Welcome to the British Modern Military History Society

BMMHS NEWS

Welcome to the British Modern Military History Society. Formed in early 2019, we organise monthly talks for anyone interested in military history over the last 200 years from Nelson’s times to the present day.

With top quality talks given by writers, academics, former military personnel, and experts in their field with a wide variety of topics, we are based in Woodcote Village Hall RG8 0QY (near Wallingford) in South Oxfordshire. We can accommodate up to 100 people at each talk in pleasant surroundings, offering a warm and welcoming evening out.

COVID19 has put the meetings in the hall on hold for the rest of 2020, but we are looking to resume in January 2021.

We have a full schedule of monthly meetings scheduled throughout all of 2021 and into 2022 on El Alamein, the Battle of Britain, the Cold War, the Falklands and much more – something to appeal to everyone, we hope. Check out the full programme and talk details on the website or our Facebook pages.

BMMHS History Talks via Zoom

In the absence of live talks in the village hall, we are running a full series of talks via Zoom from August until December 2020. These will run twice monthly.

Click above for the full BMMHS Zoom Talk Schedule

Click above for full details of these exciting talks.

Next BMMHS Zoom Talk

The Gunners at the Imjin River – 22 to 25 April 1951 during the Korean War

by Group Captain Chris Finn.

Fought during the Korean War (1950-53), the Battle of the Imjin (22-25 April 1951) was the bloodiest engagement endured by the British Army since the Second World War. For three days the 29th British Independent Infantry Brigade Group thwarted the Chinese Spring Offensive.

Future BMMHS Zoom Talks

The Flying Sikh WW1 Fighter Ace

Tuesday 1st September - Afternoon Talk 2:00pm

Stephen barker

Taranto - The sinking of the Italian Fleet

Wednesday 9th September 2020 - Evening Talk 7:30pm

Paul Beaver

The Women of SOE - A cool and lonely courage

Tuesday 6th October 2020 - Afternoon Talk 2:00pm

Kate Vigurs

The Dover Patrol

Wednesday October 14th 2020 - Evening Talk

Robin Brodhurst

Operation Bookworm Update

With the COVID10 pandemic putting our meetings on hold due to lockdown, we invited our members and supporters to send in articles about the wartime experiences of their own and their families – any war, any role, whether military or civilian. All net proceeds will go to the charity Blind Veterans UK (formerly St Dunstans).

We have had a fantastic response with over 120 contributors sending in over 220 articles and over 300,000 words. Various historians have also given their support providing their own articles and book extracts too. Some contributions have been a couple of paragraphs, others 3-4 pages. The range of topics has been remarkable from the diaries of an officer on the Western Front in WW1, to life as a Far East POW and others living through the Blitz in WW2 to experiences serving in the Falklands, Northern Ireland and Iraq. Articles have come in from across the globe including the USA, Australia, Poland, the Netherlands, France and elsewhere.

We are now moving into the phase of sorting, editing and reviewing all the content before approaching potential publishers in the autumn. We are hoping to see publication in the first half of 2021.

For all of you who have sent in contributions, a very big thank you. They have made for amazing reading, with some telling of great heroics, some of the grim realities of war, some of remarkable tales of survival and other of ordinary people just ‘doing their bit’. A real melange of tales giving a wide picture of wartime experiences.

A sincere thank you to you all.