Fnurban #37 : Zulus, Sir - Paintings of 'em!

On Saturday afternoon I braved the torrential rain showers which broke our recent heatwave, for a trip to the National Army Museum, Chelsea. Their current exhibition is called Myth and Reality: Military Art in the Age of Queen Victoria , and a series of talks were run during the day in support of it. I booked for one of them - Military Art of the Zulu War, given by Ian Knight. As many of you will know, Ian is THE expert on  Zulu military history - I just checked, and found that I have a series of  articles by him starting in issue 16 of Miniature Wargames magazine, from 1984!  I am no expert on the Zulus (clearly I have failed to read all those articles!), but it's always worth hearing someone who really knows their subject - and so it proved.   Please excuse my poor-quality phone picture of Ian in full flow ( well, it was 'darkest Africa', I suppose)  

 

The museum website described the talk like this :

Ian Knight examines artistic representations of the Zulu War of 1879 and how they continue to influence our understanding of the conflict today.

The Zulu War was fought between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom in the furthest reaches of southern Africa. The Zulus demonstrated remarkable resilience, and the war became notable for its ferocious battles. Today, the conflict holds a prominent place in Britain’s collective memory of colonial warfare.

Artists of the time attempted to influence opinion of the Army and its exploits against the Zulus. Charles Edwin Fripp’s romanticised depiction of the British defeat at Isandlwana failed to capture the Victorian public’s imagination. But paintings of the successful defence of Rorke’s Drift by Lady Elizabeth Butler and Alphonse de Neuville proved more popular. Butler’s piece in particular attracted a ‘great crush’ of onlookers at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1881.

As part of our Victorian Soldier Spotlight, historian Ian Knight will examine the different ways that artists of the era portrayed the Zulu War, showing how their work has helped these events to enter British folklore.

Ian is a good, very articulate but unstuffy speaker and gave us a 75-minute tour of his subject (over-running by 15 minutes, but no-one minded!). I didn't take notes, but can remember some sailent points and will try to give them here. 

The Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 was essentially an unprovoked  invasion of the Zulu Kingdom by British forces led by Lord Chelmsford.  How was it portrayed back in Britain? Well, photography was possible but difficult, as photographers still needed to transport bulky kit and chemicals, and the war zone was isolated and undeveloped - and a war zone! So 'action' photos were rare, though pictures of British troops and some Zulu prisoners were made in camps well away from the front. Even if photographs had been easily available, the newspapers of the time could not print them; they relied on drawings and sketches sent back from the war, which would then be turned into engravings for publication in The Daily Graphic, Illustrated London News etc.  Ian showed us a pencil sketch (see below) made by Melton Prior at the battlefield of Isandlwana about a month after the event,  and the published engraving made from it - from  which the original's images of dead and decaying British soldiers were of course omitted.

 There was of course a lot of public interest in the war, and this soon led to the commissioning of paintings recording the main events - these would be put on public display and could draw large crowds to view them.   Ian took us through some of these, and pointed out salient features:

First out of the blocks was this, Siege of Rorke's Drift by William Henry Dugan:

From Art UK (Image credit: The Regimental Museum of The Royal Welsh ) 

 This was painted in 1879, quite soon after the event and when very little information was available -which explains why you little or no detail of the location!  Ian pointed out that the Zulus are not accurately portrayed - the artist just didn't have sufficient information. 

 As timew went by, a lot more detail of the events of the battle became available and could be included in paintings.  In 1880, French artist Alphonse de Neuville produced The Defence of Rorke's Drift 1879'  ( French artists seemed to feature prominently; it seems many had learned their craft depicting the events of 1870-71 ).   

 

Ian pointed out that this sort of picture works a bit like a film - it includes many different episodes which people would have read about in the newspapers: Chaplain Smith handing out ammunition; Surgeon Reynolds attending to wounded; Lieutenants Chard and Bromhead, the highest-ranking officers present; the hospital set on fire by the Zulus and wounded being carried out, etc. All these incidents are included in the picture, though they actually took place at different times during the 12-hour siege. Notice of course, that events are seen very much through British eyes - the Zulu attackers are barely visible, the focus is of course entirely on the heroic British defenders. 

