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.
Artillery
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Artillery is a class of large military weapons built to fire munitions far beyond the range and power of infantrys small arms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach fortifications, and led to heavy, as technology improved, lighter, more mobile field artillery developed for battlefield use. This development continues today, modern self-propelled artillery vehicles are highly mobile weapons of great versatility providing the largest share of an armys total firepower, in its earliest sense, the word artillery referred to any group of soldiers primarily armed with some form of manufactured weapon or armour. In common speech, the artillery is often used to refer to individual devices, along with their accessories and fittings. However, there is no generally recognised generic term for a gun, howitzer, mortar, and so forth, the United States uses artillery piece, the projectiles fired are typically either shot or shell. Shell is a widely used term for a projectile, which is a component of munitions. By association, artillery may also refer to the arm of service that customarily operates such engines, in the 20th Century technology based target acquisition devices, such as radar, and systems, such as sound ranging and flash spotting, emerged to acquire targets, primarily for artillery. These are usually operated by one or more of the artillery arms, Artillery originated for use against ground targets—against infantry, cavalry and other artillery. An early specialist development was coastal artillery for use against enemy ships, the early 20th Century saw the development of a new class of artillery for use against aircraft, anti-aircraft guns. Artillery is arguably the most lethal form of land-based armament currently employed, the majority of combat deaths in the Napoleonic Wars, World War I, and World War II were caused by artillery. In 1944, Joseph Stalin said in a speech that artillery was the God of War, although not called as such, machines performing the role recognizable as artillery have been employed in warfare since antiquity. The first references in the historical tradition begin at Syracuse in 399 BC. From the Middle Ages through most of the era, artillery pieces on land were moved by horse-drawn gun carriages. In the contemporary era, the artillery and crew rely on wheeled or tracked vehicles as transportation, Artillery used by naval forces has changed significantly also, with missiles replacing guns in surface warfare. The engineering designs of the means of delivery have likewise changed significantly over time, in some armies, the weapon of artillery is the projectile, not the equipment that fires it. The process of delivering fire onto the target is called gunnery, the actions involved in operating the piece are collectively called serving the gun by the detachment or gun crew, constituting either direct or indirect artillery fire. The term gunner is used in armed forces for the soldiers and sailors with the primary function of using artillery. The gunners and their guns are usually grouped in teams called either crews or detachments, several such crews and teams with other functions are combined into a unit of artillery, usually called a battery, although sometimes called a company
4.
Regiment
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A regiment is a military unit. Their role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, in Medieval Europe, the term regiment denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted in one geographical area, by a leader who was often also the feudal lord of the soldiers. By the 17th century, a regiment was usually about a thousand personnel. In many armies, the first role has been assumed by independent battalions, battlegroups, task forces, brigades and other, similarly-sized operational units. By the beginning of the 18th century, regiments in most European continental armies had evolved into permanent units with distinctive titles and uniforms, when at full strength, an infantry regiment normally comprised two field battalions of about 800 men each or 8–10 companies. In some armies, an independent regiment with fewer companies was labelled a demi-regiment, a cavalry regiment numbered 600 to 900 troopers, making up a single entity. With the widespread adoption of conscription in European armies during the nineteenth century, the regimental system underwent modification. Prior to World War I, a regiment in the French, German, Russian. As far as possible, the battalions would be garrisoned in the same military district, so that the regiment could be mobilized. A cavalry regiment by contrast made up an entity of up to 1,000 troopers. Usually, the regiment is responsible for recruiting and administering all of a military career. Depending upon the country, regiments can be either combat units or administrative units or both and this is often contrasted to the continental system adopted by many armies. Generally, divisions are garrisoned together and share the same installations, thus, in divisional administration, soldiers and officers are transferred in and out of divisions as required. Some regiments recruited from specific areas, and usually incorporated the place name into the regimental name. In other cases, regiments would recruit from an age group within a nation. In other cases, new regiments were raised for new functions within an army, e. g. the Fusiliers, the Parachute Regiment, a key aspect of the regimental system is that the regiment or battalion is the fundamental tactical building block. This flows historically from the period, when battalions were widely dispersed and virtually autonomous. For example, a regiment might include different types of battalions of different origins, within the regimental system, soldiers, and usually officers, are always posted to a tactical unit of their own regiment whenever posted to field duty
5.
Field artillery
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Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, long range, short range and this was in contrast to horse artillery, whose emphasis on speed while supporting cavalry units necessitated lighter guns and crews riding on horseback. Modern artillery has also advanced to rapidly deployable wheeled and tracked vehicles, thus, their role was limited to such functions as breaking sieges. Following the beginning of the era, the first field artillery came into being as metallurgy allowed thinner cannon barrels to withstand the explosive forces without bursting. However, there was still a risk of the constant changes of the battlefield conspiring to leave behind slow-moving artillery units - either on the advance, or more dangerously. Artillery units were particularly vulnerable to assault by light cavalry, which were used in this role. Only with a number of inventions, did the concept of field artillery really take off. One of the earliest documented uses of field artillery is found in the 14th-century Ming Dynasty treatise Huolongjing, the text describes a Chinese cannon called a thousand ball thunder cannon, manufactured of bronze and fastened with wheels. The book also describes another mobile form of artillery called a barbarian attacking cannon consisting of an attached to a two-wheel carriage. Before World War I, field artillery batteries fired directly at visible targets measured in distances of meters. Today, modern field batteries measure targets in kilometers and miles, most field artillery situations require indirect fire due to weather, terrain, night-time conditions, distance or other obstacles. Modern field artillery has three sections, All batteries have a Fire Support Man, Fire Direction Control. The FOs are forward with the infantry where they can see the targets and they call the FDC on the radio and transmit a request for fire in the format of CFF. The FDC calculates the CFF and send a deflection and elevation to the gun line, the gun line cranks the specified elevation and deflection on the howitzers, punch the artillery shell followed by the bag. Depending on the CFF, the gunline will fire the round when they are ready or when the FO calls and tells them to fire, the FO spots the round and sends a correction back to the FDC and the process starts all over again until its done. The batteries are many kilometres behind the FLOT and they plan a location where they can be Fire Capability for some certain amount of time and do multiple fire missions before needing to displace. In normal operations the FOs locate targets and transmits the CFF to the FDCs and they can also calculate defensive fire tasks. Because the calculations have already been done, the fire can be called down very quickly when it is needed, the advance party consists of the battery commander, his driver, first sergeant, gunnery sergeant, FDC guide, gun guides, and communications representatives
6.
North Yorkshire
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North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan county and larger ceremonial county in England. It is located primarily in the region of Yorkshire and the Humber, created by the Local Government Act 1972, it covers an area of 8,654 square kilometres, making it the largest county in England. The majority of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors lie within North Yorkshires boundaries, the largest settlements are York, Middlesbrough, Harrogate and Scarborough, the county town, Northallerton, has a population of 16,832. The area under the control of the county council, or shire county, is divided into a number of local government districts, Craven, Hambleton, Harrogate, Richmondshire, Ryedale, Scarborough, the changes were planned to be implemented no later than 1 April 2009. This was rejected on 25 July 2007 so the County Council, the largest settlement in the administrative county is Harrogate, the second largest is Scarborough, while in the ceremonial county, the largest is York. The largest urban area within the county is the Middlesbrough built-up area sub-division of Teesside. Uniquely for a district in England, Stockton-on-Tees is split between North Yorkshire and County Durham for this purpose, Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, and Redcar and Cleveland boroughs form part of the North East England region. The ceremonial county area, including the authorities, borders East Riding of Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumbria. The geology of North Yorkshire is closely reflected in its landscape, within the county are the North York Moors and most of the Yorkshire Dales, two of eleven areas of countryside within England and Wales to be officially designated as national parks. Between the North York Moors in the east and the Pennine Hills in the west lie the Vales of Mowbray, the Tees Lowlands lie to the north of the North York Moors and the Vale of Pickering lies to the south. Its eastern border is the North sea coast, the highest point is Whernside, on the Cumbrian border, at 736 metres. The two major rivers in the county are the River Swale and the River Ure, the Swale and the Ure form the River Ouse which flows through York and into the Humber estuary. The River Tees forms part of the border between North Yorkshire and County Durham and flows from upper Teesdale to Middlesbrough and Stockton and to the coast, North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan county that operates a cabinet-style council, North Yorkshire County Council. The full council of 72 elects a council leader, who in turn appoints up to 9 more councillors to form the executive cabinet, the cabinet is responsible for making decisions in the County. The county council have their offices in the County Hall in Northallerton, the county is affluent and has above average house prices. Unemployment is below average for the UK and claimants of Job Seekers Allowance is also very low compared to the rest of the UK at 2. 7%, agriculture is an important industry, as are mineral extraction and power generation. The county also has high technology, service and tourism sectors. This is a chart of trend of gross value added for North Yorkshire at current basic prices with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling
7.
L118 light gun
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The L118 light gun is a 105 mm towed howitzer. It was originally produced for the British Army in the 1970s and has been exported since, including to the United States. The proper name for it is gun, 105mm, field, L118 and it fires the US M1 type ammunition. This widely used howitzer was designed in Italy for the Alpini. However, it lacked range, was not notably robust, had poor sights and was not entirely popular, in 1965, a general staff requirement was approved for a new 105 mm weapon system because the pack howitzer lacked range and lethality. The ammunition to be used was the 105 mm Fd Mk 2 ammunition used in the L13 ordnance of the gun equipment 105 mm L109. This ammunition uses electrical instead of percussion primers and is a different design from the US M1 type ammunition as used in the L5 pack howitzer. The two types are not interchangeable, an early requirement was for the new weapon to use 105mm Fd Mk 1 ammunition, which uses the M1 shell, in training. However, in 1968, this was changed to allow a different version of the weapon, the new gun, soon designated light gun, was designed by the government Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment, Fort Halstead, Kent. However, it emerged that some increase in weight was needed for a gun with the requisite robustness. Original production, which was authorised in late 1975, was by Royal Ordnance Factory, ROF Nottingham, the light gun entered service with the British Army in 1976. The new weapon was heavier than its predecessor, but new, more capable helicopters such as the Puma and Westland Sea King, a new vehicle, the Land Rover 101 Forward Control are also equipped with the light gun. Those University Officer Training Corps with gun troops train with the L118, on 30 November 2001, an L118 light gun replaced a 25-pounder as the One OClock Gun in Edinburgh Castle. By tradition, this fires every day at one oclock, except on Sundays, Good Friday, the light gun is also fired by 14 Regiment Royal Artillery on Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day each year. The L118 uses the L19 ordnance on the L17 carriage, the L19 ordnance is slightly shorter than the L13 used by the Abbot and hence has a slightly shorter maximum range. Also, unlike the Abbot, the barrel is autofrettaged and hence lighter, the light gun appears to owe a number of its features to the QF25 pounder, unsurprisingly since RARDE was the successor to the design department, Woolwich Arsenal. Among these features are its vertically sliding breech, and a box trail instead of a split trail. Its comparatively light weight is attributed to the nature of the steel used in the carriage and ordnance
8.
