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.
Infantry
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Infantry is the general branch of an army that engages in military combat on foot. As the troops who engage with the enemy in close-ranged combat, infantry units bear the largest brunt of warfare, Infantry can enter and maneuver in terrain that is inaccessible to military vehicles and employ crew-served infantry weapons that provide greater and more sustained firepower. In English, the 16th-century term Infantry describes soldiers who walk to the battlefield, and there engage, fight, the term arose in Sixteenth-Century Spain, which boasted one of the first professional standing armies seen in Europe since the days of Rome. It was common to appoint royal princes to military commands, and the men under them became known as Infanteria. in the Canadian Army, the role of the infantry is to close with, and destroy the enemy. In the U. S. Army, the closes with the enemy, by means of fire and maneuver, in order to destroy or capture him, or to repel his assault by fire, close combat. In the U. S. Marine Corps, the role of the infantry is to locate, close with, and destroy the enemy fire and maneuver. Beginning with the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, artillery has become a dominant force on the battlefield. Since World War I, combat aircraft and armoured vehicles have become dominant. In 20th and 21st century warfare, infantry functions most effectively as part of a combined arms team including artillery, armour, Infantry relies on organized formations to be employed in battle. These have evolved over time, but remain a key element to effective infantry development and deployment, until the end of the 19th century, infantry units were for the most part employed in close formations up until contact with the enemy. This allowed commanders to control of the unit, especially while maneuvering. The development of guns and other weapons with increased firepower forced infantry units to disperse in order to make them less vulnerable to such weapons. This decentralization of command was made possible by improved communications equipment, among the various subtypes of infantry is Medium infantry. This refers to infantry which are heavily armed and armored than heavy infantry. In the early period, medium infantry were largely eliminated due to discontinued use of body armour up until the 20th century. In the United States Army, Stryker Infantry is considered Medium Infantry, since they are heavier than light infantry, Infantry doctrine is the concise expression of how infantry forces contribute to campaigns, major operations, battles, and engagements. It is a guide to action, not a set of hard, doctrine provides a very common frame of reference across the military forces, allowing the infantry to function cooperatively in what are now called combined arms operations. Doctrine helps standardise operations, facilitating readiness by establishing common ways of accomplishing infantry tasks, doctrine links theory, history, experimentation, and practice
4.
Airborne forces
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Airborne forces are military units, usually light infantry, set up to be moved by aircraft and dropped into battle, typically by parachute. Thus, they can be placed behind enemy lines, and have the capability to deploy almost anywhere with little warning. The formations are limited only by the number and size of their aircraft, so given enough capacity a huge force can appear out of nowhere in minutes, Major Lewis H. Brereton and his superior Brigadier General Billy Mitchell suggested dropping elements of the U. S. 1st Division behind German lines near Metz, the operation was planned for February 1919 but the war ended before such an attack could be seriously planned. Mitchell conceived that US troops could be trained to utilize parachutes. Following the war, the United States Army Air Service experimented with the concept of having carried on the wings of aircraft pulled off by the opening of their parachutes. The first true paratroop drop was by Italy in November 1927, within a few years several battalions had been raised and were eventually formed into two Folgore and Nembo divisions. Although these would fight with distinction in World War II. Men drawn from the Italian parachute forces were dropped in a special operation in North Africa in 1943 in an attempt to destroy parked aircraft of the United States Army Air Forces. Subsequently, on May 10,1928, Second Lieutenant César Álvarez War Palmas Las voluntarily jumped from a height of 3,000 meters, then on May 16,1928, Major Fernando Melgar Conde and Sergeant 1st. Jose Pineda Castro, jumped from the famous Las Palmas at altitudes of 2,000 and 4,300 meters, at about the same time, the Soviet Union was also experimenting with the idea, planning to drop entire units complete with vehicles and light tanks. To help train enough experienced jumpers, parachute clubs were organized with the aim of transferring into the armed forces if needed, one of the observing parties, Germany, was particularly interested. In 1936, Major F. W. Immans was ordered to set up a school at Stendal. The military had purchased large numbers of Junkers Ju 52 aircraft which were slightly modified for use as paratroop transports in addition to their other duties. The first training class was known as Ausbildungskommando Immans and they commenced the first course on May 3,1936. Other nations, including Argentina, Peru, Japan, France, France became the first nation to organize women in an airborne unit. Recruiting 200 nurses who during peacetime would parachute into natural disasters, several groups within the German armed forces attempted to raise their own paratroop formations, resulting in confusion. As a result, Luftwaffe General Kurt Student was put in command of developing a paratrooper force to be known as the Fallschirmjäger
5.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
6.
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
7.
5th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)
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The 5th Infantry Division was a regular army infantry division of the British Army. The division was reformed in 1995 as a division covering Wales. It was disbanded on 1 April 2012, 1st Brigade 3/1st Regiment of Foot 1/9th Regiment of Foot 1/38th Regiment of Foot 2/38th Regiment of Foot 2/47th Regiment of Foot 1 Coy. The formation was as follows, 11th Infantry Brigade initially commanded by General Edward Woodgate but he was wounded at Spion Kop and he was succeeded by General Arthur Wynne who was later wounded at the Battle of the Tugela Heights and succeeded by Colonel Walter Kitchener. It served on the Western Front for most of the war except for a period in Italian Front. 13th Brigade The 13th Brigade was temporarily under the command of 28th Division between 23 February and 7 April 1915, when it was replaced by 84th Brigade from that Division. In September 1939 the 5th Infantry Division was a Regular Army formation, commanded by Major-General Harold Franklyn, the division was based at Catterick under Northern Command. By the new year of 1940 the division was reformed with three infantry brigades –the 13th, 15th and 17th, all commanded by men who would achieve high rank in the few years. Throughout the early months of 1940 the division saw some changing of units, despite this, the division still maintained its integrity as a Regular formation. The next few months were spent in training, although this was hampered by shortages of modern equipment. Due to the lack of immediate action many soldiers believed the war would amount to very little, despite this, morale in the division was high. This period of inactivity was known as the Phoney War, in early May the 25th Infantry Brigade came temporarily under command of the division in France. In April 1942 the 13th and 17th Infantry Brigades and a portion of the troops were detached to Force 121 for Operation Ironclad. The division was not complete again until August 1942, the division, serving again alongside the 50th Division, began training in amphibious operations in preparation for Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily. Later in the year, the fought in the Moro River Campaign. The Eighth Army, operating on the Adriatic coast, had pierced the Gustav Line at its eastern end. However, the weather conditions forbade further progress and so operations there were closed down. As a result, the relatively intact 5th Division was available elsewhere, X Corps, stationed along the Garigliano river, was part of Lieutenant General Mark W. Clarks U. S
8.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
9.
32nd Division (United Kingdom)
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The 32nd Division was an infantry division of the British Army that was raised in 1914, during World War I. The division was raised from volunteers for Lord Kitcheners New Armies, the division was taken over by the War Office in September 1915. It served in France and Belgium in the trenches of the Western Front for the duration of the war, the divisions insignia was four eights arranged in an X shape. 95th Brigade The brigade moved to the 5th Division in December 1915, H. Rycroft September 1915 - May 1918 Major-General Reginald Barnes May 1918 - List of British divisions in World War I The British Army in the Great War, The 32nd Division
10.
Devonshire Regiment
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In June,1667, Henry Somerset, Marquess of Worcester, was granted a commission to raise a regiment of foot, The Marquess of Worcesters Regiment of Foot. The regiment remained in existence for only a few months and was disbanded in the same year and it was re-raised in January 1673 and again disbanded in 1674. The regiment was not required to fight at the time of its formation since the Duke of Monmouth was drawn away from Bristol. Its first action came in Ireland at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690, after the war, it garrisoned the island of Minorca. The regiment served under the name of its various Colonels until it was numbered as the 11th Regiment of Foot when the system of regimental designation was adopted in 1751. It was given the county title of 11th Regiment of Foot in 1782. The 11th Regiment spent the years of the French Revolutionary Wars serving as detachments in the Mediterranean with the Royal Navy. It also took part in a raid on the port of Ostend in 1798. It was deployed to the West Indies in 1801 where it captured Saint Barthélemy, a 2nd Battalion was formed in 1809 and took part in the disastrous Walcheren Campaign. The 1st battalion returned to Europe in July 1809 to fight in the Peninsular War and it took part in the Battle of Bussaco in September 1810 and then fell back to the Lines of Torres Vedras. It took part in the Siege of Badajoz in April 1811, in the 19th century, the regiment spent most of the 19th Century on garrison duty throughout the Empire. Under the reforms the regiment became the Devonshire Regiment on 1 July 1881, at the same time it merged with the militia and rifle volunteer units of the county of Devon. It took part in the Tirah Campaign in 1897 and the Second Boer War in 1899, the 2nd Battalion fought in the Second Anglo-Afghan War, the Anglo-Ashanti wars and the Second Boer War. The 8th Battalion, part of 29th Brigade reserve, was committed within 3 hours of the beginning of the attack, the 1st Battalion, Devonshire Regiment was a Regular Army unit, joined the 8th Brigade, 3rd Division and then transferred to the 14th Brigade, 5th Division. The 1st Battalion was serving in British India when the Second World War broke out, the brigade was part of the British 36th Infantry Division. In July 1943 the battalion, together with the 231st Brigade, fought in the Allied invasion of Sicily, and, briefly, in the Allied invasion of Italy in September. On D-Day, June 6,1944, it was intended that the battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Cosmo Nevill, should land at Le Hamel, on Gold Beach, of the four company commanders, two were wounded and one was killed. The battalion continued to fight throughout the Battle of Normandy
11.
Suffolk Regiment
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The Suffolk Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army with a history dating back to 1685. The regiment was raised by Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk as the Duke of Norfolks Regiment of Foot in 1685 and it was originally formed to combat the Monmouth Rebellion, but was not disbanded when the rebellion was defeated. Following the 1688 Glorious Revolution its Colonel Lord Lichfield was dismissed for his sympathies with James II and was replaced by Henry Wharton, under Wharton the regiment participated in Marshal Schombergs expedition to Ireland in 1689. It captured the town of Belfast and then took part in the Siege of Carrickfergus in August 1689. Wharton died of fever in October 1689 while the regiment was part of the Dundalk Camp. Richard Brewer took command of the regiment and led it at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690, the Capture of Waterford in July 1690 and the Siege of Limerick in August 1690. The regiment also fought at the Siege of Athlone in June 1691, the regiment also saw action at the attack Fort Knokke during the Nine Years War in Flanders. The regiment was placed on the Irish establishment following the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 and it was subsequently stationed in Jamaica during the War of the Spanish Succession. It embarked for Flanders in 1742 for service in the War of the Austrian Succession and fought at the Battle of Dettingen in June 1743, the regiment was ranked in 1747 as the 12th Foot regiment and renamed as the 12th Regiment of Foot in 1751. In 1758 the 2nd Battalion of the regiment was separated from it, in 1782, it was given a county association as the 12th Regiment of Foot. The regiment embarked for the West Indies in 1793 and took part in the capture of Martinique, Saint Lucia and it also took part in the Invasion of Île Bonaparte in July 1810 and the Invasion of Isle de France in November 1810 during the Napoleonic Wars. Under the reforms the regiment became the Suffolk Regiment on 1 July 1881, as the county regiment of Suffolk, it also gained the countys militia and rifle volunteer battalions, which were integrated into the regiment as numbered battalions. The 1st Battalion served in the Second Boer War, it assaulted a hill near Colesberg in January 1900, by contrast between 1895 and 1914, the 2nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment was not involved in hostilities. It was stationed for the majority of the time in India, the 2nd was also regarded as a good shooting battalion with high level of musketry skills. The 1st Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 84th Brigade in the 28th Division in January 1915 for service on the Western Front and it suffered some 400 casualties at the Second Battle of Ypres in May 1915. The 2nd Battalion landed at landed at Le Havre as part of the 14th Brigade in the 5th Division in August 1914. The value of the 2nd Battalions 20 years of training was exemplified at the Battle of Le Cateau on 26 August 1914. In this action the 2nd Battalion undertook a fierce rear-guard defence out-manned and out-gunned by superior numbers of enemy, the 2nd Battalion held their defensive position despite losing their commanding officer, Lt. Col. C. A. H
12.
