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  • CLOSED
  • FREE
  • Chelsea, London

Prisoners of War

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Bullet extracted from Alfred Smith's lung in 1940

The curious story of Alfred Smith

A chance discovery by a curator’s brother-in-law lifted the lid on a surprising story of service that now features in our refreshed Soldier gallery.

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Captain Michael Charles Cooper Harrison, DSO MC, 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment, c1918

In Their Own Words: Lieutenant Colonel Michael Harrison

Michael Harrison served with distinction during the First World War. He performed acts of great courage and daring both on the battlefield and in captivity, mounting repeated escape attempts.

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Ted Senior during his time as a prisoner of war, c1943

In Their Own Words: Major Ted Senior

Ted Senior was captured by the Japanese during the Second World War and forced to work on the Thai-Burma ‘Death Railway'. The diary he kept reveals the horrific conditions that he and his fellow prisoners endured.

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Operation Barras, September 2000

Operation Barras

In September 2000, British troops undertook a daring hostage rescue operation in the war-torn West African country of Sierra Leone. They successfully freed five British soldiers who had recently been captured and around 20 civilian prisoners.

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East African soldiers with a captured Japanese flag, 1944 

The Far East campaign

Between December 1941 and August 1945, British Commonwealth troops and their allies fought a bitter war across the vast expanses of Asia and the Pacific Ocean against a tenacious and often brutal enemy.

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Model of a London and North Eastern Railway engine, c1943

A prisoner’s model masterpiece

A British prisoner of war’s model train, painstakingly made from scraps of rubbish, sheds light on the experiences of soldiers incarcerated in Germany during the Second World War.

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Pole-vaulting at the 14th Punjab Regiment's Sports Day, 1937

Sport and morale in the British Army

Sport has always been important for morale. It reinforces group identity and makes soldiers ready to serve a shared cause, even in the most difficult circumstances.

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