A new museum dedicated to the spies who uncovered many enemy secrets during the Second World War has appointed its first director. Giuseppe Albano was recently named as the head of Trent Park House of Secrets, which is due to…
Reviewing the best military history exhibitions with Simon Coppock.
MHM’s round-up of the latest military history releases.
Archaeological work on the site of a Victorian workhouse and hospital has revealed the remains of almost 4,500 individuals, offering a rare opportunity to study the lives and deaths of the institution’s residents. Blackberry Hill Hospital was originally founded as…
In 1809, a young Royal Navy midshipman, Charles Hare, made a daring escape from a Napoleonic prison – with a French uniform as his disguise and a dog in tow. Now, two centuries later, Hare’s uniform, along with a fascinating…
This image shows a huge crowd of German soldiers captured by British forces during the Battle of Amiens on 27 August 1918, less than three months before Armistice Day. Taken at the town of Abbeville, well behind the frontline, the…
To mark the 80th anniversary of the legendary Allied breakout from a German concentration camp in March 1944, a new exhibition is exploring other ‘great escapes’ that took place during the Second World War. The exhibition, which opened last month…
More than a hundred letters that were sent to imprisoned French sailors during the Seven Years War have been opened for the first time. The messages were seized by the British Royal Navy during the conflict, which took place between…
Calum Henderson explores how a new exhibition at the National WWI Museum and Memorial in Missouri is illuminating the experiences of prisoners of war.
REVIEW BY TAYLOR DOWNING Ben Macintyre is well known for his books on spies and espionage, like Agent Zigzag, Double Cross, and Philby. Earlier this year, one of his other works, Operation Mincemeat, was adapted into a hugely successful movie…
Your thoughts on issues raised by the magazine.
Millions of us grew up on stories of bravery among prisoners of war in the Second World War. What is less well known is that brutal treatment of British POWs was a feature of the 1914-18 conflict too. In all, 171,720 Tommies and their officers were captured during the First World War on the Western Front – from where they were allocated to one of 170 camps, dotted throughout Germany.
Joseph O’Neill lifts the lid on a hidden story of POW maltreatment.
At which battle during the Hundred Years' War did Henry V infamously order the slaughter of French prisoners of war?
This is a welcome addition to the literature on confinement, a topic that has developed from a little-studied phenomenon into one of most vibrant areas within the subdiscipline of Conflict Archaeology. Gilly Carr has been a part of this through…
Colonel Ronnie McCrum takes a critical look at a battle that was lost before the war began.