In June 1944, Hennell was sent to Portsmouth to record preparations for D-Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy. Soon after, he was across the English Channel making watercolour sketches of troops on the Normandy beaches.

The coastal town of Boulogne was badly bombed by the RAF during the invasion. In August, Hitler declared the town a “fortress”, but in September the town was liberated by the Canadian Army. This painting of the town’s church in ruins is a poignant reminder of the suffering and destruction endured by so many during the Second World War.

Hennell was sent to record the war effort in India and Burma (now Myanmar). He survived the war but disappeared in Java in 1945. Reports suggest that he was captured and killed during the Indonesian War of Independence, but this was never confirmed.