1.
United Kingdom
–
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
United Kingdom
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Stonehenge, in
Wiltshire, was erected around 2500 BC.
United Kingdom
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Flag
United Kingdom
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The
Bayeux Tapestry depicts the
Battle of Hastings, 1066, and the events leading to it.
United Kingdom
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The
Treaty of Union led to a single united kingdom encompassing all Great Britain.
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
British Army
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Men of the
Welsh Guards Trooping the Colour 2007.
British Army
British Army
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John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, was one of the first generals in the British Army, fighting campaigns in the
War of the Spanish Succession.
British Army
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The extinction of the
Scottish clan system came with the defeat of the clansmen at the
Battle of Culloden in 1746
3.
Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood
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Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood was a member of the British Royal Family, she was the third child and only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary. Princess Mary was born at York Cottage on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk and her parents were the then Duke and Duchess of York. Her father was the eldest surviving son of the then Prince and she was named after her paternal great-grandmother Queen Victoria, her paternal grandmother, Alexandra, Princess of Wales, and her maternal grandmother, Princess Mary of Teck. Since she had the same birthday as her deceased great-aunt Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine and she was always known by the last of her Christian names, Mary. She was fifth in the line of succession at the time of her birth and her baptism took place at St Mary Magdalenes Church near Sandringham on 7 June 1897 by William Dalrymple Maclagan, Archbishop of York. Her godparents were, The Queen, the King of the Hellenes, the Dowager Empress of Russia, the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duchess of Teck, Princess Victoria of Wales, and Prince Francis of Teck. Princess Mary was educated by governesses, but shared some lessons with her brothers, Prince Edward, Prince Albert and she became fluent in German and French and developed a lifelong interest in horses and horse racing. Princess Mary and her husband Lord Harewood regularly rode with the Bramham Moor Hunt where he was Master of the Hunt and her first state appearance was at the coronation of her parents at Westminster Abbey on 22 June 1911. During World War I, Princess Mary visited hospitals and welfare organizations with her mother, assisting with projects to give comfort to British servicemen and assistance to their families. One of these projects was Princess Marys Christmas Gift Fund, through which £100,000 worth of gifts was sent to all British soldiers and sailors for Christmas,1914 and this initiative was revived in 2005 by the charity uk4u-Thanks. She took a role in promoting the Girl Guide movement, the VADs. In June 1918, following an announcement in The Gentlewoman, she began a course at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Princess Marys public duties reflected her concerns with nursing, the Girl Guide movement, and she became honorary president of the British Girl Guide Association in 1920, a position she held until her death. In 1926, Princess Mary became the commandant-in-chief of the British Red Cross Detachments and she was patron of the Leeds Triennial Musical Festival for many years. George was a music critic whose career included the role of artistic director of the Leeds Triennial Musical Festival. Their wedding at Westminster Abbey was the first royal occasion in which the future Queen Elizabeth, the Princess was 24, Lord Lascelles was 39. Princess Mary and Lord Lascelles had two sons, George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood, married,1949, Marion Stein, had issue, divorced 1967, married,1967, Patricia Elizabeth Tuckwell, had issue. The Honourable Gerald Lascelles, married,1952, Angela Dowding, had issue, divorced 1978, married Elizabeth Collingwood, had issue
Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood
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The Princess in 1926.
Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood
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Princess Mary, centre, with her five brothers
Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood
–
The 1914 Christmas gift box.
Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood
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A 1922 wedding portrait of Princess Mary and Viscount Lascelles.
4.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
World War II
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Clockwise from top left: Chinese forces in the
Battle of Wanjialing, Australian
25-pounder guns during the
First Battle of El Alamein, German
Stuka dive bombers on the
Eastern Front in December 1943, a U.S. naval force in the
Lingayen Gulf,
Wilhelm Keitel signing the
German Instrument of Surrender, Soviet troops in the
Battle of Stalingrad
World War II
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The
League of Nations assembly, held in
Geneva,
Switzerland, 1930
World War II
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Adolf Hitler at a German
National Socialist political rally in
Weimar, October 1930
World War II
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Italian soldiers recruited in 1935, on their way to fight the
Second Italo-Abyssinian War
5.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
World War I
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Clockwise from the top: The aftermath of shelling during the
Battle of the Somme,
Mark V tanks cross the
Hindenburg Line,
HMS Irresistible sinks after hitting a
mine in the
Dardanelles, a British
Vickers machine gun crew wears
gas masks during the Battle of the Somme,
Albatros D.III fighters of
Jagdstaffel 11
World War I
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Sarajevo citizens reading a poster with the proclamation of the
Austrian annexation in 1908.
World War I
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This picture is usually associated with the arrest of
Gavrilo Princip, although some believe it depicts Ferdinand Behr, a bystander.
World War I
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Serbian Army
Blériot XI "Oluj", 1915.
6.
Territorial Army (United Kingdom)
–
The Army Reserve is the active-duty volunteer reserve force and integrated element of the British Army. Most Volunteer infantry units had unique identities, but lost these in the reorganisation, only one infantry unit, the London Regiment, has maintained a separate identity. Reservists in the past also served as constables or bailiffs, even holding positions of civic duty as overseer of their parish, the more modern Yeomen of the 18th century were cavalry-based units, which were often used to suppress riots. Several units that are now part of the Army Reserve bear the title militia, after the Second World War, for example, the Army Reserve - or Territorial Army as it was known then - was not demobilised until 1947. All Army Reserve personnel have their jobs protected to a limited extent by law should they be compulsorily mobilised. There is, however, no protection against discrimination in employment for membership of the Army Reserve in the normal course of events. As part of the process, remaining units of militia were converted to the Special Reserve. The TF was formed on 1 April 1908 and contained fourteen infantry divisions and it had an overall strength of approximately 269,000. The individual units that made up each division or brigade were administered by County Associations, the other members of the association consisted of military members, representative members and co-opted members. Associations took over any property vested in the volunteers or yeomanry under their administration, each regiment or battalion had a Regular Army officer attached as full-time adjutant. In August 1914, after the outbreak of the First World War, territorial units were given the option of serving in France and, by 25 August, in excess of seventy battalions had volunteered. This question over the availability of territorial divisions for service was one of Lord Kitcheners motivations for raising the New Army separately. The first fully Territorial division to join the fighting on the Western Front was the 46th Division in March 1915, with divisions later serving in Gallipoli and elsewhere. As the war progressed, and casualties mounted, the character of territorial units was diluted by the inclusion of conscript. Following the Armistice all units of the Territorial Force were gradually disbanded, New recruiting started in early 1920, and the Territorial Force was reconstituted on 7 February 1920. On 1 October 1920, the Territorial Force was renamed the Territorial Army, the 1st Line divisions were reconstituted in that year. However, the composition of the divisions was altered, with a reduction in the number of infantry battalions required, there was also a reduced need for cavalry, and of the 55 yeomanry regiments, only the 14 most senior retained their horses. The remaining yeomanry were converted to artillery or armoured car units or disbanded, the amalgamation of 40 pairs of infantry battalions was announced in October 1921
Territorial Army (United Kingdom)
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Infantry of 50th (Northumbrian) Division moving up past a knocked-out German 88mm gun near 'Joe's Bridge' over the Meuse-Escaut Canal in Belgium, 16 September 1944.
Territorial Army (United Kingdom)
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War flag
Territorial Army (United Kingdom)
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A motorcycle and infantry of the 2nd Battalion,
Glasgow Highlanders,
46th Infantry Brigade, 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division, advance along a lane near Caumont, 30 July 1944.
Territorial Army (United Kingdom)
–
Army Reservists applying camouflage during a training exercise.
7.
