This week’s photograph depicts a British soldier posing on a British Army dispatch motorbike:

I don’t believe this soldier was actually a dispatch rider as he is not wearing any of the specialist clothing apart from the helmet, but he clearly felt it would be a good machine to pose on for a snap. The helmet is the standard dispatch rider’s helmet worn by motorcyclists in the war (see here for more information):

The petrol tank of the motorbike has the badge of the Eighth Army painted on it:

The winged ‘M’ on the tank is the badge of the Matchless Motorcycle, this being one of 80,000 G3 and G3L motorcycles manufactured by them during the war. This model of bike was produced from 1939 to 1946 and remained in service until the 1960s.