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MAGAZINEISSUE 13 MAY 2015

WWI in contemporary and modern art 14 The armoury collection

at Forchtenstein Castle 18 32A Unique Glimpse into No. 46 Squadron

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ICOM is the international organisation of museums and museum professionals which is committed to the conser-vation, continuation and communication to society of the world’s natural and cultural heritage, present and future, tangible and intangible. http://icom.museum/

ICOMAM is the International Committee of Muse-ums and Collections of Arms and Military History. Our mission is to develop a worldwide network within our field. We support each other and believe in international dialogue and cooperation. ICOMAM is composed of Institutions or staff of organi-sations in our field wishing to join a world wide network of scholars, specialists or enthusiasts. Example of fields are historic arms and armour, artillery, military uniforms and equipment, flags, fortifications, aircraft, military music, hunting collections, vehicles, ships etc. ACTIVITIES• CONFERENCES: Annual international conferences and major international conferences every three years. The location varies but the major ones take place at the location of the ICOM general conference. The conferenc-es include a mix of working sessions such as papers and discussions and museum visits. Proceedings are published.• TOURS: Conferences are normally followed by a post-conference tour where delegates have the opportu-nity to see more of the country and its museums and a chance to get to know each other better. Many new ideas, partnerships and joint exhibitions have resulted from such informal collaborations. It is very often that new ideas and great joint projects and exchange of exhibitions are being borne during the post tours.• MONEY: Presentation at conferences of the Justus Lipsi-us Prize. This 2,000 Euro award is given to the published scientific study in ICOMAM’s area of interest, judged to be of the highest standard. ICOMAM also supports young people to attend conferences for the first time or to attract guest speakers to the annual conference.• NEWSLETTERS: Publication and distribution to mem-bers of the Mohonk Courier and the ICOMAM newslet-ter every other month.• The ICOMAM MAGAZINE is published twice a year with articles in our field and up to date news. HOW TO JOIN USMembership of ICOMAM is open to all ICOM members. An application form with annual fee schedule can be downloaded from www.icom.museum or sent to you by your national ICOM representativehttp://www.icomam.be/

© Individual authors, Institutions and ICOMAM, 2015Published by Basiliscoe Press in association with ICOMAMBasiliscoe Press, Hawthorne Cottage, Moorfield Road, LEEDS, LS12 3SE, [email protected] by Basiliscoe Press

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Welcome

This issue of the Magazine fea-tures the ongoing commem-orations of the First World

War as well as the role of Polish pilots in the Battle of Britain in 1940, an introduction to the wonderful collections in Forchtenstein Castle and a discussion on a painting of an army crossing the Rhine in the 17th century. There is also a reminder of our forthcoming Congress in Poland in collaboration with another ICOM Committee, ICDAD. Just as we were completing this issue of the Magazine we heard the sad news that Professor Zdzislaw Żygul-ski had passed away. He will be sadly missed both in his native Poland as well as in the wider ICOMAM com-munity and we will have an apprecia-tion of his life in our next issue.

Kay Douglas SmithRuth Rhynas BrownEDITORS

ContentsNews

4 ICOMAM News

6 Congress 2015, Poland

7 News from the Army Museum in Stockholm

8 Pals – The Irish at Gallipoli

9 From battlefield to drawing room. Textile and (military) fashion around 1815

Exhibitions

10 Faces from the front – World War I and the goldfields of West-ern Australia

13 Recovered voices; the stories of the Irish at War 1914-15

14 Historicism und modernism IV Prof. Albert Hoffmann: World

War I in contemporary and mod-ern art

Publications

16 Armour of the English Knight 1400-50

17 The Armorer’s Art: Essays in Honor of Stuart Pyhrr

Articles

18 The armoury collection at Forchtenstein CastleKenneth L. Smith-Christmas

22 A Spanish army crossing the Rhine at Andernach in 1634: An exceptional painting by Pieter Snayers (1592-1666/76)

Drs Jos W.L. Hilkhuijsen

32 ‘We Rise to Conquer’: A Unique Glimpse into No. 46 Squadron

David Wilson

39 It’s BIG: The Nationaal Militair Museum, Soesterberg, the Netherlands. A personal viewKay Smith

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NewsICOMAM News

Dear ICOMAM colleagues and friends

I am very happy that ICOMAM has published this new number of the magazine and I hope you all enjoy reading it. A huge thank you is hereby being sent to

all contributors and of course to the editors. I am a lit-tle old fashioned and I always print them and put them in a nice folder and therefore I have easy access to the ICOMAM Magazine even when I am off line.

I have some figures concerning our members that I wish to share. At the moment we are 56 institu-tional members (six have joined since October 2014) from the following 22 countries: Angola, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chili, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, US and the UK. This means that many impor-tant museums within our field are part of ICOMAM. We have institutions worldwide that support us and this makes me very proud. The board is working on a long-term basis to get even more institutional members in more countries. I keep writing ‘propaganda’ letters to museum directors and I am sure that in one year we will have even more museums in our club. If we are 50 institutions with an average of 10 persons from each institution who, now and then, take part in our activities we are a unique club consisting of a couple of hundred specialists.

We also have 162 individual members from 43 countries: Angola, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bela-rus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Canada, Chili, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Mad-agascar, Mali, Malta, Moldova, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Poland, the Russian Fed-eration, Slovenia, Spain, Senegal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, US, Ukraine and the UK. These individual members are also very important as it is individuals that write articles, that share experiences and that become your friends. I hope to double this figure over the next few years. Therefore I ask those of you reading this and finding out that your nation is not listed above, please make sure you did choose the in-ternational committee of ICOMAM when you became a member. To join an International Committee is an

active choice which you do as you register as a member of ICOM. If you missed this, please get in touch with your national ICOM committee and tell them that you wish to become an ICOMAM member, it doesn’t cost anything extra. For you it is, as a member of ICOMAM, a little bit cheaper to join our conferences and for ICOMAM it gives us more annual money from ICOM which help us to raise the standard of our activities.

At the moment, preparations for our Congress in Krakow are being done in an extraordinary way thanks to Michał Dziewulski who is our local organizer and I can assure you that this will be a very interesting adven-ture, especially as we work together with ICDAD, (the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Decorative Arts and Design). The title of our con-ference is ‘Ambassadors of dialogue’ and will discuss the role of the diplomatic gifts, works of arts and crafts and other artifacts in intercultural exchange, see more about this on page 6.

Our next conference will be in Milan 3–9 July 2016. This is the triannual ICOM meeting and the overall theme is ‘Museums and Cultural Landscapes’. You can follow our planning on the ICOM web.site - http://net-work.icom.museum/icom-milan-2016/. The details for ICOMAM will be discussed at the meeting in Krakow in September.

Every year there is a General Assembly for ICOM and this is coming up very soon. The General Assembly takes place simultaneously with the annual meeting of the Advisory Committee and is the gathering place of ICOM members. ICOMAM can meet with other Inter-

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national Committees and network with ICOM college-agues and discuss joint projects and collect members.

The 2015 annual meetings (Advisory Committee and General Assembly) are scheduled from 1 to 3 June, 2015 in UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. ICOMAM will be represented by the chair and by the secretary Mathieu Willemsen. If you are interested in our ICOM umbrella please read more at: http://icom.museum/the-governance/general-assembly/

Apart from planning conferences we are dealing with a new website which shall be easier to manoeuvre and therefore will contain more up to date information. This is being done in London by Janice Murray, Director of the Army Museum, London, and her staff. We will tell you all about this in a newsletter later this year.

Finally I wish to thank the Board for friendly coop-eration and I wish everyone a nice summer. I also send friendly greetings to all members and I look forward to see you all in Krakow in September.

Eva-Sofi Ernstell, Chair ICOMAM

UNESCO Headquarters in Paris and the annual meeting in June

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Congress 2015

Krakow, Poland15-20 September 2015

The 2015 ICOMAM Congress will be held in Krakow and Warsaw from the 15 to 20 Septem-ber. This will be the first congress of ICOMAM

organized in Poland since IAMAM visited the country nearly 40 years ago in 1978, at the invitation of the then President of the organization Professor Zdzis-law Żygulski. The 2015 Congress will be remarkable because, for the first time in the history of ICOMAM, we will meet and work together with another ICOM Committee, the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Decorative Arts and Design – IC-DAD.

The Congress will be hosted by the National Museum in Krakow, the oldest National Museum and probably the largest museum in Poland. Originally created for Polish art, it now has one of the best and largest collections of old weapons in Poland. The most important part of it, since 1991, has been presented at the permanent exhibition ‘Arms and uniforms in Po-land’, containing approximately 2,000 exhibits from the Middle Ages to World War II. This collection perfectly complements other museum collections that will be of interest to the Congress, especially Royal Wawel Castle, the seat of Polish kings with its armoury and the collection of Oriental art. Enthusiasts and profes-sionals involved in the later period will enjoy the newly opened museums: the Museum of the Home Army, dedicated to the biggest underground army in Europe operating under the occupation of Nazi Germany, and the Museum - Schindler’s Factory - known for the Oscar winning film ‘Schindler’s List’ by Steven Spielberg, showing Krakow during the World War II.

Krakow is an historic town and the cradle of modern Polish knowledge on weapons and museums as it was here, in 1878, where the collections of the oldest museum in Polish lands, the Princes Czartoryski Museum, found a home with the famous ‘Lady with an Ermine’ by Leonardo da Vinci. It is in this museum where, after World War II, Zdzislaw Żygulski began work in the Armoury and where the headquarters of the still existing Association of Lovers of Old Arms and Uniforms, founded in 1957, was based.

The highlight of the Congress will be the exhibition ‘Ottoman Orient in the Renaissance Art’, organized jointly with the Palais des Beaux-Arts (BOZAR) in Brussels, where you will be able to see the works of, among others, Gentile Bellini, Hans Memling, Albrecht Dürer, Tintoretto, Lorenzo Lotto and many others. The

exhibition highlights the dynamic, yet often ambigu-ous, appeal that the Middle East exerted on Western and Central European artists and craftsmen. The first opening will be held in Brussels on 27 February and after 4 months the exhibition will be presented in the National Museum in Krakow (26 June - 27 September 2015).

The Polish capital, Warsaw, will compete in 2015 with the charms of Krakow, to which participants will go on the post-conference tour. The organization of this part of the congress will be by the Museum of the Polish Army, the largest military museum in Poland. The agenda will include older and newest museums opened in recent years.

For further information regarding the Congress please see the official ICOMAM site: http://www.icomam.be/

You can also see more at: Magical Krakow: http://www.krakow.pl/english/; National Museum in Krakow: http://muzeum.krakow.pl; Beauty of Krakow in pho-tography: http://www.krzan.pl/en/We look forward to seeing you in KrakowMichal Dziewulski

Wawel Castle, Krakow. (Photo: www.krzan.pl)

The famous armoury in the Princes Czarto-ryski Musuem in 2009. (Photo: Michal Dziewulski)

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News from the Army Museum, Stockholm

Olle Westerberg and Elin Fältskog - Curators, Army Museum Stockholm

Here, at the Army Museum in Stockholm we are currently putting together a new exhibition that will explore the power and control over

history making. Why some things become museum ob-jects and others do not. How do you actually document and tell the story about war? This will be our new main exhibition on the entrance floor which will open on 24 October 2015. The special thing about this exhibition is that you as a visitor can follow the whole project from the start - from the initial ideas to the opening ceremo-ny.

