As today is Remembrance Day, here’s an image of British Army Sherwood Foresters keeping warm while waiting for lunch during the Battle of the Somme (First World War). The battle claimed over a million casualties over the 140 days it was fought.
Tag Archives: British Army
On this day: a Halloween joke in World War Two
Two days before Halloween in 1942, a humorous vampire sign stands outside the British Army blood transfusion centre in the Western Desert of North Africa (regions in Egypt and Libya). Second World War.
A Wartime Christmas
December 1916. First World War: Injured soldiers celebrate Christmas in the 3rd Northern General Hospital in Sheffield, England. Sheffield was bombed by a German zeppelin during the war, and soldiers from the region suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of the Somme.
On this day: British troops near Ypres
This photograph by John Warwick Brooke, dated the 9th of August, 1917, shows British troops involved in the Battle of Passchendaele (also known as the Third Battle of Ypres) in Belgium. The battle lasted for over three months, from the end of July to November.
Note the camouflage materials on the back of one of the wagons.
On this day: British Troops in France
British soldiers head off to fight in Operation Goodwood in Normandy, France, on the 18th of July, 1944. Second World War.
The offensive took place between the 18th and 20th, and resulted in 3474 British casualties and the loss of 314 British tanks.
On this day: Italian Prisoners of War
6th January 1941: A column of Italian soldiers, captured after their defeat by combined Australian and British forces, are marched to an army base after the Battle of Bardia in Libya.
Bardia was the first battle planned and commanded by Australians in the Second World War. Italy was aligned with Nazi Germany in the war.
100 Years Ago
4th August 1918: British soldiers in Ranchicourt, France hold a service to mark the fourth anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War. The British Army military band stands in the foreground.
On this day: Preparations for Battle
This image is of the British Army preparing mortar ammunition in Acheux, France for the infamous Battle of the Somme in the First World War. The image is dated the 28th of June, 1916, while the battle began on the 1st of July, resulting in over a million casualties (about one third of the soldiers who fought).
The battle concluded on the 18th of November.
On this day: Heading to War
28th June 1916: British troops near Doullens, France head to the front to begin the Battle of the Somme.
This infamous First World War battle claimed the lives of about a third of the three million soldiers who fought from the start of July until mid-November.
In Times Gone By... 