20th Century
The Desert War – December 1941
The last month of the year 80 years ago. Still living in infamy the Americans finally got off the pot having spent much of 1941 making preparations for war. The action this month is in [more…]
Iraq
20th Century
The Desert War – November 1941
We reach November 80 years ago. In the 16 or so months since the start of the campaign in June 1940 we have seen us nibble at the Italians in Libya, the Italians attack us [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – October 1941
We reach October 80 years ago and it is still fairly quiet on the ground in North Africa but the Royal Navy is still busy. The big news this month is that there is a [more…]
Politics
Warmongers
Having merely perused the headline on one of Peter Hitchens’ blog offerings, it has inspired me to this article that asks one of the great unanswered questions of our time. How did the left go [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – July 1941
We reach July 80 years ago, it was quiet on the ground in North Africa but the navies were as busy as ever. There was no news from East Africa and precious little from Greece [more…]
Arts
Eastern Tide Meets Western Shore – Part One
I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong hills. The equator runs across these highlands a hundred miles to the north, and the farm lay at an altitude of over six [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – June 1941
And so to June, the first anniversary of the Desert War and it was a hot month in more ways than one in Libya and Egypt. There is also a small report on East Africa [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 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…]