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.
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
5.
Operation Plunder
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Beginning on the night of March 23,1945 the 21st Army Group under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery launched Operation Plunder, as a part of a coordinated set of Rhine crossings. The crossing of the River Rhine was at Rees, Wesel, dempsey, and the United States Ninth Army, under Lieutenant General William H. Simpson. Preparations were hidden by a smoke screen from 16 March. The operation commenced on the night of March 23,1945 and it included the Varsity parachute and glider landings near Wesel, and Operation Archway, by the Special Air Service. The landing areas were flooded, deserted farmland rising to woodland, four thousand Allied guns fired for four hours during the opening bombardment. British bombers contributed with attacks on Wesel during the day and night of 23 March 1945, Bridge construction started at 9, 45am and by 4, 00pm the first truck crossed the floating Pontoon bridge. Over 1,152 feet of M2 treadway and 93 pneumatic floats were used in just six hours and fifteen minute construction project and it took twenty-five 2-and-a-half ton GMC CCKW trucks to transport the bridge parts to the construction site, part of the Red Ball Express. Three Allied formations made the assault, the British XXX and XII Corps. These were the transports for the spearhead infantry, at 02,00 on 24 March, the 15th Infantry Division landed between Wesel and Rees. At first, there was no opposition, but later ran into determined resistance from machine-gun nests. On the same day the 51st Divisions commander, Major General Tom Rennie, was killed by mortar fire, the British 1st Commando Brigade entered Wesel. The U. S. 30th Infantry Division landed south of Wesel, the local resistance had been broken by artillery and air bombardment. Subsequently, the U. S. 79th Infantry Division also landed, German resistance to the Scottish landings continued with some effect, and there were armored counter-attacks. Landings continued, however, including tanks and other heavy equipment, US forces had a bridge across by the evening of 24 March. Operation Varsity started at 10,00 on 24 March, to disrupt enemy communications, despite heavy resistance to the airdrops and afterward, the airborne troops made progress and repelled counterattacks. The hard lessons of Operation Market Garden were applied, in the afternoon, the 15th Division linked up with both airborne divisions. Fierce German resistance continued around Bienen, north of Rees, where the entire 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade was needed to relieve the Black Watch, the bridgehead was firmly established, however, and Allied advantages in numbers and equipment were applied. By 27 March, the bridgehead was 35 miles wide and 20 miles deep, the Allied operation was opposed by the German 1st Parachute Army, commanded by General Alfred Schlemm, a part of Army Group H
6.
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
7.
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
8.
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
9.
Antwerp
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Antwerp is a city in Belgium, the capital of Antwerp province in the region of Flanders. With a population of 510,610, it is the most populous city proper in Belgium and its metropolitan area houses around 1,200,000 people, which is second behind Brussels. Antwerp is on the River Scheldt, linked to the North Sea by the Westerschelde estuary, the Port of Antwerp is one of the biggest in the world, ranking second in Europe and within the top 20 globally. Antwerp has long been an important city in the Low Countries, the inhabitants of Antwerp are nicknamed Sinjoren, after the Spanish honorific señor or French seigneur, lord, referring to the Spanish noblemen who ruled the city in the 17th century. The city hosted the 1920 Summer Olympics, according to folklore, notably celebrated by a statue in front of the town hall, the city got its name from a legend about a giant called Antigoon who lived near the Scheldt river. He exacted a toll from passing boatmen, and for those who refused, he severed one of their hands, eventually the giant was killed by a young hero named Silvius Brabo, who cut off the giants own hand and flung it into the river. Hence the name Antwerpen, from Dutch hand werpen, akin to Old English hand and wearpan, a longstanding theory is that the name originated in the Gallo-Roman period and comes from the Latin antverpia. Antverpia would come from Ante Verpia, indicating land that forms by deposition in the curve of a river. Note that the river Scheldt, before a period between 600 and 750, followed a different track. This must have coincided roughly with the current ringway south of the city, however, many historians think it unlikely that there was a large settlement which would be named Antverpia, but more something like an outpost with a river crossing. However, John Lothrop Motley argues, and so do a lot of Dutch etymologists and historians, aan t werp is also possible. This warp is a hill or a river deposit, high enough to remain dry at high tide. Another word for werp is pol hence polders, historical Antwerp allegedly had its origins in a Gallo-Roman vicus. Excavations carried out in the oldest section near the Scheldt, 1952–1961, produced pottery shards, the earliest mention of Antwerp dates from the 4th century. In the 4th century, Antwerp was first named, having been settled by the Germanic Franks, the name was reputed to have been derived from anda and werpum. The Merovingian Antwerp was evangelized by Saint Amand in the 7th century, at the end of the 10th century, the Scheldt became the boundary of the Holy Roman Empire. Antwerp became a margraviate in 980, by the German emperor Otto I, in the 11th century Godfrey of Bouillon was for some years known as the marquis of Antwerp. In the 12th century, Norbert of Xanten established a community of his Premonstratensian canons at St. Michaels Abbey at Caloes
10.
V-1 flying bomb
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The V-1 was developed at Peenemünde Army Research Center by the Nazi German Luftwaffe during the Second World War. During initial development it was known by the codename Cherry Stone, the first V-1 was launched at London on 13 June 1944), one week after the successful Allied landings in Europe. After this, the V-1s were directed at the port of Antwerp and other targets in Belgium, the attacks stopped only a month before the war in Europe ended, when the last launch site in the Low Countries was overrun on 29 March 1945. On 9 November 1939, a proposal for an aircraft carrying a payload of 1,000 kg over a distance of 500 km was forwarded to the RLM. On 31 May, Rudolf Bree of the RLM commented that he saw no chance that the projectile could be deployed in combat conditions, as the proposed remote-control system was seen as a design weakness. Heinrich Koppenberg, the director of Argus, met with Ernst Udet on 6 January 1941 to try to convince him that the development should be continued, despite this, Gosslau was convinced that the basic idea was sound and proceeded to simplify the design. On 22 January 1942, Lusser took up a position with the Fieseler aircraft company and he met with Koppenberg on 27 February and was informed of Gosslaus project. Gosslaus design used two engines, Lusser improved the design to use a single engine. A final proposal for the project was submitted to the Technical Office of the RLM on 5 June and the project was renamed Fi 103, as Fieseler was to be the chief contractor. By 30 August, Fieseler had completed the first fuselage, and the first flight of the Fi 103 V7 took place on 10 December, the V-1 was named by The Reich journalist Hans Schwarz Van Berkl in June 1944 with Hitlers approval. The V-1 was designed under the codename Kirschkern by Lusser and Gosslau, with a fuselage constructed mainly of welded sheet steel, the simple, Argus-built pulsejet engine pulsed 50 times per second, and the characteristic buzzing sound gave rise to the colloquial names buzz bomb or doodlebug. It was known briefly in Germany as Maikäfer and Krähe, ignition of the Argus pulsejet was accomplished using an automotive type spark plug located about 76 cm behind the intake shutters, with current supplied from a portable starting unit. The Argus As 014 could operate at zero airspeed because of the nature of its intake shutters, ramp-launch velocity for an operational V-1 was 580 km/h as it left the end of the launch ramp. Beginning in January 1941, the V-1s pulsejet engine was tested on a variety of craft, including automobiles. The unsuccessful prototype was a version of a Sprengboot, in which a boat loaded with explosives was steered towards a target ship, the Tornado was assembled from surplus seaplane hulls connected in catamaran fashion with a small pilot cabin on the crossbeams. The Tornado prototype was a noisy underperformer and was abandoned in favour of conventional piston engined craft. The engine made its first flight aboard a Gotha Go 145 on 30 April 1941, the V-1 guidance system used a simple autopilot developed by Askania in Berlin to regulate altitude and airspeed. A weighted pendulum system provided fore-and-aft attitude measurement to control pitch, operating power for the gyroscope platform and the flight-control actuators was provided by two large spherical compressed air tanks that also pressurized the fuel tank
11.
Exeter
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Exeter is a cathedral city in Devon, England with a population of 127,300. It lies within the county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council, currently, the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district and is therefore under the administration of the County Council. The city is on the River Exe about 37 miles northeast of Plymouth and 70 miles southwest of Bristol, Exeter was the most south-westerly Roman fortified settlement in Britain, although there is evidence a Cornish tribe existed in Exeter before the Roman invasion. Exeter became a centre during the Middle Ages and into the Tudor times, Exeter Cathedral, founded in the mid 11th century. During the late 19th century, Exeter became an affluent centre for the wool trade, after the Second World War, much of the city centre was rebuilt and is now considered to be a centre for modern business and tourism in Devon and Cornwall. The name Exe is a development of the Brittonic name—meaning water or, more exactly, full of fish —that also appears in the English Axe and Esk, the Welsh Usk. Exeter began as settlements on a dry ridge ending in a spur overlooking a navigable river teeming with fish, although there have been no major prehistoric finds, these advantages suggest the site was occupied early. Coins have been discovered from the Hellenistic kingdoms, suggesting the existence of a settlement trading with the Mediterranean as early as 250 BC. Such early towns had been a feature of pre-Roman Gaul as described by Julius Caesar in his Commentaries, the Romans established a 42-acre playing-card shaped fort named Isca around AD55. To distinguish the two, the Romans also referred to Exeter as Isca Dumnoniorum, Watertown of the Dumnonii, a small fort was also maintained at Topsham, a supply depot on the route between the two was excavated at St Loyes on Topsham Road in 2010. The presence of the built up an unplanned civilian community of natives. This area was excavated in the 1970s, but could not be maintained for public view owing to its proximity to the present-day cathedral, in January 2015, it was announced that Exeter Cathedral had launched a bid to restore the baths and open an underground centre for visitors. In the late 2nd century, the ditch and rampart defences around the old fortress were replaced by a bank and wall enclosing a much larger area, although most of the visible structure is older, the course of the Roman wall was used for Exeters subsequent city walls. Thus about 70% of the Roman wall remains, and most of its route can be traced on foot, the dating of the coins so far discovered, however, suggests a rapid decline, virtually none have been discovered dated after the year 380. By that time, the city was held by the Saxons, Exeter was known to the Saxons as Escanceaster. In 876, it was attacked and briefly captured by Danish Vikings, alfred the Great drove them out the next summer. Over the next few years, he elevated Exeter to one of the four burhs in Devon and these permitted the city to fend off another attack and siege by the Danes in 893. King Athelstan again strengthened the walls around 928, and at the time drove out the remaining Britons from the city
12.
