…ally been broadcast — German radio broadcast a response (although apparently only internationally, not domestically) accusing Harris of admitting to murdering women and children, etc. Also, Henry Probert discusses the episode in Bomber Harris: His Life and Times (London: Greenhill Books, 2003), 187-8, where it is noted that the broadcast apparently did ‘arouse the attention’ in Germany that had been hoped. But still, that’s a fair point about the…
…. But I will comment on the issue of historians and collaboration. Ultimately, there are surely two parts to the discipline of history? One is research, the other opinion. Opinion without research is futile (or worse, note comments recently posted on another thread!); research without opinion is arid. When the time comes for opinion to be given collaboration will almost invariably fail. Gavin Brett: After posting I realised that your post-blogging…
…n who originally posted the link to Airminded adding that ‘That websites a bit terrible actually’ — cheers for that! There are of course more sensible comments, though they mostly recapitulate things people have already said. But there was one comment which I thought was gold, by toasters_are_great: Well, the British had three options upon learning of the fake airfield: They could have not bombed the fake airfield at all, in which case the German…
…ave plenty of time to settle in and get used to being an academic. Admittedly, the position is only for 2.5 years, until the end of 2015, and is not tenure-track. So I’ll be looking for work again in 2016. But a couple of years’ worth of lecturing and academic experience on my CV (plus a few more publications) should make me more employable. After more than three frustrating years on the job market and nearly three dozen job applications before th…
…ere a reason you don’t “do” strategy? My own take is that with the IJN’s only truly strategic weapon was broken at Midway, Australia had the resources to defend itself quite capably (given some L-L), as was proven at Milne Bay and (more or less) at Imita Ridge (granted, WATCHTOWER influenced the withdrawal, but it seems Horii’s force was pretty much spent), so the question is whether there was any true need for the South Pacific and Southwest Paci…
…ither the first edition sold enough to warrant going down market, or probably more likely, he wanted to get his message out to a wider audience. There was also a German edition (1927), which I’m sure would have sold relatively well, given the effortless ease with which, in the novel, a supposedly downtrodden Germany bests a smug and complacent Britain. Update: I was looking at another book of Spanner’s today, Armaments and the Non-combatant: To th…
…e had a chance to play it; for now here’s the company’s product page for a bit more information. (I’m really annoyed to see that the game listed there now has updated rules and components compared to the one I ordered a whole week ago. They could have at least mentioned the fact that an update was due soon!) Philip Eklund. Riesenflugzeugabteilungen. Sierra Madre Games, 1997. An expansion for Airships at War which features the giant German, Italian…
…song totally goes off, especially in a crowded pub on a hot summer night. (Lyrics mostly from here, which also relates the song to the history.) In Halsbury’s book, cannibalism represents the absolute nadir of human depravity. Unsurprisingly, not long after discussing cannibalism in darkest Tasmania, the protagonists encounter it themselves in the wilds of Dartmoor. It’s only a fortnight after the first aerial bombardments, and the thin veneer of…
…int. The defending team would certainly not be beaten, but they would equally certainly not win, nor would they stop the attack on their goal from continuing. I would like to make this point again. I feel that although there would be an outcry, the French in a bombing duel would probably squeal before we did. That was really the final thing. The nation that would stand being bombed longest would win in the end.2 It may not be immediately apparent,…
…which could be useful for historians or teachers, though these are obviously not the intended audience. Unfortunately Northern Ireland and most of Scotland is missing. (The National Library of Scotland has the OS maps of Scotland from the 1920s.) Finding this inspired me to do a bit of a search for other online historical maps of Britain which similarly attempt to cover the whole country. (There’s a useful list of out-of-copyright maps here.) Old…
