IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 262, 1 August 1919, Page 7

IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM

PREPARATIONS AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE SOME EXHIBITS Hidden away in a corner of the grounds of the Crystal Palace I found a little trench mortar. It looked very lonely and friendless, and you might h&vo thought that nobody knew or cared anything about it. But, as a matter of fact (writes a correspondent of the London "Observer"), .it was the first of a very great collection of the instruments of war which, from this time on, will be brought day after day and week after ■week along the roads to Sydenham. Hero they will be gathered and arranged to form, in tho Imperial War Museum, the most comprehensive display of the machinery of battle that the world has ever known. To most of us the Imperial War Museum is, even to-day, nothing but a namo and an idea. We understand that there is a project on foot, that it line been decided that something shall 1.0 done presently. I have to confess that when I went to inquire into the matter I expected to be given descriptions of plans and outlines of unrealised desires. But in a very little while I was made to understand that the War Museum is a concrete, established fact. Hidden away in Pimlico there is a Wg garage whoso simee is crammed with things'which will presently bo arranged for general inspection in the uuisoum. Down Croydon way there is an area of twenty-three acres where trophies and relics of the war are stacked in reserve for tho plenishing , of the museum. And tho trench mortar was only one of a mul- , titudo of weapons which have already reached the Palace, and are waiting to bo arranged in the positions designed for them.

Soldier and Sailor Too. Just now tho Crystal Pulaco has something in common with the Marines. It is Holdier and sailor too. If you go wandering through its spacious freedoms you can never be quite certain wnether you will run into tho Army or tho Navy. Everywhere there aro tokens of the time when it was given over to tho training of tho naval divisions. Nautical terms and instructions are chalked up all over the place, jind it is plain that those pleasant spaces which used to be sacred to gondolas and tho rest have since been used to show landsmen tho intricacies of navigation. Super-imposed on these nautical adventures are military details connected with tho business of demobilisation to which tho Palace is consecrated at present. The confusion of the casual visitor is increased by tho fact that, having bumped into a naval officer at one corner, ho hurries round the next corner to collide- with an entirely military gtntltinan, and ends by wondering whether tho password is "by the deep five' or "advance in column of route." 13ut all theso arcs tokens of a. time which is passing, and tho little trench mortar which I found is the symbol of that which is lo come. The area which used to be called the archipelago has already been taken over by Ibe Imperial War Museum for a store, and here you may find dozens of machine-guns, German gas alarms, aud all that mechanism of trench warfare which was so immensely important and interesting to us all such a little while ago. And tho plans aro already made for the display of theso things' and of all those' other matters which wore a part of the fabric of war.

Models and Pictures. For many months now the collection of exhibits for the niiucuni has been going on. Specimens of eyury kind of weapon have been gathered from all the theatres of war, but this is only one of a multitude of details. Copies of all tho books Unit have been written, about the war are being assembled. Models of i>ll tho ships that played a part in tho sea affair are being obtained. Famous artists are nt work making pictures to illustrate every stage of tho conflict, from the declaration of war to tho signing of tho peace. Skilled hands are constructing models to illustrato the geography of all tho military problems which had to bo solved. These things are being prepared and brought together to show us the whole material truth of the struggle in which we were engaged. It was difficult to rind a place where all theso treasures might bo displayed, but at last the Crystal Palace was chosen. An arrangement has been made whereby the War Museum has tho tenancy of tho building for five years, and the plans are ready to bo carried out as soon 'as the area is available. ' According to the. scheme which has been drawn up, the whole of ■ the existing buildings wil'l be occupied by the muFeum, except, the 'central transept, which will' be left free for concerts or other entertainments. On the right _ of tho transept will lie the naval' exhibits, v;ith those of the Air Force in the courts bsyond. The military exhibits will be <in the left. . On the immediate- right of the transept mil be an 18-inch naval , gun, Hi!;! opposite will be its counterpart, | the irreat 18-ineh howitzer. Aorop'an"--. I and airships will lie suspended frnni (ho irmlers overhead, and specimens of every kind of naval and military gun will bo on view, together with bombs, torped"?*, flame-projectors, and all the. other weanons wliich the war produced, dov/n to the clubs and daggers used in trench raids. All tho V.C.'s. The picture galleries will contain tho great paintings which have b?en or arc being made for the museum, and a wonderful collection of photographs of battle scenes in every part of the world. There will also be a portrait gallery of photnpraphe of every winner of thp Victoria Cross. These," with the models of the various brittlo areas, will make, a eonmlc'te pictorial representation of the conflict. It mav bo as well to point out. thnt the exhibition will not be concerned with any wars of the past. Relies of many previous comnaigns have been offered or sent to the Museum, but they are not desired. It is concerned only with the crcat struggle of. the past few years. According to the present arrangements it is expected that the Mu-omn will be ready to be opened next May. It may not 'be complete by that time, but it will be far enough advanced to make the opening possible. Thn.se who are working for it now have two chief desires, first, that the Kin« will consent to open it, and pccnmlly, I hat the various transport au'iMicic , ! "f T.o»dou will conspire to make the Oryshil Palace more easily necc-=iblc than it is at present. One may hazard a kiip*s that both of those desires will be, fulfilled. For it is certain that, among all tho wnr memorials, this museum will have a chief and unique place. Nowhere else will the generations to come be able to seo in such exact, uncompromising dplail what it was thnt we accomplished; nowhere else will the truth, of the achievement of our generation bo so inexorably recorded.