Welch Regiment
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The Welch Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1969. In 1969 the regiment was amalgamated with the South Wales Borderers to form the Royal Regiment of Wales, the regiment was created in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 41st Regiment of Foot and 69th Regiment of Foot to form the Welsh Regiment. The 1st Battalion moved to Egypt in 1886, significantly the Battalion did not lose a man. A 3rd, Militia Battalion, was embodied in December 1899, the 2nd Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 3rd Brigade in the 1st Division in August 1914 for service on the Western Front. The 1/6th Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the South Wales Brigade, Captain Edgar Myles, of the 8th Battalion, was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions at the Siege of Kut in April 1916 during the Mesopotamian campaign. The 9th Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 58th Brigade in the 19th Division in July 1915 for service on the Western Front, the 10th Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 114th Brigade in 38th Division in December 1915 for service on the Western Front. The 11th Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 67th Brigade in the 22nd Division in September 1915 for service on the Western Front and then moved to Salonika in late 1915. Private Hubert William Lewis, of the 11th Battalion, was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions at Evzonoi in Macedonia in October 1916 during the Macedonian campaign. The 13th Battalion, the 14th Battalion and the 15th Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 114th Brigade in the 38th Division in December 1915 for service on the Western Front. The 16th Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 115th Brigade in the 38th Division in December 1915 for service on the Western Front. The 17th Battalion and 18th Battalion landed in France as part of the 119th Brigade in the 40th Division in June 1916 for service on the Western Front. The 19th Battalion landed at Le Havre as pioneer battalion to the 38th Division in December 1915 for service on the Western Front, the 23rd Battalion landed in Salonika as pioneer battalion to the 28th Division in July 1916. After the First World War, the regiment commissioned the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens to design a war memorial as a tribute to their fallen. The memorials was originally planned to be built on the Western Front in Belgium but was erected outside the regiments headquarters at Maindy Barracks in Cardiff. The memorial takes the form of squat cenotaph, following Lutyens design of the famous Cenotaph on Whitehall in London, the 2nd Battalion was deployed to Ireland in 1920 while the 1st Battalion returned to British India and served there until 1924 when it moved to Waziristan. The 2nd Battalion moved to Shanghai in 1927 for service with the Shanghai Defence Force, the 1st Battalion moved to Palestine in 1939 to play its part in operations connected with the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine. The battalion first saw action in the Western Desert Campaign of 1940, the 1st Battalion landed in Crete in February but was overwhelmed by the enemy in fighting at Souda Bay in Chania and Sphakia Beach and had to be evacuated by the Royal Navy. Eventually the 1st Battalion was reformed in Egypt and joined the 5th Indian Infantry Brigade, part of the 4th Indian Infantry Division and moved back again to the Western Desert
13.
Blandford Camp
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Blandford Camp is a military base comprising some 390 hectares of downland lying 2 miles north-east of Blandford Forum in the county of Dorset in southern England. Significant areas of the camp are Sites of Special Scientific Interest, a number of other telecommunications-related units, such as the MOD Land Systems Reference Centre, are also housed on the site. Over the years, however, the camp has been home to Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, Army and joint-Service units, the site has also been used as a road racing circuit. There are numerous sites within the camp boundaries, but the first recorded use of the site was as a racecourse. Race meetings began in the late 16th century and an annual race week was held until the end of the 19th century. It is thought that the area has been used by military forces for many centuries, in addition, in 1724 a troop of the Hussars were stationed in the area for anti-smuggling duties. In 1806, an Admiralty Shutter Telegraph Station was built near the racecourse on the now known as Telegraph Clump. The Blandford station was a link in the used to convey messages from the Admiralty in London to the Naval Dockyard at Plymouth. The signal station was closed in 1816 after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, with the outbreak of the First World War a large number of Royal Naval reservists were called for full-time service, in excess of the numbers required to man ships. It was therefore decided that a Royal Naval Division would be formed to augment the army divisions, after its initial action in the front line in Belgium, the Division returned to the UK and established a base depot and training camp at Blandford. A German prisoner of war camp was set up alongside it. The RN Division had battalions named after the naval officers Drake, Nelson, Benbow, Hawke, Hood, Howe, Anson and Collingwood. Instruction on trench construction and trench warfare was carried out within the camp area, the men of the Division left Blandford Camp to embark on the ill-fated Gallipoli operation. At the end of 1919, however, the camp was closed, by the end of 1920 the site had been returned to agricultural use. There are still a few huts from the 1939 camp remaining, the camp then became a Battle Training Camp, staffed by a cadre of officers and NCOs who organised the training of the units who passed through the camp. Each unit spent a month carrying out training prior to being sent to a combat area such as North Africa. The hospitals started receiving patients about two weeks after D-Day and many were brought from the area via the wartime airfield at Tarrant Rushton. The hospitals were often working at capacity and receiving as many as 500 casualties during one night
14.
Newcastle upon Tyne
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Newcastle is the most populous city in the North East and forms the core of the Tyneside conurbation, the eighth most populous urban area in the United Kingdom. Newcastle is a member of the English Core Cities Group and is a member of the Eurocities network of European cities. Newcastle was part of the county of Northumberland until 1400, when it became a county of itself, the regional nickname and dialect for people from Newcastle and the surrounding area is Geordie. Newcastle also houses Newcastle University, a member of the Russell Group, the city developed around the Roman settlement Pons Aelius and was named after the castle built in 1080 by Robert Curthose, William the Conquerors eldest son. The city grew as an important centre for the trade in the 14th century. The port developed in the 16th century and, along with the lower down the River Tyne, was amongst the worlds largest shipbuilding and ship-repairing centres. Newcastles economy includes corporate headquarters, learning, digital technology, retail, tourism and cultural centres, among its icons are Newcastle United football club and the Tyne Bridge. Since 1981 the city has hosted the Great North Run, a marathon which attracts over 57,000 runners each year. The first recorded settlement in what is now Newcastle was Pons Aelius and it was given the family name of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, who founded it in the 2nd century AD. This rare honour suggests Hadrian may have visited the site and instituted the bridge on his tour of Britain, Pons Aelius population at this period was estimated at 2,000. Fragments of Hadrians Wall are visible in parts of Newcastle, particularly along the West Road, the course of the Roman Wall can be traced eastwards to the Segedunum Roman fort in Wallsend—the walls end—and to the supply fort Arbeia in South Shields. After the Roman departure from Britain, completed in 410, Newcastle became part of the powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, conflicts with the Danes in 876 left the river Tyne and its settlements in ruin. After the conflicts with the Danes, and following the 1088 rebellion against the Normans, Monkchester was all, because of its strategic position, Robert Curthose, son of William the Conqueror, erected a wooden castle there in the year 1080. The town was known as Novum Castellum or New Castle. The wooden structure was replaced by a castle in 1087. The castle was again in 1172 during the reign of Henry II. Much of the keep which can be seen in the city dates from this period. Throughout the Middle Ages, Newcastle was Englands northern fortress, incorporated first by Henry II, the city had a new charter granted by Elizabeth in 1589
15.
Troon
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Troon is a town in South Ayrshire. It is situated on the west coast of Scotland, about 8 miles north of Ayr and 3 miles northwest of Glasgow Prestwick Airport, lying across the Firth of Clyde, the Isle of Arran can be seen. Troon is also a port with services at its yacht marina. Up until January 2016, P&O operated a ferry service to Larne. In May 2006, a service to Campbeltown was added. In the 2001 census the population of Troon, not including the village of Loans but including the Barassie area, was estimated at 14. The name Troon is likely from a Brythonic or Pictish name cognate with Welsh trwyn, when Scottish Gaelic became the main language, it is possible that the Gaelic form An t-Sròn pronounced was used for the name Troon. Since the words sròn and trwyn are cognate, it could have been adapted from one language to the other. This is similar to the Gaelic name of Stranraer, which lies further south on the coast, however, it is not certain if An t-Sròn was the Gaelic name, as its usage cannot be traced back any further than Johnston’s Place-names of Scotland. It is more likely that a gaelicized respelling, such as An Trùn, was used, the name An Truthail was used by Gaelic speakers on nearby Arran Island up until the 20th century. Troon is famous for its Royal Troon golf course, one of the hosts to the Open Golf Championship, the course is chosen to host this annual event roughly every seven years. The Duke of Portland took the natural harbour on the north side of the headland. Later improvements included increasing the protection afforded by the headland with an artificial ballast bank made from the dumped ballast of incoming merchant ships, and from 1812 Troon was the terminus of a horse-drawn railway connecting it to the Dukes coal mines around Kilmarnock. This was not licensed for passengers, a minor technicality evaded by weighing those wishing to travel, Troon Harbour played a notable part in the development of the town for many years. It was home to the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company, which constructed many vessels for worldwide customers but mainly small passenger, the fishing fleet from Ayr moved to Troon Harbour and a revitalisation of the abandoned section of the harbour started. An approach road was constructed to connect to a P&O terminal which operates a service to Ireland, the Seacat high speed ferry service briefly operated from Troon Harbour but has now ended. Troon Harbour is now a port, yachting marina, seasonal passenger ferry port and Ro-Ro ferry terminal for timber. The shipbuilding industry at Troon Harbour ended in 2000, the town is served by Troon railway station
16.