First Aid Nursing Yeomanry
–
The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry is a British independent all-female registered charity formed in 1907 and active in both nursing and intelligence work during the World Wars. Although its members wear a military uniform it is not part of the Regular or Army Reserve. Unlike nursing organisations, the FANY saw themselves rescuing the wounded and giving first aid, each woman was trained not only in first aid but signalling and drilling in cavalry movements. The original uniform was a tunic with white facings, a navy blue riding skirt with three rows of white braid at the bottom and a hard topped scarlet hat with black leather peak. In 1912 the uniform was changed to a tunic, khaki riding skirt. Leaders of FANY included Grace McDougall and Lillian Franklin, during the First World War, Lieutenants McDougall and Franklin, arrived in Calais on 27 October 1914, but drove motor ambulances instead of horses. The British Army wanted nothing to do them, so they drove ambulances and ran hospitals and casualty clearing stations for the Belgian. By the Armistice, they had awarded many decorations for bravery. McDougall wrote an anonymous 1917 account of her experiences Nursing Adventures, A FANY in France, retitled A Nurse at War, in September 1938, the FANY Corps was asked to form the initial Motor Driver Companies of the Auxiliary Territorial Service, called the Womens Transport Service. A small part of FANY - highly secret at the time, recruits were trained in one of four fields, Motor Transport, Wireless Telegraphy, Codes or General. They worked on coding and signals, acting as conductors for agents and providing administration and their work was top secret and often highly skilled. Members operated in several theatres of war, including North Africa, Italy, India, thirty-nine of the 50 women sent into France by SOE were FANYs of whom 13 were captured and murdered by the Gestapo. Many decorations, of both the UK and other countries, were awarded for their service and outstanding courage, among these, four of the highest UK decorations were the George Cross awarded to Odette Hallowes, to Violette Szabo and Noor Inayat Khan. Nancy Wakes awards included the George Medal and this section took women from all over the southern half of Africa. A memorial at St Pauls Church, Knightsbridge commemorates 52 named members who were killed on active service with the Corps in the Second World War, below is a chart of WTS/FANY ranks compared to the British Army. It is open to volunteers between the ages of 18 and 45 who reside or work near London, within the M25 and their working dress is similar to that of the modern British Army, on formal occasions they wear a uniform similar to British Army Service Dress. They also have their own rank system, the FANY was officially renamed the Princess Royals Volunteer Corps in 1999, after being given permission by Anne, Princess Royal to use her title, and is now referred to as FANY. The original name has greater recognition, and greater prominence even in official publications, olive Mudie-Cooke Julia Pirie Bibliography Lee, Janet
First Aid Nursing Yeomanry
–
Cap badge of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry
8.
National Memorial Arboretum
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The National Memorial Arboretum is a national site of remembrance at Alrewas, near Lichfield, Staffordshire, United Kingdom. It gives its purpose as, The National Memorial Arboretum honours the fallen, recognises service and sacrifice and it is a spiritually uplifting place and is emerging as a world-renowned centre for remembrance. The idea for the Arboretum was conceived by David Childs in 1988 and he believed that it would form a living tribute to service men and women for future generations to reflect upon and enjoy. The Arboretum was officially opened on 16 May 2001 and it is a registered charity and is part of The Royal British Legion family of charities. The Arboretum is situated just south of Alrewas on approximately 150 acres of old workings,5 miles north of Lichfield. It is adjacent to the confluence of the River Tame with the River Trent and it is at the western end of the National Forest, just off the A38 road. The Arboretum contains over 50,000 trees, with more being added each year, there are nearly 300 memorials for the armed forces, civilian organisations and voluntary bodies who have played a part in serving the country, and even HMS Amethysts cat. At 11 am on 11 November each year the sun shines through two slits in the outer and inner walls of the memorial, casting a shaft of light across a wreath in the centre. Within the Arboretum is the Millennium Chapel of Peace and Forgiveness where, at 11 am each day, following the two minutes silence, accompanied by the Last Post and Reveille, there is an introductory talk about the arboretum. The Armed Forces Memorial was dedicated in October 2007 by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the presence of the Queen, in 2010, the Volunteers of the National Memorial Arboretum were awarded The Queens Award for Voluntary Service. Some of the features of the National Memorial Arboretum are described below
National Memorial Arboretum
–
View looking towards the Armed Forces Memorial.
National Memorial Arboretum
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Aerial view, with River Tame at bottom.
National Memorial Arboretum
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Sun Insurance company WWII memorial relocated to the arboretum
National Memorial Arboretum
–
A general view of the memorial, which commemorates service men and women killed since 1945.
9.
British Expeditionary Force (World War II)
–
The British Expeditionary Force was the name of the British Army in Western Europe from 1939 to 1940, in the early stages of the Second World War. During the 1930s, the British government planned to deter war by rearming from the low level of readiness of the early 30s. The bulk of the money went to the Royal Navy. The BEF began moving to France in September 1939, the British assembled along the Belgian–French border on the left of the French First Army as part of the French 1er groupe darmées of the Front du Nord-est. Most of the BEF spent the Phoney War digging field defences on the French–Belgian border before the Battle of France began on 10 May 1940, the BEF constituted 10 percent of the Allied forces on the Western Front. The BEF, French and Belgian forces were evacuated from Dunkirk on the French North Sea coast in Operation Dynamo, Saar Force, the 51st Infantry Division, had been detached for service along the Maginot Line as part of a plan for the BEF units to gain experience. At the beginning of the 1930s, the Ten Year Rule had reduced war spending from £766 million in 1920 to £102 million when it was abolished on 23 March 1932. The British army had fewer men than in 1914, no organisation or equipment for a war in Europe and in three weeks, the War Office could only mobilise an infantry division and a cavalry brigade. The committee urged the creation of a Field Force of four infantry divisions, expenditure of £71 million was recommended, half to go in the army, which would be the defence against an invasion. The government accepted the report apart from the price and cut 1⁄3 from the estimate, in March 1937, the Regular Army stood at 121,000 men at home and 89,000 overseas, with some 716 tanks, of which 200 were obsolete First World War models. By the later 1930s, the despatch of an Expeditionary Force to France of Belgium might increase British security, the government also announced that the twelve TA divisions would be brought up to establishment and then another twelve. Anti-Aircraft Command formed seven divisions and early steps were taken to requisition the necessary to carry the Expeditionary Force to France. According to the 1939 Army Estimates, Britain had home forces of 230,000 men in the army,183,000 in reserve and 270,000 part-timers in the TA a total of 683,000 men. One lieutenant stuffed his holster with paper because he had no pistol, there were immense pressures to produce equipment, which led to a rapid increase in output. Clothing items were one example of this, greatcoats and boots being produced at up to fifty times the normal peacetime rates, twenty-five years of greatcoats were produced in six months and 18 months army boots were turned out in one week but shortages remained. Following the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, the BEF was despatched to France, German submarines had been limited by Hitlers orders to avoid provoking the Allies and only a few mines were laid near Dover and Weymouth. By 19 October, the BEF had received 25,000 vehicles to complete the first deployment, Belgium and the Netherlands were neutral countries and no troops were stationed in them. Morale was high amongst the British troops but the actions of the Germans by 9 May, had led many into assuming that there would not be much chance of a big German attack in that area
British Expeditionary Force (World War II)
–
British armoured vehicles passing through
Leuven in Belgium on 14 May 1940
British Expeditionary Force (World War II)
–
A
Light Tank Mk.VIA of
3rd The King's Own Hussars training in 1938.
British Expeditionary Force (World War II)
–
The
Coldstream Guards arrive in
Cherbourg in the autumn of 1939
British Expeditionary Force (World War II)
–
Lord Gort with General
Joseph Georges, Commander in Chief of the
French 9th Army
10.
