Jonathan Ware Profile picture
Enquiries: DM. Military Historian. 'Valuable' according to IWM. Jocks, Dragons and Sospans: Through Normandy with 53rd Welsh Division (2022). #WW2 #SWW #History
Jeffrey Rubinoff Profile picture Chris C. Profile picture 2 subscribed
Feb 11 42 tweets 18 min read
So, here it is.

Can the IWM *really* claim © on Crown Copyright images etc where copyright has long expired?

Surely these images should be out of copyright & free to use, right?

Right? /1
#History #Heritage #Museums Image So The National Archives guidance is pretty straight forward.

Out of ©

IWM was transferred all the Crown Copyright images of WW2 etc a few years ago, a vast amount of which were published during the war & over the following decades.

They became the core heritage custodian. /2 Image
Feb 8 9 tweets 4 min read
A quick look at 6 Pounder in Normandy

For those wondering, 1 Tyneside Scottish did use 6 Pounder APDS rounds to devastating effect at Rauray.

But why comment on the use of 6 Pounder Sabot rounds?

Surely they were common? /1
#WW2 #SWW #History
#DDay80
WO205/405 Image APDS was new in Normandy, it was also a very rare round with (it may be as much as most) use requiring Corps authorisation, occasionally Army.

This meant 6 pdr sabot tended to be issued for specific engagements, and no we don't have tank allocation data easily to hand. /2 Image
Jan 25 26 tweets 11 min read
So, let's look at societal mobilisation, conscription, strategic priorities, industrial strategy etc.

I'll be blunt, we are not even at a 1933/4 moment in terms of strategy. CERTAINLY not a 1937 or 1938 moment.

Britain was MUCH better prepared in the 30s. /1
#History



Image
Image
Image
Image
Rearmament was tricky as an island UK had to try and juggle Imperial commitments around the world, over the big blue wet thing, concerns another World War would destroy all civilisation, the threat of bombers slaughtering millions of civilians, against a poor economic picture. /2 Image
Aug 16, 2023 11 tweets 5 min read
A GREAT BRITISH VC IN NORMANDY
#OTD on 16 August 1944

Lieutenant Tasker Watkins leads B Company in an attempt to secure a railway crossing as Second Army battles for control of Falaise. /1
#WW2 #SWW #History


Image
Image
Image
Image
B Company tried to seize the railway crossing by St. Vigor de Mieux, with C Coy advancing on the left, with the Churchill tanks of A Squadron n 147 RAC providing fire support. /2 Image
Aug 14, 2023 10 tweets 6 min read
#OTD on14 August 1944
“PIAT! PIAT! PIAT!"
Lt Donald Harvey, 244 Field Company Royal Engineers, alongside D Coy 1 Oxf & Bucks.

Probably the best PIAT related quote of the Normandy campaign, said as a Waffen-SS battlegroup appeared behind a British battalion. /1
#WW2 #SWW #History


Image
Image
Image
Image
I could go into this action in much more detail, but it's almost unbelievable - saving it for another day...

Genuinely ridiculous scrap.

Moving on... /2
Image
Image
Jan 9, 2023 13 tweets 4 min read
Relic Hunting
A long time ago friends sent me details of figures who scarpered over old battlefields with metal detectors.

Sometimes they found guns, usually scraps of metal, occasionally dead bodies... /1
#WW2 #SWW #History After a while pics of amateur excavations came up, the poster would show & tell their discoveries... then ask if their 'friends' were interested. /2
Jan 27, 2022 18 tweets 11 min read
So what were conditions like in Hamburg in 1945?

A thread for #HolocaustMemorialDay

53rd Welsh Division arrived in the city to find it in complete ashen ruins from the firebombing, only one building - the Atlantic Hotel - still stood. /1
#WW2 #SWW #History There were over 400 camps around the city, containing around 100,000 malnourished, half-starved and desperately ill slave workers drawn from across Europe: "Displaced Persons" from across Europe.

In all honesty, no liberating Allied soldier could comprehend what had happened. /2
Jan 26, 2022 8 tweets 4 min read
Winston Churchill, Sir Stafford Cripps, King George VI inspect HMS Victorious at Scapa Flow, 11 October 1942.

Inc Fleet Air Arm Martlets (British name for Wildcats) & Royal Marines.

Feel free to use!

Our shared heritage is best shared. /1
#WW2 #SWW #History King George VI leads the inspection of HMS Victorious ship's company. /2
Jan 24, 2022 6 tweets 5 min read
I thought this SdKfz 250 neu numbered '416' looked familiar (or at least IDable given numbers), so dropped the amazing @Niels_1944 a line.

There's a SdKfz 251 behind it as well...

Turns out 416 is from 12th SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs, 12th SS-Panzer's recce. /1
#WW2 #SWW #History ImageImageImage Niels recognised it standing out in this @BritishPathe footage, in a rare full close up.

