Underground Battle at Arras
Les Bove d’Arras Caves were dug out under the Place des Heroes Square from the nineth century onwards, to extract chalk or limestone...
top of page
pd-allen
Apr 134 min read
Fortress Thyboron
Adjacent to the Sea War Museum was the Thyboron Fortress, a portion of Germany’s World War Two Atlantic Wall. The Atlantic Wall contains...
46 views7 comments
pd-allen
Mar 177 min read
Vimy and the Drummond Family
In January 2024, my war story buddy Wine Bob Drummond and I visited several WWI battlefields. This is his story of the Drummond family's...
46 views7 comments
pd-allen
Feb 217 min read
Conscription During the Great War
Background One of the things I have enjoyed most about documenting the Battlefield Touring is the Collateral Knowledge that you uncover...
38 views5 comments
pd-allen
Feb 35 min read
In Search of the Lost Vimy Models
1:100 Scale model of the Vimy Memorial. In my recent post about the Vimy Memorial, I mentioned that 17 of the 20 plaster models of the...
27 views4 comments
pd-allen
Jan 304 min read
Langemark German Cemetery
During our tour of Ypres, we visited Langemark German Cemetery just north of Ypres, one of the 4 German War Cemeteries in Belgium which...
25 views5 comments
pd-allen
Jan 287 min read
Goodfellow Brothers - Last Stand
Goodfellow Brothers – Missing in Action I have made several posts about the Goodfellow Brothers who were cousins of my maternal...
24 views1 comment
pd-allen
Jan 276 min read
Vimy and the Canadian Memorials
Vimy Ridge and the Canadian Memorials I was originally going to call this Refocused on Lens to cover the locations I had previously...
22 views6 comments
pd-allen
Jan 268 min read
Focused on Lens
Our next stop on the tour was the area around Lens, which included Vimy Ridge, Hill 70 and a number of family battle sites. Hill 70...
36 views2 comments
pd-allen
Jan 244 min read
Somme Deja Vu
I had posted about these locations during previous visit, but they are all iconic locations that tell the story of the Somme, so are well...
38 views2 comments
pd-allen
Jan 233 min read
A la Somme Avec Wine Bob
Recently I did a tour of the First World War Battlefields with my good buddy and fellow war story fan (Wine) Bob Drummond. We did a...
31 views3 comments
pd-allen
Jan 88 min read
Sgt Robert Connelly
178084Sergeant Robert George Connelly, MM 1st Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force EARLY YEARS Robert George Connelly was born on the...
24 views3 comments
pd-allen
Jan 82 min read
Sancourt British Cemetery
The Sancourt British Cemetery is located Northeast of the village of Sancourt, about 1 km down a single lane track amongst the fields....
32 views3 comments
pd-allen
Nov 7, 20233 min read
Canadian Liberation March
Every year, in order to honour the Liberation of Belgium and the Netherlands, the Canadian Liberation March from Hoofdplaat, Netherlands...
68 views8 comments
pd-allen
Nov 5, 20234 min read
Austrian Museum of Military History, Vienna
During Rachel’s fall break, we did a tour of Vienna, Bratislava and Prague. The tour was meant to be a break from war stories, but we did...
27 views4 comments
pd-allen
Oct 31, 20237 min read
Fort Eben-Emael Gateway to Dunkirk
After a week off to explore some of the cultural aspects of Europe, Rachel and I visited the Belgian Fort Eben-Emael, just 10 km from...
29 views3 comments
pd-allen
Oct 20, 20235 min read
The Overloon Military Museum
During my trek through Germany and the Netherlands, I stopped at the Overloon Museum. The museum was founded in 1946 and became the first...
16 views4 comments
pd-allen
Oct 19, 20234 min read
Pilot Officer Leslie McKenna
Leslie William Joseph McKenna was born on 28 Dec 1924 in Stonecliffe, ON son of William McKenna and Margret Ellen Conway. They lived in...
28 views3 comments
pd-allen
Oct 19, 20235 min read
Reichswald Forest War Cemetery
Steve McKenna has been a buddy of mine since grade nine. We went through high school together, signed up for RMC together, and spent most...
41 views3 comments
pd-allen
Oct 16, 20234 min read
Commanding the High Ground
During my recent tour of the Somme, it became evident that the catastrophic losses on the first day of the Battle of the Somme was due in...
19 views4 comments
bottom of page