However, it seems that Queen Victoria was not too impressed with a Frenchman producing the definitive representation of a British battle, so she commissioned a British artist to paint the same subject. This was Lady Elizabeth Butler, whose  The Defence of Rorke's Drift  was also painted in 1880.

 In many ways a similar approach to de Neuville,  with several of the well-known characters on view : Chard and Bromhead (both VC) right at the Centre, Chaplain Smith behind them,  wounded Private Frederick Hitch (VC)  in right foreground, also handing out ammunition,  Surgeon Reynolds ( in black) attending to wounded, his assistant  Storekeeper Byrne dramatically falling, shot,  and  Corporal Ferdinand Schiess (VC) climing onto  the barricade to use his bayonet (khaki uniform, to left of the officers ). Plus of course the hospital on fire, and wounded being escorted away,  and again of course the Zulus don;t get much of a look-in, all the focus is on 'our brave boys'.  Many of these men had been interviewed by Lady Butler, and showed her the uniforms they wore at the battle - though Ian pointed out that Bromhead and Chard would very likely have worn  full beards on campaign, which would then have been shaved off on their return to Britain.  The painting attracted large crowds when put on public display,  and you too can now see it 'in the flesh', as it has fairly recently  been cleaned and restored,  and is part of the exhibition at the NAM. Well worth looking at it full-size and in person! 

The final battle of the war, and  the final defeat of the Zulus, was at Ulundi, in July 1879, and of course there is a large-scale painting of it, which belongs to the National Army Museum collection; it was for some years on display on the wall of a corridor in the museum  This is The Battle of Ulundi by Adolphe Yvon  ( another Frenchman!)  , also painted in 1880.

 

Ian said he had been puzzled for a while, as the  picture seems to show the British force in a battle line, whereas in fact Lord Chelmsford drew up his army in a large square formation;  it seems that the painting was most probably painted as a 'panorma',  designed to be displayed on the wall of circular chamber, with the audience at the centre. That would explain, for example, the way that the smoke of battle seems to be drifting in different directions(!).   Also note one or two   dark-coated British lancers at the bottom left - these would be from the 17th Lancers, who charged in pursuit of the fleeing Zulus. A few years ago, he said, he was shown a painting in South Africa depicting the 17th at Ulundi, and  realised that it was probably a missing panel from this picture, showing the 17th about to charge.         

 Of course the other famous event of the Zulu War was the catastrophic defeat of Chelmsford's army at Isandlwana, on the same day as Rorke's Drift, and this too has been the subect of several artworks, the most famous being by Charles Edwin Fripp, first exhibited in 1885: 

 Perhaps unsurprisingly, this picture was not as popular as the Rorke's Drift paintings - the public were much more keen on the latter miraculous victory than this disastrous defeat!  Ian talked us through some interesting points.  As ever, the focus is on our brave boys, who must be seen as heroic even in defeat, hence the 'last stand' nature of the foreground group, though the background scenes of slaughter would probably be more like the reality,  One detail he pointed out was the young drummer boy in the left centre, when in fact the British drummers would have been adults. Also note that there are no officers shown - so the heroic  other ranks are left to 'do and die' by their incompetent (and fleeing ) officers?  This painting also belongs to the National Army Museum, and they have a web page about its recent restoration.     

The attempts to find consolation in catastprophe continued in several other contemporary  paintings which focussed especially on the story of Lieutenants Teignmouth Melvill and Nevill Coghill, who were killed attempting to save the Queen's Colour of the 1st Battalion, 24th Foot.- as Wikipedia puts it , the colour was carried off the field by Lieutenant Melvill on horseback but lost when he crossed the river, despite Lieutenant Coghill having come to his aid. Both Melvill and Coghill were killed after crossing the river, and received posthumous Victoria Crosses in 1907 as the legend of their gallantry grew. Here is Last Sleep of the Brave by Alphonse de Neuville (1881) - Lancers find the bodies of the dead heroes, united in death and still protecting the colours:. 

 Except,  as Ian Knight pointed out,  the bodies were found some distance apart, the colours were not saved but dropped in the river, and that's the wrong colours in the picture! 