East Surrey Regiment
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The East Surrey Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1959. However, the Queens Regiment was soon amalgamated with the Royal Hampshire Regiment to form the present Princess of Waless Royal Regiment, in 1702 a regiment of marines was raised in the West Country by George Villier. Villier was drowned in 1703, and the regiment was taken over by Alexander Luttrell, after Luttrells death in 1705, the command went to Joshua Churchill until 1711 when it became Gorings Regiment. In 1715 the regiment was removed from the marines and became the 31st Regiment of Infantry, five years later a second battalion was raised in Scotland, the 2/31st Foot, which was re-designated in 1758, the 70th Regiment of Foot. Further changes were made in 1782, the 31st became known as the 31st Regiment of Foot, while the 70th became the 70th Regiment of Foot. They stayed with this title until 1881 when they became the 1st & 2nd battalions of the East Surrey Regiment, following amalgamation, The Barracks, Kingston upon Thames became the regimental depot. The 1st Battalion, after formation, was based in India until 1903 when it moved to Aldershot, it moved to Jersey in 1905, the 2nd Battalion on the other hand was in action soon after formation, being part of the British expedition to the Sudan in 1884. After South Africa the battalion was shipped to India in 1903 where they remained until the outbreak of the First World War, the 3rd Battalion, which was formed from the 1st Royal Surrey Militia in 1881, was a reserve battalion. It was embodied for service during the Second-Boer War in South Africa on 3 May 1900, disembodied on 15 October 1900, re-embodied on 6 May 1901 and disembodied on 26 July 1902. More than 600 officers and men returned to Southampton by the SS Gaika in July 1902, following the end of the war, the 4th Battalion, formed from the 3rd Royal Surrey Militia in 1881 was also a reserve battalion. On 4 August 1914, the 1st Battalion, East Surrey Regiment was in Dublin, eleven days later, mobilization completed and at full war establishment, the 1st Battalion landed at Le Havre in France, and before the end of the month was in action against the Germans. The battalion was assigned to the 14th Brigade, 5th Division, during the Retreat from Mons and afterwards, the Battalion took part in the great battles of 1914, Le Cateau, the Marne and the Aisne. In 1915, after the Battle of La Bassée, the 1st Surreys withstood a most determined attack on Hill 60, in the desperate fighting which ensued, the Battalion won three Victoria Crosses and seven Distinguished Conduct Medals. Among the VCs was Lieutenant George Roupell, who became the last Colonel of the East Surrey Regiment. In late 1915 the brigade was transferred to the 32nd Division, in 1916, the 1st Battalion took part in the great battles of the River Somme, and distinguished itself notably at Morval in September. The Battalion took part in many of the battles of 1917, such as Arras. After a four-month tour on the Italian Front, the Battalion was back in France in March 1918, and was engaged in the Battles of Albert and Bapaume, and the subsequent advance to victory. The 2nd Battalion returned from India at the outbreak of war and it was soon in action to the south of Ypres where it lost many men, some by poison gas, the battalion lost some 800 troops out of about 1,000
13.
Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
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The Duke of Cornwalls Light Infantry was a light infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1959. The regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms, by the merger of the 32nd Regiment of Foot, the DCLI also incorporated the militia and rifle volunteers of Cornwall. In 1959 the regiment merged with the Somerset Light Infantry to form the Somerset, the regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms, by the merger of the 32nd Regiment of Foot and the 46th Regiment of Foot. The DCLI also incorporated the militia and rifle volunteers of Cornwall, under the Childers system, one regular battalion of each regiment was to be at a home station, while the other was abroad. Every few years, there was to be an exchange of battalions, the 2nd Battalion arrived in South Africa in the following month, where it took part in minor actions on the western border of the Cape Colony. In February 1900 it became part of the 19th Brigade and it saw action against the Boers at Paardeberg, and in March 1900 entered Bloemfontein. It continued to part in a series of skirmishes until the end of the war. The 1st Battalion took no part on the war, moving from India to Ceylon in December 1900 where its soldiers guarded South African prisoners of war. However, in the Second Boer War, both volunteer battalions contributed Active Service Companies that reinforced the regular battalions, and were awarded the battle honour South Africa 1900–1901, in 1908 reserve forces were reorganised by the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907. The militia was renamed the Special Reserve, with the duty of providing trained recruits in time of war, the volunteer battalions became part of the new Territorial Force, which was organised into 14 infantry divisions which were called upon to serve abroad. On 1 April 1908 the three battalions were accordingly redesignated as the 3rd, 4th and 5th Battalions, DCLI. The war saw an expansion of the regiment. This was done in two ways, by the formation of units to the existing territorial battalions, and by the raising of wartime new army or service battalions. The following battalions of the DCLI saw active service in the conflict, however, only the 1st, 2nd and 5th served overseas. The battalion was part of the 214th Infantry Brigade attached to the 43rd Infantry Division, the regiment reverted to two battalions following the war. Between 1946 and 1954, the 1st Battalion served in Palestine, Cyprus, Somaliland, England, the 2nd Battalion, between 1946 and 1948, served in Greece. In 1948, it was reduced to a skeleton representative cadre, before being amalgamated into the 1st Battalion in 1950, in 1954, the 1st Battalion was posted to Jamaica, the last battalion to be posted to the West Indies for a full, three-year term. A Company detached on transit, posted to Prospect Camp, in the Atlantic archipelago of Bermuda, a Company was the last regular unit posted on garrison to Bermuda, with its departure constituting the withdrawal of the garrison from the one-time Fortress Bermuda
14.
Manchester Regiment
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The Manchester Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1958. Between the 1860s and 1880s, the British Army underwent a period of reform implemented by Edward Cardwell, single-battalion regiments were amalgamated and regiments were affiliated with a geographical area. The Manchester Regiment came into being on 1 July 1881 by the union of the 63rd and they had been linked in 1873 by their allocation to the 16th Sub-district Brigade Depot in Ashton-under-Lyne, near to Manchester. The 2nd Battalion, as the 96th Foot, had raised in the town of Manchester in 1824. Eight additional battalions were gained through the incorporation of the 6th Royal Lancashire Militia, the 1st Battalion was deployed to Egypt to take part in the Anglo-Egyptian War in 1882 and was then deployed to Gibraltar in 1897. The 2nd Battalion was based in India from 1882 to 1897, amidst growing tension between Boers and the British in the Transvaal, the 1st Manchester shipped to South Africa in September 1899. The battalion arrived in Durban, Natal Colony in early October, the war began on 11 October with a Boer invasion of the colony. After Boer forces captured Elandslaagte railway station, the Manchesters had four companies sent by armoured train to Modderspruit, while disembaking there, the Manchesters and accompanying Imperial Light Horse came under ineffectual artillery fire. The 1st Manchesters, along with the Gordon Highlanders and the Imperial Light Horse, the fighting was heavy, with the Boers pouring accurate fire into the advancing British troops. Under increasingly heavy fire, the battalion halted its advance, the Manchester became the main vanguard of the frontal assault, having originally been tasked with a left-flank attack on the Boer hills. Once the battalion closed in, the Boers withdrew to their line of defence. On 2 November, Boer forces encircled and isolated the town of Ladysmith, on 6 January 1900, a contingent of 16 soldiers of the 1st Manchesters came under attack at Wagon Hill, near to Caesers Camp. Against superior numbers, the detachment held its position for 15 hours, only two survived, Privates Pitts and Scott, who had continued to hold out for many hours when the others had been killed. Both received the Victoria Cross for their actions, giving the regiment its first two VCs, by 28 February, Ladysmith had finally been relieved by a force under the command of General Redvers Buller. In April, the 2nd Manchesters arrived in Natal as reinforcements, both battalions participated in the offensive that followed the relieving of Ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking. After the fall of Bloemfontein and Pretoria, the Boer commandos transitioned to guerrilla warfare, the 2nd Manchesters operated in the Orange Free State, searching farms and burning those suspected of housing commandos. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging in May 1902, when the war in South Africa proved more resilient than predicted, a number of regiments containing large centres of population formed additional regular battalions. The Manchester Regiment formed the 3rd and 4th regular Battalions in February 1900, the 3rd Battalion was stationed in Saint Helena and South Africa from August 1902, while the 4th Battalion was stationed in Cork
15.
Cheshire Regiment
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The Cheshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales Division. The 22nd Regiment of Foot was raised by the Duke of Norfolk in 1689 and was able to boast an independent existence of over 300 years. The regiment was expanded in 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms by the linking of the 22nd Regiment of Foot, the title 22nd Regiment continued to be used within the regiment. In 1689, Henry Howard, Duke of Norfolk, raised a regiment on the little Roodee at Chester, for the early part of its formation, the regiment was known by the name of the current colonel. The regiment fought at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690, at the Battle of Aughrim in July 1691 and at the Siege of Limerick in August 1691. The regiment continued to serve as a garrison in Ireland from this point until 1695, when it was sent to the Low Countries for a short time before returning to its duties in Ireland. In 1702, the regiment sailed to Jamaica under the colonelcy of William Selwyn, spending the next years in combat duties against the French and native population. By 1751, the regiment had become the 22nd Regiment of Foot, in 1758, it took part in the Siege of Louisbourg in French Canada. The regiment also took part in General Wolfes victory over the French at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in September 1759, the regiment received two battle honours for taking part in the capture of Martinique and the British expedition against Cuba during 1762. The regiment was sent to North America for service in the American Revolutionary War in 1775, the regiment later evacuated from Boston to Halifax and then took part in the New York and New Jersey campaigns of 1776. The Battalion Companies participated in the Battle of Rhode Island in August 1778 and then returned to New York City in 1779, although the County designation existed as early as 1772, the regiment was retitled the 22nd Regiment of Foot in 1782. It was deployed to the West Indies in September 1793, taking part in expeditions against Martinique, Saint Lucia, Guadeloupe, in January 1800, the regiment was posted to South Africa, before moving to India where it suffered heavy losses during the assault on Bhurtpore in 1805. In 1810, the regiment took part in the occupation of Mauritius, the regiment took part in the Battle of Miani in February 1843, the Battle of Hyderabad in March 1843 and the conquest of Sindh in summer 1843 during further Indian service. Under the reforms the regiment became The Cheshire Regiment on 1 July 1881 and its recruiting area was confirmed as being the County of Cheshire. Both battalions of the regiment served in Burma between 1887 and 1891, while the 2nd Battalion saw active service in South Africa in 1900. The 1st battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 15th Brigade in the 5th Division in August 1914 for service on the Western Front and it also saw action at the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915 and the Battle of Hill 60 also in April 1915. In 1917 they fought at the Battle of Arras in April 1917 and it then took part in the Battle of the Lys in April 1918 and the Battles of the Hindenburg Line and the Final Advance in Picardy later in the year. The 1/5th Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 14th Brigade in the 5th Division in February 1915 for service on the Western Front
16.