Battle of Dunkirk
–
The Battle of Dunkirk took place in Dunkirk/Dunkerque, France, during the Second World War between the Allies and Nazi Germany. As part of the Battle of France on the Western Front, after the Phoney War, the Battle of France began in earnest on 10 May 1940. To the east, the German Army Group B invaded the Netherlands, in response, the Supreme Allied Commander—French General Maurice Gamelin—initiated Plan D and entered Belgium to engage the Germans in the Netherlands. The plan relied heavily on the Maginot Line fortifications along the German-French border, gamelin instead committed the forces under his command, three mechanised armies, the French First and Seventh and the British Expeditionary Force to the River Dyle. After reaching the Channel, the German forces swung north along the coast, threatening to capture the ports and trap the British, in one of the most widely debated decisions of the war, the Germans halted their advance on Dunkirk. Contrary to popular belief, what became known as the Halt Order did not originate with Adolf Hitler. Field Marshals Gerd von Rundstedt and Günther von Kluge suggested that the German forces around the Dunkirk pocket should cease their advance on the port and consolidate, Hitler sanctioned the order on 24 May with the support of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht. The army was to halt for three days, which gave the Allies sufficient time to organise the Dunkirk evacuation and build a defensive line. Despite the Allies gloomy estimates of the situation, with Britain even discussing a conditional surrender to Germany, on 10 May 1940, Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. By 26 May, the BEF and the French 1st Army were bottled up in a corridor to the sea, about 60 mi deep, most of the British forces were still around Lille, over 40 mi from Dunkirk, with the French further south. Two massive German armies flanked them, General Fedor von Bocks Army Group B was to the east, and General Gerd von Rundstedts Army Group A to the west. On 24 May, Hitler had visited General von Rundstedts headquarters at Charleville and this order allowed the Germans to consolidate their gains and prepare for a southward advance against the remaining French forces. The terrain around Dunkirk was thought unsuitable for armour, Hitler was familiar with Flanders marshes from the First World War, despite his pilots need to rest after two weeks of nonstop combat, Luftwaffe commander Hermann Göring asked for the chance to destroy the forces in Dunkirk. The Allied forces destruction was initially assigned to the air force. Von Rundstedt later called one of the great turning points of the war. The true reason for the decision to halt the German armour on 24 May is still debated, one theory is that Von Rundstedt and Hitler agreed to conserve the armour for Fall Rot, an operation to the south. It is possible that the Luftwaffes closer ties than the armys to the Nazi Party contributed to Hitlers approval of Görings request, another theory—which few historians have given credence—is that Hitler was still trying to establish diplomatic peace with Britain before Operation Barbarossa. Whatever the reasons for Hitlers decision, the Germans confidently believed the Allied troops were doomed, american journalist William Shirer reported on 25 May, German military circles here tonight put it flatly
Battle of Dunkirk
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A British soldier on Dunkirk's beaches fires at strafing German aircraft.
Battle of Dunkirk
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Gerd von Rundstedt
Battle of Dunkirk
–
British prisoners of war with a
Pzkpfw Ib German tank
Battle of Dunkirk
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Battle of Dunkirk memorial.
11.
Anti-aircraft warfare
–
Anti-aircraft warfare or counter-air defence is defined by NATO as all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action. They include ground-and air-based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and it may be used to protect naval, ground, and air forces in any location. However, for most countries the main effort has tended to be homeland defence, NATO refers to airborne air defence as counter-air and naval air defence as anti-aircraft warfare. Missile defence is an extension of air defence as are initiatives to adapt air defence to the task of intercepting any projectile in flight, a surface-based air defence capability can also be deployed offensively to deny the use of airspace to an opponent. Until the 1950s, guns firing ballistic munitions ranging from 20 mm to 150 mm were the weapons, guided missiles then became dominant. The term air defence was probably first used by Britain when Air Defence of Great Britain was created as a Royal Air Force command in 1925. However, arrangements in the UK were also called anti-aircraft, abbreviated as AA, after the First World War it was sometimes prefixed by Light or Heavy to classify a type of gun or unit. Nicknames for anti-aircraft guns include AA, AAA or triple-A, an abbreviation of anti-aircraft artillery, ack-ack, NATO defines anti-aircraft warfare as measures taken to defend a maritime force against attacks by airborne weapons launched from aircraft, ships, submarines and land-based sites. In some armies the term All-Arms Air Defence is used for air defence by nonspecialist troops, other terms from the late 20th century include GBAD with related terms SHORAD and MANPADS. Anti-aircraft missiles are variously called surface-to-air missile, abbreviated and pronounced SAM, non-English terms for air defence include the German FlaK, whence English flak, and the Russian term Protivovozdushnaya oborona, a literal translation of anti-air defence, abbreviated as PVO. In Russian the AA systems are called zenitnye systems, in French, air defence is called DCA. The maximum distance at which a gun or missile can engage an aircraft is an important figure, however, many different definitions are used but unless the same definition is used, performance of different guns or missiles cannot be compared. For AA guns only the part of the trajectory can be usefully used. By the late 1930s the British definition was that height at which an approaching target at 400 mph can be engaged for 20 seconds before the gun reaches 70 degrees elevation. However, effective ceiling for heavy AA guns was affected by nonballistic factors, The maximum running time of the fuse, the capability of fire control instruments to determine target height at long range. The essence of air defence is to detect aircraft and destroy them. The critical issue is to hit a target moving in three-dimensional space, Air defence evolution covered the areas of sensors and technical fire control, weapons, and command and control. At the start of the 20th century these were very primitive or non-existent
Anti-aircraft warfare
–
American troops mount a
Swedish Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft gun near the
Algerian coastline in 1943
Anti-aircraft warfare
–
Ballonabwehrkanone by Krupp
Anti-aircraft warfare
Anti-aircraft warfare
–
1909 vintage Krupp 9 pounder anti-aircraft gun
12.
Target tug
–
A target tug is an aircraft which tows an unmanned drone, a fabric drogue or other kind of target, for the purposes of gun or missile target practice. Target tugs are often conversions of transport and utility aircraft, as well as obsolescent combat types, some, such as the Miles Martinet, were specially designed for the role. It was, and is, a hazardous job, as live fire is typically employed. These aircraft typically trailed a drogue fabric sleeve at the end of a metre long cable. Student fighter pilots or air gunners would shoot at the target from other aircraft using painted bullets so that hits could be recorded and later analysed. Other aircraft used in this role were the Hawker Henley, the Boulton Paul Defiant and they were used by most air forces. The USAAF used older aircraft such as the TBD Devastator as target tugs, and the Luftwaffe, the chief modifications to the aircraft were a station for the drogue operator and a winch to reel in the cable prior to landing. The winch was typically powered by a small wind-turbine on the outside of the aircraft, driven by the airflow, such devices are still used by some aerial refueling tankers to retract the refueling hose after the operation is completed. The drogue would often be jettisoned at some location convenient for recovery prior to the aircrafts landing, the drogue itself caused a great deal of drag and could be dangerous, particularly to less-powerful aircraft. If the engine failed, the drag from the drogue could be enough to reduce the airspeed of the aircraft below stall speed before the drogue could be jettisoned. The use of aircraft continued post-war, although a trend developed whereby ex-military aircraft were purchased, modified and operated by civilian companies under contract. Many air arms however continued to target tugs on their own behalf. In later years the use of companies expanded significantly worldwide. The trend was still to use aircraft, for example Illawarra Flying Services in Australia used two ex-RAAF CAC Mustangs from 1960 until the latter part of the 1970s. Flight Systems Inc was later purchased by Tracor and these operations are performed by BAE Systems Flight Systems with Douglas Skyhawks. Today, more air arms have turned to civilian companies for provision of target towing services, many companies operating in this field today do so using modified corporate jet aircraft instead of ex-military aircraft. Advantages of operating civil aircraft types include ease of registration, ease of maintenance, target towing operations are not without risk. On September 17,1994 a Golden Eagle Aviation Lear 35A was accidentally shot down by a ship of the Taiwanese Navy during a live-fire exercise, target drone, the non-towed variant RP-63 Pinball Towed seaborne target, the naval counterpart
Target tug
–
Target Tugs, such as this
de Havilland Vampire are often painted in high visibility colors to differentiate themselves from the targets they tow.
Target tug
–
Boulton Paul Defiant TT Mk III target tug, number N1697;
RAF Desford, May 1944. Note the wind-driven generator that provided power for the target winch
Target tug
–
Fairey Firefly TT.1 target tug, painted mustard yellow, of Svensk Flygtjanst at
Manchester (Ringway Airport) in 1955
Target tug
–
FR Aviation Services Dassault Falcon 20 modified for target towing at the 2006
Royal International Air Tattoo
13.