And what about the poor old Zulus in all this? As stated already, the paintings tend to show the heroics of the redcoats, and ignore the zulus and their point of viw- at least partly, it seems because artists had little first-hand knowledge of them and their appearance and equipment. Ian as able to show us one image of Rorkes Drift,  drawn from a viewpoint amongst the Zulu army - I haven't been able to find a copy of that one, but it was, Ian said, almost certainly based on this watercolour  sketch made by Lieutenant Chard, who was  in command on the day :  

 

And finally, I think Ian said that this drawing, A Zulu Regiment Attacking at Isandlwana, again by C E Fripp, was a rare, good accurate portrayal of Zulu warriors - Fripp had been to South Africa and seen the battlefields, and met the Zulus. 

 So on that note, I'll finish - many thanks to Ian Knight for a really interesting talk, and to  the NAM for organising it. If you are anywhere near Chelsea in the near future, the exhibition is no doubt worth a look too - I only had a few minutes spare to look at it on the day, but  will certainly be  going back. 

I also noticed that if you are very keen on all this, you can spend 14 days in November in the company of Ian Knight, on a Zulu War tour run by Cultural Experience the historic tour company. But I should point out that it will cost you over £6,000 - I paid a fiver for the talk, that will do me!  Until next time, keep well, everyone. 

Fnurban #36 : What's in a Name?

There's been something of a pause in hobby activities in the past few weeks - largely just due to 'daily life' happening, really  ( 'Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans..' as a working-class hero may, or may not, have said ).  A little progress on painting 6mm figures for the Risorgimento project, but nothing finished and alas, no gaming.  But there has been a little 'military history' interest, with a common thread, that being my family name. 

I think I was slightly aware that one of Wellington's staff in the Peninsular bore the name Barnes - I think I remembered him being mentioned at 'No.1, London', Apsley House, which is of course well worrh a visit if you are in central London. But recently, and  possibly after Jon Freitag's ACW Shiloh game that I took part in,  I happened to search on-line for 'General Barnes'. There was indeed an ACW character of that name, commander of the Union army's 1st Division, who disgraced himself at Gettysburg, I'm afraid. However,  I was more interested to see some details of the Napoleonic officer, Sir Edward Barnes (1776-1838).  His Wikipedia page makes a good introduction.  He seems to have had a distinguished military career, rising to be Wellington's  'fire-eating adjutant general'  in the Waterloo campaign, and was wounded in that battle. Subsquently he spent seven years as Governor of Ceylon, and was Commander-in-Chief in India in 1832-1833.   Here he is, in a portrait by William Salter 

Need I say there is emphatically no resemblance to me? ( except perhaps what is euphemistically called a  'high forehead' )  And no evidence of any family connection - my ancestors were all  lowly farm labourers in Norfolk at the time.  But I was struck by a couple of nice coincidences in his biography.  Firstly,  that he was briefly MP for Sudbury at the end of his life - Sudbury being my adopted home town. As an aside, he was first elected in a controversial by-election in 1834, which was covered by a young newspaper reporter named Charles Dickens, and probably inspired Dickens' fictional election at  'Eatanswill' in The Pickwick Papers.         

And secondly, General Barnes died at his home at Walthamstow in 1838, and is buried in the churchyard of St. Mary's Church, Walthamstow. His gravesite is marked by a large monument, with an inscription giving details of his achievements in life.  It happens that before moving to Sudbury, I too lived at Walthamstow, for about 10 years ( I suspect his house was a bit grander than my Warner Estates maisonette ), and I must have walked past St. Mary's churchyard a good many times, all unknowing. It has occurred that I seem to be following my illustrious namesake around, and it might be fun to do a little research into his life and career. By way of a start, a few weeks ago I paid a visit to the church, and found the monument : 

 as you can see it's quite impressive, but alas the inscription is by no means easy to read

- but it's a start, at least. It might be nice to find out some more.  Perhaps my new friends at the National Army Museum ( well, I paid for a membership there, mainly to donate some money and to get a discount in the cafe when attending their talks! ) can help..

