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.
Division (military)
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A division is a large military unit or formation, usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. Infantry divisions during the World Wars ranged between 10,000 and 30,000 in nominal strength, in most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, in turn, several divisions typically make up a corps. In the West, the first general to think of organising an army into smaller units was Maurice de Saxe, Marshal General of France. He died at the age of 54, without having implemented his idea, victor-François de Broglie put the ideas into practice. He conducted successful practical experiments of the system in the Seven Years War. The first war in which the system was used systematically was the French Revolutionary War. It made the more flexible and easy to manoeuvre. Under Napoleon, the divisions were grouped together into corps, because of their increasing size, napoleons military success spread the divisional and corps system all over Europe, by the end of the Napoleonic Wars, all armies in Europe had adopted it. In modern times, most military forces have standardized their divisional structures, the peak use of the division as the primary combat unit occurred during World War II, when the belligerents deployed over a thousand divisions. With technological advances since then, the power of each division has increased. Divisions are often formed to organize units of a particular type together with support units to allow independent operations. In more recent times, divisions have mainly been organized as combined arms units with subordinate units representing various combat arms, in this case, the division often retains the name of a more specialized division, and may still be tasked with a primary role suited to that specialization. For the most part, large cavalry units did not remain after World War II, in general, two new types of cavalry were developed, air cavalry or airmobile, relying on helicopter mobility, and armored cavalry, based on an autonomous armored formation. The former was pioneered by the 11th Air Assault Division, formed on 1 February 1963 at Fort Benning, on 29 June 1965 the division was renamed as the 1st Cavalry Division, before its departure for the Vietnam War. After the end of the Vietnam War, the 1st Cavalry Division was reorganised and re-equipped with tanks, the development of the tank during World War I prompted some nations to experiment with forming them into division-size units. Many did this the way as they did cavalry divisions, by merely replacing cavalry with AFVs. This proved unwieldy in combat, as the units had many tanks, instead, a more balanced approach was taken by adjusting the number of tank, infantry, artillery, and support units. A panzer division was a division of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS of Germany during World War II
5.
Future of the British Army (Army 2020 Refine)
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Army 2020, formerly known as Future Army Structure or FAS, is the name given to an ongoing review of the structure of the British Army, and in particular its fighting brigades. This report indicated that the existing 16 Air Assault Brigade would be retained as a rapid reaction force. In 2010, the Strategic Defence and Security Review was published. As part of the plans, the British Army will be reduced by 23 regular units, the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 upgraded the number of reservists to 35,000, an increase of 5,000 on top of the then planned-for 30,000 reservists. On 7 June 2012, the Secretary of State for Defence set out some key considerations for the future of the British Army, refinements to the plans following the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review became known as Army 2020 Refine. Further changes were announced in a statement in December 2016. The originally envisaged future structure was announced on 19 July 2011 in a paper entitled Defence Basing Review. This structure involved five identical multi-role brigades, each of around 6,500 personnel, however, in June 2012 a significantly different structure known as Army 2020 was announced. The divisional headquarters of 2nd, 4th and 5th Divisions were disbanded in 2012, up until June 2012, it was envisaged that FAS would results in five large multi-role Brigades. It was envisaged that 19th Light Brigade, which is part of 3rd Mechanised Division. The new structure was confirmed by the then Secretary of State for Defence, Philip Hammond and this will deliver a very high readiness Lead Air Assault Task Force, with the rest of the brigade ready to move at longer notice. The 3rd Mechanised Division, renamed the 3rd Division, comprising three armoured brigades, 1st Armoured Infantry Brigade, 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade and 20th Armoured Infantry Brigade. These three brigades will rotate, with one being the lead brigade, an involved in training. The lead brigade will deliver a Lead Battlegroup at very high readiness, each armoured infantry brigade will be made up of,1 Type 56 armoured regiment comprising,3 sabre squadrons, each of 18 Challenger 2 main battle tanks,1 command and reconnaissance squadron. 1 armoured cavalry regiment comprising,3 sabre squadrons, each of 16 CVR vehicles,1 command,2 armoured infantry battalions, each comprising,3 rifle companies each with 14 upgraded Warrior infantry fighting vehicles,1 support company. 1 heavy protected mobility infantry battalion comprising,3 rifle companies, each with 14 Mastiff infantry mobility vehicles,1 support company, Royal Wessex Yeomanry providing replacement crews to the three Challenger 2 regiments. The complete air assault brigade and a full mechanised brigade will be available for deployment within three months, all three brigades HQs are to be based in the Salisbury Plain Training area. These infantry brigades will be suited to U. K. operations or overseas commitments or, with sufficient notice, several light role infantry battalions, each comprising,3 rifle companies
6.
Imphal Barracks
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Imphal Barracks is a military installation located in Fulford, York, England. Cavalry barracks were built in Fulford as part of the British response to the threat of the French Revolution and were completed in 1795 but these have now been largely demolished. The infantry barracks, which were built between 1877 and 1878, were initially the depot of the 14th Regiment of Foot who arrived from Bradford Moor Barracks in 1878 and their creation took place as part of the Cardwell Reforms which encouraged the localisation of British military forces. Following the Childers Reforms, the 14th Regiment of Foot evolved to become the West Yorkshire Regiment with its depot at the barracks in 1881. In the 1950s the barracks were renamed Imphal Barracks to reflect the battle won by the West Yorkshire Regiment at the Battle of Imphal in spring 1944 during the Second World War. The barracks became the home of the Prince of Waless Own Regiment of Yorkshire when the West Yorkshire Regiment amalgamated with the East Yorkshire Regiment in 1958, the barracks also became the home of Northern Command in 1958. Northern Command was disbanded and replaced by North East District in 1972, North East District was disbanded in 1991 and 2nd Division, having absorbed Scotland District, moved its headquarters to Craigiehall, near Edinburgh in April 2000. In June 2006 a ceremony celebrating the formation of the Yorkshire Regiment was held at Imphal Barracks, the new divisional headquarters of 6th Division marked its formation with a parade and flag presentation at Imphal Barracks on 5 August 2008. The 6th division headquarters closed in April 2011, the barracks became home to 1st Division on 1 June 2015. In November 2016 the Ministry of Defence announced that the site would close in 2031, a horse-drawn narrow gauge railway with a gauge of 18 inch ran from the Ordnance Wharf at the River Ouse parallelly to Hospital Fields Road to the army depot. Military supplies and explosives were delivered by the schooner ‘Princess’ known locally as the ‘Powder boat’
7.
York
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York is a historic walled city at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The municipality is the county town of Yorkshire to which it gives its name. The city has a heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events in England throughout much of its two millennia of existence. The city offers a wealth of attractions, of which York Minster is the most prominent. The city was founded by the Romans as Eboracum in 71 AD and it became the capital of the Roman province of Britannia Inferior, and later of the kingdoms of Northumbria and Jórvík. In the Middle Ages, York grew as a wool trading centre and became the capital of the northern ecclesiastical province of the Church of England. In the 19th century, York became a hub of the railway network, in recent decades, the economy of York has moved from being dominated by its confectionery and railway-related industries to one that provides services. The University of York and health services have become major employers, from 1996, the term City of York describes a unitary authority area which includes rural areas beyond the old city boundaries. In 2011 the urban area had a population of 153,717, the word York derives from the Latinised name for the city, variously rendered as Eboracum, Eburacum or Eburaci. The first mention of York by this name is dated to circa 95–104 AD as an address on a wooden stylus tablet from the Roman fortress of Vindolanda in Northumberland, the toponymy of Eboracum is uncertain because the language of the pre-Roman indigenous population was never recorded. They are thought to have spoken a Celtic language related to modern Welsh, in his Historia Regum Britanniae the 12th century chronicler, Geoffrey of Monmouth, suggests the name derives from that of a pre-Roman city founded by the legendary king Ebraucus. Alternatively, the word already existed as an Old English word for wild swine. The Anglo-Saxon newcomers probably interpreted the part as eofor, and -rac as ric, while -um was a common abbreviation of the Saxon -heem. To them, it sounded as a home rich in boar, as is common in Saxon place names, the -um part gradually faded, eoforic. When the Danish army conquered the city in 866, its name became Jórvík, the Old French and Norman name of the city following the Norman Conquest was recorded as Everwic in works such as Waces Roman de Rou. The form York was first recorded in the 13th century, many company and place names, such as the Ebor race meeting, refer to the Roman name. The Archbishop of York uses Ebor as his surname in his signature, archaeological evidence suggests that Mesolithic people settled in the region of York between 8000 and 7000 BC, although it is not known whether their settlements were permanent or temporary. By the time of the Roman conquest of Britain, the area was occupied by a known to the Romans as the Brigantes
8.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
9.
Battle of France
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The Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries in 1940 during the Second World War. Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940 and attempted an invasion of France, the German plan for the invasion of France consisted of two main operations. After the withdrawal of the BEF, the German forces began Fall Rot on 5 June, the sixty remaining French divisions made a determined resistance but were unable to overcome the German air superiority and armoured mobility. German tanks outflanked the Maginot Line and pushed deep into France, German forces occupied Paris unopposed on 14 June after a chaotic period of flight of the French government that led to a collapse of the French army. German commanders met with French officials on 18 June with the goal of forcing the new French government to accept an armistice that amounted to surrender and this led to the end of the French Third Republic. France was not liberated until the summer of 1944, in 1939, Britain and France offered military support to Poland in the likely case of a German invasion. In the dawn of 1 September 1939, the German Invasion of Poland began, France and the United Kingdom declared war on 3 September, after an ultimatum for German forces to immediately withdraw their forces from Poland was met without reply. Following this, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada, on 7 September, in accordance with their alliance with Poland, France began the Saar Offensive with an advance from the Maginot Line 5 km into the Saar. France had mobilised 98 divisions and 2,500 tanks against a German force consisting of 43 divisions, the French advanced until they met the then thin and undermanned Siegfried Line. On 17 September, the French supreme commander, Maurice Gamelin gave the order to withdraw French troops to their starting positions, following the Saar Offensive, a period of inaction called the Phoney War set in between the belligerents. Adolf Hitler had hoped that France and Britain would acquiesce in the conquest of Poland, on 6 October, he made a peace offer to both Western powers. On 9 October, Hitler issued a new Führer-Directive Number 6, the plan was based on the seemingly more realistic assumption that German military strength would have to be built up for several years. For the moment only limited objectives could be envisaged and were aimed at improving Germanys ability to survive a long war in the west. Hitler ordered a conquest of the Low Countries to be executed at the shortest possible notice to forestall the French and it would also provide the basis for a long-term air and sea campaign against Britain. On 10 October 1939, Britain refused Hitlers offer of peace and on 12 October, colonel-General Franz Halder, presented the first plan for Fall Gelb on 19 October. This was the codename of plans for a campaign in the Low Countries. Halders plan has been compared to the Schlieffen Plan, the given to the German strategy of 1914 in the First World War. It was similar in both plans entailed an advance through the middle of Belgium
10.
