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A man poses with a motorcycle equipped with skis in order to travel through the snow in Kehrsatz, Switzerland during World War I.

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A German artilleryman wearing his gas mask whilst reading in a battery position near Les Boeufs on the Somme, August 1916.

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Few subjects can be quite so boring as history badly written or badly taught; no branch is more open to this than military history. A few people seem able to derive a satisfaction from studying the moves and deployments of armies without concern for the men who made and undertook them. While often wishing that I could find a little interest in such matters, I must admit that nothing sends me to sleep quicker than bald statements about the so-and-so division advancing along a certain axis, and passing through endless places which are rarely shown on any map. My concern is always to discover what the men taking part in the operation thought of it.

John Baynes - Morale, a Study of Men and Courage: The Second Scottish Rifles and the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, 1915.

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“They”

The Bishop tells us: “When the boys come back They will not be the same; for they’ll have fought In a just cause: they lead the last attack On Anti-Christ; their comrades’ blood has bought New right to breed an honourable race, They have challenged Death and dared him face to face,”

“We’re none of us the same!” the boys reply. “For George lost both his legs; and Bill’s stone blind; Poor Jim’s shot through the lungs and like to die; And Bert’s gone syphilitic: you’ll not find A chap who’s served that hasn’t found some change.” And the Bishop said: “The ways of God are strange!”

- “They” by Siegfried Sassoon, 31st October 1916

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Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčik, the Czechoslovak soldiers who assassinated Reinhard Heydrich, one of the main architects of the Holocaust. 

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Imperial War Museum

I went to the Imperial War Museum in London on Friday, so here are some pictures of some of the stuff they had there:

[WWI]

15 Inch Naval Guns (the newest and largest of 1914, could launch a shell 16 1/4 miles)

Néry Gun (British 13-ponder gun and limber used during the battle at Néry)

Russian Cavalry Officers Coat Given To Kaiser Wilhelm II By His Cousin (one sleeve is shorter than the other due to the Kaiser being born with a withered arm)

Austrian Uniform (8th Lancer Regiment)

French Uniform (5th Infantry Regiment)

Gas Masks

Zeppelin Observation Car (the car was the only place crew members of the Zeppelin could smoke)

Fez Worn By Askari (African soldiers serving with German colonial forces in Cameroon)

[WWII]

M4A4 Sherman Tank

Mitsubishi A6M Zero Fighter

Avro Lancaster Bomber Cockpit

SSB Manned Torpedo (nicknames maiali (or pigs) by the Italian Navy due to how awkward they were to steer)

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Rinat Voligamsi

Voligamsi (or Rinat Fazletdinovich Ismagilov), is a Russian painter and sculptor born 1968. He was conscripted into the Red Army in 1988, but left only one year later to return to his studies.

His work consists of paintings, many of which are based on old Soviet newspapers, and sculptures made with distorted proportions. Part of what creates his surrealist style is his method of studying these newspapers and then recreating them from memory.

These works are both humorous and bleak in their depictions of Soviet and neo-Soviet iconography still prevalent in Russia today, made with a focus on challenging Russian authority. Centred on the cultish atmosphere of war and the denunciation of the military, Voligamsi creates many of his works using bitumen which is the main component in asphalt. This is essentially a metaphor for propaganda created by big media companies in Russia rolling over opponents to the regime.

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1944 - Snowball the cat tries to take over a machine gun in Normandy so she can shoot some Nazis herself.

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An Austro-Hungarian soldier descends into the “city of ice” underneath the Marmolata/Marmolada glacier, 1916.

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In Memoriam

Yesterday, I bought Alice Winn's debut novel In Memoriam. I hadn't heard of her or the book and only happened upon it in Waterstones but let me tell you it was brilliant. I read the whole thing in one night and finally fell asleep after the sun had come up. In Memoriam takes place during WW1 and follows the stories of Henry Gaunt and Sidney Ellwood, from their English boarding school to the front lines of war. It is first and foremost a love story, but it also depicts the horrors of war and the friendships they forge. It's a rather sad read, as I'm sure you can imagine and Winn's writing makes it so vivid.

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

A fair portion of the opening chapters are written through letters between Ellwood and Gaunt, whilst Ellwood is still at school and Gaunt has joined up to the war effort. What marks the end of this correspondence and finally forces Ellwood to decide to leave the comfort of school to join the front lines is a letter from Gaunt where he tells Ellwood of the horrors of war. Prior to this he'd been keeping the letters quite sanitary and since we as the readers haven't seen much from Gaunt's side either, it comes as quite a shocking plunge from Ellwoods' school antics to the reality of the trenches. I would say it's the first turning point in the book and what he writes is both poignant and revealing. He describes how he saw men dying from gas (I won't go into too many gory details), the fear of going into No Man's Land and how when he stood amongst the fallen bodies of his comrades he writes 'I stood on the most God-forsaken patch of earth I ever hope exists and I thought: I wonder how Elly is.'. Whilst this is only the beginning, the letter was so memorable even by the end. Besides Gaunt and Ellwood, there were many great characters whom I came to love. Especially Gaunts friends from the Offizierslager (a type of German war camp specifically for commissioned officers) that he is sent to in the second half of the story. In particular, Gideon Devi and Archie Pritchard, with whom he attempts to escape. It's funny, there are so many names who get mentioned and then pop up later that make you go 'oh it's him!'. This section of the story also works to break up the intense front line action that the story has so far been packed with and gives you a welcome respite to relax and not worry about any of the characters you like dying horrifically. The story has a lot of dry wit comedy that makes you laugh at the most unexpected times, but this section is especially amusing in a way and knowing how things are going on Ellwoods end has you holding onto it. I also loved Hayes, whose friendship with both Gaunt and Ellwood (though he might not admit to the second one) was so important to the story. The way he supports Gaunt and goes on to look after Ellwood after he leaves. Which brings me onto the scene when Hayes gives Ellwood Gaunt's final letter, which was so perfectly written and heart-breaking (that Hayes even thinks to give it to him at all when it's only one line). And lastly, the ending. To be perfectly honest, the ending is my only point of contention with this book. Not because I think it's bad, more realistic in a way that makes me sad after everything they went through to get there. It ends on an uplifting note, suggests that things will get better but still, I feel sad for Gaunt even whilst I understand how everything has built up to make Ellwood the way that he is. I just wish they could've been a little happier, that Ellwood could've been a little less angry. And also maybe that the two could've discussed some things a bit more about the history of their relationship that I think needed to be said. But 10/10 would recommend.