The British Modern Military History Society

THE British Modern Military History Society is fully up and running but not with the live meetings in Woodcote, which are on hold until the spring, but with twice monthly Zoom talks.

We have had excellent attendances for the seven talks via Zoom so far and have a full schedule of speakers booked until June 2021.

Talks coming up in the coming months include the Italian campaign in 1944, the Spanish Civil War, Underground warfare in World War One, the Battle of Britain, El Alamein, Laurence of Arabia and Zeppelins plus much more.

All talks are given by leading historians, writers and former military personnel, and we are sure you will find them interesting and stimulating, particularly with a question and answer sessions at the end.

Our next talk will take place via Zoom on Tuesday, November 3 at 2pm. It is called “Operation Olive — cracking the Gothic Line, September 1944” and the speaker is Patrick Mercer.

In the autumn of 1944, the Allies launched what they hoped would be the dagger in the heart of German resistance in northern Italy — the assault on the Gothic Line.

The US 5th Army would attack in the Apennines in the west while the British 8th Army would assault along the coastal plains in the east. It would be codenamed Operation Olive.

The speaker will show how over-reaching ambition and tactical blindness caused the 1st Armoured Division to be wrecked against steely, German resistance.

Using first hand accounts and a detailed knowledge of the ground and those who fought there, he will unfold a story about which little has been heard before.

Patrick Mercer, by his own admission, has an obsession with military history. Having read modern history at Oxford, he served in the Army for 25 years, mostly in Northern Ireland, Uganda and Bosnia, before leaving to become the defence correspondent for BBC Radio 4’s Today programme and then an MP.

Then in 2014 he returned to his first love, military history. He has travelled to the Army’s most dramatic battlefields and is credited with being the first Briton to return to the Crimean battlefields in 1993.

Since then, he has shared his experience and enthusiasm with many people.

We will send out an email which will include the joining instructions on the day of the talk. For those of you new to Zoom, please contact email zoom@bmmhs.org and include your phone number and we will endeavour to get you started.

Like many other organisations, the society can only survive in these difficult times with income from talks and donations to cover the costs of speakers, insurances, licence fees, the website etc as well as our continued contributions to military-related charities.

Therefore we are asking for a donation from everyone who attends the Zoom talks. The requested donation until December is as follows: single talk £5; block of five talks £20.

Payment can easily be made by bank transfer into the BMMHS account. Account name: British Modern Military History Society, Barclays Bank sort code 20 65 20; account number 13786250. Use your initial and surname as the reference on your payment. If you would like an acknowledgement of receipt of payment, please email info@bmmhs.org

We hope regular meetings will resume in the spring but this will depend on the covid-19 restrictions. We will also continue Zoom talks even when the meetings start again.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us and made donations to help keep us going.

For more information, visit our Facebook page, email info@bmmhs.org or visit https://www.bmmhs.org

Andy Cockeram

chairman