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
11.
Italian Campaign (World War II)
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The Italian Campaign of World War II was the name of Allied operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to the end of the war in Europe. It is estimated that between September 1943 and April 1945, some 60, 000–70,000 Allied and 60, overall Allied casualties during the campaign totaled about 320,000 and the corresponding German figure was well over 600,000. Fascist Italy, prior to its collapse, suffered about 200,000 casualties, mostly POWs taken in the Allied invasion of Sicily, including more than 40,000 killed or missing. Besides them, over 150,000 Italian civilians died, as did 15,197 anti-Fascist partisans and 13,021 troops of the Italian Social Republic. The campaign ended when Army Group C surrendered unconditionally to the Allies on May 2,1945, the independent states of San Marino and the Vatican, both surrounded by Italian territory, also suffered damage during the campaign. Even prior to victory in the North African Campaign in May 1943, the British, especially the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, advocated their traditional naval-based peripheral strategy. The United States, with a larger army, favoured a more direct method of fighting the main force of the German Army in Northern Europe. The ability to such a campaign depended on first winning the Battle of the Atlantic. There was even pressure from some Latin American countries to stage an invasion of Spain, the British argued that the presence of large numbers of troops trained for amphibious landings in the Mediterranean made a limited-scale invasion possible and useful. A contributing factor was Franklin D. Roosevelts desire to keep US troops active in the European theatre during 1943 and it was hoped that an invasion might knock Italy out of the conflict, or at least increase the pressure on them and weaken them further. A combined Allied invasion of Sicily began on 10 July 1943 with both amphibious and airborne landings at the Gulf of Gela, the land forces involved were the U. S. Seventh Army, under Lieutenant General George S. Patton, the original plan contemplated a strong advance by the British northwards along the east coast to Messina, with the Americans in a supporting role along their left flank. The defending German and Italian forces were unable to prevent the Allied capture of the island, but succeeded in evacuating most of their troops to the mainland, the Allied forces gained experience in opposed amphibious operations, coalition warfare and mass airborne drops. Forces of the British Eighth Army, still under Montgomery, landed in the toe of Italy on 3 September 1943 in Operation Baytown, the armistice was publicly announced on 8 September by two broadcasts, first by General Eisenhower and then by a proclamation by Marshal Badoglio. Although the German forces prepared to defend without Italian assistance, only two of their divisions opposite the Eighth Army and one at Salerno were not tied up disarming the Royal Italian Army, on 9 September, forces of the U. S. Fifth Army, under Lieutenant General Mark W, although none of the northern reserves were made available to the German 10th Army, it nevertheless came close to repelling the Salerno landing, due mainly to the cautious command of Clark. As the Allies advanced, they encountered increasingly difficult terrain, the Apennine Mountains form a spine along the Italian peninsula offset somewhat to the east, the rivers were subject to sudden and unexpected flooding, which constantly thwarted the Allied commanders plans. This would make the most of the natural geography of Central Italy, whilst denying the Allies the easy capture of a succession of airfields
12.
Gulf War
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The Iraqi Armys occupation of Kuwait that began 2 August 1990 was met with international condemnation, and brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq by members of the UN Security Council. US President George H. W. Bush deployed US forces into Saudi Arabia, an array of nations joined the coalition, the largest military alliance since World War II. The great majority of the military forces were from the US, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia paid around US$32 billion of the US$60 billion cost, the war was marked by the introduction of live news broadcasts from the front lines of the battle, principally by the US network CNN. The war has also earned the nickname Video Game War after the daily broadcast of images from cameras on board US bombers during Operation Desert Storm. The initial conflict to expel Iraqi troops from Kuwait began with an aerial and naval bombardment on 17 January 1991 and this was followed by a ground assault on 24 February. This was a victory for the coalition forces, who liberated Kuwait. The coalition ceased its advance, and declared a ceasefire 100 hours after the campaign started. Aerial and ground combat was confined to Iraq, Kuwait, Iraq launched Scud missiles against coalition military targets in Saudi Arabia and against Israel. The following names have been used to describe the conflict itself, Gulf War, a problem with these terms is that the usage is ambiguous, having now been applied to at least three conflicts, see Gulf War. The use of the term Persian Gulf is also disputed, see Persian Gulf naming dispute, with no consensus of naming, various publications have attempted to refine the name. Other language terms include French, la Guerre du Golfe and German, Golfkrieg, German, Zweiter Golfkrieg, French, most of the coalition states used various names for their operations and the wars operational phases. Operation Desert Storm was the US name of the conflict from 17 January 1991. Operation Desert Sabre was the US name for the offensive against the Iraqi Army in the Kuwaiti Theater of Operations from 24–28 February 1991, in itself. Operation Desert Farewell was the given to the return of US units and equipment to the US in 1991 after Kuwaits liberation. Operation Granby was the British name for British military activities during the operations, Opération Daguet was the French name for French military activities in the conflict. Operation Friction was the name of the Canadian operations Operazione Locusta was the Italian name for the operations, in addition, various phases of each operation may have a unique operational name. The US divided the conflict into three campaigns, Defense of Saudi Arabian country for the period 2 August 1990, through 16 January 1991
13.
Iraq War
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The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition that toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued for much of the decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces. An estimated 151,000 to 600,000 or more Iraqis were killed in the first 3–4 years of conflict and it became re-involved in 2014 at the head of a new coalition, the insurgency and many dimensions of the civil armed conflict continue. The invasion began on 20 March 2003, with the U. S. joined by the United Kingdom and several allies, launching a shock. Iraqi forces were overwhelmed as U. S. forces swept through the country. The invasion led to the collapse of the Baathist government, President Hussein was captured during Operation Red Dawn in December of that same year, the United States responded with a troop surge in 2007. The winding down of U. S. involvement in Iraq accelerated under President Barack Obama, the U. S. formally withdrew all combat troops from Iraq by December 2011. Select U. S. officials accused Saddam of harboring and supporting al-Qaeda, while others cited the desire to end a repressive dictatorship, after the invasion, no substantial evidence was found to verify the initial claims about WMDs. The rationale and misrepresentation of pre-war intelligence faced heavy criticism within the U. S. in the aftermath of the invasion, Iraq held multi-party elections in 2005. Nouri al-Maliki became Prime Minister in 2006 and remained in office until 2014, the al-Maliki government enacted policies that were widely seen as having the effect of alienating the countrys Sunni minority and worsening sectarian tensions. The Iraq War caused hundreds of thousands of civilian, and thousands of military casualties, the majority of casualties occurred as a result of the insurgency and civil conflicts between 2004 and 2007. A1990 Frontline report on The arming of Iraq said, Officially, most Western nations participated in an arms embargo against Iraq during the 1980s. Western companies, primarily in Germany and Great Britain, but also in the United States, sold Iraq the key technology for its chemical, missile, any Western governments seemed remarkably indifferent, if not enthusiastic, about those deals. N Washington, the government consistently followed a policy which allowed and perhaps encouraged the growth of Saddam Husseins arsenal. The Western arming of Iraq took place in the context of the Iran-Iraq War, prior to September 2002, the CIA was the George W. Bush administrations main provider of intelligence on Iraq. The agency was out to disprove linkage between Iraq and terrorism the Pentagon adviser told me, the U. N. had prohibited Iraq from developing or possessing such weapons after the Gulf War and required Iraq to permit inspections confirming compliance. This was confirmed by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, during 2002, Bush repeatedly warned of military action against Iraq unless inspections were allowed to progress unfettered. In accordance with U. N. Security Council Resolution 1441, Iraq agreed to new inspections under United Nations Monitoring, as part of its weapons inspection obligations, Iraq was required to supply a full declaration of its current weapons capabilities and manufacturing
14.
Willoughby Norrie, 1st Baron Norrie
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Educated at Eton College and at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the British Armys 11th Hussars in 1913. He served in the First World War, in which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, the Military Cross and Bar, was mentioned in despatches. In January 1919 he changed his name by deed poll from Moke-Norrie to Norrie, between the wars he had a number of regimental and staff postings, interrupted by a year at the Staff College, Camberley in 1924. In 1931 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and became Commanding Officer of the 11th Hussars after which he was placed on the half-pay list although promoted to colonel in 1935. In January 1936, still on the pay list, Norrie took part in the funeral procession for King George V as one of the Representative Colonels-Commandant. In April 1936 he was appointed to command the 1st Cavalry Brigade as a temporary brigadier and his brigade was mechanised in 1938 and re-designated 1st Light Armoured Brigade, becoming the 1st Armoured Brigade in 1940. On the outbreak of the Second World War Norrie continued to serve as commander of the 1st Armoured Brigade, in April 1940 the brigade was part of the 2nd Armoured Division, which he was given temporary command of for a month between appointments of permanent commanders. Following this he was appointed acting major general and became Inspector of the Royal Armoured Corps, four months later he became General Officer Commanding 1st Armoured Division and was promoted to the permanent rank of major general in June 1941. He commanded XXX Corps during Operation Crusader with some success but his tanks suffered a defeat at the Battle of Gazala in June 1942. He was criticised for his approach to armoured warfare and General Claude Auchinleck. He returned to Britain to be appointed Commander of the Royal Armoured Corps in which role he was to give advice on armoured warfare to General Bernard Paget, Norrie retired from the British Army in September 1944 to take up his post as Governor of South Australia. Although his substantive rank at time was still major general. Norrie was married to Jocelyn Helen Gosling on 9 June 1922 and they had three children, Diana Norrie Hon. Rosemary Norrie, married the 3rd Viscount Daventry George Willoughby Moke Norrie Jocelyn Norrie died on 7 March 1938. He remarried later that year, to Patricia Merryweather Bainbridge, on 28 November and they also had three children, Guy Bainbridge Norrie Sarah Norrie Annabel Mary Adelaide Norrie Norrie also had a ward, his niece Eleanor Kerans. She had been orphaned at an age, and when she was 16 her brother was killed in the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. Norrie was appointed Governor of South Australia in September 1944, whereupon he was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and he, his family and 12 staff arrived in Adelaide in December. The Vice-Regal couple worked hard to keep the Empire Spirit alive during wartime, within two years, Norrie had travelled to every local government area within the state, and was sure to welcome servicemen returning from war. Lady Patricia, with Rosemary and Eleanor, were regular volunteers, in 1945, Norrie was made a Knight of St John, an award associated with public and charitable works
15.
