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"If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it" - Toni Morrison
Writing Research - World War Two
ghostflowerdreams:
World War II (WWII or WW2), also known as the Second World War, was a global war. It is generally considered to have lasted from 1939 to 1945, although some conflicts in Asia that are commonly viewed as becoming part of the world war had begun earlier than 1939. It involved the vast majority of the world’s nations —including all of the great powers —eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis.
It was the most widespread war in history, with more than 100 million people, from more than 30 different countries. In a state of “total war”, the major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the first use of nuclear weapons in combat, it resulted in an estimated 50 million to 85 million fatalities. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history. [1]
Names
Social Security: Top Names of the 1940s
Top 100 Names in England and Wales in 1944
Top 100 Australian Baby Names in 1940
Top German Baby Names in 1940s
Japanese Baby Names for 1915 - 2000
Popular Japanese Names in 1945 - 1949 (In Japanese - Use Google Translator)
Society & Life
Conscription in the United States - World War II
United States Imposes the Draft
The National WWII Museum - The Draft and WWII
Military Classifications For Draftees
World War II Fitness Test
Recruit Training in World War II
The Old Army, It Turns Out, Was the Fitter One
The War Relocation Camp of World War II
The U.S. Home Front During World War II
Britain’s Home Front in World War Two
Japan’s Home Front During World War II
Germany’s Home Front During World War II
Canadian War Museum - Life on the Homefront
Canadian War Museum - Women and the War on the Home Front
How was it that Sweden managed to stay neutral during WW2?
What was going on in Ireland during World War II?
Canadian War Museum - Canada and the Second World War
Mount Allison University - Canada’s Role in WWII
The Home Front in Rural America During World War II
Living in the 1940s (Australia)
BBC - WW2 People’s War: My Memories of My Childhood in South London
BBC - WW2 People’s War: Growing Up in London 1939-45
Time Witness - Memories Project: Stories from the 1940’s
BBC - The Blitz
History.com - Worst air raid on London
EyeWitness to History - The London Blitz, 1940
LIFE Magazine - World War II: London in Color (Photos)
Local Histories - Life in Britain in The Second World War
Telegraph - WW2: Former Evacuees Look Back
British Council - A 1940s Childhood in Wartime
The Wartime Memories Project - Evacuees
My Learning - Children’s Experience during WWII
Imperial Wartime Museum - Children During the Second World War
It’s 1940, a lovely day in England and I want to write to my German cousin. Was that possible? What was international communication between the civilian populace of warring WWII powers like?
The New Yorker - The New Yorker in the Forties
The Atlantic - World War II: The Battle of Britain
The Guardian - Children of the Wartime Evacuation
NY Daily News - 1940 New York census records are now searchable by name
New‑York Historical Society - WWII & NYC
About.com - World War II In Brooklyn: Places to Visit
New-York Historical Society - New York during WWII (Photos)
Wikipedia - History of New York City, 1946-77
Business Insider - Take A Tour Of Manhattan In The 1940s (Photos)
Madison Magazine - Ida’s Wyman’s Photography Documents Life in the 1940s and ‘50s
Growing up in Inwood, New York City in the 1940’s and 1950’s
Reminisce Magazine - Brooklyn Stoop Served as Sisters’ Stage
NY Times - Working-Class New York Life and Labor Since World War II
Wessels Living History Farm - Rural Life in the 1940s
Historic Color Photos of U.S. Life in the 1940s (Photos)
Wessels Living History Farm - WWII Causes a Revolution in Farming
Partners in Winning the War: American Women in World War II
World War II: Women and the War
Building Bombs & Planes
Women in World War Two
Wikipedia - Canadian Women in the Second World War
Canadian War Museum - The Canadian Women’s Army Corps, 1941 - 1946
About.com - Canadian Women in World War II
Veterans Affairs Canada - The Second World War: Canadian War Brides
Global News - Looking back at the role women from western Canada played in World War II
Canadian Red Cross - History of Women in the Red Cross
Women Under Fire in World War Two
How did women fulfill their romantic/sexual needs during WWI/II?
Women at War
Life During World War II
Everyday Life During World War II
World War 2 - Growing Up in Wartime
Wartime Homes
World War 2 - Blackout Time
What was it like for children?
