1.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
2.
British Army
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The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom. As of 2017 the British Army comprises just over 80,000 trained Regular, or full-time, personnel and just over 26,500 trained Reserve, or part-time personnel. Therefore, the UK Parliament approves the continued existence of the Army by passing an Armed Forces Act at least once every five years, day to day the Army comes under administration of the Ministry of Defence and is commanded by the Chief of the General Staff. Repeatedly emerging victorious from these decisive wars allowed Britain to influence world events with its policies and establish itself as one of the leading military. In 1660 the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were restored under Charles II, Charles favoured the foundation of a new army under royal control and began work towards its establishment by August 1660. The Royal Scots Army and the Irish Army were financed by the Parliament of Scotland, the order of seniority of the most senior line regiments in the British Army is based on the order of seniority in the English army. At that time there was only one English regiment of dragoons, after William and Marys accession to the throne, England involved itself in the War of the Grand Alliance, primarily to prevent a French invasion restoring Marys father, James II. Spain, in the two centuries, had been the dominant global power, and the chief threat to Englands early transatlantic ambitions. The territorial ambitions of the French, however, led to the War of the Spanish Succession and the Napoleonic Wars. From the time of the end of the Seven Years War in 1763, Great Britain was the naval power. As had its predecessor, the English Army, the British Army fought the Kingdoms of Spain, France, and the Netherlands for supremacy in North America and the West Indies. With native and provincial assistance, the Army conquered New France in the North American theatre of the Seven Years War, the British Army suffered defeat in the American War of Independence, losing the Thirteen Colonies but holding on to Canada. The British Army was heavily involved in the Napoleonic Wars and served in campaigns across Europe. The war between the British and the First French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte stretched around the world and at its peak, in 1813, the regular army contained over 250,000 men. A Coalition of Anglo-Dutch and Prussian Armies under the Duke of Wellington, the English had been involved, both politically and militarily, in Ireland since being given the Lordship of Ireland by the Pope in 1171. The campaign of the English republican Protector, Oliver Cromwell, involved uncompromising treatment of the Irish towns that had supported the Royalists during the English Civil War, the English Army stayed in Ireland primarily to suppress numerous Irish revolts and campaigns for independence. Having learnt from their experience in America, the British government sought a political solution, the British Army found itself fighting Irish rebels, both Protestant and Catholic, primarily in Ulster and Leinster in the 1798 rebellion. The Haldane Reforms of 1907 formally created the Territorial Force as the Armys volunteer reserve component by merging and reorganising the Volunteer Force, Militia, Great Britains dominance of the world had been challenged by numerous other powers, in the 20th century, most notably Germany
3.
The Blitz
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By September 1940—two months into the battle—faulty German intelligence suggested that the Royal Air Force was close to defeat at the hands of the Luftwaffe. The German air fleets were ordered to attack London, thereby drawing up the last remnants of RAF Fighter Command into a battle of annihilation, Adolf Hitler and commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, sanctioned the change in emphasis on 6 September 1940. From 7 September 1940, one year into the war, London was systematically bombed by the Luftwaffe for 56 out of the following 57 days, on 15 September 1940, a large daylight attack against London was repulsed with significant German losses. Thereafter, the Luftwaffe gradually decreased daylight operations in favour of nocturnal attacks, ports and industrial centres outside London were also attacked. The main Atlantic sea port of Liverpool was bombed, the North Sea port of Hull, a convenient and easily found target or secondary target for bombers unable to locate their primary targets, was subjected to raids in the Hull Blitz during the war. More than one million London houses were destroyed or damaged and more than 40,000 civilians were killed, by May 1941, the threat of an invasion of Britain had ended, and Hitlers attention turned to Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. The bombing failed to demoralise the British into surrender or significantly damage the war economy, the eight months of bombing never seriously hampered British production and the war industries continued to operate and expand. The German offensives greatest effect was forcing the dispersal of aircraft production, British wartime studies concluded that cities generally took 10 to 15 days to recover when hit severely but exceptions like Birmingham took three months. The German air offensive failed for several reasons, discussions in OKL revolved around tactics rather than strategy. Poor intelligence on British industry and economic efficiency was also a factor, in the 1920s and 1930s, air power theorists Giulio Douhet and Billy Mitchell espoused the idea that air forces could win wars, without a need for land and sea fighting. It was thought there was no defence against air attack, particularly at night, enemy industry, seats of government, factories and communications could be destroyed, taking away their means to resist. It was also thought the bombing of residential centres would cause a collapse of civilian will, democracies, where the populace was allowed to show overt disapproval of the state, were thought particularly vulnerable. This thinking was prevalent in both the RAF and the United States Army Air Corps, the policy of RAF Bomber Command became an attempt to achieve victory through the destruction of civilian will, communications and industry. In the Luftwaffe, there was a view of strategic bombing. OKL did not believe that air power alone could be decisive, contrary to popular belief, evidence suggests that the Luftwaffe did not adopt an official bombing policy in which civilians became the primary target until 1942. The vital industries and transport centres that would be targeted for shutdown were valid military targets and it could be claimed civilians were not to be targeted directly, but the breakdown of production would affect their morale and will to fight. German legal scholars of the 1930s carefully worked out guidelines for what type of bombing was permissible under international law. Wever outlined five points of air strategy, To destroy the air force by bombing its bases and aircraft factories
4.
Normandy landings
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The Normandy landings were the landing operations on Tuesday,6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. The largest seaborne invasion in history, the operation began the liberation of German-occupied northwestern Europe from Nazi control, planning for the operation began in 1943. Adolf Hitler placed German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in command of German forces, the amphibious landings were preceded by extensive aerial and naval bombardment and an airborne assault—the landing of 24,000 American, British, and Canadian airborne troops shortly after midnight. Allied infantry and armoured divisions began landing on the coast of France at 06,30, the target 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coast was divided into five sectors, Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. Strong winds blew the landing craft east of their positions, particularly at Utah. Casualties were heaviest at Omaha, with its high cliffs, at Gold, Juno, and Sword, several fortified towns were cleared in house-to-house fighting, and two major gun emplacements at Gold were disabled, using specialised tanks. The Allies failed to any of their goals on the first day. Carentan, St. Lô, and Bayeux remained in German hands, and Caen, German casualties on D-Day have been estimated at 4,000 to 9,000 men. Allied casualties were at least 10,000, with 4,414 confirmed dead, museums, memorials, and war cemeteries in the area now host many visitors each year. Between 27 May and 4 June 1940, over 338,000 troops of the British Expeditionary Force, after the German Army invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin began pressing his allies for the creation of a second front in western Europe. In late May 1942 the Soviet Union and the United States made a joint announcement that a. full understanding was reached with regard to the urgent tasks of creating a front in Europe in 1942. Instead of a return to France, the Western Allies staged offensives in the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations. By mid-1943 the campaign in North Africa had been won, the Allies then launched the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, and subsequently invaded Italy in September the same year. By then, Soviet forces were on the offensive and had won a victory at the Battle of Stalingrad. The decision to undertake a cross-channel invasion within the year was taken at the Trident Conference in Washington in May 1943. Initial planning was constrained by the number of landing craft, most of which were already committed in the Mediterranean. At the Tehran Conference in November 1943, Roosevelt and Churchill promised Stalin that they would open the second front in May 1944. Four sites were considered for the landings, Brittany, the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy, as Brittany and Cotentin are peninsulas, it would have been possible for the Germans to cut off the Allied advance at a relatively narrow isthmus, so these sites were rejected
5.
Operation Overlord
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Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings, a 1, 200-plane airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault involving more than 5,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June, the decision to undertake a cross-channel invasion in 1944 was taken at the Trident Conference in Washington in May 1943. The coast of Normandy was chosen as the site of the invasion, with the Americans assigned to land at sectors codenamed Utah and Omaha, the British at Sword and Gold, and the Canadians at Juno. In the months leading up to the invasion, the Allies conducted a military deception, Operation Bodyguard. This misled the Germans as to the date and location of the main Allied landings, Adolf Hitler placed German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in charge of developing fortifications all along the Atlantic Wall in anticipation of an invasion. A failed counterattack by German forces on 8 August left 50,000 soldiers of the 7th Army trapped in the Falaise pocket, the Allies launched an invasion of southern France on 15 August, and the Liberation of Paris followed on 25 August. German forces retreated across the Seine on 30 August 1944, marking the close of Operation Overlord, in June 1940, Germanys leader Adolf Hitler had triumphed in what he called the most famous victory in history—the fall of France. The defending British Expeditionary Force, trapped along the northern coast of France, was able to evacuate over 338,000 troops to England in the Dunkirk evacuation. After the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin began pressing for the creation of a front in Western Europe. Two tentative plans code-named Operation Roundup and Operation Sledgehammer were put forward for 1942–43, instead, the Allies launched the invasion of French North Africa in November 1942, the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, and invaded Italy in September. These operations provided the troops with valuable experience in amphibious warfare, the decision to undertake a cross-channel invasion within the next year was taken at the Trident Conference in Washington in May 1943. Churchill favoured making the main Allied thrust into Germany from the Mediterranean theatre, but was over-ruled by his American allies, British Lieutenant-General Frederick E. Morgan was appointed Chief of Staff, Supreme Allied Commander, to begin detailed planning. The initial plans were constrained by the number of landing craft, most of which were already committed in the Mediterranean. In part because of lessons learned in the Dieppe Raid of 19 August 1942, the failure at Dieppe also highlighted the need for adequate artillery and air support, particularly close air support, and specialised ships able to travel extremely close to shore. Morgan considered four sites for the landings, Brittany, the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy, as Brittany and Cotentin are peninsulas, it would have been possible for the Germans to cut off the Allied advance at a relatively narrow isthmus, so these sites were rejected. The Pas de Calais is the closest point in continental Europe to Britain and was the location of sites for V-1 and V-2 rockets. The Germans considered it to be the most likely initial landing zone, Normandy was hence chosen as the landing site
6.
Battle of the Scheldt
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Led by Guy Simonds, the battle took place in northern Belgium and southwestern Netherlands during World War II from October 2 to November 8,1944. The well-established Wehrmacht defenders staged an effective delaying action, during which the Germans flooded the Scheldt Estuary, both land and water were mined, and the Germans defended their line of retreat with artillery and snipers. But the advance halted with the British in possession of Antwerp, little was done about the blocked port of Antwerp during September because Operation Market Garden was to form a buffer between Germany and Antwerp, which it succeeded in doing. In the meantime, German forces in the Scheldt were able to deploy defensively, the first attacks occurred on September 13. In early October after operation Market Garden, Allied forces led by the Canadian First Army set out to bring the give the port of Antwerp access to the sea, Montgomery then decided that the importance of Antwerp was such that the actual capture of Dunkirk could be delayed. Under command at that time was Canadian II Corps, with the Polish 1st Armoured Division, 49th and 52nd Divisions attached, Montgomery promised the support of RAF Bomber Command in attacking the German fortifications and that of the USAAF 8th Air Force On the day concerned. The 51st Infantry Division was to give up its transport to enable the movement of forces into position for the battle, abandoning the capture of Dunkirk freed the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division. The plan for opening the Scheldt estuary involved four main operations conducted over daunting geography, the first task was to clear the area north of Antwerp and secure access to South Beveland. Second was to clear the Breskens pocket north of the Leopold Canal, third, dubbed Operation Vitality, was the capture of South Beveland. The final phase would be the capture of Walcheren Island, which had been fortified into a powerful German stronghold, as part of the Atlantic Wall, Walcheren Island was considered to be the strongest concentration of defences the Nazis had ever constructed. The Polish 1st Armoured Division headed for the Dutch-Belgian border further east, an attack was mounted in the vicinity of Moerkerke, crossing the canals and establishing a bridgehead before counter-attacks forced a withdrawal with heavy casualties. The 1st Polish Armoured Division enjoyed greater success to the east as it advanced northeast from Ghent, on October 2, the Canadian 2nd Division began its advance north from Antwerp. Stiff fighting at Woensdrecht ensued on October 6, the objective of the first phase, the Germans—reinforced by Battle Group Chill—saw the priority in holding there, controlling direct access to South Beveland and Walcheren Island. There were heavy casualties as the Canadians attacked over open, flooded land, driving rain, booby traps and land mines made advance very difficult. On October 13, what would come to be known as Black Friday, the Calgary Highlanders were to follow up with a more successful action, and their Carrier Platoon succeeded in taking the rail station at Korteven. Heavy fighting at Hoogerheide also ensued, but by October 16, Woensdrecht was secured, cutting the link to South Beveland. The Canadians had achieved their first objective, but suffered heavy casualties, at this point, recognizing the opportunity, Field-Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery issued a directive that made the opening of the Scheldt estuary the top priority of 21st Army Group. To the east, the British Second Army attacked westward to clear the Netherlands south of the Maas River, meanwhile, Simonds concentrated forces at the neck of the South Beveland peninsula
7.