Herbert Lumsden
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Lieutenant-General Herbert Lumsden CB, DSO & Bar, MC was a senior British Army officer who fought in both World War I and World War II. He was the most senior British Army combat casualty of the Second World War, Herbert Lumsden was born at Clanfield, Oxfordshire on 8 April 1897, the son of John Lumsden. Educated at The Leys School, at the outbreak of the First World War he was only 17 years old and he served in the ranks with the Territorial Force for ten months before passing into the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He was commissioned into the Royal Horse Artillery on 13 August 1916, on 26 July 1918 Lumsden was awarded the Military Cross. The citation read, For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during 13 days of fighting in charge of a forward section. He invariably showed the greatest coolness and courage in the face of danger, keeping his section in action, as FOO he was consistently shelled whenever he moved his OP, and, although finally wounded, he continued to work and observe for his battery. On 19 April 1923 Lumsden married Alice Mary Roddick in Northaw and they would have two sons, Michael & Peter. Lumsden continued to serve in the Royal Artillery until 24 June 1925, when he transferred to the 12th Royal Lancers, in August he was promoted from lieutenant to captain after eight years in the former rank. He was an ardent horseman, despite his 6 ft height, in 1926 he won the Grand Military Gold Cup at Sandown riding Foxtrot. In 1929 Lumsden attended and passed the Staff College, Camberley course, promoted to major in 1931, he held staff appointments in the cavalry for the next four years, being GSO3 of Aldershot Command and then Brigade Major of the 1st Cavalry Brigade. After a period of not being employed he became GSO2 at the Staff College before being given command, in 1938, of his old regiment and he was still in command of the regiment, now converted to armoured cars, at the outbreak of the Second World War. Lumsden was widely praised for his command of his regiment during the retreat to Dunkirk in 1940 as part of the British Expeditionary Force, for his actions he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. He was promoted and commanded a brigade before being appointed General Officer Commanding of 6th Armoured Division in the Home Command in October 1941. On 5 November 1941 he was given command of the 1st Armoured Division and it was in this role that he first saw service in the North African Campaign. A forceful personality, he was wounded twice in 1942, received a Bar to his DSO and, on his return to service, survived Bernard Montgomerys cull of Eighth Army commanders. Lumsden was appointed commander of X Corps for the Second Battle of El Alamein upon the recommendation of Lieutenant General Brian Horrocks, during the night of 24 October 1942, the planned British assault of infantry and engineers over the Miteiriya Ridge during the Second Battle of El Alamein failed. He wanted to pull his tanks back and send them into battle once the assault of infantry, in the early hours of 25 October, Lumsden argued fiercely with Montgomery that his armour should be pulled back. When Montgomery insisted the attack continue, Lumsden asked one of his tank commanders Major General Alexander Gatehouse commanding 10th Armoured Division, Montgomery modified the scope of the attack from six armoured regiments to one, the Staffordshire Yeomanry
16.
Richard Hull
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Field Marshal Sir Richard Amyatt Hull, KG, GCB, DSO, DL was a senior British Army officer. He was the last Chief of the Imperial General Staff and the first Chief of the General Staff and he later became Chief of the Defence Staff, the professional head of all the British Armed Forces. He served with distinction during the Second World War and later advised the British government on the response to the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation. Posted with his regiment to Egypt in October 1928, he was promoted to lieutenant on 7 May 1931 and he became Chief of Staff at headquarters Middle East Land Forces on 26 January 1953. In this capacity he advised the British Government on the response to the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation, having been promoted to field marshal on 8 February 1965, he was appointed Chief of the Defence Staff on 16 July 1965. He retired from the British Army on 5 August 1967, in retirement he became a Non-Executive Director of Whitbread. He was appointed Constable of the Tower of London from 1 August 1970, Lord Lieutenant of Devon from 5 October 1978 and his interests included shooting, fly fishing and gardening, he knew every plant in his garden by their English, latin and local name. He died of cancer at his home, Beacon Downe in Pinhoe on 17 September 1989, in 1934 he married Antoinette Labouchére de Rougement, they had a son and two daughters
17.
British Forces Germany
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British Forces Germany, is the name for British Armed Forces service personnel and civilians based in Germany. It was first established following the Second World War as the British Army of the Rhine, although much smaller than BAOR, it is still the largest concentration of British armed forces permanently stationed outside the United Kingdom. With the end of the Cold War and the Options for Change defence review in the early 1990s, since the 1990s, the British presence has centred on the 1st Armoured Division, and supporting elements. With restructuring under the Army 2020 change programme and with units rebasing, following the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review, the permanent deployment will end by 2020. As of 2015, there are 5,200 troops still in Germany, the British presence was estimated to have been contributing 1.5 billion Euros annually to the German economy in 2004. Following a further spending review, one brigade was withdrawn and Osnabrück Garrison closed in 2009, administrative support for British service personnel in Germany and across Continental Europe was delegated to United Kingdom Support Command. The four Army garrisons in Germany were under the administrative control of UKSC. The General Officer Commanding UKSC also functioned as head of the British Forces Liaison Organisation, HQ British Forces Germany was formed in January 2012 replacing the United Kingdom Support Command and the Germany Support Group. The two central garrisons - Gütersloh and Paderborn - combined to form a single super garrison called Westfalen Garrison in April 2014. With the departure of Major General John Henderson in March 2015, in summer 2015, a further brigade was withdrawn and Bergen-Hohne Garrison closed leaving a minimal presence in the state of Lower Saxony and just one brigade in North Rhine-Westphalia. British Forces Germany is concentrated in North Rhine-Westphalia, the HQ is located at Bielefeld and 20th Armoured Infantry Brigade is located at Westfalen Garrison. Under the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review, permanent deployment will end by 2019, the British Forces Broadcasting Service radio services are widely available on FM across north-western Germany. The British Army Germany rugby union team plays games against emerging rugby nations like Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany. During the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the IRA targeted personnel in Germany between 1988 and 1990, the attacks resulted in the deaths of 9 people, including three civilians, and many wounded. As a result, vehicles owned by personnel ceased to have registration plates. The British Garrison Berlin 1945-1994, nowhere to go
18.
1st Infantry Division (United Kingdom)
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The 1st Infantry Division was a regular army infantry division of the British Army with a very long history. The division was present at the Peninsular War, the Crimean War, the First World War, General Officer, Lieutenant General Sir John Hope Maitlands Brigade, Major General Maitland 1/1st Foot Guards 3/1st Foot Guards 1 coy. 5/60th Foot Stopfords Brigade, Major General Stopford 1st Bn, Coldstream Foot Guards 1/3rd Foot Guards 1 coy. 5/60th Foot Hinubers Brigade, Major General von Hinuber 1st Line Bn, kings German Legion 2nd Line Bn. KGL Aylmers Brigade, Major General Lord Aylmer 1/37th Foot 2/62nd Foot 76th Foot 77th Foot 85th Foot Napoleon Bonapartes returned during the Congress of Vienna. 1st Division was involved in the Waterloo Campaign seeing its first action at the Battle of Quatre Bras then at the Battle of Waterloo, on the extreme right was the chateau, garden, and orchard of Hougoumont which was defended by the Divisions 2nd Brigade. The initial attack was by Maréchal de Camp Bauduins 1st Brigade of the 5th Division emptied the wood and park, the British guns were distracted into an artillery duel with French guns and this allowed a second attack by General de Brigade Baron Soyes 2nd Brigade of the 6th Division. They managed a small breach on the side but could not exploit it. An attack by elements of the 1st Brigade of the 6th Division on the side was more successful. This attack lead to one of the most famous skirmishes in the Battle of Waterloo — Sous-Lieutenant Legros, wielding an axe, a desperate fight ensued between the invading French soldiers and the defending Guards. All of the French who entered, apart from a young boy, were killed in a desperate hand-to-hand fight. The French attack in the vicinity of the farm were repulsed by the arrival of the 2nd Coldstream Guards. Fighting continued around Hougoumont all afternoon with its surroundings heavily invested with French light infantry, most of the conflict took place on the Crimean Peninsula, with additional actions occurring in western Turkey, and the Baltic Sea region. The Crimean War is sometimes considered to be the first modern conflict, the Division which now consisted of the Guards Brigade and the Highland Brigade, was involved in the Battle of Alma, which is considered to be the first battle of the Crimean war. They were next in action during the Battle of Balaclava, The battle started with a successful Russian attack on Ottoman positions and this led to the Russians breaking through into the valley of Balaklava, where British forces were encamped. The Russian advance was intended to disrupt the British base and attack British positions near Sevastopol from the rear, an initial Russian advance south of the southern line of hills was repulsed by the British. A large attacking force of Russian cavalry advanced over the ridgeline, one of these columns drove south towards the town of Balaklava itself, threatening the main supply of the entire British army. That drive was repulsed by the muskets of the 93rd Regiment and this action became known in history as The Thin Red Line, this battle was also well known for the Charge of the Light Brigade. They were also involved in the Battle of Inkerman. J
19.
