I should be writing, so here's an impromptu #DDayfromAbove instead. I say impromptu – this one has been sat on my desktop for a while and I've tried, but failed, to complete the jigsaw. But sometimes you just don't have all the pieces. Anyway, to Gold Beach. 📷 NARA So, where are we? Well, that stream, the Ruisseau du Marais, is the perfect clue to line up an aerial shot like this. Here's the same spot today. 📷Google Maps

Did the Allies almost land on Gem Beach on D-Day? Turns out, yes. So let's try and work out how and why this happened and what (if anything) it tells us about the final choice of perhaps the most famous beach names in the world. I have tackled this before in this thread, but more has now come to light which helps to answer a few more questions. So you can read this again if you like, but I'm going to start from the beginning again anyway.

https://twitter.com/SeaSpitfires/status/1562415472511012865

One for @Books2Cover #photofriday is this paperback that arrived this week and will help inform my own book. And it comes with a little anecdote that is sure to be of interest to @copp_survey. @Books2Cover @copp_survey Apparently HMS Middleton neatly rammed X23. Now I come across all sorts of extraordinary anecdotes a out D-Day and most can be discounted with a look at contemporary reports. But this one may actually be true...

Last week I discovered that a friend of mine (who shall remain nameless for his own safety) has never heard of:
•Richard Burton
•Where Eagles Dare
•Ron Goodwin's soundtrack.
The therapy is about to start. Are there any Where Eagles Dare drinking challenges? A shot whenever there's an on screen reload may be a bit pathetic...

Something I've been meaning to do for a while is accurately map the bombardment of Sword Beach – not just the targets, but the ships involved as well. I've finally got around to it and made some interesting discoveries as well. There are plenty of maps of Sword that purport to show the naval forces and the outline of the bombardment, but they all have minor differences. In some instances its clear it's been done for ease of viewing, but in others there are noticeable errors. 📷Osprey & HMSO

Visiting my parents over the festive season, I was reminded of this framed Punch sketch on the wall. It was one of many such sketches given as a present from a wonderful man called Derek Howard Budd, known to almost everyone who knew him as HB. A NAAFI employee, HB had known my parents since, I think,before I was born. Like my father he was commissioned as a major for a tour of duty (my father in the post-war Falklands, HB in the first Gulf War), which led them to permanently address each other as major.

I've recently seen some very questionable archaeology. I don't like politics and happily respect that different people have different views, but on this occasion it has to be said that there is a rise in far-right attacks on the profession, so I want to highlight some examples. First up, Ancient Apocalypse on Netflix. I haven't watched it, but several friends and colleagues I respect have, and it is as bad as the reviews suggest. Hancock visits various global sites, claiming links to an early civilisation whilst failing to offer any proof whatsoever.

I turn 25 today (again) and as it's my birthday I get to do what I want. That means you all have to suffer another D-Day from above. This time we're at Sword Beach, flying over Queen White at approximately 10:20 on 6 June 📷NARA The location is easy to establish as the road network (even the fields) around Sword is very little changed 78 years later. For those that know it the 3rd Division & Svenner memorials are in the open space marked by the red arrow at the west end of Sword Queen White 📷Google Maps

My Twitter feed right now.
-Tweet or retweet from someone I follow (T)
-Promoted tweet (P)
-Tweet from someone I've never heard of, but who is Followed by Someone I Follow (FSIF)
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-Random tweet from a Topic I don't follow (RT)
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-Reply to someone's tweet by Someone I Follow (RSIF)
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-Tweet from someone I've never heard of, but is Liked by Someone I Follow (LSIF)
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I think we need a bit of a break from the news and it's been a while since I did one of these, so here's another D-Day from above. I don't think I've done this photo before (hope not) but it's a good one. 📷NARA So, where are we. This is Gold King Green Beach. Just off screen to the right (east) is the Stan Hollis memorial hut. You can see the Ruisseau di Marais stream at the bottom of the 6 June photo as well. 📷Google Maps google.co.uk/maps/place/Sta…

Haven't done one of these for a while, so let's look at D-Day from above. Today we visit Sword Queen White and Green beaches at about 11.15am, 6 June. 📷NARA This is the very western part of the Sword landing area. The green line shows the boundary between White and Green beaches. Most of the traffic (red lines) is funnelling down the Place du Cuirassé Courbet, now the site of several memorials. google.co.uk/maps/place/49%…

I'm mildly tempted to let this D-Day picture speak for itself....