Royal Scots
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The regiment was first raised in 1633 as the Royal Regiment of Foot by Sir John Hepburn, under a royal warrant from Charles I, on the Scottish establishment for service in France. It was formed from a nucleus of Hepburns previous regiment, formerly in Swedish service, when in France it absorbed the remnants of a number of other Scottish mercenary units which had fought in Swedish service, and by 1635 had swelled to some 8,000 men. Lord James Douglas was appointed the new colonel, and the name of the corps was altered to the Régiment de Douglas, numbering some 1200 Scotsmen. The regiment fought with distinction under Douglas until he was killed in a skirmish near Douai in 1645 and his elder brother Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, was appointed in his place. In all the regiment served in France from 1633 to 1661, because the regiment had been formed by Royal Warrant, it was legally part of the Crowns armed forces, even though it had been out of the country for three decades. As such, it was recalled to secure the coronation of Charles II. 1678 marked the end of French service, with the regiment placed permanently on the English establishment. It was posted to Ireland in 1679, and in 1680 the regiment was sent to Tangier, in 1684, the regiment was titled His Majestys Royal Regiment of Foot, and withdrawn to England. In 1685 they fought for James II in the Monmouth Rebellion, at the Battle of Sedgemoor, in 1688, they were the only regiment of the army to remain loyal to James in the Glorious Revolution. During the War of the Grand Alliance, the regiment fought at the Battle of Walcourt, the Battle of Steenkerque, the Battle of Landen and they spent the late 1690s on garrison duty in Ireland. During the War of the Spanish Succession, the regiment fought at the Battles of Schellenberg and Blenheim, the Battle of Ramillies, the Battle of Oudenarde and the Battle of Malplaquet. In 1751, the regiment was titled the 1st Regiment of Foot, the 2nd Battalion was sent to Nova Scotia in 1757, and saw service in the Seven Years War, capturing Louisburg in 1758, Guadeloupe in 1762 and Havana in 1763, returning home in 1764. Both then served as garrisons in the Mediterranean, the 1st in Gibraltar from 1768–75, and the 2nd in Minorca from 1771–75. The 1st Battalion was sent to the West Indies in 1781, fought in the capture of Sint Eustatius that year, and was itself captured at St. Kitts in January 1782 but exchanged later in the year. The 1st Battalion had returned to the West Indies as a garrison in 1790, the West Indies were hotbeds of disease, and the battalion lost more than half its strength to disease in this period. It was reformed from militia volunteers in Ireland in 1798, This year saw a major rebellion erupt in Ireland after years of simmering tension, the Lothian Fencibles fought with distinction at the Battle of Vinegar Hill, one of the more important engagements of the rebellion. After the rebellion was over in Ireland they were used in raids on the coast of Spain in 1800. Meanwhile, from 1793 to 1801, the 2nd Battalion was based in the Mediterranean, both battalions were subsequently dispatched to the West Indies, the 1st from 1801 to 1812, and the 2nd from 1803 to 1806
17.
Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
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The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers was an Irish line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1968. The regiment was formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 27th Regiment of Foot, on 1 July 1881 the 27th Regiment of Foot and the 108th Regiment of Foot were redesignated as the 1st and 2nd Battalions, The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers respectively. In 1903 the Regiment was granted a grey hackle for their fusilier raccoon skin hats to commemorate the original uniforms of the Inniskilling Regiment. The regimental district comprised the City of Londonderry and the counties of Donegal, Londonderry, Tyrone and Fermanagh in Ireland, the local militia regiments also became part of the new regiment, becoming the 3rd to 5th Battalions. Militarily, the whole of Ireland was administered as a command within the United Kingdom with Command Headquarters at Parkgate Dublin. Under the Childers system, one battalion of each regiment was to be at a home station. Every few years, there was to be an exchange of battalions, the 1st Battalion landed at Durban, where they became part of the 5th Brigade. The battalion was involved in a series of military reverses at the hands of the Boers that became known as the Black Week, the unit subsequently took part in the Tugela Campaign before helping relieve Ladysmith in early 1900. The regiment lent its name to Inniskilling Hill, which was taken by the 5th brigade on 24/25 February 1900, the 2nd Battalion only arrived in South Africa from India in the late stages of the war and saw little action. The 7th Battalion and 8th Battalion landed in France as part of the 49th Brigade in the 16th Division in February 1916 for service on the Western Front. The 9th Battalion, the 10th Battalion and the 11th Battalion landed in France as part of the 109th Brigade in the 36th Division in October 1915 for service on the Western Front. The 12th Battalion fought against Irish rebels who were fighting to end British rule in Ireland, two of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers were killed and seven more wounded. After the war, the Childers system was resumed, with the 1st Battalion moving to India for foreign service, with the independence of the Irish Free State in 1922 all the Irish line infantry regiments of the British army regiments were to be disbanded. These were the 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers, the old 89th Foot, and the 2nd Battalion, Inniskillings, the Inniskillings moved from India to Iraq in 1922, returning to Shorncliffe, England in 1925. They were stationed in Northern Ireland from 1927 to 1933, before moving to Aldershot and they resumed foreign service in 1934, moving to Shanghai and then Singapore two years later. In 1937 there was an expansion of the army, and the 2nd Battalion was re-raised at Omagh, the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers was also reformed, and the arrangement of 1922 ended. The 1st Inniskillings moved to Wellington, Madras in 1938, the two battalions were in these locations when the Second World War broke out in 1939. In addition to the 1st and 2nd Battalions, both part of the Regular Army, the regiment raised three battalions to fight in the Second World War
18.
Middle East
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The Middle East is a transcontinental region centered on Western Asia and Egypt. The corresponding adjective is Middle-Eastern and the noun is Middle-Easterner. The term has come into usage as a replacement of the term Near East beginning in the early 20th century. Arabs, Turks, Persians, Kurds, and Azeris constitute the largest ethnic groups in the region by population. Indigenous minorities of the Middle East include Jews, Assyrians and other Arameans, Baloch, Berbers, Copts, Druze, Lurs, Mandaeans, Samaritans, Shabaks, Tats, in the Middle East, there is also a Romani community. European ethnic groups form a diaspora in the region include Albanians, Bosniaks, Circassians, Crimean Tatars, Franco-Levantines. Among other migrant populations are Bengalis as well as other Indians, Chinese, Filipinos, Indonesians, Pakistanis, the history of the Middle East dates back to ancient times, with the importance of the region being recognized for millennia. Most of the countries border the Persian Gulf have vast reserves of crude oil. The term Middle East may have originated in the 1850s in the British India Office, however, it became more widely known when American naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan used the term in 1902 to designate the area between Arabia and India. During this time the British and Russian Empires were vying for influence in Central Asia, Mahan realized not only the strategic importance of the region, but also of its center, the Persian Gulf. Mahan first used the term in his article The Persian Gulf and International Relations, published in September 1902 in the National Review, a British journal. The Middle East, if I may adopt a term which I have not seen, will some day need its Malta, as well as its Gibraltar, it does not follow that either will be in the Persian Gulf. The British Navy should have the facility to concentrate in force if occasion arise, about Aden, India, mahans article was reprinted in The Times and followed in October by a 20-article series entitled The Middle Eastern Question, written by Sir Ignatius Valentine Chirol. During this series, Sir Ignatius expanded the definition of Middle East to include regions of Asia which extend to the borders of India or command the approaches to India. After the series ended in 1903, The Times removed quotation marks from subsequent uses of the term, in the late 1930s, the British established the Middle East Command, which was based in Cairo, for its military forces in the region. After that time, the term Middle East gained broader usage in Europe, the description Middle has also led to some confusion over changing definitions. Before the First World War, Near East was used in English to refer to the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire, while Middle East referred to Iran, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Turkestan. The first official use of the term Middle East by the United States government was in the 1957 Eisenhower Doctrine, the Associated Press Stylebook says that Near East formerly referred to the farther west countries while Middle East referred to the eastern ones, but that now they are synonymous
19.
8th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)
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The 8th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army that was active in both World War I and World War II. It was briefly reformed in Syria in a role during 1942-3. The 8th Division was a Regular Army division that was formed by combining battalions returning from outposts in the British Empire at the outbreak of the First World War, major-General Francis Davies took command on 19 September 1914. The division moved to France in November,1914, following the First Battle of Ypres, in 1939 it was based in Palestine and consisted of two infantry brigades. Due to the needs of defence against German and Italian forces these units were sent to places of need and reformed as different formations, although it had infantry it had no divisional troops due to the shortage of artillery and engineers in the Middle East. Its units were dispersed and the Division was disbanded on 28 February 1940, the Division headquarters was reformed in Syria on 2 June 1942 from the headquarters of the 5th Cavalry Brigade with an administration and internal security role under the Ninth Army. On 3 September the divisional headquarters role was taken by the headquarters of 89 Sub-Area, in this second incarnation R. A. C. units from 9th Army were attached. The division Headquarters were disbanded on 31 October 1943
20.
