Tessera

It's been a long day today. We have spent time considering the horror and inhumanity of Dachau and the evil system of which that camp was just a part. After a long drive we are now in Austria still following the 506th PIR as they push on to reach the end of the war.

A sobering visit to the stark environs of KZ Dachau today. The visit underpins the 'Why we fight' message running through the Band of Brothers series final episodes. Reinforcing the just cause of the Allies in liberating Europe from Nazi oppression.

Coming soon - I was really honoured to be asked to play a very small part in this WW2 Foundation film. Looking forward to seeing the finished article crafted by the production team. wwiifoundation.org/portfolio-it...

Gary Sinise: A World War II Legacy (COMING SOON)! - World War II Foundation

Coming Soon! In the words of Gary Sinise

wwiifoundation.org

Another very enjoyable day on the WWII Museum Easy Company tour around Bastogne. Quite interesting to see the events of December 1944 through a single small unit. Watching @BattlefieldDisc create and maintain his narrative and a wider historical context is interesting.

I have to say the quality of presentation and the historical content of the exhibits at the 101st Airborne Museum in Bastogne is second to none. What an outstanding Museum. Certainly, not to be missed if in town.

Always good to start the day with gliders. Today it's the simply superb 101st Airborne Division Museum in Bastogne. Operation Repulse, the parachute and glider resupply of the Belgian town is rightly highlighted.

Visited the ABMC cemetery in the Netherlands today. I had a little time to wander and found Lt Arthur Sample of the 381st Bomb Group (Heavy). A long way from Ridgewell, even further from home.

Interesting day on Hell's Highway with super knowledgeable Easy Company expert, Edwin Popken. Refreshing to hear historical narrative from another perspective.

Enjoying a beautiful Sunday morning in the Netherlands tracing the route of Easy Company, 506th PIR during Operation Market. All part of learning the WWII Museum Easy Company tour with the supremely knowledgeable @BattlefieldDisc. Colour by Piece of Jake.

Mike Peters @mikehistorian.bsky.social · 3w ago

Thank you to @historian1914 and the Road Scholars for hosting me for another Air War presentation. It was interesting to delve into the intricacies of Allied relations during Operation Pointblank. Great questions as ever!

Spending the afternoon tuning up my presentation on Operation Pointblank for the Road Scholars WWII conference in Oxford this Friday. It's always great fun speaking to such a well-informed audience.

Matt Eaton @matteatonmedia.bsky.social · 4w ago

My talk on Friday on WW2TV looks at the experiences of Madam V - Virginia Vernon. This remarkable woman worked with the top brass in the British forces and travelled with the men from Arras in 1939 through to Rangoon on VJ Day. www.youtube.com/live/7yTXfNu...

Madam V - Virginia Vernon’s War: Battling to Bring (ENSA) Entertainment to the British Troops

YouTube video by WW2TV

youtube.com

The second Horsa was flown by two volunteer pilots from the Royal Australian Air Force. The two men had assisted with the training for Op Freshman and stepped forward to fly Horsa 2. Their sacrifice is sadly little known.

Sgt Peter Doig was also one of the very early candidates for glider pilot training. The GPR was very much in a fledgling state in the winter of 1942. The RAF bomber crews tasked to tow them into battle were equally inexperienced as tug pilots. A lot was being asked that night.

Staff Sergeant Strathdee and his co-pilot, Sergeant Peter Doig, were piloting one of two Horas gliders. They crashed at Flesebekken in Lyseheiene. Strathdee and several of the engineers were killed on impact. Those who survived the crash were subsequently executed by the Germans.

It was exceptionally poignant to visit the CWGC plot in Stavanger today. SSgt Malcolm Strathdee GPR and Sgt Peter Doig GPR we're both volunteers to fly one of two Horsas on 20 November 1942. Neither man had the necessary flying experience to pilot a Horsa in such conditions.

On 18th October 1942, Hitler issued the Fuehrerbefehl which accused Germany's opponents of using methods that did not conform with the accepted laws of war and the Geneva Conventions. Many of the Freshman troops that were captured by the Germans were later unlawfully executed.

Finally, after many years I found my way to Norway and visited the graves of many of the men who died on Operation Freshman. It is especially significant for me as the ill-fated Freshman was the first glider-borne operation mounted by British Airborne forces during WW2.

Woke up this morning to this stunning scenery in the Innvikfjorden Fjord. I have been reading this fiction classic on the way here...absolutely staggered by the mountainous terrain and the size of the fjords.

Getting there! Finishing the Iraq chapters of Ops Normal Volume 2 - covering the challenges of Iraq after 2003. Some very tough tours for AAC Squadrons. Thanks to all of the veterans who have shared their stories for the Authorised Operational History of the Army Air Corps.

Timely update on Volume 1 just as the manuscript for Volume 2 nears completion and publication. Helion have very few copies of our first volume left on the shelf. If you are thinking of ordering a copy, be quick!

The Aviation Show@theaviation.show · last mo.

Personally I believe that omitting the swastika symbol is literally airbrushing the Nazi heritage of the Luftwaffe out of our awareness. It encourages the myth of the good German/Luftwaffe. We should accept history warts and all.

Something that comes up in Erasing History Part 2 is the prominence of the swastika on restored aircraft. This is a question that I usually get an off the record response to. Given the emotions the emblem continues to elicit, do you feel the time has come to remove it from aircraft?

The American Heritage Museum's Focke-Wulf Fw 190F-8 Wk.Nr. 93182 White 1 while under restoration at Gosshawk Unlimited in Arizona in 2024. The aircraft is in its grey camo colour scheme. The swastika on the tail is prominent on the right side of the image as we look from the tail forward on the port side of the aircraft. Image: Matt Bone/The Aviation Show

The pre-tour reading list for my Drop Zone 1 tour in October is out. Really looking forward to leading the @WeAreTripsmiths group around some of the most famous Landing Zones and Drop Zones in NW Europe. Great support from @bhltours.