The Huffington Post - Memories Of 1940s Childhood
The Life of a Teenage Before and After World War II (PDF)
School and War Work
I’m a 13-15 year old in 1939 USA. What is youth culture like during this time?
A Black Nurse, a German Soldier and an Unlikely WWII Romance
What was it like to be in the Forces?
World War II - A Soldier’s Daily Life
My Army Service in World War II
WWII: A Soldier’s View
Loose Lips Sink Ships
Eye Witness To World War Two
World War II First Person Accounts, Letters Home, Diaries, & Journals
Pictures of African Americans During World War II (Photos)
Daily Life of the Average African American in the 1940’s
Veterans Affairs Canada - Second World War: Black Canadians In Uniform
The Memory Project - Black Canadian Veterans of the Second World War
University of Washington - Japanese Canadians During World War II
Vancouver Public Library - Chinese-Canadians in World War II (1939-1945)
Canada at War - Video & Footage: World War II
Canadian War Museum - Canadian Newspapers and the Second World War
Veterans Affairs Canada - Second World War: Diaries, Letters, And Stories
Library and Archives Canada - Canada and the First World War: War Diaries
Veterans Affairs Canada - Second World War: My Grandmother’s Wartime Diary
The Canadian Letters and Images Project - WWII
McGill University Library Digital Collections - Canadian War Posters Collection
World War II Military (Photos)
World War II Records
World War 2: A Day in the Life of a German Soldier
The Life During World War II
Nazi Germany
The Role of Women in Nazi Germany
Diary of Second World War German Teenager
Germany During World War II: A Child’s Experience (PDF)
Reminiscences of a German World War II Veteran
What kind of physical training would a German soldier in WWII have to do?
Jewish Life in Europe Before the Holocaust
The National WWII Museum - WWII and Holocaust Bibliography
Blacks During the Holocaust
Conditions for Polish Jews During WWII
Understanding the Treatment of Jews during World War II
There’s a lot of close-to-combat photographs from WWII, but I don’t often hear much about the photographers. Were WWII war photographers armed? Were they subject to neutrality/immunity/respect? Were they deployed with soldiers as part of the army?
World War II Weapons
List of World War II Weapons
Canada at War - WWII: Weapons & Arms
Small Arms Pt. II - The World War Two Era
Technology During World War II
WWII Military Ranks
WWII Japanese Soldier Diary
World War II Japanese Military Training
Canadian War Museum - The Second World War: Information, Propaganda, Censorship and the Newspapers
When was the last shot of World War 2 fired?
Post-War American Life: Culture of the late 1940s & 1950s
Library of Congress - Postwar United States, 1945 - 1968
American History: Life in the US After World War Two
Student Pulse - America in the Post War Period
PBS - Women and Work After World War II
PBS - New York After WWII
BBC - Life in Britain after WW2 (Video)
The Atlantic - World War II: After the War
Digital History - Overview of the Post-War Era
Mount Holyoke College - Background of Post-WWII German History
Youtube - Germany After WW2 | A Defeated People | Documentary on Germany in the Immediate Aftermath of WW2 (Video)
Der Spiegel Magazine - Out of the Ashes: A New Look at German’s Postwar Reconstruction
Commerce
The Cost of Living in 1940
Prices and Wages in 1930 - 1939
The People History - Food, Groceries and Toiletries in the 1930s: Prices
The People History - Clothes in the 1930s: Prices
Library at University of Missouri - 1940-1949 Prices and Wages
The People History - Food, Groceries and Toiletries in the 1940s Prices
The People History - Clothes in the 1940s Prices
Datafiles of Historical Prices and Wages
Curbed NY - What Would $50 In 1940 Rent A New Yorker Today?
Entertainment & Food
What did people eat in the Second World War?
Why was food rationed?