Archibald Montgomery-Massingberd
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He served in the Second Boer War and in the First World War, and later was the driving force behind the formation of a permanent Mobile Division, the fore-runner of the 1st Armoured Division. He was posted to a battery in India in 1892. He served with the Royal Field Artillery during the Second Boer War and took part in the Battle of Magersfontein, having been promoted to captain on 8 March 1900, he was mentioned in despatches on 4 September 1901. After the War Montgomery served as a captain at Bulford Camp before attending Staff College. He became a captain at the Inspectorate of Horse and Field Artillery in 1907. Promoted to major on 5 June 1909, he was appointed a staff officer at the Indian Army Staff College at Quetta in India on 9 February 1912. At the outbreak of the First World War in July 1914 Montgomery was appointed a staff officer to the British Expeditionary Force in France. He was appointed Chief of Staff at IV Corps in France in October 1914, promoted to the substantive rank of major general on 1 January 1917, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath for his services in the field on 1 January 1918. He was effectively Deputy Commander of the Fourth Army in the months of the War. Following a two-year break on half-pay, he became General Officer Commanding Southern Command on 17 June 1928, promoted to general on 1 October 1930, he was appointed Adjutant-General to the Forces on 1 March 1931 and made Aide-de-Camp General to the King on 3 March 1931. He was appointed Chief of the Imperial General Staff in February 1933, among his main achievements at this time was the mechanising of the cavalry, indeed he was the driving force behind the formation of a permanent Mobile Division. Advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in the Kings Birthday Honours 1934, following the death of King George V he took part in the funeral procession in January 1936 and then retired in March 1936. In retirement he became Deputy Lieutenant and then Vice-Lieutenant of the County of Lincoln and he personally appealed to King George VI and the Air Ministry relented, redrawing the plans that resulted in the resiting of the new RAF Spilsby two miles further south. During the Second World War he also took charge of organizing and recruiting the Home Guard in Lincolnshire for nine months and his major passion in life was horsemanship. He died at his home, Gunby Hall, on 13 October 1947 and was buried at St. Peters Church in Gunby, the journalist and genealogist Hugh Massingberd was great-nephew both to the Field Marshal and, independently, to the Field Marshals wife. The Story of the Fourth Army in the Hundred Days, archie – A Biographical sketch of Field Marshal Sir Archibald Montgomery-Massingberd. Military Innovation in the Interwar Period, works by or about Archibald Montgomery-Massingberd at Internet Archive
20.
Chief of the General Staff (United Kingdom)
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Chief of the General Staff has been the title of the professional head of the British Army since 1964. The CGS is a member of both the Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Army Board, prior to 1964 the title was Chief of the Imperial General Staff. Since 1959, the post has been subordinate to the Chief of the Defence Staff. The current Chief of the General Staff is General Sir Nick Carter – having succeeded his predecessor, the title was also used for five years between the demise of the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in 1904 and the introduction of Chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1909. The post was held by General Sir Neville Lyttelton and, briefly. Throughout the existence of the post the Chief of the General Staff has been the First Military Member of the Army Board, Chief of the Defence Staff First Sea Lord / Chief of the Naval Staff Chief of the Air Staff Deputy Chief of the General Staff
21.
Secretary of State for War
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The position of Secretary of State for War, commonly called War Secretary, was a British cabinet-level position, first held by Henry Dundas. In 1801 the post became that of Secretary of State for War, the position was re-instated in 1854. In 1946, with the creation of a cabinet-level Minister of Defence separate from the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for War ceased to be a cabinet position. On 1 April 1964, with the creation of the Secretary of State for Defence position, in charge of a new united Ministry of Defence, for 1801–1854 see Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
22.
Leslie Hore-Belisha
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Leslie Hore-Belisha, 1st Baron Hore-Belisha, PC was a British Liberal, then National Liberal Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister. He later joined the Conservative Party and he proved highly successful in modernizing the British road system in 1934 –37 as Minister of Transport. As Secretary of War,1937 –1940, he feuded with the generals and was removed in 1940. Anti-semitism played a role in blocking his appointment as Minister of Information and he was extremely self-centred and had a fine conceit of himself. At times he was accused of sharp practice, sharp practitioner or not, quickness of mind and tongue, and transparent ambition to be seen to succeed, made him vulnerable to smears. His over-assertiveness. led him to appear inconsiderate of the feelings and his name is still widely associated in the UK with the amber Belisha beacons which were installed at pedestrian crossings while he was Minister for Transport. Hore-Belisha was born Isaac Leslie Belisha probably in Devonport, Plymouth, his birth, however, was registered in Hampstead and he was the only son of the Jewish family of Jacob Isaac Belisha, manager of an insurance company, and his wife, Elizabeth Miriam Miers. His father died when he was less one year old. In 1912, in Kensington, his mother married Sir Charles F. Adair Hore. Leslie Belisha then adopted the double-barrelled surname, Hore-Belisha was educated at Clifton College where he was in Polacks house. He continued his studies in Paris and Heidelberg, before attending St Johns College, Oxford, while in Heidelberg, he became a member of die Burschenschaft Frankonia Heidelberg in 1912. During the First World War, he served in France, Flanders and Salonika, after the war, he returned to Oxford and, in 1923, qualified as a barrister. In the 1922 general election, Hore-Belisha was a candidate for the Liberal Party in his birthplace constituency of Plymouth Devonport. However, thanks to his new agent, Benjamin Musgrave he won the seat in the general election the following year. After the general election of that year, Hore-Belisha was appointed a minister at the Board of Trade. He remained in government when the official Liberals withdrew in September 1932 over the issue of trade and was promoted to Financial Secretary to the Treasury. Hore-Belisha showed considerable intelligence and drive in government, although his intense energy tended to alienate traditionalist elements who resented his status as an outsider, Hore-Belisha was appointed Minister of Transport in 1934 coming to public prominence at a time when motoring was becoming available to the masses. All UK speed limits for cars had controversially been removed by the Road Traffic Act 1930 during the previous administration
23.
Royal Tank Regiment
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The Royal Tank Regiment is the oldest tank unit in the world, being formed by the British Army in 1916 during the Great War. Today, it is the regiment of the British Armys 1st Armoured Infantry Brigade. Formerly known as the Tank Corps and the Royal Tank Corps, the formation of the Royal Tank Regiment followed the invention of the tank. Tanks were first used at the Battle of Flers–Courcelette in September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme in the First World War, at that time the six tank companies were grouped as the Heavy Section of the Machine Gun Corps. On 28 July 1917, the Heavy Branch was separated from the rest of the Corps by Royal Warrant and given official status as the Tank Corps. The formation of new battalions continued and, by December 1918,26 had been created though only 25 battalions were equipped with tanks, the first commander of the Tank Corps was Hugh Elles. The Corps saw much action at the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917, after the war, the Tank Corps was trimmed down to a central depot and four battalions, the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th battalions. On 18 October 1923, it was given the title Royal making it the Royal Tank Corps by Colonel-in-Chief King George V. It was at time that the motto, Fear Naught, the black beret. In 1933, the 6th Battalion, RTC was formed in Egypt by combining the personnel of the 3rd, in 1934, the 1st Battalion, RTC was formed in England with personnel drawn from the 2nd, 3rd & 5th Battalions. With the preparations for war in the late 1930s, two more Regular Army Battalions were formed, the 7th in 1937 and the 8th in 1938. In the latter half of 1938, six TA Infantry Battalions were converted to Tank Battalions, eight of the Regular Army Companies were later converted into independent Light Tank Companies, all twelve Companies had been disbanded by the outbreak of the Second World War. On 4 April 1939, the Royal Tank Corps was renamed the Royal Tank Regiment, the eight Yeomanry Armoured Car Companies of the RTR were activated and transferred to the Royal Armoured Corps. Before the Second World War, Royal Tank Corps recruits were required to be at least 5 feet 4 inches tall and they initially enlisted for six years with the colours and a further six years with the reserve. They trained at the Royal Tank Corps Depot at Bovington Camp, at the outbreak of war, the regiment consisted of 20 battalions,8 regular and 12 territorial. 11 RTR formed part of 79th Armoured Division, initially equipped with Canal Defence Light tanks, it converted to Buffalo not long after D-Day, prime Minister Winston Churchill was ferried across the Rhine in a Buffalo from C Squadron, 11RTR. The Regiments numerous units took part in battles in the Second World War, including the Battle of Dunkirk, El Alamein, Italian Campaign, Burma Campaign. On 2 August 2014, 1RTR and 2RTR amalgamated at Bulford, the new regiment is titled the Royal Tank Regiment
24.
Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke
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Field Marshal Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, KG, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO & Bar was a senior officer of the British Army. He was Chief of the Imperial General Staff, the head of the British Army, during the Second World War. After retiring from the army, he served as Lord High Constable of England during the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 and his war diaries attracted attention for their criticism of Churchill and for Brookes forthright views on other leading figures of the war. Alan Brooke was born in 1883 at Bagnères-de-Bigorre, Hautes-Pyrénées, to a prominent Anglo-Irish family from West Ulster with a military tradition. Brooke was educated in Pau, France, where he lived until the age of 16, he was a bi-lingual in French and English. After graduation from the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich Brooke was, on 24 December 1902, during the First World War, he served with the Royal Artillery in France where he gained a reputation as an outstanding planner of operations. At the Battle of the Somme in 1916, he introduced the French creeping barrage system, Brooke was with the Canadian Corps from early 1917 and planned the barrages for the Battle of Vimy Ridge having at his disposal the Corps artillery and that loaned from the British First Army. In 1918 he was appointed GSO1 as the artillery commander in the First Army. Brooke ended the conflict as a lieutenant colonel with the Distinguished Service Order, between the wars, he was a lecturer at the Staff College, Camberley and the Imperial Defence College, where Brooke knew most of those who became leading British commanders of the Second World War. From the mid-1930s Brooke held a number of important appointments, Inspector of Artillery, Director of Military Training, in July 1939 Brooke moved to command Southern Command. By the outbreak of the Second World War, Brooke was already seen as one of the armys foremost generals, as corps commander, Brooke had a pessimistic view of the Allies chances of countering a German offensive. He was sceptical of the quality and determination of the French Army and this scepticism appeared to be justified when he was on a visit to some French front-line units. He was shocked to see unshaven men, ungroomed horses and dirty vehicles and he had also little trust in Lord Gort, Commander-in-Chief of the BEF, whom Brooke thought too much interested in details and incapable of taking a broad strategic view. Gort, on the hand, regarded Brooke as a pessimist who failed to spread confidence. When the German offensive began Brooke distinguished himself in the handling of the British forces in the retreat to Dunkirk, in late May 1940 II Corps held the major German attack on the Ypres-Comine Canal but then found its left flank exposed by the capitulation of the Belgian army. Brooke swiftly ordered the 3rd Division to switch from the Corps right flank to cover the gap and this was accomplished in a complicated night-time manoeuvre. According to Montgomery, Brooke was so overcome with emotion at having to leave his men in such a crisis that he broke down, shortly after the evacuation from Dunkirk, he was again sent to France to take command of the remaining British troops in the country. Brooke soon realised that the situation was untenable and in his first conversation with Prime Minister Winston Churchill he insisted that all British forces should be withdrawn from France
25.
