Thanks Andreas, fingers crossed something comes up. There’s a lot people in the same boat right now.
On the plus side, I did get some new accounts if the 1939-41 perspective. Not read that telling of the Siege either.
Image shows collection of books, maps & old Japanese binoculars all found in a local charity shop for next to nothing.
My wife’s laid off as another local ‘grass roots’ charity goes to the wall due to incompetence & greed from the top.
These dying troves are gold.
Public archives where our past is passed along for all to enjoy.
Shame when they’re gone.
Latest finds 🗺️
@crusaderproject.bsky.social
@merrynwalters.uk
Still image of In-game footage showing a light aircraft flying over Kohima, Nagaland with +6000’ mountains of Manipur in the background.
In an attempt to try & grasp the enormity that faced the airmen trying to navigate/land the airstrips my Grandpa’s Chindit Cmd Pl built in the Naga Hills 1944, I’ve taken to the console.
Impossible in clement conditions let alone under fire in full monsoon. Next level piloting.
#Kohima
#Nagaland
An interesting point & a similar conclusion met the previous January as 10’s of thousands of malnourished prisoners poured down the road from Bardia to Sollum.
Reports of mistreatment quickly dismissed as everyone was on hard rations & shared what little resources they had.
‘Quartered Safe Out Here by George MacDonald Fraser, dramatised by Robin Brooks.
A gripping, and vivid dramatisation of George MacDonald Fraser's account of his time with the 14th army in Burma, fighting Japan in 1945.’
Black & white aerial photo showing Tobruk during Operation Compass. The port and harbour are shown with a large fire near the jetties. January 1941.
22 Jan will mark 85 years since my Grandpa, 2/Lt Douglas Victory Hutchinson, led No.1 Sec 12FCRE into Tobruk the evening it fell.
He took a party to fight the raging fire near the jetty all night, their efforts a complete success, saving the jetty.
@thinkdefence.bsky.social
I love reading of various the vehicle ‘acquisitions’, like in April 1941 whilst training at HMS Glengyle post Op Compass;
My Grandpa’s war diary simply reads “In Cairo 8x motorcycles & 3x 15CWTs obtained for the Coy”.
Sounding like won in a game of cards or ‘borrowed’ to be returned to depot, maybe.
Heartbreaking to see.
All historical based websites related to this account including Royal Engineers / RAF ASR have been taken down due to ongoing unauthorised extraction of personal data/IP for AI training.
Feel free to contact directly with any research based enquiries.
*Account not monitored*
I don’t miss the place.
People will look back on Twitter like the Wild West days of social media.
Apart from there were no cool gunslingers & cowpokes.
Just tw**s & bigots.
Thank you for the repost @crusaderproject.bsky.social.
Interestingly I’ve been given a stern dressing down for posting this & other posts of remembrance in the past.
Disrespectful apparently.
But for all the research of my forebears war, it was the losses they endured that stick in my memory most.
bsky.app/profile/ubiq...
Great footage.
I’m sure @crusaderproject.bsky.social would concur that the efficiency of the Axis recovery units above the Escarpment during the springtime operations of 1941 gave them the upper hand in battle second only to the woeful Allied communications!?!
Memorial to those who fought in the Far East
Remembering my Grandpa & the ‘fine fellows’ he lost along the way serving King & Country in the Far East.
After 38 months in India & Burma his VJ Day passed with little fanfare as he helped dismantle camps & rebuild German infrastructure.
Life went on for the living.
#VJDay80
Personal items of Col DV Hutchinson MBE from WWII
Thought I’d mark the occasion and let some of the collection see the light of day. Even dug the old desert goatskin out of the garage. 🐐
PS don’t tell anyone but the LRDP Sappers wore it better than those little-known SAS chaps! 😉😎
59 Infantry Division sappers. (#OTD in 1944. Class 9 folding boat bridge spanning the Orne at La Bagotière, France. #WW2 #HISTORY)
#VJDay80 obviously
Final call to sign up to watch this tomorrow night.
#RoyalEngineers supporting the armoured & infantry formations throughout the lesser known Operations in the Western Deserts, Syria, Burma & Assam during WWII.
Maps, bridging, fieldworks and more.
#REspect
#VEDay80
www.instre.org/events/my-gr...
So many great tips from some amazing presenters on here.
My growing fear for tomorrow nights @rehs-1716.bsky.social webinar is palpable, I’m up to my 4th hard edit and it’s still feeling too wordy for the time allowed.
Fingers crossed it’ll be alright on the night
Map of troop movements in the Western Deserts.
Having just given this Thursdays Webinar a ‘hard-edit’ and read through, I was horrified to see it is still running 30 minutes over.
Time to take the chain saw to it and resign all that research to the cutting room floor!
It won’t be the same without every CRE etc but 5 years into 50 mins is tough.
‘Sapping the strength out of the river’ was right there!
Back to journalism school for those hacks!!
I'm a complete amateur, gave talks at work but hated it. Thankful that Woody gives viewers the chance to tell their stories and with much encouragement by the sidebar mates. www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3cv...
Royal Engineers Historical Society Webinar on 14/08/25 - My Grandpa’s war in the 12th Field Company RE. https://www.instre.org/events/my-grandpas-war-in-the-12th-field-company-re/
Honoured to shine a light on my Grandpa’s time in 12 Fld Coy RE during WWII.
From Palestine, the Western Deserts, to the Arakan & beyond.
Defence, logistics, desert patrols, Chindits & maps.
@rehs-1716.bsky.social
@crusaderproject.bsky.social
@thinkdefence.bsky.social
@merrynwalters.uk
Link in ALT
Taken from an original 1940s British Army document showing how to construct a 36’ Dreadnaught, designed to carry troops, mules and equipment across rivers.
So many creations of engineering ingenuity that came together to form the greatest logistical supply chain in history.
Meanwhile 8000 miles away, it was good old ‘stick & string’ doctrine that filled the void from lack of resources.
Not sure a bamboo dreadnought would fare well on the Channel mind?
Thanks RG.
It has been long neglected & I’ve many new research discoveries that need to be updated throughout the site. (And then there’s the part of me that want to pull it all down because of AI data farming etc)
A mini ‘virtual museum’ would be my preferred way to display the collection/stories!
If you expect to hear someone attempt to convert a man’s life & 5 years of conflict into 50 minutes of incoherent rambling, then you won’t be disappointed!
www.instre.org/events/my-gr...
Diagram showing the 22nd Guards Brigade (Escarpment Force) Desert Formation in June 1941 at the outbreak of Operation Battleaxe on the Egyptian/Cyrenaica border.
Been absent of late but your threads are always a joy to return to, lots to think about.
Here’s a Battleaxe treat I cobbled together for a recent talk. (Also August 14th REHS webinar)
Can you imagine this lot trundling up the Escarpment?
What a sight/sound to behold.
@robertglennie.bsky.social
A thoroughly enjoyable telling of the professional soldier Stanley Henshaw on @ww2tv.bsky.social.
Honoured to get a name check from the great @philipwblood.bsky.social too.
This video hints at the impossible jungle topography where Stan earned his MM on May 1 1944.
youtu.be/PIMbYYslhho?...
That’s a shame, missed you in Bilbao by only a few weeks.
Safe travels.
What a touching letter she wrote to the mother’s?
A reputation for bravery well earned. The first allied reinforcements to bolster the Canal Brigade in Oct 1939 with Neame’s 4th Indian Division.
Post Op Brevity in May 1941 their reputation truly cemented with exemplary conduct & courage under fire.