Glasgow
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Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland, and third largest in the United Kingdom. Historically part of Lanarkshire, it is now one of the 32 council areas of Scotland and it is situated on the River Clyde in the countrys West Central Lowlands. Inhabitants of the city are referred to as Glaswegians, Glasgow grew from a small rural settlement on the River Clyde to become the largest seaport in Britain. From the 18th century the city grew as one of Great Britains main hubs of transatlantic trade with North America. Glasgow was the Second City of the British Empire for much of the Victorian era and Edwardian period, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries Glasgow grew in population, reaching a peak of 1,128,473 in 1939. The entire region surrounding the conurbation covers about 2.3 million people, at the 2011 census, Glasgow had a population density of 8, 790/sq mi, the highest of any Scottish city. Glasgow hosted the 2014 Commonwealth Games and is well known in the sporting world for the football rivalry of the Old Firm between Celtic and Rangers. Glasgow is also known for Glasgow patter, a dialect that is noted for being difficult to understand by those from outside the city. Glasgow is the form of the ancient Cumbric name Glas Cau. Possibly referring to the area of Molendinar Burn where Glasgow Cathedral now stands, the later Gaelic name Baile Glas Chu, town of the grey dog, is purely a folk-etymology. The present site of Glasgow has been settled since prehistoric times, it is for settlement, being the furthest downstream fording point of the River Clyde, the origins of Glasgow as an established city derive ultimately from its medieval position as Scotlands second largest bishopric. Glasgow increased in importance during the 10th and 11th centuries as the site of this bishopric, reorganised by King David I of Scotland and John, there had been an earlier religious site established by Saint Mungo in the 6th century. The bishopric became one of the largest and wealthiest in the Kingdom of Scotland, bringing wealth, sometime between 1189 and 1195 this status was supplemented by an annual fair, which survives as the Glasgow Fair. Glasgow grew over the following centuries, the first bridge over the River Clyde at Glasgow was recorded from around 1285, giving its name to the Briggait area of the city, forming the main North-South route over the river via Glasgow Cross. The founding of the University of Glasgow in 1451 and elevation of the bishopric to become the Archdiocese of Glasgow in 1492 increased the towns religious and educational status and landed wealth. Its early trade was in agriculture, brewing and fishing, with cured salmon and herring being exported to Europe, Glasgow was subsequently raised to the status of Royal Burgh in 1611. The citys Tobacco Lords created a water port at Port Glasgow on the Firth of Clyde. By the late 18th century more than half of the British tobacco trade was concentrated on Glasgows River Clyde, at the time, Glasgow held a commercial importance as the city participated in the trade of sugar, tobacco and later cotton
17.
Oswestry
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Oswestry, one of the UKs oldest border settlements, is the largest market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483, the town was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of Oswestry until that was abolished under local government reorganisation with effect from 1 April 2009. Oswestry is the third largest town in Shropshire, following Telford, the 2011 Census recorded the population of the civil parish as 17,105 and the urban area as 16,660. The town is five miles from the Welsh border, and has a mixed Welsh and English heritage and it is the home of the Shropshire libraries Welsh Collection. Oswestry is the largest settlement within the Oswestry Uplands, a natural area. It has also known as, or recorded in historical documents as, Album Monasterium, Blancminster, Blankmouster, Blancmustier, Croes Oswallt, Oswaldestre. The site is also named Caer Ogyrfan or The City of Gogyrfan, the Battle of Maserfield is thought to have been fought there in 642, between the Anglo-Saxon kings Penda of Mercia and Oswald of Northumbria. Oswald was killed in battle and was dismembered, according to legend, one of his arms was carried to an ash tree by a raven. Thus it is believed that the name of the site is derived from a reference to Oswalds Tree, the spring, Oswalds Well, is supposed to have originated where the bird dropped the arm from the tree. Offas Dyke runs nearby to the west, the Domesday Book records a castle being built by Rainald, a Norman Sheriff of Shropshire, Loeuvre – see Oswestry Castle. Alans duties to the Crown included supervision of the Welsh border and he also founded Sporle Priory in Norfolk. He married Ada or Adeline, daughter of Ernulf de Hesdin and their eldest son William FitzAlan was made High Sheriff of Shropshire by King Stephen in 1137. He married a niece of Robert of Gloucester, the town has many Welsh language street and place names and the towns name in Welsh is Croesoswallt, meaning Oswalds Cross. It eventually became known as Oswalds Tree in English, from which its current English name is probably derived, the town changed hands between the English and the Welsh a number of times during the Middle Ages. In 1149 the castle was captured by Madog ap Maredudd during The Anarchy, occasionally in the 13th century it is referred to in official records as Blancmuster or Blancmostre, meaning White Minster. The castle was reduced to a pile of rocks during the English Civil War, in 1190 the town was granted the right to hold a market each Wednesday. With the weekly influx of Welsh farmers the townsfolk were often bilingual, after the foot and mouth outbreak in the late 1960s the animal market was moved out of the town centre. In the 1990s, a statue of a shepherd and sheep was installed in the square as a memorial to the history of the market site
18.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
19.
Essex Regiment
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The Essex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1958. The regiment served in conflicts such as the Second Boer War. It was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 44th Regiment of Foot, in 1958, the Essex Regiment was amalgamated with the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment to form the 3rd East Anglian Regiment. The lineage of the Essex Regiment is continued by C Company of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Anglian Regiment. The Essex Regiment was formed in 1881 by the union of the 44th and 56th Regiments of Foot, which became the 1st and 2nd battalions respectively of the new regiment. This merger was part of the Childers Reforms of the British Army, a large number of small Rifle Volunteer Corps had been formed in the county as a result of an invasion scare in 1859. In 1880, they were consolidated into four battalions, and in 1883 they were designated as the 1st–4th Volunteer Battalions of the Essex Regiment. Under the mobilisation scheme proposed by the Stanhope Memorandum of 1888, they constituted the Essex Volunteer Infantry Brigade, notably, the regiment participated in the Relief of Kimberley and the Battle of Paardeberg. The four Volunteer Battalions contributed two Special Service Companies to assist 1st Battalion and were awarded the battle honour South Africa 1900–02. As a result of the Haldane Reforms, the militia component. In 1910, the Essex and Suffolk Cyclist Battalion, which had raised in 1908, divided to become the 6th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment. During the First World War, the Essex Regiment provided 30 infantry battalions to the British Army, the 3rd battalion was mobilised to supply drafts to the two Regular battalions. On the outbreak of war, the Territorial battalions, all formed second line, three service battalions and one reserve battalion, were formed from volunteers in 1914 as part of Kitcheners Army. A further service battalion, was raised by the Mayor and Borough of West Ham, Reserve battalions were created as the war progressed, including the 14th, the 15th, 16th and 17th, the 18th and 1st and 2nd Garrison Battalions. The 1st Battalion took part in the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 1916, the battalion, which comprised W, X, Y, and Z companies, took up position in the British trenches at 3,30 am. At 8,40 am, the battalion received orders to advance and it was delayed by heavy enemy fire and congestion in the communication trenches. The Newfoundland Regiment advancing to the left of the Essex battalion was almost entirely wiped out as it advanced towards the German lines, at 10,50 am, the Essex companies were in position and received orders to go over the top. The companies came under artillery and machine gun fire almost as soon as they appeared over the parapet
20.
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
21.
Manchester
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Manchester is a major city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 514,414 as of 2013. It lies within the United Kingdoms second-most populous urban area, with a population of 2.55 million, Manchester is fringed by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east and an arc of towns with which it forms a continuous conurbation. The local authority is Manchester City Council and it was historically a part of Lancashire, although areas of Cheshire south of the River Mersey were incorporated during the 20th century. Throughout the Middle Ages Manchester remained a township but began to expand at an astonishing rate around the turn of the 19th century. Manchesters unplanned urbanisation was brought on by a boom in textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution, Manchester achieved city status in 1853. The Manchester Ship Canal opened in 1894, creating the Port of Manchester and its fortunes declined after the Second World War, owing to deindustrialisation. The city centre was devastated in a bombing in 1996, but it led to extensive investment, in 2014, the Globalization and World Cities Research Network ranked Manchester as a beta world city, the highest-ranked British city apart from London. Manchester is the third-most visited city in the UK and it is notable for its architecture, culture, musical exports, media links, scientific and engineering output, social impact, sports clubs and transport connections. Manchester Liverpool Road railway station was the worlds first inter-city passenger railway station and in the city scientists first split the atom, the name Manchester originates from the Latin name Mamucium or its variant Mancunium and the citizens are still referred to as Mancunians. These are generally thought to represent a Latinisation of an original Brittonic name, both meanings are preserved in languages derived from Common Brittonic, mam meaning breast in Irish and mother in Welsh. The suffix -chester is a survival of Old English ceaster and their territory extended across the fertile lowland of what is now Salford and Stretford. Central Manchester has been settled since this time. A stabilised fragment of foundations of the version of the Roman fort is visible in Castlefield. After the Roman withdrawal and Saxon conquest, the focus of settlement shifted to the confluence of the Irwell, much of the wider area was laid waste in the subsequent Harrying of the North. Thomas de la Warre, lord of the manor, founded and constructed a church for the parish in 1421. The church is now Manchester Cathedral, the premises of the college house Chethams School of Music. The library, which opened in 1653 and is open to the public today, is the oldest free public reference library in the United Kingdom. Manchester is mentioned as having a market in 1282, around the 14th century, Manchester received an influx of Flemish weavers, sometimes credited as the foundation of the regions textile industry
22.