How can you do this? Well of course on the inter-net, in our blog. You might wonder why we are writing a blog about an exhibition project. There have been several other blogs in recent years that tell the story ‘behind the scenes’ in museums. And from that point of view this blog is not unique, but this blog is a part of a larger context. It will show, not only the exhibition un-der construction, but will continue after the exhibition has opened. This blog will survive and have a place in the exhibition hall, so that you as a visitor can have a look back and see how and when we made the exhibition and what decisions we had to make. As an example, this is one typical topic that we dis-cussed and that you can read about in the blog:

An object can tell different stories depending on who you ask. Similarly, views of war can be very differ-ent - people perceive things differently. The soldier that takes part in a conflict can have an image of an event that is very different from the image a a war journalist has of the same event. With personal voices we try to make the objects come alive.

Another important thing is that you as a blog reader can ask questions of us in the project group and highlight the things that you think are important about making an exhibition like this.You can find the blog at: www.blodsvettochmontrar.se (unfortunately only in Swedish)

Objects being prepared for the exhibition. It is really important to measure them exactly before constructing the showcases where they will be displayed in.

Who has the power to decide which objects to include in the exhibition?

A small model of the exhibition - a practical way to get the feeling of the exhibition space.

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Pals – The Irish at Gallipoli

Pals - The Irish at Gallipoli was a partnership project with partners ANU Productions, the National Museum of Ireland and the Department of Arts,

Heritage and Gaeltacht in association with the National Archives of Ireland.

Award-winning innovators ANU Productions presented an immersive World War I experience based on the events surrounding the campaign at Gallipoli in Turkey and inspired by the previously untold stories of the 7th Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers – and the everyday lives of the Irish people who were affected by the Great War.

The show was performed at the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks from Tuesday, 3 February to Thursday, 30 April, 5 times a day and each show lasting 55 minutes. Show focused on the rugby playing Pals of 7th Battalion and how they trained at the barracks 100 years ago before marching out on 30 April 2015. Pals was a huge success with 9,000 visitors seeing the 300 shows and increasing the museums visitor attendance by 34%. Such was the success of the show that is being brought back for the summer.

Matthew Smyth, Producer of PALS commented ‘At a time when Ireland is exploring the decade of the foundation of the state, ANU’s work is an important critique of our social and cultural history. Presented with empathy, sophistication and artistic rigor. Bringing voices of the past to the fore, PALS delves into histori-cal events of WW1 with both scalpel like precision and dreamlike intensity.’

Minister for Arts Heather Humphreys said: ‘This major new exhibition at the National Museum is an important element of the Decade of Centenaries, which is being led by my Department. The Irish experience of World War 1 was complex and varied. Through a series of personal stories, this exhibition highlights how Irish men and women were involved and brings to life the difficult choices and extremely harsh conditions they faced throughout 1914 and 1915.’

The Pals show tied in with Recovered Voices exhi-bition which focuses on the Irish at Gallipoli. The battle at Gallipoli led to incredible bloodshed and loss of life. Four thousand Irish men who went to fight at Gallipoli never returned home about 16,000 fought there

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Du 10 au 12 juin 2015, le Musée royal de l’Armée et d’Histoire militaire de Bruxelles commémorera le bicentenaire de la Bataille de Waterloo par le biais d’un congrès international et interdisciplinaire. Quelque 30 orateurs de renommée venus de Saint-Pétersbourg, Paris, Londres, Versailles, Vienne, Varsovie, Stockholm ou New York, ainsi que nombreux spécialistes belges prendront la parole. Les 10 et 11 juin, les collaborateurs des plus grands musées de la mode, du textile ou de l’armée de 12 pays s’intéresse-ront à la situation « dans les salons et sur le champ de bataille ». Les uniformes, la mode, la décoration intérieure, l’architecture, l’industrie du textile, les inno-vations techniques ou l’espionnage industriel vers 1815 seront dès lors largement évoqués.La « petite histoire » sera également abordée : quels étaient les tissus préférés de Joséphine Bonaparte ou de quoi était faite la garde-robe des belles de l’Empire ?Le 12 juin, l’événement sera clôturé par une journée d’après-congrès. Une visite exclusive au château de Longchamps est prévue en matinée. Le bâtiment de 1810 contient quelques intérieurs Empire somp-tueux, dont une évocation de la tente de l’empereur. L’après-midi sera consacré au fameux champ de bataille de Waterloo et au Musée Wellington.Ce programme vous séduit ?N’hésitez plus et inscrivez-vous ! http://www.klm-mra.be/Ne ratez surtout pas cet événement unique.

From June 10 through 12, 2015 the Royal Military Mu-seum in Brussels will commemorate the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo with an international and interdisciplinary congress.Some 30 prestigious speakers from Saint Petersburg, Paris, London, Versailles, Vienna, Warsaw, Stockholm or New York, as well as numerous Belgian specialists will share their research on June 10 and 11. Collaborators from the finest fashion, textile and army museums of 12 countries will look into the situation ‘in the drawing room and on the battlefield’. Topics such as uniforms, fashion, interior decoration, architecture, textile industry, technical innovations and industrial espionage around 1815 will be discussed at length.More intimate subjects will however also be broached: which fabrics were favoured by empress Josephine Bonaparte or what did the Empire it-girls wear? On June 12 the event will be rounded off by a post-congress tour. The morning will be dedicated to an exclusive visit of Longchamps Castle. The 1810 building contains some magnificent Empire interiors, amongst which an evocation of the emperor’s tent. The afternoon will be spent on the Waterloo battle-field and at the Wellington Museum.Sounds interesting?Do not hesitate and register! Go to: http://www.klm-mra.be/

Conference

From battlefield to draw-ing room: Textile and (mili-tary) fashion around 1815

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As far back as December 2011 I decided, as Manager of the Western Australian Museum – Kalgoorlie-Boulder, that the museum would

present an exhibition to mark the first year of World War I. This would, according to notes from a meeting held on 20 December 2011, feature 20 to 30 people from the Goldfields of Western Australia involved in the Great War.

How certain I was! By December 2012 I had developed an exhibition

concept, with content, theme, identified target audi-ence, opportunities for media, public programs and strategic partnerships. The working title was Faces From the Front, which became the final exhibition name. The opening date was set for August 2014. Plenty of time to research content, images, objects, write text, liaise with possible lenders of key objects – after identifying said key objects – and of course developing a draft budget. Ha!

Where would I find these ‘20 to 30 people form the Goldfields of WA’? While 12% of the soldiers from Western Australia in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) came from the Goldfields around Kalgoorlie, little information was available on soldiers from Western Australia. Even more importantly, where would I find photos of them, or even related objects? This was my version of planning.

Soldiering on, I then decided that my researcher (paid in dribs and drabs by money scrounged from various parts of the museum budget) and I would use images of soldiers from our famous JJ Dwyer – T MacKay photographic collection. Did I know who these were? Or where the images were? No. The collection, of some 3000 photos, had been catalogued using 3 different numbering systems which were difficult, to say the least, to cross reference. Much of the collec-tion had also been digitised but no list existed of what

image was stored where, and in what format.So we spent a number of weeks going through a

couple of thousand glass plate negatives and much the same number of copy prints, to find images of soldiers. While we had an index of military photos from this museum collection which helped, some of the photos mentioned in it we never found, while we found others that weren’t mentioned! I’m still trying to figure that one out.

By mid-2013 we had 108 photos from the Dw-yer-Mackay collection to use in the exhibition. And wasn’t identifying the soldiers’ fun! The National Ar-chives of Australia (NAA) had all the relevant records of World War I service people available online. And every copy print and glass plate that we looked at had a name. But – another hitch – sometimes the name written on in Indian ink was that of the person in the photo, sometimes of the person who ordered the pho-to. And they weren’t always one and the same! A large number of the photos had to be set aside as we could not definitively identify the person.

Another little bit of fun was the person’s descrip-tion. The soldier, in their enlistment papers, might be described as having fair hair and complexion, and blue eyes, but the man in the photo staring back at me most definitely had dark hair and eyes and an olive complex-ion! So these photographic and descriptive conun-drums had to be put aside and not used.

The search for objects was rather easier. The Museum in Kalgoorlie has a collection of postcards, some badges, a 1916 wedding dress, a Red Cross cer-tificate and badges, and a number of ANZAC memorial booklets. I have discovered serendipity is an essential element in curating an exhibition. In April 2013 we had an article in the local paper and a photo featuring a group of retired gentlemen in front of a World War I honour board with their names on it. Well! One of our local Members of Parliament, Dr Graham Jacobs, was reading the paper and there was this article with a photo of his grandfather, one of the older gentlemen featured!

When he came into the Museum a couple of days later to lend us his folder of information about ‘gran-dad’, he and his wife were so excited, we all ended up doing a jig in my office! The outcome was the loan of family photos, ‘grandad’s’ tin hat, long the dog’s water bowl on the farm before being stored in the garden shed, and through cousins, the loan of ‘grandad’ Cyril Chapple’s medals. These were a DCM. the British War Medal and Victory Medal, and two from World War

Exhibitions

Faces from the front – World War I and the gold-fields of Western Australia

Zoe ScottManager, Western Australian MuseumKalgoorlie-Boulder


II, the 1939-45 War Medal and the Australian Service medal, mounted and framed with a photo. ‘Grandad’ had taken part in both wars.

How many of us factor in travel as part of curating and developing an exhibition? Travelling to get items and people identified, and to pick up loan objects, wasn’t something I had factored in to planning the exhibition. The first lot of travel was visiting the ‘big guns’, the Army Museum of Western Australia in Perth, to consult on identifying some of the photos we had. Ribbons in black and white make no sense if you don’t know what you’re looking at, I can tell you! And with their staff ’s help, various decorations were identified which led to definite identification of some of the soldiers, plus identification of several soldiers about whom I had no idea.

The next lot of travel was, again, Kalgoorlie to Perth, at the end of 2013 and into 2014, to work with the designer for the exhibition in finalizing images, panel design and gallery layout. While a certain amount of work was done by remote – Kalgoorlie is some 600 kilometres from Perth. All the images including boxes of glass plates had to be taken to the designer to be copied at high resolution. I found that working with the designer for a week at a time really did help with the design process and finalizing so much of the exhibition. Another positive from these visits is that I discovered the Lebanese deli 2 blocks away from the Perth office

and I was able to buy Arabic coffee – memories of Oman!

Early in 2014, the exhibition was all coming to-gether. I had a male mannequin who I would dress in a purchased replica World War I uniform, as real uni-forms were being used in displays by the museums who owned them. More serendipity happened one day when an elderly gentleman came in and offered the loan of a scanned copy of a photograph depicting a mounted Light Horseman, somewhere in the Goldfields bush. The role of the Light Horsemen in Australian World War I history is revered, particularly through their role in the charge at Beersheba, Palestine, in 1917. This young man on his horse turned out to be Ted Cul-len, the grandfather of Mal Cullen, Shire President of Coolgardie.

