Blog
Black Thursday
In 1943 Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda chief, called for ‘totalen Krieg’—total war—war without mercy, war without restraints—and in the skies over Europe he got what he wanted. The bombers of the RAF’s Bomber Command and the USAAF’s Eighth Air Force set out to...
Tidal Wave
… the B-24s flew into very heavy flak at very low altitudes as a parade of slow-moving targets …A B-24 flies over burning facilities in Ploiești.On August 1st, 1943, B-24 Liberators from the 8th and 9th US Army Air Forces attacked the oil refineries at Ploiești,...
Gomorrah
“Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven... And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.” King...
Chastise
Early this month I sent the draft of my next book to the publisher. Since then I have been wandering the streets in search of gainful occupation … The book is titled ‘Trial and Tribulation’—a Churchill quote, of course—and is set in 1943. That was the year in which...
So This Is Christmas
This is the third year I am posting this Christmas Blog, which celebrates the moment in 1914 when the soldiers came out of their trenches to share drinks and sing carols together. It would be nice to imagine that the good side of human nature prevailed and peace was...
Avro Lancaster
Now we come to one of the most important aircraft that fought in World War II, the Avro Lancaster heavy bomber. When I was 5 or 6 years old we went to visit my grandparents who lived in Kirton-in-Linsey in Lincolnshire. The last part of our long journey took us along...
