Outside of the mainly British / British India military history that I undertake for Commissioned research I have some personal interests. My personal interests cover medals, badges and other insignia, military paper money (see “Military Finance” – banknotes and bond certificates), military uniforms, personal equipment and small arms. These interests can cover both British and non-British.
Generally, these interests cover the World War 1 (1914-1920) and World War 2 periods (from about 1930-1945). Some of these interests overlap with those I undertake for re-enactment / living history purposes. However, for some of these interests the applicable time period will be from the Victorian era to fairly modern times. I do have an interest in the medals of many foreign nations.
World War 1
My principal interests here concern the:
- British military (Army and Royal Flying Corps)
- Imperial German Army (and its Air Force)
- Imperial Russia (pre-1917) – I find the medals and awards of Imperial Russia quite fascinating and I am interested in the uniforms / campaigns of the First World War era prior to the collapse of Imperial Russia.
World War 2
Here my main Foreign interests cover:
- Nazi Germany (1933-45) – I find the Wehrmacht (Armed Forces) which covers the Army (Heer), Navy (Kriegsmarine), and Air Force (Luftwaffe) of great interest. The Schutzstaffel (SS) had two main branches (the Allgemeine-SS and Waffen-SS) and it was the SS that was responsible for many atrocities. It is not generally known that the Waffen-SS recruited widely amongst non-Germans and it operated like a fourth branch of the Armed Forces.
- Soviet Union (1930s-45) – My interests here mainly date from the early 1930s when the Soviet military was being reorganized until the end of the “Great Patriotic War” in May 1945. This period covers the wars with Finland, the Japanese in the Far East (China) and the 1941 invasion of the USSR by Germany. I am also interested in the post-1945 uniforms / insignia of the Soviet Union until it collapsed in the 1990s.
- Imperial Japan – The history of this country is fascinating. The pre-1860s samurai culture grips many people’s interest – mine included. This culture was passed on to the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces in the form of “Bushido” and I find the Japanese military of the 1930s / 40s exceptionally interesting. This period starts with the invasion of Manchuria (Manchukuo) and runs until August 1945. There are many volumes and written works on the military campaigns of Imperial Japan but there are few good reference works on uniforms, insignia, medals etc. This sadly, does hamper research into these aspects.