With the opening date set for Friday 23 August, installation started. I should have been warned by the easy start to installing the image panels and theme pan-els. Even bringing JJ Dwyer’s camera from around 1915 and the large – and heavy – glass costume showcase from the store approximately 20 metres away went smoothly. But where was the replica uniform? Several not quite frantic phone calls to the company ensued, with not very reassuring answers. The wedding dress on the skinniest mannequin the state museum had arrived and was safely installed. But no soldier uniform. Finally it turned up on the day before the opening and the mannequin, in pieces was brought down from the store to wear the uniform.

Disaster! The male mannequin, whose torso and limbs had been picked out of a bin of mannequin ‘bits’, turned out not to be a male but a ‘she-man’! Much hysterical laughter ensued as we looked at this combo creature – hips and one leg female, the rest male! So we ordered a male mannequin from the shop-fitters outlet in Perth. The mannequin arrived the day of the opening.

The she-man, a last minute disaster in the exhibition installation, but one that brought much-needed gales of laughter.

The hastily acquired male mannequin and Kalgoorlie’s skinniest bride


And have I mentioned the hassle in getting a touch-screen so that visitors could access relevant websites such as the Australian War Memorial and the National Archives of Australia? Well the touchscreen wasn’t the problem but getting a cabinet or ‘kiosk’ for it to fit in was. Finally two weeks later we had the touchscreen set up with a bigger stand and surround. I am sure many of us have had to deal with ‘after the opening’ finishing of an exhibition; it would be a rare curator who hasn’t had to!

And the evening opening, with Western Australian Museum CEO Alec Coles to do the honours. Both of us forgot key parts of our speeches; I prefer to blame it on the couple of glasses of wine beforehand, than on being frazzled at the time! Our two serendipitous stories came to life at the opening, with MLA Graham Jacobs, and Mal Cullen, Coolgardie Shire President talk-ing about the contribution made by their grandfathers, their service during the war and their own service to the community.

It all ended up being alright on the night, but definitely NOT the way to curate and develop an exhibition! And the benefits of ‘my’ kind of planning - identifying a number of photos in the Museum collec-tion; engaging with stakeholders in the political sphere through their family connections, and a hell of a lot of laughs with colleagues along the way!

...and the band played on … at the opening

Malcolm Cullen, Coolgardie Shire President, Zoe, and WA Museum CEO Alec Coles in front of the panel showing Mal’s soldier grandfather, Ted Cullen

We used literary quotes, mostly poetic, on all the exhibition’s thematic panels


Recovered voices; the stories of the Irish at War 1914-15

About 21,000 Irishmen were already serving in the British Army when war broke out in 1914. NMI’s new exhibition ‘Recovered Voices’

explores what happened to them, and the other 47,000 who joined in the first few years of the war. From the lush green fields of France in the summer of 1914, through that first Christmas in the trenches, to the sun dried beaches of Turkey in 1915, this exciting new exhibition unveils the complexity of Ireland’s part in World War One. Detailing the stories of 21 Irishmen and women, the exhibition uses original objects and interactive material to illustrate the human impact of the war on their lives. We would like to thank the Department of Arts, Her-itage and Gaeltacht and the French Embassy for their financial support. for funding this project.


Historicism und modern-ism IVProf. Albert Hoffmann: World War I in contempo-rary and modern art25 March - 21 June 2015

Dr Walter KalinaCurator of the Art Collection at the Military History Museum Vienna

In the interest of memory culture, particularly in the years 2014-18, it is important for a military history museum to exhibit also modern artists and their

work and make them accessible to a broader audience. Especially when these people deal with wars of the past in art, as was done, for example, by Professor Albert Hoffmann, an artist from Gloggnitz (Lower Austria). To create a context with the events of 1914 to 1918 on the one hand and with the then active war painters on the other, the Military History Museum organized the exhibition series ‘Historicism and Modernism’. The cur-rent exhibition is the fourth of its kind. Already in 1996, 2012 and 2013, pieces of art of contemporary artists were put into context with objects from the period of historicism from the collections of the Museum of

Military History. Historicism is a phenomenon that has accompanied the history of human civilization for cen-turies. Again and again there is historicist thinking and working. Therefore, in an exhibition entitled ‘Histori-cism and Modernism’ the aim is to make clear that this is also true for today. Linking the twelve war painters of World War I and their paintings from the collection of the Museum of Military History therefore intends to make clear that we, naturally with different approaches, always deal with one and the same phenomenon time and again and that historicism as such is a never-ending process.

Linking the work of contemporary painters to modern paintings by Prof. Hoffmann creates an inter-esting tension. History painting meets with courtly portrait, expressionism, nabism, abstract painting and modernity. But it is not of prime importance that a modern artist is to ‘measure’ with his former col-leagues. Rather, exhibition visitors are interested in how one of the modern artists such as Albert Hoff-mann processes war from the temporal distance, and

Albert Hoffmann: ‘The assassination’, oil on canvas, 70x90cm


put him into comparison with the war painters from the Austro-Hungarian ‘k.u.k. Kriegspressequartier’, who were under constant surveillance of censors and had to serve the propaganda of the Austria-Hungar-ian Empire. In addition to the purely artistic aspects, the primary concern of the HGM is, of course, to give contemporary Austrian artists as Prof. Hoffmann the opportunity to present their work in an unusual context. For the museum, on the other hand, it offers the possibility to enrich the just opened permanent

exhibition on World War I through an additional (art) perspective.

Since the early 1990s, Albert Hoffmann has organ-ized numerous exhibitions of his work and painting seminars at home and abroad. He is the head of train-ing at various community colleges, too. In 2010 Albert Hoffmann was awarded the title of Professor. Today you can find his work in national and international exhibi-tions and galleries. The variety of techniques includes watercolor, oil, acrylic, and graphics.

Albert Hoffmann: ‘The assault’, oil on canvas, 80x80cm

Opening of the exhibition, 24 March 2015, from left to right: Dr Walter Kalina (curator of the exhibition), Professor Albert Hoffmann (artist), Dr Christoph Hatschek (Head of collec-tion and exhibition department).


Publications

Armour of the English Knight 1400-50Tobias Capwell

After fifteen years of research and analysis, the first book of Toby Capwell’s comprehensive study of armour in England during the fifteenth

century is to be published this summer. Armour of the English Knight 1400-50 will bring

together many unknown or rarely-seen visual and documentary sources never published or examined collectively before.

This subject is not well understood, primarily because few examples of English fifteenth-century ar-mour survive. The lack of physical specimens has led to an common assumption that England, a small, isolated kingdom, could only import fine-quality armour from the continent, from the great armour-making centres of Northern Italy and Southern Germany; it did not have the means to develop its own distinctive equipment. The English man-at-arms has in the past been seen as a trend-follower, buying the latest fashions from Milan or Augburg, if he was able to, but having no fashion-identi-ty of his own.

This model is wrong. The evidence supporting a dif-ferent view is spread all over England and Wales, from Northumberland to Cornwall, from Cumbria to Kent. It has lain, largely forgotten, in the parish churches of quiet English villages and in some of the darker corners of England’s great cathedrals.

During the fifteenth century English sculptors produced some of the finest funerary monuments in Europe. These were surmounted by life-sized effigies of the deceased, carved to resemble the subject as closely as possible. The effigies of lords, knights and squires represent them in full battle dress, with every tiny detail –the twist of a strap or the delicate engraving along a border– cunningly picked out. And the meaning was in the detail; these were visual statements of who these people were and where they stood in society. A knight’s armour was one of his most treasured posses-sions, an extension of his person, almost a part of his body, protecting him from harm while also symbolising his physical power and social status. The armour was the man, and effigy carvers strived to depict it with the greatest possible accuracy.

These effigies – over 230 remain – form a stagger-ingly detailed body of evidence, showing English ar-mour in all its glory, worn by the men who fought and died in it. This intensely personal form of medieval sculpture has never been comprehensively examined by an armour specialist; only a small number –less than twenty– of the most famous examples have made their way into studies of arms and armour. But viewed in isolation, much of their true significance has been overlooked.

Over a period of five years, the author has exam-ined all of the known military English effigies of the fifteenth century. This primary body of evidence has

Effigy of Sir William Phelip, Lord Bardolph (d. 1441) and Joan, Lady Bardolph (d. 1446). St Mary, Dennington, Suffolk. © C. Newham.


been supplemented by hundreds of secondary visual sources: monumental brasses, woodcuts, incised slabs, altarpieces, manuscript illustrations, other forms of sculpture. These diverse sources have been combined to produce a more accurate picture of the appearance of the English fifteenth-century man-at-arms, and to create a unique visual journey through the world of the armoured warriors of the late Middle Ages.

Available to pre-order at £40 plus postage (retail price £45 plus postage). E-mail enquiries: [email protected]. Telephone: 44 (0) 207 602 4805Post: 25 Blyth Road, London, W14 0PD

The Armorer’s Art: Essays in Honor of Stuart PyhrrThis book is a tribute to and celebration of the distin-guished career and achievements of Stuart W. Pyhrr during his forty-two years in the Department of Arms and Armor in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It pre-sents a collection of essays by an international group of scholars, from the post war generation that revital-ized the subject in the late 1950s to the current crop of museum professionals. Among them are some of Stuart’s earliest friends and mentors as well as his most recent colleagues, all of whom share a deep respect and admiration for his many accomplishments. The authors include: Helmut Nickel, William Reid, Ian Eaves, Mario Scalini, Claude Gaier, Álvaro Soler Del Campo, Jean-Pierre Reverseau, Jan Piet Puype, Donald La Rocca, Jeffrey Forgeng, Jonathan Tavares, Dirk Breiding, and Pierre Terjanian.


Articles

Kenneth L Smith-ChristmasUS Marine Corps and US Army Museums, RetiredICOMAM Executive Board Member

For the past two centuries, only a handful of people were aware of the immense collection of

firearms, armor, edged weapons, accouterments, and artillery at Forchtenstein Castle, but, since the turn of the new millennium, much of it is now on full display, and it is only little more than an hour’s drive from Vienna, Austria, on the border with neighboring Hungary. Not only is the collection itself a treasure trove; the castle, in Austria’s Burgenland province, is a beautiful medieval and renaissance masterpiece of architecture. Better yet, the story of how this incredible collection was hidden away for years, and the tale of its ‘rediscovery’ brings to mind a comparison with an ‘Indiana Jones’ film.

By the early 17th century, the Esterhazy family had proven to be one of the most capable defenders in protecting the Habsburg Empire and Europe from the continuing threat of the Ottoman Turks. The rewards bestowed on the family by grateful Holy Roman emperors, and kings and royalty in Central Europe, were suffi-cient to make the Esterhazys one of the wealthiest families in all Europe by the early 18th century. They had already acquired Burg Forchtenstein in 1626 from the local feudal rulers, who had built it over the preceding 300 years, and, besides enlarging and rebuilding the fortress, the Ester-hazys established a guard force to

protect both the castle and the local area. The garrison expanded over the years to include one regiment of infantry - Infantry Regiment 33 - and, by the mid-18th century, one regiment of cavalry, later known as Hussar Regiment 24. At this same time, the castle transitioned from an administrative seat and provincial palace to a full armory and military depot. Not only were infantry and cavalry arms and accouterments stored there, but also artillery, and field transport. Moreover, Burg Forchtenstein became an arsenal and arms manufactory.

