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15 Rare Original Color Photos of World War II

While most of the images of the Second World War were captured in black-and-white, many original color photographs of the war do exist. Color photography was slowly becoming more popular in the 1930s and 1940s due to the introduction of Kodachrome color film. However, it was still cheaper to document the war primarily in black-and-white. In this article, you can see 15 original color photos taken during World War II by US Army photographers from the Signal Corps.

Combat soldiers while away time with a game of darts as they await the signal which will send them from England to Hitler's Europe for the big day. L-R: Pvt. Larry Mason, Brooklyn, N.Y., Pfc. Norman Rausch, Cliona, Pa., and Sgt. Henry Krawczyk, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. WW2 Color Photo
Soldiers play a game of darts during their free time in England, awaiting D-Day, June 1944.
L-R: Pvt. Larry Mason, Pfc. Norman Rausch, and Sgt. Henry Krawczyk.
Credit: Signal Corps Archive // Public Domain
Tank leaves transport while training for amphibious operations for landing in enemy territory during war. WW2 color photo of a tank disembarking for a landing ship
A tank disembarks from a landing ship during a training exercise in preparation for amphibious operations during the war, 1944.
Credit: Signal Corps Archive // Public Domain
F.J. Jayce, USN Pilot, Drinks Fruit Juice Before Going Aloft, USS Yorktown (CVA-10) Original Color Photo of a pilot during WW2
F.J. Jayce, a US Navy Pilot onboard the USS Yorktown, drinks a can of pineapple juice before takeoff, 1943.
Credit: US National Archives // Public Domain
original color photo showing This dug-in mortar emplacement is manned by, left to right, Pvt. R. W. Fierdo, Wyahoga Falls, Ohio; S/Sgt. Adam J. Celinca, Windsor, Conn., T/Sgt. W. O. Thomas, Chicago. St. Vith, Belgium. 24 January, 1945. Photographer: Salis.
US Soldiers man a dug-in mortar emplacement in St. Vith, Belgium, 24 January 1945.
L-R: Pvt. R. W. Fierdo, S/Sgt. Adam J. Celinca, and T/Sgt. W. O. Thomas
Credit: Signal Corps Archive // Public Domain
Somewhere in England, a Wac learns about old sailing ships from a good authority. Taken in original color
A Member of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) talks about old sailing ships with a local somewhere in England, 1944.
Credit: Signal Corps Archive // Public Domain
An Italian who lost his leg in the bombing of the railroad station at Viareggio a year ago looks at the mass of destruction in the town. 1945. Original Color Photograph from the 1940s
A man who lost his leg in the bombing of the railroad station in Viareggio, Italy, looks at the destruction of the town, 1945.
Credit: Signal Corps Archive // Public Domain
A real-life "Rosie the Riveter" operating a hand drill at Vultee-Nashville, Tennessee, working on an A-31 Vengeance dive bomber. Original color photograph taken during World War 2
A real-life “Rosie the Riveter” working on a Vultee A-31 Vengeance aircraft in Nashville, Tennessee, 1943. This photo was taken by Alfred T. Palmer for the Office of War Information and not by the Signal Corps.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain
Striding up the gangplank to board a CBI-bound vessel is Cpl. Charles Hannon, Akron, Ohio, who left with his Combat Engineer unit from the Calais Staging Area, near Marseilles, Southern France, to the Pacific.
Cpl. Charles Hannon from Akron, Ohio, walks up the gangplank of a vessel bound for the China Burma India theater. He says, “I hope that this trip that we’re making will not be a futile one.”, 1945.
Credit: Signal Corps Archive // Public Domain
Happy French civilians return to their homes in liberated Cherbourg, France, and start the task of clearing the debris caused by heavy artillery fire and aerial attacks. original color photo from the 1940s
Locals return to their homes in Cherbourg, France following the liberation of the area, 1944.
Credit: Signal Corps Archive // Public Domain
The last coffee and donuts in France before U.S. troops embark for the good old U.S. and 30 day furloughs before going to the Pacific. July, 1945.
US Soldiers in Le Havre, France, have coffee and donuts before leaving for the US and then the Pacific Theater, July 1945.
Credit: Signal Corps Archive // Public Domain
Infantrymen of the 88th Division march along picturesque mountain highway #64 leading to Bologna. Little resistance was encountered in this sector.
US Soldiers of the 88th Infantry Division march along a highway leading towards Bologna, Italy, 1945.
Credit: Signal Corps Archive // Public Domain
Here is a portion of the wreckage in St. Vith, Belgium, after units of the 7th Armored Division took the town.
The ruins of St. Vith, Belgium seen following the recapture of the town by the 7th Armored Division, January 1945.
Credit: Signal Corps Archive // Public Domain
Field line telephones must be laid and kept in repair on the frontlines for vital communications.
Sgt. George Suskao establishes communications in a recently-shelled area near the Siegfried Line in Germany, October 1944.
Credit: Signal Corps Archive // Public Domain
Fort de Bitche in the background and the city of Bitche in the foreground. G.I. trucks carrying P.O.W.s are on the road. 1945.
Trucks carrying POWs travel on a road passing by the city of Bitche, France, 1945.
Credit: Signal Corps Archive // Public Domain
Capt. James H. Page, Los Angeles, California, attached to the 92nd (Negro) Div., Medical Supply, stands in an incompleted ship turret bearing Nazi emblem in a shipyard near Viareggo, Italy.
Capt. James H. Page from Los Angeles, California, stands in an unfinished ship turret bearing the Nazi emblem in a shipyard near Viareggo, Italy, 1945.
Credit: Signal Corps Archive // Public Domain

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