Thread by @ReassessHistory

A brief thread on Sir Tasker Watkins' VC action in 1944.

It's undeniable that Sir Tasker is one of the greatest Welshmen of the 20th Century, but there remains no biography & description of his VC action is just lazy copypasta of the original citation. /1
#WW2 #SWW #History

So first off, there are two slightly variant citations kicking about - with one different phrasing on display at Ashcroft's gallery at IWM.

The original eye witness statements have been lost by MOD, are currently not at Kew & god-knows where.

Here is one of the variants. /2

In addition several other crucial files relating to Welsh soldiers were lost by MOD.

This is a bit of a theme.

Anyway, it meant the sources were limited.

So every bugger relies on the citation. /3

This means that when we talk about Tasker's VC action we are solely basing it on a very, very flimsy write up compared to other accounts.

Hence writers tend to heavily focus on quoting the citation word for word, as there is sweet FA about...

This is really bad practice. /4

It also went unchallenged, not least as even Ashcroft's researchers appear to have taken this as verbatim and not pushed further.

So all the digital stuff at IWM is rather off & gives the wrong impression.

I dug deeper. /5

The truth is the action didn't even happen at 'Balfour' & even now tour groups go to an area where it... umm.... never happened.

There were tanks and everything.

It was a much bigger deal than we make out.

Others played a huge role.

Brave men that Tasker always praised. /6

Four years ago a grandson of a B Coy vet dropped me a line. I sent him the revised narrative/map of the engagement & he field walked the site, sending me these cracking pictures.

He was probably the first person to follow the right route in 40+ years.

It happened here. /7

One of the biggest challenges writing WW2 military history accurately challenging mythstory head on, especially established narratives.

Various veterans' relatives have proved beyond helpful. Tasker was overjoyed to chat to them/his men about it postwar. /8

There are always new angles to follow up, in this case... loss of documents by civil servants, tracking down relatives, chasing up paperwork etc.

Some will pay off, some won't.

But this is why exploring muted history is so hard, it's a lot of graft deconstructing factoids. /9

But don't let that put you off.

Even as institutions shrug their shoulders, limit access to documents & disregard importance of our shared heritage.

The rewards are massive.

And, just perhaps, you'll set the record straight in the process. /thread