Besides serving as the depot for the standing regiments, and as an arms repair and production facility, the castle also held arms and ac-couterments that had been captured from the Hapsburgs’ enemies - the Ottoman Turks, the Prussians, and the French. Entire rooms in the castle are full, from the floor to the ceiling, with muskets, bayonets, swords, spontoons, sabers, grenadier caps, cartridge pouches, and can-teens, all captured from the Prussians during the Wars of Succession and the Seven Years War, at battles like Hohenfriedburg and Leuthen. The same can be seen of French materiel captured by another of the Esterha-zys’ regiments, Infantry Regiment 32, at the battle of Leipzig in 1814. For the aficionado of 18th and early 19th century military material culture, the collection is both breathtaking

The armoury collection at Forchtenstein Castle


and mind-boggling. It is one of the largest private arms collections in Europe.

The castle also served as the repository for the Esterhazy’s vast accumulation of art, treasure, and archives (which is also another tour that can be taken while visiting the castle), making it a target for vic-torious armies. When the French entered Vienna in 1805, they were told that the items in the military collection at Burg Forchtenstein were “antiques that reflected the past glory of the princely house”, and the collection was not molested. In 1813, when a resurgent Napoleon again threatened the collection, the

small arms and cannon were shipped down the Danube River to the city of Bratislava, but were then returned after the Congress of Vienna in 1815. After the Napoleonic Wars, the mili-tary garrison was reduced to a guard of 20 grenadiers, and the collection was reconfigured from a depot and working arsenal into a military muse-um, but with archivists and armorers maintaining the collections. Howev-er, it was only ever viewed by a small number of invited guests.

As the fortunes of the Esterha-zy family waned in the later 19th Century, so did the castle and its collections. Although significant arti-facts and objets d’art were loaned for

formal expositions at museums and galleries, the bulk of the collection was hidden away in sealed chambers, and despite the efforts of the palace guard caretakers to maintain and dis-play a small portion of it, some of the artifacts deteriorated. Major parts of the treasure were removed to the Hungarian capital of Budapest before World War II, and some of it was destroyed during the bombardment of the city. Meanwhile, the “Troop of Grenadiers” had been disbanded in 1940, and one local family, the Berg-ers, took on the task of protecting the castle and its contents during the war, and throughout the subsequent Soviet occupation. Aside from just a very, very few interested arms re-searchers who have been able to gain access since the 1960s, the collection has not been seen until recent years, as it languished away in a dark, and dusty, world.

When the last direct heir of the family established the Esterhazy Foundation in the 1990s, funds be-came available to begin the restora-tion of the castle (as well as other Esterhazy holdings in both Austria and Hungary), and to properly display the arms collection, armory, art, treasures, and archives. Many of the exhibitions have only opened in the past few years, and the curatorial staff is still discovering long-forgot-ten, but incredibly significant, artifacts in the vaults and rooms. One can


only imagine a curator’s feelings and thoughts when they opened up one of these long lost chambers, only to find stacks and racks of rare arms and accouterments that had neither been seen nor touched for years and years!

Some of the highlights on the tour of the military collection and armories (in addition to the ever present displays of matchlock, wheel lock, and flintlock muskets, rifles, carbines, and pistols) include:

- Several original, and untouched, 18th Century large field gun car-riages. Many of the original barrels are on display at Vienna’s Arsenal Museum. Some smaller early infantry guns, as seen here, are also displayed in the lower armory.

-An entire exhibit case of rare 17th century glass hand grenades.

- An Ottoman Grand-Vizier’s tent, and rooms full of Ottoman Turk weapons and accouterments.

- A Prussian officers tent from the mid-18th Century, and a Prussian enlisted mans’ tent, captured at the Battle of Hochkirch.

- An entire exhibit case of ul-tra-rare sheet iron and leather butt stock air reservoirs for the Austrian military Girandoni air rifle.

- A wall of grenadier’s pouches from the Esterhazy grenadiers.

- Literally, another wall of sa-


bretaches, and one of sabers, from the Esterhazy Hussar Regiment Nr. 24.

- Rooms full of cartridge boxes, grenadier’s cap plates, and belts from the Esterhazy Grenadiers.

- A wall of sabers from Infantry Regiment Nr. 33.

- All of the uniforms, weapons, accouterments, helmets, and horse tack that were worn only once by the guard of honor at the wedding of an Esterhazy daughter to the Prince of Lichtenstein in 1806, and then set aside.

- At least twenty original, and pristine, 17th century bandoliers.

- Leather accoutrements of all types, ammunition boxes, wooden tent pegs, and pioneer axes (with buff leather carriages and slings!)

- Cases full of Prussian fusilier

caps, spontoons, muskets, and sabers. - Drums and flags from different

periods.- Exhibit cases full of various Hus-

sar uniforms from the 19th through the early 20th centuries.

- An entire supply wagon from 1797.

- Unfinished wooden gunstocks, for matchlocks and for flintlocks.

- An entire room full of racked 17th century Augsburg armor and weapons, similar to what can be seen in the Landeszeughaus of the neighboring city of Graz, the site of the 2012 ICOMAM congress.

A visit to Burg Forchtenstein is an opportunity not to be missed, and never to be forgotten. The surrounding countryside has many more points of historical interest, as well as scenic beauty, and a night and dinner at the nearby Castle Bern-stein (home to the real-life ‘English Patient’, Laszlo Almasy) is the perfect ending for anyone who treasures a glimpse into centuries long past. That, too, is an incredible experience.

The author thanks the staff from the historical collection of the Esterhazy private foundation, especially Mrs. Irene Huditsch and Dr. Florian Bayer, for their wholehearted and enthusiastic help in the preparation of this article. All imag-es are courtesy of Burg Forchtenstein.


A Spanish army crossing the Rhine at Ander-nach in 1634: An exceptional painting by Pieter Snayers (1592-1666/76)

Drs Jos W.L. HilkhuijsenConservator Nationaal Militair Museum, Soest

Introduction

In November 2003, the then Army Museum was alerted by a member of the ‘Friends of the Army Muse-

um’ Foundation to a large 17th cen-tury painting entitled ‘The crossing of the Rhine at Andernach in 1634’ (H x W = 187.8 x 261.5 cm without frame). It was in the possession of an acquaintance of the person who provided the tip. He believed the de-piction related to the failed attempt by an officer of the Dutch States Army, Olivier van den Tympel, to plunder this small town on the Rhine in 1591. 1 This prompted him to bring the painting to the attention of the Army Museum.

The first contact with the owner took place in April 2004. The great military-historical and museological significance of the representation was clear at first sight. It was impor-tant that the painting, which was in a poor condition, would not be lost and that in time it would be given a suitable, public place.2 The owner and the writer of this article did not disagree about that. During the same

year, various visits followed with the ultimate aim of acquiring the painting for the museum in some way. The owner acknowledged the museo-logical importance and the necessity of restoring the painting, but was not yet ready to take a decision. She thought the Army Museum would make a good home for it. Since then there had been no contact with her,until, in January 2012, the Army Museum received a phone call from a family member in Oslo to ask whether the museum was still inter-ested in the painting. The owner had died in 2011 and her next of kin had decided to donate the painting under certain conditions. It did not take the museum long to consider this gen-erous offer. The painting would be a wonderful acquisition. The museum was able to meet the conditions, which included restoring the painting and putting it on permanent display. The donation was formalised in a

A Spanish army crossing the Rhine near Andernach in 1634, painted by Pieter Snayers, c. 1635


notarial deed and the restoration carried out.

Now that the painting had become the property of the Army Museum and was under restoration, thorough research could be car-ried out into the representation, its background, dating, the painter and provenance history.

ProvenanceThe painting was owned by the 82-year-old widow Yvonne van Beusekom-Lalmand (1922-2011), who lived in Wassenaar. Unfortunate-ly, she knew little about its prove-nance. According to her, it had come into the possession of her parents-in-law in the 1920s, who had bought it from a wealthy family whose name she no longer remembered. Howev-er, she did recall that they lived at the country estate of Gnadenthal, east of Nijmegen.3 She also explained that during the Second World War, the painting had been housed in the then Arnhem Municipal Museum as a pre-caution. This detail is confirmed by a label from the museum, which had been stuck to the stretcher of the painting.4 Shortly after the war, the painting came into the possession of her husband Egbert van Beusekom.

An internet search revealed that Gnadenthal was built in 1704 and lies on German soil, namely in the village of Donsbrüggen near Cleve, just across the border by Nijmegen. The last owners of this country estate, which was converted into a conference centre in the 1980s, were the Dutch family Van Hoevell tot Westerflier en Wezeveld. The Catholic branch of this aristocratic Overijssel family owned the castle for five generations from 1806.5 So it could be that the painting was also owned by this family. Further investi-gations have thus far not yielded any additional or new information.

The painting The scene, painted from a bird’s-eye view, shows a large 17th cen-tury army crossing a river set in a panoramic landscape and marching towards a walled riverside town sit-uated on the horizon to the right in

two separate columns. One column, which primarily consists of cavalry and horsemen, is moving along the left-hand side of the river bank; the other, which primarily consists of foot soldiers, is taking a road that lies further inland. The front ranks of both columns have already reached the gate to the town. In the centre of the scene, pikemen and musketeers are being taken across the river on a pontoon, while a galley propelled by fourteen rowers, with six rowing boats in its wake, is also sailing to-wards the fortified town. All of these vessels have many people on board.

On the right-hand bank, a large group of foot soldiers is waiting to be ferried across. To their far right are two waiting units of horsemen. The foot soldiers who are already on the other side are forming up into ranks in order to join the onward marching army. On the left-hand side, five units of cuirassiers are galloping along in order to also join up with the main body of the army.

In the foreground, a long proces-sion of horse-drawn carts and work-men, pedlars, women and children are descending from a hill to the crossing point on foot. The red glow at the top left indicates the evening sky with the sun setting in the west. The river is therefore flowing from left to right in a north-westerly direction. At the bottom right of the canvas is an inset in the form of

a cartouche containing a Latin text explaining the scene.

The backgroundThe Latin explanation is the key to the place, time and action of the scene. The text, which was found to extend under the stretcher, is damaged and has partly been lost. It nevertheless proved possible to reconstruct the following: ___

XIV • KAL• NOVEMB•RHENO SVB ANDERNACH SVPE

ERATO AD LVE [....] FSECVNDO FLVMINE

AGRIPPINAM VERSVS NAVIGANSA PRINCIPE COLONIENSI

MOGUNTINO • HERBIPOLITANO • NEOBVRGIC

[....]AT... .ASSE[...] ATOR A[...]N[...]MENTIS SINO[...].ANE[...]

[..] OO [...] XXX [..]

