Paul Durham 🇺🇦 ⚫️⚪️
@milhistdiddy.bsky.social
Battlefield Guide with @sophie1wwtours.bsky.social and Adaptable Travel (https://www.adaptabletravel.co.uk/tour/ypres-and-somme-ww1-battlefields-tours). Military History and Newcastle United F.C. are my passions. #FWW #WW1 #SWW #WW2 #NUFC
Ancient sunlight reaches through the trees at Cote 304 near Verdun, lighting trenches from a century before: taken by me in 2016. A landscape that has now gone with re-forestation. #worldphotographyday
The grave of Admiral John “Jacky” Fisher, First Sea Lord 1904-10 and 1914-15
Calling North Korea "unthreatening and respectful" when they send missiles, shells, and troops to kill Ukrainians is a special kind of lunacy.
British Intelligence followed developments in the east very closely. For the Middle East, the key question was the risk of a German attack through the Caucasus into Northern Iran and Syria, and this weighed heavily on planners in Cairo at this time. Ninth Army was created to defend against this.
Men were smitten as they clambered up, and rolled down in their death agonies, but still their living comrades kept pressing on urging each other forward by loud cries for vengeance on the slayers of ‘Pals’. georgefergusonliverpool.wordpress.com/2026/08/17/1...
18 August 1916
George was in Frensham Hill Military Hospital being treated for wounds from shellfire and a bayonet. He did not write in his diary again until 21 August. Back home in Liverpool, news of the Liverpo…
georgefergusonliverpool.wordpress.com
New article at the Long, Long Trail: 1st Hampshires on the Somme, 23 October 1916. See www.longlongtrail.co.uk/1st-hampshir... #ww1 #geneaology A study of a missing man.
1st Hampshires on the Somme, 23 October 1916 - The Long, Long Trail
This article is derived from work I carried out for a private client in 2020, examining the life of Albert Edward Harnott. […]
longlongtrail.co.uk
Added to the Long, Long Trail today. An excellent illustration of the depth and complexity of the formations and units under command of a single corps, and of the technical and logistical “tail” that supported the fighting-edge. See www.longlongtrail.co.uk/order-of-bat... #ww1 #geneaology
Order of battle of X Corps 25 October 1917 - The Long, Long Trail
The source of this information is the war diary of the General Staff at X Corps headquarters (National Archives piece number WO95/853). […]
longlongtrail.co.uk
Organizing my photos from my trip to LAC. I got through ~20,000 pages of documents in 23 boxes and 7 bound volumes, and took ~1,200 photos. I found loads of mildly interesting documents, a few very useful, and one indescribably precious. It was exactly what I hoped to find and didn't think I would.
Pisses me off to see “fans” writing off all the new signings simply because they might not have seen much of them. I swear these few seasons of doing well has totally went to some people’s head, feels like I’m the only person actually excited for the new season 🤷♂️ #NUFC
VJ Day - 15 August 1945 “Green Hell” (Victory Over Japan Day) These are the men who shed their blood. Amongst the filthy Burma mud; On the Arakan front and Imphal Plain. In blistering heat and bloody rain.
It’s not great that the government mobile phone warning is the same for “imminent nuclear attack” as it is for “please don’t use your disposable barbecue”.
(Again thanks @seanboy.bsky.social!) Falaise Gap aftermath in Saint-Lambert-sur-Dive. #WW2 #HISTORY
A British Churchill AVRE fitted with a small Box girder (SBG) bridge designed to span gaps up to 30 feet wide - France 1944 #ww2 #worldwar2 #avre #churchill #tank #1940s #history #france
During the Second World War, the Imperial War Graves Commission pulped most of the letters families sent 1917-1930s. That makes the letters in the Canadian archives (LAC) all the more remarkable. This sketch shows comrades cooperating to help find a man who was killed at Passchendaele in 1917:
![detailed pencil sketch of a gravesite showing the location of a grave and nearby landmarks like pillboxes, woods, ridges
Part of the typed letter visible:
Captain Muirhead was shot through the chest and when I last saw him he was lying partially buried in a large shell hole about 15 yards to the rear and to the left of a pill box we were attacking. I am fairly certain that this pill box is the one shown on my map at D.4.b.1 and the grave would be approximately D.4.b.1.2 just to the North of Wolfe Copse. From memory the immediate area was something like this:
[sketch]
The whole area was a sea of mud at the time so that the only landmarks were the pill boxes and the bits of woods. It took us three days to evacuate our wounded from the front line area, then we were relieved and went back to Ypres so I am not in a position to state how much wok the burial parties accomplished later.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:b6qa67q2qrr77rcetegdfbfe/bafkreihyjnmxx3eknrrel5qcsii52ztafgjqo4r4apq2rb2r56sys3an6y)
"Evacuated from No 8 Red Cross Hospital. Train from Boulogne." In the UK, newspapers were not reporting the scale of the losses on the Somme. The Liverpool Scottish experience of going over the top was only hinted at in 'Killed in Action' columns georgefergusonliverpool.wordpress.com/2026/08/13/1...
13 August 1916
Evacuated from No 8 Red Cross Hospital. Train from Boulogne. Interior of ambulance train at Boulogne. Photograph by A. H. Crook IWM Q14760 Back in the UK, censorship meant that newspapers were not …
georgefergusonliverpool.wordpress.com
In just 14 months, 23 players have joined 'Big Six' clubs from elsewhere in England's top tier. It is a rapidly accelerating trend. The Premier League has a problem. @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/749...
Premier League’s ‘Big Six’ are raiding poorer clubs at record levels as wealth gap grows wider (Gift Article)
Arsenal signing Bruno Guimaraes from Newcastle has taken recent 'Big Six' spending on players from other Premier League clubs to £1.2bn
nytimes.com
Isak carries the ball into the opponent's box. There's no-one there to challenge him. So he takes a photo of the ball and leaves it there.
Reuters@reuters.com · last wk.Amazon founder Bezos nears deal to buy stake in Liverpool - Reports reut.rs/3U7CQfM
Looking forward to sharing my nursing history research at the Australasian Military Medicine conference in Sydney later in the year. I’ll be presenting on the impact of service & links to early death for nurses 2026.amma.asn.au #research #nursing #HistNursing @milwelfhist.bsky.social
The Trench Coat has been a staple fashion item for years, but did you know they started life in the trenches of the First World War? Once the officers returned after the war with their coats, they became a long-lasting fashion statement. #fashion #warhistory #ww1 #trenchcoat
PHOTO OF THE DAY. Coffin of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey (1920). 📷 Horace Nicholls.
So, Arsenal lost the actual meaningless game 2-3, but won the even more meaningless ‘penalty prize’ comp 5-4. What are they? Under 8s? www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...
Arsenal 2-3 Borussia Dortmund: Arsenal lose to Borussia Dortmund as Odegaard returns
Arsenal return to Emirates Stadium for the first time since they were crowned Premier League champions but are defeated 3-2 by Borussia Dortmund in the Emirates Cup.
bbc.co.uk