All articles in Military
2nd July, 2016 in Biography & Memoir, Military
Memoir of a Tommy: Life on the Somme
The following is extracted from Private 12768: Memoir of a Tommy, an account of life in the trenches by Private John Jackson. Jackson served on the Western Front from 1915 until the war’s end; he was present at Loos in 1917, on the Somme in 1916, in Flanders in 191…
27th June, 2016 in History, Military
The man who saved the ninja
Between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, Japan entered into a series of wars: villages were burned, swords – red with gore – stained the sky, and warriors mounted steeds with arrows poised across their armour. During this time there was one branch of the samurai army that…
23rd June, 2016 in Local & Family History, Military
Three ways to find your ancestors’ World War I medals
I am often asked how members of the public can find or source the actual war medals that their family ancestors won, specifically around First World War medals. The blunt truth is it is difficult. Very difficult. It is like searching for a needle in a haystack, but it can be done…
19th June, 2016 in Military
Evacuation of the wounded in World War I
The First World War created major problems for the Army’s medical services. A man’s chances of survival depended on how quickly his wound was treated. In a conflict involving mass casualties, rapid evacuation of the wounded and early surgery were vital. Here the many stages in th…
13th June, 2016 in Military
Fact into fiction: The art of Nazi propaganda
On the morning of 10 May 1940 Germany invaded Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Scarcely 24 hours later, the headlines in the German press were to condemn a terror raid by Allied planes during the afternoon of 10 May on the civilian population of the undefended German city…
8th June, 2016 in Military
‘Kitchener’s Mob’ on the Somme
The Battle of the Somme, from 1 July to 18 November 1916, was the greatest test so far for Kitchener’s ‘Pals’ who enlisted with their coworkers, football teammates, neighbours and friends to fight ‘for King and Country’ in the British Expeditionary Force….
23rd May, 2016 in Maritime, Military
The Battle of Jutland, 31 May 1916
The Battle of Jutland was fought between the Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy’s High Seas Fleet, from 31 May to 1 June 1916, in the North Sea near Denmark’s Jutland Peninsula. Over 36 hours, one brutal day and night in 1916, around 100,000 British and German…
22nd May, 2016 in Biography & Memoir, Military, Women in History
Joan of Arc: Three ways the ‘Maid of Orléans’ made history
Joan of Arc’s short yet extraordinary life has inspired writers, artists, activists, and politicians throughout time. Her story is featured everywhere from First World War song lyrics to a new musical by David Byrne. She rose to fame with her notable military victory on the battl…
17th May, 2016 in Maritime, Military
The ‘big naval show’ of the Great War
On 31 May 2016 commemorations in Orkney marked the centenary of the Battle of Jutland, in which over 8,000 men died; the installation of Poppies: Weeping Window (part of the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red installation at the Tower of London in 2014) had already taken plac…
17th May, 2016 in Local & Family History, Military, Women in History
How the well-organised women of Cheltenham contributed to the war effort
In the early years of the twentieth century there were large numbers of ex-colonial, retired military personnel in Cheltenham – a leisured class with time on their hands and a culture of looking after their ‘troops’. As the young men left for war, groups of women came forwar…
17th May, 2016 in Military, Sport
The King’s Cup 1919
War has many unintended consequences, very few of them happy. But the ‘greatest imperial emergency’ of the Great War and the influx of Dominion troops into Europe happily made the period 1916-19 a golden age for international rugby – or at least a gunmetal one. The gilding, by ro…
11th May, 2016 in Military
The Battle of the Somme in infographics
Explore this thought-provoking gallery of facts about the Somme offensive, including statistics from the battlefield, the weaponry used, and the lives lost.