Sight (device)
–
A sight is a device used to assist aligning or aim weapons, surveying instruments, or other items by eye. Sights can be a set or system of markers that have to be aligned together as well as aligned with the target. They can also be optical devices that allow the user to see the image of an aiming point in the same focus as the target. These include telescopic sights and reflector sights, There are also sights that project an aiming point onto the target itself, such as laser sights. At its simplest, a sight typically has two components, front and rear aiming pieces that have to be lined up, sights such as this can be found on many types of devices including weapons, surveying and measuring instruments, and navigational tools. On weapons, these sights are usually formed by rugged metal parts, giving them the iron sights. On many types of weapons they are built-in and may be fixed, adjustable, or marked for elevation, windage, target speed and they are also classified in forms of notch or aperture. Optical sights use optics that give the user an image of an aiming point or pattern superimposed at the same focus as the target. Telescopic sights are used on a range of devices including guns, surveying equipment. These sights have been around for over 100 years and been used on all types of weapons, reflector sights were first used as a weapon sight in German aircraft towards the end of World War I. Collimator sight Holographic weapon sight There are many types of sighting devices and they can be fixed, mechanical, optical, computational, or a mixture of all of these attributes
Sight (device)
–
A Cadet looks through a machine gun sight
Sight (device)
–
Picture through an aperture (or closed) iron sight on an H&K
MP5 submachine gun
Sight (device)
–
A view through the 20× power telescopic sight
Sight (device)
–
A
circumferentor featuring a pair of slotted sights effectively constituting an
alidade
14.
Royal Voluntary Service
–
The Royal Voluntary Service is a voluntary organisation concerned with helping people in need throughout England, Scotland and Wales. It was founded in 1938 by Stella Isaacs, Marchioness of Reading, however, recent evidence has been found to suggest that it was actually Lady Reading who approached the Home Secretary. its immediate aims in co-operation with local authorities. It began to assist local authorities in whatever way was needed and gained the slogan The WVS never says No. This led to a re-consideration of the name and purpose of the organisation and to encompass its expanding role, it was renamed the Womens Voluntary Services for Civil Defence in February 1939. The popularity of the WVS continued to grow as the threat of war came closer, and by the outbreak of war on 3 September 1939, the WVS/WRVS was a voluntary organisation, and it was Lady Readings vision that there would be no ranks. It was perhaps the only organisation where you could find a Duchess, while many members of the WVS mucked in on pretty much all tasks, the idea of an organisation without a hierarchy would not have worked and so while there were no ranks, there were titles. Women were recruited for specific tasks, whether that was to drive ambulances, inevitably those women who signed up for one thing often ended up being co-opted for other work, especially if they showed aptitude. The WVS was split into 12 Regions which started with 1 in the NE of England and moved clockwise down the country, London was Region 12 and Scotland Region 11. Each Region had a Regional Administrator who was paid for by the Home Office, under this each County had a County Organiser and staff and below that were the Centres. During and after the Second World War, there were almost 2,000 WVS centres around Great Britain each at the end of providing help to their communities. Each was prominently positioned within a town or village and was run by a Centre Organiser appointed by Headquarters in London, each Centre Organiser had a team of members who were responsible for different aspect of WVS work e. g. evacuation, Training, Food or Clothing. Under their direction were the ordinary members, while Centre Organisers had ultimate control over the work they did in their areas, they were tightly scrutinised by the County and Regional offices and Headquarters. Each Centre had to file a monthly Narrative Report in quadruplicate which allowed both the sharing of good practice and ideas, but also allowed those in charge to keep tabs on their members. In addition headquarters issued substantial numbers of circular notices each year informing Organisers of new projects and re-enforcing the rules, through the 1990s cost cutting and the professionalisation of the organisation meant that Centre Organisers and County and Regional Offices were phased out and the centres were closed. Headquarters which had been in London since 1938 was moved out to Milton Hill House in Oxfordshire in 1997, the organisation of large areas and the services within them were taken on by members of staff and local services were managed independently. In 2013 Royal Voluntary Service resurrected the centre model, which are now called Hubs, the WVS played a key part in the evacuation of civilians from urban areas. The WVS had been asked to pinpoint areas of safety and billeting for evacuated children, moving children out of the cities proved reasonably easy. Getting them to an area of safety proved a lot more difficult as trains did not always arrive at an expected destination or would turn up at a reception point unexpectedly
Royal Voluntary Service
–
Blitz Canteen - Women of the Women's Voluntary Service run a Mobile Canteen in London, 1941
15.
Conscientious objector
–
A conscientious objector is an individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. In general, conscientious objector status is considered only in the context of military conscription and is not applicable to military forces. In some countries, conscientious objectors are assigned to a civilian service as a substitute for conscription or military service. Some conscientious objectors consider themselves pacifist, non-interventionist, non-resistant, non-aggressionist and this was re-affirmed in 1998, when resolution 1998/77 recognized that persons performing military service may develop conscientious objections. A number of organizations around the world celebrate the principle on May 15 as International Conscientious Objectors Day, the term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–industrial complex due to a crisis of conscience. Historically, many conscientious objectors have been executed, imprisoned, or otherwise penalized when their beliefs led to conflicting with their societys legal system or government. The legal definition and status of conscientious objection has varied over the years, Religious beliefs were a starting point in many nations for legally granting conscientious objector status. An early recognition of conscientious objection was granted by William the Silent to the Dutch Mennonites in 1575 and they could refuse military service in exchange for a monetary payment. Formal legislation to exempt objectors from fighting was first granted in mid-18th century Great Britain following problems with attempting to force Quakers into military service. In the United States, conscientious objection was permitted from the countrys founding, in 1948, the issue of the right to conscience was dealt with by the United Nations General Assembly in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The proclamation was ratified during the General Assembly on 10 December 1948 by a vote of 48 in favour,0 against and it is The Right to Refuse to Kill. In 1976, the United Nations treaty the International Covenant on Civil and it was based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and was originally created in 1966. Nations that have signed this treaty are bound by it and its Article 18 begins, Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Some states argue that such limitations would permit them to make conscientious objection during time of war a threat to public safety, even that it is a moral duty to serve the state in its military. In 2006, the Committee has found for the first time a right to conscientious objection under article 18, in 1998, the Human Rights Commission reiterated previous statements and added states should. Refrain from subjecting conscientious objectors. to repeated punishment for failure to perform military service, the Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees states,171. Not every conviction, genuine though it may be, will constitute a sufficient reason for claiming refugee status after desertion or draft-evasion and it is not enough for a person to be in disagreement with his government regarding the political justification for a particular military action. Air Commodore Lionel Charlton, of the British Royal Air Force, in 1923 he selectively refused to serve in the RAF Iraq Command
Conscientious objector
–
"I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong... They never called me
nigger." –
Muhammad Ali, 1966
Conscientious objector
–
Conscientious Objector memorial in
Tavistock Square Gardens, London — dedicated on
15 May 1994
Conscientious objector
–
John T. Neufeld was a Mennonite
World War I conscientious objector sentenced to 15 years hard labor in the
military prison at Leavenworth. He was paroled to do dairy work and released after serving five months of his sentence. His diary of army and prison life is published in a collection with three other WWI Mennonite conscientious objectors.
Conscientious objector
–
Civilian Public Service firefighting crew at Snowline Camp near Camino, California, 1945.
16.
Radar
–
Radar is an object-detection system that uses radio waves to determine the range, angle, or velocity of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, Radio waves from the transmitter reflect off the object and return to the receiver, giving information about the objects location and speed. Radar was developed secretly for military use by several nations in the period before, the term RADAR was coined in 1940 by the United States Navy as an acronym for RAdio Detection And Ranging or RAdio Direction And Ranging. The term radar has since entered English and other languages as a common noun, high tech radar systems are associated with digital signal processing, machine learning and are capable of extracting useful information from very high noise levels. Other systems similar to make use of other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. One example is lidar, which uses ultraviolet, visible, or near infrared light from lasers rather than radio waves, as early as 1886, German physicist Heinrich Hertz showed that radio waves could be reflected from solid objects. In 1895, Alexander Popov, an instructor at the Imperial Russian Navy school in Kronstadt. The next year, he added a spark-gap transmitter, in 1897, while testing this equipment for communicating between two ships in the Baltic Sea, he took note of an interference beat caused by the passage of a third vessel. In his report, Popov wrote that this phenomenon might be used for detecting objects, the German inventor Christian Hülsmeyer was the first to use radio waves to detect the presence of distant metallic objects. In 1904, he demonstrated the feasibility of detecting a ship in dense fog and he obtained a patent for his detection device in April 1904 and later a patent for a related amendment for estimating the distance to the ship. He also got a British patent on September 23,1904 for a radar system. It operated on a 50 cm wavelength and the radar signal was created via a spark-gap. In 1915, Robert Watson-Watt used radio technology to advance warning to airmen. Watson-Watt became an expert on the use of direction finding as part of his lightning experiments. As part of ongoing experiments, he asked the new boy, Arnold Frederic Wilkins, Wilkins made an extensive study of available units before selecting a receiver model from the General Post Office. Its instruction manual noted that there was fading when aircraft flew by, in 1922, A. Hoyt Taylor and Leo C. Taylor submitted a report, suggesting that this might be used to detect the presence of ships in low visibility, eight years later, Lawrence A. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa followed prewar Great Britain, and Hungary had similar developments during the war. Hugon, began developing a radio apparatus, a part of which was installed on the liner Normandie in 1935
Radar
–
Long-range radar
antenna, used to track space objects and ballistic missiles.