Battle of Crete
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The Battle of Crete was fought during World War II on the Greek island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, when Nazi Germany began an invasion of Crete. Greek forces and other Allied forces, along with Cretan civilians, after one day of fighting, the Germans had suffered heavy casualties and the Allied troops were confident that they would defeat the invasion. Allied forces withdrew to the south coast, over half were evacuated by the British Royal Navy, the remainder surrendered or joined the Cretan resistance. In contrast, the Allies were impressed by the potential of paratroopers and started to form airborne-assault, British forces had initially garrisoned Crete when the Italians attacked Greece on 28 October 1940, enabling the Greek government to employ the Fifth Cretan Division in the mainland campaign. The Italians were repulsed, but the subsequent German invasion of April 1941, at the end of the month 57,000 Allied troops were evacuated by the Royal Navy. Some were sent to Crete to bolster its garrison until fresh forces could be organised, oberkommando des Heeres was preoccupied with Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union and was largely opposed to a German attack on Crete. The directive also stated that the operation was to be in May, before the invasion, the Germans conducted a bombing campaign to establish air superiority and forced the RAF to move its remaining aeroplanes to Alexandria. No RAF units were based permanently at Crete until April 1941 but airfield construction had begun, radar sites built, equipment was scarce in the Mediterranean and in the backwater of Crete. The British forces had seven commanders in seven months, in early April, airfields at Maleme and Heraklion and the landing strip at Retimo on the north coast were ready and another strip at Pediada-Kastelli was nearly finished. After the German invasion of Greece, the role of the Crete garrison changed from the defence of an anchorage to preparing to repel an invasion. On 17 April, Group Captain George Beamish was appointed Senior Air Officer, Crete, taking over from a Flight-Lieutenant whose duties and instructions had been only vaguely defined. The navy tried to deliver 27,000 long tons of supplies from 1–20 May 1941, but the Luftwaffe attacks forced most ships to turn back, and only 2,700 long tons of stores were delivered. In mid-May, the four squadrons had about 24 aircraft, of which twelve were serviceable, due to a lack of tools. The unfinished ground at Pediada-Kastelli was blocked with trenches and heaps of soil and all but narrow flight paths were blocked at Heraklion, at Maleme, blast pens were built for the aircraft, and barrels full of petrol were kept ready to be ignited by machine-gun fire. Around each ground, a few guns, anti-aircraft guns. The three areas were made into independent sectors, but there were only eight QF 3-inch and twenty Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft guns, on 30 April 1941, Major-General Bernard Freyberg VC a New Zealand Army officer, was appointed commander of the Allied forces on Crete. Cadets from the Gendarmerie academy and recruits from Greek training centres in the Peloponnese had been transferred to Crete, the British Commonwealth contingent consisted of the original 14, 000-man British garrison and another 25,000 British and Commonwealth troops evacuated from the mainland
21.
Heraklion
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Heraklion is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete. It is the fourth largest city in Greece.3 km2, Heraklion is the capital of Heraklion regional unit. The Bronze Age palace of Knossos, also known as the Palace of Minos, is located nearby. The Arab raiders from Andalusia who founded the Emirate of Crete moved the capital from Gortyna to a new castle they called ربض الخندق rabḍ al-ḫandaq Castle of the Moat in the 820s. After the Byzantine reconquest, the city was known as Megalo Kastro or Castro. The ancient name Ηράκλειον was revived in the 19th century and comes from the nearby Roman port of Heracleum, english usage formerly preferred the classicizing transliterations Heraklion or Heraclion, but the form Iraklion is becoming more common. Heraklion is close to the ruins of the palace of Knossos, though there is no archaeological evidence of it, Knossos might well have had a port at the site of Heraklion as early as 2000 BC. They built a moat around the city for protection, and named the city ربض الخندق and it became the capital of the Emirate of Crete. The Saracens allowed the port to be used as a haven for pirates who operated against Imperial shipping. In 961, Byzantine forces under the command of Nikephoros Phokas, later to become Emperor, landed in Crete, after a prolonged siege, the city fell. The Saracen inhabitants were slaughtered, the city looted and burned to the ground, soon rebuilt, the town was renamed Χάνδαξ, Chandax, and remained under Greek control for the next 243 years. Chandax was renamed Candia and became the seat of the Duke of Candia, the city retained the name of Candia for centuries and the same name was often used to refer to the whole island of Crete as well. To secure their rule, Venetians began in 1212 to settle families from Venice on Crete, after the Venetians came the Ottoman Empire. During the Cretan War, the Ottomans besieged the city for 21 years, from 1648 to 1669, in its final phase, which lasted for 22 months,70,000 Turks,38,000 Cretans and slaves and 29,088 of the citys Christian defenders perished. The Ottoman army under an Albanian grand vizier, Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed Pasha conquered the city in 1669, under the Ottomans, the city was known officially as Kandiye but informally in Greek as Megalo Castro. During the Ottoman period, the harbour silted up, so most shipping shifted to Chania in the west of the island, in 1898, the autonomous Cretan State was created, under Ottoman suzerainty, with Prince George of Greece as its High Commissioner and under international supervision. During the period of occupation of the island by the Great Powers. At this time, the city was renamed Heraklion, after the Roman port of Heracleum, in 1913, with the rest of Crete, Heraklion was incorporated into the Kingdom of Greece
22.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
23.
Parachute
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A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag. Parachutes are usually out of light, strong cloth, originally silk. Parachutes often take the shape of a dome, but shapes may vary including some taking the shape of an inverted dome, depending on the situation, parachutes are used with a variety of loads, including people, food, equipment, space capsules, and bombs. Drogue chutes are used to aid horizontal deceleration of a vehicle, the earliest evidence for the parachute dates back to the Renaissance period. The oldest parachute design appears in a manuscript from 1470s Renaissance Italy. As a safety measure, four straps run from the ends of the rods to a waist belt, shortly after, a more sophisticated parachute was sketched by the polymath Leonardo da Vinci in his Codex Atlanticus dated to ca. Here, the scale of the parachute is in a more favorable proportion to the weight of the jumper, Leonardos canopy was held open by a square wooden frame, which alters the shape of the parachute from conical to pyramidal. It is not known whether the Italian inventor was influenced by the earlier design, the feasibility of Leonardos pyramidal design was successfully tested in 2000 by Briton Adrian Nicholas and again in 2008 by the Swiss skydiver Olivier Vietti-Teppa. The Croatian polymath and inventor Faust Vrančić examined da Vincis parachute sketch and he kept the square frame, but replaced the canopy with a bulging sail-like piece of cloth that he came to realize decelerates the fall more effectively. However, in book, John Wilkins wrote about flying. The modern parachute was invented in the late 18th century by Louis-Sébastien Lenormand in France, Lenormand also sketched his device beforehand. Two years later, in 1785, Lenormand coined the word parachute by hybridizing a Latin prefix para, and chute, also in 1785, Jean-Pierre Blanchard demonstrated it as a means of safely disembarking from a hot-air balloon. Subsequent development of the focused on it becoming more compact. In 1797, André Garnerin made the first descent using such a parachute, Garnerin also invented the vented parachute, which improved the stability of the fall. In 1907 Charles Broadwick demonstrated two key advances in the parachute he used to jump from hot air balloons at fairs and he folded his parachute into a pack he wore on his back. And the parachute was pulled from the pack by a line attached to the balloon. When Broadwick jumped from the balloon, the line became taut, pulled the parachute from the pack. In 1911 a successful test took place with a dummy at the Eiffel tower in Paris, the puppets weight was 75 kg, the parachutes weight was 21 kg
24.
North African Campaign
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The North African Campaign of the Second World War took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and in Morocco, the campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers, many of whom had colonial interests in Africa dating from the late 19th century. The Allied war effort was dominated by the British Commonwealth and exiles from German-occupied Europe, the United States entered the war in December 1941 and began direct military assistance in North Africa on 11 May 1942. Fighting in North Africa started with the Italian declaration of war on 10 June 1940, on 14 June, the British Armys 11th Hussars crossed the border from Egypt into Libya and captured the Italian Fort Capuzzo. Information gleaned via British Ultra code-breaking intelligence proved critical to Allied success in North Africa, victory for the Allies in this campaign immediately led to the Italian Campaign, which culminated in the downfall of the fascist government in Italy and the elimination of a German ally. On 10 May 1940, the Wehrmacht had started the Battle of France, one month later, it was plain to see that France would have to surrender within two weeks. On 10 June 1940, the Kingdom of Italy aligned itself with Nazi Germany and declared war upon France, British forces based in Egypt were ordered to undertake defensive measures, but to act as non-provocatively as possible. However, on 11 June they began a series of raids against Italian positions in Libya, following the defeat of France on 25 June, Italian forces in Tripolitania—facing French troops based in Tunisia—redeployed to Cyrenaica to reinforce the Italian Tenth Army. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini ordered the Tenth Army to invade Egypt by 8 August, two days later, no invasion having been launched, Mussolini ordered Marshal Graziani that, the moment German forces launched Operation Sea Lion, he was to attack. The battle plan was to advance along the road, while limited armoured forces operated on the desert flank. To counter the Italian advance, Wavell ordered his forces to harass the advancing Italians, falling back towards Mersa Matruh. Positioned on the flank was the 7th Armoured Division, which would strike the flank of the Italian force. By 16 September, the Italian force had advanced to Maktila, around 80 mi west of Mersa Matruh, in response to the dispersed Italian camps, the British planned a limited five-day attack, Operation Compass, to strike at these fortified camps one by one. The British Commonwealth force, totalling 36,000 men, attacked the forward elements of the 10-division-strong Italian army on 9 December, following their initial success, the forces of Operation Compass pursued the retreating Italian forces. In January, the port at Bardia was taken, soon followed by the seizure of the fortified port of Tobruk. Some 40,000 Italians were captured in and around the two ports, with the remainder of the Tenth Army retreating along the coast road back to El Agheila. Richard OConnor sent the 7th Armoured Division across the desert, with a reconnaissance group reaching Beda Fomm some ninety minutes before the Italians. Although desperate attempts were made to overcome the British force at the Battle of Beda Fomm, the Italians were unable to break through, and the remnants of the retreating army surrendered
25.
70th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)
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The 70th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army that fought during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. What would become the 70th Division originated with the 7th Infantry Division, on 10 October 1941, the 6th Division was re-created as the 70th Infantry Division, in an attempt to deceive Axis intelligence concerning the strength of the British military in the Middle East. Under daily aerial and artillery attacks, the defended the port. On 18 November, the British Eighth Army launched Operation Crusader, the division was tasked with breaking out of Tobruk, following the destruction of the Axis armoured forces. Following unexpected early success, the division began its attacks on 21 November, heavy fighting soon followed as the division captured several well-defended and dug-in German and Italian strong points. The looming threat of the Axis tanks ended the offensive the following day. Renewed fighting on 26 November saw the link up with the approaching New Zealand Division. In response, the Germans launched several counter-attacks to throw back the 70th Division from the territory they had gained, the failure of these attacks had a lasting strategic impact on Operation Crusader, the Axis forces began their retreat and lifted the siege of Tobruk. Two men—from units attached to the division—were awarded the Victoria Cross for their actions during Operation Crusader, following the fighting at Tobruk, the division was withdrawn from the front and placed in reserve. When Japan entered the war, the division was transferred to India and it was considered the most experienced and best trained British formation available in Asia. In India, the division formed a reserve to counter possible Japanese landings while it trained in jungle warfare and it also served as a police force, protecting railways and being used to suppress civil disobedience caused by the Quit India Movement. While it was requested that the division be sent to the front line in Burma, it was transferred to Special Force. Such a move was opposed by the highest military commanders in India and Burma, despite their pleas, the division was broken up and officially ceased to exist on 24 November 1943. Historian Woodburn Kirby and Lieutenant-General William Slim believed that the division could have had an impact against the Japanese had it been retained as a single formation. During 1936, the Arab Revolt broke out in the British Mandate of Palestine, British troops were dispatched, ending the first phase of the war by the close of the year. Fighting soon resumed and reached its zenith during the summer of 1938, with rising tensions in Europe, the British began to withdraw troops from Palestine for use elsewhere. The conclusion of the Munich Agreement—on 30 September 1938—calmed the rising tensions in Europe and averted war, the 7th Infantry Division was formed the following month and placed under the command of Major-General Richard OConnor. The division was deployed to Palestine on internal security duties as part of a build-up of 18,500 men in the region and this force then began to suppress the revolt
26.
