Winkie Williamson
@palacestories.bsky.social
Writing fact-based stories about the d’Erlanger family at the Ennejma Ezzahra Palace in Sidi Bou Saïd, Tunisia. Currently posting 'real time' about the Tunisian Campaign 1942 - 1943. Four stories NOW: the 'Strathallan', Darlan, Medjez el Bab & CHRISTMAS.
OTD 24 Dec 1942: 'Longstop Hill was a formidable position'. The Guards 'made a fine job of clearing the vital three peaks' and in the darkness handed over to the Americans. Who, in the darkness, stayed on the lower slopes. BIG MISTAKE. D'Arcy Dawson 'Tunisian Battle' p. 50 tinyurl.com/4v26v2eu
December 24, 2025 at 4:34 AM
OTD 24 Dec 1942: 'Longstop Hill was a formidable position'. The Guards 'made a fine job of clearing the vital three peaks' and in the darkness handed over to the Americans. Who, in the darkness, stayed on the lower slopes. BIG MISTAKE. D'Arcy Dawson 'Tunisian Battle' p. 50 tinyurl.com/4v26v2eu
OTD 1942: On Christmas Eve, Stoneman, Middleton and Bill White and I went to Medjez-el-Bab to spend the night with the American troops at the front. We thought it would be a festive night. We didn't know that the battle was the beginning of a push for Tunis.' p 254 tinyurl.com/yebhh254
December 24, 2025 at 4:16 AM
OTD 1942: On Christmas Eve, Stoneman, Middleton and Bill White and I went to Medjez-el-Bab to spend the night with the American troops at the front. We thought it would be a festive night. We didn't know that the battle was the beginning of a push for Tunis.' p 254 tinyurl.com/yebhh254
OTD Xmas Eve 1942: Andre Gide: 'Events incline me to think I shall be here for a long time more, cut off from those who are dear to me and whom I am not even very sure of ever seeing again; dear friends of whom I am constantly thinking and whose affection is the most valuable of my possessions.'
December 24, 2025 at 4:11 AM
OTD Xmas Eve 1942: Andre Gide: 'Events incline me to think I shall be here for a long time more, cut off from those who are dear to me and whom I am not even very sure of ever seeing again; dear friends of whom I am constantly thinking and whose affection is the most valuable of my possessions.'
Philip Jordan Xmas Day 1942: 'We had a bully-beef and wine picnic which was made even more pleasant ... by hearing that Darlan had been shot and is dead. Not being an anarchist I am not, as a rule, in favour of individual assassination, but this has filled me with pleasure. So perish all traitors'
December 24, 2025 at 4:06 AM
Philip Jordan Xmas Day 1942: 'We had a bully-beef and wine picnic which was made even more pleasant ... by hearing that Darlan had been shot and is dead. Not being an anarchist I am not, as a rule, in favour of individual assassination, but this has filled me with pleasure. So perish all traitors'
OTD Xmas Eve 1942. Tunisia. Para Peter Stainforth, receives the news the planned attack has been postponed. With the rain, the roads are impassable. The artillery is bogged down to the axles. Stainforth returns to Beja and plans for Christmas Day. Read his account p. 82: tinyurl.com/4f2bfdmp
December 24, 2025 at 3:58 AM
OTD Xmas Eve 1942. Tunisia. Para Peter Stainforth, receives the news the planned attack has been postponed. With the rain, the roads are impassable. The artillery is bogged down to the axles. Stainforth returns to Beja and plans for Christmas Day. Read his account p. 82: tinyurl.com/4f2bfdmp
OTD Christmas Eve, 1942. Tunisia: Ike at Soukh el Khamis visited GIs i and seen four men trying to push a motorcycle stuck in the mud. Anderson has postponed his 'all-out push on Tunis' Bitter disappointment. Ike gets a phone call and they pack up and head back to Algiers. tinyurl.com/5n6sdfks
