War Stories

Battlefield Tours

Finding our Past

This is the story of my quest for family war stories

The Tiny Country of San Marino

During our recent visit to Italy, my daughter Rachel and I negotiated a travel package, two days of battlefield tours in exchange for the tiny country of San Marino. Rachel has made it her mission to visit all of the countries of Europe that participate in The Games of the Small States of Europe during her four-year teaching assignment at the NATO school in the Netherlands. She has done very well so far with 9 of 10 visited to date. She is only missing the smallest, Vatican C

Travel

pd-allen

15 hours ago5 min read

The River Battles - Italy 1944

An interactive map of the Hussars’ journey is available here. Introduction After a grand trip to the tiny country of San Marino, my daughter Rachel and I were back on the trail of Uncle Norm Kightley of the 8th Hussars in the River Battles that raged from mid September 1944 until the Canadians were recalled to Europe in February 1945. After fighting their way through the mountains for the entire Italian Campaign, once Rimini was taken it was supposed to be great tank country

pd-allen

Apr 2917 min read

Breaking the Gothic Line

Introduction This Easter, Rachel and I visited Italy, spending the week in the beach town of Rimini. Throughout our travels we have reached an exchange rate of competing interests, this trip we negotiated two days of battlefield touring in exchange for one tiny country. Rachel is on a quest to visit all the tiny countries of Europe, so most of our tours involve at least one tiny country. This trip included a visit to San Marino, a teeny mountain top town that is completely em

pd-allen

Apr 2222 min read