VJ DAY 15th August 1945 On the 15th August 1945, Japan finally surrendered to the allies bringing the bitter fighting in the last theatre of the second world war to an end. This day would be known afterwards as “VJ Day” or “Victory over Japan Day”. On this day two units of the county’s infantry regiment were present in theatre:- The 6th Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and a…
The week starting on the 25th. May eighty years ago, was to be a memorable week for the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. On the day that Lord Gort the commander of the British Expeditionary Force made the crucial decision to evacuate his troops through Dunkirk, three battalions of the Regiment were ordered to take up positions on the perimeter of the pocket that was being formed to protect the…
The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and the Hauraki Regiment 25 April is ANZAC Day in New Zealand. ANZAC Day is the equivalent of Remembrance Day in the UK. ANZAC Day commemorates the landing at dawn of New Zealand troops, along with Australian, British, French and Indian forces, on the Gallipoli Peninsula on the 25th of April 1915. This is viewed as the first time New Zealand fought under its…
Today marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp at Bergen Belsen by units of the British Army including the Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars (QOOH). Commemoration of the events of the 15th April 1945 ensures that the horrors experienced by those involved, both liberators and liberated are not forgotten and that the lessons of the Holocaust are not lost due to the passage of time. The War…
Members of 252 (City of Oxford) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery, Royal Artillery outside the cookhouse Christmas 1940. 252 Battery were stationed on the south coast of Britain during this period. They would go on to serve in North Africa and Italy before the war ended. We would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year from everyone at the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum.
This set of models was used by the Deddington Air Raid Precautions (ARP) to plan their operations during WW2. Later becoming the Civil Defence Service, the ARP were responsible for keeping their local area safe during an air raid. Their jobs included enforcing blackouts, preparing the air raid sirens, and directing people to safety in their shelters. These models could be used to plan strategies in the event of fires…
