Authoritarianism
Veg Growing In A Pandemic (Is Enough Ever Enough)
Firstly, let’s get something out of the way. I never was a violent man. Even in my youth, when a “scrap” was seen as a rite of passage, I did my level best to avoid [more…]
WW II
20th Century
Enigma deception
A typical three wheeled Enigma with inspection cover open and showing the three wheels in position. When the Second World War began, three wheels became five. There is a scene in the film The Imitation [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – May 1941
An even busier month than April, lots going on in North Africa, Crete and Abyssinia. The Germans and Italians continued to besiege Tobruk, German paratroops invaded Crete and yet more parts of Abyssinia fell to [more…]
20th Century
The Bomber Command and USAAF Bombing of Dresden, 13-15th February 1945
Pre-Op Test Flights and Briefings On the morning of 13th February it was cold with rain in the Lincolnshire Wolds, after an extremely cold January with a mean temperature of -2 degrees Celsius. By the [more…]
20th Century
SS Gairsoppa
The SS Gairsoppa was a British steam merchant ship launched in 1919 and built in Jarrow by Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Co Ltd at the request of the British India Steam Navigation Co Ltd. Initially [more…]
Authoritarianism
Book Review: Why the Germans do it better
Sorry. This is not a book review. See SB for a refund. But the title of the book in question is amusing. There is no doubt that, indeed, Germans do some things so much better [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – April 1941
April was a very busy month 80 years ago, Libya, Greece, Iraq and East Africa were all full of action. On the 1st, just as Rommel began his attack, there was a coup d’état in [more…]
20th Century
“Not Yet”…George Will on Churchillian Realism
On March 5th, the conservative columnist George F. Will gave the 34th Enid and R. Crosby Kemper Lecture at the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Winston Churchill’s “Sinews of Peace” speech at Westminster College [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – March 1941
Into March and while there is a bit of a lull in Libya, The Balkans start to figure large and Italian East Africa gets smaller and smaller. Let’s start with a look at Libya. The [more…]