Some antithetical remarks on ‘Birdsong’
There are books with factual accounts of more or less detail about the Great War. They are called history books. …
Author Archives: Gwyneth Roberts, mightygwyn
A sea casualty, 1794
Trafalgar Day. One of the ships involved in the Trafalgar Campaign was HMS Caesar. As a new boat, she had …
Illusions
Imagine. You’re in hospital, severely infected, septicaemic. You’ve conscientiously handed over all your own medications. When your doctor comes to …
“Fallen Leaves”
Two photographs to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. I took these at the Jewish Museum in Berlin.They depict the installation by …
Beyond bitter: winter on the Vosges Front
The Front in the Vosges stabilised in the autumn of 1914. Joffre assured the Alsaciens that, “Notre retour est définitif. …
Coming shortly to a skip near you
Catalogues are the bane of old people’s back bedrooms. Catalogues mean that old ladies’ back bedrooms are stuffed with dreadful …
Cimetière militaire Munster: a place of stories
Munster Cemetery in Alsace is a place of stories. It tells of the worldness of war. From here I can see …
Reichackerkopf, an enigma
When you pop a crémant cork on the mountainside above the valley it ricochets and echoes round the summer dusk shadows …
Harry, who landed at Sword (6th June,1944)
A few years ago I spent a morning with Harry, a retired soldier from Cheshire. (I was going to tape …
“Un bonjour amical du Tréport …” 1917
On 11th March, 1917, D Boutguin (address Hôpital complémentaire 25, Eu – a temporary hospital) wrote a card to a …
Shot Silk 