Messages posted by: Belly

Oops! I don't know why, I thought it finished last Sunday! I'll raise it to £18

cheers
Paul (not JB, but I wouldn't mind his collection) :D

I was so engrossed in Foyles War last night I forgot to re-bid!!

£12

I'll set the bids rolling at a fiver

Paul

Just seen on the One Show, well worth a read, and a watch on the iplayer:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21629270

cheers
Paul

It would be an expensive one! :D
Flights are the main cost, we flew with Malaysian Airlines via Kuala Lumpur, but once you are there hotels and food are really very cheap. We went with Explore! to get the best value out of the expensive flight you could do a tour then just book extra nights at the end to do the military sites?

cheers
Paul

I was fortunate enough to go to Burma last year, but sadly despite best efforts wasn't able to visit the cemeteries in and around Yangon. We went as part of an organised trip but I'd be more than happy to travel independently in Burma. It would be a heck of a road trip to Yangon, but you can probably get a flight from Bangkok for less than £100 (Air Asia or Bangkok Airways). Visas are no problem but you need to get them in advance, you can download the forms from the London embassy website and hand them in in person. How can I put it there embassy is a little 'rustic', they only take cheques, the phones don't work and you have to guess the postage for the return of your passport! By far the safest and easiest (and expensive) option is to use Visaswift.com which is waht we did.

We absolutely loved the country, the people, the food and their culture and would highly recommend it to anybody. Since the end of 2011 they have opened up for tourism and the local people are so welcoming and really want to encourage people to go, they want people to experience Burma and see that its changing. Ethically, Aung San Suu Kyi herself wants tourists in the country and so long as you try and avoid the Junta run hotels and attractions you'll be giving very little support to them. You are advised to bring your own money though in US$ as there are no cash machines, but they were just getting wifi when we visited!

Tempted?! You should be!!

Paul

Hi Vic

They are not something that are downloadable unfortunately, you have to visit, but I'd strongly recommend it, it's fascinating and to handle the original documents is extremely evocative. The list above shows the only Cdo Signals related diaries held. They often get the descriptions wrong, or they can be misleading, so I'm not sure what these diaries actually cover it does seem odd that only 1 SSB seem to exist? I'm not sure how the signals were set up whether there was one 'HQ' that covered all SSBs or whether there was one section per SSB? If there was only one it would explain the lack of signals diaries for the others?

Cheers
Paul

Vic

You could always try the War Diaries at the National Archives to try and find further information. Signals related ones are:

WO 218/2 Bde. Signal Sec. 1940 Oct.- Dec.
WO 218/21 Bde. Signal Sec. 1941 Jan.- Dec.
WO 218/31 Bde. Signal Sec. 1942 Jan.- Dec.
WO 218/45 1 Special Service Bde. Signals 1943 Jan.- Dec.
WO 218/60 1 Special Service Bde. Signals 1944 Jan.- Oct.
WO 218/74 1 Commando Signal Tp. 1945 Jan.- Apr.

Cheers
Paul

Hi Graham

I'm not sure how widespread its issue was, it always looked a pretty unwieldy thing to me! There are some early publicity shots of commandos with them in training but I can't seem to find them at the moment. There are a few pages dedicated to its use in the Fairbairn Sykes bible 'All in Fighting'. Someone has included them in a rather strange webpage here:
http://zombie.wikia.com/wiki/Night_of_the_Living_Dead_Long_Knives

I suspect most troops would have much preferred an FS knife.

Paul

Excellent John

You're very trusting leaving those frames leaning against the fence!!

Thanks for sharing
Paul

Nice one John

What's the source of the images?

Paul

Thanks chaps

I'm trying to establish if a map exists that the specifc 6 digit grid refs tally with to pinpoint the locations exactly. There is a rough map (unfortunatley very low resolution) here:
http://www.assyriatimes.com/engine/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3318

cheers
Paul

I'm trying to pinpoint key locations and find further information of the 2 Cdo operations in Albania, namely:

Operation Healing II - Spilje, commenced 29th July 1944
Operation Houndforce - Sarande, commenced 22nd September 1944

Do WWII military maps of the areas exist? I'm trying to find the key locations, landing beaches, 'commando ridge', etc. as I am planning to visit later this year. Searching the NA and IWM online doesn't seem to throw up much in relation to these operations and the war diary is pretty sketchy.

Thanks
Paul

Hi Mike

For some reason (Not sure why) No 9 dug their heels in and retained white on black, although red on blue variants do exist too, but white on black is far more common and originals can be picked up quite cheaply.

Attached are some of my originals

cheers
Paul