The Daily Mail has published a leaked story about the Royal Navy’s nuclear missile submarine HMS Valiant. The Mail talks of it as a “party boat”, with cocaine use and illicit sex. One can imagine the gleeful enthusiasm with which the Daily Mail developed this story: nuclear warheads, rampant sex, drugs, irate wives, the Senior […]
Submarine Sex Entertains Daily Mail Readers Read More »
Henry Farr wasn’t shot the next day – but one month later, and eighteen days after his court martial. Getting the facts right is important. Mr Farr had already suffered and been treated for shellshock in 1915, then again for two weeks in April 1916, then in July. Up to this point he’d been properly
Shot at Dawn: Honour Our Dead – Get the Facts Right Read More »
Regarding my Gulf War One Book, some people have questioned my saying this was the largest tank battle in history, and cite Kursk in which the Soviet Army defeated the Germans. They are wrong – and their error is one of the reasons I wrote this book – as the First Gulf War was fought
25th Anniversary of the Largest (and shortest) Tank Battle in History Read More »
The Seal legend Dick Lyon has just died aged 90. He was one of the Second World War pioneers of the “naked swimmer” demolition teams, served in the Korean War, then was the first Seal reservist to make Flag rank – become an admiral. A full obituary appeared in the LA Times.
USN Seal Admiral Dick Lyon dies aged 90 Read More »
At 1008 am, on 7th February 1991, as Prime Minister John Major’s War Cabinet sat down to meet in the Cabinet Room, an IRA mortar hit 10 Downing Street. Several police officers were injured but nobody was killed. An account of this as told to me by Prime Minister John Major, is part of the
25 Years Ago: IRA Mortar Hits 10 Downing Street Read More »
25 years ago today Sadaam Hussein’s elite tank troops crossed the border and attacked the coastal town of Kafji, twelve kilometres into Saudi Arabia. This was a major incursion, by his 1st and 5th Armoured Divisions,with his 3rd Tank Division. Most agree that this was the start of an intended invasion of Saudi Arabia. Commanded
25 Years Ago Today: the Iraq Army Invades Saudi Arabia Read More »
On 25th January 1991, Iraq opened the dockside taps of Kuwait’s Sea Island coastal oil refinery, emptying millions of gallons of crude oil into the Persian Gulf. Read more in my revised “Forgotten Voices Gulf War One” Kindle book. This was one of the largest oil spills in history. It was carried out (apparently) in
25 Years Ago Today: Iraq Floods Oil into Gulf Read More »
Trump’s victory polarised everybody. But if Trump fails, even the delight of his most diehard critics will regress to a worse upset. Trumpist delight is little reported in mainstream media. Instead we see rallies of the enraged claiming Trump discriminates against them. But there’s little of the usual political apathy. I hope that, dodgy hairstyles apart, we’re seeing a
Some people claim 2016 was a dreadful year. Not so for Britain’s military folks, as 2016 one of only two exceptional years in which no British Service man or woman was killed in action since the end of World War Two. The other year was 1968, just before the Northern Ireland campaign got going. This graph shows
The Lethality of Counter Terrorism Compared with War Read More »
Is marching Chelsea Pensioners into Police stations to question them for what they did on the streets of Northern Ireland going to give genuine peace to this much troubled place? Many families still grieve, and the old sectarian divisions continue. But few desire to return to the dark days of bombs, snipers and knee-capping. But there remains a
Cowardly Political Prosecutions of Old Soldiers Read More »