iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Rivets and Pins @rivetsandpins.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

One of my favourite photos, full of detail. Interesting to see how the wind & sand have worn away most of the tank's paint.

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Jonny Briggs @jonnybriggs.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The famous 'dapple' camouflage pattern used only by the Royal Scots Greys. Discussed in Tanks in Unexpected Places.

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Ian Kikuchi @curatorian.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Today in 1940, an unnamed German airman takes a photograph as he flies over London. His image captures a Heinkel bomber in flight over the British capital. I've always found it a fascinating image, and often find details in it that I'd not noticed before. 🧵

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Pete Blanchard @peteblanchard.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Peter Caddick-Adams seemingly still turning the knife in Jason Arday's back even though the poor bloke's only just passed away. Stay classy, Caddick-Adams, stay classy... #JasonArday

A screenshot of a tweet on X by the historian Peter Caddick-Adams. The tweet says:

"This is all very sad. Jason Arday found dead this afternoon. We all (me too) hounded him over his large than life claims, but it seems the inner man was too fragile to cope with the persona he had created".

Two tweets from X. One by someone called Blockhouses of the ABW says "The last selfish act of a narcissist, avoiding accountability and the consequences of his actions. It is a real tragedy that someone feels they have to take thier (sic) life as it impacts far too many and those left behind. It also maybe in his las (sic) selfish act seeks to transfer blame".

The reply by Peter Caddick-Adams is: "Indeed. Selfish when you consider he leaves a wife & family behind".

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Graham 🏳️‍🌈 - UKTM @uk-tank-markings.co.uk · 19/07/2026

On another push to try and shift these last few games through Vinted. Please share and repost if you can. www.vinted.co.uk/member/31283...

A table covered in boardgames: Steam Time, Funfair, Artificium, 20th Century, Madame Ching, Venn, Galaxy Trucker, Castles of Tuscany, Sun Tzu, Steam Rollers, and Forbidden Desert.

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RG Poulussen @rgpoulussen.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

I used the diary of this lady in Little Sense Of Urgency, the *most comprehensive Market Garden account* to date. Full of verifiable facts and maps, instead of stories. Please visit my website and purchase my book. A retweet would help me very much!

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Dr Philip W Blood MBA @philipwblood.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

On the anniversary of Operation Epsom, one of the pivotal British offensives of the Normandy campaign, we are pleased to announce the launch of Just Armour—a new collaborative publication exploring the history, technology, doctrine, and people of armoured warfare. open.substack.com/pub/justarmo...

open.substack.com

Just Armour

The Inauguration of the Armoured Warfare Group

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Nick Le Huray @nickleh.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

I will be on WW2TV at 19:00 BST Tuesday 23rd June. I will be talking about escapes from the Channel Islands during the German occupation of the Channel Islands. Do join us if you can. My book “Tides of Defiance” is published by Barnthorn Publishing Limited www.youtube.com/live/5QTHEIa...

youtube.com

Tides of Defiance: Channel Islanders who risked everything to escape from the German Occupation

YouTube video by WW2TV

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Graham 🏳️‍🌈 - UKTM @uk-tank-markings.co.uk · 04/12/2025

Hello! I run two little online shops: - one for WW2 anoraks, selling mugs and stickers with tank insignia on them: uktankmarkings.redbubble.com - one for LGBTQ+ nerdy people, selling mugs and stickers with gaming-themed pride flags on them: growsler.redbubble.com

A mockup of a white ceramic mug decorated with the camouflage and markings of the 7th Armoured Division

A mockup of a white ceramic mug decorated with the camouflage and markings of British Airborne forces.

A mockup of a white ceramic mug decorated with a Progress Pride flag made up of meeples.

A mockup of a white ceramic mug decorated with a Pride flag made up of dice.

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David Benedict @eggsbened.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Nightmare for a friend of mine in London. Please share.

