A bit of a long shot: an experimental catapult from WWII

This image shows the remains of an innovative catapult – designed to launch fighter aircraft into the sky – which has recently been uncovered by archaeologists in Oxfordshire. The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) Mark III Catapult was one of a series of experimental schemes dating from the early years of…

New exhibition to explore the ordinary lives of Roman soldiers

A new exhibition is set to explore what ordinary life was like for soldiers in the Roman army. Legion, opening in February at the British Museum, will boast more than 200 objects on display, including the world’s only intact legionary shield and recently unearthed body armour. According to the museum,…

Database records monuments to the British Civil Wars

It was one of the most significant conflicts in the country’s history. Now, a new database has been set up to record the monuments and memorials to the British Civil Wars. The wars were fought throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland between the Parliamentarians (also known as the Roundheads) and the…

Images provide clues to the final moments of Midway ships

Haunting new images have been revealed of shipwrecks caused by one of the most significant naval battles of the Second World War. The Battle of Midway, fought on 4 June 1942, saw the United States Navy inflict a crippling blow on the Japanese Imperial Navy in the North Pacific Ocean,…

Underwater Survey sheds light on shipwrecks from Dunkirk

New research has been charting the wrecks of ships lost during Operation Dynamo, the Allied evacuation from Dunkirk in the summer of 1940. Historic England and its French counterpart, Drassm, carried out a survey of 30 wrecks in the waters around the French port in September and October this year.…

Military History Matters 136

• Wellington at war: how Britain’s greatest general made his name
• The British Templars: new light on a crusading warrior elite
• Master of the dark arts: Dudley Clarke, pioneer of deception
• In Flanders Fields: the cemeteries of WWI
• Arminius: Hitler’s barbarian hero…

Master of the dark arts

In the first part of a new series on deception in World War II, Taylor Downing tells the story of Lieutenant-Colonel Dudley Clarke, Britain's flamboyant pioneer of misinformation.…

New pictures show remains of rare WWII Hurricanes found in Ukraine

New photographs have been released of the remains of the eight Hawker Hurricane fighter planes that were found buried in Ukraine earlier this summer. The remnants of the British WWII aircraft were discovered in a forest south of the capital Kyiv in June, in a find that has been described…

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