04.36 onwards, about 12 seconds. /2
britishpathe.com/video/invasion…
Jan 24, 2022 8 tweets 8 min read
The exceptional 1945 diary of an Infantry Battalion's Medical Officer.

Captain Ross, 6 Royal Welch Fusiliers

Let's start with January 1945 & the Ardennes.

Now shared for the first time, I hope you enjoy it.

Our shared heritage is best shared./1
#WW2 #SWW #History ImageImageImageImage /2 ImageImageImageImage
Dec 28, 2021 30 tweets 8 min read
so it begins

wwii in color: victory in europe color footage is crap quality

unclear colorizers checked more than 30 secs of girls und panzer

docu narrative appears hard conf bias
Dec 22, 2021 62 tweets 42 min read
Welsh Spearhead
A History of the 53rd Reconnaissance Regiment 1941 - 1946
Philip Cowburn

More of our shared heritage, shared! /1
#WW2 #SWW #History ImageImageImageImage I hope you enjoy my content, if you particularly do so, feel free to sling me a coffee!

ko-fi.com/reassesshistory /2 ImageImageImageImage
Jul 21, 2021 142 tweets 60 min read
#OTD in 1944

Hour by Hour: Showdown in Normandy
After 5 DAYS of intense action as Second Army attempted to envelop Panzergruppe West... tanks stop rolling, lines are refortified & both sides lick their wounds.

Battle of manoeuvre by attrition rolls on. /1
#WW2 #SWW #History Our story will focus on the kink of the line at the BOTTOM, by Èvrecy.

This spur was hard won during Operation Greenline, as 15th Scottish & 53rd Welsh Divisions attempted to through through the blasted market town & reach the Orne.

II SS-Panzerkorps put paid to that plan. /2
Jul 19, 2021 10 tweets 4 min read
❗️❗️❗️
WARNING
❗️❗️❗️
Turns out IWM's 3 minute vid on Jagdpanther by Delaney was JUST an EDIT of an 11 MINUTE monstrosity!
😲😲😲
BUCKLE UP /1

#WW2 #SWW #History First off, all my comments/facts in this thread stand.

That is important to remember.

So a huge amount is fundamentally misunderstood & confused. /2

Jul 16, 2021 4 tweets 4 min read
#OTD in 1944

Second Army's massive offensive to destroy Panzergruppe West further expands to two Corps (XII and XXX) w. 4 Divisions involved in 3 Operations; Greenline, Pomegranate, & Cormorant.

5 miles of explodes into action.

Goodwood comes 2 days later./1
#WW2 #SWW #History Troubling reports reach Army Group B's Headquarters that some form of breakout looms.

Luftflotte III readies every available fighter and pilot, cancelling all rest and maintenance, to throw in a mega counter-strike. /2
Jul 9, 2021 4 tweets 4 min read
Special Interrogation Report
🧐🧐🧐
Generalleutnant Edgar Feuchtinger commander of 21st Panzer Division in Normandy
😲😲😲
What does he have to say???
🤔🤔🤔 /1

From WO205/1012
#WW2 #SWW #History /2
Jul 9, 2021 5 tweets 5 min read
👇👇👇
D E C E P T I O N
😲😲😲
is important
🧐🧐🧐

Extracts of a series of trials during Exercise Spartan
WO199/230 /1
#WW2 #SWW #History /2
Jul 7, 2021 10 tweets 6 min read
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 ImageImageImageImage 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 Image
Jun 29, 2021 8 tweets 8 min read
The Administrative History of the Operations of 21 Army Group on the Continent of Europe: 6 June 1944 to 8 May 1945

This covers Phase II, inc... a little Op you may have heard of... #MarketGarden

Please #RT, share & DL! /1
#WW2 #SWW #History Our shared heritage is best shared! /2
Jun 29, 2021 4 tweets 4 min read
#OTD in 1944

Panzergruppe West launches a major counter-attack against Op Epsom, aiming to break VIII Corps, eliminate the Scottish Corridor & drive the British back. /1
#WW2 #SWW #History This ultimately dooms Army Group B to a grinding battle of attrition & dashes any hopes of a major counter-strike to the sea.

German ops don't go well... to the extent that Lt-Gen Miles Dempsey doesn't actually believe this is the main counter-strike.

It's too crap. /2
Jun 28, 2021 11 tweets 10 min read
The Administrative History of the Operations of 21 Army Group on the Continent of Europe: 6 June 1944 to 8 May 1945.

This covers Part I through Phase I.

Properly meaty stuff.

Please #RT, share & DL!

Our shared heritage is best shared!
#WW2 #SWW #History /1 If you particularly enjoy this feel free to sling me a coffee!

ko-fi.com/reassesshistory /2