The letters shown in red had virtual-ly disappeared, but were reconstruct-ed. The square brackets indicate letters which have been lost. Freely translated, the text reads:

ON 18 OCTOBER THE RHINE WAS CROSSED AT ANDERNACH FROM [....] AND FOLLOWED DOWN TO COLOGNE BY THE PRINCE OF COLOGNE MAINZ WÜRZBURG NEUBURG [...] [...] [...]30[…]

From the first two lines it can be

Cartouche containing a Latin text explaining the scene.


concluded that on 18 October (ie 14 days before the Calendar of Novem-ber) [the army] crossed the Rhine at Andernach near ‘LVE…F’, which may represent the Latin name of Leu-tesdorf (the old name is Ludeltorf). This village, which already existed in the Middle Ages but is not shown,6 lies on the right bank of the Rhine, slightly to the north of Andernach on the left bank (which is situated approximately 40 km south of Bonn and approximately 16 km north of Koblenz). The riverside town painted on the horizon (top right) is Bonn and not Andernach as the title given suggests. Also painted is the crater lake Maria Laach and the abbey which still stands there, which is indicated above the pontoon. In the scene, part of the army is moving past the abbey.

The following three lines may be interpreted as meaning that the prince (or princes) of Cologne, Mainz, Würzburg and Neuburg is sail-ing down the river to Cologne. Due to the absence of various letters, the bottom three lines are barely legible, if at all, and can certainly not be in-terpreted. However, the bottom line includes the Roman figure ‘XXX’ (= 30). It is highly likely that this figure is part of the year MDCXXX or, written differently, C I Ɔ I Ɔ CXXX (1630), or of one of the years to MDCXXXIX or CI Ɔ I Ɔ CXXXIX’

(1639). The precise year cannot be pinpointed, because two nails have been hammered through the folded canvas just before and just after the figures ‘XXX’, causing the adjacent figures to disappear. This article will later show that the year in question is MDCXXXIV (1634).

The incomplete text, which does not contain any names of people, and the incomplete year make it difficult to establish which event is depict-ed. What is clear is that the scene relates to a large military operation that took place in the 1630s near

Andernach and in which the princi-palities of Cologne, Mainz, Würzburg and Neuburg played a role.

There are several details that provide further clarification, the most important of which is the galley. On closer inspection of the flag on the stern, it is found to bear an escutcheon consisting of a red field with three crowns and an empty white field. This heraldry corresponds to the coat of arms of the city of Cologne, albeit that the usual eleven black flames on the white field are missing. The galley is therefore connected with this city or the Cologne electorate or bishopric. We know of the German electors that they had at their disposal a ves-sel to be used on special occasions, such as official visits.7 Such ships – later versions were decked out as ornamental ships – were appropriate to the status of their high office. An example is a painting showing the arrival, around 1780, of the elector Maximilian Francis of Austria (1756-1801) in Andernach (!), who is shown on board such a yacht and is awaited by a welcoming committee on the quayside.

On board the Cologne galley, which is being rowed by 17 men, and the six rowing boats sailing with them, are a total of 45 people who, small though the figures are, are

The river town Bonn

The crater lake Maria Laach and the abbey


painted wearing hats with plumes, colourful cloaks and white ruffs. This visible attire suggests a distin-guished company which, in view of the presence of the army, would have consisted of high officers and high officials. If one of them is more important than the others, the man seated under the hood on the stern dressed in a red cloak and a white plumed hat is the most obvious candidate. It was originally assumed that this person might be the elector of Cologne, Ferdinand of Bavaria, and that the scene related to an impor-tant event in his period of rule from 1612 to 1650. This leading dignitary – he was also the bishop of the dio-ceses of Liege, Munster, Paderborn and Hildesheim as well as the abbot of Stavelot – played a central role in both the Counter-Reformation and the witch trials held in his electorate between 1626 and 1631. It is known that 200 witches were burned at the stake in Würzburg, one of the cities named in the cartouche, during the same period. Prince-bishop Philipp Adolf von Ehrenberg was responsible for this persecution. But the bishop-rics of Mainz and Neuburg, which are also listed in the cartouche, are not known to have played a noteworthy role in the witch-hunts. In the second half of 1630, those trials were sus-pended by synodal decree.8 Because that synod was undoubtedly held in

Cologne, the painting could depict the arrival of the participants from various bishoprics and principalities, complete with their armies. Howev-er, this assumption is contradicted by the fortified town depicted on the painting, which bears no resem-blance to a city plan of Cologne from around 1640s, which shows that this much larger city by then already extended to the other bank of the Rhine.

The journey of Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria, 1632-4However, it transpired that a different event could be linked to the representation, namely the long journey undertaken by the Spanish Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria (1609-41) between 12 April 1632 and 4 November 1634 with his army, which took him from Catalonia, via Northern Italy, Southern Germany and the Rhineland, to Brussels. There he was due to be received in state as the new governor of the Spanish or Southern Netherlands. A detailed account of this journey was pub-lished in 1635 (in both Spanish and French), which mentions the crossing of the Rhine at Andernach in Octo-ber 1634 by the large army of this monarch.9 Ferdinand (Fernando) was the son of the Spanish king Philip III (1598-1621) and Margaret of Austria

(1584-1611), the sister of the later emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Ferdinand II of Austria (1619-37). In accordance with his father’s wishes, he was trained as a priest without being ordained, which was not unu-sual in royal and aristocratic circles at the time. In 1619, he became archbishop of Toledo and soon af-terwards cardinal. The title cardi-nal-infante is a combination of his ecclesiastical rank as cardinal and his status as prince (‘infante’ in Spanish). In 1630 – when he was governor of Catalonia – he was appointed by his brother, the king of Spain, as the new governor of the Spanish Netherlands. In taking up this post, he succeeded his 64-year-old aunt Isabella of Spain (1566-1633). The arrival of a strong ruler was more than desirable during this unruly period of the Dutch Re-volt, and in spite of his youthful years, Ferdinand was entrusted with this role. The Spanish hegemony had lost face very badly in 1629 due to having to relinquish ’s-Hertogenbosch to the Republic, the taking of which by the army of the prince of Orange Frederick Henry, his own nephew, had partly been financed by the capture of the Spanish treasure fleet in 1628.10 The rule of the governor was further destabilised by the revolt of the Walloon nobles and the defec-tion of the Southern Netherlander Count Hendrik van den Bergh, a ca-

The galley with Ferdinand of Austria, sitting at the stern

The Spanish cardinal-infant Ferdinand of Austria (1609-41). Photo: Stephen Grube, Galen-Gallery, Greven.


pable commander, to the States army in 1632.11 The Spanish Netherlands were also threatened by the alliance between France and the Republic of the United Netherlands.

Against this background, 24-year-old Ferdinand departed from Catalo-nia with a small army in 1633 as the new strongman and embarked for Genoa in order to add the Spanish troops stationed in Northern Italy (Lombardy) to his command. From there, his journey took him via Milan, Tyrol and Swabia to the Rhineland. This route, known since 1567 as the ‘Spanish Road’, had long been the main thoroughfare linking the Low Countries to Central and Southern Europe for travellers, merchants and armies.12 After crossing the Alps, the cardinal-infante first travelled to Nördlingen in Bavaria, where at the request of his brother-in-law, King Ferdinand IV of Hungary, he provided military assistance in his battle against a strong Swedish army. In September 1634, the Swedes suffered a devastating defeat and he was able to continue his journey to Brussels.

The arrival of a new governor was meant to be coupled with a great show of power. To this end, Ferdinand sought to raise a large army of thousands of men, which he hoped to supplement with mer-cenaries on the way. In order to augment his army, which numbered 5,000 upon his departure from Italy, he sought and received military support from the Catholic princes in the Rhineland. He was partly able to exact their contributions thanks to his victory over the German-Swedish army at Nördlingen.

The crossing at AndernachGenerally speaking, the armies of the combatant parties during the Eighty Years’ War (1578-1648) and Thirty Years’ War (1618-48) that were fought in Europe, consisted of hired foreign army units.13 The Rhine-land was one of the main areas for recruiting mercenaries.

The hiring of army units by the European powers involved large troop movements over long distanc-

es, which required crossing rivers, in particular the Rhine and its tributar-ies. One crossing point which had long been in use was at Andernach, which is cited repeatedly not only in German historiography but also in that of the Romans.14 This location apparently had natural advantages as a crossing point. The officer referred to in the introduction, Olivier van den Tympel, also crossed the Rhine with his army there. That crossing was connected with the order he had received from Prince Maurits in 1591 to raise an army consisting of 3,000 infantrymen and approximately 100 horsemen in the principalities of Cologne and Trier as part of the large army of the French king Henry IV, who had requested support from the prince of Orange. Their desti-nation was the port and trading city of Rouaan, which was under siege by the Spanish. On the way there, Van Tympel’s regiment joined up with the large French army, which ultimately numbered no fewer than 16,400 men. The route of his march ran southwards and followed the Rhine upstream, which he crossed at Andernach with the aim of plun-dering this trading town. As stated previously, he failed in this inten-tion.15 Afterwards, his army moved along the Moselle as far as Metz, and from there towards Verdun, which

meant bridging the Maas, before completing the journey to Rouaan via Saint-Quentin.

Following the battle in Nördlin-gen, Ferdinand resumed his journey and descended towards the Rhine via Altenkirch, following the small wind-ing River Wied for part of the way. The Wied flows into the Rhine at Neuwied, which lies opposite Ander-nach. His army plundered the towns and villages it passed on the way, with Altenkirch in particular suffering badly. The part of the account of the journey which describes his passage through the Rhineland states that on 8 October 1634, by the settlement of Usingen, he ordered one of his captains, namely Francisco Carnero, to prepare the crossing at Ander-nach by obtaining fishing boats and pontoons, and to inform the Marquis of Aytona of his arrival. This Marquis of Aytona was Francisco de Moncada (1586-1635), the interim governor of the Southern Netherlands, who was in Brussels at the time. As military commander of the Netherlands and as her most important adviser, he temporarily succeeded Isabella of Spain after her death in 1633, pend-ing Ferdinand’s arrival.

On 9 October, the cardinal-infan-te arrived in Camerich (Bad Cam-berg?) and on 10 October in Diez. There he visited (for strategic rea-

Pikemen and musketeers being taken across the Rhine on a pon-toon


sons?) the widow of the stadtholder of Friesland, Drenthe and Gronin-gen, Ernst Casimir van Nassau, who had died in 1632. His widow led a withdrawn life in her castle. A Hun-garian army of 2,000 cavalry joined Ferdinand’s troops in Diez and ought therefore to be visible in the painting.

The march continued past Hol-sem (Holzheim?), Valmerod (Villmar?) and Heustorf (?), a village an hour’s walk from the Rhine.16 When the governor reached the Rhine, on 14 October, the boats and pontoons had not yet arrived. He spent the night at the fortress of Hamelstein (Hammerstein), which had long been an important military post (now a ruin), situated high above the village of the same name which is located approximately 7 kilometres north of Andernach and two kilometres from Leutesdorf. The latter settlement lies on the east bank of the Rhine. The crossing point was probably by this village, but Hammerstein is also a possible site, because the long, nar-row island of Hammersteiner Werth lies beside this village in the Rhine, which would have naturally made the crossing easier. However, the island is not shown on the painting. In Roman times, there was a watchtower (cas-tella) in Hammerstein, which served as a border post, and there was also a crossing point there.17

On the following day, 15 October, Ferdinand received two envoys from the elector of Cologne, Ferdinand of Bavaria, who conveyed his congrat-ulations on the former’s victory at Nördlingen and also an invitation to continue the journey to Cologne on board his ship, which undoubtedly meant the elector’s galley (visible in the painting). That same day, he received the archbishop of Mainz and the bishop of Würzburg.