Another thread of research is a bit closer to home - I have done a bit of family history investigation  over the years, and have recently been passed copies of  the RAF service records of a relative (with whom I also share surname), who was a mid-upper gunner in Lancaster bombers in 1943 and 1944. I  have his service record document which records his joining up in 1942, and then the sequence of postings to various reserve, reception and training establishments, finally arriving at No. 57 squadron  at RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire in late 1942.  Scampton is famous as the base at which No. 617  'The Dambusters' squadron was formed in early 1943, and several crews joined no. 617 from no.57 squadron, so my relative may very well have been familiar with many  'Dambusters', though he remained with No.57.  He stayed with the squadron until July 1943, so I assume he completed a 'tour' of operations, and then transferred to various OTUs (Operational Training Units), perhaps as an instructor, before joining no.9 squadron ( the RAF's senior bomber unit ) in July 1944.  

All that information is interesting enough, but what is really fascinating to me, is a series of copies of  the squadron's Operation Records, for operations which my relative took part in. These give the date and target of the mission, the number of the squadron's aircraft involved,  and a summary of how the operation went - and then a separate section for each aircraft, giving details of crew members, time 'up' and 'down', whether they reached the target, time and altitude of bombing, whether results could be observed, and bomb load carried. 

As an example, here is the squadron's summary for the operation undertaken on the night of 3rd/4th March 1843 :

BOMBING OPERATION: TARGET - HAMBURG
Seven aircraft were detailed to attack HAMBURG. All took off, but one returned early with rear turret u/s and an oil leak in one engine. The other six aircraft reached the target area. Visibility was good and all saw the River Elbe and the dock system. The P.F.F. markers were clearly seen and bombed. All crews report a good concentration of bombs on the markers and report huge fires which could be seen over 100 miles away on the return journey. All returned to base except 'M' which was sent on to Wittering to land on the long runway there because of the inability to get the flaps down for landing. It landed safely there. Photographs taken on this raid show a large mass of fires with little ground detail. Those plotted (in all squadrons in Command ) show that the main concentration of bombing must have been on the little town of Wedel on the Elbe about 12 miles West of Hamburg. 

And for the aircraft in which my relative flew : 

Time up : 19:15, down 00:31. River Elbe identified and T.I. markers seen. Bombed concentration of markers at 21:35 hrs from 20,500ft. Bombing was concentrated around the markers. Bomb Load:  1 x 4,000lb H.C. + 96 x 30lb I.B. 

[  'P.F.F.' means Path Finder Force,  'T.I.' is Target Indicator, 'H.C.' I think means 'High Compression' (i.e High Explosive )  and 'I.B.' is Incendiary Bomb ]

I have Alfred Price's excellent introductory book Battle Over The Reich about the RAF and USAAF bombing campaigns over Germany, and he specifically discussed this raid - stating that the Pathfinder Force aircraft had problems with their new H2S centimetric radar sets, which were supposed to give an accurate picture of the features on the ground over which they were flying. The H2S operators were confused by low tides uncovering sandbanks which 'produced the appearance of  a river narrowing far downstram of Hamburg' . Also at Wedel 'Army engineers had dammed a small mill stream nearby to produce a large lake resembling in shape the Alster Lake in the centre of Hamburg... the majority of the raiders released their loads on the decoy, obliterating Wedel itself and several of the nearby villages' .  It seems from the squadron summary above that the failure of this mission was very soon known to Bomber Command.  No consolation to the unfortunate inhabitants of Wedel of course - and those of Hamburg had only a temporary reprieve before the horrors of the highly successful ( from the RAF point of view )  Operation Gomorrah in the following July.

I think the above gives a flavour of the information I am looking through - and perhaps the mixture of fascination and unease which they give.  I suspect that a big factor in our interest in military history ( or any history come to that ) is to consider 'what was it like to be there', and the sort of details available here help hugely in creating a picture in the mind of what the young men ( my subject being only about 20 at the time ) involved were going through,  and also, it must be said, of the destruction that they brought to the cities and people of Germany (look at the 'bomb load' details for just one aircraft,  multiply by several hundred aircraft  per operation, and think of the effect of them on the ground: huge fires which could be seen over 100 miles away ).  The amount of information available on-line on the RAF bombing campaign is impressive, including  from the  International Bomber Command Centre at Lincoln, which I now hope to visit. The records I am looking at give the ID number of every aircraft involved, and so far  a simple on-line search has easily turned up information on the fate of each one of them - suffice it to say that the operational life of a Lancaster bomber in 1943, even if not actually lost in action, was usually  measured in months.  Very sadly, the same goes for the crews, and the fascination of following my late relative's tour of duty is overshadowed by the knowledge that he 'failed to return' from a mission in July 1944, aged only 21. 