December 24, 2025 at 3:51 AM
OTD Christmas Eve, 1942. Tunisia: Ike at Soukh el Khamis visited GIs i and seen four men trying to push a motorcycle stuck in the mud. Anderson has postponed his 'all-out push on Tunis' Bitter disappointment. Ike gets a phone call and they pack up and head back to Algiers. tinyurl.com/5n6sdfks
OTD 23 Dec 1942. Algiers: After dealing with Darlan, Giraud and d'Astier, Eisenhower is relieved that AT LAST he is going to the front. His aide, Harry Butcher describes his joy at the news... the other aides 'will be jealous'. Butcher diary here p.226 tinyurl.com/42f7jbrb
December 23, 2025 at 6:10 AM
OTD 23 Dec 1942. Algiers: After dealing with Darlan, Giraud and d'Astier, Eisenhower is relieved that AT LAST he is going to the front. His aide, Harry Butcher describes his joy at the news... the other aides 'will be jealous'. Butcher diary here p.226 tinyurl.com/42f7jbrb
OTD 23 Dec 1942. Beja: Peter Stainforth and his comrades recovering from a party where they drank wine and drowned their sorrows. A piper played laments, they sang love songs by candlelight and the rain poured. This morning they get ready to move to Medjez el Bab. Again. tinyurl.com/4f2bfdmp p. 81
December 23, 2025 at 6:01 AM
OTD 23 Dec 1942. Beja: Peter Stainforth and his comrades recovering from a party where they drank wine and drowned their sorrows. A piper played laments, they sang love songs by candlelight and the rain poured. This morning they get ready to move to Medjez el Bab. Again. tinyurl.com/4f2bfdmp p. 81
OTD 23 Dec 1942. 'How I hate war, but I hate hating this one, for I prayed for it once.' War reporter Philip Jordan near Medjez el Bab, waiting to start fighting again: 'Heavy rain, without cease, all day'. 'The oddest approach to Christmas I have ever spent.' His diary p. 106: tinyurl.com/3e9mhjjr
December 23, 2025 at 5:20 AM
OTD 23 Dec 1942. 'How I hate war, but I hate hating this one, for I prayed for it once.' War reporter Philip Jordan near Medjez el Bab, waiting to start fighting again: 'Heavy rain, without cease, all day'. 'The oddest approach to Christmas I have ever spent.' His diary p. 106: tinyurl.com/3e9mhjjr
21 Dec 1942. 'What people one meets in the streets! Haggard, ragged, sordid. Hideous outcasts who seem forever unfit for everything that constitutes human dignity, unfit like wise for happiness and having no possible contact with us but their poverty.' Andre Gide 'war diaries' tinyurl.com/7yd57j8x
December 23, 2025 at 5:01 AM
21 Dec 1942. 'What people one meets in the streets! Haggard, ragged, sordid. Hideous outcasts who seem forever unfit for everything that constitutes human dignity, unfit like wise for happiness and having no possible contact with us but their poverty.' Andre Gide 'war diaries' tinyurl.com/7yd57j8x
OTD 23 December 1942, #WW2 'Strathallan' sunk off Oran. 4,400+ on board, 'officially' only 16 died. By ROLE: 6 crew, 5 nurses and 5 troops. It seems no officers died. By GENDER - 5 female; By RACE: 4 Asian. The poor and marginalised pay the price of war. The list: tinyurl.com/pdbmpjxd
December 23, 2025 at 4:47 AM
OTD 23 December 1942, #WW2 'Strathallan' sunk off Oran. 4,400+ on board, 'officially' only 16 died. By ROLE: 6 crew, 5 nurses and 5 troops. It seems no officers died. By GENDER - 5 female; By RACE: 4 Asian. The poor and marginalised pay the price of war. The list: tinyurl.com/pdbmpjxd
OTD 22/12/1942. Jim Gormley has survived the sinking of the Strathallan.'I thought we were going to drown. Water was coming in and I was in the centre of a mass of bodies finding difficulty in breathing. To this day I suffer from claustrophobia because of that experience.' Read tinyurl.com/mu4tbzjn
