he spent 7 months in the hospital and upon returning to England and learning how to walk again, he went back to Norway to fight the Germans until the war's end.

Baalsrud was reunited with his family in Oslo after leaving them for over 5 years and was awarded the St. Olav’s Medal with Oak Branch along with other medals.
taken from fb/WW2 Battles & Stories

Hero

Portrait of a Chetnik of the 1st Toplitsky Brigade Milovan Kalichanin with a 7.92 mm ZB-30 light machine gun.
teken from fb/Balkan War History

Chetnik portrait

Nationalist troops around the wreck of a downed republican Polikarpov R Z Natacha. Probably 1938. DVX

Once a Natacha

Overlooked by the ruins of the hill-top monastery, South African engineers of 11th Field Company, South African Engineer Corps, clear rubble from "Route 6", the main road through Cassino. The final German resistance had ceased only hours before; May 19, 1944. 

Ruins all around

South African troops of 1991 Swaziland Smoke Company wait to board landing craft at Castellammare, north-western Sicily, Italy, before sailing for Anzio, Ialy; January 1944. The unit was responsible for creating smokescreens over the invasion area. 

Under barrage balloons

Italian civilians give a cup of wine to a New Zealand soldier during the Italian Campaign. Town of Orsogna, Chieti Province, Abruzzo Region, Italy. 16 June 1944.

Italian hospitality

A Sudanese soldiers from the British army with a captured Italian Cannone da 47/32 mod.35, named ''Elefantino'' by the Italians, anti-tank gun on a position eastern from the Italian-occupied city of Gallabat in Sudan, August, 1940. The city was occupied by the Italians since July 1940.
taken from fb/WW2 Virtual Museum

Elefantino

UXB-team removing a deactivated naval mine from a beach using a British Universal carrier.They seem quiet happy having done the job without a glitch.No place or date mentioned
taken from fb
tak

One down!

Greek soldiers next to a captured Italian Tank M13/40, Albanian front 1940-41

Greek soldiers captured Italian Tank M13/40

Greek Cruiser Elli 2

Greek Cruiser Elli 1

Greek Cruiser Elli

New Zealand soldiers give hot food to German Luftwaffe POWs captured during the Monte Cassino (Italy) battles; 1944.

Warm food, at last...

A New Zealand soldier stands on guard with a Bofors L/60 anti-aircraft gun in the Monte Cassino (Italy) combat area; 15 March, 1944.

Guarding the Cassino sky

With the rumblings of war across Europe and the German and Soviet invasion of Poland, two Dutch soldiers are mobilized in an inundatiegebied; an area of land inundated with ground water or river water as a defense, prior to the German invasion of the Netherlands. Near Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands. November 1939.
taken from fb/places of War

Anti-invasion force

Men of the 26th Indian Infantry Division preparing a meal beside a temple on Ramree Island, January 1945.
taken from fb/WWII Military info & photos

Chow time

Rare picture of members of the Spanish Division Azul (250. Infanteriedivision der Heer) in Northern Russia.
taken from fb/D.del Moral/History of WW2

Azul Div.

Soldiers of the Savinja Partisan battalion before executions, Celje, Slovenia, November 1942
 "i am the bandit Leopold Strel and performed 40 attacks and 9 murders" "I am the bandit Kasteliz Ivan and have done 6 murders and .. so on

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