Royal Artillery
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The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery, is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name Royal Regiment of Artillery it actually consists of 13 Regular Regiments and 5 Reserve Regiments, the introduction of artillery into the English army came as early as the Battle of Crécy in 1346. Henry VIII made the armys artillery semi-permanent in the sixteenth century, before the 18th century, artillery traynes were raised by royal warrant for specific campaigns and disbanded again when they were over. On 26 May 1716, however, by warrant of George I two regular companies of field artillery, each 100 men strong, were raised at Woolwich. The title Royal Artillery was first used in 1720, in 1741 the Royal Military Academy was formed in the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich to provide training for RA and Royal Engineers officers. The regiment expanded rapidly and, by 1757, had 24 companies divided into two battalions, as well as a company formed in 1741. During 1748, the presidential artilleries of Bengal, Madras and Bombay were formed,1756 saw the creation of the Royal Irish Regiment of Artillery. In 1762 the Royal Artillery Band was formed at Minden, by 1771 there were 32 companies in four battalions, as well as two invalid companies comprising older and unfit men employed in garrison duties. During 1782, the regiment moved to the Royal Artillery Barracks on Woolwich Common, in January 1793, two troops of Royal Horse Artillery were raised to provide fire support for the cavalry, augmented by two more in November 1793. The Royal Irish Artillery was absorbed into the RA in 1801, during 1805, the Royal Military Academy moved to Woolwich Common. In 1819, the Rotunda was given to the regiment by the Prince Regent to celebrate end of the Napoleonic Wars, in 1832, the regimental motto, Ubique Quo Fas Et Gloria Ducunt, was granted. The motto signified that the regiment had seen action in all the conflicts of the British Army. The regiment was under the control of the Board of Ordnance until the board was abolished in 1855, thereafter the regiment came under the War Office along with the rest of the army. The School of Gunnery established at Shoeburyness, Essex in 1859, the third group continued to be titled simply Royal Artillery, and was responsible for ammunition storage and supply. Which branch a gunner belonged to was indicated by metal shoulder titles, the RFA and RHA also dressed as mounted men, whereas the RGA dressed like foot soldiers. In 1920 the rank of Bombardier was instituted in the Royal Artillery, the three sections effectively functioned as separate corps. This arrangement lasted until 1924, when the three amalgamated once more to one regiment. In 1938, RA Brigades were renamed Regiments, during the World War II there were over 1 million men serving in 960 gunner regiments
8.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
9.
Western Front (World War II)
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The Western Front of the European theatre of World War II encompassed Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany. World War II military engagements in Southern Europe and elsewhere are generally considered under separate headings, the Western Front was marked by two phases of large-scale combat operations. The second phase consisted of ground combat, which began in June 1944 with the Allied landings in Normandy. The Phoney War was a phase of World War II marked by a few military operations in Continental Europe in the months following the German invasion of Poland. Although the great powers of Europe had declared war on one another, neither side had yet committed to launching a significant attack and this was also the period in which The United Kingdom and France did not supply significant aid to Poland, despite their pledged alliance. While most of the German Army was fighting against Poland, a much smaller German force manned the Siegfried Line, there were only some local, minor skirmishes. The British Royal Air Force dropped propaganda leaflets on Germany and the first Canadian troops stepped ashore in Britain, while Western Europe was in a strange calm for seven months. In their hurry to re-arm, Britain and France had both begun to buy large numbers of weapons manufacturers in the United States at the outbreak of hostilities. The non-belligerent United States, contributed to the Western Allies by discounted sales of military equipment, German efforts to interdict the Allies trans-Atlantic trade at sea ignited the Battle of the Atlantic. However, when the Allies made a counter-landing in Norway following the German invasion, the Kriegsmarine, nonetheless, suffered very heavy losses during the two-months of fighting required to seize all of mainland Norway. In May 1940, the Germans launched the Battle of France, the Western Allies soon collapsed under the onslaught of the so-called blitzkrieg strategy. The majority of the British and elements of the French forces escaped at Dunkirk, with the fighting ended, the Germans began to consider ways of resolving the question of how to deal with Britain. If the British refused to agree to a treaty, one option was to invade. However, Nazi Germanys Kriegsmarine, had suffered losses in Norway. With the Luftwaffe unable to defeat the RAF in the Battle of Britain and these were built in anticipation of an Allied invasion of France. Because of the massive logistical obstacles a cross-channel invasion would face, on 19 August 1942, the Allies began the Dieppe Raid, an attack on Dieppe, France. Most of the troops were Canadian, with some British contingents, the raid was a disaster, almost two-thirds of the attacking force became casualties. However, much was learned as a result of the operation – these lessons would be put to use in the subsequent invasion
10.
Scheldt
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The Scheldt is a 350-kilometre long river in northern France, western Belgium and the southwestern part of the Netherlands. Its name is derived from an adjective corresponding to Old English sceald shallow, Modern English shoal, Low German schol, Frisian skol, the headwaters of the Scheldt are in Gouy, in the Aisne department of northern France. It flows north through Cambrai and Valenciennes, and enters Belgium near Tournai, in Ghent, where it receives the Lys, one of its main tributaries, the Scheldt turns east. Near Antwerp, the largest city on its banks, the Scheldt flows west into the Netherlands towards the North Sea, today the river therefore continues into the Westerschelde estuary only, passing Terneuzen to reach the North Sea between Breskens in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen and Vlissingen on Walcheren. The Scheldt is an important waterway, and has been navigable from its mouth up to Cambrai. The port of Antwerp, the second largest in Europe, lies on its banks, several canals connect the Scheldt with the basins of the Rhine, Meuse and Seine, and with the industrial areas around Brussels, Liège, Lille, Dunkirk and Mons. In Roman times, it was important for the lanes to Roman Britain. Nehalennia was venerated at its mouth, the Franks took control over the region about the year 260 and at first interfered with the Roman supply routes as pirates. Later they became allies of the Romans, Antwerp was the most prominent harbour in Western Europe. After this city fell back under Spanish control in 1585, the Dutch Republic took control of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, a strip of land on the left bank, and closed the Scheldt for shipping. Access to the river was the subject of the brief Kettle War of 1784, once Belgium had claimed its independence from the Netherlands in 1830, the treaty of the Scheldt determined that the river should remain accessible to ships heading for Belgian ports. Nevertheless, the Dutch government would demand a toll from passing vessels until 16 July 1863, in the Second World War, the Scheldt estuary once again became a contested area. Paget-Tyrell Memorandum of August 7,1916, Section 6
11.
Kilmarnock
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Kilmarnock is a large burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland with a population of 46,350, making it the 15th most populated place in Scotland and the second largest town in Ayrshire. The River Irvine runs through its eastern section, and the Kilmarnock Water passes through it, Kilmarnock is often shortened to Killie, especially when it is referenced in a footballing situation. The first collection of work by Scottish poet Robert Burns, Poems, chiefly in the Scottish dialect, was published here in 1786, the internationally distributed whisky brand Johnnie Walker originated in the town in the 19th century. Protest and backing from the Scottish Government took place in 2009, after Diageo, in recent years, Kilmarnock has been used for musical acts and film locations. Rock band Biffy Clyro were formed in the town in a school in the mid-1990s. The 2001 film, Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat was shot in the town as was Manhunt, the name Kilmarnock comes from the Gaelic cill, and the name of Saint Marnoch or Mernoc who is also remembered in the name of Portmarnock in Ireland and Inchmarnock. It may come from the three Gaelic elements mo, my, Ernán and the diminutive ag, giving Church of My Little Ernán, according to tradition, the saint founded a church there in the 7th century. There are 12 Church of Scotland congregations in the town, plus other denominations, in 2005, the Reverend David W. Lacy, minister of the towns Henderson Church, was elected Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. In 1668 the town was destroyed by an accidental fire. About 120 families lost most of their possessions and were forced to live destitute in the surrounding the town. These tradespeople had no way of making a living and had already been driven to the edge of poverty by having troops stationed with them as part of the anti-Covenanter measures. Parish churches throughout Scotland collected money for the relief of these homeless citizens, added later was John Finnie Street, which is regarded as one of the finest Victorian planned streets in Scotland. The Sandbed Street Bridge is the oldest known surviving bridge in the area, the Member of Parliament for the Kilmarnock and Loudoun constituency area in the Westminster parliament is Kilmarnock-born Alan Brown. Brown defeated Labour candidate Cathy Jamieson with a majority with Brown receiving 30,000 votes with Jamieson only receiving 16,363. The member of the Scottish Parliament for Kilmarnock is Willie Coffey, Kilmarnock is the home of the East Ayrshire Council Chambers and offices situated on the London Road, thus making Kilmarnock the main town within East Ayrshire. In local council elections, Kilmarnock comprises four wards, Kilmarnock North, Kilmarnock East and Hurlford, Kilmarnock West and Crosshouse, the leader in East Ayrshire is Douglas Reid of the SNP party, who has been leader since 2007. The chief executive is Fiona Lees, following the East Ayrshire Council election,2012, the SNP and the Scottish Conservative parties formed a coalition government for East Ayrshire, following the result of a hung council. At present, the Scottish Labour party is the opposition in the East Ayrshire parliament with their leader, kilmarnocks traditional industries were based around textiles and heavy engineering such as locomotives from 1837, and valves, which are still in production
12.
Scotland
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Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, the Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles, the legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is also a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages. Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was also discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
13.
