Tag: history
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The role of the WRNS – the Women’s Royal Naval Service
The Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS), affectionately known as the Wrens, holds a distinguished place in British military history. As the women’s branch of the Royal Navy, the WRNS played a vital role in both World Wars and continued to serve with distinction until its integration into the Royal Navy in 1993. As I discovered…
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Operation Dynamo: The evacuation from Dunkirk, 85th anniversary
In the annals of British military history, few events have captured the imagination and spirit of resilience quite like Operation Dynamo. Referred to by Churchill himself as a “Miracle of deliverance,” this audacious evacuation of Allied troops from the beaches of northern France in 1940 turned what could have been a catastrophic defeat into a…
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The Wavy Navy: Seven key things to understand about the RNVR in World War II
The Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) played a pivotal role during World War II, contributing significantly to the Allied war effort. But the initials might mean nothing to some people in the 21st century. The RNVR was established in 1903 to supplement the Royal Navy with trained volunteers. By the time World War II erupted,…
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Mersey memories breathed life into my novels
Author David Clensy on how decades after their deaths, the lives of both his grandfathers continue to echo through his writing One of my earliest memories is of getting my head stuck between the railings on the Pier Head in Liverpool. I must have only been three or four years old. My grandad would often…
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Liberation of Auschwitz 80th anniversary
January 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Back in 2009, as a regional journalist on the Bristol Evening Post, I travelled to the site of the former concentration camp with a group of West Country students as part of a project to ensure the horrors of the holocaust do not get…
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The first Japanese Kaiten suicide submarine mission: Attack on USS Mississinewa
Eighty years ago today, on 20th November 1944, the Pacific theatre of World War II witnessed a harrowing and unprecedented event: the first successful Japanese Kaiten suicide submarine attack. This tragic chapter unfolded at Ulithi Atoll in the Caroline Islands, marking a desperate and deadly tactic employed by the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Kaiten, translating…
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Understanding the Bombing of Pompeii during World War II
Earlier this year, I released my debut novel Prayer in Time of War. It tells the story of elderly veteran Ernie as he returns to an Italy transformed from his experiences during the Second World War, in search of the girl he left behind in the back streets of Naples half a century before. A visit…
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