France

Auschwitz: the Final Destination

One of those of the Jewish faith who leave Paris for other parts of France is Mr Rachnudel, a tailor of...

A Rookie's Tale

In the early morning, a day or so after, a German light Observation plane came over, flying fairly low, no...

Personal Recollections of the R.A.F.

In 1938 leaving RAF Halton on posting to RAF Abingdon No15 Squadron whose aircraft at that time were Hawker...

Normandy-Here I come!

Our turn came at last, and we drove up the ramp of LST295,up the steep ramp and through the wide open bow...

Ammunitions Box Returned after 61 years

Serge wrote to me afterwards and said that he had this small box and felt that it should be returned to...

Retreat to Dunkirk: With the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers

My grandfather was part of the British Expeditionary Force serving in France in 1939/40 at the time of the...

A Letter to Frank Nolan

Billeted in school 14 kms from Belgian frontier. Guns dug in Mon 9th — Wed 11th — Wireless...

Dunkirk 1940: Insurrection

My dad always extolled the comradeship of Army life but, curiously, names were never forthcoming or if they...

Collision Course

In 1942 I volunteered for the RAF as aircrew and after training in Canada did a 'tour' of 33...

1 June 1940: Dunkirk

A long queue of French and British extended the whole length of the Mole - as orderly as a theatre queue. A...

The Battle for Pegasus Bridge

All must have felt the burn of adrenaline and excitement as, at, midnight, we crossed the French coast; the...

William John Biggs. His story of Dunkirk

Ted was at Dunkirk like my papa but he was wounded on the beaches before being lifted on Winchelsea. They...

Dunkirk Evacuation and Normandy Landing

In June 1944, like many other thousands of troops, James was involved in the Normandy Landings. James was...

Normandy! Where's that?

We had heard that the first landings had been made in Normandy. ".. We were supposed to keep radio...

My Father: Who Sent the Signal That the War was Over from Luneburg Heath

He took part in the Battle of Caen which saw some of the heaviest fighting of the war,.. Not many people...

Special Delivery

"While escorting a squadron of Blenheims over Arras, NO32 Squadron encountered a lone Henschel 126, a...

My Father in 7th Loyals / 92nd LAA

On June 6, the troop – consisting of six self-propelled 40mm Bofors Guns, ammunition lorries and a...

Dunkirk Memories: 4th East Yorkshire Regt

We slowly moved down the beach to Dunkirk taking cover when German aircraft appeared to strafe the area. I...

Getting Our Guns Back

Well, the Germans did launch an attack and captured them - all sixteen of our guns in enemy hands. George...

D-Day Memories

Our job being a gun boat was to escort the soldiers into the beach, as close as we could get... There were...

Mistakenly Thought Killed in Action at Dunkirk

When the German invasion commenced, his unit fought a rear-guard action by blowing bridges and so on as the...

The War of Two Sailors part three

One which landed close to LST 63 caused minor damage but Harold and other members of the crew were able to...

Memories of the Fife and Forfar Regiment

We went to Aldershot and we formed the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry. After we parachuted in near Tunis to...

Memoirs of a Sapper — Part 2 - Dunkirk!

Memoirs of a Sapper — Part 2 - Dunkirk. Finally they marched off to the boats upholding the tradition...

Evacuation from St Nazaire and Sinking of Lancastria

At about mid-day we arrived at the port of St Nazaire, and found the whole place in chaos, being...

Lest We Forget...

These events are famously remembered in the novel and film 'A Bridge Too Far', another 'war...