History Archives - Mechtraveller

Will USS Kidd be playing Greyhound again?

Alastair — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 14:54:01 +0000

Tom Hanks’ successful war movie Greyhound (2020), shot principally on the WW2 Fletcher-class destroyer USS Kidd, now a museum ship in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is to have a sequel. The movie industry news media are talking about ‘Greyhound 2’ although very little has been confirmed. We know that Hanks will once again play Commander Ernst […]

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200th Anniversary of the World’s First Photograph to be Celebrated in France

Alastair — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 15:22:13 +0000

The French Ministry of Culture has announced a nationwide festival of photography in 2026 to mark the 200th anniversary of the world’s first permanent photograph recorded by Frenchman Nicéphore Niépce. Niépce’s photograph, ‘View from the window at Le Gras’ dated between 1826-1827 was taken from his study window on his estate in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes in Burgundy. […]

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A short documentary reveals ‘Pigeon Mission’ a little-known end-of WW2 mission to rescue Allied POWs

Alastair — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 15:27:32 +0000

There’s an interesting 16-min documentary that has just been released by the Hainan International Media Center (HIMC), highlighting a little-known chapter of WW2 history: a daring rescue of Allied Prisoners of War (POWs) on China’s Hainan Island in 1945. Unlocking Pigeon Mission, released in time to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory in the […]

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Calais WW2 Memorial Museum

Alastair — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 10:08:51 +0000

The Calais Memorial Museum (Le Musée Mémoire 39-45 de Calais) is housed in a large (94m long) German WW2 concrete bunker in the middle of the Saint-Pierre park in downtown Calais. The bunker was a command post, built in 1941 for the Kriegsmarine (German Navy). Hidden among the trees in the park and strictly off-limits […]

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Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris

Alastair — Tue, 21 May 2024 18:27:08 +0000

The Musée des Arts et Métiers (Museum of Arts and Crafts) in Paris is almost the French equivalent of the Science Museum in London, and it is absolutely packed with the most fascinating historic, scientific, mechanical, experimental and industrial exhibits. Be prepared to allocate plenty of time for your visit! The museum, created in 1794 […]

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Zimingzhong Clockwork Treasures Exhibition

Alastair — Sun, 04 Feb 2024 16:04:53 +0000

A new exhibition featuring 23 exotic clockwork treasures beloved by Chinese emperors, and loaned from The Palace Museum in Beijing, opened this week at the Science Museum in London. The magnificent 18th century automata, called Zimingzhong 凝时聚珍: meaning ‘self-sounding bells’ or ‘bells that ring themselves’, combine timekeeping, music, and movement in a display of amazing […]

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Blenheim Palace’s annual deep clean and clock repairs are underway

Alastair — Wed, 10 Jan 2024 13:14:00 +0000

Blenheim Palace, home to the Dukes of Marlborough since 1705, has started its annual deep clean, which, it turns out, is quite a complex process requiring more than a can of Pledge (other multi-surface cleaners are available) and a feather duster! The deep clean includes everything from silverware and sculptures to tables and tapestries, including […]

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The U-Boat Base – Saint-Nazaire

Alastair — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 08:32:42 +0000

These days, the huge fortified bunker built by the Germans in 1941 to protect its U-boats, is no longer referred to as the “U-boat base” or “the U-boat pens”. Instead they simply call it the ‘submarine base’, maybe to disassociate it from its origins, but we all know who built it and why. Other Saint-Nazaire […]

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Review: Museum of the Liberation of Paris

Alastair — Sat, 11 Mar 2023 12:19:02 +0000

The Museum of the Liberation of Paris, in Paris, tells the story of the occupation of Paris in the Second World War, its resistance, and its eventual liberation in Aug 1944. It’s not a museum loaded with artefacts, most of the displays are reproduced historic photographs, documents and maps. They are laid out in a […]

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The Last Hill – Possible Material for a Movie?

Alastair — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 14:42:53 +0000

The Last Hill is a new book by Robert Drury and Tom Clavin about a little-known fierce battle fought in December 1944 to capture a strategic hill in the Hürtgen Forest on Germany’s border. The 400 metre (1,315ft) steep-sided ‘Hill 400‘ lies 5 kilometres inside the German border with Belgium. The US 1st Army had […]

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