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Sean @seanboy.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

This is an excellent article from Tim. Well worth your time. #WW2 #Normandy44

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Graham 🏳️‍🌈 - UKTM @uk-tank-markings.co.uk · 13/05/2026

Pride season is coming. If someone could buy some of my mugs that'd be grand. Cheers. www.redbubble.com/people/Grows...

A mug printed with Meeples forming the disability Pride flag

A mug printed with scribbles forming the progress Pride flag

A mug printed with Meeples forming the progress Pride flag

A mug printed with dice forming the Pride flag

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Dr Philip W Blood MBA @philipwblood.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

@jonnybriggs.bsky.social - A new history book on #armouredwarfare An excellent PhD and now a book, which makes an important contribution to British military history.

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Rivets and Pins @rivetsandpins.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

This weekend's reading just arrived.

The front page of volume 15 of the soft-cover book, Nuts & Bolts. It is grass green with a photo of various German Marder III tank hunters.

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Nick Le Huray @nickleh.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

If you are looking for something to do on Sunday 24th May I am leading a walking tour around St Peter Port as part of the Spring Walking Festival. It looks like the weather will be good for an easy stroll around town to learn about defiance, danger and liberation.

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Rivets and Pins @rivetsandpins.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Having done a couple of extensive tours with @seanboy.bsky.social too, I second RG's recommendation 🔥

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Jonny Briggs @jonnybriggs.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Out today.

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Jonny Briggs @jonnybriggs.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Out next week.

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Jonny Briggs @jonnybriggs.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Out in May.

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Chris Kolonko-Weet @ckolonko.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

What better way to start the weekend than recording a video looking at why the role of the Regular and Territorial Army have largely been forgotten? #SecondWorldWar #History #WW2 youtu.be/yztlRdOGKGw

youtu.be

Why don't we Remember The Regulars but Remember the Home Guard? A Critical Analysis

YouTube video by Remember the Regulars

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GD's Tales @tanktales.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

90 years ago today, on 2nd April 1936, General Jean Baptiste Eugène Estienne died in Paris aged 75. He was the father of French tanks. Want to know more? If so, why not get me to give my talk on French tanks in the Great War to your group.

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Rivets and Pins @rivetsandpins.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

THEN & NOW On the way back from the Tank Museum in Dorset a couple of weeks ago, I happened to pass through the area where this 1941 photo was taken & took a modern photo of the same place. Many thanks to @m1ke-a.bsky.social for his research. Photo credits & full details in Alt text.

A black and white photo of a Matilda II parked at a road junction in the Sussex village of Findon. Behind the tank is a hotel whose walls are covered in ivy. To the left of the hotel is a road (School Hill) which inclines up and away from the centre of the village. Houses and tall bushes line either side of School Hill. A light truck is driving away from us up School Hill, followed by a motorbike. A light truck is driving down the same road with another parked up at the side of the road.

The tank is a Matilda IIA* (or Matilda II Mk. III) with a Besa turret machinegun. It has the early 'H' pattern tracks, track mudguard extensions, a two-tone camouflage paint scheme and has a rolled tarpaulin attached to the left-hand side of the turret. The only marking visible is the War Department number on the upper hull - "WD No. T10422". Its engine deck is raised for maintenance.

Two crewmen, one a sergeant, are leaning against the front of the tank, obscuring any bridge classification badge or arm of service markings which were usually painted there. Another tankman is walking past the tank looking at the camera. All three are wearing black RTR berets.

In front of the tank is a group of 5 small children in coats and hats standing next to the railings of a front garden. The boy at the front is pointing at the tank turret.

While the IWM photo doesn't identify the tank's unit, Mike Anton has researched this photo and has identified it as almost certainly belonging to B Squadron of 44 Royal Tank Regiment, which was based at nearby Castle Goring at the time of this photo (4th March 1941).

Photo: IWM H7680

A colour photo of the same scene as the black and white shot, taken on 8th March 2026. The only change is the railings have been replaced by a low wall. The ivy has been also cut away from the Village Hotel. Apart from that and a change in the manhole cover in the foreground, very little has changed in the intervening 85 years.

