Monthly Battlegrounds+ Update
US Navy podcasts, Australian history sites, and a Facebook ban -- oh my
Big things have been happening for Battlegrounds+ thus far in 2024. From being featured in a podcast to writing for an Australian history site, to getting banned from Facebook, it’s been a roller coaster.
Housekeeping
First, let me apologize for the month-long delay in getting Battlegrounds Plus out to you. I’ve been busy working on an extremely in-depth article for History Guild, all about the battle for Rethymno during the German airborne invasion of Crete in 1942.
I won’t go into much detail other than to let you know it’s a fantastic piece of history about which I knew very little. It did, however, take up a lot of my time. It’s still in the editing process but I will let you know when it gets published.
That said, I’m also busy working on the next big Battlegrounds+ piece, which will be about the horrendous 1944 nighttime bombing raid on Nuremburg known as “Black Friday”. There was a full moon and the skies were as bright as day. Bomber Command lost 105 heavy bombers to German fighters that night — the single worst night in the RAF’s history.
You can expect this article in early March.
Battlegrounds+ and US Naval History Podcast
The creator and host of the US Naval History Podcast reached out to me concerning the Battlegrounds+ post about the USS Hornet. They were preparing a podcast about the famous US carrier and asked if they could use some stuff from Battlegrounds.
I’m happy to report that the podcast episode opens with a word-by-word transcription of the Battlegrounds+ post. You can listen to it:
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
It’s a great episode and goes much more in-depth than I did. It includes some fantastic archival sound bytes from veterans who served on the Hornet. Definitely worth a listen.
History Guild
As mentioned, I’ve been writing for History Guild, an Australian history project with a goal towards preserving and sharing Australia’s historical heritage. It covers more than just Australian history. For example, the first article I wrote for them was about the Saar Offensive, when France launched a half-hearted invasion of Germany in the opening week of the Second World War.
So far I’ve been invited to write a third article with History Guild, so it seems we work together well. I can tell you from my own experience that the site is perfect for us history buffs. The people who run it are friendly and intelligent, and the other writers they have are top notch. Check them out and see for yourself!
Facebook woes
Battlegrounds+ has been unpublished from Facebook and I cannot get anyone at Meta to explain why, or to reinstate it. The page was taken down unexpectedly in November of last year. I immediately asked for a review, and the page has been sitting in the review process ever since. I have reached out multiple times to Meta but have never received a response.
We have 60,000 followers, 11.5 million monthly visitors and are in the top 400 most visited history pages on Facebook. I’ve personally spent hours producing original Facebook Reels and videos. I’ve spent about $200 of my own money in Facebook ads over the past three years.
It is now time to try and move this community over to a new social network. I haven’t figured out which one is best. Twitter is a bit of a dumpster fire right now. One strong contender is Substack Notes, but that would require hundreds of you who subscribe to this newsletter to create a Substack account. I don’t expect that of anyone and I don’t really want to go that route.
So as it is, Battlegrounds+ is stuck in limbo when it comes to daily social media posting. 60,000 fans on Facebook are also without their daily fix of battle footage and historic photos.
What’s next?
There are a few projects in the works for Battlegrounds+. The Nuremberg article, plus a detailed look at the Civil War slaughter on Marye’s Heights during the Battle of Fredericksburg. We’ll also finish up the Islands of Blood series with articles on Saipan, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
Take care, and like always, thanks for being a subscriber and a fellow fan of history!
Nathan Drescher