For the Monuments & Memorials Walk at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, organised by the Surrey Heath Museum, we met in the car park between the Churchill Hall and 1960’s concrete architecture of the Victory Building. We were met by Dr Anthony Morton, curator of the Sandhurst Collection.
I’ve prepared a photo montage of the walk, and have given just a small snippet of Dr Morton’s illuminating and entertaining talk accompanying the walk. The Museum will be organising these walks again in 2015. It’s a not to be missed event.
The Lüneburg Heath Memorial: Reading the inscription it’s obvious what this commemorates. Field Marshal Montgomery selected a high point, a hill called Timeloberg. Montgomery renamed the hill ‘Victory Hill’. After the monument was vandalised, the area was subsequently passed to the German Army as a training area, restricting access to the hill. It’s fascinating to read a German history of the memorial. The monument was moved to Sandhurst in 1958.
XXX Corps Boar Statue: Follow the link to see a photo of the memorial in Germany in 1945. Corps commander Lt Gen Sir Brian Horrocks, used the Corps insignia – a charging black boar – to promote Corps identity, and used the insignia to create code name for the Corps advance thru Germany. One of Horrocks’ staff officers spotted this bronze boar in the grounds of a house, and liberated it. Horrocks had the boar placed on a plinth with the Corps battle honours. It was relocated to the Staff college in 1958, and has been in its present position since 2000.
The Kurnool ‘Mortar’: The bronze Kurnool Mortar is strictly referred to as a howitzer, as it pivots at its midpoint, while mortar pivot near their base. After seizing the arsenal of Kurnool in India by British forces in 1839, the mortar was found by buried together with other unfinished guns. It is a moulder’s reject, and was never used in action. Formerly located at RMA Woolwich, it moved to Sandhurst in 1945.
Statue of Napoleon, Prince Imperial: This statue marks the death of Napoleon Bonaparte’s only remaining descendant, and his death while on a reconnaissance patrol in the Zulu War of 1879, which caused a diplomatic incident at the time. The French being distressed at his loss while under British protection. Amazingly, after the Franco-Prussian War Napoleon III took up residence in Chislehurst, and was eager that his son should have a military training. He was a gentleman cadet at Sandhurst from 1872 to 1875. Offered a commission in the Royal Artillery, he declined, though continued to wear an officer’s uniform. He persuaded Queen Victoria to allow him to take part in the Zulu War, where he met his end. The statue was moved from Woolwich to Sandhurst in 1955.
The Bronze Group: Standing opposite the entrance to the Chapel, it acts as a reminder of the sacrifice of Other Ranks and the bonds between officers and men. The statue is a copy of the memorial to men of the 37th Infantry Division in WW1, and their battles at Monchy Le Preux, Ypres, and Passchendaele.
Lightwater 