Archive - Alex Churchill’s HistoryStack

ARTICLE: The State of the French Air Force, 1940

Today I’m rounding off what I started on Tuesday with General d’Astier’s defence of the French Air Force in 1940 and his thoughts about war-readiness.

21 hrs ago • Alex Churchill

ARTICLE: The French Air Force and the Fall of France, 1940

Sometimes I think it’s my job to tell you a story, but given my obsession with banging on about the French I think there are also occasions when it’s my…

Jun 16 • Alex Churchill

FREE PHOTO ARTICLE: Postcards From France

As I write this I am collapsed in a chair at my hairdresser Hayley’s house looking like a poor imitation of Tina Turner in Beyond the Thunderdome with…

Jun 12 • Alex Churchill

FULL FEATURE: Frogs, Medals and Red tape on the Somme, 1916

By the time you read this, I would have dragged my latest tour group to the French sector on the Somme and given them a grounding in the fact that the…

Jun 8 • Alex Churchill

ARTICLE: Witches, Ghosts, and WW1 Brothels

I had fun with this a couple of weeks ago, and so here are a couple more instances of French people behaving badly.

Jun 5 • Alex Churchill

ARTICLE: Four Days in Strasbourg, 1870

It’s been a while, so today I thought I would go back to the Franco-Prussian war and have a look at a snapshot of unfolding disaster.

Jun 2 • Alex Churchill

May 2026

ARTICLE: Kitchener Arrives at the War Office, 1914

When we wrote Ring of Fire, we committed to producing a history of the opening weeks of the war from the bottom up.

May 29 • Alex Churchill

ARTICLE: Blowing up 16 Locomotives, 1944

Over the next couple of weeks I’m going to be revealing what happened when I spent a morning in a French village full of bookshops.

May 27 • Alex Churchill

True Crime in Calvados, 1920

Anyone that lives under the preconception that all French people are a model of sophistication and culture, hold my drink.

May 22 • Alex Churchill

FREE PHOTO ALBUM: Verdun Getaway

Each spring, we at the Great War Group stage a spring getaway to a part of the Western Front that pushes our members beyond their usual comfort zone.

May 19 • Alex Churchill

ARTICLE: A French Airman’s View of Defeat, 1940

Today I wanted to share another first hand account with you.

May 15 • Alex Churchill

PHOTO ARTICLE: George VI's Coronation, 1937

After an existential crisis to the monarchy in which his elder brother abdicated, 89 years ago today, Britain celebrated the coronation of George VI…

May 12 • Alex Churchill