Rationing
World Ward II - Food and Shopping
Food on the Front Home
Wartime Recipes
What Did Children Eat During World War 2? (PDF)
World War Two Recipes
History Cookbook - World War 2 Recipes
The 1940’s Experiment: 100+ Wartime Recipes
Retro-Housewife: In the 1940s Kitchen: 1940s Recipes
A 1940s Menu: Food in the 1940s
Food Timeline: 1936 to 1940
Vintage Food Advertisement of the 1940s
World War II: Rest and Relaxation (Photos)
Chocolate! The Wars Secret Weapon - America in WWII Magazine
Chocolate - Energizing Soldiers
U.S. Coffee Rationing
The American Scholar: Rum and Coca-Cola
Wartime Canada - Food on the Home Front during the Second World War
Alberta Online Encyclopedia - World War II: Homefront in Alberta: Rationing
Wartime Canada - Recipe Ideas from BC Electric
Pop Culture Goes to War in the 1940s
WWII Guide: Wartime Hollywood
Rationing and Scrap Drives in Rural America
Baseball and World War II
Baseball Goes To War: The National Pastime in World War II
Entertainment in Britain During WWII
Entertainment Industry During World War II
World War II on the Radio
Wartime Entertainment WWII
Wartime Entertainment
Canadian War Museum - Art and War: Australia, Britain and Canada in the Second World War
The Forties and the Music of World War II
World War II Songs
Music 1940 - 1949
List of Billboard Number-One Singles of the 1940s
American Music During World War II
Role of Music in World War II
Entertainment in 1940 - 1949
Food Rations in the Japanese Forces
Makeshift Cooking, German Army, WW2
Radio in Nazi Germany
Newspapers in Nazi Germany
Films in Nazi Germany
Art in Nazi Germany
Hygiene, Health & Medicine
Medicine and World War II
Social Security - Life Expectancy from 1930s+
WWII Disease Table
History of WWII Medicine
The Use of Atabrine to Fight Malaria During World War II
The Use of Plasma During World War II
The Use of Morphine as a Pain Killer During World War II
Nursing and Medicine During World War II
The Army Nurse Corps in World War II
Equipment of a WWII Combat Medic
Personal Accounts of WWII Medics
WWII African American Combat Medics
Penicillin: Medicine’s Wartime Wonder Drug
Medicine in Germany, 1918 - 1945
World War II Exposures
Controlling Disease during World War II, 1939 - 1944
Health on the Home Front - Health Care and World War II
WAR & Military Mental Health
Mentally Ill and Jewish in World War II
U.S. Veterans Affairs Lobotomized Soldiers After World War II
Lobotomy For World War II Veterans: Psychiatric Care by U.S. Government
Fashion
1930-45 in Fashion
Clothing, 1930-45
Rationing Fashion in the United States
Fashion in the 1940s
1940s Make-Up Guide
1940’s Beauty Secrets
1940s Fashion: The Decade Captured in 40 Incredible Pictures (Photos)
1940s Rationing - Utility Clothing Fashion and Costume History
Women’s Clothing in 1940s
Fashion in 1940 - 1949
Fashion in the 1940s: Clothing Styles, Trends, Pictures & History
Fashion in the 1940s - Prices & Examples
What did they wear? Gas masks for all
What is Utility Wear?
The Front Line of British WWII Fashion
World War II and Fashion: The Birth of the New Look (PDF)
The impact of World War II on women’s fashion in the United States and Britain (PDF)
The History of Fashion WWI to WWII
Women’s Shoes in 1940s
Authentic WWII Era Hairstyle & How To
United States Army Uniforms in World War II
World War II German Uniform
List of World War II Uniforms and Clothing
Nazi Style
LIFE.com - Fashion in Post-War Paris
Dialogue
WWII US Naval Dictionary
Glossary of German Military Terms
Military Slang: Terms Used By Soldiers in WWII
FUBAR F***ed Up Beyond All Recognition: Soldier Slang of World War II (General Military)
Military Slang For WWII
List of Ethnic Slurs by Ethnicity
The Racial Slur Database - Germans
Morse Code
Military Time Chart for 24 Hour Time Clock
Converting Standard Time to Military Time
WW2 Civilian Slang
Teen Slang of the 1940s
1940s Slang
Forties Slang
Words That Were: 1940–1949 (Canada)
Law Enforcement & Crimes
New Jersey State Police - History: 1940’s
New York State Police - History: 1940’s
Anaheim Police Department - History: 1940
Academia.edu - British Police Training in the 1940s and 1950s
Art Theft and Looting During World War II
Rape During the Occupation of Germany
War Rape in World War II
Allied War Crimes During World War II
Nazi Medical Experiments
World War II Crimes
Nazi War Crimes
German War Crimes Against Soviet Civilians
Nazi Crimes Against Soviet POWs
Execution of Women by the Nazi during World War II
World War II and the Holocaust
World War Two - German Prisoner of War Camps
List of WWII POW (Prisoner of War) Camps in Germany
German Prisoners of War in the United States
Japanese Prisoners of War in WWII
Sexual Slavery - Germany During WWII
German Military Brothels in World War II
Rape, Murder and Genocide: Nazi War Crimes as Described by German Soldiers
We have had several amazing people ask for our advice regarding writing together, writing in general, getting motivation and ideas and what exercises to do for practice. So we decided to make a post about it!