Royal Engineers
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The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers, and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army. It is highly regarded throughout the military, and especially the Army and it provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is headed by the Chief Royal Engineer. The Regimental Headquarters and the Royal School of Military Engineering are in Chatham in Kent, the corps is divided into several regiments, barracked at various places in the United Kingdom and around the world. In Woolwich in 1716, the Board formed the Royal Regiment of Artillery and established a Corps of Engineers, the manual work was done by the Artificer Companies, made up of contracted civilian artisans and labourers. In 1782, a Soldier Artificer Company was established for service in Gibraltar, ten years later the Gibraltar company, which had remained separate, was absorbed and in 1812 the name was changed to the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners. The Corps has no battle honours, in 1832, the regimental motto, Ubique Quo Fas Et Gloria Ducunt, was granted. The motto signified that the Corps had seen action in all the conflicts of the British Army. In 1911 the Corps formed its Air Battalion, the first flying unit of the British Armed Forces, the Air Battalion was the forerunner of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force. In 1915, in response to German mining of British trenches under the then static siege conditions of the First World War, before the Second World War, Royal Engineers recruits were required to be at least 5 feet 4 inches tall. They initially enlisted for six years with the colours and a six years with the reserve or four years. Unlike most corps and regiments, in which the age limit was 25. They trained at the Royal Engineers Depot in Chatham or the RE Mounted Depot at Aldershot, the Royal Engineers Museum is in Gillingham in Kent. Britain having acquired an Empire, it fell to the Royal Engineers to conduct some of the most significant civil engineering schemes around the world, some examples of great works of the era of empire can be found in A. J. Smitherss book Honourable Conquests. The Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment, commanded by Richard Clement Moody, was responsible for the foundation, the Royal Albert Hall is one of the UKs most treasured and distinctive buildings, recognisable the world over. Since its opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the leading artists from every kind of performance genre have appeared on its stage. The Hall was designed by Captain Francis Fowke and Major-General Henry Y. D. Scott of the Royal Engineers, the designers were heavily influenced by ancient amphitheatres, but had also been exposed to the ideas of Gottfried Semper while he was working at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Much of the British colonial era infrastructure of India, of which survive today, was created by engineers of the three presidencies armies and the Royal Engineers. In 1838 he designed and built sea defences for Vizagapatam and he masterminded the Godavery Delta project where 720,000 acres of land were irrigated and 500 miles of land to the port of Cocanada was made navigable in the 1840s
23.
Devon
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Devon, also known as Devonshire, which was formerly its common and official name, is a county of England, reaching from the Bristol Channel in the north to the English Channel in the south. It is part of South West England, bounded by Cornwall to the west, Somerset to the northeast, combined as a ceremonial county, Devons area is 6,707 km2 and its population is about 1.1 million. Devon derives its name from Dumnonia, which, during the British Iron Age, Roman Britain, the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain resulted in the partial assimilation of Dumnonia into the Kingdom of Wessex during the eighth and ninth centuries. The western boundary with Cornwall was set at the River Tamar by King Æthelstan in 936, Devon was constituted as a shire of the Kingdom of England thereafter. The north and south coasts of Devon each have both cliffs and sandy shores, and the bays contain seaside resorts, fishing towns. The inland terrain is rural, generally hilly, and has a low density in comparison to many other parts of England. Dartmoor is the largest open space in southern England at 954 km2, to the north of Dartmoor are the Culm Measures and Exmoor. In the valleys and lowlands of south and east Devon the soil is fertile, drained by rivers including the Exe, the Culm, the Teign, the Dart. As well as agriculture, much of the economy of Devon is linked with tourism, in the Brittonic, Devon is known as Welsh, Dyfnaint, Breton, Devnent and Cornish, Dewnens, each meaning deep valleys. One erroneous theory is that the suffix is due to a mistake in the making of the original letters patent for the Duke of Devonshire. However, there are references to Defenascire in Anglo-Saxon texts from before 1000 AD, the term Devonshire may have originated around the 8th century, when it changed from Dumnonia to Defenascir. Kents Cavern in Torquay had produced human remains from 30–40,000 years ago, Dartmoor is thought to have been occupied by Mesolithic hunter-gatherer peoples from about 6000 BC. The Romans held the area under occupation for around 350 years. Devon became a frontier between Brittonic and Anglo-Saxon Wessex, and it was absorbed into Wessex by the mid 9th century. This suggests the Anglo-Saxon migration into Devon was limited rather than a movement of people. The border with Cornwall was set by King Æthelstan on the east bank of the River Tamar in 936 AD, the arrival of William of Orange to launch the Glorious Revolution of 1688 took place at Brixham. Devon has produced tin, copper and other metals from ancient times, Devons tin miners enjoyed a substantial degree of independence through Devons Stannary Parliament, which dates back to the 12th century. The last recorded sitting was in 1748, agriculture has been an important industry in Devon since the 19th century
24.
Plymouth
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Plymouths early history extends to the Bronze Age, when a first settlement emerged at Mount Batten. This settlement continued as a trading post for the Roman Empire, until it was surpassed by the prosperous village of Sutton founded in the ninth century. In 1620, the Pilgrim Fathers departed Plymouth for the New World, during the English Civil War the town was held by the Parliamentarians and was besieged between 1642 and 1646. The combined town took the name of Plymouth which, in 1928, the citys naval importance later led to its targeting and partial destruction during World War II, an act known as the Plymouth Blitz. After the war the city centre was rebuilt and subsequent expansion led to the incorporation of Plympton. The city is home to 262,700 people, making it the 30th most populous area in the United Kingdom. It is governed locally by Plymouth City Council and is represented nationally by three MPs, Plymouths economy remains strongly influenced by shipbuilding and seafaring including ferry links to Brittany and Spain, but has tended toward a service-based economy since the 1990s. It has the largest operational base in Western Europe – HMNB Devonport and is home to Plymouth University. An unidentified settlement named TAMARI OSTIA is listed in Ptolemys Geographia and is presumed to be located in the area of the modern city, at the time this village was called Sutton, meaning south town in Old English. The name Plym Mouth, meaning mouth of the River Plym was first mentioned in a Pipe Roll of 1211, the name Plymouth first officially replaced Sutton in a charter of King Henry VI in 1440. See Plympton for the derivation of the name Plym, during the Hundred Years War a French attack burned a manor house and took some prisoners, but failed to get into the town. In 1403 the town was burned by Breton raiders, on 12 November,1439, the English Parliament made Plymouth the first town incorporated. The castle served to protect Sutton Pool, which is where the fleet was based in Plymouth prior to the establishment of Plymouth Dockyard. In 1512 an Act of Parliament was passed for further fortifying Plymouth, defences on St Nicholas Island also date from this time, and a string of six artillery blockhouses were built, including one on Fishers Nose at the south-eastern corner of the Hoe. This location was further strengthened by the building of a fort in 1596, during the 16th century locally produced wool was the major export commodity. According to legend, Drake insisted on completing his game of bowls on the Hoe before engaging the Spanish Armada in 1588. In 1620 the Pilgrim Fathers set sail for the New World from Plymouth, during the English Civil War Plymouth sided with the Parliamentarians and was besieged for almost four years by the Royalists. The last major attack by the Royalist was by Sir Richard Grenville leading thousands of soldiers towards Plymouth, the civil war ended as a Parliamentary win, but monarchy was restored by King Charles II in 1660, who imprisoned many of the Parliamentary heroes on Drakes Island
25.
Royal Air Force
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The Royal Air Force is the United Kingdoms aerial warfare force. Formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, following victory over the Central Powers in 1918 the RAF emerged as, at the time, the largest air force in the world. The RAF describe its mission statement as, an agile, adaptable and capable Air Force that, person for person, is second to none, and that makes a decisive air power contribution in support of the UK Defence Mission. The mission statement is supported by the RAFs definition of air power, Air power is defined as the ability to project power from the air and space to influence the behaviour of people or the course of events. Today the Royal Air Force maintains a fleet of various types of aircraft. The majority of the RAFs rotary-wing aircraft form part of the tri-service Joint Helicopter Command in support of ground forces, most of the RAFs aircraft and personnel are based in the UK, with many others serving on operations or at long-established overseas bases. It was founded on 1 April 1918, with headquarters located in the former Hotel Cecil, during the First World War, by the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps, at that time it was the largest air force in the world. The RAFs naval aviation branch, the Fleet Air Arm, was founded in 1924, the RAF developed the doctrine of strategic bombing which led to the construction of long-range bombers and became its main bombing strategy in the Second World War. The RAF underwent rapid expansion prior to and during the Second World War, under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan of December 1939, the air forces of British Commonwealth countries trained and formed Article XV squadrons for service with RAF formations. Many individual personnel from countries, and exiles from occupied Europe. By the end of the war the Royal Canadian Air Force had contributed more than 30 squadrons to serve in RAF formations, additionally, the Royal Australian Air Force represented around nine percent of all RAF personnel who served in the European and Mediterranean theatres. In the Battle of Britain in 1940, the RAF defended the skies over Britain against the numerically superior German Luftwaffe, the largest RAF effort during the war was the strategic bombing campaign against Germany by Bomber Command. Following victory in the Second World War, the RAF underwent significant re-organisation, during the early stages of the Cold War, one of the first major operations undertaken by the Royal Air Force was in 1948 and the Berlin Airlift, codenamed Operation Plainfire. Before Britain developed its own nuclear weapons the RAF was provided with American nuclear weapons under Project E and these were initially armed with nuclear gravity bombs, later being equipped with the Blue Steel missile. Following the development of the Royal Navys Polaris submarines, the nuclear deterrent passed to the navys submarines on 30 June 1969. With the introduction of Polaris, the RAFs strategic nuclear role was reduced to a tactical one and this tactical role was continued by the V bombers into the 1980s and until 1998 by Tornado GR1s. For much of the Cold War the primary role of the RAF was the defence of Western Europe against potential attack by the Soviet Union, with many squadrons based in West Germany. With the decline of the British Empire, global operations were scaled back, despite this, the RAF fought in many battles in the Cold War period
26.
