Wulverghem-Lindenhoek Road Military Cemetery

Posted on January 1, 2025 by Magicfingers

The leaves are turning in Flanders Fields.  Continue reading →

Posted in Wulvergem | 6 Comments

The Foster-Daimler Tractor

Posted on December 20, 2024 by Magicfingers

Apparently, kids of my generation liked tractors.  I couldn’t have cared less.  They just looked old and I was interested in new.  But I find I quite like them now, at least those used for military purposes in the Great War.  This is the Foster-Daimler (or, sometimes, Daimler-Foster) tractor, first produced in 1912, this example pictured on the Somme in 1916.  Continue reading →

Posted in Army Service Corps | 2 Comments

The Rifle Grenade Part Four – The German M13 Gewehrgranate

Posted on December 14, 2024 by Magicfingers

This is the M13 Gewehrgranate, a high-explosive cast-iron rifle grenade fitted with a percussion fuse designed to explode on impact, its body segmented for maximum fragmentation on detonation.  Continue reading →

Posted in German Grenades, Rifle Grenades, Weaponry & Relics | Leave a comment

Two Bridges Too Far

Posted on December 1, 2024 by Magicfingers

‘All right men, about here’ll do.’  Continue reading →

Posted in Miscellaneous | 2 Comments

Aldershot – The Royal Garrison Church of All Saints: ‘The Longest Yarn’

Posted on November 24, 2024 by Magicfingers

Back at the Garrison Church in Aldershot – well, we hadn’t really left, had we?  Continue reading →

Posted in Miscellaneous | 2 Comments

Aldershot – The Royal Garrison Church of All Saints

Posted on November 20, 2024 by Magicfingers

The Royal Garrison Church of All Saints was built in 1863 following the government’s 1857 decision to make Aldershot a permanent military camp.  Continue reading →

Posted in Miscellaneous | 4 Comments

Remember the Dead – The 3rd Bn. Monmouthshire Regiment & the Second Battle of Ypres

Posted on November 10, 2024 by Magicfingers

Men of the initial draft of the 3rd Battalion Monmouthshire Regiment (colloquially known as 3rd Mons, and mainly recruited from the Gwent area) parade at Abergavenny in South Wales in August 1914.  Part of the 83rd Brigade, 28th Division, they would cross the channel to France on the night of 14th February 1915, and would find themselves digging trenches around Ypres within four days of their arrival in Flanders.  Continue reading →

Posted in Miscellaneous | 9 Comments