 

As an illustration of perhaps the 'small world' of Bomber Command and the amount of information available,  the above picture is from Wikipedia's page on 57 Squadron, and depicts  Flying Officer R.W. Stewart, a wireless operator on a Lancaster of No. 57 Squadron based at RAF Scampton speaking to the pilot from his position in front of the Marconi T1154/R1155 transmitter/receiver set :  it so happens that my relative flew on one mission in the same aircraft as F/O Stewart.  I am gradually reading through the records I have been given and transcribing extracts involving my late relative - it really is a very interesting, and sobering, exercise. When I was 20, living at a university and doing the final year of my degree seemed fairly stressful - I really didn't know I was born, did I? 

Aside from that, there has been a tiny bit of hobby activity, as I have made very small steps forward with painting my recently-acquired  Commission Figurines figures ( from their Napoleonic and ACW  ranges) for the 1859 Austrians vs. Piedmontese war in Italy, 

 

Here they are on the coffee-stirrer painting sticks ( always keep your coffee stirrers, I have a bundle of 'em ).  So far they've been primed, the infantry have been given their tunics/greatcoats and the cavalry horses have been painted. Still quite a long way to go, and xmas shopping, card-writing  and socialising has been getting in the way a bit, but  I will try to keep finding some time for them. 

I'm hoping to squeeze in one more post before Xmas, even if it's only a picture of a small Xmas tree - and maybe a little more painting progress. There is even a rumour of possible remote gaming.. we shall see.  Until then, keep well and enjoy the mince pies, everyone.

Fnurban #35: Bringing the Good News from Ghent.. and Croydon

Having not ventured outside the UK since 2019, I'm glad to say that earlier this month my partner and I enjoyed a short break in Belgium, travelling by Eurostar train from London and staying at Ghent, which is a susprisingly pleasant city and full of historical interest. Amongst all that, of course there was a smattering of military history to be found, and  I hope you may find the following of some interest too. 

Looming over the centre of the city, as it had been designed to since the 12th Century was the impressive Gravensteen, or Castle of the Counts of Flanders.  This is the view from the canal which effectively forms a moat: 

We visited the castle, and were rewarded with a room full of arms and armour, including this 16th/17th Century 'Three-Quarter' / Cuirassier armour 

 

and a range of pole-arms of about the same time, 

 

In fact I think most of the display was from a similar period, incuding some very highly decorated crosssbows and muskets, which looked more like  status symbols than practical weapons (perhaps this explains their survival ). 

The City Museum, STAM 'Tells the story of Ghent from the Middle Ages to the present day', and does a pretty good job of that - well worth a visit if you are in town. Ghent was a seriously important place - one of the largest cities North of the Alps in the 14th Century, home to Burgundian rulers such as Charles the Bold ( the man with the trendiest  Army List in medieval Europe, though it didn't save him against the Swiss!), birthplace of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, the most powerful man in the world in his day.  Of course there were quite a few paintings depicting the city, and these are always worth a look.  Here is one of them : 

The Inauguration of Charles II, King of Spain, as Count of Flanders in 1666 in Ghent. Look closely at the bottom right corner: 

A nice Troop of horse -  I reckon about to 50-60 troopers, in 4 ranks, with buff coat, 'back and breast' armour, a mix of soft hats and 'Lobster Tail' helmets ( the latter dominating the front rank ).  Would they still be called Harquebusiers, or would this be 'Cuirassier' rig by 1666? 