Royal Artillery
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The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery, is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name Royal Regiment of Artillery it actually consists of 13 Regular Regiments and 5 Reserve Regiments, the introduction of artillery into the English army came as early as the Battle of Crécy in 1346. Henry VIII made the armys artillery semi-permanent in the sixteenth century, before the 18th century, artillery traynes were raised by royal warrant for specific campaigns and disbanded again when they were over. On 26 May 1716, however, by warrant of George I two regular companies of field artillery, each 100 men strong, were raised at Woolwich. The title Royal Artillery was first used in 1720, in 1741 the Royal Military Academy was formed in the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich to provide training for RA and Royal Engineers officers. The regiment expanded rapidly and, by 1757, had 24 companies divided into two battalions, as well as a company formed in 1741. During 1748, the presidential artilleries of Bengal, Madras and Bombay were formed,1756 saw the creation of the Royal Irish Regiment of Artillery. In 1762 the Royal Artillery Band was formed at Minden, by 1771 there were 32 companies in four battalions, as well as two invalid companies comprising older and unfit men employed in garrison duties. During 1782, the regiment moved to the Royal Artillery Barracks on Woolwich Common, in January 1793, two troops of Royal Horse Artillery were raised to provide fire support for the cavalry, augmented by two more in November 1793. The Royal Irish Artillery was absorbed into the RA in 1801, during 1805, the Royal Military Academy moved to Woolwich Common. In 1819, the Rotunda was given to the regiment by the Prince Regent to celebrate end of the Napoleonic Wars, in 1832, the regimental motto, Ubique Quo Fas Et Gloria Ducunt, was granted. The motto signified that the regiment had seen action in all the conflicts of the British Army. The regiment was under the control of the Board of Ordnance until the board was abolished in 1855, thereafter the regiment came under the War Office along with the rest of the army. The School of Gunnery established at Shoeburyness, Essex in 1859, the third group continued to be titled simply Royal Artillery, and was responsible for ammunition storage and supply. Which branch a gunner belonged to was indicated by metal shoulder titles, the RFA and RHA also dressed as mounted men, whereas the RGA dressed like foot soldiers. In 1920 the rank of Bombardier was instituted in the Royal Artillery, the three sections effectively functioned as separate corps. This arrangement lasted until 1924, when the three amalgamated once more to one regiment. In 1938, RA Brigades were renamed Regiments, during the World War II there were over 1 million men serving in 960 gunner regiments
26.
Royal Engineers
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The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers, and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army. It is highly regarded throughout the military, and especially the Army and it provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is headed by the Chief Royal Engineer. The Regimental Headquarters and the Royal School of Military Engineering are in Chatham in Kent, the corps is divided into several regiments, barracked at various places in the United Kingdom and around the world. In Woolwich in 1716, the Board formed the Royal Regiment of Artillery and established a Corps of Engineers, the manual work was done by the Artificer Companies, made up of contracted civilian artisans and labourers. In 1782, a Soldier Artificer Company was established for service in Gibraltar, ten years later the Gibraltar company, which had remained separate, was absorbed and in 1812 the name was changed to the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners. The Corps has no battle honours, in 1832, the regimental motto, Ubique Quo Fas Et Gloria Ducunt, was granted. The motto signified that the Corps had seen action in all the conflicts of the British Army. In 1911 the Corps formed its Air Battalion, the first flying unit of the British Armed Forces, the Air Battalion was the forerunner of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force. In 1915, in response to German mining of British trenches under the then static siege conditions of the First World War, before the Second World War, Royal Engineers recruits were required to be at least 5 feet 4 inches tall. They initially enlisted for six years with the colours and a six years with the reserve or four years. Unlike most corps and regiments, in which the age limit was 25. They trained at the Royal Engineers Depot in Chatham or the RE Mounted Depot at Aldershot, the Royal Engineers Museum is in Gillingham in Kent. Britain having acquired an Empire, it fell to the Royal Engineers to conduct some of the most significant civil engineering schemes around the world, some examples of great works of the era of empire can be found in A. J. Smitherss book Honourable Conquests. The Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment, commanded by Richard Clement Moody, was responsible for the foundation, the Royal Albert Hall is one of the UKs most treasured and distinctive buildings, recognisable the world over. Since its opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the leading artists from every kind of performance genre have appeared on its stage. The Hall was designed by Captain Francis Fowke and Major-General Henry Y. D. Scott of the Royal Engineers, the designers were heavily influenced by ancient amphitheatres, but had also been exposed to the ideas of Gottfried Semper while he was working at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Much of the British colonial era infrastructure of India, of which survive today, was created by engineers of the three presidencies armies and the Royal Engineers. In 1838 he designed and built sea defences for Vizagapatam and he masterminded the Godavery Delta project where 720,000 acres of land were irrigated and 500 miles of land to the port of Cocanada was made navigable in the 1840s
27.
Royal Corps of Signals
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The Royal Corps of Signals is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communications, colloquially referred to by some as Siggies, Royal Signals units provide the full telecommunications infrastructure for the Army wherever they operate in the world. The Corps has its own engineers, logistics experts and systems operators to run radio, in 1870, C Telegraph Troop, Royal Engineers, was founded under Captain Montague Lambert. By 1871, C Troop had expanded in size from 2 officers and 133 other ranks to 5 officers and 245 other ranks, in 1879, C Troop first saw action during the Anglo-Zulu War. Signalling was the responsibility of the Telegraph Battalion until 1908, when the Royal Engineers Signal Service was formed, as such it provided communications during the First World War. It was about time that motorcycle despatch riders and wireless sets were introduced into service. A Royal Warrant for the creation of a Corps of Signals was signed by the Secretary of State for War, Winston Churchill, six weeks later, King George V conferred the title Royal Corps of Signals. Before the Second World War, Royal Signals recruits were required to be at least 5 feet 2 inches tall and they initially enlisted for eight years with the colours and a further four years with the reserve. They trained at the Signal Training Centre at Catterick Camp, all personnel were taught to ride. Throughout the Second World War, members of the Royal Corps of Signals had served in every theatre of war, by the end of the war the strength of the Corps was 8,518 officers and 142,472 other ranks. In the immediate period, the Corps played a full and active part in numerous campaigns, including Palestine, Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation, Malaya. Soldiers from the Royal Signals delivered communications in the Falklands War, the first Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, East Timor and they are currently deployed in Cyprus and Afghanistan. In late 2012, 2nd Signal Brigade disbanded, the future structure of the Royal Signals will change under Army 2020. Other ranks are trained both as soldiers and tradesmen. Their basic military training is delivered at the Army Training Regiment at Winchester before undergoing trade training at 11th Signal Regiment. Whilst SSgts are generally regarded as being Regimental Duty, this roster does not start until WO2, the Corps wears a blue and white tactical recognition flash. This is worn horizontally on the arm with the blue half charging forward. Airborne elements of the Royal Signals wear a Drop Zone flash on the arm of their combat jacket
28.
British Expeditionary Force (World War II)
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The British Expeditionary Force was the name of the British Army in Western Europe from 1939 to 1940, in the early stages of the Second World War. During the 1930s, the British government planned to deter war by rearming from the low level of readiness of the early 30s. The bulk of the money went to the Royal Navy. The BEF began moving to France in September 1939, the British assembled along the Belgian–French border on the left of the French First Army as part of the French 1er groupe darmées of the Front du Nord-est. Most of the BEF spent the Phoney War digging field defences on the French–Belgian border before the Battle of France began on 10 May 1940, the BEF constituted 10 percent of the Allied forces on the Western Front. The BEF, French and Belgian forces were evacuated from Dunkirk on the French North Sea coast in Operation Dynamo, Saar Force, the 51st Infantry Division, had been detached for service along the Maginot Line as part of a plan for the BEF units to gain experience. At the beginning of the 1930s, the Ten Year Rule had reduced war spending from £766 million in 1920 to £102 million when it was abolished on 23 March 1932. The British army had fewer men than in 1914, no organisation or equipment for a war in Europe and in three weeks, the War Office could only mobilise an infantry division and a cavalry brigade. The committee urged the creation of a Field Force of four infantry divisions, expenditure of £71 million was recommended, half to go in the army, which would be the defence against an invasion. The government accepted the report apart from the price and cut 1⁄3 from the estimate, in March 1937, the Regular Army stood at 121,000 men at home and 89,000 overseas, with some 716 tanks, of which 200 were obsolete First World War models. By the later 1930s, the despatch of an Expeditionary Force to France of Belgium might increase British security, the government also announced that the twelve TA divisions would be brought up to establishment and then another twelve. Anti-Aircraft Command formed seven divisions and early steps were taken to requisition the necessary to carry the Expeditionary Force to France. According to the 1939 Army Estimates, Britain had home forces of 230,000 men in the army,183,000 in reserve and 270,000 part-timers in the TA a total of 683,000 men. One lieutenant stuffed his holster with paper because he had no pistol, there were immense pressures to produce equipment, which led to a rapid increase in output. Clothing items were one example of this, greatcoats and boots being produced at up to fifty times the normal peacetime rates, twenty-five years of greatcoats were produced in six months and 18 months army boots were turned out in one week but shortages remained. Following the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, the BEF was despatched to France, German submarines had been limited by Hitlers orders to avoid provoking the Allies and only a few mines were laid near Dover and Weymouth. By 19 October, the BEF had received 25,000 vehicles to complete the first deployment, Belgium and the Netherlands were neutral countries and no troops were stationed in them. Morale was high amongst the British troops but the actions of the Germans by 9 May, had led many into assuming that there would not be much chance of a big German attack in that area
29.
