Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Emerging Into World War Two

The War Museum starts its section on the Second World War with an overview of the movements of the Axis powers during the 1930s. The first thing the visitor sees when entering this section is this car- one that belonged to Hitler, with a large background of German troops at one of his rallies.


Further on is a uniform that belonged to Joan Voller, permanently on display here. She was a Wren, one of many women who worked in various support capacities in the armed services through the war. I haven't seen her in at least three Remembrance Days here.


This map of Atlantic Canada and Quebec during the war marks German navy attacks in the coastal waters, including as far inland as the St. Lawrence River in Quebec.


Some propaganda posters can be found in a section of the exhibit looking at the war at home. You've probably seen some of these.


This display goes into the idea of rationing at home- how on earth could one make do with a minimal amount of sugar?


This display, in the section dealing with the Italian campaign, is about the First Special Service Force, also known as the Devil's Brigade, a mixture of elite American and Canadian commandos who saw action in the European theatre during the war.


And close by we move into the D-Day section, where these two paintings tied to the invasion caught my eye.

37 comments:

  1. Fine Spitfire in D-Day livery from above. Very nice painting.







    Warm ALOHA,
    ComfortSpiral

    (\__/)
    (='.'=)
    (")_('')

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  2. We have the Imperial War museum up in London but the only time I have been there was when I was about 15, ever since it's been on my list for a revisit

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  3. Just the car gives me the creeps.

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  4. A very interesting exhibit. I have a bad feeling we are moving towards such times again...

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  5. That war we all still remember by our parents. Will it ever end?

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  6. a sobering era in the world's history.

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  7. You documented this place well. Great photos!

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  8. Goodness! Right from the moment you walk in and see Hitler's car and troops the horror that so many died because of this maniac must hit you like a hammer, God help us if this situation happened today hey William!

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  9. Didn't realize the Germans attacked the east coast that much.

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  10. i always like the vintage ads and foods!

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  11. Nice tour through the museum, William, I specially like the wall with the old posters.

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  12. We have a Pacific War Museum here in Fredericksburg, TX, mainly because of Admiral Nimitz, a native.

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  13. Sometimes I am dragged into war museums, places where I would not go on my own, and to my surprise, I 'enjoy' them. I think I would go into this one willingly.

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  14. This looks like a very well designed museum.

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  15. Such interesting exhibition. The car is fantastic!

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  16. Some of these things would be eye popping as Hitler's car.

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  17. The car is beautiful. Pity that it is stained forever.

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  18. Let's hope we will never ever will find ourselves in a situation like this.

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  19. @Cloudia: as it turns out, Canadian war artists have a long history in military theatres. These two are quite vivid works.

    @Bill: I would love to visit that museum.

    @Revrunner: I know the feeling. In and of itself, it's a car, a beautiful vehicle, but that association, with literally the most evil human being to ever walk the planet...

    @Halcyon: I sometimes wonder too.

    @Marianne: my parents were children in the Netherlands during that war, so I've heard many stories.

    @Tex: it certainly is.

    @Denise: thank you!

    @Nancy: that's true.

    @Grace: starting the section off like this really is very effective.

    @Furry Gnome: there were a lot of sinkings, both merchant ships and navy, off the east coast during that war. There's something that the map doesn't show, something that I'll be showing in a later post, that makes for a heck of a story.

    @Tanya: I still wonder how anyone could make do with that little sugar. I wonder if there was trading going on.

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  20. @Jan: there's a good mix here of the war abroad and its influence at home.

    @Linda: that's a museum I would love to visit too.

    @Pat: I think it's a good learning experience. This museum doesn't glorify the military experience.

    @VP: thanks!

    @Sharon: it definitely is.

    @Jose: I can't recall off hand the model of the car.

    @Norma: too bad it was owned by that little corporal turned megalomaniac.

    @Red: I know I'd featured it before in a tour of the museum, but I wanted to point it out again.

    @Ciel: it is. That monster stained a great deal.

    @Marleen: I hope so too.

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  21. This would be a place I could spend hours in...I was too young to fight in WWII, but old enough to experience the reality and to see my friends and relatives head off to the battlefields - some of which never came back. As an historian, I find that era to be compelling and I've spent some time studying Hitler and his rise and the aftermath.

    Which is pretty damn scary as I thought it could never happen in the US but in fact it is happening at this very moment and his name this time is Trump and he's appealing to the same kinds of fears and doubts and has the same attitude toward law and the Constitution and millions of people cry his name as if he could save us from anything other than a bad lie on a golf course!

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  22. Just like Lowell I could have spent time here.... It is actually important to visit places like this. I hope most teachers bring their classes there. Or parents /grandparents go there with their young relatives.

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  23. In London we have The Imperial War Museum, all the museums of conflict are so important hopefully we learn from the. On the subject of WW2 there was an article several years ago reporting that the restricted war time diet actually led to a healthier population, no junk or processed food I expect...

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  24. Sure like that old car. I know the rationing must have been difficult...as my parents talked about it long after the war.

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  25. Interesting. I didn't realize they had gotten that far inland in Canada. I do remember the posters and the movie news reels.

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  26. love the old car & those vintage package from those days. i really wish they did make things like that these days. those products were so cool then. nowadays they don't have much style. ( :

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  27. @Lowell: it's frightening, looking at the historical record, how close the human race came to the edge.

    @Gunn: it is very important. I believe that the citizens of my country owe it to themselves to pay a visit to this place once in their lifetimes.

    @Geoff: that doesn't surprise me, actually.

    @Janey: my parents were kids in the Netherlands, where it was forced rationing by starvation towards the end.

    @Mari: there's a story that I'll share in a few posts... some equipment the Germans left behind on Canadian soil!

    @Beth: the packaging certainly were throwbacks.

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  28. Fascinating exhibit William! The car in the first picture is reminding me of my visit to Hitler's Kehlsteinhaus in Germany this past summer. There were pictures there of him arriving in a car like that and being driven into the tunnel to enter his private elevator that took him to the top of the mountain and into his retreat. It was an eery feeling when we walked through that same tunnel and rode that same elevator.

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  29. What an interesting display. That first pic with the car and the many marching heads.
    MB

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  30. I enjoyed reading about this time in history and have been to some similar museums here in the U.S. Rationing was always difficult for me to imagine too.

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  31. I knew a man who was a merchant seaman on the East Coast during the war. Until I spoke with him I hadn't been aware of how many German attacks there were on vessels along the coast. I also just learned that the Japanese launched numerous incendiary balloons from the West Coast, one of which floated as far as Michigan. This would be an interesting museum to visit.

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  32. The two world wars certainly capture our attention, don't they? They were the defining events of the 20th century.

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  33. Gosh, I had no idea the Germans had spend that much time so close to the Maritimes and Gaspe Peninsula!

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  34. @Lois: it might well have been the same car.

    @MB: it does catch your attention.

    @Beatrice: it's impossible to think of these days to ration.

    @Kay: there were a lot of casualties in the merchant navy.

    @Jack: they certainly were.

    @EG: yes, they were very active along the coast.

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