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
9.
Topcliffe, North Yorkshire
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Topcliffe is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. The village is situated on the River Swale, on the A167 road and it is about 5 miles south-west of Thirsk and 11 miles south of the county town of Northallerton. It has a population of 1,489, an Army Barracks, formerly a Royal Air Force base, is located to the north of the village. The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Topeclive in the Yarlestre hundred, at the time of the Norman invasion, the manor was the possession of Bernwulf. Afterwards it was granted to William of Percy, the manor became the chief seat of the Percy family until the middle of the 17th century, though there was some confusion of the line of inheritance in the 12th century. This was reversed in 1469 and the manor restored to the Percy family, in the 16th century there were two other brief periods when the manor was granted first to the Archbishop of York and then to the Earl of Warwick. The manor was restored to the Percy family in 1557, the last of the family to hold the manor in their name was Josceline Percy, 11th Earl of Northumberland, though it passed to his daughter who married Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset. Their son inherited the manor, but he died heirless and the manor was passed to his nephew Charles Wyndham, the manor remained in the Wyndham family into the 20th century. This was the residence of the Percy family until the early part of the fourteenth century. The castle was succeeded by a manor house on an adjacent site. The manor house was the home of John Topcliffe, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, the name is derived from the Old English words topp and clif and combined give the meaning top of the cliff. The village used to be a stop between Baldersby and Thirsk on the Leeds & Thirsk Railway, a station was opened on 1 June 1848 and closed on 14 September 1959. It was located at the junction of the A167 and Catton Moor Lane to the north of the village near the present day MOD base. During the Second World War an airfield was constructed 1.5 miles from the village which was for some time a Royal Canadian Air Force base. After the war it had a number of roles until 1972 when much of it was taken over by the army, the airfield continues to be used for RAF glider training. The village is located in the Thirsk and Malton UK Parliamentary constituency and it is also in the Sowerby electoral division of North Yorkshire County Council and the Topcliffe ward of Hambleton District Council. The population of this ward taken at the 2011 Census was 2,604, Topcliffe District ward includes the settlements of Skipton-onSwale, Catton, Dalton, Crakehill, Sessay and Hutton Sessay. The civil parish of Topcliffe is bounded by the parishes of Sowerby, Carlton Miniott, Catton, Rainton, Asenby, Crakehill
10.
North East England
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North East England is one of the nine regions of England that are classified at the first level of NUTS for statistical purposes. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, the region is home to three large conurbations, Teesside, Wearside, and Tyneside, the latter of which is the largest of the three and the eighth most populous conurbation in the United Kingdom. The city of Durham is the county town of County Durham, other large settlements in the region include Darlington, Gateshead, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, South Shields, Stockton-on-Tees and Washington. The region is hilly and sparsely populated in the North and West. The highest point in the region is The Cheviot, in the Cheviot Hills, Peters Church in Monkwearmouth, Sunderland and St. Pauls in Jarrow also hold significant historical value and have a joint bid to become a World Heritage Site. The area has a strong religious past, as can be seen in such as the Lindisfarne Gospels. The work of the 7th-century Cuthbert, Bede and Hilda of Whitby being hugely influential in the church and are still venerated today. Bede is regarded as the greatest Anglo-Saxon scholar and his best known work is The Ecclesiastical History of the English People. This body of work is thought to have been done in honour of Cuthbert, British history changed forever that day and three hundred years of Viking raids, battles and settlement were to persist until William the Conqueror defeated King Harold at Hastings in 1066. The last independent Northumbrian king from 947–8 was Eric Bloodaxe who died in battle at the Battle of Stainmore, Westmorland, after Eric Bloodaxes death, all England was ruled by Eadred the grandson of Alfred the Great and so began the machinery of national government. Today the Viking legacy can still be found in the language and place names of Northeast England, the name Newcastle comes from the new castle built shortly after their conquest in 1080 by Robert Curthose, William the Conquerors eldest son. North East England has a climate with narrower temperature ranges than further south in England. Met Office operates several stations in the region. The stations nearest significant urban areas are Durham, Stockton-on-Tees and Tynemouth, the warmest summers in the region are found in Stockton-on-Tees and the Middlesbrough area with a 1981-2010 July average high of 20.4 °C. The summers on the coastlines are clearly cooler than in the southern and central inland areas. Moving further inland, frosts during winter gets more common due to the higher elevation and these companies are members of the Northeast of England Process Industry Cluster. The early chemical industry in this region was however primarily Tyneside based and associated with the manufacture of soap and glass. The most important chemical activity in the 18th and 19th centuries was the manufacture of alkali to make soap, what came out of the industrial revolution was a period when the Northeast of Englands economy was dominated by iron and steel, coal mining and shipbuilding
11.
Sunderland
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Sunderland is a city at the centre of the City of Sunderland metropolitan borough, in Tyne and Wear, North East England. It is a city at the mouth of the River Wear with adjoining beaches of Roker. The etymology of Sunderland is derived from Sundered-land with the river travelling through the city as opposed to sitting upon the river, historically in County Durham, there were three original settlements on the site of modern-day Sunderland. On the north side of the river, Monkwearmouth was settled in 674 when Benedict Biscop founded the Monkwearmouth–Jarrow Abbey, opposite the monastery on the south bank, Bishopwearmouth was founded in 930. A small fishing village called Sunderland, located toward the mouth of the river was granted a charter in 1179, over the centuries, Sunderland grew as a port, trading coal and salt. Ships began to be built on the river in the 14th century, by the 19th century, the port of Sunderland had grown to absorb Bishopwearmouth and Monkwearmouth. More recently, Sunderland has seen growth as a centre for the automotive industry, science & technology. A person who is born or lives around the Sunderland area is colloquially known as a Mackem. Sunderland was created a borough of County Durham in 1835. Under the Local Government Act 1888, it was given the status of a County Borough, independence from county council control. In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, the county borough was abolished and its combined with that of other districts to form the Metropolitan Borough of Sunderland in Tyne. The metropolitan borough was granted city status after winning a competition in 1992 to celebrate the Queens 40th year on the throne, the population of this city taken at the 2011 Census was 275,506. Sunderland has the motto of Nil Desperandum Auspice Deo or Under Gods guidance we may neve despair Much of the city is located on a low range of running parallel to the coast. On average, it is around 80 metres above sea level, Sunderland is divided by the River Wear which passes through the middle of the city in a deeply incised valley, part of which is known as the Hylton gorge. The two road bridges connecting the north and south portions of the city are the Queen Alexandra Bridge at Pallion, to the west of the city, the Hylton Viaduct carries the A19 dual-carriageway over the Wear. Most of the suburbs of Sunderland are situated towards the west of the city centre with 70% of its living on the south side of the river. The city extends to the seafront at Hendon and Ryhope in the south, in Millfield, the streets are all associated with plants, e. g. Chester, Fern, Rose, Hyacinth etc. At 3,874 hectares, Sunderland is the 45th largest urban area in England by measure of area, according to statistics based on the 2001 census, 60% of homes in the Sunderland metropolitan area are owner occupied, with an average household size of 2.4 people
12.
Freedom of the City
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The Freedom of the City is an honor bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. The Freedom of the City can also be granted by municipal authorities to military units which have earned the citys trust, in this context and this allows them the freedom to parade through the city, and is an affirmation of the bond between the regiment and the citizenry. The honor was sometimes accompanied by a box, a small gold box inscribed to record the occasion. In some countries, such as the United States, esteemed residents and visitors may instead be presented with the Key to the City, other cities award Honorary Citizenship, with just a certificate. Freedom of the City is an ancient honor granted to martial organisations, allowing them the privilege to march into the city with drums beating, colours flying and this honor dates back to ancient Rome which regarded the pomerium, the boundary of the city, as sacred. Promagistrates and generals were forbidden from entering it, and resigned their imperium immediately upon crossing it, an exception was made for victory celebrations, during which the victorious general would be permitted to enter for one day only. Under the Republic, soldiers also lost their status when entering, becoming citizens, weapons were also banned inside the pomerium for religious and traditional reasons. Similar laws were passed by other European cities throughout the Medieval era, to public security and civic rights. As a result, soldiers would be forced to camp outside the walls of the city during the winter months. The Freedom of the City was an honor granted only to troops which had earned the trust of the local populace, either through some valiant action or simply by being a familiar presence. Today, martial freedom of the city is an entirely ceremonial honor, usually bestowed upon a unit with historic ties to the area, as a token of appreciation for their long, the awarding of the Freedom is often accompanied by a celebratory parade through the city. A slightly more freedom of the city is connected to the medieval concept of free status. As such, freemen actually pre-date boroughs, early freedom of the boroughs ceremonies had great importance in affirming that the recipient enjoyed privileges such as the right to trade and own property, and protection within the town. Before parliamentary reform in 1832, freedom of the city or town conferred the right to vote in the boroughs for the MPs. Until the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 the freemen were the electorate for the boroughs. These two acts together curtailed the power of the freemen and extended the franchise to all householders, the private property belonging to the freemen collectively was retained. The freemen of York, Oxford and Newcastle upon Tyne still own considerable areas within their towns, the Local Government Act 1972 specifically preserved freemens rights. The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 removed any restrictions entitling only men to be freemen, today, the grant of honorary freedom in the United Kingdom is governed by the Local Government Act 1972
13.
