There are a fair few 'WW1' photos that have done the rounds over the last few years, almost always misidentified, sometimes with good intent, but often used to reinforce old myths, here are a few of the usual ones (and the truth behind them)... 1 First up this (admittedly very powerful) shot often said to show French troops advancing against Germans. Well it does, but on the set of a post war film. The clue here is in the position the photographer would find himself in if this was a real shot (not a good one!).

207 years ago today, tens of thousands of troops went into battle at Waterloo. We often forget the ‘ordinary’ servicemen who marched and rode in Wellington’s ranks. So here’s the remarkable life of just one: George Arnold, a working class lad from a sleepy Hertfordshire village🧵 About 10 years ago I was looking through an old local photograph collection and found this single black and white image, taken sometime around 1890. The headstone inscription it captured hinted at an incredible life of one old soldier.

An early start today to explore quite simply the most powerful and haunting place I have ever visited. Oradour-sur-Glane was just a normal French village on 9th June 1944. The following day the SS came. It's ruins today stands as a memorial to it's inhabitants destruction. 1 I think that's the thing about Oradour for me. It was up until that day just a normal village. The war had been pretty 'quiet'. That day the schools and cafes were open, trams were running, the doctor was doing his rounds. Then in just a few minutes everything changed. 2

This article, published in a local newspaper in 1918 is pretty heartbreaking. It's the attempt of a mother who lost FOUR sons killed in the first world war to prevent her youngest boy following his brothers. 1. At the time of writing, Mrs Bullard was unaware that one of the two wounded lads had died, and the fourth "missing" son had been killed some months before (itself no doubt a horrific ordeal for a mother. By 1919, of her 6 sons, 4 were dead and two permanently disabled. 2

Spare a thought today for the thousands of men who went over the top 104 years ago in the opening phase of the 3rd Battle of Ypres. Some met with success, some were wounded but lived, others were never seen again. Here’s the INCREDIBLE story of just one man... Percy Buck was born to a working class family in Peterborough in the 1880’s and was raised in Hitchin, Herts where he worked as a printer’s compositor. He joined the 'Herts Territorials' before the war and was with them on annual summer camp when war was declared in 1914...

75 years ago today the #WW2 officially came to end with the surrender of Imperial Japan. Amidst the celebrations and relief for millions at home and abroad, there was one group for whom the ordeal was still not over. Here’s the story of one such man – Ernest 'Ernie' Beech Born to a working-class family in Hertfordshire in 1905, Ernie had lived through both the Great War and the Spanish Flu by the time he was a teenager. On his fourteenth birthday he joined the local Territorial Army artillery unit and began his career as a part time soldier.

In the words of Laurence Olivier in the World at War series, “Down this road on a summer day in 1944, the soldiers came. They stayed only a few hours. When they had gone, a community which had lived for a thousand years was dead”. This is the story of Oradour-sur-Glane. A THREAD 76 years ago today the inhabitants of the picturesque village of Oradour-sur-Glane in France were going about the daily business. Talk that Saturday was of the allied invasion of Normandy four days before, and how long it would be before their nightmare of occupation would end.

This is Ted. For more than 90 years he was one of the thousands of fallen of #WW1 about whom we know very little. A few years ago Ted’s nephew found a case when clearing out his loft. He called me and asked if I wanted to see it. What I found was just incredible. Here’s the story In mid-1915 an 18-year-old lad called Ted Ambrose from a quiet village in Hertfordshire decided to do his bit and ‘join up’. He spent 9 months training before word came that he was heading for the Western Front. Just before he left, his dad, a man of few words, wrote him a letter

A few years ago I learned of a very powerful wartime story in my home-town which related to a well-known local man called Frederick ‘Freddie’ Tees. He was known for years as the quiet town barber who didn’t speak of the war. I’d like to share his story. Here’s a thread. Freddie was born in Chichester in 1922 and joined the RAF in 1941, aged just 19. He completed his training as an aerial gunner late the following year and was posted along with a new crew under Pilot Officer Bill Ottley to fly Lancaster bombers with No.207 Squadron.

About this time on Christmas Eve 1914, 21-year-old Territorial soldier Percy Huggins wrote this letter home to his mum talking about his first experiences at the front and plans for Christmas. Shortly after writing, his Company got word to move up to frontline trenches (1) Percy was new to war but was under the watchful eye of Lance Sergeant Tom Gregory, an ex Coldstream Guard who had fought in the Boer War. D Company, 1st Herts Regt took their place in the line for the night, Percy and Tom occupied trenches near a place called 'Dead Cow Farm' (2)