12:40pm Tuesday 27th July 2010
By Mark Foster
NEWLY-discovered photographs have shed some new light on the lives of soldiers serving overseas - and it wasn’t all grim.
They vividly show that as well as the predictable square-bashing, kit inspections and preparation for battle there was also time for relaxation.
The pictures come from archives of the Green Howards that have recently been catalogued by staff at the regimental museum in Richmond.
Among them is one showing officers of the regiment – and a dog – enjoying a picnic during a cricket match at Limmasol, Cyprus, back in 1888.
They seem to have finished their knife-and-fork main course and are about to tuck in to the fruit, including oranges and a watermelon. Earthenware flasks may contain the local wine - and there is bottled British beer, too.
Forty years on, the Green Howards were in Egypt in 1929 and took time out to have a regimental photograph taken.
Inspired by the scale of the Great Pyramid at Giza, they arranged themselves into a gigantic symbol of the Green Howards – the XIX that denotes they were also known as the 19th Regiment of Foot.
The last photographs shows a group of men from the 4th Battalion in the North African desert in May 1942.
They are enjoying the desert sun in a break from fighting the Germans - and just a few days later Rommel launched an attack, and many of men were captured and spent the rest of the war as prisoners of war in Italy.
Museum curator Lynda Powell said: "These fascinating photographs help us to remember that soldiers have always made the most of their free time, and that they can snatch a moment of relaxation even in the middle of war.
"We are pleased to have uncovered them just as we extend our summer holiday opening times to include Sunday afternoons from 12.30 to 4.30pm."
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