For Those with the Time and Interest in British War History

Anyone who has a passing interest in the topic would do well to visit the various war graves in northern Belgium, and visit the Menin Gate in Ypres for the evening ceremony as part of the trip. It would be a rugged heart that was not moved by the experience.

A search for "wipers times" ?

I don't have the time either but I have invested my time preserving first hand military accounts

Firsthand accounts are considered the gold mine of history. Unfortunately, they are often 99% chafe and 1% grain. The worst part is most are in attics. It is important to get these accountsa out of the attic and onto the web. I have worked on preserving 2 memoirs, my fathers and by g-grandfathers which I will share some highlights with you.

I had my father review his WWII memoirs before he died and later they became the core of a book that documents the missions of their B-17. He had written to his mother daily. He acquired these when she died. After being promoted to plant engineer, put in new personal secretary to work hammering out his memoirs. Since this was completed 30+ years before the book his memories were more rich and vivid than what any of the other crew members could remember. I do not think anything of great value was recorded in the book. I do think my dad's recollection of the witch doctor might have been the most informative. The success of a bombing mission was greatly dependent of the weather. Dad's squadron had faily accurate weather predictions while the rest of 8^th Air force would have done better flipping a coin. They kept their methodology a closely held secret. After a while, the whole 8^th Air force was using their weather forecasts. The squadron leader was finally compelled to reveal their source, a witch doctor. The head of the 8^th Air force had the witch doctor sent back to Africa and the air force resumed losing half their missions to poor weather forecasts. Although none of the surviving crew members remembered this they all concluded that it needed to be included in the book because it rang with authenticity and summed up their leadership in a 'nutshell'.

The true value of these firsthand accounts is they provide fairly irrefutable evidence. A well-meaning author wished to 'paint' history with a politically correct brush about a relatively unknown topic. My g-grandfather's Civil War memoirs provides conflicting information. A transcription of the damming page was posted on the web and is referenced in the discussion of this topic. The other side didn't have much to counter a very credible eye witness account. Apparently, the historical account had little to support the main thrust of the book. Being an amateur historian, this is not the first time I have seen history altered to suit a fancy.

Since the book was probably a best seller and was made into a movie, history was re-written, for all except for some of the experts.

Transcribing could be difficult. One would have to know English.