| | |  BMMHS News & Events
October 2025 |
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Wehrmacht Artillery Swallowtail Standard
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Dear BMMHS Supporter
It seems that after a long hot summer, autumn is well and truly with us and the nights are starting to draw in. At least gardens and allotments are appreciating the rain we have seen for the last couple of weeks. I hope you have also managed some relaxing holidays, home or abroad over the summer.
2026 and 2027 Talks
At BMMHS, we have been busy finalising our 2026 programme with only one vacant Zoom slot remaining. We have also started our 2027 programme with several talks and speakers already booked. Although 2027 may seem far off, it is only 15 months away and we try to get as many speakers and talks in the bag well in advance.
This where we need your help and input.
To find 19 new topics and speakers to deliver them each year, both live talks in Woodcote and Zoom, is getting increasingly challenging. Having delivered over 80 talks since we started in mid 2019, we want to keep the topics fresh and interesting. So, if you have heard talks or want to suggest topics or can recommend speakers to us, please let us know. If you have contacts who can help that would make life much easier. We do pay a modest speaker fee and reasonable expenses to all our speakers, and as you know continue to make a charitable donation to the charity of our speaker's choice from each talk. Send us your suggestions on andy.c...@bmmhs.org.
We have held our prices firm since we started up, even though all our costs - village hall, licences, insurances, speaker costs, food, drinks etc - have spiralled, along with everything else in our day-to-day lives. We shall endeavour to keep our pricing the same for the foreseeable future.
New Book from BMMHS
One exciting initiative, we are undertaking is the publication of a new book. Our friend, supporter and local historian Nick Brazil has been writing various articles over the last few years on historical topics ranging from the Napoleonic era to present day and has joined us to compile a book of them.
The chosen charity is Veterans with Dogs based in Exeter which provides fully trained assistance dogs to serving servicemen and women and veterans, many of whom suffer from PTSD. Veterans with Dogs is only a small charity which relies entirely upon donations to keep going and with demand rising significantly for their support from veterans, BMMHS has agreed profits from the new book with be shared equally with them. As both lovers of military history and dogs, we feel this is a most appropriate charity. We are hoping for publication of the book in December.
We look forward to welcoming you back in October for our full schedule of live and Zoom talks. Do feel free to bring along friends to our talks. It is always good to see new faces, especially some younger ones. As our slogan says 'History Matters', and it is important our interest in history is passed onto the younger generations.
Andy Cockeram
BMMHS, Chairman
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Zoom Talk
The Origins of the Schlieffen Plan:
German War Planning up to July 1914
Speaker: Ross Beadle
Date: Tuesday 7th October 2025 7:30pm
If you make a false premise at the very beginning, it really doesn't matter how relentlessly logical you are thereafter, the whole edifice is built on sand. That is the story of German war planning after 1900. And to complicate the history further, it took over 70 years for the truth behind the German plans to fully emerge. There never was any paramount requirement to go around Paris, the main battle was always likely to be near Charleroi; Schlieffen's numbers were at best exaggerated at worst fabricated. Schlieffen’s acolytes described his plan as a ‘winning recipe’ but in truth the too easily discarded plans of the elder Moltke were much more likely to bring a German victory.
About the speaker - Ross Beadle MA
Ross is an experienced speaker, consistently in demand on the Western Front Association circuit. He has a BA in History from Hull University back in the mists of time and much more recently an MA in First World War Studies from Birmingham. He specialises in strategic planning and how a military organization manages innovations in both ideas and technology. He is currently researching British strategic planning after the Boer War and the ‘Continental Commitment’.
The chosen charity for this Zoom talk
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Details of our BMMHS Events & Zoom talks can be found on our website https://www.bmmhs.org
Contact us in...@bmmhs.org to register for these Events and for Zoom talks the log-in details will be emailed to you on the morning of each talk. A donation of £5 is requested for each talk to cover speaker costs, licence fees and the charity donation. |
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Woodcote Village Hall Meeting
Hitler's Gunner Generals
by Michael Phillips
Wednesday 15th October 2025 7:30pm
It sometimes surprises people to be shown just how many German gunners rose to the very top under the Third Reich. By the end of the War 40% of German generals had begun their military careers in the artillery and the artillery provided 6 of the 19 Field Marshals. The focus of the presentation will be on the operation of the highest headquarters in the German direction of the war and the part that the gunner generals took in it.
The Prusso-German General staff was unique in Europe because it focussed military planning, mobilization, deployment, and operations in a single agency free of political and administrative interference. The instrument forged to a war-winning capability by Moltke finally died in 1945. Michael will suggest that the military – as opposed to the industrial – reasons that Germany lost the War are because the General Staff, led by Gunner generals, abandoned the guiding principles of Moltke.
About the speaker - Michael Phillips
Colonel (Retd) Michael Phillips BA MSocSc MA, is a museum professional and Programme Secretary of the Royal Artillery HistoricalSociety. He specializes in German military history and was awarded the Neville Walford Medal for promoting the understanding of foreign artillery. He is currently undertaking a doctorate on the Transformation of the Prussian Artillery.
Michael's chosen charity for this talk is
The Royal Artillery Charitable Fund
The fund promotes efficiency and welfare of all ranks serving in the Royal Artillery, including TA. Relief and assistance to past and present members of the Royal Artillery and their dependants who are in need.
Entry cost is just £8, which includes your entry ticket to the talk, a Q & A, and refreshments (beer, wine, soft drinks). We ask for payment in advance. If you are unable to pay in advance there will be a facility to pay on the door.
Entrance to village hall talks for students and under 21s is now free of charge.
Details of our BMMHS Village Hall Meetings can be found on our website https://www.bmmhs.org |
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| | BMMHS Upcoming Events 2025 |
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| New Village Hall Meetings Booked |
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Twixt War and Peace -The Dilemma of Neutral Countries in World War Two
by Nick Brazil
Click on the photo to read this fascinating article.
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'Better a horse in the German army than a soldier in the Romanian army'
Romanian Military Experience during the Second World War
by James Goulty
Click on the photo to read this fascinating article on the Romanian Army in World War II
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A Review by Colin Trundle |
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A Review by Linda Parker |
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A Review by Geoff Simpson |
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