Wednesday 31 August 2011

The Learning Network

The learning network have posted a short teaser on the 1919 Treaty of Versailles


Wednesday 3 August 2011

Tuesday 2 August 2011

Civilans at war

This article is rather thin on detail, but shows how a patriotic man classed 4F still managed to serve his country during wartime

Monday 1 August 2011

Saturday 30 July 2011

Camp camp show.

Here's a interesting gallery of photos taken in WWI prison camps of soldiers dressed up for camp shows. 

Friday 29 July 2011

Giving the good back

Here's a fascinating article detailing how articles taken from a french soldier by his German killer are returned to the Frenchmans family

Thursday 28 July 2011

D-Day Dice !?

There is a board game called D-Day Dice, in which you play as a commander on the beach trying to make your way up the beach under fire.  It's free, but you'll need to do some printing out.

Wednesday 27 July 2011

Tourist Photos

Follow to days link to see a collection of tourist like photos that show some of the very well preserved artifacts and sights to visit in Normandy.  Thanks for posting these!

Tuesday 26 July 2011

D-Day Memoir and podcast

This article relates the tale of a D-Day veteran and includes a podcast interview.  This vet landed on Omaha to carry out demolition work.

Monday 25 July 2011

Mongomery

A small 3 page overview of Field Marshal Montgomery.  I never knew why he wore a beret until I read this

Sunday 24 July 2011

German photographer

This light article highlights the investigation that took place to identify a German Nazi photographer.  The article contains a few of the interesting shots he's taken. The links on the page take you to other pages with more pics.

Saturday 23 July 2011

Revision of history

Heres an interesting article that compares the Hitler/Stalin pack with the secret discussion between the German and the UK.  Makes some good points that are often overlooked.  Or is it that they are deliberately forgotten!

Friday 22 July 2011

The Shilling

Here's an article I found fascinating.  It tells of how a chap found an old shilling in a draw and how that lead him to write a book about his relatives WWI experiences.

Thursday 21 July 2011

Wednesday 20 July 2011

Desert rats online

It seems that the movie , Desert Rats is now available for you to watch free online.

Monday 18 July 2011

Air Army news reel 5th April 1945

Here's another news reel, from April 1945 this time.  Snippets include Eisenhower presenting the 101st with a unit citation for their efforts in the Battle of the Bulge.

Sunday 17 July 2011

May 1945 news reel

Here's a digitised news reel from May 1945, highlighting the Italian theater in true propaganda style.  Also includes some German footage, showing  German civilians suffering from the bombing.

Saturday 16 July 2011

5 Horrid days

In this memoir of five days at Dunkirk waiting for rescue , by a military engineer, you'll be able to his tale of despair, hope despair and hope!

Friday 15 July 2011

War comes a visiting

Here's a really nice article about how one family had a couple Tommies billeted on them, and the other effects the war had.

Thursday 14 July 2011

British WWI graves in Italy

The BBC production From Our Own Correspondent has a nice article about the forgotten dead of WWI, those British soldiers who fought alongside the Italians.  The accompanying article is quite sad.

Wednesday 13 July 2011

U-boat wallpapers

Just found a web site that's offering a bunch of u-boat themed desktop wallpapers, included photographic and artistic.

Tuesday 12 July 2011

U-boat POWs

Here's sometime wartime footage of German POWs doing the "walking round the wire" thing that you always see allied POWs doing in films.  Looks like every nation indulged in that hobby.

Monday 11 July 2011

MANSTEIN Hitler’s Greatest General

Todays link is to a book review, but the review itself is quite informative so I imagine the book must be too!

Sunday 10 July 2011

Mask of Mongomery

I was surprised to discover a mask of Field Marshal Montgomery on ebay.  Odd. Well, whatever floats your boat I suppose.

Saturday 9 July 2011

Wartime Boxing?

I was astounded to read this article reporting how an RAF pilot escaped an internment camp but was sent back by the British government!

Friday 8 July 2011

Thursday 7 July 2011

New Zealand time line

Some one has started to put together a timeline of New Zealand's involvement in WWI.  It look's like it's just started, but I like how this web-tool operates.

Wednesday 6 July 2011

"Time"'s D-Day coverage

Here's an interesting overview of Time magazines D-day coverage, the page I'm linking to has a bunch of links to  the articles in question.  Great read!

Tuesday 5 July 2011

Monday 4 July 2011

WWI in pictures and documents

I just found out about a cool Europe wide call for WWI period photos, letters and documents all of which have been placed on line in a an archive.  Fantastic stuff!

Sunday 3 July 2011

Miners at war

Here's a nice article highlighting the part played by coal miners in the trench warfare of WWI

Saturday 2 July 2011

War Themes

I've recently received an CD called "Essenital War Film Themes" as a present.  It is what it says on the cover and presents some lovely music. I find the orchestral/choral tracks especially moving.  I also found myself "pom pom poming" along with some of the good rousing marches!  Who can't la-la along with the theme to "The Great Escape" 

Friday 1 July 2011

Five Stripe Marine

This is an interesting memoir.  A young lad trys to join up right after Pearl Harbour but his dad says "No", a dad by the way that joined up for WWI aged 16!

Thursday 30 June 2011

From Horses to Motors

Here's a short article about a (then) young man who was drafted into the cavalry, learnt about horses and then had them replaced with motors.  It's that fascinating crossover of technologies.

Wednesday 29 June 2011

Only the Brave

I just got my hands on a movie called "Only the Brave", no idea what it's like yet, but its part of the story of second generation japanese-americans fighting during the WWII.  I had no idea about this, I thought they were all interned!  Anyway, the history around the special japanese-american fighting units is fascinating.

Tuesday 28 June 2011

Fans of WWI aviation

I was delighted to find a web site set up for fans of WWI aviation. Not only does it have lots of info but there is an active forum too ( but you'll have to join )

Commando comic's 50th birthday

The Commando comic that I've read on and off since I was about 10 (30 years) has just reached it's 50 birthday.  Excellent stuff, I love these things 

Monday 27 June 2011

Sunday 26 June 2011

Official WWI War Diaries

This was a staggering find, scanned images of actual offical war diaries for various parties during WWI. This collection is stored on the Australian Government museum site.  These will be a real boon to the amature WWI researcher who otherwise wouldn't have had access to such material.

Saturday 25 June 2011

Japanese ships sunk

The link today is to a list of Japanese shipping sunk by the American submarines.  I knew a lot of shipping was sunk during the war, but when you see a list like this, it really brings home just how many ships and crews were truely sunk

Friday 24 June 2011

WWI aviation manual

Although the quality of the scan is quite low this manual of aviation dating from 1917 does have some fascinating sections and some pictures to glance over

Thursday 23 June 2011

Life in a Tank

Fancy reading about what life in a WWI tank was like?  Well now is your chance with this narrative of experiences by Richard Haigh.

Wednesday 22 June 2011

A tribute to the dead of WWI

There is a free to download MP3 album that has been put together as a tribute to those that fell during the first world war. It has a dark ambient sound that wont be to everyone's taste.

Tuesday 21 June 2011

German attack on Convoy

I've just found this astounding, if short, audio clip that is a genuine recording  made while German bombers attacked a Briish Convoy in 1941.

Monday 20 June 2011

Dam Busters audio drama

We've all heard about the Dam Busters and their highly successful Dam busting raid, right?  Do you have any idea what other things they did?  Well, in short they remained a specialist unit for the remainder of the war and even had a very special D-Day mission.  You can hear all about it in this old time radio dramatisation of their war time service.

Sunday 19 June 2011

Popular Science 1940's style

A Popular Science web site presents a slideshow of 9 sensational war time headlines. Read the shock! Read the despair about the German 88!

Saturday 18 June 2011

Tunnel of Victory

Wind tunnels are something we see if not every day then at least once a week in a film on the TV or even in an advert.  What you dont see every week is a wind tunnel that helped win the war!

Friday 17 June 2011

Prisoners of War

Over on the WWII experience web site thay have a collection of short memoirs from POW interned in the Pacific campaigns.

Thursday 16 June 2011

A modern Sherman (M4) rolling around a field.  Are these still being built for enthusiasts?

Draft cards for the famous

The Command Posts web site has some scans of famous peoples draft cards, including Louis Armstrong and Fred Astaire!

Wednesday 15 June 2011

Easy Company Motivation

I've found a collection of 18 motivational posters you can print out, each of which features the words/pictures of members of Easy Company from WWII (the company feaured in the HBO series Band of Brothers).

Tuesday 14 June 2011

WWI aircraft factory in pictures

I recently found a free to download photobook of the Fisher Body Aeroplane Div (World War I),  factory where they are making de Havilland & Caproni Biplanes. The photos show the factory in action, the men and women working on the lines and the products of their efforts.  It's a totally thrilling read

Tanker memoir

The Bradenton has a short memoir article from a d-day tanker with a loathing of hedgerows!

Monday 13 June 2011

Park your UBoat in my Mall

A massive 3 ton model of a UBoat ( made for the film U571 ) is being parked in a Biloxi mall

Journalists memoir

Here's a srort article written by a WWII era journalist, remembering his meeting s and interviews with some of the "stars" of the war.

Sunday 12 June 2011

WWI Tunnels

The BBC's online magazine is running a good article on the tunneling that took place during the first world war. They mention, not just the tunneling itself but the counter tunneling and the placing of mines.  Some nice pics too.

U-Boat tunnel opened

"The National" has a short article on the recent opening of a Nazi built tunnel for housing late war submarines, as a museum.  Even considering the poor slaves who worked and died in its construction, it's amazing how something so big, could have been built so quickly.  

Happy Warriors zine

The latest Milk Run Fanzine has just been released with a couple of amazing stories from WWII bomber crews. It's a PDF download, only two pages long, but still worth a read.

Saturday 11 June 2011

Veterans review aerial photography

Listen and view an audio slideshow as two WWII veterans look over some aerial photography from D-Day and Auschwitz.

Operating the M3

Here's a another treat for Tank fans.  It's the operating manual [declassified] from the M3 light tank, as issued in 1943.

Friday 10 June 2011

Eisenhower's words

I'm sure we've all read or at least heard Eisenhower's D-Day briefing  to the troops, but this is the first glimpse I've ever had of his draft notes for the "we failed" speech!

Thursday 9 June 2011

History of Propaganda Posters

Here's an interesting artilce that's a light introduction to Propaganda Posters of World Wars 1 and 2.