December 22, 2025 at 7:48 PM
OTD 22/12/1942. Jim Gormley has survived the sinking of the Strathallan.'I thought we were going to drown. Water was coming in and I was in the centre of a mass of bodies finding difficulty in breathing. To this day I suffer from claustrophobia because of that experience.' Read tinyurl.com/mu4tbzjn
OTD 1942, Strathallan off Oran, Nurse Molly Skynn has just seen her friend drown. 'All I could do was hang onto my lifebelt and try not to panic... The night was dark and cold. I floated on my own for four and a half hours... many thoughts went through my mind.' Read her story: tinyurl.com/3xtj3exk
December 22, 2025 at 7:35 PM
OTD 1942, Strathallan off Oran, Nurse Molly Skynn has just seen her friend drown. 'All I could do was hang onto my lifebelt and try not to panic... The night was dark and cold. I floated on my own for four and a half hours... many thoughts went through my mind.' Read her story: tinyurl.com/3xtj3exk
OTD 22 / 12 / 1942. Mrs D Asher Military Nursing Service, on the Strathallan. 'We were scarcely away from the ship when I felt water lapping around my feet. The lifeboat was full of nurses all who were aghast. Amazingly the sailors had forgot to put in the plug. Read her story. tinyurl.com/mr2ytbwb
December 22, 2025 at 7:07 PM
OTD 22 / 12 / 1942. Mrs D Asher Military Nursing Service, on the Strathallan. 'We were scarcely away from the ship when I felt water lapping around my feet. The lifeboat was full of nurses all who were aghast. Amazingly the sailors had forgot to put in the plug. Read her story. tinyurl.com/mr2ytbwb
OTD 22 December 1942, In Oran, Algeria, the survivors from the Strathallan have had a lucky escape. Bill Aldcroft made it through France but was captured and in a POW camp. At 100, he was interviewed about his life. And he has a Jack Russel! tinyurl.com/mwc54n6z
December 22, 2025 at 1:06 PM
OTD 22 December 1942, In Oran, Algeria, the survivors from the Strathallan have had a lucky escape. Bill Aldcroft made it through France but was captured and in a POW camp. At 100, he was interviewed about his life. And he has a Jack Russel! tinyurl.com/mwc54n6z
OTD 22 December 1942. The Strathallan off Oran. The vast majority of those on board the torpedoed Strathallan survived. Their stories on this site make fascinating reading. Plus, it includes 'what happened next?' and the lives they went on to lead. tinyurl.com/mhc9r6p3
December 22, 2025 at 12:59 PM
OTD 22 December 1942. The Strathallan off Oran. The vast majority of those on board the torpedoed Strathallan survived. Their stories on this site make fascinating reading. Plus, it includes 'what happened next?' and the lives they went on to lead. tinyurl.com/mhc9r6p3
This popped up for OTD 1934 … but it’s a good introduction to the unbelievable star that is Josephine Baker. And OTD in 1942 she is in Morocco. Quite soon she will appear in my Palace at War posts. Behind the scenes Baker is a secret agent for the Free French. Here, she lights up the screen.
Marc Allégret's 🇫🇷 French comedy-drama film "ZOUZOU" starring Josephine Baker and Jean Gabin, premiered #OnThisDay in 1934 in Paris, notable for Baker's title character role as the first black woman to play the leading role in a major motion picture
🎬 Corona Films
🎬 Corona Films
December 22, 2025 at 10:24 AM
This popped up for OTD 1934 … but it’s a good introduction to the unbelievable star that is Josephine Baker. And OTD in 1942 she is in Morocco. Quite soon she will appear in my Palace at War posts. Behind the scenes Baker is a secret agent for the Free French. Here, she lights up the screen.
