Five things to see at the National Army Museum

The Soldier gallery looks at the men who served in the army across the ages, and it doesn’t hold back on the negative impact. In every era, men have been mentally destroyed for life by the experience.

Insight examines the shifting relationships between nations and alliances as seen by the army. These two objects remind us that for most of our histories, Germany and Britain were allies.

In the Society Gallery is material that shows how the army is reflected in popular culture and how we relate to it directly. This armoured car was used on the streets of Belfast during the Troubles, and up close it’s a brutal and alien vehicle.

The Army Gallery shows how the army has existed as an institution over the centuries, and how those serving relate to it. This delicately worked regimental flag was used to cover Colonel William Inglis at the battle of Albuera. Though severely wounded, he famously continued to exhort him men to ‘die hard!’.

This gallery looks at the experience of combat from the Civil War to Afghanistan. This huge chunk of a rocket took off a soldier’s arm in Helmand. It still has shreds of his uniform embedded in it.