In 1942, someone at the War Office decided they needed a prisoner of war camp just outside Malton, in North Yorkshire. (“I say, Carruthers, we really could do with a nice new prison camp. Any ideas?” “I know just the place, sir…”). It is now a museum, almost exclusively dedicated to the Second World War.
The Cross of Sacrifice instantly identifies a Commonwealth War Graves cemetery. Beautifully tended, as they all are, the information panel tells you that this one contains 383 burials from the First World War, 97 Commonwealth – mainly New Zealanders – and 286 Germans. There are also three burials from the Second World War. Shortly after
Cannock Chase War Cemetery Read More »
West Midlands
I can’t remember how many times I’ve visited the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth. The entrance is a statement, dominated by two massive gun barrels pointing straight at you, with the classical lines of a 19th century cupola-topped former hospital in the background. The guns are 15” barrels from Royal Navy battleships, HMS Roberts (on
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London
Almost 5,000 German and Austrian war dead, 2,143 from the First World War and 2,797 from the Second, lie in peace in Cannock Chase, an area of outstanding natural beauty in rural Staffordshire. Some died trying to kill our parents or grandparents from the skies; others were washed ashore from ships; and some were prisoners
Deutsche Soldatenfriedhof, Cannock Chase Read More »
West Midlands
They needed to break the deadlock. By the end of 1914, men had gone to ground in the wasteland of the Western Front. Perhaps, some thought, a breakthrough would come when the weather improved and cavalry could be used. But attacks through coils of barbed wire against well-defended dug-in positions, from which machine-gun and rapid
The consequences of the First World War are still with us The First World War transformed the world forever. The conflict itself resonated through the remainder of the 20th century and set events in motion that have informed the world we live in today. Some of the consequences are obvious – the map of the
The legacy of 1914-1918 Read More »
History
A summary of the conflict and Britain’s part in it The 1914-18 war was a global conflict. British forces, and those of her Imperial Dominions – particularly Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India and South Africa – fought in Africa, Italy, the Middle East, Salonica (Greece) and Gallipoli (Turkey), as well as on the Western Front
Britain and the First World War Read More »
History
Or – how Europe went mad The First World War, ‘Great War’ or ‘War to end all wars’, was the largest conflict on the planet until the Second World War twenty years’ later. It lasted a little over four years and killed in the region of 16.5 million people, almost half of them civilians. That
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History