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Practice Nine
On the 2nd of March 1965 the US opened Operation Rolling Thunder. This was the tightly controlled bombing of North Vietnam in an attempt to pressure the communists into halting their insurrection in...
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The Most Famous Tank
If you go to just about any forum or website that is remotely military or historically themed, you will almost certainly find a post about what is possibly the world’s most famous tank. I am talking...
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Vickers Lifting
On the 1st of July 1942 the first battle of El Alamein started. This was the moment when the 8th Army had to stop the Afrika Korp and their Italian allies from entering Egypt. Over the next five days...
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Bombs Gone
In the darkness of the very early morning of the 24th of January 1961, the crew of the USAF KC-135 Stratotanker peered astern of their aircraft. Below them was a B-52G being flown by Major Walter...
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Czech Six
Looking for an article this week I started looking at something completely different, however, on one document I found the hint of a brilliant story. I was originally trying to find details of a...
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York has Fallen
At 1430 on the 25th of March 1941 the British cruiser York steamed into the naval base in Souda Bay, Crete. She moved slowly through the two outer anti-submarine nets; their booms being drawn closed...
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Blackers' Genius
As those of you whom have been following me on Facebook will likely know, my next book is due out in May next year. It focuses on British spigot weapons of the Second World War. Now those of you who...
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From Coconut to Saddle
On 17th of November 1943 the Australian forces in Papua New Guinea started their operations to clear the next part of the island from the occupying Japanese forces. Their target would be Sattelberg...
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The day is Jugend
The days after D-Day had a multitude of differing battles as the Allies fought for control. One of these battles occurred on D+2 when the 12th SS Hitler Jugend clashed head-first with the Canadian...
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The 663 Musketeers
The British paratrooper hefted his Bren Gun and glanced at his watch; it was just after 0410 local time (0710 GMT) as his transport plane churned along. Glancing up towards the cockpit he could see the...
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A Duck!
In the 1940s there were beams of barely understood forces being used by the British and Germans to wage war against each other. I am not talking about the Battle of the Beams, the name given to...
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Jump Around
In the book release last year, The Dark Age of Tanks, I talk of the UK's Ground Air Scout Car (GASC) projects. These were attempts at wheeled vehicles that could jump, hover and even fly for short...
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Flag Bomber
In the distance was the sound of a band and the tramp of hundreds of feet marching in unison. The band and the soldiers turned the corner into the Avenue des Champs Elysee in Paris. The parade was...
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Aggie!
In 1943 the Allies were well advanced with their plans to return to the continent, however, one problem still remained: How to defeat the masses of concrete the Germans were frantically pouring into...
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Normandy Neger
In 1943 as the war clearly turned against them the Germans started to look at new ways to attack the enemy. One such means was developed by the Kriegsmarine. One of their formations was the Kommando...
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Balloon Attack
From the title you may have guessed that we’ll be talking about the offensive use of balloons. Immediately you’re thinking of the Japanese balloon weapons, however, that’s rather unlike me. So here is...
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The Adventures of WIlliam Becke
In September 1916 Brigadier John Becke was commanding the 1st Wing of the Royal Flying Corp. Brig Becke was a rare pilot, he had been one of the pre-war aviators in a squadron since 1912, and so could...
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On Revolutions
This week I'm going to cheat a bit, or rather, be efficient in my working. I've recently been studying for my history degree, and last week my real life job's shift patten stuffed me up a bit. So, I'm...
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The Chaos of Retirement
As some of you know, I do my articles a week in advance of when they're needed.Well last weekend I inadvertently became a bit busy, and so am relying on random documents for this weeks content. The...
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The Second Blitz
Overnight on the 16th/17th of January 1943 there was a RAF bombing raid on Berlin. There is always a ‘however’ though. In this case other sources suggest such a raid never took place. But it does seem...
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