Sincere Gratitude on the Forthcoming 12th Anniversary of the Arnhem Jim Blog

The 12^th Anniversary (28 March) of the Arnhem Jim blog is rapidly approaching. When my oldest son, a retired Commander, and Naval Aviator (helicopters; now with the Indiana National Guard) suggested the idea, I had no idea that a blog focused on such extremely esoteric subject matter would become, and stay, as popular as it has. In addition to keeping me mentally stimulated, it has been both challenging and a tremendous educational experience to have received, researched, and responded to some very unique comments. My most sincere thanks to everyone for your interest and loyal readership.

 

The blog as of this date (19 March 2023) has received 974,875 hits from 204 countries. My goal is to reach a million hits. Given its main content the reader should not be surprised that the United States, United Kingdom, and the Netherlands, predominate in readership. Some of the more unique viewers with multiple hits have come from such countries/territories as Andorra, Aland Islands, Faroe Islands, Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, Mayotte, Seychelles, to name but a few. There are currently 102 registered followers of the blog.

 

A relatively recent phenomenon has been to see an initial hit from a single reader with an immediate follow-up series of queries of interest of 25-30 hits. Such is the Internet. There is also a group of extremely loyal readers who have chosen to remain anonymous for well over a decade. They have come from the Central District of  Hong Kong, Cape Town, South Africa, Huizen, Arnhem, and Oosterbeek, the Netherlands (all expected), and Mountain View, CA, Redmond, WA, Phoenix, AZ, to name a few.

 

I was curious to try and learn what subjects and/or specific articles have been the most popular. The one method that came to mind was to scan the entire list of blog articles and find the ones with the highest number of accumulated comments. This is not necessarily the most accurate, as there are orders of battle, lists of toy soldiers, referrals from other forums, that are apparently also of reasonably high interest. However, here is a selection of some that have seen significant popularity based on number of comments. They are listed chronologically by URL for the convenience of the reader who might want to scan some of them:

 

http://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2011/04/wwii-cutting-edge-night-vision.html

http://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2011/06/british-cap-badges-additional-guidance.html

http://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2011/08/wwi-royal-naval-division-cap-badges_28.html

 http://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2011/09/wwii-parachute-regiment-cap-badge.html

http://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2011/09/general-aircraft-gal-4950-hamilcar.html

http://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2011/10/other-webley-limited-standard-semi.html

http://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2012/01/the-reincarnation-of-calcutta-light.html

http://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2012/01/war-canoes-of-world-war-ii-cockleshell.html

http://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2012/05/collection-of-toy-soldiersmilitary.html

http://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2012/06/hamilcar-gliders-at-operation-market.html

http://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2012/09/british-1st-airborne-division-vehicle.html

http://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-airborne-jeeps-of-1st-airborne.html

http://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-17-pounder-anti-tank-guns-at.html
http://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2015/07/a-bridge-too-far-movie-casting-mirrors.html

http://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-6-pounder-anti-tank-guns-at_10.html

http://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2017/02/a-field-guide-to-regimental-ties.html

http://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2017/07/detailed-list-of-arms-and-equipment-of.html

https://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2019/06/greenwood-ball-connoisseur-military.html

https://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2019/09/wireless-sets-of-1st-airborne-division.html

https://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2020/01/its-in-cards.html

https://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2020/10/fox-morigi-or-moriarty-its-all-in-name.html

https://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2021/10/an-original-unissued-german-wwii_28.html

 

I am most sincerely appreciative of the 101 registered followers of the blog as well as all the other readers over the decade plus that the blog has been published. I fully intend to continue publication, and once again solicit any and all reader recommendations for subjects of interest and/or specific comments/questions.

Slàinte Mhòr! Slàinte! (Gaelic for Great Good Health! Health!)

Arnhem Jim