30th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)
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The 30th Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Army in the First and Second World Wars. The Brigade was originally raised as part of the 10th Division, the Brigade was reformed on 24 April 1940 in the United Kingdom, as the 30th Motor Brigade. It contained two regular army infantry battalions and a Territorial motorcycle reconnaissance battalion. It was intended to be part of the 1st Armoured Division, then forming in Normandy, after a siege there, lasting three days, the brigade was overrun late on 26 May. The brigade was reformed on 17 October 1940 as the 30th Independent Brigade Group, and later converted to the 6th Guards Tank Brigade
30.
Somme (river)
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The Somme is a river in Picardy, northern France. The name Somme comes from a Celtic word meaning tranquility, the department Somme was named after this river. The river is 245 km long, from its source in the ground of the former Forest of Arrouaise at Fonsommes near Saint-Quentin, to the Bay of the Somme. It lies in the geological syncline which also forms the Solent and this gives it a fairly constant and gentle gradient where several fluvial terraces have been identified. The Invasion Fleet of William the Conqueror assembled in the Bay of the Somme at Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, the river featured in the 1346 withdrawal of Edward IIIs army, which forded the river at the battle of Blanchetaque during the campaign which culminated in the Battle of Crécy. Crossing the river also featured prominently in the campaign led to the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. The river is famous for the World War I Battle of the Somme from July to November 1916. Aisne, Saint-Quentin Somme, Ham, Péronne, Corbie, Amiens, Abbeville, Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, Le Crotoy The river is characterized by a gentle gradient. The valley is more or less steep-sided but its bottom is flat with fens and these characteristics of steady flow and flooded valley bottom arise from the rivers being fed by the ground water in the chalk basin in which it lies. At earlier, colder times, from the Günz to the Würm the river has cut down into the Cretaceous geology to a level below the water table. The valley bottom has now therefore, filled with water which and this picture, of the source of the Somme in 1986, shows it when the water table had fallen below the surface of the chalk in which the aquifer lies. Here, the flow of water had been sufficient to keep fen from forming and this satellite photograph shows the fenny valley crossing the chalk to the sea on the left. The sinuous length at the centre of the picture lies downstream from Péronne, one of the fens, the Marais de lÎle is a nature reserve in the town of St. Quentin. The traditional market gardens of Amiens, the Hortillonages are on this sort of land, once exploited for peat cutting, the fen is now used for fishing and shooting The construction of the Canal de la Somme began in 1770 and reached completion in 1843. It is 156 km long, beginning at St. Simon, from St. Simon to Froissy, the canal is alongside the river. Thence to the sea, the river is partly river and partly navigation, from Abbeville, it is diverted through the silted, former estuary, to Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, where the maritime canal, once called the canal du Duc dAngoulême enters the English Channel. The St Quentin Canal, famous for the 1918 battle, links the Somme to northern France and Belgium, the Canal du Nord also links the Somme to the Oise, at Noyon, thence to Paris. In 2001, the Somme valley was affected by high floods
31.
Cruiser tank
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The cruiser tank was a British tank concept of the interwar period for tanks designed to function as modernised armoured and mechanised cavalry. Cruiser tanks were developed after the Royal Armoured Corps were not satisfied with many of the tank designs of the 1930s. The cruiser tank concept was conceived by Giffard Le Quesne Martel, there were two main types of cruiser tanks, light cruiser tanks and heavy cruiser tanks. Light cruiser tanks were armoured and relatively fast, while heavy cruiser tanks were more heavily armoured. The Crusader was superseded by the A27 Cromwell reaching service in 1944, the A34 Comet - a better-armed development of Cromwell - entered service in lesser numbers in late 1944. The Centurion tank introduced in 1946 became the Universal tank of the United Kingdom, transcending the cruiser and infantry tank roles, financial constraints had made it impossible to produce a vehicle suitable for close support and for exploitation. The thinking was behind several tank designs which saw action during the Second World War, British armoured operations theory flowed from the decision to build two types of tank in parallel and use them to equip two types of unit and formation. Infantry tanks went to Army Tank Battalions, sometimes grouped administratively into Army Tank Brigades of the RTR, small, fast, lightly-armed tanks like the Light Tank Mk VI operated as reconnaissance vehicles. Armoured division theory emphasised using the speed of cruiser tanks for independent action to protect flanks, attacks on an opponents flanks and rear, pursuit and counter-attack. Giffard Le Quesne Martel originated the concept, while Assistant Director. Martel preferred a large number of smaller and simpler tanks to swamp an opponent, like naval cruisers, cruiser tanks were fast and mobile for operations independent from slower-moving infantry with their heavier infantry tanks and artillery. F. C. Fuller, Percy Hobart and B. H. Liddell-Hart, the cruiser tank was designed for use in a way similar to cavalry, which made speed the most important factor and to achieve this, early cruisers were lightly armoured and armed to save weight. The emphasis on speed unbalanced the British designs, on limited engine power, the idea that speed is armour was considered most important in the Royal Tank Corps. An even bigger problem for most cruiser tanks was the small calibre of their main gun, the first cruisers were armed with the 2-pounder gun. This gun had adequate armour penetration against early war tanks, but was never issued high explosive ammunition and this made the cruisers less able to deal with towed anti-tank guns. The Cromwell had too small a turret ring for the intended high-velocity gun and was fitted with the dual-purpose medium-velocity 75 mm gun, the tank had a high-power engine giving it a maximum speed around 40 mph on roads. It was the tank design in the British cruiser line. As the UK had large numbers of US M4 Sherman tanks, despite the emphasis on high mobility, most cruisers were plagued by mechanical unreliability, notably the Crusader tank in the hot and gritty desert of the North Africa Campaign
32.
5th Royal Tank Regiment
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The 5th Royal Tank Regiment was an armoured regiment of the British Army in existence for 52 years, from 1917 until 1969. It was part of the Royal Tank Regiment, itself part of the Royal Armoured Corps and it originally saw action as E Battalion, Tank Corps in 1917. At the Battle of Cambrai in late 1917, during World War I, the commanding general asked for the squadron of tanks to be doubled in size, and so Griffithss squadron evolved into the 5th Tank Regiment. It became part of the 22nd Armoured Brigade of the 7th Armoured Division, in December 1946 the regiment was the first use Centurion tanks in regular service. In 1960, under the command of Hugo Ironside, it amalgamated with 8th Royal Tank Regiment without change of title, the 5th Royal Tank Regiment Reunion Association holds annual reunions. In 2007 an image of a 1944 tank commander in the 5th Royal Tank Regiment uniform was used on one of a series of Royal mail stamps featuring British Army uniforms, 5th Royal Tank Regiment at regiments. org 5th Royal Tank Regiment Reunion Association website Merseyside RTR
33.
Thursley Common
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Thursley Common is a heathland Site of Special Scientific Interest and national nature reserve in Surrey, England. Thursley Common is an area of some 350 hectares of heathland in the southwest of Surrey and it is protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and as a national nature reserve. Lying between the villages of Thursley and Elstead, the common is generally 2–300 feet above sea-level, in 2006, 60% of the common was burnt, but was regenerating by 2010. It is one of the last remaining heathlands in Surrey and it is famed for its diverse wildlife. Whilst crossbill, red kite, woodlark and stonechat are regularly seen, birds such as Dartford warbler, whinchat, wheatear, tree pipit, rarer birds include osprey, black redstart and great grey shrike. Surrey County Council map of SSSIs
34.
Surrey
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Surrey is a county in the south east of England. It shares borders with Kent to the east, East Sussex to the south-east, West Sussex to the south, Hampshire to the west and south-west, Surrey County Council sits extraterritorially at Kingston upon Thames, administered as part of Greater London since 1965. With a resident population of 1.1 million, Surrey is the most densely populated and third most populated county in the South East region, after Kent, the London boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark, Wandsworth, and parts of Lewisham and Bromley were in Surrey until 1889. The boroughs of Croydon, Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Sutton and Richmond upon Thames south of the River Thames were part of Surrey until 1965, when they too were absorbed into Greater London. In the same year, the county was extended north of the Thames by the addition of Spelthorne, due to this expansion, modern Surrey also borders on the London boroughs of Hounslow and Hillingdon. It has the highest GDP per capita of any English county, Surrey is divided in two by the chalk ridge of the North Downs, running east-west. To the north of the Downs the land is mostly flat, the geology of this area is dominated by London Clay in the east, Bagshot Sands in the west and alluvial deposits along the rivers. Much of Surrey is in the Metropolitan Green Belt and it contains a good deal of mature woodland. Among its many notable beauty spots are Box Hill, Leith Hill, Frensham Ponds, Newlands Corner and Puttenham & Crooksbury Commons. Surrey is the most wooded county in England, with 22. 4% coverage compared to an average of 11. 8%. Box Hill has the oldest untouched area of woodland in the UK. Surrey also contains Englands principal concentration of lowland heath, on soils in the west of the county. Agriculture not being intensive, there are many commons and access lands, together with a network of footpaths and bridleways including the North Downs Way. Accordingly, Surrey provides much in the way of leisure activities. The highest elevation in Surrey is Leith Hill near Dorking and it is either 293,294 or 295 metres above sea level and is the second highest point in southeastern England after Walbury Hill 297 metres in West Berkshire. Surrey has a population of approximately 1.1 million people and its largest town is Guildford, with a population of 66,773, Woking comes a close second with 62,796. They are followed by Ewell with 39,994 people and Camberley with 30,155, towns of between 25,000 and 30,000 inhabitants are Ashford, Epsom, Farnham, Staines and Redhill. Guildford is the county town, although the county administration was moved to Newington in 1791
35.