Royal Horse Artillery
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The regiments of the Royal Horse Artillery, dating from 1793, are part of the Royal Regiment of Artillery of the British Army. Horses are still in service for ceremonial purposes but were phased out from deployment during the 1930s. Britain remained in conflict with France for almost 22 years, during which time significant progress was achieved in artillery development. The first two troops of Horse Artillery were raised in January 1793 at Goodwood, East Sussex, by the Master-General of the Ordnance and they were joined by two more troops in November 1793. Each troop had six 6-pounder guns, included in the establishment were 45 drivers and 187 horses, making it the first self-contained fighting unit of artillery. Initially, horses were hired with civilian drivers, in 1794 a Driver Corps was raised which, however, did not formally become a unit of the Royal Artillery until after Waterloo. There were many disadvantages of the control until horses and drivers were organised into the RHA troops. Another development was the formation of a headquarters staff providing a channel between the regiment and the Board of Ordnance, captain John Macleod was the first brigade major and became the first deputy-adjutant-general in 1795. By 1806, eleven troops had been formed, with ten companies of the Royal Irish Artillery incorporated, as the Seventh Battalion, the regiment wore light cavalry uniforms of blue with gold lace and red facings. Their overalls were grey with a red stripe and on their heads they wore the distinctive Tarleton helmets, if needed, they carried 1796 light-cavalry sabres or their own semi-official RHA 1796P sabre. In 1859, the battalion was replaced by brigade. The five Horse Artillery brigades consisted of two batteries each, between 1899 and 1924, the Royal Artillery was divided, with the creation of the Royal Field Artillery which utilised horse for its medium-calibre guns. When the Territorial Force was created in 1908, artillery units of the old Volunteer Force were converted into foot, horse, there were 14 batteries of horse artillery,12 of which belonged to the RHA, the remaining two being provided by the Honourable Artillery Company. Territorial batteries were of four guns each rather than the six guns of regular batteries, the principal weapon of Territorial RHA units was the Ordnance QF15 pounder although the Ordnance BLC15 pounder was issued to some second-line RHA units formed in 1914. At the outbreak of World War I the regular RHA comprised twenty-five batteries and they were equipped with the Ordnance QF13 pounder. In the 1920s, development of trucks and track vehicles brought an end to use of horses. By 1927, medium artillery was drawn by tractors instead of heavy draught horses, by 1937, nine field brigades had been mechanised as well as a brigade of RHA. The last battery to be mechanised was K Battery, in 1939, today, the ceremonial Kings Troop alone retains the glamour of the mounted batteries
14.
Battery (artillery)
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The term is also used in a naval context to describe groups of guns on warships. Historically the term referred to a cluster of cannon in action as a group. Such batteries could be a mixture of cannon, howitzer, or mortar types, a siege could involve many batteries at different sites around the besieged place. The term also came to be used for a group of cannon in a fixed fortification and they were usually organised with between six and 12 ordnance pieces, often including cannon and howitzers. By the late 19th century battery had become standard mostly replacing company or troop, in the 20th century the term was generally used for the company level sub-unit of an artillery branch including field, air-defence, anti-tank and position. 20th-century firing batteries have been equipped with mortars, guns, howitzers, rockets, during the Napoleonic Wars some armies started grouping their batteries into larger administrative and field units. Groups of batteries combined for field combat employment called Grand Batteries by Napoleon, administratively batteries were usually grouped in battalions, regiments or squadrons and these developed into tactical organisations. These were further grouped into regiments, simply group or brigades, to further concentrate fire of individual batteries, from World War I they were grouped into artillery divisions in a few armies. Coastal artillery sometimes had completely different organizational terms based on shore defence sector areas, the rank of a battery commander has also varied, but is usually a lieutenant, captain, or major. The number of guns, howitzers, mortars or launchers in a battery has also varied. In the 19th century four to 12 guns was usual as the number to maneuver into the gun line. By late 19th century the artillery battery was divided into a gun line. The gun line consisted of six guns and 12 ammunition mules, during the American Civil War, artillery batteries often consisted of six field pieces for the Union Army and four for the Confederate States Army, although this varied. Batteries were divided into sections of two guns apiece, each section normally under the command of a lieutenant, the full battery was typically commanded by a captain. Often, particularly as the war progressed, individual batteries were grouped into battalions under a major or colonel of artillery, in the 20th century it varied between four and 12 for field artillery, or even two pieces for very heavy pieces. Other types of such as anti-tank or anti-aircraft have sometimes been larger. Some batteries have been dual-equipped with two different types of gun or mortar, and taking whichever was more appropriate when they deployed for operations, from the late 19th century field artillery batteries started to become more complex organisations. Fixed artillery refers to guns or howitzers on mounts that were anchored in one spot, or on carriages intended to be moved only for the purposes of aiming
15.
C Battery Royal Horse Artillery
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Half of C Bty was deployed on the Jowaki expedition of 1877–8. C Battery, 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, was attached to 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment during a tour of Northern Ireland from May until November 1991. The Battalion, and Battery, were on ops in County Fermanagh, british Army Royal Artillery Royal Horse Artillery List of Royal Artillery Batteries Clarke, W. G. Horse Gunners, The Royal Horse Artillery,200 Years of Panache,3 RHA Past & Present Members Association. British Army units from 1945 on
16.
F (Sphinx) Parachute Battery Royal Horse Artillery
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The Battery was raised in India in 1800 as an experimental Brigade of Horse Artillery. They were immediately sent to Egypt to join the force that was operating against Napoleon’s Army, the Troop sailed to the Red Sea coast where they marched across the desert. This took a toll on the troops and particularly on their horses. The Troop sailed up the Nile to Giza, home of the Sphinx, by the time they were ordered to march to Rosetta the French had given up Alexandria so the Troop never had the glory of facing Napoleons Army in the field. On leaving Egypt the Troop returned to India where they were garrisoned at Dum Dum, in 1926 the honour title Sphinx was awarded to the Battery for services in the 1801 campaign against the French in Egypt. In 1842 the Troop, then known as 1st Troop, 1st Brigade Bengal Horse Artillery was involved in the retreat from Kabul during the First Afghan Campaign. The Troop was part of a force of 4,500 men and 12,000 civilians who left Kabul in January 1842 and were massacred by Afghan tribesmen. The Captain, two officers and 102 NCOs and men were killed in the retreat. ”The Troop was reformed in Dum Dum and saw action in Afghanistan again in the Second Anglo-Afghan War from 1878–80, then renamed A Bty, B Brigade RHA. On 19 April 1880 the Battery was part of a force marching from Kandahar to Ghazni to open up the route to Kabul. They met the enemy at the village of Ahmed Khel where the Battery fought a magnificent action repelling the enemy charge and allowing the main force time to deploy. In describing the action Major May said that “no Artillery has ever called upon to repel a more determined charge, one which no Europeans would have ventured to make at all. ”The following day, at the fort of Ghunzi. One is currently still in India while the other, the Ahmed Khel gun, is owned by the current Battery. The Battery was based at Dum Dum, near Calcutta, for most of the 19th century where it was involved in conflicts and uprisings including the Mahratta War, the Gurkha War. The most renowned campaign the Battery fought during its time in India was during the Indian Mutiny in 1857 where it was involved in the Relief of Lucknow. The Residency at Lucknow had been besieged by Indian Troops for nearly six months before a British relief force, including the Battery, during the fighting Gunner and Rough Rider Edward Jennings received the Victoria Cross for his actions. Jennings was decorated for gallantry for and action that involved the rescue of a British Officer from the hands of the mutineers. Jennings VC is now owned by the Battery and his exploits are remembered by the stripes of the VC ribbon that now adorn the Battery stable belt. Between the wars, the Battery spent several years based at St Johns Wood performing ceremonial duties, at the outbreak of World War II, the Battery moved to Cairo where it became part of 4th RHA
17.
Ordnance QF 25-pounder
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The Ordnance QF 25-pounder, or more simply 25-pounder or 25-pdr, was the major British field gun and howitzer during World War II. It was introduced into service just before the war started, combining high-angle and direct-fire, relatively high rates of fire, and it remained the British Armys primary artillery field piece well into the 1960s, with smaller numbers serving in training units until the 1980s. Many Commonwealth of Nations countries used theirs in active or reserve service until about the 1970s and ammunition for the weapon is currently being produced by Pakistan Ordnance Factories. The design was the result of extended studies looking to replace the 18-pounder field gun and the 4. 5-inch howitzer, the result was a 3.45 inches weapon firing a shell weighing 25 pounds. It was mounted on late model 18-pounder carriages, one of these used a circular firing platform and this was adopted for the new guns. The firing platform was attached to the gun and when lowered the gun was pulled onto it and this platform transferred most of the recoil forces to the ground, instead of using the spade at the end of the trail, making the gun very stable when firing. It also provided a smooth surface for the carriage to rotate on using the road wheels. Unlike the 18-pounder, the 25-pounder used howitzer-type variable-charge ammunition, the 25-pounder was separate-loading, the shell was loaded and rammed, then the cartridge in its brass case was loaded and the breech closed. The use of shell and cartridge allowed the charge to be changed for different ranges. For the Mk 1 Ordnance on an 18-pounder carriage there were three charges, charges one, two and three, all of which could be used in the cartridge design. The Mk 2 Ordnance on Mk 1 carriage added a charge in a different cartridge. In 1943 a separately bagged increment charge was added, used with the Super it provided higher velocity for anti-tank use, the introduction of the increment to super was only possible following the addition of the muzzle-brake in the previous year. Subsequently another type of increment was introduced to be added to charges one, however, this fire required a dial sight adaptor, removal of the platform and some excavation of the ground. In common with all British guns of the period the indirect fire sight was calibrating and this meant that the range, not elevation angle, was set on the sight. The sight compensated for the difference in the guns muzzle velocities from standard, the gun was also fitted with a direct-fire telescope for use with armour-piercing shot. It also used one-man laying in accordance with normal British practice, an important part of the gun was the ammunition trailer. The gun was hooked to it and the trailer hooked to the tractor for towing, the gun did not need a limber and could be hooked directly to a tractor. The trailer provided the brakes as only a hand-brake was fitted to the gun carriage, the trailer carried ammunition, thirty-two rounds in trays in the trailer protected by two doors
18.
Battle of Sidi Rezegh
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Operation Crusader was a military operation by the British Eighth Army between 18 November–30 December 1941 in North Africa during the Second World War. The operation relieved the 1941 Siege of Tobruk, Rommel had to withdraw his armoured units to support the fighting at Tobruk. It was the first victory over the German ground forces by British-led forces in the Second World War, following the costly failure of Operation Battleaxe, General Archibald Wavell was relieved as Commander-in-Chief Middle East Command and replaced by General Claude Auchinleck. The Western Desert Force was reorganised and renamed the Eighth Army under the command of Lieutenant-General Alan Cunningham replaced by Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchie, the Eighth Army comprised two Corps, XXX Corps under Lieutenant-General Willoughby Norrie and XIII Corps under Lieutenant-General Reade Godwin-Austen. XXX Corps was made up of 7th Armoured Division, the understrength South African 1st Infantry Division with two brigades of the Sudan Defence Force and the independent 22nd Guards Brigade. XIII Corps comprised 4th Indian Infantry Division, the newly arrived 2nd New Zealand Division, the Australian Major-General Leslie Morshead had been succeeded as Allied commander at Tobruk by the British Major-General Ronald Scobie. However, by November, the Australian 20th Brigade remained in Tobruk, in reserve, the Eighth Army had the South African 2nd Infantry Division, making a total equivalent of about 7 divisions with 770 tanks. Directly under the Italian High Command, remained Italian XX Corps, the Italian XX Corps under Lieutenant General Gastone Gambara with 132nd Armoured Division Ariete with 146 medium tanks M13/40 and 101st Motorised Division Trieste. The Axis forces had built a line of strong points along the escarpment running from near the sea at Bardia and Sollum. Axis initial air support consisted of about 120 German and 200 Italian serviceable aeroplanes but these could be reinforced quickly by transfer of units from Greece, a German motorised division needed 360 tonnes per day and moving the supplies 480 kilometres took 1,1702. 0-tonne lorries. With seven Axis divisions, air and naval units,71,000 tonnes of supplies per month were needed. From February–May 1941, a surplus of 46,000 tonnes was delivered, attacks from Malta had some effect but in May, lack of transport in Libya left German supplies in Tripoli and the Italians had only 7,000 lorries for deliveries to 225,000 men. A record amount of supplies arrived in June but at the front, in November a five-ship convoy was sunk during Operation Crusader and ground attacks on road convoys stopped journeys in daylight. Lack of deliveries and the Eighth Army offensive forced a retreat to El Agheila from 4 December, crowding the Via Balbia, where British ambushes destroyed about half of the remaining Axis transport. Convoys to Tripoli resumed and sinkings increased but by 16 December, the situation had eased, except for the fuel shortage and in December. The Vichy French sold 3,700 tonnes of fuel, U-boats were ordered into the Mediterranean, the Italian navy used warships to carry fuel to Derna and Benghazi, then made a maximum effort from 16–17 December. Four battleships, three cruisers and 20 destroyers escorted four ships to Libya. The use of an armada for 20,000 tonnes of cargo ships depleted the navy fuel reserve, bizerta in Tunisia was canvassed as an entrepôt but this was in range of RAF aircraft from Malta and was another 800 kilometres west of Tripoli
19.