Radar
–
Radar of the type used for detection of aircraft. It rotates steadily, sweeping the airspace with a narrow beam.
Radar
–
Experimental radar antenna, US
Naval Research Laboratory, Anacostia, D. C., late 1930s
Radar
–
A
Chain Home tower in Great Baddow, United Kingdom
17.
Anti-aircraft gun
–
Anti-aircraft warfare or counter-air defence is defined by NATO as all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action. They include ground-and air-based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and it may be used to protect naval, ground, and air forces in any location. However, for most countries the main effort has tended to be homeland defence, NATO refers to airborne air defence as counter-air and naval air defence as anti-aircraft warfare. Missile defence is an extension of air defence as are initiatives to adapt air defence to the task of intercepting any projectile in flight, a surface-based air defence capability can also be deployed offensively to deny the use of airspace to an opponent. Until the 1950s, guns firing ballistic munitions ranging from 20 mm to 150 mm were the weapons, guided missiles then became dominant. The term air defence was probably first used by Britain when Air Defence of Great Britain was created as a Royal Air Force command in 1925. However, arrangements in the UK were also called anti-aircraft, abbreviated as AA, after the First World War it was sometimes prefixed by Light or Heavy to classify a type of gun or unit. Nicknames for anti-aircraft guns include AA, AAA or triple-A, an abbreviation of anti-aircraft artillery, ack-ack, NATO defines anti-aircraft warfare as measures taken to defend a maritime force against attacks by airborne weapons launched from aircraft, ships, submarines and land-based sites. In some armies the term All-Arms Air Defence is used for air defence by nonspecialist troops, other terms from the late 20th century include GBAD with related terms SHORAD and MANPADS. Anti-aircraft missiles are variously called surface-to-air missile, abbreviated and pronounced SAM, non-English terms for air defence include the German FlaK, whence English flak, and the Russian term Protivovozdushnaya oborona, a literal translation of anti-air defence, abbreviated as PVO. In Russian the AA systems are called zenitnye systems, in French, air defence is called DCA. The maximum distance at which a gun or missile can engage an aircraft is an important figure, however, many different definitions are used but unless the same definition is used, performance of different guns or missiles cannot be compared. For AA guns only the part of the trajectory can be usefully used. By the late 1930s the British definition was that height at which an approaching target at 400 mph can be engaged for 20 seconds before the gun reaches 70 degrees elevation. However, effective ceiling for heavy AA guns was affected by nonballistic factors, The maximum running time of the fuse, the capability of fire control instruments to determine target height at long range. The essence of air defence is to detect aircraft and destroy them. The critical issue is to hit a target moving in three-dimensional space, Air defence evolution covered the areas of sensors and technical fire control, weapons, and command and control. At the start of the 20th century these were very primitive or non-existent
Anti-aircraft gun
–
American troops mount a
Swedish Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft gun near the
Algerian coastline in 1943
Anti-aircraft gun
–
Ballonabwehrkanone by Krupp
Anti-aircraft gun
Anti-aircraft gun
–
1909 vintage Krupp 9 pounder anti-aircraft gun
18.
Royal Military Police
–
Members of the RMP are often known as Redcaps because of the scarlet covers on their peaked caps, or scarlet coloured berets. The RMP origins can be traced back to the 13th Century but it was not until 1877 that a corps of military police was formed. This was followed by the Military Foot Police in 1885, although technically two independent corps, the two effectively functioned as a single organisation. In 1926, they were amalgamated to form the Corps of Military Police. In recognition of their service in the Second World War, they became the Corps of Royal Military Police on 28 November 1946, on 6 April 1992 the RMP amalgamated into the Adjutant Generals Corps, under whose overall command they form part of the AGCs Provost Branch. Non-commissioned members of the RMP receive their training as soldiers. They then receive further training at the Defence School of Policing and Guarding, RMP commissioned officers are trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, as are all other British Army officers. The regimental march of the RMP is The Watchtower or Hoch Heidecksburg originally a German Army marching tune from 1912 by Rudolf Herzer, the RMP motto is Exemplo Ducemus, Latin for By example, shall we lead. The Provost Marshal is a post which goes back to the 13th century and was originally an under-officer of the Earl Marshal, in 1685 the role of Provost Marshal General became a permanent post. The Military Mounted Police was formed in 1877 and the Military Foot Police was formed in 1885, during the First World War the Military Police grew from 508 all ranks to over 25,000 all ranks by the end of the War. During the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in March 1915 the Military Police served the Army as a rather than just individual units. On 27 February 1926 the Corps of Military Police was formed by merging the Military Mounted Police, Provost Wing – Responsible for general policing. Provost Companies were included in the order of battle of Home Commands, Armoured, Infantry and Airborne Divisions, as well as at Army and Corps level and with independent Brigades. From 1942, Ports Provost Companies were raised, consisting of a mix of Provost and Vulnerable Points Sections, Vulnerable Points Wing – Formed in 1941 to provide security of static locations and establishments. They were known as blue caps from the Oxford blue cloth covers worn on their service dress caps, originally intended to act as static Companies and detachments, VP Coys were later deployed in North West Europe, guarding prisoner of war camps and other static installations. The VP Wing was quickly phased out at the end of the war, traffic Control Wing – Formed in 1941, TC Coys were deployed throughout the United Kingdom, releasing Provost Companies from the tasks of traffic control. TC Coys were later deployed in the Middle East, Italy, the Wing was phased out of the Corps by 1946. Field Security Wing – First formed in 1937, personnel of the F. S. W, wore Lincoln green cap covers and brass shoulder titles on their tunics with the letters FSP, to distinguish them from the rest of the Corps
Royal Military Police
–
Royal Military Police cap badge
Royal Military Police
–
An RMP NCO—accompanied by an
MDP officer (right)—patrol
Exeter city centre on OP Dissuade, the policing of alcohol-related disorder committed by off-duty service personnel in 2006.
Royal Military Police
–
RMP Para Provost
DZ Flash (16 Air Assault Brigade)
Royal Military Police
–
Royal Military Police
Opel Vectra patrol car in Germany
19.
Imperial War Museum
–
Imperial War Museums is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military war effort and sacrifice of Britain, the museums remit has since expanded to include all conflicts in which British or Commonwealth forces have been involved since 1914. As of 2012, the aims to provide for, and to encourage. Originally housed in the Crystal Palace at Sydenham Hill, the museum opened to the public in 1920. The outbreak of the Second World War saw the museum expand both its collections and its terms of reference, but in the period, the museum entered a period of decline. The 1960s saw the museum redevelop its Southwark building, now referred to as Imperial War Museum London, during the 1970s, the museum began to expand onto other sites. The first, in 1976, was an airfield in Cambridgeshire now referred to as IWM Duxford. In 1978, the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Belfast became a branch of the museum, in 1984, the Cabinet War Rooms, an underground wartime command centre, was opened to the public. From the 1980s onwards, the museums Bethlem building underwent a series of multimillion-pound redevelopments, finally,2002 saw the opening of IWM North in Trafford, Greater Manchester, the fifth branch of the museum and the first in the north of England. In 2011, the museum rebranded itself as IWM, standing for Imperial War Museums, the museum is funded by government grants, charitable donations, and revenue generation through commercial activity such as retailing, licensing, and publishing. General admission is free to IWM London and IWM North, the museum is an exempt charity under the Charities Act 1993 and a non-departmental public body under the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. As of January 2012, the Chairman of the Trustees is Sir Francis Richards, since October 2008, the museums Director General has been Diane Lees. On 27 February 1917 Sir Alfred Mond, a Liberal MP and First Commissioner of Works and this proposal was accepted by the War Cabinet on 5 March 1917 and the decision announced in The Times on 26 March. A committee was established, chaired by Mond, to oversee the collection of material to be exhibited in the new museum, there was an early appreciation of the need for exhibits to reflect personal experience in order to prevent the collections becoming dead relics. Sir Martin Conway, the Museums first Director General, said that exhibits must be vitalised by contributions expressive of the action, the experiences, the valour and the endurance of individuals. The museums first curator and secretary was Charles ffoulkes, who had previously been curator of the Royal Armouries at the Tower of London, in July 1917 Mond made a visit to the Western Front in order to study how best to organise the museums growing collection. While in France he met French government ministers, and Field Marshal Haig, in December 1917 the name was changed to the Imperial War Museum after a resolution from the India and Dominions Committee of the museum. The museum was opened by The King at the Crystal Palace on 9 June 1920, shortly afterwards the Imperial War Museum Act 1920 was passed and established a Board of Trustees to oversee the governance of the museum
Imperial War Museum
–
Sir Alfred Mond, photographed between 1910 and 1920.