Night-fighter
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A night fighter is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used in World War I and included types that were modified to operate at night. Many WW II night fighters also included instrument landing systems for landing at night as turning on the runway lights made runways into a target for opposing intruders. The use of the night fighter gradually faded away as a result of these improvements making the vast majority of fighters capable of night operation. At the start of World War I, most combatants had little capability of flying at night, the only targets that could be attacked with any possibility of being hit in limited visibility would be cities, an unthinkable target at the time. The general assumption of a war meant there was no need for strategic attacks. Things changed on 22 September and 8 October 1914, when the Royal Naval Air Service bombed the production line and hangars of the Zeppelin facilities in Cologne, although defences had been set up, all of them proved woefully inadequate. As early as 1915, a number of B. E. 2c aircraft were modified into the first night fighters and this technique would prove to be very effective. After over a year of night Zeppelin raids, on the night of 2–3 September 1916, a B. E. 2c flown by Captain William Leefe Robinson downed the SL11, the first German airship to be shot down over Britain. This action won the pilot a Victoria Cross and cash prizes totaling £3,500 put up by a number of individuals, because of airships limitations, the Luftstreitkräfte began to introduce long-range heavy bombers, starting with the Gotha G. IV aircraft that gradually took over the offensive. To counter night attacks, Sopwith Camel day fighters were deployed in the fighter role. Further modification led to the cockpit being moved rearwards, the modified aircraft were nicknamed the Sopwith Comic. With little money to spend on development, especially during the great depression and they flew fast enough that the time between detecting them and the bombers reaching their targets left little time to launch interceptors to shoot them down. At night, or with limited visibility, these problems were compounded, the Spanish Republican Air Force used some Polikarpov I-15 as night fighters. Pilot José Falcó had equipped his fighter with a receiver for land-based guidance for interception. One of the I-15s configured for night operations, fitted with tracer and explosive.30 rounds, nevertheless, there were some new technologies that appeared to offer potential ways to improve night fighting capability. During the 1930s there was development of infrared detectors among all of the major forces. The only such system to see any sort of operational use was the Spanner Anlage system used on the Dornier Do 17Z night fighters of the Luftwaffe
27.
Buckland Filleigh
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Buckland Filleigh is a village, civil parish and former manor in the Torridge district of North Devon, England, situated about 8 miles south of the town of Great Torrington. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 170, the manor of Bocheland was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as the 13th of the 99 holdings of Geoffrey de Montbray, Bishop of Coutances. His tenant was Drogo, who held other manors from him. It had been held before 1066 by Wulfeva and it was in the historic hundred of Shebbear. The manor became the inheritance of the de Filleigh family seated at Filleigh in North Devon and they also held lands at the adjoining estate of Hartleigh during the reign of King Edward I and within the neighbouring settlements to Filleigh of East Buckland, Bray and Charles. On default of heirs, the manor passed by marriage to the Denzell family. This family originated from Denzell manor in St Mawgan parish, near St Columb Major, near Newquay, the senior line became extinct in the male line on the death of John Denzel, sergeant-at-law and Attorney-General to the Queen Consort, Elizabeth of York. It was a branch of this family which had acquired the de Filleigh lands by marriage. The arms of Denzell were, Sable, a mullet in chief and these arms can be seen sculpted on a bench-end, c. 1510, in Weare Giffard Church, where exist others adorned with Fortescue arms, the Denzell arms are also shown in the second quarter of the arms of Richard Fortescue on his monumental brasses in Filleigh Church. Elizabeth Denzell survived her first husband and remarried to Sir Richard de Pomeroy, KB, feudal baron of Berry Pomeroy, Devon, also four smaller figures between as many escotcheons, all of gilded brass or copper. Which are long since become the prey of some greedy or childish hand, the arch is finely fretted and flowered. The manor of Buckland Filleigh was given to William Fortescue, the 2nd son of Martin Fortescue, the Fortescue family first settled in England in the parish of Modbury in South Devon before the early 12th century and were granted the manor of Whympston in Modbury by King John. The descent of Buckland Filleigh was as follows, William Fortescue and he was predeceased by his eldest son and heir apparent John Fortescue, who married Christiana Arscott, a daughter of John Arscott of Arscott, near Holsworthy, Devon. William Fortescue, son of John Fortescue and he married Anne Giffard, a daughter of Sir Roger Giffard of Brightley in the parish of Chittlehampton. John Fortescue, buried in the church of Weare Giffard, which manor was a seat of his senior Fortescue cousins and he married Anne Porter, daughter of Walter Porter of Thetford in Norfolk. Roger Fortescue, married Mary Norleigh, daughter of Richard Norleigh of Inwardleigh, John Fortescue, married Thomasine Prideaux, daughter of Humphrey Prideaux of Soldon, Holsworthy. William Fortescue, married Emlyn Trosse, daughter of Henry Trosse, Henry Fortescue, whose monument survives in Buckland Filleigh Church, consisting of an inscription framed by putti and columns
28.
Kent
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Kent /ˈkɛnt/ is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south west, the county also shares borders with Essex via the Dartford Crossing and the French department of Pas-de-Calais through the Channel Tunnel. France can be clearly in fine weather from Folkestone and the White Cliffs of Dover. Hills in the form of the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge span the length of the county, because of its relative abundance of fruit-growing and hop gardens, Kent is known as The Garden of England. The title was defended in 2006 when a survey of counties by the UKTV Style Gardens channel put Kent in fifth place, behind North Yorkshire, Devon. Haulage, logistics, and tourism are industries, major industries in north-west Kent include aggregate building materials, printing. Coal mining has played its part in Kents industrial heritage. Large parts of Kent are within the London commuter belt and its transport connections to the capital. Twenty-eight per cent of the county forms part of two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the North Downs and The High Weald, the area has been occupied since the Palaeolithic era, as attested by finds from the quarries at Swanscombe. The Medway megaliths were built during the Neolithic era, There is a rich sequence of Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Roman era occupation, as indicated by finds and features such as the Ringlemere gold cup and the Roman villas of the Darent valley. The modern name of Kent is derived from the Brythonic word Cantus meaning rim or border and this describes the eastern part of the current county area as a border land or coastal district. Julius Caesar had described the area as Cantium, or home of the Cantiaci in 51 BC, the extreme west of the modern county was by the time of Roman Britain occupied by Iron Age tribes, known as the Regnenses. East Kent became a kingdom of the Jutes during the 5th century and was known as Cantia from about 730, the early medieval inhabitants of the county were known as the Cantwara, or Kent people. These people regarded the city of Canterbury as their capital, in 597, Pope Gregory I appointed the religious missionary as the first Archbishop of Canterbury. In the previous year, Augustine successfully converted the pagan King Æthelberht of Kent to Christianity, the Diocese of Canterbury became Britains first Episcopal See with first cathedral and has since remained Englands centre of Christianity. The second designated English cathedral was in Kent at Rochester Cathedral, in the 11th century, the people of Kent adopted the motto Invicta, meaning undefeated. This naming followed the invasion of Britain by William of Normandy, the Kent peoples continued resistance against the Normans led to Kents designation as a semi-autonomous county palatine in 1067. Under the nominal rule of Williams half-brother Odo of Bayeux, the county was granted powers to those granted in the areas bordering Wales
29.