Reposted by Winkie Williamson
December 22, 2025 at 6:48 AM
20/12/1942 Algiers. Harry Butcher writes in his diary (p226) that the reaction in London to the Darlan appointment is 'savage'. The press use words like 'revolting' and 'disgusting'. At midnight. Darlan & Giraud meet Ike to demand Gaulllist d'Astier be sent out of Algeria. tinyurl.com/42f7jbrb
December 22, 2025 at 4:58 AM
20/12/1942 Algiers. Harry Butcher writes in his diary (p226) that the reaction in London to the Darlan appointment is 'savage'. The press use words like 'revolting' and 'disgusting'. At midnight. Darlan & Giraud meet Ike to demand Gaulllist d'Astier be sent out of Algeria. tinyurl.com/42f7jbrb
OTD 22 December 1942. Among those who lost their lives in the sinking of the Strathallan included three Indian crew members working in the engine room: Saheb DIN, Nizam DIN (both 43) and Muhammed AKBARr (29). Some lists also mention a fourth victim 'Ibrahim'. tinyurl.com/muzkzfa2
December 22, 2025 at 4:52 AM
OTD 22 December 1942. Among those who lost their lives in the sinking of the Strathallan included three Indian crew members working in the engine room: Saheb DIN, Nizam DIN (both 43) and Muhammed AKBARr (29). Some lists also mention a fourth victim 'Ibrahim'. tinyurl.com/muzkzfa2
OTD 22 December 1942 Oran, Algeria. Survivors of the Strathallan arrive onshore. Among them, 20-year-old Bill Aldcock Londoner, who left school at 14 barely able to read or write."THE WAR SAVED ME," he later said. His life is EXTRAORDINARY. Read this interview from 2022: tinyurl.com/mwc54n6z
December 22, 2025 at 4:18 AM
OTD 22 December 1942 Oran, Algeria. Survivors of the Strathallan arrive onshore. Among them, 20-year-old Bill Aldcock Londoner, who left school at 14 barely able to read or write."THE WAR SAVED ME," he later said. His life is EXTRAORDINARY. Read this interview from 2022: tinyurl.com/mwc54n6z
The GREATEST research resource online is archive.org - which provides me with access to 25+ diaries of the witnesses to the WW2TUNISIAN CAMPAIGN from which I post daily. And it's offline. BEST WISHES to all those trying to get it back up in time for Christmas. SUPPORT ARCHIVE.ORG!!!!
December 22, 2025 at 4:03 AM
The GREATEST research resource online is archive.org - which provides me with access to 25+ diaries of the witnesses to the WW2TUNISIAN CAMPAIGN from which I post daily. And it's offline. BEST WISHES to all those trying to get it back up in time for Christmas. SUPPORT ARCHIVE.ORG!!!!
OTD 21 December 1942. Margaret Bourke White enjoys a cup of tea on HMS Panther after being rescued from the Strathallan. On her right RNVR Officer David Alexander Reginald Herbert. He lives a WILD LIFE! Ian Fleming referred to him as 'The Queen of Tangiers' . en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_H...
December 21, 2025 at 8:33 PM
OTD 21 December 1942. Margaret Bourke White enjoys a cup of tea on HMS Panther after being rescued from the Strathallan. On her right RNVR Officer David Alexander Reginald Herbert. He lives a WILD LIFE! Ian Fleming referred to him as 'The Queen of Tangiers' . en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_H...
OTD 21 Dec 1942: The sinking Strathallan off Oran. Photographer Margaret Bourke White captured the scene on board the life raft. Check this reddit site for more excellent photos on board the rescue ship. tinyurl.com/ydd86psx
December 21, 2025 at 8:18 PM
OTD 21 Dec 1942: The sinking Strathallan off Oran. Photographer Margaret Bourke White captured the scene on board the life raft. Check this reddit site for more excellent photos on board the rescue ship. tinyurl.com/ydd86psx