Tobruk
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Tobruk or Tubruq is a port city on Libyas eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border of Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District and has a population of 120,000, Tobruk was the site of an ancient Greek colony and, later, of a Roman fortress guarding the frontier of Cyrenaica. Over the centuries, Tobruk also served as a waystation along the caravan route. By 1911, Tobruk had become an Italian military post, but during World War II, Allied forces, mainly the Australian 6th Division, took Tobruk on 22 January 1941. Rebuilt after World War II, Tobruk was later expanded during the 1960s to include a terminal linked by an oil pipeline to the Sarir oil field. King Idris of Libya had his palace at Bab Zaytun, Tobruk was traditionally a stronghold of the Senussi royal dynasty and one of the first to rebel against Colonel Gaddafi in the Arab Spring. Tobruk has a strong, naturally protected deep harbour and it is probably the best natural port in northern Africa, although due to the lack of important nearby land sites it is certainly not the most popular. The city is surrounded by a desert lightly populated with nomadic herdsmen who travel from oasis to oasis. There are many escarpments to the south of Tobruk and these escarpments generally have their high sides to the south and their low sides to the north. This constitutes a physical barrier between the north and south of Libya in the Tobruk area. Construction of the Tobruk-Ajdabiya road reduced the distance between two cities from 620 km to about 410 km. However, Tobruk suffers a serious saltwater intrusion problem, a factory for the desalination of sea water has been built there. Tobruk features a hot desert climate An ancient Greek agricultural colony, Αντίπυργος was once on the site of modern Tobruk, the name roughly meant across from Pyrgos, referring to a location in Crete across the Mediterranean Sea from Antipyrgos. In the Roman era, the became a Roman fortress guarding the Cyrenaican frontier. With the spread of Christianity, Antipyrgus became an episcopal see, only one of its ancient bishops is known by name, Aemilianus, who took part in the Second Council of Constantinople in 553. No longer a residential bishopric, Antipyrgus is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see, later the site became a way station on the caravan route that ran along the coast. The Hotel Tobruk was built in 1937, at the beginning of World War II, Libya was an Italian colony and Tobruk became the site of important battles between the Allies and Axis powers. Tobruk was strategically important to the conquest of Eastern Libya, then the province of Cyrenaica and this was of critical importance, as it made Tobruk an excellent place to supply a desert warfare campaign
27.
British Raj
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The British Raj was the rule by the British Crown in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947. The rule is also called Crown rule in India, or direct rule in India, the resulting political union was also called the Indian Empire and after 1876 issued passports under that name. It lasted until 1947, when the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two sovereign states, the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan. The British Raj extended over almost all present-day India, Pakistan and this area is very diverse, containing the Himalayan mountains, fertile floodplains, the Indo-Gangetic Plain, a long coastline, tropical dry forests, arid uplands, and the Thar desert. In addition, at times, it included Aden, Lower Burma, Upper Burma, British Somaliland. Burma was separated from India and directly administered by the British Crown from 1937 until its independence in 1948, among other countries in the region, Ceylon was ceded to Britain in 1802 under the Treaty of Amiens. Ceylon was part of Madras Presidency between 1793 and 1798, the kingdoms of Nepal and Bhutan, having fought wars with the British, subsequently signed treaties with them and were recognised by the British as independent states. The Kingdom of Sikkim was established as a state after the Anglo-Sikkimese Treaty of 1861, however. The Maldive Islands were a British protectorate from 1887 to 1965, India during the British Raj was made up of two types of territory, British India and the Native States. In general, the term British India had been used to also to the regions under the rule of the British East India Company in India from 1600 to 1858. The term has also used to refer to the British in India. The terms Indian Empire and Empire of India were not used in legislation, the monarch was known as Empress or Emperor of India and the term was often used in Queen Victorias Queens Speeches and Prorogation Speeches. The passports issued by the British Indian government had the words Indian Empire on the cover, in addition, an order of knighthood, the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, was set up in 1878. At the turn of the 20th century, British India consisted of eight provinces that were administered either by a Governor or a Lieutenant-Governor, during the partition of Bengal the new provinces of Assam and East Bengal were created as a Lieutenant-Governorship. In 1911, East Bengal was reunited with Bengal, and the new provinces in the east became, Assam, Bengal, Bihar, there were 565 princely states when India and Pakistan became independent from Britain in August 1947. The princely states did not form a part of British India, the larger ones had treaties with Britain that specified which rights the princes had, in the smaller ones the princes had few rights. Within the princely states external affairs, defence and most communications were under British control, the British also exercised a general influence over the states internal politics, in part through the granting or withholding of recognition of individual rulers. Although there were nearly 600 princely states, the majority were very small
28.
Myanmar
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Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and also known as Burma, is a sovereign state in South East Asia bordered by Bangladesh, India, China, Laos and Thailand. About one third of Myanmars total perimeter of 5,876 km, forms an uninterrupted coastline of 1,930 km along the Bay of Bengal, the countrys 2014 census revealed a much lower population than expected, with 51 million people recorded. Myanmar is 676,578 square kilometres in size and its capital city is Naypyidaw and its largest city and former capital city is Yangon. Early civilizations in Myanmar included the Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu city-states in Upper Burma, the Pagan Kingdom fell due to the Mongol invasions and several warring states emerged. In the 16th century, reunified by the Taungoo Dynasty, the country was for a period the largest empire in the history of Mainland Southeast Asia. The early 19th century Konbaung Dynasty ruled over an area included modern Myanmar and briefly controlled Manipur. The British invaded Myanmar after three Anglo-Burmese Wars in the 19th century and the became a British colony. Myanmar became an independent nation in 1948, initially as a nation and then, following a coup détat in 1962. For most of its independent years, the country has been engrossed in rampant ethnic strife, during this time, the United Nations and several other organisations have reported consistent and systematic human rights violations in the country. In 2011, the junta was officially dissolved following a 2010 general election. While former military leaders still wield enormous power in the country, there is, however, continuing criticism of the governments treatment of the Muslim Rohingya minority and its poor response to the religious clashes. In the landmark 2015 election, Aung San Suu Kyis party won a majority in both houses, Myanmar is a country rich in jade and gems, oil, natural gas and other mineral resources. In 2013, its GDP stood at US$56.7 billion, the income gap in Myanmar is among the widest in the world, as a large proportion of the economy is controlled by supporters of the former military government. As of 2016, according to the Human Development Index, Myanmar had a level of human development. The renaming remains a contested issue, many political and ethnic opposition groups and countries continue to use Burma because they do not recognise the legitimacy of the ruling military government or its authority to rename the country. The countrys official name is the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Countries that do not officially recognise that name use the long form Union of Burma instead, in English, the country is popularly known as either Burma or Myanmar /ˈmjɑːnˌmɑːr/. Both these names are derived from the name of the majority Burmese Bamar ethnic group, Myanmar is considered to be the literary form of the name of the group, while Burma is derived from Bamar, the colloquial form of the groups name
29.
Chindits
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The Chindits were a British India Special Force that served in Burma and India in 1943 and 1944 during the Burma Campaign of World War II. They were formed to put into effect Orde Wingates newly developed guerrilla warfare tactic of long-range penetration, the Chindits were trained to operate deep behind Japanese lines. Their operations were marked by prolonged marches through extremely difficult terrain by underfed troops weakened by such as malaria. There is controversy over the high casualty rate and the debatable military value of the achievements of the Chindits. The Chindits were the creation of the British Army Brigadier Orde Charles Wingate, then serving under General Archibald Wavell, the name was suggested by Captain Aung Thin of the Burma Army. Chindit is a form of the Burmese mythical beast Chinthé or Chinthay. Known as Gideon Force, they disrupted Italian supply lines and provided intelligence to British forces, as Commander-in-Chief of the Middle East Command in 1940, Wavell had given permission for Gideon Force for political reasons, because he had thought Wingates idea to be militarily too unorthodox. Wingate arrived in Burma in March 1942, barely two months before the final Allied collapse and the Japanese conquest of Burma, rather than organise irregular forces, Wingate spent his time touring the country and developing his theory of long-range penetration on paper. During the final stages of the British retreat from Burma, Wingate had himself specially flown back to India while the rest of the army walked out, once in Delhi, he presented his proposals to Wavell. The 77th Indian Infantry Brigade, otherwise known as the Chindits, was formed in the area around Jhansi in the summer of 1942. Wingate took charge of the training of the troops in the jungles of central India during the rainy season. Half of the Chindits were British, the 13th Battalion, the Kings Liverpool Regiment and men from the former Bush Warfare School in Burma, the other portion of the force consisted of the 3rd Battalion, the 2nd Gurkha Rifles and the 2nd Battalion, the Burma Rifles. They would penetrate the jungle on foot, essentially relying on surprise through mobility to target enemy lines of communication, the standard brigade and battalion structures were abandoned. Small detachments from the Royal Air Force, Royal Corps of Signals, the heavy weapons, radios, reserve ammunition and rations and other stores were carried on mules, which would also provide an emergency source of food once their loads had been depleted. With 57 mule handlers, each British column numbered 306 men, each man carried more than 72 pounds of equipment, which was proportionally more than the mules carrying the support weapons and other stores. Much of this load was carried in an Everest carrier, which was essentially a metal rucksack frame without a pack, shortly before the first operation, one column was broken up to bring the remaining seven up to full strength. Two or more columns were commanded by a headquarters, which in turn was commanded by the brigade headquarters. The original intent had been to use the Chindits as a part of a larger offensive, when this offensive was cancelled, Wingate convinced General Wavell to send the Chindits into Burma anyway
30.
Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey)
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The Queens Royal Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the English and later the British Army from 1661 to 1959. It was the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, following a further amalgamation in 1992 with the Royal Hampshire Regiment, the lineage of the regiment is continued today by the Princess of Waless Royal Regiment. From this service, it was known as the Tangier Regiment. As was usual at the time, it was named after its current colonel, from one of whom, Percy Kirke. In 1685, it was given the Royal title the Queen Dowagers Regiment of Foot and it was ranked as 2nd Foot in the clothing regulations of 1747, and was renamed 2nd Regiment of Foot by Royal warrant in 1751. In the Childers reforms of 1881 it became the county regiment of West Surrey, in 1921, its title was slightly altered to The Queens Royal Regiment. By 1950 it was known as The Queens Royal Regiment, in 1959, it was amalgamated with the East Surrey Regiment, to form the Queens Royal Surrey Regiment. The regiment shipped to Tangier where it remained until the port was evacuated in 1684 and it took part in the suppression of the Monmouth Rebellion, fighting at the Battle of Sedgemoor, where it earned a widespread reputation for brutality. After the Glorious Revolution, it fought in Ireland for the new King, William III, defending the besieged Londonderry in 1689, from 1692 to 1696 it fought in Flanders in the Nine Years War, at the Battle of Landen and the recapture of Namur in 1695. In the campaign in the Low Countries in 1703, it defended Tongres against overwhelming odds, giving Lord Overkirk time to re-group his forces and it was for this action that it was awarded its Royal title and its mottoes. It spent most of the remainder of the 18th Century on garrison duty, in recognition of the Regiments service, it was granted the distinction of wearing a Naval Crown superscribed 1 June 1794 on its colours. Another Regimental tradition dating from this victory was that of drinking the Loyal Toast seated and this tradition is maintained by the successor Regiment, the Princess of Waless Royal Regiment. A second battalion was formed in 1795 and stationed in Guernsey before being shipped to Martinique, the Regiment was transferred to Ireland in 1798 where it helped put down the Irish rebellion and then took part in the unsuccessful 1799 Helder campaign. In 1800, it was part of the expedition to Belle Isle, from which it sailed to Egypt where it fought at the Battle of Alexandria, the Siege of Fort Julien. During the Napoleonic Wars, the regiment first fought in the Peninsular War at the battles of Vimeiro, six cadre companies returned home to re-form. The regiment was on duty in Baluchistan when the First Afghan War broke out in 1839. It formed part of the force attacked the previously-impregnable city of Ghazni, taking the city by storm because the army lacked siege equipment. It returned to India in November 1839, storming the city of Khelat en route, the regiment was shipped to the Cape Colony during the Eighth Xhosa War in 1851
31.
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
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The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1881 until amalgamation into the Royal Regiment of Scotland in March 2006. The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders was expanded to fifteen battalions during the First World War, the 1st Battalion served in the 1st Commonwealth Division in the Korean War and gained a high public profile for its role in Aden during 1967. Following a further round of cuts announced in July 2012 the 5th Battalion was reduced to a single public duties company called Balaklava Company, 5th Battalion. It was formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 91st Regiment, the regiment was one of the six Scottish line infantry regiments, and wears a version of the Government Sett as its regimental tartan. It also had the largest cap badge in the British Army, the uniform included the Glengarry as its ceremonial headress. At the Childers reform amalgamation the Argyll and Sutherland Highlander already had a reputation for valour in the face of the enemy. Here, the 93rd earned the sobriquet of The Fighting Highlanders, later referred to by Kipling in his evocative poem Tommy, the saying came to epitomise everything the British Army stood for. This feat of arms is still recognised by the red and white dicing worn on the cap band of the A. The 1st Battalion arrived in the Cape in November 1899 and formed part of the 3rd or Highland Brigade. The Argylls played leading roles in the Battle of Modder River, the Battle of Magersfontein, in June 1900, the battalion was transferred to a new brigade under Brigadier General George Cunningham. They operated around Pretoria and from April 1901, in the Eastern Transvaal, the 1st Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 81st Brigade in the 27th Division in December 1914 for service on the Western Front. The 2nd Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 19th Brigade, the 1/6th Battalion landed in France as part of the 152nd Brigade in the 51st Division in May 1915, the battalion moved to Italy in November 1917 but returned to France in April 1918. The 1/7th Battalion landed in France as part of the 10th Brigade in the 4th Division in December 1914 for service on the Western Front, the 1/8th Battalion landed in France as part of the 152nd Brigade in the 51st Division in May 1915 for service on the Western Front. The 1/9th Battalion landed in France as part of the 81st Brigade in the 27th Division in February 1915 for service on the Western Front. The 10th Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur Mer as part of the 27th Brigade in the 9th Division in May 1915 for service on the Western Front. The 11th Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 45th Brigade in the 15th Division in July 1915 for service on the Western Front. The 12th Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 77th Brigade in the 26th Division in September 1915, the 14th Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 120th Brigade in the 40th Division in June 1916 for service on the Western Front. The 1st Battalion fought in the Western Desert Campaign, Crete, Abyssinia, Sicily, the first action for the 1st Battalion was at Sidi Barani where they joined the battle on 10 December 1940 as part of the 16th Infantry Brigade
32.
Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own)
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The Rifle Brigade was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army. Formed in January 1800 as the Experimental Corps of Riflemen to provide sharpshooters, scouts and skirmishers, in January 1803 they became an established regular regiment and were titled the 95th Regiment of Foot. In 1816, at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, they were again renamed, the Corps differed in several regards from the Line infantry of the British Army and most significantly were armed with the formidable Baker rifle. The rifle was accurate in an era when it was generally considered impractical for individual soldiers to aim at specific targets. Four months after its formation, the Rifle Corps was judged ready for its first operation, despite this, the expedition was defeated and withdrew on 26 August 1800. During the battle, the Rifle Corps suffered one lieutenant killed, its first officer to fall, in 1802, the Rifle Corps was brought into the line of the British Army as the 95th Regiment of Foot. The 95th subsequently formed the guard on the way to Bremen. In February 1806, the 95th formed the rearguard for the withdrawal to Cuxhaven, in October 1806, five companies of the 1st/95th and three companies of the 2nd/95th departed for Spanish-controlled South America, Spain then being allied with France. It was part of an invasion force that was designed as reinforcements for the first invasion against Buenos Aires. The 95th subsequently saw action in June at San Pedro where they, during the assault on Buenos Aires on 5 July, the 95th and the rest of the British force suffered heavy casualties in bitter fighting to capture the city. The Light Brigade had suffered so heavily that they had to take refuge in a church and were surrendered soon after, after Whitelocke negotiated the withdrawal of British forces, the men were released and they returned home later that year. The 95th would go on to fight for near the entirety of the Peninsular War in Spain, in the aftermath of the disastrous expedition, Popham and Whitelocke were court-martialed, with Popham reprimanded and Whitelocke dismissed from the Army. The remaining companies of the 95th were involved in the expedition to Denmark that year and they took part in the Battle of Copenhagen in 1807 as part of Arthur Wellesleys brigade. The expedition, commanded by Lord Cathcart, was intended to capture the Danish Fleet to prevent it falling into the hands of France, the expedition proved to be a thorough success with the Danish Fleet being captured at which point the British withdrew. In 1808 the 1st/95th took part in an expedition to another Scandinavian country, Sweden, in August 1808 the 2nd/95th was part of the immediate forces sent in the Portuguese expedition initially commanded by Sir Arthur Wellesley and covered the landings at Montego Bay. The 95th, as part of 6th Brigade which included the rifle armed 5th/60th Foot, took part in the Battle of Roliça, the 1st battalion was part of John Moores campaign which ended with evacuation after the Battle of Corunna on 16 January 1809. After the depletion suffered at Corunna, the two battalions of the 95th based at Hythe in Kent were made up to a strength of 1,000 men each. However, so many came forward to join the regiment that permission was granted to raise a third battalion in 1809
33.
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
34.
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment
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The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment was the final title of a line infantry regiment of the British Army that was originally formed in 1688. The regiment was raised in the counties of England, and was embodied in Reading. The new regiment was ordered to London to oppose Williams forces, James fled the country, allowing William to become king. Colonel Douglas, an adherent of the monarch, was replaced by Robert Hodges. The installation of William as king involved England in the wider Nine Years War, the regiment quickly embarked for service overseas in April 1689, forming part of the Anglo-Dutch forces in the Netherlands. They fought at the battles of Walcourt, Steenkirk and Neer Landen, in 1695 they took part in the siege and capture of Namur and remained in Flanders until the Treaty of Ryswick ended the war in 1697. In 1697–1701 the regiment was stationed in Carrickfergus in Ireland, by June 1701 war had again broken out with France, and it sailed for the Netherlands once more. The regiment saw service in the Netherlands and Germany in 1702–1712 under the command of the Duke of Marlborough. In 1714 the regiment sailed from Dunkirk to Leith in Scotland and it was subsequently stationed in Stirling before moving to garrison Fort William during the Jacobite Rising of 1715. In 1739 war broke out with Spain, the conflict, later dubbed the War of Jenkins Ear, was mostly fought in the Caribbean and North America. The regiment briefly served as marines in 1740, before sailing for the West Indies and it arrived in Jamaica in January 1741, with a detachment subsequently taking part in the unsuccessful Battle of Cartagena de Indias in present-day Colombia later in the year. The assault took place in torrential rain and the troops were wiped out by disease. In the meantime the conflict had widened out into the War of the Austrian Succession, the regiment returned to England in 1742, and was ordered to Scotland to help repel the Jacobite Rising of 1745. By the time it arrived in Edinburgh the rebellion had been defeated, the 16th Foot remained in Ireland until 1767, when it sailed to Florida, establishing a headquarters at Pensacola with detachments in various areas of the territory. When the American War of Independence broke out in 1776, the regiment was ordered to New York, in 1778 Spanish forces invaded the area from Louisiana, and part of the 16th was captured with the fall of Baton Rouge. Other detachments helped repel French attacks on Savannah in September 1779, the remains of the 16th Foot returned to England, arriving in March 1782. In August 1782 county designations were added to the numbers of the regiments of foot to encourage recruitment, the regiment duly became the 16th Regiment of Foot. With the end of the American war, the regiment was reduced to a complement in 1783
35.
2nd Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment
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The 2nd Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment was an infantry battalion of the British Army created in 1881 by the redesignation of the 84th Regiment of Foot in 1881. The battalion was in existence from 1881 until 1948, when it amalgamated with the 1st Battalion, the 2nd Battalions first action was in the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War, where it fought at the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir under Lieutenant-General Sir Garnet Wolseley. The 1st Battalion fought in the Urabi Revolt of 1884, from Egypt it was sent to England before going to Bermuda in 1883, Nova Scotia, back to the West Indies and then on to South Africa before going to India and finally Limerick in Ireland by 1912. In March 1891 the 2nd Battalion left the West Indies bound for Cape Town, some of the companies were trained as mounted infantry. In 1894 a large portion of the battalion was shipped to Mauritius just as rebellion was breaking out in Rhodesia where a large Matabele force entered the British colony of Mashonaland, a Matabele and Mashona revolt broke out, the beginning of the Second Matabele War. The future Field Marshal Herbert Plumer lead columns containing Yorks and Lancs as did Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Baden-Powell, military operations in Rhodesia ended in October 1897. The British South Africa Company awarded medals to members of the regiment for their services, in January 1897 the 2nd Battalion, with members of the 60th Rifles was embarked on the ship Warren Hastings bound for India. On the way to Mauritius to pick up the detachment left there in 1894 the ship foundered off the island of Réunion, although she did not sink she was a total loss. Not one single life was lost and this has been attributed to the lack of panic. Queen Victoria sent a letter to the regiment congratulating them on their discipline, during the First World War the 2nd Battalion served in France and Flanders with the 16th Brigade, 6th Division. At the outbreak of war the battalion was based in Ireland from there they were hurried to the front in Belgium, the first action the 2nd Battalion was involved in was during the Race to the Sea when they fought at the Battle of Armentières. The 2nd Battalion along with the 1st Battalion, Buffs in a fast reconnaissance advanced, the two battalions were forced back by a fierce German counterattack but according to Mardens History of the 6th Division, the situation was saved by Major Bayleys company from the Yorks and Lancs. Bayleys company worked its way around the flank of the Germans. The 6th Division fought a battle for the high ground on a line from Preniesques to Radinghem. The fighting lasted from 20 to 31 October when the 6th Division was forced into low ground, the 6th Division suffered nearly 4,700 casualties in this battle. The 2nd Battalion spent most of the part of 1915 holding a relatively quiet sector of the front. On 9 August 1915, at 3.15 am, the 6th Division launched an attack along a 1,000 yard front with the 2nd Yorks and Lancs on the left of the attack, the attack was completely successful with all objectives recaptured. The Yorks and Lancs were awarded the Battle Honour Hooge 1915 for their part in this battle, the battalion remained in this area for the rest of 1915
36.