Western Desert (Egypt)
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The Western Desert of Egypt is an area of the Sahara which lies west of the river Nile, up to the Libyan border, and south from the Mediterranean sea to the border with Sudan. It is named in contrast to the Eastern Desert which extends east from the Nile to Red Sea, the Western Desert is mostly rocky desert, though an area of sandy desert, known as the Great Sand Sea, lies to the west against the Libyan border. The desert covers an area of 262,800 sq miles which is two-thirds of the area of the country. Its highest elevation is 3,300 ft in the Gilf Kebir plateau to the far south-west of the country, the Western Desert is barren and uninhabited save for a chain of oases which extend in an arc from Siwa, in the north-west, to Kharga in the south. However it has been the scene of conflict in modern times and he also states that little of the area conforms to the romantic view. These lie in an arc from Siwa in the north-west near the Libyan border, to Bahariya, Farafra, Dakhla, east of Siwa lies the Qattara Depression, a low-lying area dotted with salt marsh and extending 190 miles west to east and 84 miles north to south. Further to the east, near the Nile, another depression gives rise to the Fayyum Oasis, to the south, beyond the Bahariya oasis lies the Black Desert, an area of black volcanic hills and dolerite deposits. Beyond this, north of Farafra, lies the White Desert, an area of wind-sculpted chalk rock formations, which give the area its name. To the south of Kharga the plateau rises towards the Gilf Kebir, an upland region lying astride the Egypt-Sudan border and home to pre-historic sites such as the Cave of Swimmers. In the south-west, near the point where the borders of Libya, Sudan and Egypt meet, is an area of glass, thought to have been formed by a meteorite strike at Kebira. The Great Sand Sea is a roughly lung-shaped area of sandy desert lying astride the border with Libya,200 miles inland from the Mediterranean. The sea is divided by a peninsula of rocky desert along the border, leaving the eastern lobe in Egypt and the western in Libya. On the Egyptian side it extends from a point south of Siwa for 400 miles into the interior, the Western Desert was known historically as the Libyan Desert, taking its name from Ancient Libya, which lay between the Nile and Cyrenaica. With the formation of the state of Libya, the term Western Desert has come to describe part of the Sahara in Egypt. To the Ancient Greeks, the term Libya described the whole Saharan littoral west of the Nile to the Atlas mountains. During Roman times the term Libya was limited to Cyrenaica and the region between there and Egypt, which were organized as the provinces of Libya Superior and Libya Inferior, the term Libyan Desert then applied to the area to the south of these. Playfair described the Western Desert of 1940 as being 240 miles wide and 150 miles wide, the contemporary use of the term refers to the entire desert in Egypt west of the Nile. It is thought over-grazing and climate led to desertification and the current geography
20.
Brigadier
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Brigadier /brɪɡəˈdɪər/ is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general. In other countries, it is a non-commissioned rank, in many countries, especially those formerly part of the British Empire, a brigadier is either the highest field rank or most junior general appointment, nominally commanding a brigade. It ranks above colonel and below major general, the rank is used by the British Army, the Royal Marines, the Australian Army, the Indian Army, the Sri Lankan Army, the New Zealand Army, the Pakistan Army and several others. Although it is not always considered an officer rank, it is always considered equivalent to the brigadier general. In NATO forces, brigadier is OF-6 on the rank scale, the grade of brigadier-general, also called, almost interchangeably, brigadier, first appeared in the British army during the reign of King James II. A warrant of 1705 placed the grade directly below major-general, but the appointment was considered temporary. The British were ambiguous over whether the holder was considered an officer or a senior field grade office. The title is derived from the equivalent British rank of brigadier-general, used until 1922, Brigadier was already in use as a generic term for a commander of a brigade irrespective of specific rank. Until the rank was dissolved in 1922, brigadier-generals wore a crossed sword, colonel-commandant was only ever used for officers commanding brigades, depots or training establishments. Officers holding equivalent rank in administrative appointments were known as colonels on the staff, colonel-commandants and colonels on the staff wore the same rank badge later adopted by brigadiers. Until shortly after World War II, brigadier was an appointment conferred on colonels rather than a substantive rank, in Commonwealth countries, and most Arabic-speaking countries, the rank insignia comprises a crown with three stars, which are often arranged in a triangle. A brigadiers uniform may also have red gorget patches and it is otherwise similar to that of a colonel The Canadian Army used the rank of brigadier until the unification of the Canadian Forces in 1968. The rank then became brigadier-general with the insignia of St. Edwards Crown surmounting a crossed sword, until 1788, a rank of brigadier des armées, which could be described as a senior colonel or junior brigade commander, was used in the French Army. The normal brigade command rank was field marshal, during the French Revolution, the ranks of brigadier des armées and maréchal de camp were replaced by brigade general. In common with countries, France now uses the officer rank of brigade general instead of a brigadier rank. The brigadier des armées held a one-star insignia, while the général de brigade inherited the maréchal de camp two-stars insignia, the disparition of the brigadier rank is the reason that there is no one-star insignia in the French Army. The rank of a brigadier was established by Felipe V in 1702 as a rank between colonel and true generals
21.
Jock Campbell (British Army officer)
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Campbell was born in Thurso and educated at Sedbergh School. In 1915, he was commissioned into the Royal Horse Artillery and he became a first class horseman and also a first class artillery officer. He was awarded the Military Cross in the First World War, when the Second World War broke out Campbell was 45 years old and a major commanding a battery in the 4th Regiment Royal Horse Artillery in Egypt. When Italy declared war in June 1940, Campbell, by then a lieutenant colonel, was commanding the artillery component of 7th Armoured Divisions Support Group under Brigadier William Gott, Campbells brilliant command of one of these columns led to them being given the generic name Jock columns. In April 1941 Campbell was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, in September 1941 Gott was promoted to command 7th Armoured Division and Campbell took over command 7th Support Group as an acting brigadier. In November 1941 during Operation Crusader, 7th Support Group was occupying the airfield at Sidi Rezegh, south of Tobruk, on 21 November 1941 they were attacked by the two armoured divisions of the Afrika Korps. The British tanks suffered losses but prevented the Germans taking the airfield. Brigadier Campbells small force, holding important ground, was attacked and wherever the fighting was hardest he was to be seen either on foot. When the car began to fall behind, he leapt on to the side of a tank as it went forward and they say that Campbell won the VC half a dozen times that day. The men loved this Elizabethan figure and he was the reality of all the pirate yarns and tales of high adventure, and in the extremes of fear and courage of the battle he had only courage. He went laughing into the fighting, the following day he was again at the forefront, encouraging his troops through continued enemy attacks. He personally directed the fire of his batteries, and twice manned a gun himself to replace casualties, though wounded, he refused to be evacuated during the final German attack. His leadership did much to maintain the spirit of his men. For his actions during the battle, Campbell was awarded the Victoria Cross and he purportedly received a letter of congratulation from General Johann von Ravenstein, commander of the 21st Panzer Division, one of the armoured formations which Campbell had faced at Sidi Rezegh. In February 1942 Campbell was promoted general and given command of 7th Armoured Division. Three weeks after his promotion Campbell was killed when his jeep overturned on a newly laid clay road, the driver of the jeep, Major Roy Farran, and the other passengers were thrown clear from the wreck and knocked unconscious. Farran had been Campbells Aide-de-Camp, and later admitted considering suicide while waiting for medical help, during the Western Desert Campaign Campbell was considered one of finest commanders in the Eighth Army, an old desert hand who had been in North Africa from the start of the war. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Royal Artillery Museum, Woolwich, on the 21st November Brigadier Campbell was commanding the troops, including one regiment of tanks, in the area of Sidi Rezegh ridge and the aerodrome
22.
Victoria Cross
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The Victoria Cross is the highest award of the United Kingdom honours system. It is awarded for gallantry in the face of the enemy to members of the British armed forces and it was previously awarded to Commonwealth countries, most of which have established their own honours systems and no longer recommend British honours. It may be awarded to a person of any rank in any service. Since the first awards were presented by Queen Victoria in 1857 and these investitures are usually held at Buckingham Palace. The VC was introduced on 29 January 1856 by Queen Victoria to honour acts of valour during the Crimean War, since then, the medal has been awarded 1,358 times to 1,355 individual recipients. Only 15 medals,11 to members of the British Army, the traditional explanation of the source of the metal from which the medals are struck is that it derives from Russian cannon captured at the Siege of Sevastopol. Some research has suggested a variety of origins for the material, research has established that the metal for most of the medals made since December 1914 came from two Chinese cannons that were captured from the Russians in 1855. Owing to its rarity, the VC is highly prized and the medal has fetched over £400,000 at auction, a number of public and private collections are devoted to the Victoria Cross. The private collection of Lord Ashcroft, amassed since 1986, contains over one-tenth of all VCs awarded, following a 2008 donation to the Imperial War Museum, the Ashcroft collection went on public display alongside the museums Victoria and George Cross collection in November 2010. These are unique awards of honours system, recommended, assessed, gazetted and presented by each country. In 1854, after 39 years of peace, Britain found itself fighting a war against Russia. The Crimean War was one of the first wars with modern reporting, before the Crimean War, there was no official standardised system for recognition of gallantry within the British armed forces. This structure was limited, in practice awards of the Order of the Bath were confined to officers of field rank. Brevet promotions or Mentions in Despatches were largely confined to those who were under the notice of the commanders in the field. Other European countries had awards that did not discriminate against class or rank, France awarded the Légion dhonneur and The Netherlands gave the Order of William. There was a feeling among the public and in the Royal Court that a new award was needed to recognise incidents of gallantry that were unconnected with a mans lengthy or meritorious service. Queen Victoria issued a Warrant under the Royal sign-manual on 29 January 1856 that officially constituted the VC, the order was backdated to 1854 to recognise acts of valour during the Crimean War. Queen Victoria had instructed the War Office to strike a new medal that would not recognise birth or class, the medal was meant to be a simple decoration that would be highly prized and eagerly sought after by those in the military services
23.