Move forward a century or so, and the same museum has Engelbert van Siclers 1780 painting, Louis XV reviews the French troops in front of Ghent    

 

 This depicts Lousi XV reviewing the French troops who would take possession of Ghent on 11th July 1745, holding it for 3 years before handing it back to the Austrians.  As before, I zoomed in to see some of the the actual troops: 

A body of cavalry clearly shown,  with two coat colours in evidence (green, or is it greyish blue? and red ), so presumably representing  two different units. By counting hats in the main group I'd say about 20 of each unit, and I assume the figures in the foreground riding behind the two gents on white horses would be from the same units.  Is the  leading gentlemen  Louis XV, or a  commander of the troops - would Maurice de Saxe have been there?     There is a group of grandees to the left of the picture, which may represent Louis and his entourage. I will leave it to the experts to decide who is who, maybe even which units are shown?  An interesting image though, showing a moment from the victorious French campaign in the Low Countries during the War of Austrian Succession, two months to the day after de Saxe's victory over the British and Dutch at Fontenoy. 

Finally in the history paintings department, we also visited the Fine Arts Museum of Ghent (MSK), which has a rather fine picture 

  This is Titus' Conquest of Jerusalem, painted c.1475-1500 by a painter described as 'Viennese Master of Mary of Burgundy'.  Mary was the daughter of Charles the Bold of Burgundy, who inherited his lands aged 19, on Charles' death in battle at Nancy in 1477. I can't help feeling that the numerous soldiers represented as besieging 'Jerusalem' would very likely have been based on contemporary troops which the painter could have had access to. So is this in effect a representation of Charles the Bold's army?  Of course it also shows siege operations in progress, with a rather splendid 'engine' battering the walls of the city.  I don't see any cannon, however, which may undermine my theory about the painter showing a contemporary army!  All the same, it's a splendid picture, full of incident. I managed to get a few close-up pictures of some of the details, which I show here. 

Coming much closer to the present day, we also took a day at the seaside - sadly it wasn;t seaside weather, but there we are -  specifically at Ostend. We went there mainly to see 'The Longest Tram Line in the World' , the Belgian Coastal Tram, which extends for 67km along the coast. We didn't cover the whole line, but by chance we dismounted just outside Ostend on a quiet stretch of the sea front, and were confronted by a section of Hitler's Atlantic Wall defenses.  Sadly not open when we were there, but it clearly is open as a tourist attraction some of the time.  Walking back along the promenade, I coulnd't resist a few photos : 

   

As you can see, there are original concrete exmplacements, and a selection of period weapons have been either restored in place or imported to add a bit more 'flavour' to the setup.  I think it looks worth a visit if you happen to be there at the right time! 

And now for something completely different, as the saying goes: as well as Ghent, I have recently been to - Croydon.  I went to see an exhibition, organised by the Artangel group, named Come as You Really Are, which showed off the weird, wonderful and varied world of people's hobbies. As you may be aware, blogger  Mark Man of Tin has contributed a selection of his classic Toy Soldiers to the exhibition - he has put up several posts on his blog showing them.  Here are some of Mark's figures (I don't think the Spitfire model is his, however ? ) 

 

I can'r resist one or two more pictures from the show, which it has to be said is, in the nicest possible way, utterly bonkers and gives an insight into the crazy variety of hobbies and collections that all sorts of people pursue 

D&D / Warhammer meets Barbie..

a whole battle fleet of Star Wars

The exhibition also featured work by artist Hetain Patel, including a rather splendid piece whereby he has transformed  his old Ford Fiesta car into - well, a Transformer. It is posed appropriately with a large collection of model cars - and a mannequin in a Spiderman costume.I think maybe this gives an idea of the spirit of the exhibtion...

My pictures can't possibly sum up the whole exhibit, it is utterly mad, and somewhat heartwarming - though to be honest I was not sure it was actually art. And if you thought collecting and gaming with toy soldiers is pretty niche, how about collecting plastic carrier bags? Or used pencil erasers?  Or painting pebbles with copies of designs from chocolate bar wrappers? All of which were in the show.  It is a free exhibition, so if you happen to be in Croydon before 20th October with some time to spare, you may enjoy it - not sure if I would recommend you travel any great distance, and I can't say Croydon was as attractive a destination as Ghent!  But certainly a 'different' experience.

