Thousands of WW2 items saved for future generations

An image of No 2 Section Osney Platoon 1941 which belonged to Lt. Harold Alexander Welham-Jones

More than 25,000 artefacts linked to World War Two have been digitised for future generations.

The Their Finest Hour project by the University of Oxford has seen volunteers photographing and archiving the items which are free to view online.

Among them is a top-secret D-Day map, a souvenir from Hitler's private yacht and a piece of the first German plane brought down on British soil.

The initiative was paid for by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Among the archives are images of Sir Winston Churchill visiting troops

More than 70 digital collection days took place over the last year, in all regions of the UK.

Thousands of people attended the events to share their stories which were collated by hundreds of volunteers.

Dr Stuart Lee, project director of Their Finest Hour at the University of Oxford, said: "Very few families in Britain and across the Commonwealth were untouched by the war.

"We knew from previous projects that people have so many wonderful objects, photos and anecdotes which have been passed down from family members, and which are at risk of getting lost or being forgotten.

"We’re delighted that we have been able to preserve so many of these stories and objects and make them available to the public through our archive of memories."

Other items include a necktie that belonged to Chiang Kai-Shek - a Chinese statesman, revolutionary, and military commander, a photograph of Sir Winston Churchill visiting troops in the desert, and a photo of German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in Derna, off the North African coast.

Additional objects include a handwritten note authorising embarkation at Dunkirk, a cigarette lighter made from a rifle cartridge, harrowing letters from Auschwitz, a football season ticket from a tournament in India, a French bayonet and shrapnel from a Coventry factory bombed during the Blitz.