Luftwaffe
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The Luftwaffe was the aerial warfare branch of the combined German Wehrmacht military forces during World War II. During the interwar period, German pilots were trained secretly in violation of the treaty at Lipetsk Air Base, with the rise of the Nazi Party and the repudiation of the Versailles Treaty, the Luftwaffe was officially established on 26 February 1935. The Condor Legion, a Luftwaffe detachment sent to aid Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War, provided the force with a testing ground for new doctrines. By the summer of 1939, the Luftwaffe had twenty-eight Geschwaders, during World War II, German pilots claimed roughly 70,000 aerial victories, while over 75,000 Luftwaffe aircraft were destroyed or significantly damaged. Of these, nearly 40,000 were lost entirely, the Luftwaffe proved instrumental in the German victories across Poland and Western Europe in 1939 and 1940. From 1942, Allied bombing campaigns gradually destroyed the Luftwaffes fighter arm, in addition to its service in the West, the Luftwaffe operated over the Soviet Union, North Africa and Southern Europe. In January 1945, during the stages of the Battle of the Bulge, the Luftwaffe made a last-ditch effort to win air superiority. After the defeat of Germany, the Luftwaffe was disbanded in 1946, the Luftwaffe had only two commanders-in-chief throughout its history, Hermann Göring and later Generalfeldmarschall Robert Ritter von Greim. Throughout the war, the force was responsible for war crimes, one of the forerunners of the Luftwaffe, the Imperial German Army Air Service, was founded in 1910 with the name Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches, most often shortened to Fliegertruppe. It was renamed Luftstreitkräfte on 8 October 1916, after the defeat of Germany, the service was dissolved on 8 May 1920 under the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles, which also mandated the destruction of all German military aircraft. Since the Treaty of Versailles forbade Germany to have an air force, to train its pilots on the latest combat aircraft, Germany solicited the help of its future enemy, the Soviet Union, which was also isolated in Europe. This base was known as 4th squadron of the 40th wing of the Red Army. Hundreds of Luftwaffe pilots and technical personnel visited, studied and were trained at Soviet air force schools in locations in Central Russia. The first steps towards the Luftwaffes formation were undertaken just months after Adolf Hitler came to power, in April 1933 the Reichsluftfahrtministerium was established. Görings control over all aspects of aviation became absolute, on 25 March 1933 the Deutschen Luftsportverband absorbed all private and national organizations, while retaining its sports title. On 15 May 1933, all military organizations in the RLM were merged, forming the Luftwaffe. The |Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps was formed in 1937 to give pre-military flying training to male youths, military-age members of the NSFK were drafted to the Luftwaffe. As all such prior NSFK members were also Nazi Party members, the absence of Göring in planning and production matters was fortunate
14.
Royal Scots
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The regiment was first raised in 1633 as the Royal Regiment of Foot by Sir John Hepburn, under a royal warrant from Charles I, on the Scottish establishment for service in France. It was formed from a nucleus of Hepburns previous regiment, formerly in Swedish service, when in France it absorbed the remnants of a number of other Scottish mercenary units which had fought in Swedish service, and by 1635 had swelled to some 8,000 men. Lord James Douglas was appointed the new colonel, and the name of the corps was altered to the Régiment de Douglas, numbering some 1200 Scotsmen. The regiment fought with distinction under Douglas until he was killed in a skirmish near Douai in 1645 and his elder brother Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, was appointed in his place. In all the regiment served in France from 1633 to 1661, because the regiment had been formed by Royal Warrant, it was legally part of the Crowns armed forces, even though it had been out of the country for three decades. As such, it was recalled to secure the coronation of Charles II. 1678 marked the end of French service, with the regiment placed permanently on the English establishment. It was posted to Ireland in 1679, and in 1680 the regiment was sent to Tangier, in 1684, the regiment was titled His Majestys Royal Regiment of Foot, and withdrawn to England. In 1685 they fought for James II in the Monmouth Rebellion, at the Battle of Sedgemoor, in 1688, they were the only regiment of the army to remain loyal to James in the Glorious Revolution. During the War of the Grand Alliance, the regiment fought at the Battle of Walcourt, the Battle of Steenkerque, the Battle of Landen and they spent the late 1690s on garrison duty in Ireland. During the War of the Spanish Succession, the regiment fought at the Battles of Schellenberg and Blenheim, the Battle of Ramillies, the Battle of Oudenarde and the Battle of Malplaquet. In 1751, the regiment was titled the 1st Regiment of Foot, the 2nd Battalion was sent to Nova Scotia in 1757, and saw service in the Seven Years War, capturing Louisburg in 1758, Guadeloupe in 1762 and Havana in 1763, returning home in 1764. Both then served as garrisons in the Mediterranean, the 1st in Gibraltar from 1768–75, and the 2nd in Minorca from 1771–75. The 1st Battalion was sent to the West Indies in 1781, fought in the capture of Sint Eustatius that year, and was itself captured at St. Kitts in January 1782 but exchanged later in the year. The 1st Battalion had returned to the West Indies as a garrison in 1790, the West Indies were hotbeds of disease, and the battalion lost more than half its strength to disease in this period. It was reformed from militia volunteers in Ireland in 1798, This year saw a major rebellion erupt in Ireland after years of simmering tension, the Lothian Fencibles fought with distinction at the Battle of Vinegar Hill, one of the more important engagements of the rebellion. After the rebellion was over in Ireland they were used in raids on the coast of Spain in 1800. Meanwhile, from 1793 to 1801, the 2nd Battalion was based in the Mediterranean, both battalions were subsequently dispatched to the West Indies, the 1st from 1801 to 1812, and the 2nd from 1803 to 1806
15.
Ayr
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Ayr is a large town and former Royal Burgh situated on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland, United Kingdom. It is the centre of the South Ayrshire Council area. Ayr is currently the most populated settlement in Ayrshire and is the 12th most populous settlement in Scotland, the town adjoins the smaller town of Prestwick to the north, forming a single continuous urban area with the town. Ayr was established as a Royal Burgh in 1205, serving as Ayrshires central marketplace and harbour throughout the Medieval Period, on the southern bank of the River Ayr sits the ramparts of a Citadel constructed by Oliver Cromwell during the mid-17th Century. Towards the south of the town is the birthplace of Scottish poet Robert Burns in the suburb of Alloway, with the expansion of the railway during the 19th Century Ayr soon developed into a seaside resort. Politically, Ayr is considerably more Conservative-voting than the remainder of Scotland, the town is now marginally contested between the Conservatives and the Scottish National Party. In the UK Parliament Ayr is situated within the Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock constituency which is represented by SNP MP Corri Wilson. Ayr is one of the largest retail centres along the south of Scotland and was recognised as the second healthiest town centre in the United Kingdom by the Royal Society for Public Health in 2014, Ayr has hosted the Scottish Grand National horse-racing steeplechase annually since 1965. The town also accommodates the headquarters of the Ayr Advertiser and Ayrshire Post newspapers, the name Ayr can be traced back to a pre-Celtic word meaning watercourse. The name was used before the establishment of the Julian calendar as a name for the River Ayr, Ayr was founded as a market burgh town in 1205 by King William the Lion. It was formerly named Inverair or Inverayr, meaning mouth of the river Ayr, elements of the former name remain present within the Scottish Gaelic name for Ayr – Inbhir Air. Since 1261 annual fairs were held in the town, at this time the town had a recorded population of 1,500 and served as a major port on the west coast. The town was occupied by England from 1301 until 1312 as part of the Scottish Wars of Independence, on 26 April 1315, a Parliament of Scotland was held in Ayr by Robert The Bruce at St. Johns Tower by the sea. Later, in 1652, the town was used as a base, Cromwell established a large fortress along the mouth of the River Ayr and erected walls around the area just south of the Rivers mouth - most of these walls remain present to this day. A permanent military presence was established in the town with the completion of Ayr Barracks on the site in 1795. Ayr forms part of the Westminster constituency of Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock and this constituency includes Carrick in South Ayrshire in addition to Doon Valley, Cumnock and New Cumnock in southern East Ayrshire. The seat is held by the Scottish National Partys Corri Wilson. The Central Ayrshire constituency runs north of the Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock constituency and it takes in the towns of Irvine, Kilwinning, Prestwick, Troon and rural Kyle, running into Annbank
16.
Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
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The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original German 20 mm Becker design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models employed by both Allied and Axis forces during World War II, and many still in use today. During World War I, the German Reinhold Becker developed a 20 mm caliber cannon and this used a 20x70 RB cartridge and had a cyclic rate of fire of 300 rpm. It was used on a scale as an aircraft gun on Luftstreitkräfte warplanes. Because the Treaty of Versailles banned further production of weapons in Germany. SEMAG continued development of the weapon, and in 1924 had produced the SEMAG L, the Oerlikon firm, named after the Zürich suburb where it was based, then acquired all rights to the weapon, plus the manufacturing equipment and the employees of SEMAG. In 1927 the Oerlikon S was added to the product line. This fired a larger cartridge to achieve a muzzle velocity of 830 m/s, at the cost of increased weight. The purpose of development was to improve the performance of the gun as an anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapon. An improved version known as the 1S followed in 1930, three sizes of gun with their different ammunition and barrel length, but very similar mechanisms, continued to be developed in parallel. In 1930 Oerlikon reconsidered the application of its gun in aircraft and introduced the AF and AL, designed to be used in flexible mounts, the 15-round box magazine used by earlier versions of the gun was replaced by drum magazine holding 15 or 30 rounds. In 1935 it made an important step by introducing a series of guns designed to be mounted in or on the wings of fighter aircraft, designated with FF for Flügelfest meaning wing-mounted, these weapons were again available in the three sizes, with designations FF, FFL and FFS. The FF fired a larger cartridge than the AF, 20x72RB. The FF weighed 24 kg and achieved a velocity of 550 to 600 m/s with a rate of fire of 520 rpm. The FFL of 30 kg fired a projectile at a velocity of 675 m/s with a rate of fire of 500 rpm. And the FFS, which weighed 39 kg, delivered a high velocity of 830 m/s at a rate of fire of 470 rpm. Apart from changes to the design of the guns for wing-mounting and remote control, for the FF series drum sizes of 45,60,75 and 100 rounds were available, but most users chose the 60-round drum. The 1930s were a period of global re-armament, and a number of foreign firms took licenses for the Oerlikon family of aircraft cannon
17.
Hispano-Suiza HS.404
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The HS.404 was an autocannon originally designed and produced by Hispano-Suiza. It was widely used as both an aircraft, naval and land based weapon in the 20th century by French, British, American and numerous other military services, particularly during the Second World War. The cannon is also referred to as Birkigt type 404, after its designer Marc Birkigt, firing a 20 mm caliber projectile, it delivered a useful load of explosive from a relatively light weapon. The HS.404 was produced by the French subsidiary of Hispano-Suiza, in the 1930s, Hispano Suiza S. A. This made the relatively slow, with typical firing rates on the order of 500 rounds per minute. The Hispano-Suiza version was called the Hispano-Suiza Automatic Cannon Type HS.7, shortly after production began, the Hispano-Suiza and Oerlikon companies disagreed over patent rights and their business connection came to an end. The result was the Type 404, or HS.404, while the HS.404 resembled the parent Oerlikon FF S in many respects, its repeating mechanism was a gas-operated locking bolt. On firing the 404, when the projectile passes a hole cut into the barrel about half way along its length hot gas behind the projectile is siphoned off and enters a chamber. Inside the chamber is a piston that presses on a rod running along the top of the back to the bolt, unlocking it and allowing it. Since the bolt was locked during firing, it could be lighter than that of the Oerlikon, thus facilitating an increase in rate of fire to 700 rounds per minute, in 1938, Birkigt patented it and started production in their Geneva factory. The HS. 404s predecessor, the Oerlikon type S auto-cannon, was heavy and this. In contrast the lighter bolt of the HS.404 made it well suited to mounting on vehicles, the M16, an anti-aircraft version of the M3 Half-track, could be equipped with single or double American made copies of the Hispano-Suiza auto-cannon. This variant of the M3 Half-track was used by US and Commonwealth forces late in the Second World War, in 1938, an aircraft based version of the HS.404 was produced at the request of the French government. The HS.404 was fed by drum magazines that could accommodate 60 rounds at most, since in most installations the magazine could not be switched during flight, the small ammunition capacity was a weakness. In 1940, Hispano-Suiza was developing a system, as well as derivatives of the HS.404 in heavier calibres such as 23 mm. In the buildup to the Second World War, the United Kingdom had embarked on a programme to develop cannon-armed fighters and they acquired a licence to build the HS.404, which entered production as the Hispano Mk. I intended as aeroplane armament. Its first use was in the Westland Whirlwind of 1940, and later in the more powerful Bristol Beaufighter and this led to the Air Ministry for a brief period specifying 12-machine gun armament for new fighters. Subsequently a suitable belt-feeding system was developed by Martin-Baker, and the new design was adopted by the RAF, four cannons replaced the eight.303 Browning machine guns in the Hurricane and in some tropical versions of the Spitfire, becoming standard armament in later fighters
18.
