‘Strafing the Hun’ | National Library of Scotland

Categories :Unconventional Soldiers Machine

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An 8” Howitzer of a Royal Garrison Artillery Siege Battery being hauled into position.

Note the wooden chocks under the wheels to prevent excessive recoil.

The slang British term used here for German, ‘Hun’, entered popular usage after Kaiser Wilhelm II urged his troops to ‘behave like Huns’ to win the war. The Germans also used the phrase ‘Gott Strafe England’, (God Punish England), and this caption is probably intended as a play on that.

Original reads: ‘OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN ON THE BRITISH WESTERN FRONT – strafing the Hun.’

Original URL: http://digital.nls.uk/first-world-war-official-photographs/pageturner.cfm?id=74545920

Resource Type : image

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Licence CC-BY-NC-SA

Cite : 'Strafing the Hun' | National Library of Scotland (http://digital.nls.uk/first-world-war-official-photographs/pageturner.cfm?id=74545920) by E. Brooks licensed as CC-BY-NC-SA (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/scotland/)

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About Richard Marshall

Richard Marshall is studying for a doctorate in the literature of ancient Rome at Wadham College, Oxford, and is a tutor for Ancient History at St Benet’s Hall. In addition to Classics, he has a long-standing interest in the tactics and material culture of the British Army, especially of the period spanned by the Cardwell Reforms and First World War. He has a large collection of original uniform and equipment items used for teaching and research purposes, and is currently exploring the evolution of British military clothing and accoutrements in response to changes in fashion and warfare for eventual publication. He previously worked as a cataloguer for the Oxford University Great War Archive.
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