Photo by Mayumi Maciel on Unsplash Battle-lines will be drawn this weekend of 22/23 June when Napoleon and Wellington again go head to head on the fields of Belgium. This time, though, no blood will be shed and the combatants are more likely to get together at the finale to give each other a pat…
Spare a thought tonight for the selfless courage of the young men of the air landing brigade of the 6th Airborne Division of the British Parachute Regiment who spearheaded the D-Day allied forces 81 years ago. In a daring surprise attack, they landed by parachute and gliders behind enemy lines shortly after midnight east of…
May 31 is marked in Kazakhstan as the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Political Repression and Famine. Between the 1920s and 1950s, over 100,000 people in Kazakhstan were convicted on political grounds, with tens of thousands executed. More than 1.5 million Kazakhs perished during the forced collectivisation and famines of the 1930s, with some…
It was the year forever made famous by a book and the year of Band Aid, when Margaret Thatcher was at the peak of her powers and the miner’s strike in the UK. But 1984 was also the year when former colleagues at a UK weekly newspaper went their different ways, assuming they’d never see…
Photo by Galt Museum & Archives on Unsplash On 4th May in 1945 General Sir Bernard Montgomery and Admiral Hans-Georg Friedrich Ludwig Robert von Friedeburg signed the unconditional surrender of the German armed forces (including the navy and naval vessels) in North West Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands at a camp in Lüneburger Heide in…
If you’re into military history, an upcoming event will be right up your street. It is the 209th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo this summer and a great weekend is planned to mark this milestone. Throughout one weekend in June, the 210th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo will be commemorated. On June 28…
Photo by Fadjar Djulizar on Unsplash A moving memorial event took place at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland on Monday 27th January, with representatives present, to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day. All remaining Auschwitz survivors were invited to the event and some 50 were expected to attend. EU Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis participated on behalf of the European Commission. A statement was…
Next week marks one of the most solemn days in Europe – Armistice Day. It commemorates what some know as the Great War, a conflict that was far from “great” for the tens of thousands who perished in it Much of WW1, of course, is a war that took place in Belgium and this is…
Photo by Chris van Houts Attempts to unearth grisly “secrets” from the Battle of Waterloo are, it has emerged, also helping military personnel come to terms to with their own health issues. A team of experts and members of the armed forces from different countries, including the UK, are this week digging at…
Flanders and the rest of Belgium will this weekend mark the 80th anniversary of its liberation in the Second World War with several events, including in Ypres, the town forever associated with conflict. Ieper, also known as Ypres in West Flanders, is an area that saw intense fighting throughout the First World War. Known to…
