Blog
The Savage Sea
An E Class DestroyerOn January 21, 1940, 85 years ago this month, the Royal Navy E-Class destroyer HMS Exmouth was sunk in the Moray Firth off the east coast of Scotland by the Kriegsmarine Type II-B submarine U-22. All 175 members of Exmouth’s crew were lost. On...
So This Is Christmas
Once again, the holidays are upon us. Once again, we can hope and pray for a world filled with peace and goodwill. Once again, I am publishing my Christmas blog which recalls Christmas Day in 1914 when the soldiers stopped hilling each other, just for a few hours, and...
Happy Thanksgiving!
We celebrate Thanksgiving this year on November 28th, and this blog is due to be published on the 29th. We celebrate this year in peace in most of the world (although alas far from all of it.) In World War II things were just a little different … let’s look at late...
The Eleventh Hour: In Honor of our Veterans
The war to end all warsIn the United States we observe Veterans Day on November 11th (next Monday as I write this) and Remembrance Day in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. Why November 11th? World War I ended in Europe on November 11, 1918, with the signing of...
Just Another Bloody October
Across the Siegried Line, October 1944 (Cost, approximately 250,000 casualties) In October 1944 the war in Europe is entering its sixth bloody year. Its sixth year! As Courtney Hodges’ 1st US Army grimly fights its way through the notorious Siegfried Line, Nazi...
The Canadians — The Unsung Heroes of the Allied Invasion
Men of the 3rd Canadian Division approach Juno Beach on D DayThe Allied invasion of Europe on June the 6th 1944 took place on five beaches. The American army landed on Utah and Omaha beaches, of course, and the British army landed on Gold and Sword beaches. But it is...
