Imperial War Museum – Virtual Tour

Imperial War Museums (IWM) has branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London.

Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, and its focus is on recording civil and military war efforts and the sacrifice of all conflicts in which British or Commonwealth forces have been involved since 1914.

The museum’s collections include archives of personal and official documents, audiovisual material, and oral history, an extensive library, an art collection, and examples of military equipment and technology.

Virtual Tour of the Imperial War Museum

Highlights Tour of the Imperial War Museum

15 inch Naval Guns from HMS Ramillies and HMS Resolution

These British 15 inches (381 mm) Naval Guns are from HMS Ramillies and HMS Resolution.

The 15-inch gun design was the most widely used of any British models, and the most efficient heavy gun ever developed by the Royal Navy.

It was deployed on battleships from 1915 until 1959 and was an essential Royal Navy gun in both World Wars.

Néry Gun

Néry is a commune in northern France, where on 1 September 1914, the British 1st Cavalry Brigade and L Battery of the Royal Horse Artillery, who had camped at Néry, were surprised by the advancing German Cavalry Division.

The German attack devastated the British battery. However, this single 13 pounder gun was kept firing and held off the Germans long enough for a counterattack to drive away from the attackers.

Three Victoria Crosses were awarded to L Battery, and the “Néry Gun” is now preserved in the Imperial War Museum.

Gassed by John Singer Sargent

“Gassed” by John Singer Sargent depicts the aftermath of a mustard gas attack during the First World War.

The oil painting completed one year after the end of WWI shows a line of wounded soldiers walking towards a dressing station.

The composition is focused on a central group of eleven soldiers depicted nearly life-size.

The injured soldiers walk in a line, in three groups of three, along a duckboard towards a dressing station, suggested by the guy ropes to the right side of the picture.

The gas has temporarily blinded their eyes, so medical orderlies had to assist them. Many dead and wounded soldiers lie around the central group.

Another train of injured, with orderlies, advances in the background on the right. Biplanes dogfight in the evening sky above, as the setting sun creates a yellow haze that burnishes the subjects with a golden light.