19th Battalion, London Regiment (St Pancras)
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The 19th Battalion, London Regiment was a Volunteer unit of the British Army in existence from 1860 to 1961 under various titles. A detachment served in the Second Boer War and two battalions fought in World War I, receiving the surrender of Jerusalem and crossing the Jordan among other exploits. During World War II the regiment operated as a unit and briefly as an infantry battalion. The invasion scare of 1859 led to the creation of the Volunteer Force, Salisbury merged the two into the 29th Middlesex RVC under Enfields command. The first commissions for officers of the 29th Middlesex were issued on 28 February 1860, the uniform was grey with scarlet facings and a grey fur Busby with a plume. The new unit had its first headquarters at Kent Lodge in Park Village East, near Regents Park and it was successful in attracting working-class recruits from the railway yards and densely populated areas of Camden Town, Kentish Town and Somers Town north of Euston Road. In 1880, following mergers and disbandments of less successful units, the following year it became the 4th Volunteer Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment. Four of these died on service and are commemorated by a plaque now in St Pancras Parish Church. Under the Haldane Reforms, the former Volunteers were subsumed into the Territorial Force in 1908, the 17th Middlesex became the 19th Battalion, The London Regiment and formed part of in the. Its new headquarters and drill hall was at 76 Camden High Street, the outbreak of war on 4 August saw the men of the 19th Londons at Perham Down on Salisbury Plain, where they had just arrived for their annual training camp with the rest of 2nd London Division. They were immediately recalled to Camden to complete their mobilisation and by mid-August the battalion had reached its war station at Hatfield, subsequently, a reserve or Third Line battalion was organised to supply drafts to the other two battalions. In October 1914, 2nd London Division was selected for service on the Western Front, men who had volunteered for Home Service only were transferred to the 2/19th Battalion. 5th London Bde was the element of the division to land in France on 9/10 March 1915. In May the division took its place in the line and was designated 47th Division, with the brigades numbered consecutively, the 1/19th served in this brigade throughout the war. It ended the day at its objective, the coal-mine winding gear known as Tower Bridge. 1/19th suffered the heaviest casualties in 47th Division that day, Battle of the Somme, Battle of Flers-Courcelette 15–19 September Capture of High Wood 15 September – the 1/19th were in the second wave of the attack, but got caught up in the confused fighting. Their CO, Lt-Col A. P. Hamilton, assembled all the men and went up into the wood to try to restore order. High Wood, which had held up the British for two months, was taken, but casualties were so heavy that 141 Bde had to be reorganised into a composite battalion
30.
West Quantoxhead
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West Quantoxhead is a small village and civil parish in the West Somerset district of Somerset, England. It lies on the route of the Coleridge Way and on the A39 road at the foot of the Quantock Hills,3 miles from East Quantoxhead,2.5 miles from Williton and equidistant from Bridgwater, the parish includes the hamlets of Weacombe and Lower Weacombe. West Quantoxhead is also known as St Audries, the St Audries Manor Estate was named for the dedication of the parish church to Æthelthryth known as St Ethelreda, who was also known as St Audrey. West Quantoxhead is spelt as Cantocheve in the Domesday Book, West Quantoxhead is listed amongst the large number of manors that are owned by William de Moyon. In 1086, the notes that, William himself owns West Quantoxhead. Alnoth held it TRE and it paid geld for three and a half hides, there is land for eight ploughs. In demesne are 3 ploughs and 7 slaves and 10 villans and 4 bordars with 6 ploughs, there are sixteen acres of meadow and 30 of woodland and pasture 1 league by one league. It was worth three pounds, now four, the parish of West Quantoxhead was part of the Williton and Freemanners Hundred. The manor was held from the early 13th century by the Cauntelo family, the manor of St Audries was bought by Sir Peregrine Palmer Fuller-Palmer-Acland of the Acland baronets in 1836. St Audries Park, the house of the Aclands was renovated between 1835 and 1870. The property was divided in 1934, when the house was sold and turned into St Audries School, which remained in occupation until 1990 and it was sold again in 2001. He was sworn a Privy Counsellor in 1904, in 1911, he was ennobled as Baron St Audries. The parish council has responsibility for issues, including setting an annual precept to cover the council’s operating costs. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the police, district council officers, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security. Conservation matters and environmental issues are also the responsibility of the council, the village falls within the Non-metropolitan district of West Somerset, which was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, having previously been part of Williton Rural District. The appropriate electoral ward is West Quantock, the ward stretches from East Quantoxhead south to Bicknoller. The total ward population at the 2011 Census is 1,088 and it is also part of the Bridgwater and West Somerset county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Quantock Hills are largely formed by rocks of the Devonian Period, in the higher north western areas older Early Devonian rocks, known as Hangman Grits, predominate, and can be seen in the exposed rock at West Quantoxhead quarry, which were worked for road building
31.
Watchet
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Watchet is a harbour town, civil parish and electoral ward in the English county of Somerset, with a population of 3,785. It is situated 15 miles west of Bridgwater,15 miles north-west of Taunton, the parish includes the hamlet of Beggearn Huish. The town lies at the mouth of the Washford River on Bridgwater Bay, part of the Bristol Channel, the original settlement may have been at the Iron Age fort Daws Castle. It then moved to the mouth of the river and a small harbour developed, named by the celts as Gwo Coed meaning Under the Wood. After the Saxon conquest of the area the town developed and was known as Weced or Waeced and was attacked by Vikings in the 10th century, the West Somerset Railway also served the town and port bringing goods and people from the Bristol and Exeter Railway. The iron ore trade reduced and ceased in the early-20th century, the port continued a smaller commercial trade until 2000 when it was converted into a marina. The church is dedicated to Saint Decuman who is thought to have died here around 706, an early church was built near Daws Castle and a new church was erected in the 15th century. It has several tombs and monuments to Sir John Wyndham and his family who were the lords of the manor, samuel Taylor Coleridges poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner which was written in the area is commemorated by a statue on the harbourside. Daws Castle is an Iron Age sea cliff hill fort about 0.5 miles to the west of the town. It was built and fortified, on the site of a settlement, as a burh by Alfred the Great. It is situated on an east-west cliff about 80 metres above the sea and its ramparts would have formed a semicircle backing on to the sheer cliffs, but only about 300 metres are visible today. A Saxon mint was established here in 1035, probably within the fort, there is no sign of Roman occupation, but the Anglo-Saxons took Watchet from the native Britons around AD680. Under Alfred the Great Watchet became an important port, and coins minted here have found as far away as Copenhagen. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the early port being plundered by Danes led by Earl Ottir, Watchet is believed to be the place where Saint Decuman was killed around 706 and its parish church is dedicated to him. At the time of the Domesday Book Watchet was part of the held by William de Moyon. The parish of Watchet was in the Williton and Freemanners Hundred in the Middle Ages, T With access to wood from the Quantock Hills, records show that paper making was established by 1652. In the 15th century, a mill was established by the Fulford. By 1587 the Wyndham estate had established a fulling and grist mill to the south west, by 1652, the mill had started to produce paper
32.
Bicknoller
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Bicknoller is a village and civil parish on the western slopes of the Quantock Hills in the English county of Somerset. In 2011, the parish had a population of 371, the village is on the routes of the Coleridge Way and the Macmillan Way West. Above the village lies Trendle Ring, an Iron Age settlement, the parish of Bicknoller was part of the Williton and Freemanners Hundred. The village was known in 1291 as Bykenalre which means Bicas alder tree, from 1430 to 1857 the manor was held by Wells Cathedral. The parish council has responsibility for issues, including setting an annual precept to cover the council’s operating costs. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the police, district council officers, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security. Conservation matters and environmental issues are also the responsibility of the council, the village falls within the Non-metropolitan district of West Somerset, which was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, having previously been part of Williton Rural District. It is also part of the Bridgwater and West Somerset county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Part of the Church of St George, a Grade I listed building, the church is decorated with a collection of carved angels and nightmarish animal heads. There is a memorial to William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, although it is closer to the neighbouring village of Halsway, Halsway Manor falls within the parish of Bicknoller. It is a house, now used as Englands National Centre for Traditional Music, Dance. The eastern end of the dates from the fifteenth century. The manor, which is mentioned in the Domesday Book, was built by Cardinal Beaufort as a hunting lodge, at one point it was occupied by insurrectionist Jack Cade. Thereafter it was a home until the mid-1960s, when it became the folk music centre. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building, thorncombe House was built in 1744 by the Sweeting family, but has since had a 19th-century facade added. Bicknoller was the birthplace of the Somerset and England cricketer Harold Gimblett
33.
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
34.
Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut
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Located near Camberley, Surrey, England, it was the headquarters of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps until the formation of the RLC in 1993. At that time, it was known as Blackdown Barracks, the land was owned by the Pain family of Frimley Green who built a number of high status dwellings on the land. The barracks built in Blackdown Camp were Minden, Dettingen, Alma, Frith, the Victorian houses were demolished in the 1950s, the land around Blackdown House being left to forestry, and around Dettingen House being redeveloped for a modernised Officers Mess. The site of Aisne and Marne Barracks were also re-developed and used for Military Family Housing, what remained of Frith Barracks were closed in the late 1970s and the land left to vegetation and used as a Military Training Area. Between 1967 and 1971 Minden Barracks was demolished and rebuilt as Blackdown Barracks, the Barracks were the garrison of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, and the School of Ordnance, until it merged into the Royal Logistic Corps in 1993. Dettingen and Alma Barracks have been closed and sold, and by 2002, the decision to sell the barracks had been announced in January 2008 by the then Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth, who said that the sale would not take place before 2013. The college has its headquarters at the Barracks with some specialist training taking place elsewhere, RLC personnel conduct their Phase 2 training at Deepcut, having completed Phase 1 training at an Army Training Regiment for soldiers or Royal Military Academy Sandhurst for Officers. All Officers undertake the RLC Troop Commanders Course prior to posting to a Regiment and this series prompted national media speculation. On the 3 June 2016, a report in to the death of Private Cheryl James in 1995, found that the death was self-inflicted. The Scotsman feature page on Deepcut barracks deaths BBC news article The Royal Logistic Corps
35.