Kiel
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Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 240,832. Kiel lies approximately 90 kilometres north of Hamburg, for instance, the city is known for a variety of international sailing events, including the annual Kiel Week, which is the biggest sailing event in the world. The Olympic sailing competitions of the 1936 and the 1972 Summer Olympics were held in Kiel, Kiel has also been one of the traditional homes of the German Navys Baltic fleet, and continues to be a major high-tech shipbuilding centre. Located in Kiel is the GEOMAR - Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel at the University of Kiel, Kiel is an important sea transport hub, thanks to its location on the Kiel Fjord and the busiest artificial waterway in the world, Kiel Canal. A number of ferries to Sweden, Norway, Russia. Moreover, today Kiel harbour is an important port of call for cruise ships touring the Baltic Sea, Kiel was one of the founding cities of original European Green Capital Award in 2006. In 2005 Kiels GDP per capita was €35,618, which is well above Germanys national average, within Germany and parts of Europe, the city is known for its leading handball team, THW Kiel. The city is home to the University of Kiel, Kiel Fjord was probably first settled by Normans or Vikings who wanted to colonize the land which they had raided, and for many years they settled in German villages. This is evidenced by the geography and architecture of the fjord, the city of Kiel was founded in 1233 as Holstenstadt tom Kyle by Count Adolf IV of Holstein, and granted Lübeck city rights in 1242 by Adolfs eldest son, John I of Schauenburg. Being a part of Holstein, Kiel belonged to the Holy Roman Empire and was situated only a few south of the Danish border. Kiel, the capital of the county of Holstein, was a member of the Hanseatic League from 1284 until it was expelled in 1518 for harbouring pirates, the University of Kiel was founded on 29 September 1665, by Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. A number of important scholars, including Theodor Mommsen, Felix Jacoby, Hans Geiger and Max Planck, from 1773 to 1864, the town belonged to the King of Denmark. However, because the king ruled Holstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire only through a personal union, thus Kiel belonged to Germany, but it was ruled by the Danish king. Even though the Empire was abolished in 1806, the Danish king continued to rule Kiel only through his position as Duke of Holstein, when Schleswig and Holstein rebelled against Denmark in 1848, Kiel became the capital of Schleswig-Holstein until the Danish victory in 1850. On 24 March 1865 King William I based Prussias Baltic Sea fleet in Kiel instead of Danzig, the Imperial shipyard Kiel was established in 1867 in the town. When William I of Prussia became Emperor William I of the German Empire in 1871, he designated Kiel, the prestigious Kiel Yacht Club was established in 1887 with Prince Henry of Prussia as its patron. Emperor Wilhelm II became its commodore in 1891, because of its new role as Germanys main naval base, Kiel very quickly increased in size in the following years, from 18,770 in 1864 to about 200,000 in 1910. Much of the old centre and other surroundings were levelled and redeveloped to provide for the growing city
24.
Hohne
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Hohne is a municipality in the state of Lower Saxony in Germany, east of the county town of Celle. It includes the three parishes of Hohne, Helmerkamp and Spechtshorn. It should not be confused with the British Army camp of Hohne near Belsen about 30 km to the northwest, Hohne lies on the River Wiehe, a right-hand tributary of the Schwarzwasser, which itself flows into the River Aller near Schwachhausen. This monastery was founded before 1115 by Margravine Gertrud von Braunschweig of Meissen, the majority of inhabitants in Hohne are Lutheran Protestants and belong to the parish of the Church of the Ascension. Also in the parish of Hohne are the villages of Helmerkamp, Hahnenhorn, Spechtshorn, Pollhöfen and it was probably an earth mound on which a wooden tower formerly stood. To date only wooden remains have been found and these structures were built across Europe from western France to present-day eastern Poland in the 9th and 10th centuries, sometimes even as late as the early 13th century. One archaeologist has suggested that it could be part of a network extending outwards from Beedenbostel. More detailed research into the age of the stakes that have been found on the site has not yet been possible due to financial constraints. As a result it can only be surmised that the castle was built before AD995, the Mundburg itself was built by the old confluence of the rivers Aller and Oker near Wienhausen. Areas of cobbles and large fragments of old foundations can still be found 0.7 metres under the present-day surface of the land. As at Hesleburg castle near Heeßel, and the castles of Depenau and Dachtmissen on the Aue in Flotwedel, in the 20th century part of the building was moved to other locations in the estate. The 1913 neo-romanesque Church of the Ascension in Hohne inherited the altar, organ, pulpit and font of its predecessor church. Hohne is also home to the Hohne Ice House, which is run by one of the oldest ice house societies in Lower Saxony, there is a primary school and a public library. Since 1970 the German Red Cross has run Hohne kindergarten, educational trips are organised by the Hohne Countrywomans Society. The sports club, TuS Hohne/Spechtshorn, is involved in ball sports, track and field athletics. The Hohne/Spechtshorn Woodland Swimming Pool Society looks after the swimming pool. Youth swimming passes can be bought from the branch of the German Lifeguard Association. The Hohne Village History Society has been putting together the history since 2002 under the direction of Rainer Brammer
25.
7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery
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7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery is a regiment of the Royal Artillery in the British Army. It currently serves in the artillery role with 16 Air Assault Brigade. The regiment was constituted in 1961 out of existing batteries that have served continuously since the Napoleonic Wars, the regiment was formed on 27 June 1961 with the re-designation of 33rd Parachute Light Regiment Royal Artillery as 7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery. The regiment first saw action in the middle-east in Kuwait in 1961, in 1994 the regiment deployed to Cyprus as part of the UN mission to patrol the buffer-zone between Cypriot and Turkish forces. This was followed in 1996–97 with two battery deployments to Bosnia as part of the NATO mission and the Kosovo campaign of 1999, since the formation of 16 Air Assault Brigade in 1999,7 Para RHA has been involved in numerous overseas operations. The Sierra Leone campaign in summer 2000 was followed by Op Essential Harvest in Macedonia a year later, on the afternoon of 19 March 20037 Para RHA fired the first shots of the Iraq war by any coalition ground forces. The next day crossed the border in support of the US I Marine Expeditionary Force. The regiment was instrumental in securing the strategic Rumalya oilfields and supporting the MEF in their north to Nasiriyah. In late 2003 the regiment moved from Aldershot to Colchester to join the rest of 16 Air Assault Brigade,2006 saw the first of the regiments three tours of Afghanistan. The first of these saw the regiment play a key role in the break into Helmand province and this tour attracted much public attention and has often been described as the most intense combat fighting since the Korean War of the 1950s. 7 Para RHA’s final deployment to Afghanistan saw the Regiment’s gun groups, in May 2013, V Battery was disbanded. In September 2013, it was part of Exercise Sphinx Resolve, the Regiment also had an Airborne Air Defence element when part of 5 Airborne Brigade. Better known as P Troop this band of warriors consisted of soldiers who were the most highly trained. P Troop moved to Thorney Island for a period before being disbanded. British Army units from 1945 on
26.
1st (United Kingdom) Division
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The 1st Division, formerly the 1st Armoured Division, is a division of the British Army, currently the only British division to be stationed in Germany. Originally formed in November 1937 as the Mobile Division, it saw service during World War II and was disbanded afterwards, reconstituted in 1976. It should not be confused with the 1st Infantry Division, which saw service in World War II as a separate formation, the division was formed in November 1937 on the initiative of General Sir Archibald Montgomery-Massingberd, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff. At the time, it was named The Mobile Division, the choice of General Officer Commanding reflected the tensions within the army. The Secretary of State for War wanted a Royal Tank Corps officer as tanks would be the force of the division. The compromise was the appointment of Major-General Alan Brooke RA, when Brooke was promoted, his replacement was a cavalry officer. The Mobile Division was formed with the 1st and 2nd Light Armoured Brigades and its paper strength was 620 armoured fighting vehicles but 7⁄8 of these were reconnaissance vehicles and some were simulated by trucks. The heavier tanks were in the brigade, which had obsolete medium tanks until cruiser tank deliveries began in December 1938. At the same time, the organization of the division was changed to a Light Armoured Brigade, a Heavy Armoured Brigade, in practice, with insufficient cruiser tanks to equip the division, there was no difference in numbers and type of tanks between the light and heavy brigades. It then embarked for Egypt under the command of Major-General Herbert Lumsden, after Major-General Lumsden was wounded, Major-General Frank Messervy took command in January 1942, retaining command until Major-General Lumsden returned in March. In August 1942, Major-General Raymond Briggs was appointed to command, from the end of the campaign in Tunisia in May 1943, which saw the surrender of almost 250,000 German and Italian soldiers, the 1st Armoured Division remained in North Africa until May 1944. The division, minus the 18th Lorried Infantry Brigade, then transferred to the Italian Front, the division came under command of V Corps, under Lieutenant-General Charles Keightley, of the Eighth Army, commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir Oliver Leese. The 1st Armoured Division was the only British division, of six in total, to have fought at Alamein under Eighth Army command, to rejoin the army in Italy. Major-General Richard Hull, aged just 37 and three months who became Chief of the General Staff, took command for this part of the campaign in August 1944. The division was disbanded on 11 January 1945. The 1st Armoured Division was constituted as follows and shows some of the changes that were made to British armoured formations during the war. It was reformed as the 1st Division following the disbandment of the 1st Infantry Division and was based with the British Army of the Rhine at Verden an der Aller in West Germany. During the 1970s, the division consisted of two brigades, the 7th Armoured Brigade and 22nd Armoured Brigade
27.
