Warfare in News

Posted on Wednesday 24th September

Key figures from the military community, along with over 30 MPs, have backed Blind Veterans UK’s No One Alone campaign at a special parliamentary event co-hosted by Shadow Defence Minister Gemma Doyle MP. The event was aimed at raising awareness of the charity’s campaign, which is reaching out to the estimated 68,000 blind veterans in the UK who are not currently receiving vital services and support.

Over 30 MPs attended the event, including Dr Daniel Poulter, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health, Vernon Coaker, Shadow Defence Secretary, and Sir Bob Russell MP, who joined key representatives from the NHS and related charities, to meet a number of Blind Veterans UK beneficiaries and back the charity’s campaign.

Speaking at the event, Shadow Defence Minister Gemma Doyle MP said:

“Blind Veterans UK provides vital support to our Armed Forces community, and by being at this event, we are recognising the excellent work that the charity does to make sure that blind veterans are able to adjust to life with sight loss. I am pleased to pledge my support to veterans across the UK.”

Blind Veterans UK provides free, lifelong support to veterans experiencing severe sight loss. It doesn’t matter how or when a veteran lost their sight, or when they served, Blind Veterans UK provides specialist services and support to ensure that they can rediscover a life after sight loss.

Further Reading

In the Mind's Eye

Only £19.99

In the Mind's Eye

(Hardback - 180 pages)
by David Castleton

Since 1915 St Dunstan's has helped thousands of war-blinded veterans to rejoin society and live their lives to the full. This compelling book includes new research from the St Dunstan's archive and previously untold stories of the men and women, both blind and sighted, involved in the charity during the First and Second World Wars.

St Dunstan's was founded by Sir Arthur Pearson, a blind press baron determined to prove that the… Read more...

Of further interest...

View Product

Blind Veterans UK - No One Alone

Thu 21st February

A look at the work of the charity organization Blind Veterans UK and their on-going 'No One Alone' awareness raising campaign. Read article...

View Product

Blind ex-RAF man is painting again with Blind Veterans UK's help

Fri 15th August

Ex-RAF man Eric Radford has been able to pick up his paint brush again after 22 years of sight loss after Blind Veterans UK provided specialist magnification equipment and training. Read article...

View Product

Combat Stress

Tue 22nd May

A spotlight on the military charity Combat Stress. Read article...

View Product

Disabled Veterans remember the Fallen

Fri 18th November

Disabled veterans from The Royal Star & Garter Homes paid tribute to the Fallen at several Remembrance events, in the centenary year of the Battle of the Somme and the Charity’s own Centenary. Read article...

Dates in History

German forces cross the Somme River

24th March 1918

On March 24, 1918, German forces cross the Somme River, achieving their first goal of the major spring offensive begun three days earlier on the Western Front. Operation Michael, engineered by the German chief of the general staff, Erich von Ludendorff, aimed to decisively break through the Allied lines on the Western Front and destroy the British and French forces. The offensive began on the morning of March 21, 1918, with an aggressive bombardment. The brunt of the attack that followed was directed at the British 5th Army, commanded by General Sir Hubert Gough, stationed along the Somme River in northwestern France. This section was the most poorly defended of any spot on the British lines, due to the fact that it had been held by the French until only a few weeks before and its defensive positions were not yet fully fortified. Panic spread up and down the British lines of command, intensified by communications failures between Gough and his subordinates in the field, and German gains increased over the subsequent days of battle. On March 23, Crown Prince Rupprecht, on the German side of the line, remarked that The progress of our offensive is so quick, that one cannot follow it with a pen. The next day, German troops stormed across the Somme, having previously captured its bridges before French troops could destroy them. Despite having resolved to concentrate on weaker points of the enemy lines, Ludendorff continued to throw his armies against the crucial villages of Amiens (a railway junction) and Arras—which the British and French were instructed to hold at all costs—hoping to break through and push on towards Paris. By that time, German troops were exhausted, and transportation and supply lines had begun to break down in the cold and bad weather. Meanwhile, Allied forces had recovered from the initial disadvantage and had begun to gain the upper hand, halting the Germans at Moreuil Wood on March 30. On April 5, Ludendorff called off Operation Michael. It had yielded nearly 40 miles of territory, the greatest gains for either side on the Western Front since 1914. He would launch four more offensive pushes over the course of the spring and summer, throwing all of the German army’s resources into this last, desperate attempt to win the war. (www.history.com)

Further Reading

The Somme
(Paperback - 355 pages)
by Richard van Emden

The offensive on the Somme took place between July and November 1916 and is perhaps the most iconic battle of the Great War. It was there that Kitchener’s famous ‘Pals’ Battalions were first sent into action en masse and it was a battlefield where many of the dreams and aspirations… Read more at Pen & Sword...

Only £14.99 at Pen & Sword Books.

Read more from this day...