But I'll add a few details below. 📷NARA RG373 First off, where are we? The track heading inland at the bottom is the border between Gold King Green (on the left) and Red (on the right) beaches. The track meets the beach at a place famous for the Stanley Hollis VC memorial hut today. 📷Google google.co.uk/maps/place/Sta…

Sword Beach. "Meh" I hear you say, "the pilot didn't do a good job here, he's only got a sliver of land in". But he's captured a lot of detail in that other bit of an amphibious assault (the wet bit). 📷NARA RG373 The photographer has captured the landings on Sword Queen Red & White sectors perfectly. In the centre is Strongpoint Cod (Stp 20) with it's distinctive curve in the beach road. Red beach is to the left (east) & White beach is to the right (west) 📷Google. google.co.uk/maps/place/49%…

A not especially interesting photo of some fields. But actually it's got some fascinating details in it. Another short thread. 📷NARA RG373 This is Les Roquettes, immediately inland of WN36 on Gold Jig Beach. The small farm is here today. google.com/maps/place/49%…

Last night, Max Hastings repeated the traditional myth that the DD tanks at Omaha were launched too far from the beach and sank. Additionally, I found his language unnecessarily directed at an unnamed 'they', which can only really refer to the US Navy. So what actually happened? Tanks from 8 different regiments (battalions in the US) were equipped with DD tanks for D-Day, 1 each at Sword and Utah, 2 each at Juno, Gold and Omaha. On the day, only 1 regiment at Sword and 1 battalion at Omaha would launch as planned. 📷IWM H 35179

One of the questions on the @Wehaveways livestream 2 weeks ago was about the Landing Vehicle Tracked (LVT), or Buffalo, and why they weren’t used at Normandy. So I thought it would be handy to explain one major reason they couldn’t be deployed. In a nutshell, we simply didn’t have the amphibious lift capacity to get large numbers of LVTs across the Channel. They needed to be carried by larger landing craft & ships, but the only ones suitable were already allocated for other vehicles – tanks and trucks. 📷IWM B5258

Urg. Publishers have done it again. After using Czech soldiers in 1945 Belgium to illustrate D-Day, they've now illustrated the 1942 British/Canadian Dieppe Raid with... US soldiers landing from USN LCVPs in 1944. I'm pretty sure I don't need to explain Operation Jubilee, but just in case, it wasn't a US operation, a only a few Rangers and aircraft were present. Equally, the version of the Higgins Boat LCVP that we are all most familiar with had not yet come into service. 📷@WWIImuseum

RIP His Royal Highness Prince Philip.

Prince Philip's war service is usually summarised as getting a Mention in Despatches at the Battle of Cape Matapan and saving HMS Wallace at Sicily. But I feel this overlooks so much more, and occasionally errors creep in, so here we go. After completing officer training at Dartmouth, on 23 February 1940 the 18 year old midshipman joined HMS Ramillies at Colombo. He would spend most of 1940 with the venerable battleship and the cruisers Kent and Shropshire. 📷 IWM A8858

Shells fall around HMS Glasgow during an artillery duel with shore batteries around Cherbourg on 25 June 1944. During the battle of Cherbourg she sustained 2 hits, but only minor damage. 📷IWM A 24306 The Royal and US Navy's involvement with the Battle of Cherbourg is usually reduced to the bombardment carried out to support the US advance into the town. But Cherbourg is a port and, as such, had been of considerable interest to the Allied navies for some time.

The D-Day map at Southwick house, showing the state of the amphibious assault on Normandy at 7.25am on 6 June. The big white stripe across the English Channel is a German minefield – ten safe channels were cleared through it by RN and RCN minesweepers just before the landings. But that wasn't the end of the minesweeper's work. Immediately after the assault, the same flotillas went to work clearing the spaces between the channels and sweeping clear channels between the anchorages off the beaches.

US Patrol-Torpedo Boat PT 509 (left) stands by USS Tide after she struck a mine off Utah Beach on 7 June. Two months later, PT 509 would herself be sunk. 📷Naval History and Heritage Command 80-G-651677 One flotilla of PT boats participated in D-Day & 2 more became operational very soon afterwards. Operating from Portland the 33 boats worked alongside the more numerous Motor Torpedo Boats of the Royal Navy & Royal Canadian Navy in the English Channel. 📷Library & Archives Canada