Aldershot Garrison
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Aldershot Garrison, also known as Aldershot Military Town, is a major garrison in South East England, located between Aldershot and Farnborough in Hampshire. Established in 1854, Aldershot has long seen as the home of the British Army. The garrison was established when the War Department bought an area of land near to the village of Aldershot. Over time, this grew into a military town and continues to be used by the Army to the present day. It is home to the headquarters of the Armys Support Command, the garrison plays host to around 70 military units and organisations. In 1972, the garrison was the site of one of the worst UK mainland IRA attacks of the time when a car bomb was detonated outside the mess of 16 Parachute Brigade. The Official IRA claimed responsibility, stating that the attack was in revenge for the shootings in Derry that came to be known as Bloody Sunday, at the time of the attack, Aldershot garrison was an entirely open garrison. Following the attack the Army took steps to secure the garrison by erecting security fences around most of the barracks and lines, the Garrison area covers approximately 500 acres. The total garrison population is about 10,500, adjacent to the military town is some 2,700 hectares of open military training area. Established in 1854, Aldershot has long seen as the home of the British Army. The garrison was established when the War Department bought an area of land near to the village of Aldershot. Over time, this grew into a military town and continues to be used by the Army to the present day. Before the establishment of the Camp at Aldershot, the British Army did not have any single permanent camp for training troops on a large scale. Historically, troops had stationed in long established garrisons, many of which could trace their histories back as mediaeval, or earlier. In 1852, following the death of The Iron Duke, a group of reformers, in 1853, a summer camp was established at Chobham Common and two divisional size military exercises were conducted. Following the success of these manoeuvres, it was decided that a permanent camp was needed where such exercises could be regularly conducted. Initially, Reigate was selected as a location that was strategically sound, despite its obvious advantages, Reigate was situated in prime agricultural land that would prove too expensive to purchase. Lord Hardinge suggested Aldershot Heath as the location for the new training area, as land was less expensive, in January 1854, the British Governments War Department purchased areas of heathland around the small village of Aldershot at £12 an acre
28.
Falkland Islands
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The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about 300 miles east of South Americas southern Patagonian coast, the archipelago, with an area of 4,700 square miles, comprises East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 smaller islands. As a British overseas territory, the Falklands have internal self-governance, the islands capital is Stanley on East Falkland. Controversy exists over the Falklands discovery and subsequent colonisation by Europeans, at various times, the islands have had French, British, Spanish, and Argentine settlements. Britain reasserted its rule in 1833, although Argentina maintains its claim to the islands, in April 1982, Argentine forces temporarily occupied the islands. British administration was restored two months later at the end of the Falklands War, most Falklanders favour the archipelago remaining a UK overseas territory, but its sovereignty status is part of an ongoing dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom. The population primarily consists of native-born Falkland Islanders, the majority of British descent, other ethnicities include French, Gibraltarian and Scandinavian. Immigration from the United Kingdom, the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena, under the British Nationality Act 1983, Falkland Islanders are British citizens. The islands lie on the boundary of the oceanic and tundra climate zones. They are home to bird populations, although many no longer breed on the main islands because of competition from introduced species. Major economic activities include fishing, tourism and sheep farming, with an emphasis on high-quality wool exports, oil exploration, licensed by the Falkland Islands Government, remains controversial as a result of maritime disputes with Argentina. The Falkland Islands take their name from the Falkland Sound, a strait separating the two main islands. The name Falkland was applied to the channel by John Strong, Strong named the strait in honour of Anthony Cary, 5th Viscount of Falkland, the Treasurer of the Navy who sponsored their journey. The name Falklands was not applied to the islands until 1765, the term Falklands is a standard abbreviation used to refer to the islands. The Spanish name for the archipelago, Islas Malvinas, derives from the French Îles Malouines — the name given to the islands by French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville in 1764, Bougainville, who founded the islands first settlement, named the area after the port of Saint-Malo. The port, located in the Brittany region of western France, was in turn named after St. Malo, in Spanish, the territory was designated as Islas Malvinas. The nomenclature used by the United Nations for statistical processing purposes is Falkland Islands, although Fuegians from Patagonia may have visited the Falkland Islands in prehistoric times, the islands were uninhabited at the time of their discovery by Europeans. Claims of discovery date back to the 16th century, but no consensus exists on whether these early explorers discovered the Falklands or other islands in the South Atlantic, whether or not the settlements were aware of each others existence is debated by historians
29.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina, and, in short, often known informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeastern Europe located on the Balkan Peninsula. Sarajevo is the capital and largest city, in the central and eastern interior of the country the geography is mountainous, in the northwest it is moderately hilly, and the northeast is predominantly flatland. The inland is a larger region and has a moderate continental climate, with hot summers and cold. The southern tip of the country has a Mediterranean climate and plain topography, Bosnia and Herzegovina is a region that traces permanent human settlement back to the Neolithic age, during and after which it was populated by several Illyrian and Celtic civilizations. Culturally, politically, and socially, the country has a rich history, the Ottomans brought Islam to the region, and altered much of the cultural and social outlook of the country. This was followed by annexation into the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, which lasted up until World War I. In the interwar period, Bosnia was part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and after World War II, following the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the country proclaimed independence in 1992, which was followed by the Bosnian War, lasting until late 1995. The country is home to three ethnic groups or, officially, constituent peoples, as specified in the constitution. Bosniaks are the largest group of the three, with Serbs second and Croats third, a native of Bosnia and Herzegovina, regardless of ethnicity, is identified in English as a Bosnian. The terms Herzegovinian and Bosnian are maintained as a rather than ethnic distinction. Moreover, the country was simply called Bosnia until the Austro-Hungarian occupation at the end of the 19th century, Bosnia and Herzegovina has a bicameral legislature and a three-member Presidency composed of a member of each major ethnic group. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is itself complex and consists of 10 cantons, additionally, the country has been a member of the Council of Europe since April 2002 and a founding member of the Mediterranean Union upon its establishment in July 2008. The name is believed to have derived from the hydronym of the river Bosna coursing through the Bosnian heartland. According to philologist Anton Mayer the name Bosna could be derived from Illyrian Bass-an-as which would be a diversion of the Proto-Indo-European root bos or bogh, meaning the running water. According to English medievalist William Miller the Slavic settlers in Bosnia adapted the Latin designation Basante, to their own idiom by calling the stream Bosna, the name Herzegovina originates from Bosnian magnate Stephen Vukčić Kosačas title, Herceg of Hum and the Coast. Hum, formerly Zahumlje, was a medieval principality that was conquered by the Bosnian Banate in the first half of the 14th century. Bosnia is located in the western Balkans, bordering Croatia to the north and west, Serbia to the east and it has a coastline about 20 kilometres long surrounding the city of Neum. It lies between latitudes 42° and 46° N, and longitudes 15° and 20° E, the countrys name comes from the two regions Bosnia and Herzegovina, which have a very vaguely defined border between them
30.
Republic of Macedonia
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Macedonia, officially the Republic of Macedonia, is a country in the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the states of the former Yugoslavia. A landlocked country, the Republic of Macedonia has borders with Kosovo to the northwest, Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south, the countrys geography is defined primarily by mountains, valleys, and rivers. The capital and largest city, Skopje, is home to roughly a quarter of the nations 2.06 million inhabitants, the majority of the residents are ethnic Macedonians, a South Slavic people. Albanians form a significant minority at around 25 percent, followed by Turks, Romani, Serbs, Macedonias history dates back to antiquity, beginning with the kingdom of Paeonia, a Thracian polity. In the late sixth century BCE the area was incorporated into the Persian Achaemenid Empire, the Romans conquered the region in the second century BCE and made it part of the much larger province of Macedonia. Macedonia remained part of the Byzantine Empire, and was raided and settled by Slavic peoples beginning in the sixth century CE. Following centuries of contention between the Bulgarian and Byzantine empires, it came under Ottoman dominion from the 14th century. Between the late 19th and early 20th century, a distinct Macedonian identity emerged, although following the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913, Macedonia remained a constituent socialist republic within Yugoslavia until its peaceful secession in 1991. Macedonia is a member of the UN and of the Council of Europe, since 2005 it has also been a candidate for joining the European Union and has applied for NATO membership. Although one of the poorest countries in Europe, Macedonia has made significant progress in developing an open, the countrys name derives from the Greek Μακεδονία, a kingdom named after the ancient Macedonians. The name is believed to have meant either highlanders or the tall ones. However, Robert S. P. Beekes supports that both terms are of Pre-Greek substrate origin and cannot be explained in terms of Indo-European morphology, the Republic of Macedonia roughly corresponds to the ancient kingdom of Paeonia, which was located immediately north of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia. In the late 6th century BC, the Achaemenid Persians under Darius the Great conquered the Paeonians, following the loss in the Second Persian invasion of Greece in 479 BC, the Persians eventually withdrew from their European territories, including from what is today the Republic of Macedonia. In 356 BC Philip II of Macedon absorbed the regions of Upper Macedonia, the Romans established the Province of Macedonia in 146 BC. Roman expansion brought the Scupi area under Roman rule in the time of Domitian, and it fell within the Province of Moesia. Whilst Greek remained the dominant language in the part of the Roman empire. Slavic peoples settled in the Balkan region including Macedonia by the late 6th century AD, during the 580s, Byzantine literature attests to the Slavs raiding Byzantine territories in the region of Macedonia, later aided by Bulgars. Historical records document that in c.680 a group of Bulgars, Slavs and Byzantines led by a Bulgar called Kuber settled in the region of the Keramisian plain, presians reign apparently coincides with the extension of Bulgarian control over the Slavic tribes in and around Macedonia
31.
Kosovo
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Kosovo is a disputed territory and partially recognised state in Southeastern Europe that declared independence from Serbia in February 2008 as the Republic of Kosovo. Kosovo is landlocked in the central Balkan Peninsula, with its strategic position in the Balkans, it serves as an important link in the connection between central and south Europe, the Adriatic Sea, and Black Sea. Its capital and largest city is Pristina, and other urban areas include Prizren, Pejë. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, the Republic of Macedonia to the southeast, Montenegro to the west, while Serbia recognises administration of the territory by Kosovos elected government, it still continues to claim it as its own Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija. In antiquity, the Dardanian Kingdom, and later the Roman province of Dardania was located in the region, the area was inhabited by several ancient Illyrian tribes. In the Middle Ages, it was part of the Byzantine, Bulgarian and Serbian Empires, Kosovo was the core of the medieval Serbian state and it has been the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church from the 14th century when its status was upgraded into a patriarchate. After being part of the Ottoman Empire from the 15th to the early 20th century, the war ended with a military intervention of NATO, which forced the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to withdraw its troops from Kosovo, which became a UN protectorate under UNSCR1244. On 17 February 2008 Kosovos Parliament declared independence and it has since gained diplomatic recognition as a sovereign state by 111 UN member states, Taiwan, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, the Cook Islands and Niue. Serbia refuses to recognise Kosovo as a state, although with the Brussels Agreement of 2013 it has accepted the legitimacy of Kosovar institutions, the entire region is commonly referred to in English simply as Kosovo and in Albanian as Kosova or Kosovë. The name of the plain was applied to the Kosovo Province created in 1864, Albanians refer to Kosovo as Dardania, the name of a Roman province located in Central Balkans that was formed in 284 AD which covered the territory of modern Kosovo. The name is derived from the Albanian word dardha/dardā which means pear, the former Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova had been an enthusiastic backer of a Dardanian identity and the Kosovan flag and presidential seal refer to this national identity. However, the name Kosova remains more widely used among the Albanian population, the official conventional long name of the state is Republic of Kosovo, as defined by the Constitution of Kosovo, and is used to represent Kosovo internationally. This arrangement, which has dubbed the asterisk agreement, was agreed in an 11-point arrangement agreed on 24 February 2012. By the independence declaration in 2008, its long name became Republic of Kosovo. In prehistory, the succeeding Starčevo culture, Vinča culture, Bubanj-Hum culture, the area in and around Kosovo has been inhabited for nearly 10,000 years. During the Neolithic age, Kosovo lay within the area of the Vinča-Turdaş culture which is characterised by West Balkan black, bronze and Iron Age tombs have been found in Metohija. However, life during the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age is not confirmed yet, therefore, until arguments of Paleolithic and Mesolithic man are confirmed, Neolithic man, respectively the Neolithic sites are considered as the chronological beginning of population in Kosovo. From this period until today Kosovo has been inhabited, and traces of activities of societies from prehistoric, ancient, whereas, in some archaeological sites, multilayer settlements clearly reflect the continuity of life through centuries
32.