The crossing of the Rhine by the army at Andernach took place over the following three days. In reporting on this large-scale troop movement, the writer of the account specifically mentions soldiers from Lombardy, Naples and Flanders, who were part of the Spanish army but are not rec-ognisable as such on the painting.

The events between 18 and 20 October 1634On 18 October, Ferdinand boarded the vessel, which is described as richly ornamented, at this location, accompanied by the Spanish com-manders, the marquises of Leganes, Los Balbaces, d’Orani d’Este, the count of Nochera, four other courtly gentlemen and a number of servants. The vessel was escorted by 9,500 infantry and 2,500 cavalry, who made their way by land.

On 19 October, Ferdinand met the count of Neuburg an hour and a half ’s sailing from Bonn, who added his own troops (5,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry) to Ferdinand’s army. The cardinal-infante invited him to come on board, where the two nobles reportedly withdrew to the stern and continued the journey conversing there. At an hour’s walk from Bonn, Ferdinand was awaited by the elector of Cologne. The latter had come from Cologne to meet him with several coaches, accom-panied by a large number of cavalry. Those on board got into the waiting carriages – a carriage is depicted on the painting, along with a sedan chair – which took them to Bonn, where Ferdinand was received with great ceremony. The company then travelled on to Cologne, where they would spend three days as guests.

On 20 October, Ferdinand again received the bishops of Mainz and Würzburg and, two days later, the count of Neuburg and his son.18 Their principalities are named in the cartouche.

On 22 October, he reached the small town of Gulik (Julich) and on 4 November 1634 he finally arrived in Brussels, where he received a grand welcome, or rather where a grand welcome was bestowed on him – the city council spent no fewer than 80,000 guilders on decorating the city with gates of honour, picture galleries and special theatre perfor-mances.

From the above, it may be concluded that the scene depicted refers to the events at Andernach in October 1634, which occurred during the journey of cardinal-infante Ferdinand of Austria, who was en route to Brussels to be installed as the new governor of the Southern Netherlands.

The representation and the in-complete Latin text contain sufficient elements which correspond to those in the detailed travel account. The clues are in the galley, which is flying the flag of Cologne, the company on board, the person at the stern, the escort of foot soldiers and cavalry on the banks, the coach standing on the bank of the river, the sedan chair

The (dark) carriage of the elector of Cologne is the one nearest the river.


to the left of the coach, the cavalry units forming up, the date and the bishoprics or principalities of Co-logne, Mainz, Würzburg and Neuburg named in the cartouche.

In view of the topographical correspondence, the fortified town depicted is Bonn. The plan of the town bears a greater similarity to a mid-17th century engraving of Bonn than to the larger city of Cologne, which by then had already spread to the other bank of the Rhine. It should be noted that Bonn, known as Bonna in Latin, is not mentioned in the Latin text.

Then there is the Spanish flag, recognisable by the red St. Andrew’s cross on a white field, which indi-cates that this is a Spanish army. It may be found on the other bank of the river, to the right of the pontoon. Many other standards which cannot be identified have also been painted, from which it may be concluded that the army is composed of foreign mercenaries under Spanish com-mand. Among the many standards is another consisting of a red cross on a blue field. It covers the back of a horse standing on the right bank at the far left. What the colours stand for is not known. The same is true of the completely blue standard carried by a man walking at the head of a group of citizens who have just been ferried across.

The artistThe painting is neither signed nor dated, but the style, composition and dimensions show a great similari-ty to the oeuvre of the Southern Netherlandish painter Pieter Snayers (1592- 1666/7), who is known for his grand and detailed paintings of mil-itary operations such as battles and sieges and bird’s-eye views of army formations.19 An example is Siege of Gulik by the Spaniards in the winter of 1621/22, dating from circa 1625, which is on permanent display in the National Military Museum. The siege, which lasted from 5 September 1621 to 3 February 1623, was led by the commander named previously in this article, Hendrik van den Bergh.

All of these works are character-ised by a composition consisting of three layers: a panoramic landscape with a blue sky containing a few clouds and a relatively high horizon (upper layer), the military formations and movements in the centre (mid-dle layer) and the genre figures in the foreground (bottom layer). The painting in question displays the same construction.

Born and raised in Antwerp, Snayers initially lived and worked in Antwerp but in approximately1628 he moved to Brussels, where he performed commissions for custom-ers including the governor of the Spanish Netherlands, Isabella of Spain (1566-1633) and her successors, cardinal-infante Ferdinand of Austria

and archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (1614-62). Some fifteen large works date from the period 1634 -44 (average dimensions 200 x 280 cm), most of which are in the Prado in Madrid and the Museum of Art History in Vienna. Commissioned by the Italian general in Spanish service Octavio Piccolomini (1599-1656), between 1639 and 1651 Snayers painted twelve large-scale battle scenes that are now in the Museum for Military History in Vienna. Since governor Ferdinand of Austria was among Snayers’ customers and he is the central figure, it is reasonable to assume that he commissioned the painting. It is even conceivable that the canvas is part of a series that also includes the battle of Nördlin-gen.

In view of the high volume of production and the large dimensions of these paintings, the Flemish mas-ter must have had a large studio with many assistants. This is confirmed by the depictions themselves, which are visibly the work of more than one painter. The same may be deduced from the painting in question: the genre figures in the foreground are clearly by a different hand than the smaller figures in the middle layer.

View of Andernach, from the riverside at Leutesdorf. Photo: Jos Hilkhuijsen

Pieter Snayers (1592-1667), by Antoon van Dyck (1599-1641). Unknown photo.


Museological significanceDue to its military-historical back-ground, lively character and high ar-tistic quality, The crossing of an army at Andernach has great documentary, educational and hence museological significance. The fact that the army depicted is a Spanish one and not a Dutch army barely detracts from this. The depiction provides an excellent insight into the composition of ar-mies at the time of the Eighty Years’ War, including the working peo-ple, pedlars and their families who accompanied them as they marched, and how they crossed rivers with the help of pontoons.

The liveliness of the detailed composition makes the painting ex-ceptionally appealing to an audience. It offers the viewer great enjoyment because it contains so much detail. Clearly recognisable are the various army units and types of soldiers, such as pikemen, musketeers, drummers, standard-bearers and cuirassiers. Other details include a horse which has bolted, soldiers playing dice and a woman in a cart, lying under covers with children who are being suckled and cleaned, little figures doing their business, a range of household goods, many being carried on the individu-als’ backs, poultry on the carts, etc.

All of these scenes are taking place in the foreground and background.

A notable feature are the working people accompanying the army, in-cluding a striking number of women and children who figure prominently in the foreground. Whole families would accompany armies, with the women typically being camp follow-ers and the men performing all kinds of trades for the army, such as those

of carpenter, smith/blacksmith, carter, coppersmith, gun-maker, etc.

Of the soldiers among the working people, several are high-lighted, such as the officer at the far left, recognisable as such by the red sash around his middle and the blue plume on his hat. With his left arm, he is gesturing to three musketeers walking in front of him; his right hand is clasping the blade of a halberd held diagonally. Visible at the right of the canvas is the full figure of a man seen from the side who stands out due to his robust posture, his rough beard and above all his headdress, namely a red cap from under which straw is sticking out at every angle. He too has a pole arm resting in his hand with a cross-shaped halberd. One of the two women (camp followers) standing beside him is wearing the same headdress, with straw beneath it. Sprinkled across the canvas are other men and women with the same headgear. The straw was used to keep the head warm and, in view of the time of year (autumn) and the fact that evening is falling, this is not surprising. It is not known in which region this headdress was custom-ary. The individuals in question may have been from Hungary or Croatia. By this group there is also a beard-ed and helmeted pikeman whose

Units of cuirasssiers are galloping along to join up with the main body of the army

The number of women and children among the working people is striking.


metres-long pike sticks out far above the company. It catches the eye because he appears to be apprais-ing the viewer of the painting with smiling eyes.

In short, all of those genre figures in the foreground, a number of whom have eye contact with the viewer of the painting, add a lot of life and enjoyment to the representa-tion.

ConclusionThe crossing of a major river by a large army must have been a spectac-ular event. Yet not many depictions of it are known, which makes this one so special. Besides the crossing at Andernach, Snayers also captured a similar crossing, albeit less prom-inently, in The defeat of the French army around Thionville in 1639,20 and he had previously painted the cross-ing of the Danube at Vienna21 around 1620 and the crossing of the Somme in 1636.22 However, he was not the only painter to do so. For exam-ple, in 1644 the brothers Gillis and Bonaventura Peeters painted a Dutch States army crossing the lower Rhine at Arnhem. What makes this paint-ing so special, however, is that the crossing is central to the scene and that, despite the fact that we know what scene is being portrayed, the main character and other impor-

tant figures of authority are barely depicted, if at all. The emphasis is on the crossing, the composition of the army column and, above all, the accompanying ordinary people who are placed in the foreground.

Notes1 Letter from H. Groenendijk, 5

November 2003.2 The painting, which had been

hanging in the living room for

A pikeman and two women (camp followers)

a long time, was dirty, highly discoloured and marred by run marks from an unknown liquid, and displayed wrinkling caused by incorrect mounting and sever-al small areas of damage. The condition was recorded in a restoration report plus quotation, including photos.

3 See acquisition proposal for the painting from 2004 and VVV 2012-05.

4 Along with the title ‘The crossing of the Rhine near Andernach’, the label states the name ‘Mrs. A.H. v. Beusekom-Viruly’ and the loan number ‘B.V.1.’. ‘B.V.1’ is probably an abbreviation for Beusekom-Viruly. The number 1 indicates that she had given more objects on loan, but it is not possible to verify this at this time. The archive of the Arnhem Municipal Museum (entry 2141), housed in the Archive of the Province of Gelderland, is not ordered and has no management dossier, while the storehouse list of this 30-metre long archive is extremely limited. Source: statement by Mrs. I. Nagelkerke, manager of public Gelderland Archive, August 2013.

5 Source: www.mooigelderland.

The defeat of the French army near Thionville in 1639, by Pieter Snayers. Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels.


nl. Since 2008, the castle has been managed by the Stichting Geldersch Landschap & Kasteelen Gelderland Landscape & Castles Foundation. See also: Wikipedia Schloss Gnadenthal.

6 See www.leutesdorf-rhein.de/geschichte/ortgeschichte.html.Leutesdorf. Both Leutesdorfe and Andernach are mentioned in the travel account De navigio suo (‘The boat voyage’) from 588 B.C. by Venantius Fortunatus. This Roman poet travelled along the Moselle to Koblenz and visited both places.

7 The electors’ yachts displayed similarities to the state yacht which was at the disposal of the members of the States-General in the Netherlands. The Ger-man yachts may even have been modelled on it. The Dutch States yacht was also used during mili-tary campaigns, such as the new states yacht of Frederik Hendrik delivered in 1632. It does not seem likely that this was also the case for the electors’ yacht in the painting. No canons are visible on board. The placement of artillery would also have been complicat-ed by the seats of the fourteen rowers, of whom seven heads are visible on the starboard side. Moreover, no military activity is taking place.