Operation Sea Lion
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Operation Sea Lion was Nazi Germanys code name for the plan for an invasion of the United Kingdom during the Battle of Britain in the Second World War. A large number of barges were gathered together on the Channel coast, Adolf Hitler hoped for a negotiated peace with the UK, and made no preparations for amphibious assault on Britain until the Fall of France. At the time, the forces with experience of, or modern equipment for naval landings were the Japanese. In September 1939, the German invasion of Poland was a success, on 9 October, Hitlers Directive No. Reinicke spent five days on this study and set forth the following prerequisites, Eliminating or sealing off Royal Navy forces from the landing, destroying all Royal Navy units in the coastal zone. Preventing British submarine action against the landing fleet, the OKW considered the options and Hitlers 29 November Directive No. This directive remained in force in the first phase of the Battle of Britain, in December 1939, the German Army issued its own study paper and solicited opinions and input from both the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe. The paper outlined an assault on Englands eastern coast between The Wash and the River Thames by troops crossing the North Sea from ports in the Low Countries. The Kriegsmarine response was focused on pointing out the difficulties to be surmounted if invading England was to be a viable option. It could not envisage taking on the Royal Navy Home Fleet, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, head of the Luftwaffe, responded with a single-page letter in which he stated, combined operation having the objective of landing in England must be rejected. It could only be the act of an already victorious war against Britain as otherwise the preconditions for success of a combined operation would not be met. Germanys swift and successful occupation of France and the Low Countries gained control of the Channel coast, on 21 May 1940 Raeder met Hitler and raised the topic of invasion, but warned of the risks and expressed a preference for blockade by air, submarines and surface raiders. British parliamentarians still arguing for peace negotiations were defeated in the May 1940 War Cabinet Crisis, in a report presented on 30 June, the OKW Chief of Staff Alfred Jodl reviewed options to increase pressure on Britain to agree to a negotiated peace. The first priority was to eliminate the Royal Air Force and gain air supremacy, Intensified air attacks against shipping and the economy could affect food supplies and civilian morale in the long term. Reprisal attacks of terror bombing had the potential to cause quicker capitulation, at a meeting that day, OKW Chief of Staff General Franz Halder heard from Secretary of State Ernst von Weizsäcker that Hitler had turned his attention to Russia. On 1 July Halder met Admiral Otto Schniewind, and they shared views without understanding each others position, both thought that air superiority was needed first, and could make the invasion unnecessary. They agreed that minefields and U-boats could limit the threat posed by the Royal Navy, a Luftwaffe report presented to the OKW at a meeting on 11 July said that it would take 14 to 28 days to achieve air superiority. The meeting also heard that England was discussing an agreement with Russia, Hitler agreed with him that invasion would be a last resort
36.
Egypt
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Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia by a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt is a Mediterranean country bordered by the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Gulf of Aqaba to the east, the Red Sea to the east and south, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. Across the Gulf of Aqaba lies Jordan, and across from the Sinai Peninsula lies Saudi Arabia, although Jordan and it is the worlds only contiguous Afrasian nation. Egypt has among the longest histories of any country, emerging as one of the worlds first nation states in the tenth millennium BC. Considered a cradle of civilisation, Ancient Egypt experienced some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, urbanisation, organised religion and central government. One of the earliest centres of Christianity, Egypt was Islamised in the century and remains a predominantly Muslim country. With over 92 million inhabitants, Egypt is the most populous country in North Africa and the Arab world, the third-most populous in Africa, and the fifteenth-most populous in the world. The great majority of its people live near the banks of the Nile River, an area of about 40,000 square kilometres, the large regions of the Sahara desert, which constitute most of Egypts territory, are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypts residents live in areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria. Modern Egypt is considered to be a regional and middle power, with significant cultural, political, and military influence in North Africa, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Egypts economy is one of the largest and most diversified in the Middle East, Egypt is a member of the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, Arab League, African Union, and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Miṣr is the Classical Quranic Arabic and modern name of Egypt. The name is of Semitic origin, directly cognate with other Semitic words for Egypt such as the Hebrew מִצְרַיִם, the oldest attestation of this name for Egypt is the Akkadian
37.
Frank Messervy
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General Sir Frank Walter Messervy KCSI, KBE, CB, DSO & Bar was a British Indian Army officer in both the First and Second World Wars. Messervy was born in 1893 in Trinidad to Walter John Messervy, Messervy was commissioned into the Indian Army in 1913 and in 1914 joined 9th Hodsons Horse which later became 4th Duke of Cambridges Own Hodsons Horse. He would see action in the First World War in France, Palestine and he later served in Kurdistan in 1919. He was appointed as an Instructor at the Command and Staff College and he was made Commander 13th Duke of Connaughtss Own Lancers, British India, during 1938 and 1939. In September 1939 Messervy was promoted to colonel and became a General Staff Officer Grade 1 of the Indian 5th Infantry Division, in mid-1940, the division was sent to the Sudan to counter the threat from the Italian forces based in Italian East Africa. Messervy was appointed commander of Gazelle Force, created on 16 October 1940, it was a mobile reconnaissance and strike formation of expanded battalion size created from elements of 5th Indian Division. During the ensuing East African Campaign, Messervy commanded Gazelle Force with notable success, by 13 February 1941, the campaign had become static and Messervys formation was disbanded. His promotion was in part related to his actions during the advance from Kassala through Agordat to the fighting at Keren during February. When the commander of the Indian 4th Infantry Division was promoted to command XIII Corps in North Africa Messervy, Messervy took 4th Indian Division to North Africa in April 1941, taking part in Operation Battleaxe in June. The divisions battle groups took part in the Eighth Armys pursuit when Rommel withdrew from his positions at Gazala in December. In January 1942 Messervy was appointed to replace Herbert Lumsden, the commander of 1st Armoured Division which had recently arrived in the desert. During Rommels attack from El Agheila in late January 1942, the division was outmatched by the Axis armour, on Lumsdens return in March 1942, Messervy was moved to command 7th Armoured Division which had lost its commander, Jock Campbell, killed in a motor accident. Messervy was the only British Indian Army officer to command a British division during the Second World War, Messervy was known as the Bearded Man because he tended not to shave in battle. Messervy knew little about tanks and was not considered a great success commanding armoured divisions by his superiors and he was dismissed from command of 7th Armoured Division by Eighth Army commander Neil Ritchie in late June 1942 following the severe defeat the division had sustained at the Battle of Gazala. He transferred to Cairo as Deputy Chief of General Staff, GHQ Middle East Command 1942 and was sent to India a few months later to raise 43rd Indian Armoured Division as its commander. Originally intended for service in Persia, the division was disbanded in April 1943 when the threat to Persia was removed by the Soviet victory at Stalingrad and this was to have a significant impact in 1944 and 1945 when heavy armour was used to telling effect against the Japanese. In July 1943 Messervy was appointed GOC Indian 7th Infantry Division which was sent to the Arakan in Burma to join XV Corps in September, after going on the attack in late February,7 Indian Division was relieved in mid-March. In March 1944 he lost two brigades sent to reinforce the defences at Imphal and Kohima in India
38.
Generalfeldmarschall
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Generalfeldmarschall was a rank in the armies of several German states and the Holy Roman Empire, in the Habsburg Monarchy, the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, the rank Feldmarschall was used. The rank was the equivalent to Großadmiral in the Kaiserliche Marine and Kriegsmarine, the title of Kaiserlich-Königlicher Feldmarschall is used in statutes of the Holy Roman Empire to describe senior military officials. The rank existed in the Austrian Empire as Kaiserlicher Feldmarschall and in the Austro-Hungarian Empire as Kaiserlicher und königlicher Feldmarschall, both were based on usage in the Holy Roman Empire. The monarch held the ex officio, other officers were promoted as required. Between 1914 and 1918, ten men attained this rank, of four were members of the reigning Habsburg dynasty. The equivalent of colonel-general in the German Navy was the rank of Generaladmiral, in 1870 Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia and Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm—who had commanded armies during the Franco-Prussian War—became the first Prussian princes appointed as field marshals. Not even such well-known German commanders as Erich Ludendorff and Erich von Falkenhayn received marshals batons, the equivalent of a Generalfeldmarschall in the navy was Großadmiral. Unlike Kaiser Wilhelm II, Adolf Hitler distributed the rank more widely, promoting 26 Heer and Luftwaffe officers in total and two Kriegsmarine Grand Admirals. Four weeks after the Heer and Luftwaffe had won the Battle of France, in the promotion Hitler noted that no German or Prussian field marshal at that point in history had ever been captured alive. Paulus surrendered the day anyway, claiming Ich habe nicht die Absicht. A disappointed Hitler commented, Thats the last field marshal I make in this war, Generalfeldmarschall was the highest regular general officer rank in the German Wehrmacht, comparable to NATO rank codes OF10, and to the five-star rank in anglophone armed forces. It was equivalent to Großadmiral of the German Kriegsmarine and he also bestowed generous presents on his highest officers, with Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb receiving RM250,000 for his 65th birthday from Hitler. Promotion to the rank did not guarantee Hitlers ongoing favor, however, as the tide of the war turned, Hitler took out his frustrations on his top commanders, relieving most of the Generalfeldmarschalls of duty before the wars conclusion. Von Bock, Von Brauchitsch, Von Leeb, and List were all relieved of their posts in 1942 for perceived failures during Operation Barbarossa, paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist, Von Manstein and Sperrle were similarly retired in 1944 and Von Rundstedt and Maximilian von Weichs in March 1945. Grand Admiral Erich Raeder was retired in January 1943 following an argument with Hitler over the future of the German surface fleet. Walther Model, one of Hitlers most successful commanders, had nevertheless lost the Fuhrers confidence by wars end and committed suicide to avoid capture, ferdinand Schörner ignominiously abandoned his command to save himself in the wars last days. Von Kluge, Von Witzleben and Rommel were either executed or forced to suicide for their real or imagined roles in assassination plots against Hitler. By wars end, only Keitel, Kesselring, Robert Ritter von Greim, the Nationale Volksarmee of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik or DDR created the rank of Marschall der DDR on 25 March 1982
39.