Newquay
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Newquay is a town, civil parish, seaside resort and fishing port in Cornwall, England, UK. It is situated on the North Atlantic coast of Cornwall approximately 20 miles west of Bodmin and 12 miles north of Truro, the town is bounded to the west by the River Gannel and its associated salt marsh, and to the east by the Porth Valley. Newquay has been expanding inland since it was founded, in 2001, the census recorded a permanent population of 19,562, increasing to 20,342 at the 2011 census. There are some burial mounds and an embankment on the area now known as The Barrowfields,400 m from Trevelgue. There were once up to fifteen barrows, but now only a few remain, excavations here have revealed charred cooking pots and a coarse pottery burial urn containing remains of a Bronze Age chieftain, who was buried here up to 3,500 years ago. In 1987, evidence of a Bronze Age village was found at Trethellan Farm and it is claimed that occupation of the site was continuous from the 3rd century BC to the 5th or 6th century AD. The curve of the headland around what is now Newquay Harbour provided natural protection from bad weather, when the village was first occupied is unknown but it is not mentioned in the Domesday Book although a local house is included. The first national British census of 1801 recorded around 1,300 inhabitants in the settlement, the construction of the current harbour started in 1832. Newquay parish was created in 1882, a mansion called the Tower was built for the Molesworth family in 1835, it included a castellated tower and a private chapel as they were devout Roman Catholics. The Tower later became the club house. After the arrival of trains in 1876, the former fishing village started to grow. Several major hotels were built around the turn of the 19th century, including the Victoria in East Street, the Atlantic, the three churches were also built soon after 1901. The arms of the district council of Newquay were Or on a saltire Azure four herrings respectant Argent. Growth of the town eastwards soon reached the area around the station, Station Road became Cliff Road around 1930. Narrowcliff was first known as Narrowcliff Promenade, and then Narrowcliff Road, on some pre-war maps it is spelt Narrowcliffe. At the time of the First World War the last buildings at the edge of the town were a little further along present-day Narrowcliff, including the Hotel Edgecumbe. Post-war development saw new houses and streets built in the Chester Road area, accompanied by ribbon development along the lane which led to St Columb Minor. This thoroughfare was modernised and named Henver Road, also some time in the 1930s, other areas also developed in the period between the wars were Pentire and the Trenance Valley
36.
Bristol
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Bristol is a city and county in South West England with a population of 449,300 in 2016. The district has the 10th largest population in England, while the Bristol metropolitan area is the 12th largest in the United Kingdom, the city borders North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, with the cities of Bath and Gloucester to the south-east and north-east, respectively. Iron Age hill forts and Roman villas were built near the confluence of the rivers Frome and Avon, Bristol received a royal charter in 1155 and was historically divided between Gloucestershire and Somerset until 1373, when it became a county of itself. From the 13th to the 18th century, Bristol was among the top three English cities after London in tax receipts, Bristol was surpassed by the rapid rise of Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham in the Industrial Revolution. Bristol was a place for early voyages of exploration to the New World. On a ship out of Bristol in 1497 John Cabot, a Venetian, in 1499 William Weston, a Bristol merchant, was the first Englishman to lead an exploration to North America. At the height of the Bristol slave trade, from 1700 to 1807, the Port of Bristol has since moved from Bristol Harbour in the city centre to the Severn Estuary at Avonmouth and Royal Portbury Dock. Bristols modern economy is built on the media, electronics and aerospace industries. The city has the largest circulating community currency in the U. K. - the Bristol pound, which is pegged to the Pound sterling. It is connected to London and other major UK cities by road, rail, sea and air by the M5 and M4, Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway mainline rail stations, and Bristol Airport. The Sunday Times named it as the best city in Britain in which to live in 2014 and 2017, the most ancient recorded name for Bristol is the archaic Welsh Caer Odor, which is consistent with modern understanding that early Bristol developed between the River Frome and Avon Gorge. It is most commonly stated that the Saxon name Bricstow was a calque of the existing Celtic name, with Bric a literal translation of Odor. Alternative etymologies are supported with the numerous variations in Medieval documents with Samuel Seyer enumerating 47 alternative forms. The Old English form Brycgstow is commonly used to derive the meaning place at the bridge, utilizing another form, Brastuile, Rev. Dr. Shaw derived the name from the Celtic words bras, or braos and tuile. The poet Thomas Chatterton popularised a derivation from Brictricstow linking the town to Brictric and it appears that the form Bricstow prevailed until 1204, and the Bristolian L is what eventually changed the name to Bristol. Iron Age hill forts near the city are at Leigh Woods and Clifton Down, on the side of the Avon Gorge, a Roman settlement, Abona, existed at what is now Sea Mills, another was at the present-day Inns Court. Isolated Roman villas and small forts and settlements were scattered throughout the area. Bristol was founded by 1000, by about 1020, it was a centre with a mint producing silver pennies bearing its name
37.
Orkney
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Orkney /ˈɔːrkni/, also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of Great Britain. Orkney is 16 kilometres north of the coast of Caithness and comprises approximately 70 islands, the largest island Mainland is often referred to as the Mainland. It has an area of 523 square kilometres, making it the sixth-largest Scottish island, the largest settlement and administrative centre is Kirkwall. A form of the dates to the pre-Roman era and the islands have been inhabited for at least 8500 years, originally occupied by Mesolithic and Neolithic tribes. Orkney was invaded and forcibly annexed by Norway in 875 and settled by the Norse, the Scottish Parliament then re-annexed the earldom to the Scottish Crown in 1472, following the failed payment of a dowry for James IIIs bride Margaret of Denmark. Orkney contains some of the oldest and best-preserved Neolithic sites in Europe, Orkney is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, a constituency of the Scottish Parliament, a lieutenancy area, and a historic county. The local council is Orkney Islands Council, one of only three Councils in Scotland with a majority of elected members who are independents. In addition to the Mainland, most of the islands are in two groups, the North and South Isles, all of which have a geological base of Old Red Sandstone. The climate is mild and the soils are fertile, most of the land being farmed. Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, the significant wind and marine energy resources are of growing importance, and the island generates more than its total yearly electricity demand using renewables. The local people are known as Orcadians and have a distinctive Orcadian dialect of Scots, there is an abundance of marine and avian wildlife. Pytheas of Massilia visited Britain – probably sometime between 322 and 285 BC – and described it as triangular in shape, with a northern tip called Orcas and this may have referred to Dunnet Head, from which Orkney is visible. Speakers of Old Irish referred to the islands as Insi Orc island of the pigs, the archipelago is known as Ynysoedd Erch in modern Welsh and Arcaibh in modern Scottish Gaelic, the -aibh representing a fossilized prepositional case ending. The Anglo-Saxon monk Bede refers to the islands as Orcades insulae in his seminal work Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Norwegian settlers arriving from the ninth century reinterpreted orc as the Old Norse orkn seal. The plural suffix -jar was later removed in English leaving the modern name Orkney, according to the Historia Norwegiæ, Orkney was named after an earl called Orkan. The Norse knew Mainland Orkney as Megenland Mainland or as Hrossey Horse Island, the island is sometimes referred to as Pomona, a name that stems from a sixteenth-century mistranslation by George Buchanan, which has rarely been used locally. A charred hazelnut shell, recovered in 2007 during excavations in Tankerness on the Mainland has been dated to 6820–6660 BC indicating the presence of Mesolithic nomadic tribes
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Shetland
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Shetland /ˈʃɛtlənd/, also called the Shetland Islands, is a subarctic archipelago that lies northeast of the island of Great Britain and forms part of Scotland, United Kingdom. The islands lie some 80 km to the northeast of Orkney and 280 km southeast of the Faroe Islands, the total area is 1,466 km2 and the population totalled 23,210 in 2012. The largest island, known simply as Mainland, has an area of 967 km2, making it the third-largest Scottish island, there are an additional 15 inhabited islands. The archipelago has a climate, a complex geology, a rugged coastline and many low. Humans have lived in Shetland since the Mesolithic period, and the earliest written references to the date back to Roman times. The early historic period was dominated by Scandinavian influences, especially Norway, when Scotland became part of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707, trade with northern Europe decreased. Fishing has continued to be an important aspect of the economy up to the present day, the discovery of North Sea oil in the 1970s significantly boosted Shetland economy, employment and public sector revenues. The local way of life reflects the Scots and Norse heritage of the isles including the Up Helly Aa fire festival, the islands have produced a variety of writers of prose and poetry, often in Shetland dialect. There are numerous areas set aside to protect the fauna and flora. The Shetland pony and Shetland Sheepdog are two well known Shetland animal breeds, other distinguished local breeds include the Shetland sheep, cow, goose, and duck. The Shetland pig, or grice, has been extinct since approximately 1930, the islands motto, which appears on the Councils coat of arms, is Með lögum skal land byggja. This Icelandic phrase is taken from the Danish 1241 Basic Law, Codex Holmiensis, and is mentioned in Njáls saga. The name of Shetland is derived from the Old Norse words, hjalt, in AD43 and 77 the Roman authors Pomponius Mela and Pliny the Elder referred to the seven islands they call Haemodae and Acmodae respectively, both of which are assumed to be Shetland. Another possible early reference to the islands is Tacitus report in AD98, after describing the discovery and conquest of Orkney. In early Irish literature, Shetland is referred to as Inse Catt—the Isles of Cats, the Cat tribe also occupied parts of the northern Scottish mainland and their name can be found in Caithness, and in the Gaelic name for Sutherland. It is possible that the Pictish cat sound forms part of this Norse name and it then became Hjaltland in the 16th century. As Norn was gradually replaced by English in the form of the Shetland dialect which shares similarities with Scots English. The initial letter is the Middle Scots letter, yogh, the pronunciation of which is almost identical to the original Norn sound, /hj/
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War Office
