In the summer of 1940 Churchill and his Chiefs of Staff expected an airborne invasion and a seaborne one, most likely on the east coast where the beaches were flatter and the terrain likewise making it easier country for motorised troops. They thought it much less likely that there would be an invasion across the… Continue reading Operation Sea Lion – Part Three

While we fret over whether we can get out of the EU in two years, in 1939 events moved a lot more swiftly. Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3rd September, honouring treaty obligations to Poland that had been invaded two days earlier. On 15th November, Grand-Admiral Erich Raeder, Commander-in -Chief of the… Continue reading Operation Sea Lion – Part Two

Walking in England over the years I have been struck by the number of pillboxes built to defend us from a German invasion in World War II. About 28,000 were built all over the country, of which some 6,500 survive. It would have been a dark hour if the ones I have seen along the… Continue reading Operation Sea Lion – Part One

Often there is unfinished business in these posts. In September there was mention of five families from Chios, in A Greek Island. The greatest of these families was Ralli. The Ralli brothers, five of them, were probably the most successful Greek merchant-traders in the 19th century.