Imperial War Museum
–
Imperial War Museums
Imperial War Museum
–
The Imperial Institute, South Kensington, where the museum was located from 1924–1936
Imperial War Museum
–
15-inch guns outside the museum; the nearer gun from
HMS Ramillies, the other from
HMS Roberts.
20.
Rhyl
–
Rhyl is a seaside resort town and community in the historic county of Denbighshire. It lies on the north-east coast of Wales at the mouth of the River Clwyd, to the west is the suburb of Kinmel Bay, with the resort of Towyn beyond. Prestatyn is to the east and Rhuddlan to the south, at the 2011 Census, Rhyl had a population of 25,149. The conurbation of Abergele-Rhyl-Prestatyn has a population of over 60,000, Rhyl has long been a popular tourist destination. Once an elegant Victorian resort, there was an influx from Liverpool, the area had declined dramatically by 1990, but has since been improved by a series of regeneration projects that have brought in major investment. Several millions of European funding, secured by the Welsh Government, has spent on developing Rhyls seafront. The origin of the name Rhyl is not fully known, however, the name appears in old documents variously as Hulle, Hul, Ryhull, Hyll, Hull, yr Hyll, Rhil, Rhûl, Rhul Rhyll, and Rhyl. The name seems to be a hybrid between the English word hill and the Welsh definite article y, the exact significance of the name is unclear as there are no hills in the vicinity. It is possibly a reference to a mound or slightly raised place in a marshy region. Some documents refer to a house, Tŷn yr haul. A previous Rhyl landmark was the Pavilion Theatre, a building with five domes. Beside it stood the pier which was built in 1872 for the pleasure of the visitors who flocked to the North Wales coast. It was 2,355 ft long and once included a pier railway, the structure was damaged by ships in 1883 and again in 1891. It was also damaged in 1901 when there was a fire at the Pavilion Theatre, storms were responsible for further damage in 1909 and the pier was closed in 1913 as unsafe. It was reopened with a length in 1930 but closed again in 1966. Rhyls top attractions on the West Parade are now Rhyl Childrens Village theme park, the skytower opened in 1989 and a few years later, the Childrens Village theme park was built, but the tower closed to the public in 2010. On the East Parade is the SeaQuarium and the Rhyl Suncentre, the Suncentre was an indoor leisure centre which opened in 1980 at a cost of £4. 25m and featured a heated swimming pool and Europes first indoor surfing pool. The local council closed the centre in early 2014, the Pavilion Theatre is also on the East Parade, has over 1000 seats and is managed by Denbighshire County Council
Rhyl
–
Rhyl
Rhyl
–
Front page of the earliest surviving copy of the Welsh newspaper The Rhyl Advertiser; 5 January 1878
Rhyl
–
Rhyl promenade, looking east, c.1870
Rhyl
–
Rhyl clock tower and East Parade
21.
London Electrical Engineers
–
The London Electrical Engineers was a Volunteer unit of the British Armys Royal Engineers founded in 1897. It pioneered the use of searchlights for port defence before World War I, in the interwar period it formed the two senior searchlight regiments of the Territorial Army, which defended Southern England during The Blitz. Detachments later served in the Battle of Crete and Siege of Tobruk, the regiment was one of the first to employ women in a combat-related role. Queen Victoria approved the formation of The Electrical Engineers, Royal Engineers on 27 April 1897, the headquarters of the new force was at 5 Victoria Street, Westminster, and initially there were four companies recruited in London and the Midlands. By 1908 there were seven Divisions of electrical engineers around the great ports of Britain, including the London Division. The London Electrical Engineers established its HQ at 46 Regency Street, Victoria, the Commanding Officer of The Electrical Engineers was Rookes Crompton, the electrical pioneer and founder of Crompton & Co, one of the first large-scale manufacturers of electrical equipment. Early in the Second Boer War, Colonel Robert Baden-Powell improvised searchlights to deter night attacks during the Siege of Mafeking, the detachment served from April to October 1900 in the Transvaal and Orange Free State. Crompton was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, Mentioned in Dispatches and made a Companion of the Bath for his efforts and was given the honorary rank of Colonel. Under the Haldane Reforms, the Electrical Engineers RE were converted into Fortress Companies RE in the new Territorial Force and they were responsible, among other duties, for electrical installations in the defended ports. Crompton and most of the officers appointed to the LEE were Members or Associate Members of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Another was the pioneer aeronautical engineer Edward Teshmaker Busk, who was a lieutenant in the corps, Crompton retired in 1910, but was appointed Honorary Colonel of the corps in 1911. By the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, the London Electrical Engineers had grown to six companies based at Regency Street, Searchlight units were immediately deployed to the South Coast of England and the Thames Estuary to form light barriers against surface raiders. For example, No 2 Company London Electrical Engineers was positioned at Coalhouse Fort in East Tilbury and these acetylene searchlights were operated by civilian Special Constables. The first night raid was made by Zeppelin airships on 19/20 January 1915, then in April and May regular raids began on the East Coast of England, the transfer took effect between February and April 1916. Experience had shown the need for plentiful searchlights to guide both gunners and fighter pilots to their targets, the army established a 25-mile wide searchlight belt stretching from Northumberland to Sussex, with a double ring round London. By July 1917 there were 42 AA Companies of the RE scattered around the country and this organisation became The Searchlight Experimental Establishment commanded by Captain P. Yorke, RE. Technology and tactics developed to keep pace as the Germans replaced vulnerable airships with heavy bombers, new 90 cm and 120 cm electric searchlights and their sound locators were linked directly to the guns to provide early warning. In August 1918, a new establishment was implemented, the London and Tyne Electrical Engineers became the parent units for all coast defence and anti-aircraft Electric Light units and the depots that trained men for them
London Electrical Engineers
–
Former Drill Hall of the London Electrical Engineers in Regency Street, London SW1
London Electrical Engineers
–
The
Duke of York's Headquarters
22.
