13th November 2009 saw the most visitors in a single day 414
Most visitors in a single month: November 2011 with 5730 visitors!
The most visited and most popular pages are: 1933-1944 Postcard Gallery, British Free Corps 1943-45 and the British Union of Fascists 1932-1940 articles
Beate and Bill Medland during a visit to Oxfordshire in 2010.
BILL´S BUNKER Bill "Willi" Medland is the one to blame for this website. Bills-Bunker.de has been running since November 2003 and merged with Beate´s "German Home Front" in early 2009. Both sites becoming a single source providing information not only on the military topics, but also the civilians on the British and German home fronts.
Feel free to write in the guestbook or e-mail us direct. However, before you contact us, be aware that we do not search for missing relatives or have any contact with war veterans associations within Germany.
***FAQ regarding the Bunker***
Why collect Militaria and read about Warfare?
I became interested in WW2 militaria when I was a school boy in Coventry. We collected shell splinters and bits of bombs from the Luftwaffe attacks on Britain some 15 years before. Of course in those days there was still many veterans living, and a young boy obtained a gasmask from a London air raid shelter or perhaps a steel helmet from a grandfather that had served in the Desert Rats. Armed with a few bits and pieces, I was a militaria collector at the age of 13. I would return home with a new item for my collection and it would get members of the family going, I would then hear stories about the Somme 1916 or Dunkirk 1940.
I remember my Grandmother telling me about her Blackshirt boyfriend, and saying "the Germans were nice fellows really".As a teenager I remember watching a BBC documentary about the Luftwaffe in that hot summer of 1940, pilots wearing their black leather jackets, laughing as they climb into the JU87 stukas. Not any different to the fine young men of the Royal Air Force, such is the tragedy of a war.
Where does the information come from?
Almost forty years on, this collecting bug has not found an end. I am constantly surrounded by piles of old documents, newspapers and books from WW2, almost all of it is original from 1939-1945. I spend about 30 hours reading a week, due mostly to my work, I spend a lot of time on trains travelling around the country. I use original source material from the War, I tend to draw my own conclusions from history, perhaps even picking up on a point that other historians may have missed and that is what research is all about.
Why is the website in English?
Some of my German friends have complained that Bills Bunker is written in English, and they would like to read it in German (I live in Germany). If I wrote everything in German then my wife would be spending all her free time correcting it! I think that most of the people interested in the themes that I cover come from the UK or USA. So I will continue to write in my mother language. However, entries in the Bunker Guestbook or the Message Board may be in the English or German languages.
Why do I feel "Bills Bunker" is important?
My intention is to bring over historical information with a "as it was seen then" type of view. I try hard to avoid hindsight or judgement, leaving that up to the readers themselves. I sometimes cover articles that are considered "hot potatoes" which some would rather push under the carpet. I stongly believe that such subjects should be remembered and not forgotten.
My hobbies and interests?
Most of my hobbies lead back to WW2 in some way, be it Model Making, Model Railways, Stamp Collecting or Wargaming. However, my interest in WW2 is not limited to a desk or tabletop, I am also active in Battle Reenactment since 1977. This takes place mostly in the UK and the Benelux, where WW2 Living History is allowed. In recent years my wife and son have also joined the Living History hobby, making it a team effort.
Photo Copyrights:
Most of the photos come from my private collection. It should also be noted that this Homepage contains no pop-ups or advertisements and is sponsored out of my own pocket. A Homepage maintained by a "Hobby Historian" for other Hobby Historians.
Other copyright material:
Permission to use the "British Union of Fascist" material was kindly granted by the "Friends of Sir Oswald Mosley".
Beate and Bill filmed during a BBC documentary in England.
British Line Infantry 1815
The Bunker is being updated almost weekly, so it pays to return on a regular basis. It is an on going work in progress that will never be finished, but such is research, always new documents and photos coming to light. However we do recieve a lot of e-mails, time and resources do not allow us to answer all of them (although we do read all e-mails sent).