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The name War Office is also given to the former home of the department, the War Office building located at the junction of Horse Guards Avenue and Whitehall in central London. During August 2013 it was announced that the former War Office building would be sold on the open market. The War Office developed from the Council of War, an ad hoc grouping of the King and his military commanders which managed the Kingdom of Englands frequent wars. It was equivalent to the Admiralty, responsible for the Royal Navy, and the Air Ministry, the department had several London homes until it settled at Horse Guards in Whitehall during 1722, where it was to remain until 1858. The first War Office Secretary at War is usually said to have been William Blathwayt and it was, however, a fairly minor government job which dealt with the minutiae of administration rather than grand strategy. Issues of strategic policy during wartime were managed by the Northern and Southern Departments, from 1704 to 1855, the job of Secretary was possessed by a minister of the second rank, although he was occasionally part of the Cabinet. Many of his responsibilities were transferred to the Secretary of State for War after the creation of more senior post during 1794. The job of Secretary at War was merged with that of the Secretary of State for War during 1855, during 1855 the Board of Ordnance was abolished as a result of its perceived poor performance during the Crimean War. This powerful independent body, dating from the 15th century, had directed by the Master-General of the Ordnance. The disastrous campaigns of the Crimean War resulted in the consolidation of all duties during 1855 as subordinate to the Secretary of State for War. He was not, however, solely responsible for the Army and this was reduced in theory by the reforms introduced by Edward Cardwell during 1870, which subordinated the Commander-in-Chief to the Secretary for War. His resistance to reform caused military efficiency to lag well behind that of Britains rivals, the management of the War Office was hampered by persistent disputes between the civilian and military parts of the organisation. The government of H. H. Asquith attempted to resolve this during the First World War by appointing Lord Kitchener as Secretary for War, making him the first, however, this was thought unsatisfactory, during his tenure, the Imperial General Staff was virtually dismantled. Its role was replaced effectively by the Committee of Imperial Defence, the War Office decreased greatly in importance after the First World War, a fact illustrated by the drastic reductions of its staff numbers during the inter-war period. On 1 April 1920, it employed 7,434 civilian staff and its responsibilities and funding were also reduced. During 1936, the government of Stanley Baldwin appointed a Minister for Co-ordination of Defence, when Winston Churchill became Prime Minister during 1940, he bypassed the War Office altogether and appointed himself Minister of Defence. Clement Attlee continued this arrangement when he came to power during 1945, during 1964, the present form of the Ministry of Defence was established, unifying the War Office, Admiralty, and Air Ministry. The records of the War Office are kept by The National Archives with the code WO and it contains about 1,000 rooms across seven floors, linked by 2½ miles of corridors
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21st Army Group
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Commanded by General Sir Bernard Montgomery, 21st Army Group initially controlled all ground forces in Operation Overlord. The Germans lacked the ability to prevent the American breakout at the end of the Normandy beachhead in early August 1944. After the successful landings in the south of France by the U. S. 6th Army Group and it was therefore responsible for securing the ports upon which Allied supply depended, and also with overrunning German V-1 and V-2 launching sites along the coasts of western France and Belgium. By 29 August, the Germans had largely withdrawn across the Seine River without their heavy equipment. The advance was so rapid,250 miles in four days, that Antwerp, Belgium was captured undefended on 4 September 1944, on 1 September 1944, the 21st Army Group was relieved of operational control of the American armies, and those armies formed the 12th Army Group. By mid-September, elements of 21st Army Group had reached the Dutch border, but were halted due to lack of supplies, after the break-out from Normandy, there were high hopes that the war could be ended in 1944. In order to do so, the last great natural barrier of Germany in the west. Operation Market Garden was orchestrated to attempt just this, however, the British armoured forces had only one main highway to operate on, and crucial information about the German forces in the operational area was either missing or ignored. Thus an operation was needed to clear the approaches and thereby ease the supply problem, the island of Walcheren was strongly held by German forces and commanded the estuary of the Scheldt which flows through Antwerp. Operations by II Canadian Corps cleared the approaches to Antwerp both north and south of the water during the Battle of the Scheldt, Walcheren itself was captured in late 1944 by the last major amphibious assault in Europe in the Second World War. A combination of British and Canadian forces and Royal Marines undertook the operation, after the capture of Walcheren came the last great German offensive of the war. In a repeat of their 1940 attack, German formations smashed through weak Allied lines in the Ardennes in Belgium, the Battle of the Bulge presented a command problem to General Eisenhower. It had sliced through US lines, leaving some American formations north and south of the new German salient. However, the headquarters of U. S. 12th Army Group lay to the south and they, with the US Third Army under General George S. Patton, reduced the salient. After the battle, control of the First US Army which had placed under Field Marshal Montgomerys temporary command was returned to Bradleys 12th Army Group. The US Ninth Army remained under Montgomery longer, before being returned to American command in Germany, prior to the Rhineland Campaign the enemy had to be cleared from the Roer Triangle during Operation Blackcock. This large methodical mopping up operation took place between 14 and 27 January 1945 and it was not planned to make any deep thrust into the enemy defences or capture large numbers of prisoners. It proceeded from stage to stage almost entirely as planned and was completed with minimal casualties, Allied forces closed up to the Rhine by March 1945
41.
Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
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The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers is a corps of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the British Army utilises. Pursuant to the recommendation of a committee William Beveridge chaired, the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers was formed on the 1st October 1942, such a major re-organisation was too complex to be carried out quickly and completely in the middle of a world war. Therefore the changeover was undertaken in two phases, at the same time a number of individual tradesmen were transferred into REME from other corps. The new corps was responsible for repairing the technical equipment of all arms with certain major exceptions. REME did not yet undertake, Those repairs which were carried out by tradesmen who were driver/mechanics or fitters in regiments. Repairs of RASC-operated vehicles, which remained the responsibility of the RASC, repairs of RE specialist equipment, which remained the responsibility of the RE. In 1949, it was decided that REME Phase II should be implemented, the main changes were, The transfer to REME of most of the unit repair responsibilities of other arms. The provision of Light Aid Detachments for certain units that had not possessed them under the old organisation, the provision of new REME workshops to carry out field repairs in RASC transport companies. Maintenance of vessels of the RASC fleet whilst in port was given to the fleet repair branch and this organisation was also responsible for arranging and overseeing ship refits. After some interim designs, the badge of the Corps was formalised in June 1943 for use as the cap-badge, collar-badge, and on the buttons. It consisted of an oval Royally Crowned laurel wreath, on the wreath were four small shields at the compass points, within the wreath was a pair of calipers. Examples of these early badges can be found at the REME Museum, in 1947 the Horse and Lightning was adopted as the cap badge. The final change occurred in 1953 when the Queens crown replaced the Kings crown, at the end of the war, the Allies occupied the major German industrial centres to decide their fate. The Volkswagen factory at Wolfsburg became part of the British Zone in June 1945 and No.30 Workshop Control Unit, REME and they operated under the overall direction of Colonel Michael McEvoy at Rhine Army Headquarters, Bad Oeynhausen. Uniquely, he had experience of the KdF Wagen in his career as a motor racing engineer. Whilst attending the Berlin Motor Show in 1939 he was able to test drive one, after visiting the Volkswagen factory he had the idea of trying to get Volkswagen back into production to provide light transport for the occupying forces. The British Army, Red Cross and essential German services were short of light vehicles. If the factory could provide them, there would be no cost to the British taxpayer, to do this a good manager with technical experience would be needed
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Royal Corps of Signals
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The Royal Corps of Signals is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communications, colloquially referred to by some as Siggies, Royal Signals units provide the full telecommunications infrastructure for the Army wherever they operate in the world. The Corps has its own engineers, logistics experts and systems operators to run radio, in 1870, C Telegraph Troop, Royal Engineers, was founded under Captain Montague Lambert. By 1871, C Troop had expanded in size from 2 officers and 133 other ranks to 5 officers and 245 other ranks, in 1879, C Troop first saw action during the Anglo-Zulu War. Signalling was the responsibility of the Telegraph Battalion until 1908, when the Royal Engineers Signal Service was formed, as such it provided communications during the First World War. It was about time that motorcycle despatch riders and wireless sets were introduced into service. A Royal Warrant for the creation of a Corps of Signals was signed by the Secretary of State for War, Winston Churchill, six weeks later, King George V conferred the title Royal Corps of Signals. Before the Second World War, Royal Signals recruits were required to be at least 5 feet 2 inches tall and they initially enlisted for eight years with the colours and a further four years with the reserve. They trained at the Signal Training Centre at Catterick Camp, all personnel were taught to ride. Throughout the Second World War, members of the Royal Corps of Signals had served in every theatre of war, by the end of the war the strength of the Corps was 8,518 officers and 142,472 other ranks. In the immediate period, the Corps played a full and active part in numerous campaigns, including Palestine, Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation, Malaya. Soldiers from the Royal Signals delivered communications in the Falklands War, the first Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, East Timor and they are currently deployed in Cyprus and Afghanistan. In late 2012, 2nd Signal Brigade disbanded, the future structure of the Royal Signals will change under Army 2020. Other ranks are trained both as soldiers and tradesmen. Their basic military training is delivered at the Army Training Regiment at Winchester before undergoing trade training at 11th Signal Regiment. Whilst SSgts are generally regarded as being Regimental Duty, this roster does not start until WO2, the Corps wears a blue and white tactical recognition flash. This is worn horizontally on the arm with the blue half charging forward. Airborne elements of the Royal Signals wear a Drop Zone flash on the arm of their combat jacket
43.
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
United Kingdom
British Army
