iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I'm in Long Melford, Suffolk today for thw 1940's weekend. Come and hear me moan about the under-representation of the Regular and Territorial Army in person 🤣

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

I've gone off on one again 🤣 This time cables for taking out enemy motorcyclists have come under my gaze. Let's look at whether this was ever used in the UK! youtu.be/4YYRH3LkNME #WW2 #History #DuffHistory

youtu.be

Cables, Streets and Motorbikes. Let's look at a possible myth (No AI)

YouTube video by Remember the Regulars

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

My best buy is still a full set of RAF 37 Pattern Webbing which I got for £15 in he days of mail order through Gunmart.

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Spent my dinner break taking a look at the early 37 Pattern Webbing setup that would have been used by the Home Forces around 1939 to 1941. There's some unique elements that get overlooked. youtu.be/tuNSvPTnygo?...

youtu.be

Home Forces 37 Pattern Webbing

YouTube video by Remember the Regulars

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Reposted by Chris Kolonko-Weet

Stephanie Kolonko-Weet @stephkolonkoweet.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Chris is on BBC Radio Norfolk today, talking about the pillbox in Horsey. Starts at the 2:38:10 mark. #Archaeology @ckolonko.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

bbc.co.uk

Kayleigh Poacher - Live in Scratby - BBC Sounds

Kayleigh brings the show live from Scratby for her latest Friday Staycation special.

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Not really. My main aim was to show that a unit previously misidentified as being Home Guard wasn't. Then using this new evidence to show the real role of the Home Guard alongside the misidentified unit 😀

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

As always, while trawling documents for information, I stumble across something that sheds more light on a subject I have already covered. I've discovered what the Home Guard did for the Broads Flotilla in Norfolk. www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Woi...

youtube.com

Home Defence Battalions follow up: The Real Role of the Home Guard and the Broads Flotilla

YouTube video by Remember the Regulars

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Time for some Random Ramblings. This time I'll take a little look at the complexity of units within the East Anglia Area in January 1940. youtu.be/YWFelrNyEUA

youtu.be

Random Ramblings 31 July 2026 (No AI)

YouTube video by Remember the Regulars

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Reposted by Chris Kolonko-Weet

Council for British Archaeology @archaeologyuk.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Great to have you joining us @ckolonko.bsky.social! Our question is: what would you say to someone who knows nothing about your specialisation to help them understand why it's so important/why they should be interested?

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

So my specialism helps us to better understand wartime sites that sit on the edge of living memory. And without the work I do we would know so much less about surviving sites. But learning from and interpreting these sites helps show their significance, which can help preserve them.

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Though documents relating to wartime sites survive, these often miss important details. These missing details can helpful learn about how a specific site was tl be used and what its function was. We also see similar with memory and first hand recollections. Important details some can be lost.

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Good question! I'd say understanding our recent past is very important. When it comes to 20th century military sites, you would think we know everything about them as they are within living memory. But there is so much we don’t know, and a lot we can only learn through archaeological investigation.

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Just realised it is #askanarchaeologist day. Drop any questions relating to early 20th century military stuff in the UK my way.

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Time for me to draw some attention to the Home Defence Battalions. They were not Home Guard. But they were much more important. Let's take a look. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XxJ...

youtube.com

Forgotten Defenders Part 2: National Defence Companies and Home Defence Battalions No AI

YouTube video by Remember the Regulars

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Quick vid time! How much had the construction of the defences in the UK cost by November 1940? It was a lot! youtu.be/Z1zfn2_XJbQ

youtu.be

How much?!?! The cost of building the defences- November 1940 #NoAI

YouTube video by Remember the Regulars

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Reposted by Chris Kolonko-Weet

Sussex Heritage Community @heritagecommunity.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Illicit metal detecting is theft of our Heritage, a loss to our knowledge, understanding and any artefact's provenance. It's damaging not only to the land and environment but to all ethical law abiding detectorists too. 1/3 #HeritageCrime

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

The 55th beat them by a whole three months, with the Division halting pillbox construction in August 1940!

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

The 55th Division, responsible for defending Suffolk from mid-1940 have now taken the lead in the 'first place to stop building pillboxes race. Previously it was the whole of Northern Command with a date of November 1940.