York and Lancaster Regiment
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The York and Lancaster Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1881 until 1968. The regiment was created in the Childers Reforms of 1881 by the amalgamation of the 65th Regiment of Foot and this reflected the fact that the regimental district included an area of West Riding of Yorkshire known as Hallamshire. The proposed title was unpopular with the units, who sought a more suitable title. Which at the time would identify the Regiment with the county. Four different titles were proposed, and following a vote of the officers of all four battalions, the regiment inherited the title York and Lancaster from the 84th Foot to which had been awarded in 1809. The new regiment saw service in both Egypt and Sudan immediately after its formation, and also during the Second Boer War, the 1st battalion of the new regiment had spent 11 years in India 1871-1882. They were moved to Aden to be held in reserve for the Egyptian Campaign, after 18 months they shipped on The Serapis to Trinkitat, Sudan, arriving 28 Feb 1884. The next day they came under gun fire and made a bayonet charge, later that day seven were killed and 35 wounded at the battle of El Teb. The 1st battalion was reported 421 strong when at Souakim,14 March and they embarked on troopship HMS Jumna 29 March, arriving Dover 22 April 1884. The regiment raised 22 battalions for service in the Great War, losing 8,814 officers, the 22 battalions consisted of the two regular battalions, the depot battalion, six Territorial Force battalions, nine Service, two Reserve, one Transport and one Labour battalion. 17 of the 22 battalions saw service overseas, during the Battle of the Somme the Yorks and Lancs eight battalions that went over the top on the first day,1 July 1916, suffering huge casualties. Eleven battalions of the regiment fought during the Somme offensive, the regular 1st Battalion returned from service in British India to be formed up as part of the 83rd Brigade in the 28th Division. The 28th Division consisted of regular battalions returning from service and was shipped to France in January 1915. The 1st Battalion saw action in the Second Battle of Ypres, the battalion was then shipped to the Balkans as part of the British Salonika Army where it would remain until the end of the war. While the battalion was still in France Private Samuel Harvey won the York, the 2nd Battalion was stationed in Ireland with the 16th Brigade when war broke out. The battalion arrived on the Western Front in September 1914 with the 6th Division as part of the original British Expeditionary Force, the 2nd Battalion fought its first battle at Radinghem south of Armentières during the Race to the Sea. The 2nd Battalion fought in most of the battles of the war including the Battle of the Somme and spent the entire war serving in France. Private John Caffrey, 2nd battalion, won the Victoria Cross in 1915, the 1/4th Battalion and the 1/5th Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 3rd West Riding Brigade in the West Riding Division in April 1915 for service on the Western Front
37.
King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster)
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The Kings Own Royal Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army. It served under various titles and fought in wars and conflicts. In 1959, the regiment was amalgamated with the Border Regiment to form the Kings Own Royal Border Regiment, the regiment was raised on 13 July 1680 by Charles FitzCharles, 1st Earl of Plymouth as the 2nd Tangier Regiment or Earl of Plymouths Regiment of Foot. It saw action at the Battle of Sedgemoor in July 1685 during the Monmouth Rebellion, the regiment embarked for the Netherlands in March 1692 for service in the Nine Years War. It saw action at the Battle of Steenkerque in August 1692, soon after, it was reformed as a regiment of marines and fought at the Battle of Vigo Bay in October 1702 and the capture of Gibraltar in August 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. It ceased to be a regiment of marines in 1711, the regiment fought at the Battle of Falkirk Muir in January 1746 and received most of the government casualties at the Battle of Culloden in April 1746 during the Jacobite rising. In 1751, after various changes, the regiment was titled the 4th Regiment of Foot. The regiment embarked for North America in April 1774 for service in the American Revolutionary War and it fought at the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775 and the Battle of Long Island in August 1776. It also saw action at the Battle of Fort Washington in November 1776, the Battle of Germantown in October 1777, the regiment was then transferred to the West Indies, where it fought at the Battle of St. Lucia in December 1778 during the Anglo-French War. The regiment was sent to Nova Scotia in May 1787 and took part in the capture of Saint Pierre, after returning to England, it embarked for the Netherlands in September 1799 and fought at the Battle of Alkmaar in October 1799 during the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland. It then pursued the French Army into France and saw action at the Battle of the Nivelle in November 1813 and it briefly returned to England in May 1815, before embarking for Flanders a few weeks later to fight at the Battle of Waterloo in June. During the Crimean War, the regiment fought at the Battle of Alma in September 1854 and Battle of Inkerman in November 1854 and it also saw action in Abyssinia in 1868, and in South Africa in 1879. Under the reforms the regiment became the Kings Own on 1 July 1881, the 2nd Battalion embarked for South Africa in December 1899, to serve in the Second Boer War, and saw action at the Battle of Spion Kop in January 1900. A 3rd, Militia Battalion, was embodied in January 1900, the regiment raised 14 Territorial and New Army battalions during the First World War. The 1st Battalion landed at Boulogne in August 1914 as part of the 12th Brigade in the 4th Division of the British Expeditionary Force. It was nearly destroyed as a unit at the Battle of Le Cateau on 26 August 1914. It served on the Western Front for the rest of the war, the 2nd Battalion returned from India in December 1914 and landed at Le Havre in January 1915 as part of the 83rd Brigade in the 28th Division. It took heavy casualties at the Battle of Frezenberg in May 1915 before moving to Egypt in October 1915, the 3rd Battalion remained in the United Kingdom throughout the war and supplied drafts of trained infantrymen as replacements to the regular battalions that were serving overseas
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South Staffordshire Regiment
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The South Staffordshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for only 68 years. The regiment was created in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 38th Regiment of Foot, the regiment saw service in the Second Boer War, World War I and World War II. Militia and Rifle Volunteers of south Staffordshire were also incorporated in the new regiment, 2nd Battalion, the 80th Regiment of Foot, raised in 1793 by Lord William Henry Paget from members of the Staffordshire Militia. The 1st Battalion was sent to Egypt in 1882 as part of the British invasion of the country, on landing in Alexandria, it carried its colours through the city - this was the last occasion on which a British Army unit carried colours on active service. In 1885, the battalion travelled up the River Nile to Sudan in an attempt to lift the Siege of Khartoum. The battalion was involved in the defeat of Arab forces at Kirbekan. The 1st Battalion then entered a period of garrison duty in Gibraltar, Egypt. They arrived home from Gibraltar in early February 1900, with the outbreak of the Second Boer War the previous year, the regiment was ordered to South Africa, arriving as part of the 8th Division in 1900. The battalion was involved in minor skirmishes with the Boers. In 1904, the 1st South Staffords returned to the United Kingdom, being stationed in Ireland and England until 1911, while in Gibraltar, new colours were presented to the battalion by King George V on 31 January 1912. The battalion returned to South Africa in 1913, the 2nd Battalion was stationed in British India in 1881, soon moving to Tralee in Ireland, where it was involved in actions against Irish nationalists. It returned to England in 1883 and it was then posted to The Curragh from 1889 to 1891, before travelling to Egypt, via Aldershot, in 1893. The battalion subsequently served in southern India and Burma until 1907, the battalion returned to England in 1911. The 3rd, Militia battalion, was embodied in May 1900 and they were again embodied in May 1901, and the following month 500 men embarked for service in South Africa during the Second Boer War. The battalion returned in July 1902, the 4th, Militia battalion, was embodied in December 1899, and 650 men embarked in February 1900 for service in South Africa during the Second Boer War. They returned in August 1901, when they disembodied, the 1st Battalion landed at Zeebrugge as part of the 22nd Brigade in 7th Division in October 1914 for service on the Western Front and then moved to Italy in November 1917. The 2nd Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 6th Brigade in the 2nd Division in August 1914 also for service on the Western Front. The 4th Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 7th Brigade in the 25th Division in October 1917 also for service on the Western Front
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Black Watch
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The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881 and it was known as The Black Watch from 1881 to 1931 and The Black Watch from 1931 to 2006. Part of the Scottish Division, it was the regiment of Highlanders. The source of the name is uncertain. These were to be employed in disarming the Highlanders, preventing depredations, bringing criminals to justice, the force was known in Gaelic as Am Freiceadan Dubh, the dark or black watch. This epithet may have come from the uniform plaids of dark tartan with which the companies were provided. The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, the 42nd became the 1st Battalion, and the 73rd became the 2nd Battalion. The 1st Battalion saw action at the Battle of Tel el-Kebir in September 1882 during the Anglo-Egyptian War. It was in combat again at the First and Second Battles of El Teb in February 1884, the Battle of Abu Klea in January 1885, the 2nd Battalion suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Magersfontein in December 1899 during the Second Boer War. The 1st Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 1st Brigade in the 1st Division in August 1914 for service on the Western Front. The 2nd Battalion landed at Marseille as part of the Bareilly Brigade in the 7th Division in October 1914 for service on the Western Front and it transferred to Palestine in January 1918 and took part in the Battle of Megiddo in September 1918. The 1/5th Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 24th Brigade in the 8th Division for service on the Western Front and it also saw action at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in March 1915 and the Battle of Festubert in May 1915. The 1/6th Battalion and the 1/7th Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 153rd Brigade in the 51st Division in May 1915 for service on the Western Front and they saw action at the Battle of the Ancre Heights in October 1916. The 9th Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 44th Brigade in the 15th Division in July 1915 for service on the Western Front. It suffered over 700 wounded or killed-in-action at the Battle of Loos in September 1915, the 10th Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 77th Brigade in the 26th Division in September 1915 for service on the Western Front. It moved to Salonika in November 1915 and took part in operations in the Balkans in 1916, a number of authors state that the regiment was given the nickname Ladies from Hell by German troops, allegedly on account of their kilts and fighting qualities. The 1st Battalion landed in France in September 1939 as part of the 12th Brigade in the 4th Infantry Division for service with the British Expeditionary Force, the battalion later transferred to the 153rd Brigade of the 51st Division and was captured at St Valery-en-Caux during the Battle of France. It also took part in the Normandy landings in June 1944, the Battle for Caen later that month and it later saw action at the Battle of the Bulge in January 1945, Battle of the Reichswald in February 1945 and the crossing of the Rhine in March 1945
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2/4th Battalion (Australia)
