6 June 2024 is the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the ‘Day of Days’. Was it really that long ago? Growing up in the ‘60s and ‘70s, with parents who lived through the Second World War, reminders were ubiquitous and it never seemed that far away. It wasn’t, when you think about it – it is […]
The National Memorial Arboretum is a year-round centre of remembrance and needs to be revisited. Not only should a first visit be mandatory, but also it is one of those places that gives more each time you go. It changes with the seasons of course, but also as trees mature and new memorials are added.
National Memorial Arboretum revisited Read More »
In 2015, a rust-weathered steel spire was erected on the skyline above the City of Lincoln. It is 102 feet, more than 31 metres, high – by no coincidence equivalent to the wingspan of a Second World War Lancaster bomber. The spire is the dramatic centrepiece of The International Bomber Command Centre, which commemorates the
IBCC – Recognition, Remembrance, Reconciliation Read More »
It was the only time I ever saw our dour, ill-tempered, Polish foreman remotely happy. As a student one hot summer long ago, I had a labouring job on a new section of motorway. It stretched into the distance, an elegantly excavated scar across the land, punctuated with bridges and bright yellow vehicles. One day,
Paying homage to the BBMF Read More »
My mother would love to walk from Point along Old Portsmouth’s walls, past the Sally Port, Square Tower and above Battery Row. There was the Regency Grand Parade, scene of many ceremonial occasions in days gone by. There was the statue of Nelson, who boarded HMS Victory nearby before the Battle of Trafalgar. And below
Domus Dei, a Portuguese princess and the Blitz Read More »
Say “Dunkirk”* to anyone with a modest knowledge of Britain’s recent history and probably the least they will do is to nod sagely; Dunkirk, ‘the miracle of Dunkirk’ or the ‘Dunkirk spirit’, is part of modern British mythology. If you knew anyone who served at Dunkirk, you are likely to have regarded them, understandably, with
Dunkirk – the miracle in context Read More »
VE Day, Victory in Europe Day, is celebrated on 8 May as the day the Second World War came to an end in Europe in 1945. Writing 75 years on in 2020, most people had no memory of the event, many had limited understanding of it and some hadn’t even heard of it. You wonder
What is VE Day and is it relevant? Read More »
Part 2 – Lorenz and legacy Enigma was only part of the Bletchley Park story. As early as 1940, listening stations began to pick up enciphered teleprinter messages. These worked in a completely different way to messages enciphered on an Enigma and utilised two main types of even more sophisticated enciphering machines, the Geheimschreiber (secret
Bletchley Park beyond Enigma Read More »
Part 1 – Enigma and Ultra This is Bletchley Park. To all intents and purposes, it’s a nondescript, somewhat ugly, large Victorian mansion and estate just north of London. But what went on at Bletchley Park was extraordinary: it changed the course of the Second World War, and the world. From 1939-46, this was the
Having been weaned on tales of Douglas Bader, Stamford Tuck and Guy Gibson, I get quite excited visiting places like Duxford. IWM Duxford is home to most of the Imperial War Museum’s collection of rather large exhibits – mainly aircraft. And, when I say ‘places like Duxford’, to be fair I’m not sure there is
Boys toys? A visit to Duxford Read More »
Something like 3 million US citizens passed through the United Kingdom during the Second World War. The Cambridge American Cemetery commemorates almost 9,000 Americans who died while based here, or en route, in those years of conflict. They died at sea on convoys transporting essential supplies, troops and military equipment, across the Atlantic; they died
The Cambridge American Cemetery Read More »
15 September is Battle of Britain Day. It commemorates the legendary air battle that took place in Britain’s skies, mainly – though not exclusively – over southern England, during the long hot summer and early autumn of 1940. The conflict has achieved near mythical status in British history. With the fall of France in June,
Battle of Britain Day Read More »
The sectioned remains of a World War Two vintage German submarine, or U-boat (from Unterseeboot – undersea boat), lie next to Woodside ferry terminal at Birkenhead, on the west bank of the River Mersey. In April 1945, Hitler’s Third Reich was dying. The Allied armies were inexorably closing in, like the jaws of a giant pair
The mystery of U-534 Read More »
Orford Ness, a ten-mile long shingle spit on the Suffolk coast, is one of the most extraordinary places in Britain. Its environment, part natural, part man-made, provides a perfect, and in places rare, habitat for an enormous variety of flora and fauna. But, more than that, for the greater part of the 20th century it
What really happened at Orford Ness? Read More »