Iraq
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The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds, others include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, around 95% of the countrys 36 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism, and Mandeanism also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish, two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land, the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation. It was here that mankind first began to read, write, create laws, the area has been home to successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC. Iraq was the centre of the Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian and it was also part of the Median, Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Ayyubid, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires. Iraqs modern borders were mostly demarcated in 1920 by the League of Nations when the Ottoman Empire was divided by the Treaty of Sèvres, Iraq was placed under the authority of the United Kingdom as the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. A monarchy was established in 1921 and the Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from Britain in 1932, in 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Iraqi Republic created. Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Baath Party from 1968 until 2003, after an invasion by the United States and its allies in 2003, Saddam Husseins Baath Party was removed from power and multi-party parliamentary elections were held in 2005. The American presence in Iraq ended in 2011, but the Iraqi insurgency continued and intensified as fighters from the Syrian Civil War spilled into the country, the Arabic name العراق al-ʿIrāq has been in use since before the 6th century. There are several suggested origins for the name, one dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk and is thus ultimately of Sumerian origin, as Uruk was the Akkadian name for the Sumerian city of Urug, containing the Sumerian word for city, UR. An Arabic folk etymology for the name is rooted, well-watered. During the medieval period, there was a region called ʿIrāq ʿArabī for Lower Mesopotamia and ʿIrāq ʿajamī, for the region now situated in Central and Western Iran. The term historically included the south of the Hamrin Mountains. The term Sawad was also used in early Islamic times for the region of the plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In English, it is either /ɪˈrɑːk/ or /ɪˈræk/, the American Heritage Dictionary, the pronunciation /aɪˈræk/ is frequently heard in U. S. media. Since approximately 10,000 BC, Iraq was one of centres of a Caucasoid Neolithic culture where agriculture, the following Neolithic period is represented by rectangular houses. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gypsum, finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations
33.
Operation Telic
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The bulk of the mission ended on 30 April 2009 but around 150 troops, mainly from the Royal Navy, remained in Iraq until 22 May 2011 as part of the Iraqi Training and Advisory Mission. 46,000 troops were deployed at the onset of the invasion, Operation Telic was one of the largest deployments of British forces since World War II. It was only approached in size by the 1991 Operation Granby deployment for the Gulf War and the 1956 Operation Musketeer Suez Crisis deployment. It was considerably larger than the 1982 Operation Corporate in the Falklands War, which saw around 30,000 personnel deployed and the Korean War, which saw fewer than 20,000 personnel deployed. Notice that additional British forces were deploying to the region was given in three separate Commons statements by Geoff Hoon Secretary of State for Defence, on 7 January, the deployment of naval forces and Royal Marines was announced. 20 January saw the land forces deployment announced and 6 February the air forces and they were ready in time for hostilities to start on 19 March. The deployment used 64 British and foreign flagged merchant vessels, Telic means a purposeful or defined action. The force was commanded by a three-star tri-service headquarters, the commander of the operation was Air Marshal Brian Burridge, with Major General Peter Wall acting as his Chief of Staff. The headquarters was situated at CENTCOM headquarters in Qatar, the three services each had two-star commanders leading operations. The Royal Navy commander was Rear Admiral David Snelson who had his headquarters ashore in Bahrain, the afloat Royal Navy commander was Commodore Jamie Miller, who had the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal as his flagship. The British 1st Armoured Division was commanded by Major General Robin Brims, three army brigades were assigned to the division. 16 Air Assault Brigade was commanded by Brigadier Jacko Page,7 Armoured Brigade by Brigadier Graham Binns and 102 Logistics Brigade by Brigadier Shaun Cowlam, the Royal Marines 3 Commando Brigade was also under the operational command of the division and was commanded by Brigadier Jim Dutton. The Royal Air Force commander was Air-Vice Marshal Glenn Torpy, Major General Wall took over command of 1st Armoured Division on 1 May 2003. He was replaced as Chief of Staff by Major General Barney White-Spunner, Rear Admiral Snelson was succeeded by Major General Tony Milton, Commandant General Royal Marines as maritime forces commander on 16 April 2003. Unlike the invasion period, by there was a substantial presence from many nations other than America, Britain, Australia. In addition to British troops, 3rd Division now commanded Italian, Dutch, Danish, Czech, Lithuanian, Norwegian, 3rd Division handed over a new composite divisional headquarters on 28 December 2003. Major General Andrew Stewart took over from General Lamb as commander of British forces, after the end of major operations, the main components of the British forces changed greatly. 3 Commando Brigade was withdrawn in early May and 16 Air Assault Brigade left later in the same apart from a couple of infantry battalions
34.
Basra
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Basra, also al-Baṣrah, is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab between Kuwait and Iran. It had an population of 1.5 million in 2012. Basra is also Iraqs main port, although it not have deep water access. The city is part of the location of Sumer, one of the ports from which Sinbad the Sailor journeyed. It played an important role in early Islamic history and was built in 636, Basra is consistently one of the hottest cities in Iraq, with summer temperatures regularly exceeding 50 °C. The city was called by many throughout its history, Basrah being the most common. In Arabic the word means the overwatcher, which might have been an allusion to the citys origin as an Arab military base against the Sassanids. Some sources claim that the name is derived from the Persian word Bas-rah, others have argued that the name is derived from the Aramaic word basratha, meaning place of huts, settlement. During the pre-Islamic era, the area was known to the Arabs as al-Khariba due to the existence of an ancient city called al-Kharba. After the present city was built, it was called by names, including the mother of Iraq, the reservoir of Arabs, the prosperous city. The name Al-Basrah, which in Arabic means the over watching or the seeing everything, was given to it because of its role as a base against the Sassanid Empire. However, other sources claim the name originates from the Persian word Bas-rāh or Bassorāh meaning where many ways come together, in 639 Umar established this encampment as a city with five districts, and appointed Abu Musa al-Ashari as its first governor. Abu Musa led the conquest of Khuzestan from 639 to 642 and was ordered by Umar to aid Uthman ibn Abu al-ʿAs, then fighting Iran from a new, more easterly miṣr at Tawwaj. In 650, the Rashidun Caliph Uthman reorganised the Persian frontier, installed ʿAbdullah ibn Amir as Basras governor, Ibn Amir led his forces to their final victory over Yazdegerd III, the Sassanid King of Kings. In 656, Uthman was murdered and Ali was appointed Caliph, Ali first installed Uthman ibn Hanif as Basras governor, who was followed by ʿAbdullah ibn ʿAbbas. These men held the city for Ali until the death in 661. The Sufyanids held Basra until Yazid Is death in 683, the Sufyanids first governor was Umayyad ʿAbdullah, a renowned military leader, commanding fealty and financial demands from Karballah, but poor governor. In 664, Muʿawiyah I replaced him with Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan, often called ibn Abihi, on Ziyads death in 673, his son ʿUbaydullah ibn Ziyad became governor
35.
United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus
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Initially, UNFICYP consisted of military and civilian contingents drawn from Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Canada, Sweden, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Mr. Canada in UNFICYP - From 15 March 1964 to 15 June 1993, during this period, the Canadian contingent went through 59 rotations and some 25,000 CAF personnel completed six-month tours on the island. With Denmark, Ireland and Finland, Canada was one of the four original contributors of troops to UNFICYP, the current contribution are small numbers of staff officers on one-year rotations. As of 31 May 2012, the strength of UNFICYP is 926 individuals. The 858 military personnel are from Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Hungary, Paraguay, Peru, Serbia, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. UNFICYPs military personnel are divided up into national contingents, with each major contingent being responsible for one of the buffer zones three remaining sectors. Sector 1 starts at Kokkina exclave and covers approximately 90 kilometres to Mammari and it has been the responsibility of the Argentinian Contingent since October 1993. Sector One Headquarters and Command Company are located in San Martin Camp, support Company finds its home at Roca Camp, near Xeros in the north. The two line companies composed of 212 troops are deployed along four permanently manned patrol bases while also conducting mobile patrols from the San Martin, sector 2 starts at Mammari, west of Nicosia and covers 30 kilometres to Kaimakli, east of Nicosia. Since 1993, has been the responsibility of the 183-strong British contingent, sector 4 starts at Kaimakli, east of Nicosia and covers 65 Kilometres to the village of Dhernia, on the east coast of Cyprus. Since 1993, it has been the responsibility of the Slovakian and Hungarian contingent with 202 Soldiers, Force Military Police Unit – one of only two remaining multi-national sub units within UNFICYP, the other being the Mobile Force Reserve. The FMPU is commanded by a major of the UK Royal Military Police, other contributing nationalities are Argentina, Hungary and Slovakia. Mobile Force Reserve – high readiness elite reserve able to react to any incident anywhere on the island, from 1997 until their departure in 2001 a select contingent of each rotation of Austrian soldiers was part of the MFR. The unit is equipped with Alvis Tactica APCs, which are armed with machine guns. The MFR is rigidly trained in order and major incident reaction techniques. In addition the MFR is also trained for air mobile operations using Bell 212 helicopters to rapidly insert into trouble areas, the UN Flight – the flight is equipped with three helicopters and, since 1994, has been staffed by 28 airmen from the Argentine Air Force. They use Hughes 500 and Bell 212 helicopters and, by 2003, had logged a total of 10,000 flight hours without accident, during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict the Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora was brought in and out of Lebanon by one of their helicopters. There are 69 civilian police officers supplied by Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, El Salvador, India, Ireland, Italy, Montenegro, in addition, UNFICYP has 147 civilian staff members,39 of whom were internationally recruited and 108 locally recruited
36.