8 Gerhard Schormann, Der Krieg gegen die Hexen. Das Ausrot-tungsprogramm der Kurfürsten von Köln (Gottingen 1991); Friedrich Wilhelm Siebel, Die Hexenverfolgung in Köln (Bonn 1959) 64-75.

9 Diego de Aedo y Gallard, trans-lated from the Spanish by Jules Chiffert, Le voyage du prince Don Fernando Infant d’Epagne Cardi-nal (1635) (Antwerp 1635) 177-185. It is a daily travel account of cardinal-infante Fernand from Barcelona, via Northern Italy and the Rhineland, to Brussels. The journey begins on 12 April 1632 and ends in November 1634. With thanks to the Belgian art historian Leen Kelchtermans who wrote her PhD thesis at Leuven

University on the work of Pieter Snayers (e-mail 21-11-2012). She pointed me to the source referred to above.

10 ‘De zeventiende eeuw’ (‘The seventeenth century’), volume. 5 (1989) 22-23. R. Vermeir, Spanje en de Zuidelijke Nederlanden tijdens de landvoogdij van Isabella, Aytona en de kardinaal-infant, 1629-1641 (Spain and the Southern Netherlands during the governorship of Isabella, Aytona and the cardinal-infante, 1629-1641, unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Gent 1998).

11 Randall Lesaffer, Het einde van de Habsburgse hegemonie in Europa. De kardinaal- infant en het Spaans Oostenrijkse ´fami-liepact´ (1633-1637) (‘The end of the Habsburg hegemony in Europe. The cardinal-infante and the Spanish Austrian ‘family pact’ (1633-1637) 325-332 (published on internet).

12 The Spanish Route was the approximately 1,000 km long military supply, trading and travel route which extended from Northern Italy to the Low Countries from 1567 to the middle of the seventeenth century. The route ran through relatively neutral and safe areas and was therefore favoured by soldiers, travellers and traders and was regarded as safer than the significantly shorter journey by sea. The route, part of which was already in existence, was established by the Spanish king Philip II after many obstacles such as extremely high mountain passes, wide rivers, dense forests and roads made unsafe by crim-inals had been overcome. Foot soldiers were eventually able to cover the distance between Milan and Brussels at an average of 23 km per day. See: G. Parker, The army of Flanders and the Spanish Road 1567-1659. The logistics of Spanish victory and defeat in the Low Countries’ wars (Cambridge 2004).

13 There were a number of reasons for hiring foreign troops. For in-

stance, a country might not have enough men, or foreign soldiers might be better trained. Hiring mercenaries also prevented them from being recruited by the ene-my. In addition, soldiers who were not fighting in their own coun-tries were less likely to desert. But the hiring of foreign troops was probably prompted by a combination of these reasons.

14 Venantius Fortunatus, De navigio suo (‘The boat journey’) from 588 B.C. This Roman poet trav-elled along the Moselle to Ko-blenz and also visited Andernach.

15 Klaus Schäfer, ‘Der mißglückte Überfall auf das Andernacher Rheintor im Jahre 1591 durch Olivier van den Tympel’, in: Die Andernacher Bäckerjungen. Hintergründe eine Sage (An-dernach 1994) 111-136. For his research into the event at Andernach, the author consulted various contemporary sources.

F.J.G. ten Raa, F. de Bas, Het Staatse Leger 1568-1795 II (Breda 1913) 15, e.v., bijlage VIII (p. 308-309). (‘The Army of the Dutch States 1568-1795’ II, (Bre-da 1913)) 15, ff, appendix VIII (p. 308-309).

16 These places are not to be found on modern maps due to their old and/or incorrect spellings.

17 See Kleinkastell “Am Forsthof-weg”, website Wikipedia ‘Ham-merstein (am Rhein)’.

18 The bishop of Mainz was Anselm Casimir Wambold von Umstadt; the count of Neuburg was Wolf-gang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg.

19 Joost Vander Auwera, ‘Historische Wahrheit und Künstlerische Dichtung. Das Geschicht des Achtzigjährigen Krieges in der südniederländischen Malerei, ins besondere bei Sebastiaen Vrancx (1573-1647) und Pieter Snayers (1592-1667)’, in: K. Bußmann und H. Schilling, 1648 Krieg und Frieden in Europa. Text. Kunst und Kultur (Munich 1998) 461-468. My clues were initially corrobo-rated by the Belgian art historian Leen Kelchtermans, who hopes


to complete her PhD at the University of Leuven on the work of Pieter Snayers (e-mail 21-11-2012).

20 Collection of the Royal Museums of Fine Art of Belgium, canvas, dim. 197 x 266 cm; inv. no.? Snayers also painted two different phases of the relief of this town in 1642.

21 Collection of Count Harrach in Rohrau, Austria, see exhibition catalogue K. Bußmann, H. Schilling (ed.), 1648 Krieg und Frieden in Europa. Text. Kunst und Kultur (Munich 1998), 1998, p. 96 no. 236.

22 Collection of the Museum of Art History, Vienna, inv. no. GG1823, canvas, dim. 202 x 284 cm.


‘We Rise to Con-quer’: A Unique Glimpse into No. 46 Squadron

David WilsonCollections Assistant RAF Museum, London

With the next ICOMAM conference due to be held in Krakow later this

year, I was invited to write an article for the latest issue of the ICOMAM Magazine relating to airmen from Eastern Europe who flew in the Roy-al Air Force. I thought it would be a fantastic opportunity for me to try to unearth something that was little known or had not been seen before, and what I found surpassed my initial expectations.

I was made aware of an album of photographs donated by a Czecho-slovakian pilot, Karel Mrazek, who flew with 46 Squadron in the Second World War between September 1940 and May 1941.1 It is a fascinat-ing collection of photographs and offers a unique insight into an RAF

squadron during this critical period. It also highlights the diverse nature of Fighter Command’s personnel during the Battle of Britain and beyond, with Czech, Polish, Canadian and Belgian airmen shown serving alongside their British comrades.2 But first and foremost this album is a rare personal account of life in an RAF squadron as seen through the eyes of Karel Mrazek.

Karel MrazekKarel Mrazek was born on 29 November 1910 and enlisted in the Czech Air Force in October 1932, aged 21. He initially qualified as an observer but went on to train as a pilot, graduating in 1935. By 1937 he was given command of the 33rd Fighter Squadron, however, with the German occupation of Czechoslova-kia in March 1939, Mrazek made his way to Poland.3

Hundreds of Czech airmen and ground crew left their homeland to continue the war. While a handful of men were admitted to the Polish Air Force, the majority, like Mrazek, made their way to France.4

Mrazek and his fellow Czech pilots were admitted to the French Foreign Legion, the only unit open to foreigners, but following the out-break of war they were seconded to l’Armée de l’Air until the French collapse in June 1940. With nowhere else to go, Mrazek made his way to Gibraltar where he boarded a ship to Liverpool. He was commissioned into the RAF in August 1940 and was moved to 46 Squadron on 22 September where he was involved in the latter stages of the Battle of Britain.5 It was while serving with 46 Squadron that Mrazek took these incredible photographs.

International element of the Royal Air ForceAt the outbreak of war, Britain was able to call upon service personnel from across the British Common-wealth of Nations to strengthen the Royal Air Force. In addition to these airmen, Britain also became the home for personnel from countries outside the British Empire.

Mrazek’s journey from his native homeland to becoming a pilot with the RAF is a story shared by thou-sands of Czech and Polish airmen forced to flee their native homeland in order to continue the fight against the German advance. As well as Polish and Czech airmen, by June 1940 the RAF was presented with an influx of foreign servicemen from occupied countries – such as France, Norway, Holland and Belgium - with which to continue the war. While the British High Command was initially hesitant to use these foreign troops, believing them to be demor-alised from previous defeats, it soon became clear that Fighter Command was in desperate need of experi-enced airmen to help defend Britain. Semi-independent national squadrons were formed, and many pilots were posted to RAF squadrons to replen-ish heavy losses suffered during the Battle of France and in covering the retreat from Dunkirk.6 This pool of experienced airmen were also vital in ensuring fighter squadrons involved in the Battle of Britain could be maintained at full strength, and these pilots were essential in ensuring victory for the RAF.7

Pilots from Poland and Czech-oslovakia made up the majority of foreign personnel in Britain outside of the Commonwealth, which is reflected in these photographs.8 46 Squadron is a typical example of the international nature of the RAF during the Battle of Britain, and should not be considered unique. What is unique, however, (in the

Pilot Officer Karel Mrazek be-side his Hurricane.

Self-portrait.


Royal Air Force collection at least) is a fully compiled and annotated album of photographs such as this which chronicles all aspects of life in an RAF Squadron. This album is a significant addition to the visual imagery gathered by other serving airmen documenting such as crucial time in history.

The albumThe photographic album Mrazek compiled is a visual record of the time he spent with the squadron. The images document the daily lives and activities of Mrazek and his fel-low airmen and offer a rare opportu-nity to view what life as an RAF pilot was like during this period.

There is an incredible variety of images to be found in this album. Mrazek’s camera accompanied him wherever he went and he seems to have delighted in photographing as many people as he could, whenever he could. His fellow airmen revelled in hav-

ing their photograph taken and there is no shortage of willing subjects. Individual portraits are a constant throughout the album, immortal-ising the sitter and demonstrating Mrazek’s wish to photograph mem-bers of his squadron for posterity. Most photographs of fellow airmen are taken on the different airfields 46 Squadron was posted to, and these portraits offer a charming account of his fellow pilots.

Alongside these portraits are his more informal individual and group photographs. Impromptu photo-graphs taken mid-action and those taken without the subject’s knowl-edge create an authentic context for these images. Mrazek was clearly a skilled photographer and his ability to capture the essence of these mo-ments has an infectious quality.

Sergeant H. E. Black

Pilot Officer Kennedy

Pilot Officer P. S. Gunning, Fly-ing Officer C. S. Ambrose, Pilot Officer E. G. A. Seghers of 46 Squadron

‘Interrogation after landing’. Left to right: Pilot Officer C. F. Ambro-se DFC; Flying Officer Wincer (Intelligence Officer); Pilot Officer Young; Pilot Officer P. G. Leggett; Flying Officer P. R. McGregor; Pilot Officer P. W. Le Fevre


Pilots of ‘A’ Flight pass anxious moments in the dispersal hut before take-off

‘Scramble’ of ‘A’ Flight. The excitement on the pilots’ faces is per-fectly captured in this image as they rush to reach their Hurricanes.

The physical and mental ex-haustion of being a fighter pilot is captured in a number of photographs. This picture of 46 Squadron’s Belgian pilot, Pilot Officer E. G. A. Seghers, taking a well-earned rest is entitled ‘You can rest in any position’.

‘Czech pilots of 46 Sq. – 30 minutes off duty’. Sergeants J. Rezwicek, P. Brazda & J. Gutvald.

On and off duty During the Battle of Britain and in the months that followed, fighter squadrons were frequently sent to intercept raids and break up enemy formations, or ordered to maintain air patrols in British airspace. bThe demanding nature of being a fighter pilot during this period of the Sec-ond World War is strongly communi-cated through the photographs.