Lewis gun
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The Lewis gun is a First World War-era light machine gun of US design that was perfected and mass-produced in the United Kingdom, and widely used by British and British Empire troops during the war. With its distinctive barrel cooling shroud and top-mounted pan magazine, the Lewis served to the end of the Korean War and it was also widely used as an aircraft machine gun, almost always with the cooling shroud removed, during both world wars. The Lewis gun was invented by U. S. Army colonel Isaac Newton Lewis in 1911, Lewis became frustrated with trying to persuade the U. S. Army to adopt his design, so, retired from the army. He left the United States in 1913 and went to Belgium, Lewis had been working closely with British arms manufacturer the Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited in an effort to overcome some of the production difficulties of the weapon. Lewis and his moved to England before 1914, away from possible seizure in the event of a German invasion. The Belgian army acquired only a handful of his guns and they were not on general issue in the Belgian Army, and were used only in a few forays by motor vehicles, south of Antwerp, against the flank of the invading German Army. The onset of the First World War increased demand for the Lewis gun, the design was officially approved for service on 15 October 1915 under the designation Gun, Lewis. 303-cal. No Lewis guns were produced in Belgium during the war, all manufacture was carried out by BSA in England, Savage did make Lewis guns in.303 British calibre, though. The Model 1916 and Model 1917 were exported to Canada and the United Kingdom, the Savage Model 1917 was generally produced in. 30-06 caliber. A number of guns were supplied to the UK under lend-lease during the Second World War. The Lewis gun was gas operated, a portion of the expanding propellant gas was tapped off from the barrel, driving a piston to the rear against a spring. The piston was fitted with a vertical post at its rear which rode in a helical cam track in the bolt and this allowed the three locking lugs at the rear of the bolt to engage in recesses in the guns body to lock it into place. The post also carried a fixed firing pin, which protruded through an aperture in the front of the bolt, only the Royal Navy retained the tube on their deck-mounted AA-configuration Lewis guns. The Lewis gun used a pan magazine holding 47 or 97 rounds, pan magazines hold the rounds, bullet-noses inwards toward the center, in a radial fan. Unlike the more common drum magazines, which hold the rounds parallel to the axis and are fed by spring tension, the Lewis magazine was driven by a cam on top of the bolt which operated a pawl mechanism via a lever. The operating rod had a toothed underside, which engaged with a cog which wound the spring, when the gun fired, the bolt recoiled and the cog was turned, tightening the spring until the resistance of the spring had reached the recoil force of the bolt assembly. At that moment, as the gas pressure in the fell, the spring unwound, turning the cog. As with a spring, the Lewis gun recoil spring had an adjustment device to alter the recoil resistance for variations in temperature
19.
Rudolf Hess
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Rudolf Walter Richard Hess, was a prominent politician in Nazi Germany. Appointed Deputy Führer to Adolf Hitler in 1933, he served in this position until 1941 and he was taken prisoner and eventually was convicted of crimes against peace, serving a life sentence, until his death by suicide. Hess enlisted in the 7th Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment as an infantryman at the outbreak of World War I and he was wounded several times over the course of the war, and won the Iron Cross, 2nd class, in 1915. Shortly before the war ended, Hess enrolled to train as an aviator and he left the armed forces in December 1918 with the rank of Leutnant der Reserve. Hess joined the NSDAP on 1 July 1920, and was at Hitlers side on 8 November 1923 for the Beer Hall Putsch, a failed Nazi attempt to seize control of the government of Bavaria. Whilst serving time in jail for this coup, Hess helped Hitler write his book, Mein Kampf. After the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, Hess was appointed Deputy Führer of the NSDAP and he was the third most powerful man in Germany, behind only Hitler and Hermann Göring. Hess continued to be interested in aviation, learning to fly the advanced aircraft that were coming into development at the start of World War II. On 10 May 1941 he undertook a flight to Scotland, where he hoped to arrange peace talks with the Duke of Hamilton. During much of the trial, he claimed to be suffering from amnesia, Hess was convicted of crimes against peace and conspiracy with other German leaders to commit crimes and was transferred to Spandau Prison in 1947, where he served a life sentence. Repeated attempts by members and prominent politicians to win him early release were blocked by the Soviet Union. Still in custody in Spandau, he died by suicide in 1987 at the age of 93, after his death the prison was demolished to prevent it from becoming a neo-Nazi shrine. Hess, the oldest of three children, was born on 26 April 1894 in Alexandria, Egypt, into the ethnic German family of Fritz Hess, a merchant from Bavaria. His brother, Alfred, was born in 1897 and his sister, the family lived in a villa on the Egyptian coast near Alexandria, and visited Germany often from 1900, staying at their summer home in Reicholdsgrün in the Fichtel Mountains. Hess attended a German language Protestant school in Alexandria from 1900 to 1908, after a year there, Hess took an apprenticeship at a trading company in Hamburg. Within weeks of the outbreak of World War I, Hess enlisted in the 7th Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment and his initial posting was against the British on the Somme, he was present at the First Battle of Ypres. On 9 November 1914 Hess transferred to the 1st Infantry Regiment and he was awarded the Iron Cross, second class, and promoted to Gefreiter in April 1915. After additional training at the Munster Training Area, he was promoted to Vizefeldwebel, returning to the front lines in November, he fought in Artois, participating in the battle for the town of Neuville-Saint-Vaast
20.
Home Guard (United Kingdom)
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The Home Guard was a defence organisation of the British Army during the Second World War. Their role was to act as a defence force, in case of invasion by the forces of Nazi Germany. They were to try to slow down the advance of the enemy, there was a Home Guard during the First World War although this was not on the same scale as its Second World War successor. The origins of the Second World War Home Guard can be traced to Captain Tom Wintringham, despite great interest by the War Office in the books assertion that security is possible, Wintringhams call to train 100,000 men immediately was not implemented. Calls for some form of defence force soon began to be heard from the press. This apparent lack of focus led to many LDV members becoming impatient, in the absence of proper weapons, many LDV units broke into museums and appropriated whatever weapons could be found, or equipped themselves with private weapons such as shotguns. Another problem that was encountered as the LDV was organised was the definition of the role the organisation was to play, the War Office believed that the LDV would act best in such a passive role because of its lack of training, weapons and proper equipment. However such a role clashed with the expectations of LDV commanders and members, the Home Guard had a number of secret roles. This included sabotage units who would disable factories and petrol installations following invasion and these bases, upwards of 600 in number, were able to support units ranging in size from squads to companies. The Home Guard did not, initially, admit women to its ranks, some women formed their own groups like the Amazon Defence Corps. In December 1941, an organised but still unofficial Womens Home Defence was formed under the direction of Dr Edith Summerskill. WHD members were taught weapons training and basic military training, limited female involvement was permitted later on the understanding that these would be in traditional female support roles and not in any way seen as combatants. Auxiliary Units however may have had members in both support and combat roles, although records are scarce. Even once the threat of invasion had passed, the Home Guard remained in existence manning guard posts, in 1942 the National Service Act allowed for compulsory enrolment where units were below strength. At this time, the lowest rank within the Home Guard and it is a common fallacy that the Home Guard never fired a shot in anger during the whole of the Second World War. In fact individual Home Guardsmen helped man anti-aircraft guns as far back as the Battle of Britain during the summer of 1940. By 1943 the Home Guard operated its own dedicated batteries of anti-aircraft guns and they are credited with shooting down numerous Luftwaffe aircraft and the V-1 flying bombs which followed them in the summer of 1944. The Home Guards first official kill was shot down on Tyneside in 1943, the Home Guard in Northern Ireland also took part in gun battles with the IRA
21.
Parachute mine
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A parachute mine is a naval mine dropped from an aircraft by parachute. They were mostly used in the Second World War by the Luftwaffe, frequently, they were dropped on land targets. These mines were attached to parachutes to act as blast bombs, during the Second World War, the Luftwaffe used a number of different kinds of parachute mine. The Luftmine A and Luftmine B weighed 500 kg and 1,000 kg respectively, the LMA was 5 ft 8 in in length and the LMB8 ft 8 in. After the parachute opened, the mine would descend at around 40 miles per hour, if it came down on land, a clockwork mechanism would detonate the mine 25 seconds after impact. If the mine landed in water it would sink to the bottom, if the depth was greater than 8 feet, water pressure and the dissolving of a water–soluble plug would deactivate the clockwork time-detonator, and activate an anti-shipping detonator. These were initially magnetic detonators but later, acoustic or magnetic/acoustic detonators could be fitted, the Luftwaffe began dropping these mines in British waters in November 1939, using Heinkel He 115 seaplanes and Heinkel He 111 land–based bombers. They were first used against land targets on 16 September 1940 in the stages of the Blitz. The Luftwaffe also used the 1,000 kg Bombenmine and this was fitted with a tail made from Bakelite which broke up on impact. It had a cell beneath a cover which detonated the bomb if exposed to light to counteract the work of bomb disposal units. The RAF initially used naval mines, but replaced them with purpose-made blockbuster bombs, al Bowlly was killed by a parachute mine which exploded outside his flat in Jermyn Street, London during the Blitz on 17 April 1941
22.
Holywood
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Holywood is a town in the metropolitan area of Belfast in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is a parish and townland of 755 acres lying on the shore of Belfast Lough. Holywood Exchange and Belfast City Airport are nearby, the town hosts an annual jazz and blues festival. The English name Holywood comes from Latin Sanctus Boscus, meaning holy wood and this was the name the Normans gave to the woodland surrounding the monastery of St Laiseran, son of Nasca. The monastery was founded by Laiseran before 640 and was on the site of the present Holywood Priory, the earliest Anglicized form appears as Haliwode in a 14th-century document. Today, the name is pronounced the same as Hollywood, the Irish name for Holywood is Ard Mhic Nasca meaning high ground of Mac Nasca. In the 17th century, Ulster ports began to rise in prominence, in 1625, William Pitt was appointed as Customer of the ports of Newcastle, Dundrum, Killough, Portaferry, Donaghadee, Bangor and Holywood. In the early 19th century, Holywood, like other coastal villages throughout Ireland. Many wealthy Belfast merchants chose the town and the area to build large homes for themselves. These included the Kennedys of Cultra and the Harrisons of Holywood, dalchoolin House stood on the site of the present Ulster Transport Museum, while Cultra Manor was built between 1902–04 and now houses part of the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. The railway line from Belfast to Holywood opened in 1848, the population of Holywood was approximately 3,500 in 1900 and had grown to 12,000 by 2001. This growth, coupled with that of towns and villages along the coastal strip to Bangor. Holywood today is a residential area and is well known for its fashionable shops, boutiques. The Old Priory ruins lie at the bottom of the High Street, the tower dates from 1800, but the oldest ruins date from the early 13th century. The Priory graveyard is the place for many distinguished citizens including the educational reformer, Dr Robert Sullivan. Robert Lloyd Praeger was a renowned botanist and his sister, Rosamond Praeger, gained fame as a sculptor. Johnny the Jig, one of her sculptures, is situated in the town, Praeger House at Sullivan Upper Grammar School is named after the family. Bishop Robert Bent Knox is also buried there, on 17 June 1994, Garnet Bell, a former pupil bearing a grudge, entered an assembly hall at Sullivan Upper School and used a flamethrower to attack students taking A-level examinations
23.
