20th Century
The Desert War – December 1940
At the start of the last month of 1940 the Italians had been pushed out of Greece and were now under the cosh in Albania, Il Duce’s ambitions were more than his forces could handle. [more…]
Articles by well_chuffed
20th Century
The Desert War – November 1940
More of the same is the best description of November. The Italians got their butts kicked both in and finally out of Greece resulting in the Duce eventually having to grovel to the Führer and [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – October 1940
80 years ago this month things were quiet in the actual desert. After the initial British skirmishing that was an attempt to convince the Italians we were much stronger than we really were and the [more…]
20th Century
The connection between the Commandos, the US Rangers and the SAS
Apart from the fact that they are all some kind of special forces, the real connection is that they were all given their names by Dudley Clarke who finished the war as a Brigadier. Who [more…]
Arts
In praise of journalists, or perhaps not
I am not a journalist, the closest I have ever been to them is while I was working at News International’s fortress in Wapping during the move from Fleet Street to Docklands in 1985/6. I [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – September 1940
80 years ago this month things started hotting up. The Italians invaded Egypt and there was a fair bit of action at sea. On the 5th 6 Blenheims and 6 Hurricanes arrived in crates at [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – August 1940
We reach August 1940, eighty years ago. Things still looking bleak for the Brits and it doesn’t really improve this month and we moan about the lockdown, albeit with some justification. The Italians had been [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – July 1940
Now we reach the 80th anniversary of July 1940 in the Desert War. Slim pickings in Libya and Egypt this month, both sides were gearing up for battle but the Navies were kept on their [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – June 1940
80 years ago this month the North African Campaign, or Desert War kicked off. On one side were the Italians, desperately trying to expand their Empire in Africa, on the other were the British who [more…]