When the Oxf and Bucks went “A Bridge Too Far” The Battle of Arnhem and the subsequent defence of the Oosterbeek Perimeter have passed into legend and the subject of numerous books and films, meaning that the story of the Operation is quite well known by most who have an interest in military history, what is probably less known is the contribution of the Regiment in Operation Market Garden. Operation…
Stories from the SOFO Archives: Flight Lieutenant Bernard “Pop” Green RAFVR, MC Decorated Great War Officer in the Ox & Bucks, and in the Second World War, a Great Escaper and Long March Survivor Bernard Green from Bourne End, Bucks survived both the Great War and the Second World War – just. 2nd Lieutenant Bernard Green served with distinction in the First World War at Ypres, and on the Somme…
Oral Histories – Air Raids, Anderson Shelters and Evacuation Since SOFO began we haven’t just collected objects and records. Volunteers have helped us record the memories of Oxfordshire people affected by historic conflicts in the form of recorded oral history interviews. You can hear some of these in use in the museum’s galleries when you visit (such as in our Liberation of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, Airpower and D-Day displays), and…
How You Can Help Build a Second World War Air-Raid Shelter At SOFO we tell stories of everyone affected by war in the county of Oxfordshire; from the soldier on the front line to ordinary families on the home front. Our small but dedicated team of staff and volunteers work hard to tell these stories of conflict and county in many different ways, including museum displays and learning sessions. Our latest…
Refugee Week 14-20 June 2021 ‘Gunner Gerin: Refugee and Liberator’ How did a Jewish Polish refugee come to be one of the liberators of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in April 1945? A brief mention in a soldier’s war-time diary led Harry Staff, a volunteer researcher with the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum, to track down a remarkable story. Gunner Henry Gerin was formerly Henryk Bochynski. Born 1905 in Poland he arrived in…
1-2200x740mm 2-2200x740mm 3-900x600mm 4-2200x740mm 5-2200x740mm 6-2200x740mm 7-2200x740mm 8-900x600mm 9-2200x740mm 10-2200x740mm 11-2200x740mm 12-900x600mm 13-2200x740mm
Star Objects – Waterloo OBLI:5356 – unattributed print of an Officer of the 52nd Foot c.1815 To get us prepared for our upcoming Waterloo lecture with historian Gareth Glover, we will be looking at a few of the Waterloo-era objects from our archive. In this post we will look at the uniform of an Officer of the 52nd. OBLI:5803 – 52nd Officer’s shako c.1815 This shako was…
Operation Dynamo – 80 years ago in May Shortly after the first Blitzkreig strike on 10 May 1940, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was in disorganised withdrawal before the tide of German Panzers, and Operation Dynamo jolted into action. A 60 mile escape corridor was organised to buy time for the BEF to evacuate from Dunkirk. The 1st Buckinghamshire Battalion and the 4th Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, the…
OBLI:5356 – unattributed print of an Officer of the 52nd Foot c.1815
Try to guess what the theme is for December’s OOTM… of course it’s Christmas!In previous OOTMs I have tried to stick with a theme for each month, which has proved fairly difficult for some months. Luckily, we have many Christmas cards sent from and to Oxfordshire soldiers in our archive, so I was rather spoiled for choice.I also featured a Princess Mary tin, with 1914, 1918 and 2018 Christmas cards,…