Northern Ireland
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Northern Ireland is a constituent unit of the United Kingdom in the north-east of Ireland. It is variously described as a country, province, region, or part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the total population. Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by an act of the British parliament, Northern Ireland has historically been the most industrialised region of Ireland. After declining as a result of the political and social turmoil of the Troubles, its economy has grown significantly since the late 1990s. Unemployment in Northern Ireland peaked at 17. 2% in 1986, dropping to 6. 1% for June–August 2014,58. 2% of those unemployed had been unemployed for over a year. Prominent artists and sports persons from Northern Ireland include Van Morrison, Rory McIlroy, Joey Dunlop, Wayne McCullough, some people from Northern Ireland prefer to identify as Irish while others prefer to identify as British. Cultural links between Northern Ireland, the rest of Ireland, and the rest of the UK are complex, in many sports, the island of Ireland fields a single team, a notable exception being association football. Northern Ireland competes separately at the Commonwealth Games, and people from Northern Ireland may compete for either Great Britain or Ireland at the Olympic Games. The region that is now Northern Ireland was the bedrock of the Irish war of resistance against English programmes of colonialism in the late 16th century, the English-controlled Kingdom of Ireland had been declared by the English king Henry VIII in 1542, but Irish resistance made English control fragmentary. Victories by English forces in war and further Protestant victories in the Williamite War in Ireland toward the close of the 17th century solidified Anglican rule in Ireland. In Northern Ireland, the victories of the Siege of Derry and their intention was to materially disadvantage the Catholic community and, to a lesser extent, the Presbyterian community. In the context of open institutional discrimination, the 18th century saw secret, militant societies develop in communities in the region and act on sectarian tensions in violent attacks. Following this, in an attempt to quell sectarianism and force the removal of discriminatory laws, the new state, formed in 1801, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was governed from a single government and parliament based in London. Between 1717 and 1775 some 250,000 people from Ulster emigrated to the British North American colonies and it is estimated that there are more than 27 million Scotch-Irish Americans now living in the US. By the close of the century, autonomy for Ireland within the United Kingdom, in 1912, after decades of obstruction from the House of Lords, Home Rule became a near-certainty. A clash between the House of Commons and House of Lords over a controversial budget produced the Parliament Act 1911, which enabled the veto of the Lords to be overturned. The House of Lords veto had been the unionists main guarantee that Home Rule would not be enacted, in 1914, they smuggled thousands of rifles and rounds of ammunition from Imperial Germany for use by the Ulster Volunteers, a paramilitary organisation opposed to the implementation of Home Rule
24.
Stranraer
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Stranraer is a town in Inch, Wigtownshire, in the west of Dumfries and Galloway, southwest Scotland. It lies on the shores of Loch Ryan, on the side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland. Stranraer is Dumfries and Galloways second-largest town, with a population including the area of nearly 13,000. Stranraer is a centre for the West Galloway Wigtownshire area of Dumfries. It is best known as having been a port, previously connecting Scotland with Belfast and Larne in Northern Ireland. The main industries in the area are the port, with associated industries, tourism and, more traditionally. Some argue that name comes from the Scottish Gaelic An t-Sròn Reamhar meaning The Fat Nose, the most commonly accepted explanation is that it it derives its name from the strand or burn which divides the row, raw, of houses on its banks. In time Strandraw was named and spelled Stranrawer, and afterwards Stranraer, another interpretation would link the second element in the name with Rerigonium, an ancient settlement noted by Ptolemy in this part of Britain. The A77 runs north towards Ayr, Prestwick and Glasgow, the A75 runs east from Stranraer to Gretna, with links to the M6 going to Carlisle. The A75 is part of European route E18, but, like all European routes, the main national coach providers operate services from Stranraer. National Express offer a service to London, and Scottish Citylink operate services to Edinburgh, local transport in and around the town is provided by Stagecoach Western, and three local companies – McCullochs Coaches. Stranraer railway station is the terminus for one of the branch lines of the Glasgow South Western Line. Trains are provided by Abellio ScotRail daily to Ayr, Glasgow Central, from Stranraer connections to the West Coast Main Line, can be made at Glasgow Central, or traveling via Ayr, Kilmarnock, Dumfries to Carlisle. Onward trains from either Glasgow Central or Carlisle connect direct to London Euston and other such as Manchester Piccadilly, Crewe. In November 2011, Stena Line relocated its services to a new port at Old House Point, north of Cairnryan. The existing port in Stranraer may be redeveloped with the departure of Stena Line, both Campbeltown Airport and Glasgow Prestwick Airport, at around 45 miles, are the closest airports in Scotland to Stranraer. Belfast City Airport in Northern Ireland is 39 miles distant, the European Union is partly financing The Stranraer and Loch Ryan Waterfront Project for now and future generations. At an estimated cost of £1, by January 2010, work on the streets around the town centre was complete, with the streets around the Castle of St John re-paved and re-profiled
25.
Bofors 40 mm gun
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The Bofors 40 mm gun, often referred to simply as the Bofors gun, is an anti-aircraft/multi-purpose autocannon designed in the 1930s by the Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors. It was one of the most popular medium-weight anti-aircraft systems during World War II, a small number of these weapons remain in service to this day, and saw action as late as the Gulf War. In the post-war era the original design was not suitable for action against jet powered aircraft, so Bofors introduced a new model of more power. In spite of sharing almost nothing with the design other than the calibre and the distinctive conical flash hider. Although not as popular as the original L/60 model, the L/70 remains in service to this day, especially as a weapon for light armored vehicles. Bofors itself has been part of BAE Systems AB since March 2005, the Swedish Navy purchased a number of 2 pounder Pom-Poms from Vickers as anti-aircraft guns in 1922. The Navy approached Bofors about the development of a capable replacement. Bofors signed a contract in late 1928, Bofors produced a gun that was a smaller version of a 57 mm semi-automatic gun developed as an anti-torpedo boat weapon in the late 19th century by Finspong. Their first test gun was a re-barreled Nordenfelt version of the Finspong gun, testing of this gun in 1929 demonstrated that a problem existed feeding the weapon in order to maintain a reasonable rate of fire. A mechanism that was enough to handle the stresses of moving the large round was too heavy to move quickly enough to fire rapidly. One attempt to solve this problem used zinc shell cases that burned up when fired and this proved to leave heavy zinc deposits in the barrel, and had to be abandoned. This seemed to be the solution they needed, improving firing rates to a level. During this period Krupp purchased a share of Bofors. Krupp engineers started the process of updating the Bofors factories to use equipment and metallurgy. The prototype was completed and fired in November 1931, and by the middle of the month it was firing strings of two and three rounds. Changes to the mechanism were all that remained, and by the end of the year it was operating at 130 rounds per minute. Continued development was needed to turn it into a suitable for production. Since acceptance trials had been passed the year before, this known as the 40 mm akan M/32
26.
Light machine guns
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A light machine gun is a machine gun designed to be employed by an individual soldier, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. Light machine guns are used as squad automatic weapons. Modern light machine guns often fire smaller-caliber cartridges than medium machine guns, some LMGs, such as the Russian RPK, are modifications of existing assault rifle designs and designed to share the same ammunition. Adaptations to the original rifle generally include a magazine, a heavier barrel to resist overheating, a more robust mechanism to support sustained fire. Deployed on a tripod and used for sustained-fire it is a machine gun, if deployed with a bipod with the operator in prone position. Light machine guns are designed to be fired from the hip or on the move as a form of suppressive fire intended to pin down the enemy. Marching fire is a tactic that relies on this capability. Lighter modern LMGs have enabled them to be issued down at the fireteam level, many light machine guns were magazine-fed. Others, such as the MG34, could be fed either from a belt or from a magazine, light machine guns were first introduced in World War I to boost the firepower of advancing infantry. The following were either exclusively light machine guns, had a machine gun variant or were employed in the light machine gun role with certain adaptations. 26 Medium machine gun Heavy machine gun Squad automatic weapon General-purpose machine gun Assault rifle
27.
West Kilbride
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West Kilbride is a village in North Ayrshire, Scotland, on the west coast by the Firth of Clyde, looking across the Firth of Clyde to Goat Fell and the Isle of Arran. West Kilbride and adjoining districts of Seamill and Portencross are generally considered to be a small town, a Neolithic cup and ring marked stone is located on Blackshaw Hill, near West Kilbride. This stone is unusual, in that it is carved with three spirals, although the purpose of such stones is not known, it is considered that they may have had religious importance. Traces of an Iron Age fortification were uncovered when the house named The Fort was constructed in Ardrossan Road, West Kilbride is generally believed to be named after the ancient Celtic Saint Brigid of Kildare, often known as St Bride. There has been a hamlet in the area since 82 AD when the Roman general Agricola stationed 30,000 troops in the area of the now known as Gateside. Roman roads can still be explored around the village to this day, william Wallaces uncle Crauford had an estate at Corsbie in the North of the village, and this is still in use as a caravan park called Crosby, to this day. In later years Robert the Bruce gave a grant of the lands of the Barony of Kilbride to the Boyds of Kilmarnock and it was once home to various mills and other works, and in the 18th century West Kilbride was primarily a weaving village. Made about 700 AD, the Hunterston Brooch is cast in silver, gilt, and gold, silver and amber, in its centre, a cross and a golden Glory represent the Risen Christ. The Hunterston Brooch is clearly object of very high status, indicating the power, nowadays, it is considered one of the most significant items of Celtic art, and is housed in the Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh. Several buildings in the date back to medieval times. Law Castle, situated at the foot of Law Hill, was built in the 15th century for King James IIIs sister Mary, the castle is a simple rectangular structure with a sloping roof and several large chimneys protruding at each side. In recent years, Law Castle has been restored and refurbished and it now letted for functions. Portencross Castle, thought to date from the 14th century, is situated next to the sea at Portencross harbour. It is L-shaped and four storeys high, with a barrel-vaulted ceiling, the castle was roofless for many years due to storm damage. A campaign to save Portencross Castle from private ownership received national publicity in July 2004 when it was featured on the BBCs Restoration television programme, the title for the castle and grounds was given to the group Friends of Portencross Castle on 22 December 2005. It has since been restored and visitors have been allowed since summer 2011. Crosbie Castle lies to the north west on the outskirts of West Kilbride and it was largely rebuilt from a tower demolished in the 17th century which was the home of Sir Ranald Craufurd in the 13th century, and it is said that Wallace himself spent some time at Crosbie. Currently the castle lies at the centre of a park also called Crosbie Towers
28.