Flying Officer P. R. McGregor and Flying Officer K. Mrazek at the Red Bear, Sherburn-in-El-met.

Flying Officer P. R, McGregor playing billiards.


Despite the demands of being a fighter pilot, many photographs attest to the lighter side of life in an RAF squadron. When not in the air the pilots of 46 Squadron found ways to entertain themselves, both on and off the airfield, and scenes of celebra-tion and entertainment can be found in abundance.

Friendship What I find most striking when I look through this album is the incredible bonds of friendship and camaraderie that are often on display, demonstrating the close ties formed in the most extreme circumstances. What you see in these photographs is more than just a group of pilots who simply work and live togeth-er. You see a family of young men thrown together from all over the world in the height of war. The sentiments of Ludwik Martel, a Polish pilot who served with 54 Squadron, are clearly echoed in these photo-graphs:

‘Relations were fantastic. I felt so well in my English Squadron... that I twice refused to be transferred to a Polish unit. I felt so happy among these comrades, I can honestly say that I never had such relationships ever again in my life’.9

It wasn’t just fellow airmen that made an impression on Mrazek. The inclusion of civilians in some photo-graphs underlines the importance of the British public in making these foreign servicemen feel welcome in an unfamiliar country. Mrazek was initially billeted with Mrs Seymours when he joined the squadron at Stapleford Tawney and their close relationship is evident when, for East-er in 1941 while the squadron were stationed in Sherburn-in-Elmet, she sent a special treat to Mrazek and his squadron.

‘Gymnastics before taking off ’. Sergeants L. Uher and J. Gutvald with Rex, 46 Squadron mascot.

Pilot Officers K. Mrazek and Z. Janicky.

From left to right: Pilot Officer J. P. Lloyd; Sergeant J. Rezwicek; Flight Lieutenant P. W. Le Fevre; Sergeant P. Brazda; Sergeant L. Uher; Sergeant J. Gutvald.

An Easter cake given by Mrs Seymours to Pilots of 46 Squad-ron


Sacrifice and loss What makes this album more poign-ant are the hand written captions for each photograph to which Mrazek has added crosses next to the names of those who did not survive the war. Of the forty-four pilots from 46 Squadron who are pictured in this album, twenty-one were killed in ac-tion. The majority of Mrazek’s closest friends, those who are frequently pictured throughout the album, are among that number.

It is easy to interpret an album of photographs such as this purely in terms of its historical value. As an outsider looking in we can be for-given for seeing this album simply in terms of how it helps to improve our understanding of these events. But this is to detach it from what it truly represented to its author. Mrazek served with the men of 46 Squadron day and night for nine months and this album is a personal tribute to his best friends, those brave and daunt-less pilots who laid down their lives for victory and the future of those who survived.

ConclusionThere is a growing interest in the diverse nature of the RAF during the Second World War and how much Britain owes foreign servicemen for their contribution to the Allied war effort. As far as the Royal Air Force is concerned, the addition of well-trained and experienced airmen was vital in ensuring that the Allies gained and maintained air superiority from the Battle of Britain until the end of

‘Taking rest on fresh snow’. Sergeants L. Uher & J. Gutvald.

the war. As well as their material contri-

bution, the success of these pilots was aided by the good relationships formed between British and foreign airmen. On the whole, foreign pilots were warmly welcomed by their British counterparts, and this album is evidence of the cooperation and strong bonds of friendship that were fostered throughout the RAF. You only need to look at a handful of the photographs to recognise the strong relationships that existed between foreign and British pilots serving in the RAF. These photographs were clearly important to Mrazek and together represent a visual account of the experiences of an exiled

‘Friendship’. Sergeant P.Brazda, Flying Officer P. G. Lewis and Ser-geant L. Uher all lost their lives during the war.

pilot serving in the RAF. The images offer a unique glimpse into a pivotal moment in history for both Mrazek and the Royal Air Force, and shows Britain at its best; inclusive.

What next?We are incredibly fortunate that Mrazek donated such a personal item to the Royal Air Force Museum, and the few pictures presented here do not do this remarkable collection of photographs justice.

One of the Royal Air Force Mu-seum’s core missions is to preserve, honour and share the stories of cur-rent and former RAF personnel and their families, and I believe that both Mrazek, and his fellow pilots, deserve to have their stories told. My goal is to make the entire album accessible to the public and to make the stories of the squadron, and more impor-tantly the pilots who feature in this album, available to a wider audience. We are currently attempting to con-tact Mrazek’s next of kin in order to get permission to do this. We would be most grateful for any information which might help us get in touch with his family, so if you know of anyone who might be able to assist us to this end please contact me at the Royal Air Force Museum ([email protected]).


Karel Mrazek left 46 Squadron in May 1941 and was posted to 313 (Czech) Squadron. He left the RAF in May 1945 at the rank of Group Captain and returned to Czechoslovakia where he was readmitted into the Czech Air Force, promoted to Colonel, and appointed commander of the 3rd Air Division. Like many ex-RAF Czech airmen he was purged by the communist au-thorities in 1948 and dismissed from the air force. Following the Velvet Revolution in 1989 Mrazek was promoted to Major General. He passed away on 5 December 1998.

Notes1 The album is held in the Royal Air

Force Museum Archive. Object number L88.

2 In total 2,937 British and Allied airmen took part in the Battle of Britain from the following coun-tries: Great Britain (2,342); Poland (145); New Zealand (127); Can-ada (112); Czechoslovakia (88); Australia (32); Belgium (28); South Africa (25); France (13); Ireland (10); United States (9); Rhodesia (3); Barbados (1); Jamaica (1); New-foundland (1).

3 http://www.bbm.org.uk/Mrazek.htm

4 Zdeněk Hurt, Czechs in RAF Squadrons of World War II in focus (Surrey, 2004), p. 6.

5 Kenneth G. Wynn, Men of the Bat-tle of Britain (Surrey , 1999), p. 365.

6 No. 46 Squadron, on the other hand, suffered heavy losses during the Norwegian Campaign. Nine pilots and ten Hurricanes were lost when the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious and her two escorting destroyers were sunk by German Battleships on their return to England.

7 Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding and Sir Archibald Sinclair, the Sec-retary of State for the Air Force, both praised the contribution of international pilots, particularly those from Poland who made up the majority of foreign airmen in Britain. They were both of the opinion that was it not for the contribution of these pilots the outcome of Battle of Britain would not have been the same.

8 A November 1940 report by the Chiefs of Staff on Allied contin-gents estimated that there were 8,500 Poles, 1,250 Czechs, 350 Free French, 270 Dutch, 165 Belgian and 3 Norwegian airmen serving in Britain (excluding Com-monwealth personnel).

9 Adam Zamoyski, The Forgotten Few: The Polish Air Force in World War II (Barnsley, 2013), p. 75.

BibliographyBrown, Alan, Airmen in Exile: The

Allied Air Forces in the Second World War (Gloucestershire, 2000).

Halley, James J., The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force (Kent, 1980).

Hurt, Zdeněk, Czechs in RAF Squadrons of World War II in focus (Surrey, 2004).

Moreton, Arthur, North Weald Air-field in the Second World War: Flying for Freedom (North Weald, 2010).

Rawlings, John, Fighter Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft (London, 1976).

Winton, John, Carrier Glorious: The Life and Death of an Aircraft Carrier (London, 1986).

Wynn, Kenneth, G., Men of the Battle of Britain (Surrey, 1999).

Zamoyski, Adam, The Forgotten Few: The Polish Air Force in World War II (Barnsley, 2013).

Internet sourceswww.bbm.org.uk


Following several years of plan-ning and building, the long await-ed new building to house the

collections from the Army Museum, formerly in Delft, and the Military Aviation Museum opened at a new site in Soesterberg in the Nether-lands at the end of 2014. Situated on a former airfield about 10 km from the town of Amersfoort in the cen-tre of the Netherlands, the building is a vast, hangar-like structure, 20,000 square metres (215,000 square feet) in size, which sits in the landscape as though dropped there.

Once inside there are a number of distinct areas for different parts of the collections. The ground floor has a display of vehicles, hardware and planes. The vehicles and hard-ware are laid out around one end

It’s BIG: The Nationaal Militair Museum, Soester-berg, the Nether-lands. A personal view

Kay SmithIndependent scholar

A ‘dog-fight’ going on above our heads


of the building while the planes occupy the other end. While the earthbound hardware is placed on the floor and can be inspected from all angles, the planes are displayed in two ways. First a series of planes hang from the ceiling in a dramatic and fantastic fashion as though there is a weird, time-defying dog fight go-ing on above your head. The overall effect is both inspiring and slightly confusing at the same time. Below

there are more planes - plenty to satisfy the enthusiast as well as those less interested. Also on the main floor is a display of artillery from the medieval examples to the 19th century.

All these are displayed in the full light of day - the sides of the building are glazed. However, the displays of small arms, firearms, armours, swords and staff weapons, are set within a separate dark space lit by artificial

light. After the drama and excitement of the major materiel, this area was, certainly for me, a great let down. The lighting is poor, many objects are in a stygian gloom in which they cannot be clearly seen, while the ar-rangement and display of the collec-tions is very dull and uninspiring. Not only that, some objects, especially many of the firearms, are displayed so that the action, particularly the lock, is away from the viewer and cannot be easily seen.

On the upper floor are several areas. First is a monumental audio/visual display, wrapped round a vast contour map of the Netherlands, telling the story of the military his-tory of the Low Countries through a number of key conflicts. Next is per-haps the strangest area of the mu-seum - the Schatkamer or Treasure Room in which are displayed some of the treasures of the museum set within a modern interpretation of a trophy room. The effect is both sumptuous and rather disconcerting.

From here there is a large sec-tion, titled Soldiers, devoted to the personal experiences of serving sol-diers. This is accomplished by a se-ries of small booths, each capable of

A V2 rocket - the world’s first ballistic missile

The Schatkamer orTreasure Room

The enormous audio/visual presentation


taking 2, 3 or 4 people, at a squeeze, in which short video presentations of the experiences of soldiers are shown. These are unscripted and tell the very personal stories of serving soldiers, warts and all. I found this to be hugely successful and it was clear that many visitors were also finding it an absorbing and in many cases, a moving experience.

Following this is a section, called Wars, presents five different exam-ples, spanning the centuries from the 17th century to the present day, showing the types of war that the Netherlands has participated in. This section uses a combination of showcase displays and dioramas in an effective and imaginative way.

Lastly, there are two further sections devoted to War and Society and to the Future. Unfortunately, as in all large museums, physical and mental fatigue had taken its toll and interest, certainly for me, had waned - it was time for the cafe/restaurant.

All in all, I found the new museum to be very successful. On the day we were there - a Wednesday in late April - the museum was busy and it was clear that the majority of visitors were enjoying the experience and getting something from the displays and collections. What more can a museum want or desire? Following a

The section called ‘Soldiers’ consists of small booths each telling the experiences of an individual soldier

very enjoyable day, my only criticism is that the displays of small arms and uniforms were unimaginative and dull, something borne out by the fact that few people spent any time there.

For more information see: https://www.nmm.nl/

Wars

Jan-Piet Puype, Nico Brinck, Ruth Brown and myself enjoying a well-earned cup of tea after what had proved to be a highly enjoyable and memorable day

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