93rd Searchlight Regiment
–
93rd Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery was an all-female British air defence unit during World War II, formed in October 1942 and disbanded in July 1945. A plan in 1935 anticipated 100 searchlight companies, with 2334 searchlights lights and 43,500 men, however, by 1941 men were increasingly needed for deployment elsewhere and there was a risk that the number of anti-aircraft units might have to be reduced. The General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Anti-Aircraft Command 1939-1945, General Sir Frederick Pile and they were first deployed to heavy anti-aircraft gun units to work the AA instruments, radars and command posts. These Mixed batteries were a success, but the replacement of men by women in searchlight units was less easy to settle, the women would be scattered in small detachments in isolated conditions suffering hardship and few amenities. S/L sites were subject to attack and usually had light machine guns for self-defence. In 1941 a secret trial called the Newark experiment was carried out in AA Command to find out if women would be able to out the duties required in searchlight regiments. Fifty-four members of the ATS were sent for training at Rhyl to see if they could cope with working in isolated places and if they would have the strength and the ability to operate the searchlights. General Pile was also to later, The girls lived like men, fought their lights like men and, alas. General Pile also proposed that the women should have a practical uniform for this work. On 2 December 1941, the Under Secretary of State in the War Office wrote a letter recommending that members of the ATS be deployed in searchlight duties. In July 1942 the first seven searchlight troops were formed with ATS members and these were posted to 26th Searchlight Regiment, on 25 October 1942 the 93rd Searchlight Regiment was formed at Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire with 301,342 and 495 Searchlight Batteries. The batteries came from 26th S/L Rgt, 79th S/L Rgt and 77th S/L Rgt, respectively. Apart from 301 Bty, which was already an all-female battery, the regiment was still 50 percent male when formed, but the transfer of ATS in. By the time the regiment was converted in August 1943 there were approximately 1500 women in the regiment, apart from the Commanding Officer. The regiment was deployed in 38th Light Anti-Aircraft Brigade, which was part of the defences of London, later it moved to 47th AA Brigade defending Southampton. Members of the ATS on the strength of Royal Artillery units wore the RAs grenade collar badge above the left breast pocket of their uniform jacket. 93 SL Regt RA commenced disbandment at The Copse, Hamble, near Southampton, on 1 Jul 1945, a reunion was organised at the Artillery Centre, Larkhill in 2005 to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the disbandment of the Regiment. Forty-four women and two men from the Regiment attended together with the special guest, Dame Vera Lynn, Sir Frederick Piles despatch, The Anti-Aircraft Defence of the United Kingdom from 28th July,1939, to 15th April,1945 London Gazette 18 December 1947 Pile, Frederick
93rd Searchlight Regiment
–
ATS Searchlight Unit 1940s
23.
21st Army Group
–
Commanded by General Sir Bernard Montgomery, 21st Army Group initially controlled all ground forces in Operation Overlord. The Germans lacked the ability to prevent the American breakout at the end of the Normandy beachhead in early August 1944. After the successful landings in the south of France by the U. S. 6th Army Group and it was therefore responsible for securing the ports upon which Allied supply depended, and also with overrunning German V-1 and V-2 launching sites along the coasts of western France and Belgium. By 29 August, the Germans had largely withdrawn across the Seine River without their heavy equipment. The advance was so rapid,250 miles in four days, that Antwerp, Belgium was captured undefended on 4 September 1944, on 1 September 1944, the 21st Army Group was relieved of operational control of the American armies, and those armies formed the 12th Army Group. By mid-September, elements of 21st Army Group had reached the Dutch border, but were halted due to lack of supplies, after the break-out from Normandy, there were high hopes that the war could be ended in 1944. In order to do so, the last great natural barrier of Germany in the west. Operation Market Garden was orchestrated to attempt just this, however, the British armoured forces had only one main highway to operate on, and crucial information about the German forces in the operational area was either missing or ignored. Thus an operation was needed to clear the approaches and thereby ease the supply problem, the island of Walcheren was strongly held by German forces and commanded the estuary of the Scheldt which flows through Antwerp. Operations by II Canadian Corps cleared the approaches to Antwerp both north and south of the water during the Battle of the Scheldt, Walcheren itself was captured in late 1944 by the last major amphibious assault in Europe in the Second World War. A combination of British and Canadian forces and Royal Marines undertook the operation, after the capture of Walcheren came the last great German offensive of the war. In a repeat of their 1940 attack, German formations smashed through weak Allied lines in the Ardennes in Belgium, the Battle of the Bulge presented a command problem to General Eisenhower. It had sliced through US lines, leaving some American formations north and south of the new German salient. However, the headquarters of U. S. 12th Army Group lay to the south and they, with the US Third Army under General George S. Patton, reduced the salient. After the battle, control of the First US Army which had placed under Field Marshal Montgomerys temporary command was returned to Bradleys 12th Army Group. The US Ninth Army remained under Montgomery longer, before being returned to American command in Germany, prior to the Rhineland Campaign the enemy had to be cleared from the Roer Triangle during Operation Blackcock. This large methodical mopping up operation took place between 14 and 27 January 1945 and it was not planned to make any deep thrust into the enemy defences or capture large numbers of prisoners. It proceeded from stage to stage almost entirely as planned and was completed with minimal casualties, Allied forces closed up to the Rhine by March 1945
21st Army Group
–
21st Army Group Shoulder Flash
24.
Elizabeth II
–
Elizabeth II has been Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand since 6 February 1952. Elizabeth was born in London as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake duties during the Second World War. Elizabeths many historic visits and meetings include a visit to the Republic of Ireland. She has seen major changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation. She has reigned through various wars and conflicts involving many of her realms and she is the worlds oldest reigning monarch as well as Britains longest-lived. In October 2016, she became the longest currently reigning monarch, in 2017 she became the first British monarch to commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee. Elizabeth has occasionally faced republican sentiments and press criticism of the family, however, support for the monarchy remains high. Elizabeth was born at 02,40 on 21 April 1926, during the reign of her paternal grandfather and her father, Prince Albert, Duke of York, was the second son of the King. Her mother, Elizabeth, Duchess of York, was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and she was delivered by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfathers London house,17 Bruton Street, Mayfair. Elizabeths only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930, the two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as Crawfie. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature and music, Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margarets childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family. The book describes Elizabeths love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, others echoed such observations, Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant and her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved. During her grandfathers reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father, the Duke of York. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, many people believed that he would marry and have children of his own. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second-in-line to the throne, later that year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Consequently, Elizabeths father became king, and she became heir presumptive, if her parents had had a later son, she would have lost her position as first-in-line, as her brother would have been heir apparent and above her in the line of succession
Elizabeth II
–
The Queen in March 2015
Elizabeth II
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Princess Elizabeth aged 3, April 1929
Elizabeth II
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Princess Elizabeth aged 7, painted by
Philip de László, 1933
Elizabeth II
–
Elizabeth in
Auxiliary Territorial Service uniform, April 1945
25.
Mary Soames, Baroness Soames
–
Mary Soames, Baroness Soames, LG, DBE, FRSL was the youngest of the five children of Winston Churchill and his wife, Clementine. She was the wife of Christopher Soames, Mary Spencer-Churchill was raised at Chartwell and educated at the Manor House at Limpsfield. She also accompanied her father as aide-de-camp on several of his overseas journeys, including his trip to Potsdam. She was Patron of the National Benevolent Fund for the Aged, a successful author, Lady Soames wrote an acclaimed biography of her mother, Clementine Churchill, in 1979. Lady Soames was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her public service and she was appointed a Lady Companion of the Order of the Garter on 23 April 2005, and was invested on 13 June at Windsor Castle. On 31 May 2014, Lady Soames died at her home in London at the age of 91 following a short illness and her ashes are buried next to those of her husband within the Churchill plot at St Martins Church, Bladon, near Woodstock, Oxfordshire. The sale far exceeded pre-auction estimates, Mary Soames married the Conservative politician Christopher Soames in 1947 and they had five children, The Rt. He married Catherine N. Weatherall on 4 June 1981 and they were divorced in 1988 and he remarried Serena Mary Smith on 21 December 1993. They have two children, a son and a daughter and she married James MacManus on 4 July 1981 and they were divorced in 1989. He married Susanna Keith in 1978 and she married Richard Hambro in 1973 and they were divorced in 1982. She remarried William Peel, 3rd Earl Peel on 15 April 1989 and he married Camilla Rose Dunne in 1988. Christopher Soames, MBE May 1965 –1972, The Hon, mrs. Soames, MBE1972 –19 April 1978, The Hon. Lady Soames, MBE19 April 1978 –14 June 1980, the Lady Soames, MBE14 June 1980 –23 April 2005, The Rt Hon. The Lady Soames, DBE23 April 2005 –31 May 2014, a film clip ALLIES TAKE KISKA ETC. is available at the Internet Archive
Mary Soames, Baroness Soames
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Lady Soames, taking part in the
Garter Day procession to
Windsor Castle on 19 June 2006
Mary Soames, Baroness Soames
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1945 photo at Potsdam Conference
Mary Soames, Baroness Soames
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Lady Soames'
Garter banner at
St Martin's Church, Bladon
Mary Soames, Baroness Soames
–
Churchill and Soames grave at
St Martin's Church, Bladon
26.