Chester
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Chester is a walled city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales. With a population of 81,340 in 2014, it is the most populous settlement of Cheshire West and Chester, Chester was granted city status in 1541. Chester was founded as a castrum or Roman fort with the name Deva Victrix in the reign of the Emperor Vespasian in 79 AD, one of the main army camps in Roman Britain, Deva later became a major civilian settlement. Chester was one of the last cities in England to fall to the Normans, william the Conqueror ordered the construction of a castle, to dominate the town and the nearby Welsh border. Chester is one of the best preserved walled cities in Britain and it has a number of medieval buildings, but some of the black-and-white buildings within the city centre are Victorian restorations. Apart from a 100-metre section, the listed Grade I walls are almost complete, the Roman Legio II Adiutrix during the reign of the Emperor Vespasian founded Chester in AD79, as a castrum or Roman fort with the name Deva Victrix. The victrix part of the name was taken from the title of the Legio XX Valeria Victrix which was based at Deva, Central Chesters four main roads, Eastgate, Northgate, Watergate and Bridgegate, follow routes laid out at this time. A civilian settlement grew around the base, probably originating from trade with the fortress. The civilian amphitheatre, which was built in the 1st century and it is the largest known military amphitheatre in Britain, and is also a Scheduled Monument. The Minerva Shrine in the Roman quarry is the rock cut Roman shrine still in situ in Britain. The fortress was garrisoned by the legion until at least the late 4th century, after the Roman troops withdrew, the Romano-British established a number of petty kingdoms. Chester is thought to have part of Powys. Deverdoeu was a Welsh name for Chester as late as the 12th century, another, attested in the 9th century History of the Britons traditionally attributed to Nennius, is Cair Legion, this later developed into Caerlleon and then the modern Welsh Caer. King Arthur is said to have fought his ninth battle at the city of the legions and later St Augustine came to the city to try to unite the church, and held his synod with the Welsh Bishops. In 616, Æthelfrith of Northumbria defeated a Welsh army at the brutal and decisive Battle of Chester and her name is still remembered in St Werburghs Street which passes alongside the cathedral, and near the city walls. It was Alfreds daughter Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, that built the new Saxon burh, a new Church dedicated to St Peter alone was founded in AD907 by the Lady Æthelfleda at what was to become the Cross. Taking the helm of a barge, he was rowed the short distance up the River Dee from Edgars Field to the great Minster Church of St John the Baptist by six tributary kings called reguli. In 1071 he made Hugh dAvranches, who built Chester Castle, from the 14th century to the 18th century the citys prominent position in North West England meant that it was commonly also known as Westchester
29.
Stamford, Lincolnshire
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Stamford is a town on the River Welland in Lincolnshire, England,92 miles north of London on the A1. The population at the 2001 census was 21,800 including the adjacent parish of St Martins Without, the town has 17th and 18th-century stone buildings, older timber-framed buildings and five medieval parish churches. In 2013, Stamford was rated the best place to live by the Sunday Times, in AD61 Boudica followed the Roman 9th Legion across the river. The Anglo-Saxons later chose Stamford as their town, being on a more important river than the Gwash. In 972 King Edgar made Stamford a borough, the Anglo-Saxons and Danes faced each other across the river. The town originally grew as a Danish settlement at the lowest point that the Welland could be crossed by ford or bridge, Stamford was the only one of the Danelaw Five Burghs not to become a county town. Stamford was a town but only a very small portion of the walls now remain. Stamford became a port on the Great North Road, the latter superseding Ermine Street in importance. Notable buildings in the include the mediaeval Brownes Hospital, several churches and the buildings of Stamford School. A Norman castle was built about 1075 and apparently demolished in 1484, the site stood derelict until the late twentieth century when it was built over and now includes a bus station and a modern housing development. A small part of the wall survives at the junction of Castle Dyke. Stamford has been hosting a fair since the Middle Ages. Stamford fair is mentioned in Shakespeares Henry IV part 2, the mid-Lent fair is the largest street fair in Lincolnshire and one of the largest in the country. On 7 March 1190, crusaders at the fair led a pogrom, for over 600 years Stamford was the site of the Stamford Bull Run festival, held annually on 13 November, St Brices day, until 1839. According to local tradition, the custom was started by William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey, some butchers came to part the combatants and one of the bulls ran into the town. Stamford Museum was in a Victorian building in Broad Street from 1980 to 2011, in June 2011 it closed because of Lincolnshire County Council budget cuts. Some of the exhibits have been relocated to the Discover Stamford area at the towns library. Stamford is part of the Parliamentary constituency of Grantham and Stamford, the incumbent Member of Parliament is the Conservative, Nick Boles
30.
2nd Anti-Aircraft Division (United Kingdom)
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The 2nd Anti-Aircraft Division was an Air Defence formation of the British Army from 1935 to 1942. It controlled anti-aircraft gun and searchlight units of the Territorial Army defending the East Midlands, in December 1935 the TAs 46th Division was disbanded and its headquarters was converted into 2nd Anti-Aircraft Division to control the increasing number of AA units being created. At first it administered all AA units in Great Britain outside London and the Home Counties, the new division was first organised at York, but shortly afterwards took over 46 Divisions HQ at Normanton, Derby. In 1938 the Royal Artillery replaced the unit designation Brigade by Regiment. The TAs AA units were mobilised on 23 September 1938 during the Munich Crisis, because the organisation of 2 AA Division and its component units was not yet complete, it was only partially mobilised. The emergency mobilisation lasted nearly three weeks before the TA units were released on 14 October, the experience led to improvements in equipment scales, and a rapid expansion of AA defences brought many new AA gun and searchlight units into existence. In November 1938,31 and 33 AA Bdes transferred to the newly formed 7th Anti-Aircraft Division, in 1939,30 AA Bde also joined 7 AA Division. They were replaced in 2 AA Division by new brigadescreated in September 1938, 39th at Retford in Nottinghamshire and 40th, 39th AA Bde also transferred to 7th AA Division just before the outbreak of war. In April 1939, AA Command was formed to control all the AA gun, Major-General Harrison was transferred to command RA Training Establishments and was replaced as GOC2 AA Division on 30 May 1939 by Maj-Gen Claude Grove-White. The deterioration in relations during 1939 led to a partial mobilisation in June. Full mobilisation of AA Command came in August 1939, ahead of the declaration of war on 3 September 1939, on the outbreak of war 2 AA Division had the following order of battle, GOC, Major-General M. F. By late 1940,2 AA Division formed part of 2 AA Corps, Grove-White had been promoted on 11 November to command the new corps and it shared 2 AA Divisions HQ at RAF Hucknall. The brigades were the same, but by February 1941 their locations and composition had changed, GOC, inside each belt was a 20-mile deep Killer Belt of single S/Ls cooperating with night-fighters patrolling defined boxes. The pattern was designed to ensure that raids penetrating deeply towards the Midlands GDAs would cross more than one belt, the number of LAA units to protect Vital Points such as airfields was growing, albeit slowly. 66 AA Brigade HQ, with its section and transport company, left AA Command in August 1942. 2 AA Division, like the other AA Corps and Divisions, was disbanded and replaced on 1 October 1942 by a new AA Group structure, the Midlands and East Anglia were covered by 5 AA Group, headquartered at Hucknall. 2 AA Divisional Signals was apparently converted into the new Group signal unit, litchfield, The Territorial Artillery 1908–1988, Nottingham, Sherwood Press,1992, ISBN 0-9508205-2-0. Cliff Lord & Graham Watson, Royal Corps of Signals, Unit Histories of the Corps and its Antecedents, Solihull, Helion,2003, ISBN 1-874622-92-2
31.
East Midlands
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The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of NUTS for statistical purposes. The eastern part of the Midlands, it consists of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, the region has an area of 15,627 km2, and was home to over 4.5 million people in 2011. The regions relative proximity to London and its connectivity on the national motorway and it is also the location of East Midlands Airport in north Leicestershire. The high point at 636 m is Kinder Scout, in the Peak District of the southern Pennines in northwest Derbyshire near Glossop. Other upland, hilly areas of 95 to 280 m in altitude, together with lakes and reservoirs, rise in and around the Charnwood Forest north of Leicester, and in the Lincolnshire Wolds. The regions major rivers, the Nene, the Soar, the Trent and the Welland, flow in a direction towards the Humber. The Derwent, conversely, rises in the High Peak before flowing south to join the Trent some 2 miles before its conflux with the Soar, the centre of the East Midlands area lies roughly between Bingham, Nottinghamshire and Bottesford, Leicestershire. The geographical centre of England lies in Higham on the Hill in west Leicestershire, some 88% of the land is rural in character, although agriculture accounts for less than three per cent of the regions jobs. Lincolnshire is the only county of the six, with a true North Sea coastline of about 30 miles due to the protection afforded by Spurn Head. Church Flatts Farm in Coton in the Elms, South Derbyshire, is the furthest place from the sea in the UK, in April 1936 the first Ordnance Survey trig point was sited at Cold Ashby in Northamptonshire. The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts and The Wildlife Trusts are based next to the River Trent, the National Centre for Earth Observation is at the University of Leicester. The region is home to large quantities of limestone, and the East Midlands Oil Province, Charnwood Forest is noted for its abundant levels of volcanic rock, estimated to be approximately 600 million years old. 25% of the UKs cement is manufactured in the region at three sites in Hope and Tunstead in Derbyshire, and in Ketton Cement Works in Rutland. Of the aggregates that are produced in the region, 25% is from Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire each produce around 30% of the regions sand and gravel output. Barwell in Leicestershire had Britains largest meteorite on 24 December 1965, the 2008 Lincolnshire earthquake was 5.2 magnitude. Rockingham Forest was designated as a hunting forest by William the Conqueror. The National Forest is a project in central England run by The National Forest Company. It stretches from the outskirts of Leicester in the east to Burton upon Trent in the west
32.
Grantham
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Grantham is a market town within the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It bestrides the London to Edinburgh East Coast Main Line railway and the River Witham, Grantham is about 26 miles south of the city and county town of Lincoln, and about 24 miles east of the city of Nottingham. The resident population in 2014 was estimated as 43,117, the town is best known as the birthplace of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, and the place where Isaac Newton went to school, at The Kings School. It is close to an ancient Roman road, and was the scene of Oliver Cromwells first advantage over Royalists during the English Civil War at Gonerby Moor, the origin of Grantham is uncertain, although the name is said probably to be Old English Granta+ham, meaning Grantas homestead. It appeared as early as 1086 in the Domesday Book in its present form of Grantham, the place name element grand could possibly mean gravel. The name of the town is the origin of the Scottish surname, now used as a given name. Late neolithic vessels from a burial were found at Little Gonerby, in the north of the town, a number of flint blades have been found, including from near Welham Street to the south-east of the town centre and from near Barrowby where a macehead has also been found. At Little Gonerby a neolithic settlement site was discovered with finds of pottery, Bronze Age flint scatters have also been found in several places, particularly on the higher ground near Barrowby. At Saltersford a Bronze Age ingot and a rapier were found, there are also several ring ditches on the higher ground above Saltersford. According to the Chronicles of Raphael Holinshed, Gorbonianus, a legendary King of the Britons built Grantham between 292 and 282 BC, the Domesday account notes Queen Edith having 12 carucates to the geld, with no arable land outside the village. She had a hall, two carucates and land for three ploughs without geld, and 111 burgesses, ivo had one church and four mills rendering 12 shillings, and eight acres of meadow without geld. The lands of Bishop Osmond were described, In Londonthorpe. is land for two ploughs and this land belongs to the church of Grantham. In Spittlegate, St Wulfram of Grantham has half a carucate of land to the geld, in Great Gonerby, St Wulfram of Grantham has 1 carucate of land. There is land for twelve oxen, on 4 December 1290, the funeral cortège of Eleanor of Castile, accompanied by her husband King Edward I, stopped at Grantham on its way from Lincoln to Westminster Abbey. An Eleanor Cross was later erected in the town, although its location has not been identified. In 1363 The Castles, Manors and towns of Stamford and Grantham were granted to Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, the question has been raised as to whether Grantham House was the site of a castle, however, no such site has been reliably identified. The street name Castlegate cannot be traced further back than the 17th century, there are references to a Hospital in Grantham as early as the 1330s. Grantham received its Charter of Incorporation in 1463, the town developed when the railway came to the town
33.