Listed will be some of our personal ideas for how to work on writing alone and with a partner, we will toss in examples where applicable and if you have any other questions or want anything else added to the post, we will do that for you!
After a long day, you’re ready to sink so deep into a novel that the day’s stresses seem to belong to someone else, to some other life. For a moment, the words on the page disappear and play instead like a movie in your mind.
But something happens. You’re torn from the story. And the novel? Just words on a page.
Maybe the author used a phrase that didn’t fit. Maybe he rambles. Maybe he’s just in love with the sound of his voice. Whatever it is, you toss the book aside because you just can’t get into it.
It sucks to be that reader. But it’s worse to be that writer, isn’t it?
Wordy prose. Elaborate description. Redundancies and filter words. These little indulgences—exciting for the writer, dull as dirt for the reader—weigh your story down.
Worried you’re that writer? Do you wonder if your readers can get into your work? What’s standing in their way?
The resources below can help with that. Here, you’ll get five techniques to obliterate the barrier between you and your reader. So you can cut the fluff and get out of your story’s way.
#1: Nuts and Bolts: “Thought” Verbs
You know that “show, don’t tell” rule everyone’s always talking about but no one is really explaining? (Check out my post: Show don’t tell: Or Should You?)
This article from Fight Club author, Chuck Palahniuk does the opposite. He never mentions “show, don’t tell.” He just tells you how to do it.
You’ll learn to identify and obliterate passages of boring explanation. It’s a shot of adrenaline for flabby fiction.
#2: The Adverb is Not Your Friend: Stephen King on the Simplicity of Style
Not sure what an adverb is? Then it might be killing your fiction.
In this article, Stephen King walks you through adverbs: how to recognize them, how they weaken fiction, and how adverb-laden passages compare to those without.
After you absorb this simple tip, you’ll be leagues ahead of most writers.
Phrases like “added bonus,” “advance warning,” and “past experience” bloat your writing.
Why?
Because bonuses are always additional. Warnings always come in advance. And experiences? Well, they always happen in the past, don’t they? So “added,” “advance,” and “past” add no meaning. Which means they don’t pull their weight.
Get rid of them. Then check out this resource for 197 more common redundancies to strike from your fiction.
This article may target copywriters, but every writer benefits from these skills.
Copywriters, those people who write Coca-Cola taglines and perfume ads, are great at one thing: persuasion.
Don’t turn up your nose. Persuasive writing creates images so powerful, they slip into your subconscious before you realize you’ve read a word.
Copywriters are also the masters of brevity. They have to be if they’re going to persuade busy people. So their imagery conveys concepts in very few words. That’s like telegraphing emotion right into the subconscious, and it’s effective writing no matter your genre.
#5: Short Story Shortcuts: 4 Techniques for Making a Big Impact in Few Words
Brevity is an art. And a vivid image conveys more than a long-winded explanation. That’s why this article focuses on character gestures, clothing, and dialogue.
Here, you’ll learn how to pack meaning into fewer words. It’s great for short story writers and novelists too.
I am writing a story in which my characters live in a fictional town that I have created but I am a visual person so I was wondering if you know some website where we can create the plan of a fake town? I hope that was clear, thank you!
Of course! According to Rachel Aaron/Rachel Bach of This Blog Is a A Ploy, you can now use Google Maps to make custom maps which is great news for all authors. “Being an author practically guarantees you will struggle with real life details like travel distance at some point in your book. If you’re writing about a real city, the bar is even higher. Even if you’re writing about your own city, a map can be a life saver just for keeping everything straight in your head,” says Bach; you can read more about her discovery and the How-To Tutorial [here].
