Poster by James Fitton from the IWM Collection (PST 2814).

Clicking around the interwebnet in search of a seasonal image I came across this lovely wartime anti-waste poster whose message is just as pertinent today. Even though it is right for us to want to celebrate the festive season, in these straitened times we shouldn’t overconsume our precious resources. So, with that in mind, I’d like to wish all Dambusters Blog readers a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year. See you on the other side!

More about James Fitton on his Wikipedia page.

Pic: Charles Foster

The sun sets at its earliest time as the old year draws to a close.

Things have been quiet for a while but there will be plenty more to write about in the New Year, so check the Dambusters Blog regularly. In the meantime, all best wishes for Christmas and the holiday season. Please stay safe, be respectful to our fellow human beings and the earth itself, and hope that we will all be able to meet again in 2022.

Christmas 1942: A group of young children at Fen Ditton Junior School in Cambridgeshire design and make their own seasonal decorations. [Pic: IWM 23619]

Safe to say, this has been a year like no other in modern memory. However, there are brighter prospects ahead so, whatever happens during the next twelve months, many greetings from the Dambusters Blog in the hope that all our readers everywhere have a safe and happy future.

 

Around about 1.20 this afternoon this blog clicked up its one and a half millionth visitor, so a hearty welcome to whoever it was!

The blog was set up in May 2008, and the first half million views took place over the next 62 months, with the number being reached in June 2013. The millionth visitor arrived in May 2017, 46 months later. And today’s target was hit 42 months after this. You could therefore say that the pace is hotting up.

You might also be interested to know that there have been 658 posts over the 150 months that the blog has been operating, which works out at 4.38 posts per month. And, as you can see from the screen shot at the top of the page, there have been 2870 comments, most of them being complimentary and/or helpful. So keep them coming, and here’s to the next half-million hits!

Pic: Etsy

Casting around some Google images looking for something suitable to illustrate my seasonal message, I came across this – a vintage German brooch of the Möhnesee and the Möhne Dam for sale on the Etsy site. Of course, it’s actually nothing to do with Christmas, but the green and red colours gave it a traditional look.

Let this lovely scene act as seasonal greetings to all readers of the Dambusters blog, wherever you may be. Have a very happy and peaceful Christmas and New Year. (And there’s no point in to trying to find the brooch on Etsy – I’ve bought it!)

‘In the bleak midwinter, frosty winds made moan’ goes the old carol. However, here on the western coast of Europe, it looks as though we might have a mild and wet festive season. Never mind!
The month of May this year brought the millionth visitor to this blog, and as of today we’ve added nearly one hundred thousand since. So please keep checking us out for all the latest Dambuster news. And whatever the weather wherever you are, let me wish you all the best for Christmas and the New Year!

Seasonal picture above by Maria Mekht of Unsplash. A great site for royalty free pictures and images!

 

At about 10pm BST today, the Dambusters blog registered its millionth hit. I can’t be sure exactly who was the visitor who took us over the magic figure, but it seems likely to have been someone from the UK who ended up on our front page having followed a Google search. By an amazing coincidence, this event occurred nine years to the day since the first ever post, which was published at 8.35 am on 7 May 2008.

Checking back through the daily statistics (which through the wonders of WordPress are still available to me) I see that I got just 4 hits on that first day. But within nine days, I had got to a total of 163 which, I recall, I was pretty chuffed with at the time. The fact that this occurred on 16 May 2008, the 65th anniversary of the Dams Raid, probably explains the upwards bump.

So why are people still so interested in the Dams Raid, even though most of the people who now access the blog have no first-hand memory of the war? I think the reason may be because although the raid itself is the stuff of legend, it also represents a bigger story: that of the ‘greatest generation’ who fought tyranny, came through the years of austerity which followed, and built a better society in which all could flourish. There have been many sharp turns and setbacks since, some still on-going, but no one would argue that the world is in a better place than it was in 1939.

The fascination with the Dambusters themselves is because the Dams Raid combined so many different things which contributed to the war effort – a revolutionary new weapon, supreme airmanship skills and raw courage in pressing home an attack under fire. The fact that it was then immortalised in what is now regarded as one of the best ever British war films just adds to its mystique.

So if you are one of the people who contributed to our million hits – either as a regular visitor or just someone who fetched up here after a random search – many thanks for being here for the ride. It’s been a privilege to serve you all this time, and I hope to carry on doing so for the foreseeable future. Per ardua ad astra!

[I should add a word of thanks to WordPress, who have provided the blogging software and the hosting since 2008. This is all for free, except for the ongoing cost of registering and using a .com domain name. In my opinion, they provide by far the easiest to use blogging software, and a huge range of off-the-shelf designs. And I have no connection at all with the company!]