Tom McCall

(Single funnel cargo vessel, stationary in port below a sheer cliff) SS Oria, photographed carrying a cargo of timber, likely before the war. 📷 warhistoryonline.com

12th Feb 1944. The cargo vessel SS Oria, carrying over 4,200 Italian prisoners, was blown onto rocks in the Saronic Gulf, close to Athens. Fewer than 50 Italians, along with 6 German guards and 6 crewmen including the captain, survived. It was one of the worst maritime disasters in history.
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The chapel that still links Orkney and Italy - 80 years after WW2 The Italian Chapel was built and decorated by prisoners of war during World War Two.

"The chapel still linking Orkney and Italy - 80 years after WW2 ended"

A lovely account about the truly remarkable Italian Chapel on Lamb Holm, one of the Orkney Islands, and Domenico Chiocchetti, the artist responsible for much of its interior 👇
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Today's book purchase, looks like an excellent account of the Arctic Convoys written by a survivor of the sinking of HMS Trinidad.

Special as well because one of my relatives served on one of the later incarnations of HMS Edinburgh!

#historybookchat

A Royal Navy sailor, wearing a sailor's cap and boots, walks along a muddy dock in Greenock, Scotland, past oil drums, moored ships and various mechanical tractors. He is carrying a young girl, age about 10, who is wrapped in a blanket. The girl is smiling. The sailor has the look of a man happy to complete an enormously worthwhile task.

An RN rating carries a young girl along a cluttered dock in Greenock, Scotland, March 1, 1945. This famous image, and the story behind it, epitomise naval purpose: protect the high seas; safeguard civilians.

This is the story of the Sørøya Island rescue.

#maritimehistory #navalhistory #WW2

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The Silk Roads exhibition at the British Museum is well worth catching before it closes in a couple of weeks time.

An expansive definition of the Silk Road from Japan to medieval Mauritania and Jarrow but none the worse for that!

Excellent! Thanks, Bobbie! I'll definitely seek this out.

Wandering around Central London and spotted something I'd otherwise missed despite walking up and down the street for years.

A plaque commemorating Endell Street Military hospital, a active in the Great War, and apparently the only military hospital entirely staffed by women.

#WW1

Privilege to see "In Which We Serve" on the Big Screen at the BFI.

Such an excellent film, wonderfully acted (particularly by Noel Coward, John Mills and Ceila Johnson).

Three cheers for the ship as the crew are in the water and watching her go down gets me every time.

#OTD in 1944, Italy. Lance Corporal J. Leigh from the Seaforth Highlanders and his mascot Churchill. #WW2 #HISTORY

You win a lovely sketch drawn by my fair hand, the same sketch you drew for me at Centuripe...

A friend is currently visiting a former French battery on an island in the approaches to Dakar, Senegal.

Plenty of fighting in #WW2 with the 1940 British expedition.

Does anyone know what this is that has a joint and a hole on its side?

#artillery #gunnery
#WeHaveWaysPod

If only there were more tickets available for your event with @nickthorpe.bsky.social! Very much looking forward to reading the book.

The best infantry combat footage I've ever come across. (24 October 1944, Den Bosch battle. Most bridges were blown. This is the *actual* attack across a sluice walkway by brave men from 7 Royal Welch Fusiliers. Germans on the other side. 😲 #WW2 #HISTORY)

Really excellent evening at the Czech Embassy listening to @jamescrossland.bsky.social speaking on the extraordinary life of Robert Bruce Lockhart "the best friend the Czechs ever had".

An incredible life and very much looking forward to read the book!

Up in Shimla, in the foothills of the Himalayas. Given its close association with the British Army, and as summer capital of the Raj, there are plenty of Great War memorials in the beautiful Christ Church.

AIF infantry, 4th Army artillery and military intelligence represented.

Visiting the Indian National War Memorial. Surely not many war memorials have a prominent metal relief of a Hawker Hunter in action @damcasterspod.com

Christmas Truce 1914: Henry Williamson, then in the London Rifle Brigade, remembers the truce at Ploegsteert in December 1914. Williamson became a nature writer after the war, including ‘Tarka The Otter’ and wrote many books based on his experiences in the conflict.

Highly recommend the Great Mughals exhibition at the V&A a really fascinating series of artefacts and artwork on display. Excellent prep for my upcoming trip to India!

After a lovely Nine Lessons and Carols at the London Welsh Centre, we had a real treat of listening to a great group of Ukrainian polyphonic singers doing renditions of Ukrainian Carols in aid of good causes to support civilians affected by Russia's invasion

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www.instagram.com/hromada_coll...

The important thing to remember is all the books that did get away (I mean, were moved). That this book was Scottish was entirely a coincidence, what was it doing on the French history shelf in the first place.

a man in a suit stands next to another man in a black coat ALT: a man in a suit stands next to another man in a black coat

Too late.

A book, titled "Dunkirk: The Men They Left Behind" by Sean Longworth

It's a bit too on the nose that while moving all my books into my new home, this is the one I managed to accidentially leave behind.

#histbookchat

Rome bids farewell to last survivor of Nazi prison on Via Tasso Iole Mancini, the last surviving Italian partisan to experience the horrors of the Nazi prison on Via Tasso, died at her home in Rome on Monday aged 104.

Iole Mancini, the last surviving Italian partisan to experience the horrors of the Nazi prison at Via Tasso in Rome, has died aged 104.

Photo from recent protests in Tbilisi. The protesters are opposing the government's withdrawal from EU negotiations and numerous acts of extreme police brutality. The sign encourages the police to join the protests: გაიფიცეთ gaipicet 'go on strike!'

Weekly Georgian Etymology: დაუმორჩილებლობა daumorčilebloba 'defiance, disobedience', from Old Georgian ႫႭႰႹႨႪႨ morčili obedient, from Georgian-Zan *rčˠ- obey, hear, possibly an ancient metathesis of Akkadian 𒊑𒌋𒊺𒌈 rēštum female slave. Often used to describe civil disobedience.

Captured V-2 rocket on display in Trafalgar Square soon after the end of the war in 1945.

THREAD/By November 1944, it would be fair to say that Londoners, along with most of the rest of the citizens of British towns and cities were distinctly war-weary having been under fire, on and off since September 1940. Hitler's latest weapon, the V-2 rocket had been dropping on London since...

I'm really interested in this area too, one of my relatives was in the RAF and captured on Java before dying in a POW camp on Borneo in 1945.

Books wise, first comes to mind the "Bloody Shambles" trilogy and a memoir "Hurricanes Versus Zeros: Air Battles Over Singapore, Sumatra & Java"

#OTD in 1944, despite heavy rain making much of the country impassable, 53rd (Welsh) Division was pushing to the line of the Maas.

As they had done across North West Europe, the mortars of 1st Battalion, Manchester Regiment were in support.

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a soldier in a helmet says i 'll see you on the beach ALT: a soldier in a helmet says i 'll see you on the beach

An opportunity to drop my most used war film gif.

Any plans with mates? Don't use a thumbs up or a "sure I'll see you at the pub", I use: