Tag History

The Manville Gun

One of my favourite war films is the Dogs of War, an adaptation of the Frederick Forysthe novel of the same name. A most memorable scenes is the final assault, in which a monstrosity of a multi-shot grenade launcher is…

Testing the Funnies

The specialist armoured engineering vehicles of the 79th Brigade under Sir Percy Hobart played a pivotal role in the success of the D Day landings, read more here. This video shows a number of them under test in 1942, carpet…

Securing the Skies

To coincide with the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, the RAF have released a an interesting brochure that compares and contrasts the defence of British airspace then and now; the raison d’être of any Air Force is to…

Opening the Port at Umm Qasr, Iraq 2003

The area around Umm Qasr and the Al Faw peninsula in Iraq featured a range of amphibious and mine clearance activities in 2003. Background The port of Umm Qasr, before the conflict, was responsible for two-thirds of the United Nations…

The D-Day Normandy Landings

D Day Mulberry
Soon after Dunkirk and with the Battle of Britain won, thinking turned to the return fixture and the realisation that it would need a logistics element of unparalleled proportions possessing the technical means to cross the English Channel.