Name: Second World War Galleries: Early Access Tours
Location: IWM London

Select Dates

9am

IWM London

Tour lasts approx. 60 minutes | Meet at the main entrance

£10

Join our expert guides for a tour of IWM London's Second World War Galleries.

Join us at IWM London for morning tours of the Second World War Galleries, before the museum opens to the public.

Through a diverse range of moving and unusual objects, learn about the story of the most catastrophic war in modern history. How did it begin? How was it fought? And what was the Second World War’s cost to humanity?

IWM guides draw on our unparalleled Second World War collections to give you an in-depth look at the human stories behind this devastating conflict.

Visitor explore the Second World War exhibition

©IWM

About the Tour

This tour uses headsets to ensure you can hear your guide clearly throughout the galleries. Tours last approx. 60 minutes. Although our guides will try to be inclusive of all ages, this tour is most suitable for children aged 8 and above.

Object Highlights

© IWM EPH 3922

Trixie the Doll

This tiny doll was one of the few items that Inga Pollack, aged 12, had with her when she left Austria in the summer of 1939 to flee to Britain with her sister. Inga was Jewish and was one of 9,354 children evacuated to Britain by the 'Kindertransport'. She and her sister would never see their mother or grandmother again.
© IWM EPH 1332

Stuffed Gerbil

James Philpotts, a British soldier serving in southern Iraq, found this flattened gerbil in a flooded entrenchment. James thought it would be funny to send this ‘Zoological specimen’ back to London as a surprise for his sister.
© IWM MAR 556

Fishing Boat 'Tamzine'

This humble fishing boat is considered the smallest vessel to take part in 'Operation Dynamo', better known as 'Dunkirk'. It had been taken without the owner’s knowledge and was covered in blood when it was finally returned to him. Two weeks after the evacuation, Churchill famously said that ‘the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin’.
© IWM Documents.5973

Letter to Beryl Myatt

This loving letter, addressed to eight year old Beryl Myatt from her parents, was never received. She was one of 77 children who were killed on the evening of 17 September 1940, when a U-boat sank the evacuee transport SS City of Benares during its journey to Canada. The family dog’s paw print can be seen at the top of the letter.
© IWM EPH 2963

Model Crusader Tank

In May 1942 the German General, Erwin Rommel won his greatest desert battle at Gazala, North Africa. Most of the 8th Army’s tanks were destroyed. Among them was the Crusader tank commanded by 21 year old John Cloudsley-Thomson. In 1943, while recovering from wounds, he crafted this scale model of his tank.
© IWM EPH 10995

Skipping Rope

This skipping rope was fashioned from landing craft surplus on the Isle of Wight just days before D-Day. Hazel Perkin, a 12-year-old Girl Guide lost her treasured skipping rope on the beach. Soldiers heard how upset she was, and after trying and failing to find it they made her a new one from landing craft material. She never learnt their names but often thought about them and wanted them to know how grateful she was.