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…]
RAF
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 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 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…]
20th Century
The Spitfire, of course, Part 4
Musings on the development of the Miles M20 prototype Firstly, a reminder of where we started back in part one, I suggested in the first article in this series that the Spitfire was not an [more…]