Here are some other sites I’ve found that I hope might help:
for those not in the know, night witches were russian lady bombers who bombed the shit out of german lines in WW2. Thing is though, they had the oldest, noisiest, crappest planes in the entire world. The engines used to conk out halfway through their missions, so they had to climb out on the wings mid flight to restart the props. the planes were also so noisy that to stop germans from hearing them combing and starting up their anti aircraft guns, they’d climb up to a certain height, coast down to german positions, drop their bombs, restart their engines in midair, and get the fuck out of dodge.
their leader flew over 200 missions and was never captured.
how the fuck is this not taught in every single history class ever
pilots (◡‿◡✿)
girl pilots (◕‿◕✿)
girl pilots killing nazis ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* \(◕ヮ◕✿)/ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
But, remember, women never did anything in history.
I’m reblogging this again. Always reblogging. Always
Heyo, so school is fast approaching, and seeing as Tumblr is made up of a lot of younger users who will soon be shipping off to college or university soon, I thought I would take it upon myself to help spread my knowledge of essay-writing. Essay-writing is my thing. I love it. I live for it. It’s how I make up for my shitty test marks, and still get by with an 85 average+ in University classes. I’m a historian by trade, so perhaps this information will seem a bit off from what you’re used to, but hopefully, It’ll help you out. If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an ask.
1. Consider your question and find your thesis.
I know, I know. People always say, no! Never start with your thesis/intro paragraph! Go to the body!! Well i’m here to say forget everything you’ve been told. Forget that, forget the stupid hamburger shit they teach you, forget it all and start reading.
I ALWAYS start with my thesis. Why? Because you cannot make good paragraphs without knowing what you’re researching. You need direction, and a thesis is your map.
So, the question we’ll use shall be: What is one way in which the Union won the American Civil War?
Now remember, your thesis is your map. It shows you where to go, what to look for. The thesis is the heart and soul of all your work. You want a good, solid thesis. What does that include, you ask?
An idea
A reason for said idea
Evidence to support said reason, and thus validate the idea.
So, lets do an example. Let’s say I’m writing on the use of media during the American Civil War. I like photography, and wrote a paper on this in my second year, but im gonna be doing this example freehand(idk where I put that essay lol) so lets work with how I got an A+ on that paper. This will be my idea:
“Photography during the American Civil War influenced the war’s outcome in the Norths favour.”
This is VERY vague. This is an example of a thesis in bloom! Let’s take it further. Look at the above. What questions would you have from this thesis?
-Who was taking photos at that time?
-Why did it influence the outcome?
-How did it influence the outcome?
-Who consumed photography as a media at that time?
This is where you STOP, and start the next step.
2. Research
Start your basic research with your idea, and the above questions in mind. Look at libraries, ask your professor or TA or librarian, or just do some basic google searches to get to know the subject(but for the love of god if you include a google link in your citation I will personally hunt you down and castrate you.)
I like to start with the basics of any inquiry: WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY, HOW. Who was taking photos? Where were they displayed that caused influence? ect…These, in relation to your beginner thesis, will help guide you in what form your thesis will take.
Once you’ve finished that, and have a general feel for the time period, go back to your thesis.
3. THESIS 2.0
Go back to your original question: What is one way in which the Union won the American Civil War? Now look at your thesis again. It’s too vague, isn’t it?
As you can see, our original thesis was too vague to be a real thesis. So, we NARROW IT DOWN using our WWWWWH progress we focused on during early research!
“Photography during the American Civil war influenced the war’s outcome by providing a visual for ordinary citizens about the horrors of war, and thus helping to increase donations and awareness to the cause.”
Great! But once again, too vague! Questions that may arise include:
Who was taking the photos
Evidence for donations?
Evidence for social awareness?
So, we NARROW IT DOWN again. I’m going to use Andrew Gardner’s photography during the Civil war, as he was one of the most famous and influential at the time.
