20th Century
A Barren Shore, Part One
This is a personal memoir of several visits to the far north and going realisation of what had always been before my eyes, unseen and recognised. I am not an historian and certainly not of [more…]
WW II
20th Century
The Tank Museum, Bovington
Last week a GP crew visited The Tank Museum, Bovington. Even with the short notice given we were a group of eight two groups of four. It was a pleasure to meet some new puffins. [more…]
20th Century
The Bomber Command and USAAF Bombing of Dresden, 13-15th February 1945, Part Two
The City of Dresden in 1945 A rather strange myth had grown over the city of Dresden since the mid-1940s. That is was a benevolent municipality, untouched by the horrors of the war raging around, [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…]
20th Century
The Bomber Command and USAAF Bombing of Dresden, 13-15th February 1945, Part One
When he became Air Officer Commanding (AOC) of Bomber Command and at the start of the bombing campaign, Harris said, quoting the Old Testament: The Nazis entered this war under the rather childish delusion that [more…]
20th Century
The Lost Airman – Part Two
At Chelsfield, local folk were well aware that a Hurricane had plunged from the sky above them on that sun-kissed Sunday afternoon of 1 September during an intense and frightening period of activity that shook [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 Lost Airman – Part One
Chelsfield Green, a strip of elevated, sloping grassland running alongside Warren Road from Chelsfield Station to Court Road on the fringe of the Village, has become a popular spot for a ration of daily exercise [more…]