Erwin Rommel
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Erwin Rommel, popularly known as the Desert Fox, was a field marshal in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. Rommel was a decorated officer in World War I and was awarded the Pour le Mérite for his actions on the Italian Front. In World War II, he distinguished himself as the commander of the 7th Panzer Division during the 1940 invasion of France and he later commanded the German forces opposing the Allied cross-channel invasion of Normandy in June 1944. Rommel supported the Nazi seizure of power and Adolf Hitler, although his attitude towards Nazi ideology, in 1944, Rommel was implicated in the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler. Due to Rommels status as a hero, Hitler desired to eliminate him quietly. Rommel was given a funeral, and it was announced that he had succumbed to his injuries from the strafing of his staff car in Normandy. Rommel was born on 15 November 1891 in Southern Germany at Heidenheim,45 kilometres from Ulm, in the Kingdom of Württemberg, then part of the German Empire. He was the third of five children of Erwin Rommel Senior, a teacher and school administrator, as a young man Rommels father had been a lieutenant in the artillery. At age 18 Rommel joined the local 124th Württemberg Infantry Regiment as a Fähnrich, in 1910 and he graduated in November 1911 and was commissioned as a lieutenant in January 1912 and was assigned to the 124th Infantry in Weingarten. He was posted to Ulm in March 1914 to the 46th Field Artillery Regiment, XIII Corps and he returned to the 124th when war was declared. While at Cadet School, Rommel met his wife, 17-year-old Lucia Maria Mollin. They married in November 1916 in Danzig, during World War I, Rommel fought in France as well as in the Romanian and Italian Campaigns. The armies continued to skirmish in open engagements throughout September, as the trench warfare typical of the First World War was still in the future. For his actions in September 1914 and January 1915, Rommel was awarded the Iron Cross, Rommel was promoted to Oberleutnant and transferred to the newly created Royal Wurttemberg Mountain Battalion of the Alpenkorps in September 1915, as a company commander. The Mountain Battalion was next assigned to the Isonzo front, in an area in Italy. The offensive, known as the Battle of Caporetto, began on 24 October 1917, Rommels battalion, consisting of three rifle companies and a machine gun unit, was part of an attempt to take enemy positions on three mountains, Kolovrat, Matajur, and Stol. In two and a days, from 25 to 27 October, Rommel and his 150 men captured 81 guns and 9,000 men. In one instance, the Italian forces, taken by surprise, acting as advance guard in the capture of Longarone on 9 November, Rommel again decided to attack with a much smaller force
40.
Battle of Gazala
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The Battle of Gazala was fought during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War, west of the port of Tobruk in Libya, from 26 May to 21 June 1942. Axis troops of the Panzerarmee Afrika, consisted of German and Italian units, Allied forces, were mainly British, Indian, South African and Free French. The Axis distracted the British with an attack in the north. The advance succeeded, but the defence of the French garrison of Bir Hakeim, at the end of the line, left the Axis with a long. The Eighth Army counter-attack, Operation Aberdeen, was poorly co-ordinated and defeated in detail, many tanks were lost, the British withdrew from the Gazala Line and the Axis troops overran Tobruk in a day. Rommel exploited the success by pursuing the British into Egypt, denying them time to recover from the defeat, as both sides neared exhaustion, the Eighth Army managed to check the Axis advance at the First Battle of El Alamein. The battle is considered the greatest victory of Rommels career, but Operation Herkules, the British managed to supply Malta and revived it as a base for attacks on Axis convoys to Libya, greatly complicating Axis supply difficulties at El Alamein. Following Operation Crusader, in late 1941, the British Eighth Army had relieved Tobruk, in an appreciation made in January 1942, Auchinleck alluded to an Axis fighting strength of 35,000 men, when the true figure was about 80,000. The Eighth Army expected to be ready by February and GHQ Cairo believed that the Axis would be too weak, on 21 January, Rommel sent out three strong armoured columns to make a tactical reconnaissance. Finding only the thinnest of screens, Rommel changed his reconnaissance into an offensive, recaptured Benghazi on 28 January and Timimi on 3 February. By 6 February, the British had fallen back to a line from Gazala to Bir Hakeim, the British had 1,309 casualties from 21 January, lost 42 tanks knocked out, another 30 through damage and breakdowns and 40 field guns. Between Gazala and Timimi, just west of Tobruk, the Eighth Army was able to concentrate its forces sufficiently to turn and fight. The Gazala Line was a series of defensive boxes accommodating a brigade each, laid out across the desert behind minefields and wire, watched by regular patrols between the boxes. The Free French were to the south at the Bir Hakeim box,21 km south of the 150th Infantry Brigade box, which was 9.7 km south of the 69th Infantry Brigade box. Behind the Gazala Line were defensive boxes known as Commonwealth Keep or Hill 209 at Ras El Madauur on Tobruks main defensive line, Acroma, Knightsbridge,19 km south of Acroma and El Adem, sited to block tracks and junctions. A box at Retma was finished just before the Axis offensive, the British received new equipment, including 167 Lend-Lease M3 Grant tanks equipped with 75 mm guns, and large numbers of 6-pounder anti-tank guns. Rommel thought that Allied minefields ended well north of Bir Hakeim, Army commanders lost the power to direct air operations, which was reserved for the air commanders. A new fighter-bomber concept was developed and Air Vice-Marshal Arthur Coningham, commander of the DAF, moved his headquarters to the Eighth Army HQ to improve communication
41.
Battle of Mersa Matruh
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The Battle of Mersa Matruh was fought from 26 June to 29 June 1942 following the defeat of the Eighth Army at the Battle of Gazala. It was part of the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War, the combatants on the Axis side were the Panzerarmee Afrika, consisting of German and Italian units. The Allied forces of the Eighth Army comprised X Corps and XIII Corps, the battle developed as the Afrika Korps pursued the Eighth Army as it retreated into Egypt. Rommel intended to engage and destroy the Allied infantry formations in detail, in the event he was able to cut off the line of retreat of X Corps and the XIII Corps but his forces were too weak to stop them from breaking out. The fortress port of Mersa Matruh and 6,000 prisoners fell into his hands there, along with a deal of supplies and equipment. Following the defeat of the Eighth Army at Gazala, the Allied forces were compelled to retreat to the east, the British left a garrison in Tobruk, which was expected to be strong enough to hold the port, while the Eighth Army regrouped and replaced its losses. The British command had not prepared Tobruk for a lengthy siege, the sudden fall of Tobruk in a day came as a shock. After a year and a half of fighting, the Afrika Korps was finally in position to drive east into Egypt, following the victory at Tobruk Rommel pressed on the heels of the retreating Eighth Army. His intention was to bring the Eighth Army to battle and defeat it, before the British had the chance to bring up fresh units, though his forces were badly weakened by the Gazala battles, he had speed, guile and surprise. The 21st Panzer Division was given one day to regroup and then was sent down the coast road to Egypt, fuel and ammunition supplies captured at Tobruk supplied the Axis forces for their drive to the frontier and beyond. After the defeat at Gazala and the loss of Tobruk, Auchinleck offered his resignation on 22 June, to slow the Axis advance into Egypt, the British command intended to form a defensive position at the Cyrenaica–Egypt frontier, along the Frontier Wire. XIII Corps, was to back in a delaying action. However the Axis forces reached the wire on June 23, shortly after the XIII Corps, there was no time to mount a defense, and Eighth Army lacked the armour to defend the open southern end of the position. Gott recommended falling back another 120 miles to the Mersa Matruh position, British rearguards tried to destroy the fuel and ammunition supplies there and then Gott withdrew without engaging the Afrika Korps. The British command ordered the Eighth Army to prepare to fight an action at Mersa Matruh. Rommel requested freedom of manoeuvre from Mussolini, to pursue the Eighth Army into Egypt, additional fuel, equipment and munitions were salvaged from remaining British stores at the frontier. Rommel pushed on unopposed through the night and the next day and his advance, however, was increasingly harassed from the air. The Desert Air Force which was growing in strength and operating nearer to its bases, while the Luftwaffe, after the reverses at Gazala and Tobruk, the Eighth Army was disorganized and shaken, but not demoralized
42.
First Battle of El Alamein
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The British prevented a second advance by the Axis forces into Egypt. Since General Ritchie had virtually no armoured units left fit to fight, to defend the Matruh line, Ritchie placed 10th Indian Infantry Division and 50th Infantry Division under X Corps HQ, newly arrived from Syria. The 1st Armoured Division had taken over 4th and 22nd Armoured Brigades from 7th Armoured Division which by this time had three tank regiments between them. On 25 June, General Claude Auchinleck—Commander-in-Chief Middle East Command—relieved Ritchie and he decided not to seek a decisive confrontation at the Mersa Matruh position. He decided instead to employ delaying tactics while withdrawing a further 100 miles or more east to a defensible position near El Alamein on the Mediterranean coast. While preparing the Alamein positions, Auchinleck fought strong delaying actions, first at Mersa Matruh on 26–27 June, the result was poor co-ordination between the two forward Corps and units within them. Late on 26 June, the 90th Light and 21st Panzer Divisions managed to find their way through the minefields in the centre of the front, early on 27 June, resuming its advance, the 90th Light was checked by British 50th Divisions artillery. Meanwhile, the 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions advanced east above, the 15th Panzer were blocked by 4th Armoured and 7th Motor Brigades, but the 21st Panzer were ordered on to attack Minqar Qaim. Rommel ordered 90th Light to resume its advance, requiring it to cut the coast road behind 50th Division by the evening, as the 21st Panzer moved on Minqar Qaim, the 2nd New Zealand Division found itself surrounded. It succeeded in breaking out on the night of 27 June without serious losses, Auchinleck had planned a second delaying position at Fuka, some 30 mi east of Matruh, and at 21,20 he issued the orders for a withdrawal to Fuka. Confusion in communication led the division withdrawing immediately to the El Alamein position, X Corps, having made an unsuccessful attempt to secure a position on the escarpment, were out of touch with Eighth Army from 19,30 until 04,30 the next morning. Only then did they discover that the order had been given. The withdrawal of XIII Corps had left the flank of X Corps on the coast at Matruh exposed. They were ordered to break out southwards into the desert and then make their way east, Auchinleck ordered XIII Corps to provide support but they were in no position to do so. At 21,00 on 28 June, X Corps—organised into brigade groups—headed south, in the darkness, there was considerable confusion as they came across enemy units laagered for the night. In the process, 5th Indian Division in particular sustained heavy casualties, Axis forces captured more than 6,000 prisoners, in addition to 40 tanks and an enormous quantity of supplies. Alamein itself was a railway station on the coast. Some 10 mi to the lay the Ruweisat Ridge, a low stony ridge that nonetheless gave excellent observation for many miles over the surrounding desert
United Kingdom
British Army
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