Peterborough
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Peterborough is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England, with a population of 183,631 in 2011. Historically part of Northamptonshire, it is 75 miles north of London, on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea 30 miles to the north-east, the railway station is an important stop on the East Coast Main Line between London and Edinburgh. The local topography is flat and in some places lies below sea level, human settlement in the area began before the Bronze Age, as can be seen at the Flag Fen archaeological site to the east of the current city centre, also with evidence of Roman occupation. The Anglo-Saxon period saw the establishment of a monastery, Medeshamstede, the population grew rapidly following the arrival of the railways in the 19th century, and Peterborough became an industrial centre, particularly noted for its brick manufacture. Following the Second World War, growth was limited until designation as a New Town in the 1960s, housing and population are expanding and a £1 billion regeneration of the city centre and immediately surrounding area is underway. In common with much of the United Kingdom, industrial employment has fallen, with a significant proportion of new jobs in financial services and distribution. The contrasting form Gildenburgh is also found in the 12th century history of the abbey, present-day Peterborough is the latest in a series of settlements which have at one time or other benefited from its site where the Nene leaves large areas of permanently drained land for the fens. Remains of Bronze Age settlement and what is thought to be religious activity can be seen at the Flag Fen archaeological site to the east of the city centre. The Romans established a garrison town at Durobrivae on Ermine Street, five miles to the west in Water Newton. Durobrivaes earliest appearance among surviving records is in the Antonine Itinerary of the late 2nd century. There was also a large 1st century Roman fort at Longthorpe, designed to house half a legion, or about 3,000 soldiers, it may have been established as early as around AD 44–48. Peterborough was an important area of production in the Roman period, providing Nene Valley Ware that was traded as far away as Cornwall. His brother Wulfhere murdered his own sons, similarly converted and then finished the monastery by way of atonement, Hereward, the outlaw, wake or exile, set off with supporters from his exile in Flanders and rampaged through the town in 1069 or 1070. The abbey church was rebuilt and greatly enlarged in the 12th century, the Peterborough Chronicle, a version of the Anglo-Saxon one, contains unique information about the history of England after the Norman conquest, written here by monks in the 12th century. This is the only prose history in English between the conquest and the later 14th century. The burgesses received their first charter from Abbot Robert – probably Robert of Sutton, the abbey church became one of Henry VIIIs retained, more secular, cathedrals in 1541, having been assessed at the Dissolution as having revenue at £1,972.7. ¾ per annum. When civil war broke out, Peterborough was divided between supporters of King Charles I and supporters of the Long Parliament, the Royalist forces were defeated within a few weeks and retreated to Burghley House, where they were captured and sent to Cambridge. Housing and sanitary improvements were effected under the provisions of an Act of Parliament passed in 1790, among the privileges claimed by the abbot as early as the 13th century was that of having a prison for felons taken in the Soke of Peterborough
34.
Cottesmore, Rutland
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Cottesmore is a village in the north of the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. In terms of population it is the largest village in Rutland, and this is due in part to the presence of Kendrew Barracks, formerly RAF Cottesmore. The Cottesmore Hunt takes its name from the village, sir William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale brought the foxhounds he had bought from Thomas Noel to Cottesmore in 1740. The Duke of York commanded the minesweeper HMS Cottesmore from April 1993 until November 1994, at the time of Edward the Confessor, Manors Cottesmore was held, together with Greetham, by Saxon called Goda. Goda held 12 carucates of land, three of which were held in tax to the Danegeld, the King held three carucates in demesne and three socmen with 40 villeins and six bordarii held 20 carucates. Of the land held by the manor, one Goisfridus held half a carucate, he had one plough, Cottesmore also had 40 acres of meadow and a wood measuring a mile in length by seven furlongs in breadth. History of the website, funded by HLF History of the Cottesmore Hunt
35.
Coleshill, Warwickshire
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Coleshill is a market town in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England, taking its name from the River Cole. It has a population of 6,481 and is situated 11 miles east of Birmingham, Coleshill is located on a ridge between the rivers Cole and Blythe which converge to the north with the River Tame. It is just to the east of the border with West Midlands county outside Birmingham, according to the 2001 census statistics it is part of the West Midlands conurbation, despite gaps of open green belt land between Coleshill and the rest of the conurbation. Coleshill began life in the Iron Age, before the Roman conquest of 43 AD, as the Grimstock Hill Romano-British settlement, evidence of hut circles was found by archaeologists at the end of the 1970s. These excavations showed that throughout the Roman period there was a Romano-Celtic temple on Grimstock Hill and it had developed over the earlier Iron Age huts and had gone through at least three phases of development. The area was at the junction of two powerful Celtic Tribes – the Coritanii to the east from Leicester, and to the west the Cornovii from Viroconium Cornoviorum. In the post Roman or Arthurian period, the nucleus of Coleshill moved about a kilometre to the south, here the present church is set and the medieval town developed around it. Henry II granted the manor to the de Clinton family, then it passed to the de Montfords who had moated manor houses at Coleshill, King Henry VII granted the lands to Simon Digby in 1496. His descendants still hold the titles, Coleshill was granted a market charter by King John in 1207, alongside Liverpool, Leek and Great Yarmouth. Simon Digby was awarded the manor of Coleshill in 1496 by King Henry VII, following the Battle of Bosworth, during the era of coaching and the turnpike trusts, Coleshill became important as a major staging post on the coaching roads from London to Chester, Liverpool and Holyhead. At one point there were over twenty inns in the town, the Coleshill to Lichfield Turnpike dates from 1743. Many former coaching inns remain in Coleshill, mostly along the High Street, one of the most notable buildings in the town is the parishs Church of St Peter and St Paul at the top of the Market Square. It has a 52-metre high steeple, one of the finest in Warwickshire, inside there is a 12th-century font of Norman origin, which is one of the finest examples in the country. There are also medieval table tombs with effigies of Knights, including John de Clinton, just outside the south door are the preserved remains of a medieval cross. The Market Square is also the location of the towns pillory, historically these were used to punish drunks, and bakers who sold underweight loaves. Today though, they are one of the towns tourist attractions, having restored and preserved by the Gascoigne family. At the top of Coleshill, just past Packington Lane, is a red post box that bears the Royal Seal of Edward VIII and it is one of a small number to have been placed in the UK before his abdication. The town is close to the M6, M6 Toll and M42 motorways and it is connected to East Birmingham directly by the B4114 Road
36.
Nuneaton
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Nuneaton /nəˈniːtən/ is a town in Warwickshire, England. The population in 2011 was 81,877, making it the largest town in Warwickshire, the author George Eliot was born on a farm on the Arbury Estate just outside Nuneaton in 1819 and lived in the town for much of her early life. Her novel Scenes of Clerical Life depicts Nuneaton, the Nuneaton built-up area, incorporating Nuneaton and surrounding villages including Hartshill and Bulkington, had a population of 92,968 at the 2011 census. Nuneaton is 9 miles north of Coventry,20 miles east of Birmingham and 103 miles northwest of London, the River Anker runs through the town. Towns close to Nuneaton include Bedworth, Atherstone and Hinckley, with Tamworth and Lutterworth a little further afield, the town lies 3 miles from the Leicestershire border,8 miles from Staffordshire and 12 miles from Derbyshire. Nuneatons name came from a 12th century Benedictine nunnery around which much of the town grew, prior to this it was a settlement known as Etone, which translates literally as water-town. Nuneaton was listed in the Domesday Book as a small hamlet, a market was established in 1233, which is still held. The first recorded use of the name was in 1247 when a document recorded it as Nonne Eton. The nunnery fell into disrepair after 1539, with Henry VIIIs Dissolution of the Monasteries, king Edward VI School was established by a royal charter in 1552. From 1944 it became a school for boys and, although it was locally known as KEGS. In 1974 it became a sixth form college, the other grammar schools in Nuneaton in the 1944 to 1974 period were Nuneaton High School for Girls and Manor Park. Nicholas Chamberlaine School in Bedworth was a comprehensive school that had a grammar school stream. Nuneaton grew gradually from the 17th century onwards, due to its position at the centre of the Warwickshire coalfields, at the time of the first national census in 1801 Nuneaton was one of the largest towns in Warwickshire, with a population of 5,000. During the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, Nuneaton developed a textile industry. Other industries which developed in the town included brick and tile making and brewing, by 1901 the population of Nuneaton had grown to 25,000. Nuneaton parish included the settlements of Attleborough and Stockingford, the parish was joined with Chilvers Coton parish in 1894 to form an urban district. Nuneaton was upgraded to the status of a borough in 1907. Due largely to munitions factories being located in Nuneaton, the town suffered heavy bombing damage during the Second World War, as a result of the bombing, much of the town centre was rebuilt in the post-war years
37.