Photo: P. Blanchard

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GD's Tales @tanktales.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Have you signed up yet? This online conference has a really broad range of subjects and speakers (and me) and it’s a bargain. Sign up details are in the quoted post.

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Andrew Hills @fwdpublishing.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

Possibly the best WW1 tank design (ignoring the vile cupola) was the French FCM 1A Heavy Tank with its 105 mm gun and multiple machine guns. Too late for the war it was surpassed by different ideas. Images c.1917/1918 1/4 #Tank #WW1

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GD's Tales @tanktales.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

35 yrs ago in the early hours of 26 February 1991, 4th Armd Bde attacked Objective Bronze before moving on to Copper South & then on to Brass & Steel (all in Iraq). I was commanding a small packet of assorted AFVs incl 14/20H Step-Up & an RE Sqn SHQ as we moved towards the Iraq/Kuwait border. 1/5

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Chung-Tzu @chung-tzu.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Christie's M1928

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Colin Speirs 🌧️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @dampscot.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

Hello all there Up for having first of two partial knee replacements very soon Is there any useful advice about recovery and coping during recovery?

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Dr Philip W Blood MBA @philipwblood.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

The talk is now rescheduled for 24 February and I hope you can join us.

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Sean @seanboy.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

I've added a small update to an article on my rather amateurish but hopefully informative and accessible blog. Might be of interest to some. Germans up near Bréville-les-Mont, c.11th June 1944. Cheers. #Normandy44 #WW2 normandyinsightresearch.blogspot.com/p/346infante...

normandyinsightresearch.blogspot.com

346.Infanterie-Division in action near Bréville-les-Monts

This article includes photographs of fatal casualties At the time of the Normandy invasion, 346.ID was positioned in the area around le Havr...

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Rivets and Pins @rivetsandpins.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

Finally got round to getting a copy of this book. That's my reading for tomorrow's forecast rain.

Photograph of a book, Airborne Armour, by Keith Flint. The cover shows a well-known photo of a British Tetrarch tank exiting a large Hamilcar glider.

The sub-heading of the book is "Tetrarch, Locust, Hamilcar and the 6th Airborne Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment 1938-50".

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Graham 🏳️‍🌈 - UKTM @uk-tank-markings.co.uk · 11/02/2026

Answering a request from Facebook I've added a few BEF designs and put them in their own category in the shop: www.redbubble.com/people/uktan... As ever, open to further requests!

A mockup of a ceramic mug with the insignia and markings of the 1st Infantry Division in the BEF, 1940

A mockup of a ceramic mug with the insignia and markings of the 2nd Infantry Division in the BEF, 1940

A mockup of a ceramic mug with the insignia and markings of the 3rd Infantry Division in the BEF, 1940

A mockup of a ceramic mug with the insignia and markings of the 4th Infantry Division in the BEF, 1940

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Miranda Keeling @mirandakeeling.com · 11/02/2026

Woman in Euston Station: Don’t stress. Woman she’s with: Don’t stress? Don’t stress Rona? We’re at the wrong station, at the wrong time, on the wrong day. Again!

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Dr Philip W Blood MBA @philipwblood.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

Due to illness I have had to postpone.

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Rivets and Pins @rivetsandpins.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

This will be a very interesting talk. Tune in if you can!

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Rivets and Pins @rivetsandpins.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

Then & Now. Plaza Alonso Martínez, Burgos, Spain in August 1936 & June 2024. The B&W photo is well-known with Generals Cavalcanti, Franco & Mola in front of the Capitanía General, Franco's HQ during the Spanish Civil War. Within a year, both Cavalcanti & Mola would be dead. Details in Alt text

A black & white photo from the northern Spanish city of Burgos in August 1936. The city would be Franco's headquarters & capital city until after the end of the Spanish Civil War.