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The 2/4th Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army that was raised for service during World War II, as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force. Rebuilt in Palestine, the battalion undertook occupation duties in Syria, following the end of hostilities, the battalion was disbanded in Australia in November 1945. The 2/4th Battalion was raised on 3 November 1939 at Victoria Barracks, in Sydney, New South Wales, amongst the first batch of troops raised as part of the new force, the battalion was initially attached to the 16th Brigade, which was assigned to the 6th Division. These colours were white over green, in a rectangular shape. Training included basic soldiering skills such as handling, drill, physical fitness, navigation, anti-gas techniques. Finally, by early January 1940, the battalion was deemed ready to deploy overseas and on 4 January, less than a week later, on 10 January 1940, the battalion departed Sydney aboard the Strathnaver, bound for the Middle East. Sailing via Fremantle and Colombo, the 2/4th arrived at Kantara, in Egypt, in mid-February. This change occurred while the 2/4th was at sea, and after arriving in the Middle East, it concentrated at a camp at Kilo 89, near Gaza, in Palestine where it joined the 2/8th and 2/11th Battalions. A series of actions were fought by the Australians around Bardia, Tobruk and Derna, in reserve at Bardia, the battalions main action came around Derna. In April 1941, as the Allies grew concerned about a German invasion of Greece and it was a short lived campaign, as the Germans advanced quickly, rapidly pushing the Allies back. A small number of the battalion was not evacuated, however, several members of the 2/4th also managed to successfully escape from German or Italian prisoner of war camps. About 500 men from the 2/4th were evacuated by sea to Crete, during the evacuation several of the warships that carried the 2/4th were subjected to heavy aerial attack, and several from the battalion were killed or wounded. After arriving in Alexandria, the battalion was rebuilt in Palestine, in the wake of the Syria–Lebanon campaign, the battalion deployed to Syria as part of the Allied occupation force established there to defend against a possible German invasion through the Caucasus. They remained there until January 1942, enduring a cold and snowy winter, sailing via Colombo, they arrived in Fremantle in mid-March 1942, before proceeding on to Port Adelaide. Thus, after a leave, the 2/4th Battalion, which had been temporarily headquartered around Mount Lofty. As the division was back up to strength, a long period of training followed. After Wewak fell on 10 May and the Australians began pushing into the Prince Alexander Range in the interior. Further actions were fought around the Wirui Mission in the middle of May, following the end of hostilities, the process of demobilisation began
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Royal Leicestershire Regiment
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The Leicestershire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, with a history going back to 1688. On 27 September 1688 a commission was issued to Colonel Solomon Richards to raise a regiment of foot in the London area, in its early years, like other regiments, the regiment was known by the name of its various colonels. Following a failed attempt to break the Siege of Derry in 1689 and it transferred to Portugal in 1704 and took part in the sieges of Valencia de Alcántara, Alburquerque and Badajoz in 1705 as well as the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo in 1706. It also saw action at the Battle of Almansa in April 1807 before returning to England in 1809 and it went to Scotland to suppress the Jacobite rising of 1715 and fought at the Battle of Sheriffmuir in November 1715. In 1726 the regiment moved to Minorca and in 1751 a royal warrant assigned numbers to the regiments of the line, following that war it also saw duty during Pontiacs Rebellion before eventually returning to England in 1767. The regiment embarked for Boston, landing there on New Years Day 1776 and it saw action at the Battle of Long Island in August 1776, the Battle of White Plains in October 1776 and the Battle of Fort Washington in November 1776. Several companies were captured at the Battle of Stony Point in July 1779 by a daring bayonet charge by Mad Anthony Wayne. The regiment was in action again at the Battle of Guilford Court House in March 1781, the regiment became the 17th Regiment of Foot. The regiment moved to Nova Scotia in 1783 before returning to England in 1786, in 1804 the regiment moved to India, and remained there until 1823. In 1825 the regiment was granted the badge of a tiger to recall their long service in the sub-continent. The Regiment was posted to New South Wales from 1830 to 1836, the regiment returned to India in 1837, and then took part in the Battle of Ghazni in July 1839 and the Battle of Khelat in November 1839 during the First Anglo-Afghan War. The regiment next came under fire at the Siege of Sevastopol in winter 1854 during the Crimean War, in 1858 a second battalion was raised. Together these formed a battalion, which became the 1st Volunteer Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment in 1880. By 1900, when the unit provided a detachment of volunteers to serve alongside the Regulars during the Second Boer War, under the reforms the regiment became The Leicestershire Regiment on 1 July 1881. The 1st and 3rd battalions fought in the Second Boer War 1899 –1902, the 2nd Battalion was stationed as a garrison regiment in Ireland from 1896, and in Egypt from February 1900. In 1908, with the creation of the Territorial Force, the 1st Volunteer Battalion formed the 4th and 5th Battalions, there was a minor controversy in the same year, when new colours were issued to the 1st Battalion to replace those of the 17th foot. A green tiger had been shown on the old colours and the regiment refused to take the new issue into use, the issue was resolved when the regiment received permission for the royal tiger emblazoned on the regimental colours to be coloured green with gold stripes. In the First World War, the regiment increased from five to nineteen battalions which served in France and Flanders, Mesopotamia, the 1st Battalion landed at Saint-Nazaire as part of the 16th Infantry Brigade in the 6th Division in September 1914 for service on the Western Front
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J. F. C. Fuller
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With 45 books and many articles, he was a highly prolific author whose ideas reached army officers and the interested public. He explored the business of fighting, in terms of the relationship between warfare and social, political, and economic factors in the civilian sector, Fuller emphasized the potential of new weapons, especially tanks and aircraft, to stun a surprised enemy psychologically. Fuller was highly controversial in British politics because of his support for the organized fascist movement and he was also an occultist and Thelemite who wrote a number of works on esotericism and mysticism. Fuller was born in 1878 at Chichester in West Sussex, the son of an Anglican clergyman, Fuller was commissioned into the 1st Battalion of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry, and served in South Africa from 1899 to 1902. He helped plan the attack at the 20 November 1917 Battle of Cambrai. His Plan 1919 for a fully mechanised offensive against the German army was never implemented, after 1918 he held various leading positions, notably as a commander of an experimental brigade at Aldershot. Chief instructor of Camberly Staff College from 1923, he became assistant to the chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1926. In what came to be known as the Tidworth Incident, Fuller turned down the command of the Experimental Mechanized Force, the appointment also carried responsibility for a regular infantry brigade and the garrison of Tidworth Camp on Salisbury Plain. He was promoted to general in 1930 and retired three years later to devote himself entirely to writing. After retirement, Fuller served as a reporter during the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, on his retirement in 1933, impatient with what he considered the inability of democracy to adopt military reforms, Fuller became involved with Sir Oswald Mosley and the British Fascist movement. As a member of the British Union of Fascists he sat on the partys Policy Directorate and was considered one of Mosleys closest allies and he was also a member of the clandestine far right group the Nordic League. In the 1930s the German Army implemented tactics similar in ways to Fullers analysis. Like Fuller, theorists of Blitzkrieg partly based their approach on the theory that areas of large enemy activity should be bypassed to be surrounded and destroyed. Blitzkrieg-style tactics were used by several nations throughout the Second World War, predominantly by the Germans in the invasion of Poland, Western Europe, N. Tukhachevsky et al. in the 1920s based on their experiences in the First World War and the Russian Civil War. Fuller was the only present at Nazi Germany’s first armed manoeuvres in 1935. On April 20,1939 Fuller was an honoured guest at Hitlers 50th birthday parade, afterwards Hitler asked, I hope you were pleased with your children. Fuller replied, Your Excellency, they have grown up so quickly that I no longer recognise them, during World War II, 1939-45, Fuller was under suspicion for his Nazi sympathies. He continued to out in favour of a peaceful settlement with Germany
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Hubert Huddleston
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Major-General Sir Hubert Jervoise Huddleston GCMG GBE CB DSO MC was a senior British Army officer who became General Officer Commanding Northern Ireland District. Educated at Felsted School and Bedford School, Huddleston joined the British Army and was commissioned as a lieutenant into the Coldstream Guards in 1898. He then served in the Second Boer War and he took part in operations in the Orange Free State from April to May 1900. He served in the Transvaal May and June 1900, including actions near Johannesburg, during the war he transferred to the Dorsetshire Regiment as a second lieutenant 26 May 1900, and was promoted to lieutenant on 19 November 1901. He was mentioned in dispatches for actions in December 1901, Huddleston also served in World War I and became General Officer Commanding Sudan in 1924. He was appointed commander of the 14th Infantry Brigade in 1930 and he became Commander for the Baluchistan District in Western Command of India in 1935. He retired from that post in the face of local criticism in 1947. Works by or about Hubert Huddleston at Internet Archive
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Harold Harrison (rugby player)
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Harrison was part of the England team that won the Grand Slam during the 1914 Five Nations Championship. Harrison was born in Solihull, England in 1889 to Edward James and Laura Harrison and was educated at King Edwards School and he was married to Katie Deeley of Box, Wiltshire. For his services whilst in the military Harrison was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure of Japan in 1926 and he died at home at Ivor Court in Marylebone in London in 1940 at the age of 51. He was buried at East Finchley Cemetery, Harrison came to note as a rugby player when he represented the Royal Marine Artillery team based in Woolwich. An imposing forward player, he was selected for both the Army and Royal Navy teams before representing the United Services, the United Services was made up of servicemen from the Royal Navy and played against the biggest clubs from all over Great Britain. It was while Harrison was playing for United Services that he was selected to play at international level, Harrison was the only new cap brought into the England squad, to face Scotland at Richmond. England lost 8–18, and Harrison was dropped for the rest of the campaign, although out of favour at international level, Harrison was still in demand. In 1911 he was selected to play for invitational touring team the Barbarians and he was re-invited to join the Barbarians in 1914, to play a forces team from Shoreham Camp. Harrison was given the honour of captaining the Barbarians to 16–13 victory,1914 also saw Harrison back in favour with the England selectors, and in February he was back in the national team to face Ireland as part of the 1914 Five Nations Championship. England had won the game of the tournament against Wales. He then faced Scotland for the time, this time away from home at Inverleith. Harrison was given conversion duties during the match, a tactic for a forward. With three victories over the other Home Nations, England had won the Triple Crown, leaving recent inductees France as the obstacle to stop England taking the Championship. Harrison was again selected, but kicking duties were now given to John Greenwood, England won convincingly, making Harrison a Grand Slam winning champion. He may have selected for further England games, but the outbreak of the First World War ended all international competitions. Harrison continued to play rugby during the war, and again captained the Barbarians in a 1915 encounter with a South African Services XI, in 1922, he took part as a referee in the international encounter between France and Scotland in the 1922 Five Nations Championship. Whilst playing in the Navy, Harrison was known by the nickname, harison was a career soldier and joined the British armed forces after leaving school. He served in the Royal Marines Artillery and by 1908 he had reached the rank of lieutenant, during the First World War he was initially stationed in German South-West Africa, where he served as a commander of a South African siege battery
United Kingdom
British Army