Presentation Snider Enfield rifle awarded to winner of a target shooting competition in 1863,
This particular rifle was presented as a shooting award held by Victoria Rifles in 1863 and subsequently refurbished with cartridge. The right side of the buttstock has a round silver inset disk which is inscribed “PRESENTED BY SURGEON STEWART” around the top, “VICTORIA RIFLES” at the bottom and “To The/Marksman &/1st Classmen of the Corps for/COMPETITION/7 Shots at 700 800 & 900Yds Each/WON WITH 41 MARKS BY/PRIVATE C. MILLS/No 1 Compy, 15 Dec/1863”
On June 6, 1944, Allied soldiers descended on the beaches of Normandy for D-Day, an operation that turned the tide of the Second World War against the Nazis, marking the beginning of the end of the conflict. Reuters photographer Chris Helgren compiled archive pictures taken during the invasion and went back to the same places to photograph them as they appear today.
Exquisite workmanship and lavish use of precious materials distinguish this sword as a princely weapon and exemplifies the opulence and refinement of Ottoman luxury arts. Almost identical to a yatagan (now in the Topkapi Palace, Istanbul) made in 1526–27 by the court jeweller Ahmed Tekel, for the Ottoman sultan Süleyman the Magnificent (r. 1520–66), this sword was undoubtedly made in the same imperial workshop.
The gold incrustation on the blade depicts a combat between a dragon and a phoenix against a background of foliage scrolls. These figures, like the gold-inlaid cloud bands and foliage scrolls on the ivory grips, are Chinese in inspiration, and were probably introduced into Ottoman art through contacts with Persia.
This sword is one of the earliest known yatagans, distinctly Turkish weapons characterised by a double-curved blade and a hilt without a guard. Yatagans were commonplace in Turkey and the Balkans in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and served as sidearms for the elite troops known as Janissaries.
A Lee Enfield bolt action rifle that was presented to T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) by Emir Feisal. The rifle had been a gift to the Emir from Turkey and had been captured at Gallipoli. Lawrence used it for the rest of the war and later presented it to King George V.
Wounded Belgians in hospital in Antwerp, Belgium, ca. 1918.
Watching the effect of German bombardment of a French town.
Lange, a Belgian soldier who was decorated for single-handedly killing 15 German soldiers between 1914 and 1918.
Belgian refugees housed at Alexandra Palace, London.
French trench with dart bombs.
“Down in the shell crater, we fought like Kilkenny Cats” - Battle Cambrai
Indian infantry prepared to meet a Gas Attack.
Bringing up the reserve ammunition.
Citizens of a south England coastal town walk on and around a German U-boat left stranded on shore after the end of the war. Large groups of people walk along the boat deck while inspecting the large vessel.
Highland Territorials in trench with mascot dog.
#7 is a good example of the variation in Hypo-hood materials used. You can see the grey flannel and lighter Khaki Viyella masks. The Khaki version is slightly rarer.