“Andrew Gardner’s photography during the American Civil war influenced the war’s outcome by providing a visual for ordinary citizens about the horrors of war, and thus helping to increase donations and enlistment in the Union through awareness to the cause…”
The above then gives us the following(why and how are sometimes grouped together):
Who: Andrew Gardner
What: Photography helped the north win the war.
Where: Union-aka northern states
When: American Civil War
Why/How: Because Andrew Gardner’s photography raised social awareness through this new and budding medium
Use this sort of outline to guide you in the next step!
4. Now that we have a thesis, you need to do some more research and evidence gathering.
The way I like to do this is to go check out a few books from the library(look for text books in particular), and leaf through the index for matching terms. Our matching terms would be:
Photography, civil war, Andrew Gardner, media
From there, you read over the pages, and see if any of the info relates to your subjects. Copy down quotes, page numbers, book title, author, publishing date and publisher. You need these for your bibliography. Pick and choose relevant information. The filter for relevant information relies entirely on your thesis, because it decides what you need to be looking for—this is why I hate when people tell me to start writing paragraphs before I write a thesis! It’s simply impossible and counter productive, and will cost you hours in revision.
So, gather your information from the library, and cross-reference with peer-reviewed articles and data. For our thesis, we would need data on enlistment numbers in an area after a date of Andrew Gardner’s photography exhibit showcases. No matter what type of essay you’re writing, you can always back up your evidence with data, and it won’t hurt one bit. Don’t be afraid of the numbers, kids!
So, if we were to go back to our thesis, we could now expand on it like this:
“Andrew Gardner’s photography during the American Civil war influenced the war’s outcome by providing a visual for ordinary citizens about the horrors of war, and thus helping to increase donations and enlistment in the Union through awareness to the cause. An increase in donations and enlistment in relation to exposure to Gardners work is seen in data/evidence point A, as well as in data/evidence point B, which will be fully outlined in the points below.”
This gives you an example of how to lead from a thesis, to your opening paragraph.
5. Data and Evidence Justifications—Paragraph making
This is the section where you can branch your essay into your data and evidence points you gathered in steps 2 and 4. You can have as many paragraphs as you like, just make sure your evidence and data is strong and supported. I personally like to work with my thesis copied and pasted onto the top of every page I write on. This keeps you on track, with your clear goal in mind, and will help you from straying. I will give you an example of how a paragraph might sound.
Andrew Gardner’s photography during the American Civil War became heavily influential upon the American population at the time, particularly the north, wherein which his work was showcased. The influence of Gardner’s photographic works is seen in the _____, which shows us that without the influence of Gardner’s media influence, war efforts and awareness may not have been as successful as they had been.
This is an alright opener for you to work with. The ___ is where you could put in your data point or evidence piece. The point of the paragraph is to show your support for your thesis by confirming it with evidence.
Your paragraphs should take this form:
Present, Confirm, Conclude, Lead.
You present your evidence, confirm its relation to the thesis and confirm the validity of the thesis, conclude by brief revision of evidence, and then lead into your next paragraph.
6. Conclusion
Your conclusionary paragraph should be a look-over of the above paragraphs. Restate your thesis, present a summarized version of your paragraphs(one or two sentences only), and perhaps take the time to look at your own views on the subject. An example might look like this:
“Taking a moment to step away from the above mentioned evidence, I believe it to be scholarly acceptable and even necessary to state my own views on the subject presented. In drawing conclusions, I felt that the above information was correct in that it presented a reality of the time period, in which photography was becoming a medium to be embraced by popular society. People were not only astounded by Gardner’s photographs on a social level, but also a technical level. The astonishment people held at seeing the war-torn battle fields spurred them into action, and even today can still present feelings of dread, fear and loss when looking at his photos…blah blah blah”
Why is it scholarly acceptable and perhaps necessary to state your views? Oftentimes, it is to reassure the reader of your own personal bias’, which exist whether you like them or not, to the subject at hand. Having a small tidbit on your own thoughts about your research ect, breaking away from the third-person droning of an essay can be refreshing and welcoming for a prof at the end of his stack of essay reading.
