20th Century
The Desert War – April 1942
April 1942, another month where nothing much seemed to be happening in the desert, the same can’t be said of the sea and air campaigns. On the first of the month Churchill spoke with FDR [more…]
Malta
20th Century
Nostaglia Album, Part Ten
At the end of the Second War, my father’s cousin Anne and her mother travelled to Malta to join her father Rob who was a Royal Navy foreman in Malta’s Grand Harbour dockyards. They lodged [more…]
20th Century
Faith, Hope and Charity
This is the story of a few Gloster Sea Gladiators that were on Malta before the Italians declared war upon us and our Empire. There are umpteen versions of this story, this one is taken [more…]
20th Century
Nostalgia Album, Part Nine
At the end of the Second World War, on my father’s side of the family, the generations had passed with both grandparents dying in their sleep at ripe old ages. By VJ Day the cast [more…]
20th Century
Nostalgia Album, Part Eight
After last week’s Nostalgia Album sadness at hearing great aunt Ernestine lost her husband in the First War, her son in the Second War and spent much of her life in the Lancaster County Mental [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – February 1942
January had finished with the Allies on the back foot in Libya, the Axis was advancing. It was all going pear shaped again. Although Tobruk had been relieved, the Axis armour hadn’t been destroyed, merely [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – March 1942
We reach March 1942 and again, there is not much happening on the ground. It all seems to have ground to a halt and once more Churchill is not amused. The Royal Navy is still [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – January 1942
The start of 1942 saw the British starting off on the front foot but ending the month retreating eastwards as the Germans and Italians advanced and as usual there was lots of action on the [more…]
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…]