Operation Herrick
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Operation Herrick is the codename under which all British operations in the War in Afghanistan were conducted from 2002 to the end of combat operations in 2014. It consisted of the British contribution to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, since 2003, Operation Herrick has increased in size and breadth to match ISAFs growing geographical intervention in Afghanistan. Operation Herrick superseded two previous efforts in Afghanistan, the first of these was Operation Veritas, which consisted of support to the War in Afghanistan in October 2001. The last major action of this was a sweep in east Afghanistan by 1,700 Royal Marines during Operation Jacana, the second was Operation Fingal, which involved leadership and a 2,000 strong contribution for a newly formed ISAF in Kabul after December 2001. Command was subsequently transferred to Turkey several months later and the British contingent was scaled back to 300, since then, all combat operations in Afghanistan have been conducted under Operation Herrick. Combat operations were projected to end sometime during 2014, between 2001 and 24 July 2015 a total of 454 British military personnel have died on operations in Afghanistan. The UK ceased all operations in Afghanistan and withdrew the last of its combat troops on the 27 October 2014. All training from 2015 is carried out under the name of Toral. Building a strong Afghan state is a long and difficult task, the Liberal-Conservative coalition government declared that Afghanistan was the UKs top foreign policy priority. Between 2002 and 2003, the component of Herrick remained the 300 personnel providing security in Kabul. In mid-2003, the operation became battalion strength when a provincial team was established in Mazari Sharif. The UK also provided a rapid reaction force for the area, overall command of the PRTs was transferred to ISAF in 2004. Sweden and Norway took over these PRTs in 2005 and 2006 respectively to allow the UK to focus on south Afghanistan, in early 2006, the NATO Headquarters Allied Rapid Reaction Corps became the headquarters of ISAF for a year. The attached British infantry and signals personnel raised the number of based in Kabul to 1,300. In 2004, a detachment of six Royal Air Force fighters from Joint Force Harrier was based at Kandahar Airfield to support American OEF forces there, a planned withdrawal in mid-2006 was postponed to provide air support for the new ISAF expansion across the south. The force was reinforced with more Harriers and an RAF Regiment squadron. The Harriers were withdrawn in 2009 and replaced by a Panavia Tornado GR4 squadron on rotation, on 2 September 2006, a Hawker Siddeley Nimrod MR2 patrol aircraft, serial number XV230 supporting Canadian forces in Operation Medusa crashed near Kandahar, killing all 14 service members aboard. It was an accident relating to fuel lines,4 more Harrier GR9s were committed in May 2007 bringing them to a total of eleven, along with an extra C130 transport plane and four Westland Sea Kings from the Fleet Air Arm
37.
Afghanistan
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Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located within South Asia and Central Asia. It has a population of approximately 32 million, making it the 42nd most populous country in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north and its territory covers 652,000 km2, making it the 41st largest country in the world. The land also served as the source from which the Kushans, Hephthalites, Samanids, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Khiljis, Mughals, Hotaks, Durranis, the political history of the modern state of Afghanistan began with the Hotak and Durrani dynasties in the 18th century. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a state in the Great Game between British India and the Russian Empire. Following the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, King Amanullah unsuccessfully attempted to modernize the country and it remained peaceful during Zahir Shahs forty years of monarchy. A series of coups in the 1970s was followed by a series of wars that devastated much of Afghanistan. The name Afghānistān is believed to be as old as the ethnonym Afghan, the root name Afghan was used historically in reference to a member of the ethnic Pashtuns, and the suffix -stan means place of in Persian. Therefore, Afghanistan translates to land of the Afghans or, more specifically in a historical sense, however, the modern Constitution of Afghanistan states that he word Afghan shall apply to every citizen of Afghanistan. An important site of historical activities, many believe that Afghanistan compares to Egypt in terms of the historical value of its archaeological sites. The country sits at a unique nexus point where numerous civilizations have interacted and it has been home to various peoples through the ages, among them the ancient Iranian peoples who established the dominant role of Indo-Iranian languages in the region. At multiple points, the land has been incorporated within large regional empires, among them the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Indian Maurya Empire, and the Islamic Empire. Archaeological exploration done in the 20th century suggests that the area of Afghanistan has been closely connected by culture and trade with its neighbors to the east, west. Artifacts typical of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, urban civilization is believed to have begun as early as 3000 BCE, and the early city of Mundigak may have been a colony of the nearby Indus Valley Civilization. More recent findings established that the Indus Valley Civilisation stretched up towards modern-day Afghanistan, making the ancient civilisation today part of Pakistan, Afghanistan, in more detail, it extended from what today is northwest Pakistan to northwest India and northeast Afghanistan. An Indus Valley site has found on the Oxus River at Shortugai in northern Afghanistan. There are several smaller IVC colonies to be found in Afghanistan as well, after 2000 BCE, successive waves of semi-nomadic people from Central Asia began moving south into Afghanistan, among them were many Indo-European-speaking Indo-Iranians. These tribes later migrated further into South Asia, Western Asia, the region at the time was referred to as Ariana
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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
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Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
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The Ministry of Defence is the British government department responsible for implementing the defence policy set by Her Majestys Government and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces. The MoD states that its objectives are to defend the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and its interests and to strengthen international peace. The MoD also manages day-to-day running of the forces, contingency planning. As rearmament became a concern during the 1930s, Stanley Baldwin created the position of Minister for Coordination of Defence. Winston Churchill, on forming his government in 1940, created the office of Minister of Defence to exercise control over the Chiefs of Staff Committee. The post was held by the Prime Minister of the day until Clement Attlees government introduced the Ministry of Defence Act of 1946, the new ministry was headed by a Minister of Defence who possessed a seat in the Cabinet. These departments merged in 1964, the functions of the Ministry of Aviation Supply merged into the Ministry of Defence in 1971. The Ministers in the Ministry of Defence are as follows, The Ministers and Chiefs of the Defence Staff are supported by a number of civilian, scientific, the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Defence is the senior civil servant at the MoD. His or her role is to ensure the MoD operates effectively as a department of the government, Permanent Under-Secretary of State, Stephen Lovegrove—commencing April 2016 Defence Equipment & Support CEO - Tony Douglas — commencing 2016 Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Vernon C. He is supported by the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, vice-Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Gordon Messenger, Royal Marines. First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Sir Philip Jones, Royal Navy Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Nick Carter, the Surgeon General, represents the Defence Medical Services on the Defence Staff, and is the clinical head of that service. These forces must be capable of representing Britain as lead nation in any coalition operations, the ability, at longer notice, to deploy forces in a large-scale operation while running a concurrent small-scale operation. The MoD has since been regarded as a leader in elaborating the post-Cold War organising concept of defence diplomacy, the UK is establishing air and naval bases in the Persian Gulf, located in the UAE and Bahrain. A presence in Oman is also being considered, the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 included £178 billion investment in new equipment and capabilities. The review set a policy with four primary missions for the Armed Forces, Defend and contribute to the security and resilience of the UK. Contribute to improved understanding of the world through strategic intelligence and the defence network. Reinforce international security and the capacity of our allies, partners. Conduct operations to restore peace and stability, conduct major combat operations if required, including under NATO Article 5
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The London Gazette
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The London Gazette claims to be the oldest surviving English newspaper and the oldest continuously published newspaper in the UK, having been first published on 7 November 1665 as The Oxford Gazette. This claim is made by the Stamford Mercury and Berrows Worcester Journal. It does not have a large circulation, in turn, The London Gazette carries not only notices of UK-wide interest, but also those relating specifically to entities or people in England and Wales. However, certain notices that are only of specific interest to Scotland or Northern Ireland are also required to be published in The London Gazette, the London, Edinburgh and Belfast Gazettes are published by TSO on behalf of Her Majestys Stationery Office. They are subject to Crown Copyright, the London Gazette is published each weekday, except for Bank Holidays. The official Gazettes are published by The Stationery Office, the content, apart from insolvency notices, is available in a number of machine-readable formats, including XML and XML/RDFa via Atom feed. The London Gazette was first published as The Oxford Gazette on 7 November 1665. Charles II and the Royal Court had moved to Oxford to escape the Great Plague of London, the Gazette was Published by Authority by Henry Muddiman, and its first publication is noted by Samuel Pepys in his diary. The King returned to London as the plague dissipated, and the Gazette moved too, the Gazette was not a newspaper in the modern sense, it was sent by post to subscribers, not printed for sale to the general public. Her Majestys Stationery Office took over the publication of the Gazette in 1889, publication of the Gazette was transferred to the private sector, under government supervision, in the 1990s, when HMSO was sold and renamed The Stationery Office. In time of war, dispatches from the conflicts are published in The London Gazette. People referred to are said to have mentioned in dispatches. When members of the forces are promoted, and these promotions are published here. Man tally-ho, Miss piano, Wife silk and satin, Boy Greek and Latin, the phrase gazetted fortune hunter is also probably derived from this. Notices of engagement and marriage were also published in the Gazette. Gazettes, modelled on The London Gazette, were issued for most British colonial possessions
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International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
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19th Regiment Royal Artillery
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19th Regiment Royal Artillery – The Scottish Gunners – is a Scottish regiment of the Royal Artillery in the British Army. It currently supports 12 Mechanised Brigade in the field artillery role. The regiment has Fire Support Teams mounted in Warrior Mechanised Artillery Observation Vehicles equipped with MSTAR, the brigade saw action during World War I. During World War II, the four pre-war batteries combined into two, in May 1940 it had the honour of being the first artillery regiment to fire in the war while stationed at the Maginot Line. It served during the North African and Italian campaigns, the regiment was renumbered to 19 Regiment in 1947. During the 1950s and 1960s it served in the Korean War, with the phasing out of National Service in 1963, 19th Regiment was allocated the recruitment area of the Scottish Highlands. In 1995 the regiment was deployed to Bosnia at short notice as part of Operation Deliberate Force and it was deployed to Cyprus in 1998 as part of UNFICYP. Since the 2000s, it has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, more recently, the regiment returned from Afghanistan in October 2012. In December 2012, the regiment was officially named The Scottish Gunners when the 40th Regiment Royal Artillery was placed in suspended animation,38 Battery was transferred to 19th Regt. A new banner for the Pipes and Drums was presented and a plaque unveiled at the barracks to mark the occasion. The regiment traditionally recruited from the Highlands as its former nickname suggested but now also recruits from Fiji, Africa, The Caribbean, Grampian, Tayside, Fife, central Scotland and Argyll. With 40 Regt Lowland Gunners being placed into suspended animation as part of the Army 2020 plans,19 Regiment RA is the local artillery regiment of the Highlands of Scotland, the Western Isles, Shetland and Orkney. The Regiment has been granted the Freedom of the Cities of Inverness and Colchester, the regiments batteries are as follows,5 Battery 13 Headquarters Battery 28/143 Battery 38 Battery 127 Battery 176 Battery Royal Artillery, to move to 26 RA
United Kingdom
British Army
