82 years ago today, hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers, sailors and airmen took part in the Normandy Landings as part of the liberation of Europe. The largest contingents came from the USA, Britain, and Canada, but heroes from all round the word also took part, with at least twelve other nations, some occupied by the Nazi powers,  involved. Some 54,000 Americans landed at the beaches at Utah Beach and Omaha Beach and about 15,500or were dropped by parachute into Normandy. About 61,700 British troops landed, mainly at Gold Beach, Sword beach or by parachute, and about 24,000 Canadians, mainly spearheading the assault at June Beach. There was also substantial Free French involvement at Sword Beach and some UK units supporting the Canadians at Juno.  An armada of nearly 7,000 vessels—comprising 1,200 warships, 4,000 landing craft, and support ships—was manned by over 195,000 naval personnel from eight Allied nations. The Royal Navy supplied the vast majority (nearly 79%) of...

Sheev Palpatine on the Saxophone accompanies Anakin Skywalker singing "I'm never gonna fight again" to the tune of "Careless Whisper."  Brilliant.

From X, posted today - and old exchange which is as funny today as it was during the pandemic ...

In the battle of North Cape, on Boxing day 1943, a British and Norwegian force defeated and sank Scharnhorst, a powerful and fast German capital ship. Scharnhorst was referred to by the British at the time as a battlecruiser because of her speed, but by the Germans as a battleship. Whichever word you use she was a powerful and dangerous unit. The video below refers particularly to the role of HMS Norfolk, a county class heavy cruiser a third Scharnhorst's size, which could never have defeated the German capital ship on her own but scored a critical hit which took out Scharnhost's forward radar. That hit was pivotal to the allied victory. However, this was a victory which would not have been won without teamwork and the contribution of several allied vessels were essential.   The video below does also describe some of the other units which took part in the operation, including the battleship HMS Duke of York which did much of the damage to the German ship, and the cruiser HMS B...

HMS Warspite was in some ways the most successful battleship of the 20th century. This is the story of how "The old lady" pinned the ears f the Italian navy back off Calabria in 1940.