Photograph: Christmas Truce, 1914
NAM 1995-06-89-1-1
A friendly chat with the enemy
During Christmas 1914, at various points along the southern part of the Ypres front in Belgium, several unofficial truces between British and German soldiers took place. In the trenches on Christmas morning hymns were sung and rations thrown between opposing lines. It was not long before the more adventurous troops started to take matters into their own hands and venture into no-man’s-land. Here they exchanged food, tobacco, cigarettes, drink, badges and buttons. Both sides saw the lull in fighting as a chance to find the bodies of their compatriots and give them a decent burial. Although strict orders were issued against fraternization by the High Command, many junior officers tolerated the truce and allowed events to take their own course. They never doubted that eventually the war would resume in all its fury. They were proved correct. For the remainder of World War One (1914-1918) there was to be no re-occurrence of the 1914 truce and the event acquired semi-mystic status and has since been celebrated as an act of humanity in an inhuman war.
Photograph: Women workers in a munitions factory, c. 1916-17
NAM 1999-11-70-60
Women at war
During World War One women volunteered for essential work in order to release men for service in the armed forces. Between 1914-1918, around two million women volunteers replaced men in employment.
During World War Two (1939-1945) it was clear that volunteers alone were not going to meet the demands of wartime production. In December 1941 the National Service Act made the conscription of women legal. At first, only single women aged 20-30 were called up, but by mid-1943, almost 90 per cent of single women and 80 per cent of married women were employed in essential war work.
Trench signboard, Ypres, 1918
NAM 1996-08-303
Hellfire Corner
This sign was used to mark ‘Hellfire Corner’, a busy junction on the Menin Road, which ran from Ypres to the frontline trenches. It was a very dangerous place being within easy range of the German guns, and as a result of constant, heavy shelling was given this nickname by British troops. This sign is believed to be the last used at this position and bears shell and small arms damage. Lieutenant W. S. Storie of the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) brought this sign back to Britain after World War One. He displayed it in his shop window on Prince’s Street, Edinburgh. The evocative name ‘Hellfire Corner’ was instantly recognisable to the generation who lived through the war, which is why Storie used it to attract crowds to his shop. Many of those who survived the war would have passed the sign, or one of its predecessors, en route to and from the front line.
Photograph: Vickers machine gun team in gas masks
NAM 1995-03-86-3
Horrors of war
Both the machine-gun and gas, along with barbed wire and artillery have come to define the popular view of the horrors of World War One. All four were the result of scientific developments during the 19th century industrialization of Europe. During this period, developments in metallurgy and chemicals led to new and improved weapons that could kill on a far greater scale than ever before. Likewise, railways and steamships led to a revolution in transport, allowing large armies with their supplies and ammunition to be moved long distances in days rather than weeks. There was also a revolution in communications with the electric telegraph and, by the 1900s, the development of telephone lines and radio broadcasting. With landlines and submarine cables now connecting cities and the front lines, information could be passed almost instantly, where before it had sometimes taken weeks for instructions to arrive.
Smith Gun
NAM 1978-11-77
Infernal machine
The Smith Gun was designed by a toy company at the beginning of World War Two. It was one of several homemade pieces of artillery produced in Britain during the desperate days of 1940 when the threat of German invasion was at its greatest. When demonstrated to the Director of Artillery several faults were exposed and it was considered too dangerous to proceed with. By 1941 improvements had been made and several thousand were built and issued to the Home Guard and for the defence of airfields. The gun consisted of two pairs of steel disc wheels, one forming the smooth bore gun, the other an ammunition limber. The weapon was light enough to tow behind a nine horsepower car and was thus perfect for the newly formed Home Guard. Although the muzzle velocity was very low (120 metres per second) it fired both a high explosive and an anti-tank round. In action it had a total weight of 275 kilograms and it fired to a maximum range of just over 400 metres. As a weapon, the Smith Gun had little practical value, but as a symbol for the Home Guard it had a useful propaganda impact.