The shot is of a town square, the Plaza Alonso Martínez, looking east with the Capitanía General, a military headquarters building in the background, on the left. On the right, a couple of 3-storey buildings.

In the centre is a group of dignitaries, mainly military officers, escorted by Civil Guards in their patent leather hats, walking towards the camera.

In the middle of the group, we see General Francisco Franco, then just one of the military leaders of the uprising against the democratically elected Spanish government.

To his right is the moustachioed General Cavalcanti, another leading rebel officer who would die the following spring in San Sebastián, presumably of natural causes.

On Franco's left is the tall General Mola, one of the main plotters of the failed coup which led to the civil war. He is turning to his right, shouting at or to someone to the left of the photo. He would die in a plane crash the following June.

A colour photo from June 2024, showing roughly the same view as the black and white photo.

The Capitanía building is now a military museum, the tall brick building is an addition from the late 1980s and the square is now pedestrianised. Otherwise, the view is essentially the same.

There's a personal element to this 'Then & Now'. Back in the mid-1980s, I taught in an office block overlooking the Capitanía, behind the tall brick building in the photo.

While we were conscious at the time of the possibility of terrorist attack from ETA on this military headquarters below, I was sadly unaware of the importance of the Capitanía & the city itself in 1930s Spanish history.

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RG Poulussen @rgpoulussen.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

#OTD in 1944. White-washed Cromwell tanks from 7 Armoured Division. #WW2 #HISTORY

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Rivets and Pins @rivetsandpins.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

After WW2, the Yugoslav Army used lots of AFVs left behind by the Nazis. Among them were a handful of venerable PzKw 38(t) tanks. Interestingly, it seems these small tanks were taken from German armoured trains captured in Yugoslavia. Two such tanks were assigned to each train. 🧵 #TankTuesday 1/

A black & white photo of a German PzKw 38(t) light tank seen from a raised position at a 2 o'clock angle. The tank is parked facing down into a slight dip in the ground. The background is of a flat training ground. The commander's turret hatch & the driver's visor at the tank's right front are open.

A metal pennant to the side of the driver's visor is painted with the Yugoslav flag. On the round armour plate covering the empty hull MG mount, a faded red star is visible. On the turret side we can see the tank's tactical number (555) painted in white as well as a black tank painted in a white circle. The tank is very dusty but is otherwise in good condition.

This vehicle is an Ausf. B, built in 1940 then later refurbished to the standard specified for train escort tanks. So we see the circular armour plate covering the hull MG position, the front Notek light relocated from the mudguard to the hull front and the spare track link storage added to the upper front plate. This tank has also been fitted with a stowage bin with a curved top at the rear. This housed a pre-heating device for the engine.

Photo source is unknown (random internet find), though likely to be from the same series of photos as the others in this thread, held by Medija centar Odbrana.

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Dr Philip W Blood MBA @philipwblood.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

The latest part in the German Way of War Series: open.substack.com/pub/philipwb...

open.substack.com

The German Way of War: Part Two

Der Landser: The Common German Soldier

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Graham 🏳️‍🌈 - UKTM @uk-tank-markings.co.uk · 10/01/2026

Just putting it out there that I'm still taking requests for specific units and insignia. Did the 81st and 82nd West African divisions yesterday, and I've got some Indian Army stuff in the pipeline. Have a look in the shop and if you don't see what you want, let me know and I'll do my best!

A mockup of a white ceramic mug decorated with the insignia of the 82nd West African Division

A mockup of a white ceramic mug decorated with the insignia of the 81st West African Division

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Ian Kikuchi @curatorian.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

Today in 1940, during exercises in northern France, a Matilda I tank named Daffodil from 4th Royal Tank Regiment struggles to climb a bank. Filmed by Harry Rignold of the War Office Film Unit. #filmcataloguing #history #OTD #WW2 Full film: IWM AYY 10-1 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...

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Dr Philip W Blood MBA @philipwblood.bsky.social · 30/12/2025