7. In summary
Thesis
WWWWWH
NARROW IT DOWN
Data and Evidence
Present, Confirm, Conclude, Lead
Self opinions/Conclude
All in all, do unique things. Professors love it when they come across something that’s not cookie cutter! Even if they present you with a list of essay topics, take the leap and ask them if you can do your own research topic!! Take risks with your essay writing, talk to your professors about what you want to do, and try to have fun with your research. I’ve written on everything from civil war photography to Disney princesses in american media, to the religious formation of idea of heaven and earth. Remember, so long as there’s credible, documented evidence, it’s possible to write about it.
The commands given by army gymnastic staff instructors should be followed at all times, not simply because they are senior non-commissioned officers, or because their physique is a clear sign of their prowess at demonstrating physical training. Their experience and valuable knowledge will help guide you, motivate you, and instil a sense of self-belief that you have been trained, not just to be fit, but to be fighting fit!
2. Keep it interesting
Physical training needn’t be boring. It is true that the training tables produced by the army gymnastic staff will become progressively more demanding, so recruits and trained soldiers alike will be pushed to achieve their optimum physical potential. However, time can be set aside during the physical training sessions for games such as Indian club relay-races, wrestling for pegs, and bomb ball, which are not only fun and add a competitive element to training, but also provide practical application of the exercises from the training tables.
3. Don’t run before you can walk
Physical training tables have been developed using scientific principles and in-depth knowledge of human physiology. With this in mind, make sure you do not skip a table and hope to make it up another day. They have been designed to be progressive, and the completion of one table will ensure you are ready to continue with the next, steadily improving your physical development.
4. Be realistic
The amount of time available for physical and recreational training will vary depending on where you are located – those soldiers in the trenches will clearly not have the same access as those in the rear to space and equipment to carry out certain activities. Training tables have been developed to allow these soldiers to perform exercises throughout the day as the opportunity arises. No need to worry though, your instructor will not announce to the Germans when you are exercising! Commands relating to your exercises will be performed by a show of fingers.
5. Training for sport is training for war
Sports and games are the natural way to train for war. Football, cricket, boxing, etc mimic battle, and develop the qualities needed for war. But participation in sport and games should be voluntary, as the voluntary spirit is the spirit of ‘one more effort’.
6. Stick it!
What compels a man in war? The ‘fighting spirit’ of course – but what does this mean? Is it dashing over the top? No, it is ‘sticking it’ – sticking it to the hardships of war, sticking it when you are injured, sticking it when you are sick, sticking it when you’re tired or have heard bad news or are on the back foot.
And how is this fighting spirit indoctrinated? Through a soldier’s participation in games. If you are hit by a punch in a boxing bout, do you bow down and walk away? No, you clench your teeth, hide your feelings from your opponent and fight back. That is the fighting spirit; that is sticking it!
7. Make it count
Physical training and bayonet training, both under the control of army gymnastic staff instructors, are carried out for the benefit of you, the soldier, but more importantly for the soldiers either side of you.
It is essential that a soldier takes advantage of the opportunities to carry out such training, and when doing so, makes every exercise and every attack performed on a bayonet training dummy count.
As the bayonet training manual says, “each dummy must be regarded as an actual armed opponent”, and each armed opponent will become an actual dummy when he meets the British soldier.
8. Improvise
As with nearly every aspect of military life, there are times that the soldier will have to improvise to carry out their physical and bayonet training. The exercises compiled in the training tables provide enough scope for an instructor to supplement or improvise the necessary equipment required to carry out the exercise.
When the apparatus cannot be improvised, many of the exercises may be completed regardless. When bayonet fencing rifles are in short supply, use sticks. When no assault course exists, simply fill hessian sacks with straw and soil, and suspend the sack from a rope hanging from a tree. By being resourceful, your training continues.
9. Too sick to train?
At times you may become injured or sick and unable to train. While this may be frustrating, it is important that you adhere to the medical staff’s advice and only conduct exercises that are suited to your current situation. Remedial training tables have been developed to allow those suffering from constipation and slight stomach troubles, for example. The exercises are not severe and can be beneficial, but if there is any question of ulcers or diarrhoea they should not be performed.
10. LISTEN TO YOUR INSTRUCTOR!
This point cannot be stressed more emphatically. The gymnastic staff instructors and assistant instructors are experts in physical conditioning. Their training is scientific in nature, and their knowledge of human physiology and anatomy is second only to medical professionals.