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

I found some time to make a quick Random Ramblings while I melt. Here's a quick look at how intel on German AFVs was shared to Home Forces units, in this case the Norfolk Division, in May 1941. youtu.be/ElNMhfbNWVM

youtu.be

Random Ramblings Enemy Tank Intel May 1941

YouTube video by Remember the Regulars

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

It is! If I have enough overlapping images I should be able to recreate entire areas.

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

But there's one more step I haven't worked out yet, which would be very useful for GIS work.

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

I haven't messed around with photogrammetry for years but have been reminded that I need to write this up. I had a go at using 1940s stereographic aerial photographs to recreate wartime landscapes for further analysis. The results have got better now the software has improved.

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

And here is the cancellation of the G.H.Q. Line in Northern Command and Scottish Command which eventually came on the 3rd of August.

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

This will be one of the reasons why Northern Command never really put much effort into the G.H.Q. Line before it was cancelled in August 1940.

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

He also outlined that for the scheme of static defence to work he would need thirty (Yes, THIRTY!) Divisions to defend Northern Command.

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

And Northern Command being Northern Command once again. On the 30th of June 1940, the Commander of NORCO made it very clear that he dislikes the G.H.Q. Line policy, but would undertake the recce work anyway.

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

It can however be argued that Ironside was largely hamstrung by the situation following the Fall of France where a large number of vehicles had been lost, it should never be said that Ironside did not put a priority on mobility and counterattack.

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

As the defences that survive tend to be static, and the focus often upon the short-lived stop-lines, the fact that mobile columns were intended to be deployed is now overlooked.

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

General Ironside is often, if not always, criticised for his 'static' defences. But here it is on the 15th of June 1940, in the initial plan of defence under his new scheme, that mobility was a key component of defence.

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Let's take a look at Home Guard mythology in the spiritual home of Dad's Army, the Norfolk town of Thetford. This is a case study in why documentary research is needed to properly understand how the UK was defended during the Second World War. youtu.be/9NrxseFHqXw?...

youtu.be

Defending Second World War Thetford: Not Just The Home Guard (No AI)

YouTube video by Remember the Regulars

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Oh yeah, I was well chuffed to see George 'Grumpy' Unwin focussed on in the Ops Rooms displays. One of my favourites and a Barnsley lad.

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Will be going back. My wife is deaf and appreciated the subtitles in the new displays as well as the wheelchair accessibility across the site.

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

You can absolutely feel the tension and get a sense of how the room operated on the 15th of September 1940. Great stuff and amazing to be in the actual room, seeing events unfold. It was also great seeing how the comms worked in the room and through the chain of command.

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Just got back from IWM Duxford. Haven't been for about 8 years, with this being the first time since ai was 16 where I got to take a proper look around! Really enjoyed the new visual displays for the D-Day USAF briefing and the BoB Ops Room. Was blown away by the sense of tension with the latter.

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Reposted by Chris Kolonko-Weet

c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

There are almost no crustaceans in the deep ocean. Not because they would get crushed, but because they would DISSOLVE. The cold & high pressure cause changes to water that make it very corrosive to calcium carbonate shells. But there's one crustacean who solves this problem with ALUMINUM ARMOR.

A trench amphipod, Hirondellea gigas, from the deepest place on Earth: Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench (10,890m).
Alan Jamieson, Newcastle University

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

It’s been a while since I’ve done a pillbox myth blog. This time I’ll be doing a critique of Pillboxes by Henry Wills to look at whether the drawings presented in this book are original, as is often claimed. chriskolonko.wordpress.com/2026/05/23/p...

chriskolonko.wordpress.com

Pillbox Myths #7

Pillbox myths- Wills’ Pillbox Drawings I’m currently writing a report and academic paper which I would like to outline the origins of the drawings published in Pillboxes by Henry Wills which was pu…

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Ah cool! Thank you. I'll take a look at Hansard.

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Thanks Dave. Saw some similar images on Facebook yesterday which were dated tl around 1943 to 1944.

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Hi Nick, no idea. I don't know that specific pillbox or the area.

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

In another tangent, I may have to look into the removal of road signs during the war. I haven't come across any information regarding this in the period documents, as far as I remember. Maybe another case of something implemented in some but not all areas, which has now become a popular factoid.

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