Collingham, Nottinghamshire
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Collingham is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 2,738, Collingham is located on the banks of the River Trent on the A1133 main road, just off the A46. It is approximately 6 miles from Newark-on-Trent,15 miles from the city of Lincoln, Collingham is close to the old Roman Fort at Brough and there have been several local finds of Roman coins, jewellery and villa remains. It lies close to the Fosse Way on its way to Lincoln, the village name suggests a fairly early Saxon foundation, preceding the occupation of eastern England by the Danes and it is naturally mentioned in the Domesday Book. Many of the villages close by have names which suggest that they were later daughter settlements. It possessed two churches in North and South Collingham from before the Norman Conquest, the parishes extended from the river floodplain onto the uncultivated moorland on the higher ground between Trent and Witham, allowing for good grazing and meadowland throughout the year. The wide square fields and relatively few isolated farms are the result, one field was set aside in the enclosure award of 1790 for lease every year with the revenues being put to the use of the poor of the parish. During the siege of Newark in the English Civil War, the countryside was subject to deprivation from the opposing armies wanting food and fresh horses and the village suffered. In 1664, a mercer of Collingham, one Thomas Ridge, issued his own copper halfpenny tokens, in the nineteenth century Collingham was fairly self-sufficient with its own watchmaker, shoemakers, blacksmiths, dressmakers, schools, grocers and carriers. There were many local societies and the Nonconformist Churches had their own congregations, at one point there was considerable enmity between the Vicar of North Collingham and the Rector of South Collingham with many disputes about the schools in the village. There are a number of listed buildings in the village, from the c16 through to the c19. More information is available on the villages website Collingham Website Local amenities include the Co-op and One-Stop convenience stores, butchers, general store, newsagent, there is a medical centre/dentist/pharmacy complex which serves much of the surrounding area, plus a library in the same building. This will add two to four retail outlets in the Village Centre, and is supported by the majority of the villagers who voted in a Parish Council survey. There are some sporting facilities in Collingham, notably Collingham Football Club, there are also facilities for tennis, bowling and croquet while the nearby River Trent seems very popular with anglers. Collingham is fairly easy to get to by road or railway, Collingham is served by the Nottingham-Lincoln railway line used by East Midlands Trains and you can reach most parts of the Midlands. There is an East Coast station at Newark Northgate from which London can be reached as well as all locations on the East Coast Main Line, a bus service to Newark operates on an irregular basis, with two daily buses running to Lincoln on a daily basis. One ongoing issue affecting the village regards a bypass, the issue is not new, and has surfaced a number of times over the past sixty years or so, the last time being rejected in favour of another project in the county, a new bus station in Mansfield. The proposed bypass is not seen as a priority and in addition would damage the countryside, pressure groups within the village continue to campaign for the bypass to be built, regardless of how remote the possibility
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Nottinghamshire
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Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditional county town is Nottingham, though the county council is based in West Bridgford in the borough of Rushcliffe, the districts of Nottinghamshire are Ashfield, Bassetlaw, Broxtowe, Gedling, Mansfield, Newark and Sherwood, and Rushcliffe. The City of Nottingham was administratively part of Nottinghamshire between 1974 and 1998 but is now an authority, remaining part of Nottinghamshire for ceremonial purposes. In 2011 the county was estimated to have a population of 785,800, over half of the population of the county live in the Greater Nottingham conurbation. The conurbation has a population of about 650,000, though less than half live within the city boundaries. Nottinghamshire lies on the Roman Fosse Way, and there are Roman settlements in the county, for example at Mansfield, the county was settled by Angles around the 5th century, and became part of the Kingdom, and later Earldom, of Mercia. However, there is evidence of Saxon settlement at the Broxtowe Estate, Oxton, near Nottingham, the name first occurs in 1016, but until 1568 the county was administratively united with Derbyshire, under a single Sheriff. In Norman times the county developed malting and woollen industries, in the 18th and 19th centuries, mechanised deeper collieries opened and mining became an important economic sector, though these declined after the 1984–85 miners strike. Until 1610, Nottinghamshire was divided into eight Wapentakes, sometime between 1610 and 1719 they were reduced to six – Newark, Bassetlaw, Thurgarton, Rushcliffe, Broxtowe and Bingham, some of these names still being used for the modern districts. Oswaldbeck was absorbed in Bassetlaw, of which it forms the North Clay division, Nottinghamshire is famous for its involvement with the legend of Robin Hood. This is also the reason for the numbers of tourists who visit places like Sherwood Forest, City of Nottingham, to reinforce the Robin Hood connection, the University of Nottingham in 2010 has begun the Nottingham Caves Survey with the goal to increase the tourist potential of these sites. The project will use a 3D laser scanner to produce a three dimensional record of more than 450 sandstone caves around Nottingham. Nottinghamshire was mapped first by Christopher Saxton in 1576, the first fully surveyed map of the county was by John Chapman who produced Chapmans Map of Nottinghamshire in 1774. Nottinghamshire, like Derbyshire and South Yorkshire, sits on extensive coal measures, up to 900 metres thick, there is an oilfield near Eakring. These are overlaid by sandstones and limestones in the west and clay in the east, the north of the county is part of the Humberhead Levels lacustrine plain. The centre and south west of the county, around Sherwood Forest, principal rivers are the Trent, Idle, Erewash and Soar. The Trent, fed by the Soar and Erewash, and Idle, composed of many streams from Sherwood Forest, run through wide and flat valleys, the lowest is Peat Carr, east of Blaxton, at sea level, the Trent is tidal below Cromwell Lock. Nottinghamshire is sheltered by the Pennines to the west, so receives relatively low rainfall at 641–740 mm annually, the average temperature of the county is 8. 8–10.1 degrees Celsius
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Derbyshire
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Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire, in 2003 the Ordnance Survey placed Church Flatts Farm at Coton in the Elms as the furthest point from the sea in Great Britain. The city of Derby is a unitary authority area, but remains part of the county of Derbyshire. The non-metropolitan county contains 30 towns with between 10,000 and 100,000 inhabitants, there is a large amount of sparsely populated agricultural upland, 75% of the population live in 25% of the area. Further occupation came with the Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic periods of the Stone Age when Mesolithic hunter gatherers roamed the hilly tundra, evidence of these nomadic tribes has been found in limestone caves located on the Nottinghamshire border. Deposits left in the date the occupancy at around 12,000 to 7,000 BCE. Burial mounds of Neolithic settlers are also situated throughout the county and these chambered tombs were designed for collective burial and are mostly located in the central Derbyshire region. There are tombs at Minninglow and Five Wells that date back to between 2000 and 2500 BCE, three miles west of Youlgreave lies the Neolithic henge monument of Arbor Low, which has been dated to 2500 BCE. It is not until the Bronze Age that real signs of agriculture, in the moors of the Peak District signs of clearance, arable fields and hut circles were discovered after archaeological investigation. However this area and another settlement at Swarkestone are all that have been found, during the Roman invasion the invaders were attracted to Derbyshire because of the lead ore in the limestone hills of the area. They settled throughout the county with forts built near Brough in the Hope Valley, later they settled around Buxton, famed for its warm springs, and set up a fort near modern-day Derby in an area now known as Little Chester. Several kings of Mercia are buried in the Repton area, following the Norman Conquest, much of the county was subject to the forest laws. To the northwest was the Forest of High Peak under the custodianship of William Peverel, the rest of the county was bestowed upon Henry de Ferrers, a part of it becoming Duffield Frith. In time the area was given to the Duchy of Lancaster. Meanwhile, the Forest of East Derbyshire covered the county to the east of the River Derwent from the reign of Henry II to that of Edward I. The main rivers in the county are the River Derwent and the River Dove which both join the River Trent in the south. The varied landscapes within Derbyshires have been formed mainly as a consequence of the underlying geology, the oldest rocks occur in the northern, more upland half of the county, and are mostly of Carboniferous age, comprising limestones, gritstones, sandstones and shales. In its north-east corner to the east of Bolsover there are also Magnesian Limestone rocks of Permian age, across both regions can be found drift deposits of Quaternary age – mainly terrace and river gravel deposits and boulder clays
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Haltwhistle
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Haltwhistle is a small town and civil parish in Northumberland, England,10 miles east of Brampton, near Hadrians Wall. It had a population of 3,811 at the 2011 Census, stone-built houses are a feature of Haltwhistle. It is one of two settlements in Great Britain which claim to be the geographic centre of the island. The name Haltwhistle has nothing to do with a railway stop, early forms of the name are Hautwesel, Hautwysel, Hawtewysill, Hautwysell, Haltwesell. The second part -twistle relates to two streams or rivers and it derives from two Old English words twicce or twise, twice, division into two and wella, stream, brook. The second word is reduced in the word to ull. All but one of the examples in place names represent a high tongue of land between two streams where they join. The first part is derived from Old English hēafod, here hill-top, in general, head, headland, summit. If so, it describes the hill-top on which Holy Cross Church, rowland suggests Hal from hill An suggestion is French haut-, meaning high, since the settlement already existed long before the Norman Conquest. Haltwhistle was probably in existence in Roman times, as it is one of the closest approaches of the River South Tyne in its upland reaches to Hadrians Wall, the old Roman road or Stanegate passes just two miles to the north of the town. The development of the town was based on its position on the main Newcastle to Carlisle road, the gold coins were, one of Claudius Caesar, reverse Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus, one of Nero and one of Vespasian. The find is known as the Thorngrafton Hoard and the empty arm-purse can still be seen in the museum at Chesters Fort, more recently, paint manufacture became a major commercial force in the town, but has now stopped major production. Current local employers include factories making plastic bottles and de-icing products, in the 21st century, the tourist industry dominates the economy with Hadrians Wall and walking and rambling counting among the principal interests of tourists. Haltwhistle lies within the now unitary Northumberland County Council and was up until April 2009 part of Tynedale district and it is believed that Haltwhistle may be one of the smallest towns to have made such a provision in Great Britain. An electoral ward with the name still exists. This ward stretches from Hexham south up the R, South Tyne and has a total population taken at the 2011 Census of 4,832. The town is in the constituency of Hexham. Haltwhistle was a town for the exchange of local goods
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Leigh-on-Sea
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Leigh-on-Sea, also referred to as Leigh, is a town and civil parish in Essex, England. A district of Southend-on-Sea, with its own council, it is currently the only civil parish within the borough. Leigh-on-Sea is situated on the side of the Thames Estuary, only a few miles from the open waters of the North Sea to the east. The coastal environs of the feature a nature reserve at Two Tree Island. At low tide, Leighs foreshore has an expanse of mud flats and creeks. Leigh is approximately 40 miles from central London via road and rail networks and is considered part of the London commuter belt, archaeological finds of pottery and coins from the Romano-British era in the locality suggest early settlement. From at least the Saxon period a hilltop clearing amidst the woodland that covered much of the area of Essex came to be known as Leigh. A place of economic importance at the time of the Norman Conquest. Ley is an element found also in the nearby towns and villages of Hadleigh, Rayleigh, Hockley. The parish church, St. Clements, dates from the 15th century, the fabric of the church is of Kentish ragstone, with a Tudor porch constructed of red brick. The medieval structure of the church was added to and altered during the 19th, Leigh Hall, a medieval manor house demolished in the early 20th century, was once situated near the ancient eastern manorial boundary of Leigh and Prittlewell. The house and a trackway leading from it to a church on a nearby clifftop pre-dated the centre of modern-day Leigh-on-Sea, in the late 1830s Leighs rector, the Rt Rev Robert Eden, commissioned a large rectory to be built. A proper fine little towne and verie full of stout and adventurous sailers, the main seafood catch from Leigh fishing boats has always been shellfish and whitebait. Many of the trawlers were at one time bawleys. Local fish merchants land, process and trade a range of supplies daily, including shrimps, lobster, crab, seabass, haddock, cod and mackerel, cockles, whelks, mussels. The riverside settlement of Old Leigh, or The Old Town, is historically significant, from the Middle Ages until the turn of the 20th century, Old Leigh hosted the settlements market square, and high street. Leigh had grown to become a port by the 16th century, ships as large as 340 tons were built here for fishing. By the 1740s however, Leighs deep water access had become silted up, Broadway developed between the 1870s and the 1920s from a residential street to a commercial parade of shopfronts, as the town began to expand
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Oulton Park
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Oulton Park Circuit is a motor racing track in the small village of Little Budworth, Cheshire, England. It is about 5 miles from Winsford,13 miles from Chester city centre,8 miles from Northwich and 17 miles from Warrington with a rail connection along the Mid-Cheshire Line. It occupies much of the area which was known as the Oulton Estate. The track is set in the grounds of Oulton Hall, which were used as a staging camp by General Patton prior to the Normandy landings. At this time the famous boxer Joe Louis gave exhibition bouts at Oulton Park in the vicinity of the Deer Leap section of the circuit, the track is characterised by rapidly changing gradients, blind crests and several tight corners. The full circuit is 2.8 mi, the highest part of the course is Hill Top. Paddock facilities are reasonable in size with large areas of hard-standing, the race track can be adapted for shorter courses. The British Touring Car Championships uses all of the Cascades Corner and Lakeside and this hairpin cuts out all of the Island section of the circuit and takes the cars straight back over Hill Top. Beginning in 2007, all the circuits marshalling stations were redesigned with protective cages and this was to prevent incidents similar to those seen in the 2006 season when cars had collided with marshalling posts. A cage-protected marshals station was built at the bottom of the back straight near the chicane preceding Knickerbrook. In the early 18th Century the Oulton Estate comprised a manor house, by the end of the century this farmland was converted into a park, which now is the site of Oulton Park. Some buildings that were part of the estate still exist to this day, by the early 1950s England had a goodly number of motor racing tracks but the northwest was not well served. The members of the Mid-Cheshire Car Club took it on themselves to rectify the situation, the circuit they developed was on the estate of the Grey-Egerton family. With Sir Philip Gray-Egertons permission, a circuit was mapped out starting early in 1953 and by August the new track was in existence, measuring a sinuous 1.504 miles, almost rectangle in shape. The main event of the day as the 33-lap 49. 6-mile Formula Two race which was won by Tony Rolt driving Rob Walker’s Connaught A Type, the supporting Formula III event was divided into three 10-lap heats and a 17-lap final which went to Les Leston. It was a joint motorcycle and car event, the Wirral 100 Motor Club joining the Mid-Cheshire Car Club in organising it, the car side of the day was confined to three Formula III races and a final which was won by Glaswegian Ninian Sanderson from Ken Tyrrell. By April 1954, the track had grown to 2.23 miles in length, at Easter 1975, another circuit layout measuring 1.654 miles came into use. Oulton Park is unique amongst the new post-World War II circuits in that it is true road circuit whilst its contemporaries were, with one exception, converted airfields
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