I seem to have wandered far from wargaming - I hope to get back to that soon. Meanwhile, welcome to Autumn ( in the Northern Hemisphere at least ) and keep well, everyone.

Fnurban #34 Duxford redux

There's been a period of quiet here, partly due to being away on holiday; to 'get back in the saddle'  I will take this opportunity to put up a picture-heavy post, and try not to be as verbose as I can sometimes be! 

Following my first visit to IWM Duxford in July,  I was able to return there in late August, and this time had a good look around the 'Land Warfare' display.  I managed to take a decent number of photos of the exhibits I was most interested in, so without further ado:

Valentine tank

6-Pounder A/T Gun

Lloyd Carrier

Very glad to see a Lloyd Carrier, I was not at all familiar with them. I like the tea-mug kept handy for 'brew-up' at any opportunity! 

 

wasn't this an Airfix kit? AEC 'Matador' and 5.5in Gun ?

the classic 'Quad' tractor and (behind) 25-pounder gun

Monty's desert command tank (the actual one, I believe?)

and the opposition: German 10.5cm howitzer

and ( I think ) 75mm abd 59mm PAK anti-tank guns

plus of course the dreaded '88'

'Hanomag' half-track (in fact a post-war Czech copy)

Jagdpanther tank destroyer

the Jadgpanther has had a section of the hull side cut away to show the interior, and we were kindly allowed a closer look at that: 

 

it was striking how the entire cabin is taken up by the gun!

Finally, some representatives of the Red Army: 

T-34/85 of course

and Joseph Stalin (mk II, I think?)

Following the WW2 vehicles, there was then a display of Cold War and later kit with some interesting stuff such as T-55, Centurion and Chieftan tanks, but I confess I did not photograph many of them, we had reached something of a surfeit of AFVs and lunch was calling!   Nevertheless this was a really interesting display with some highly relevant vehicles and weapons for me - I was particularly interested to see the Lloyd carrier, having acquired some models of it for my 'D-Day Dodgers' British forces. 

Sadly however, parts of the 'Land Warfare' area were closed, and the guides told us that this is because the whole thing is going to be closed. Not sure what will happen to the collection - there was some suggestion they might be dispersed around the other halls at Duxford, presumably to be displayed alongside appropriate aircraft, but I'm not sure really how that would work. Or would they be better moved to other IWM sites, given that Duxford is really about aircraft?  We shall see. 

 After lunch we had a good look around the main hall 'Air Space' display of British aircraft, which has a splendid collection, as you can see from just this photo : 

hmm... Lancaster, Sunderland, Vulcan, TSR2, 'and many, many more' - and there is a Concorde in the same hall!  

the English Electric Lightning is quite something..

..it's basically all about the engines!

Outside there was a lot of flying activity as usual, we were lucky to see the B-17 Flying Fortress taking off.   Also nice to see this C-47 'Dakota', no doubt coming to an Arnhem commemoration right now..

and finally we were able to get a fairly close look at the PBY Catalina being maintained on the tarmac, another favourite of mine. 

 

If you have £15,000 to spare, it seems you can become a 'shareholder' of this aircraft, though I'm not sure what privileges that gets you, apart from probably being asked for more money to look after it! Good for those who do, of course. 

All in all another excellent day at Duxford, highly recommended if you like this sort of thing! Having taken out an IWM membership, to get the full value we need to visit HMS Belfast and the Cabinet War Rooms, both in London, and those visits are indeed being planned, no doubt leading to more posts on this blog!   

One piece of actual ( albeit virtual/remote) wargming has been fitted in: this week I was lucky enough to be invited to join Jon Freitag's  re-creation of the opening phase of the Battle of Shiloh, 1862. 

I took the role of one of the Confederate commanders, and the picture shows the 'traffic jam' of our units as they crowded in to the attack!  Jon will doubtless put up a battle report soon, in the meantime his description in a recent blogpast of the game as featuring some surprise, jubilation, despair, and a lot of laughter  sums it up pretty well! Thanks Jon, and the other players, for a great game. 

That's all for now, next time perhaps some painting progress can be reported on, or a certain amount of military history interest gleaned from my recent holiday. Until then keep well, everyone.