VE Day
–
It thus marked the end of World War II in Europe. The term VE Day existed as early as September 1944, in anticipation of victory, on 30 April 1945, Adolf Hitler, the Nazi leader, committed suicide during the Battle of Berlin. Germanys surrender, therefore, was authorised by his successor, Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz, the administration headed by Dönitz was known as the Flensburg Government. The act of surrender was signed on 7 May in Reims, France and on 8 May in Berlin. The former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries have historically celebrated the end of World War II on 9 May, however, the Baltic countries now commemorate VE day on 8 May. In Ukraine from 2015,8 May was designated as a day of Remembrance and Reconciliation, upon the defeat of Germany, celebrations erupted throughout the world. From Moscow to Los Angeles, people celebrated, in the United Kingdom, more than one million people celebrated in the streets to mark the end of the European part of the war. Princess Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret were allowed to wander incognito among the crowds, in the United States, the victory happened on President Harry Trumans 61st birthday. He dedicated the victory to the memory of his predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, flags remained at half-staff for the remainder of the 30-day mourning period. Truman said of dedicating the victory to Roosevelts memory and keeping the flags at half-staff that his wish was that Franklin D. Roosevelt had lived to witness this day. Later that day, Truman said that the victory made it his most enjoyable birthday, massive celebrations also took place in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and especially in New Yorks Times Square. As the Soviet representative in Reims had no authority to sign the German instrument of surrender, the surrender ceremony was repeated in Berlin on 8 May, where the instrument of surrender was signed by supreme German military commander Wilhelm Keitel, by Georgy Zhukov and Allied representatives. East Germany as Tag der Befreiung, a holiday from 1950 to 1966. Between 1975 and 1990, as Tag des Sieges, France as Victoire 1945 Slovakia as Deň víťazstva nad fašizmom Czech Republic as Den vítězství or Den osvobození Poland as Narodowy Dzień Zwycięstwa – National Victory Day. Norway as Frigjøringsdagen Ukraine День памяті та примирення Ukraine День перемоги над нацизмом у Другій світовій війні — from 2015
VE Day
–
Winston Churchill waves to crowds in
Whitehall,
London on the day he broadcast the news that the war with
Germany was over.
VE Day
–
Crowds gathered in celebration at
Piccadilly Circus,
London during VE Day in 1945.
VE Day
–
The
instrument of Germany's surrender signed at
Reims,
France on 7 May 1945.
VE Day
–
US military policemen read about the German surrender in the newspaper
Stars and Stripes.
27.
Prime Minister
–
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss members of the cabinet. In most systems, the minister is the presiding member. In parliamentary systems fashioned after the Westminster system, the minister is the presiding and actual head of government. In such systems, the head of state or the head of states official representative usually holds a ceremonial position. The prime minister is often, but not always, a member of the Legislature or the Lower House thereof and is expected with other ministers to ensure the passage of bills through the legislature. In some monarchies the monarch may also exercise powers that are constitutionally vested in the crown. The first actual usage of the prime minister or Premier Ministre was used by Cardinal Richelieu when in 1625 he was named to head the royal council as prime minister of France. Louis XIV and his descendants generally attempted to avoid giving this title to their chief ministers, the term prime minister in the sense that we know it originated in the 18th century in the United Kingdom when members of parliament disparagingly used the title in reference to Sir Robert Walpole. Over time, however, the title became honorific and remains so in the 21st century, the monarchs of England and the United Kingdom had ministers in whom they placed special trust and who were regarded as the head of the government. Examples were Thomas Cromwell under Henry VIII, William Cecil, Lord Burghley under Elizabeth I, Clarendon under Charles II and these ministers held a variety of formal posts, but were commonly known as the minister, the chief minister, the first minister and finally the prime minister. The power of ministers depended entirely on the personal favour of the monarch. Although managing the parliament was among the skills of holding high office. Although there was a cabinet, it was appointed entirely by the monarch, when the monarch grew tired of a first minister, he or she could be dismissed, or worse, Cromwell was executed and Clarendon driven into exile when they lost favour. Kings sometimes divided power equally between two or more ministers to prevent one minister from becoming too powerful, late in Annes reign, for example, the Tory ministers Harley and St John shared power. The monarch could no longer any law or impose any tax without its permission. It is at point that a modern style of prime minister begins to emerge. A tipping point in the evolution of the prime ministership came with the death of Anne in 1714, George spoke no English, spent much of his time at his home in Hanover, and had neither knowledge of, nor interest in, the details of English government
Prime Minister
–
The prime ministers of five members of the
Commonwealth of Nations at the 1944
Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference.
Prime Minister
–
Statue of
John A. Macdonald (1815–1891), first Canadian prime minister.
28.
Winston Churchill
–
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill KG OM CH TD PC DL FRS RA was a British statesman who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 for his overall, in 1963, he was the first of only eight people to be made an honorary citizen of the United States. Churchill was born into the family of the Dukes of Marlborough and his father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a charismatic politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer, his mother, Jennie Jerome, was an American socialite. As a young officer, he saw action in British India, the Anglo–Sudan War. He gained fame as a war correspondent and wrote books about his campaigns, at the forefront of politics for fifty years, he held many political and cabinet positions. Before the First World War, he served as President of the Board of Trade, Home Secretary, during the war, he continued as First Lord of the Admiralty until the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign caused his departure from government. He then briefly resumed active service on the Western Front as commander of the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers. He returned to government under Lloyd George as Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War, Secretary of State for Air, at the outbreak of the Second World War, he was again appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain on 10 May 1940, Churchill became Prime Minister and he led Britain as Prime Minister until victory over Nazi Germany had been secured. After the Conservative Party suffered a defeat in the 1945 general election. He publicly warned of an Iron Curtain of Soviet influence in Europe, after winning the 1951 election, Churchill again became Prime Minister. His second term was preoccupied by foreign affairs, including the Malayan Emergency, Mau Mau Uprising, Korean War, domestically his government laid great emphasis on house-building. Churchill suffered a stroke in 1953 and retired as Prime Minister in 1955. Upon his death aged ninety in 1965, Elizabeth II granted him the honour of a state funeral and his highly complex legacy continues to stimulate intense debate amongst writers and historians. Born into the family of the Dukes of Marlborough, a branch of the noble Spencer family, Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, like his father. His ancestor George Spencer had changed his surname to Spencer-Churchill in 1817 when he became Duke of Marlborough, to highlight his descent from John Churchill, Churchill was born on 30 November 1874, two months prematurely, in a bedroom in Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire. From age two to six, he lived in Dublin, where his grandfather had been appointed Viceroy, Churchills brother, John Strange Spencer-Churchill, was born during this time in Ireland
Winston Churchill
–
The Right Honourable Sir Winston Churchill
KG OM CH TD DL FRS RA
Winston Churchill
–
Jennie Jerome (1854–1921), the American-born mother of Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
–
Churchill, aged seven, in 1881
Winston Churchill
–
Blenheim Palace, the Churchill family home
29.
George VI
–
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death. He was the last Emperor of India and the first Head of the Commonwealth, known as Albert until his accession, George VI was born in the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria, and was named after his great-grandfather Albert, Prince Consort. As the second son of King George V, he was not expected to inherit the throne and spent his life in the shadow of his elder brother. He attended naval college as a teenager, and served in the Royal Navy, in 1920, he was made Duke of York. He married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923 and they had two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret, in the mid-1920s, he had speech therapy for a stammer, which he never fully overcame. Georges elder brother ascended the throne as Edward VIII upon the death of their father in 1936, however, later that year Edward revealed his desire to marry divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin advised Edward that for political and religious reasons he could not marry a divorced woman, Edward abdicated in order to marry, and George ascended the throne as the third monarch of the House of Windsor. During Georges reign, the break-up of the British Empire and its transition into the Commonwealth of Nations accelerated, the parliament of the Irish Free State removed direct mention of the monarch from the countrys constitution on the day of his accession. The following year, a new Irish constitution changed the name of the state to Ireland, from 1939, the Empire and Commonwealth – except Ireland – was at war with Nazi Germany. War with Italy and Japan followed in 1940 and 1941, respectively, though Britain and its allies were ultimately victorious in 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union rose as pre-eminent world powers and the British Empire declined. After the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, George remained king of countries, but relinquished the title of Emperor of India in June 1948. Ireland formally declared itself a republic and left the Commonwealth in 1949, George adopted the new title of Head of the Commonwealth. He was beset by problems in the later years of his reign. He was succeeded by his eldest daughter, Elizabeth II, George was born at York Cottage, on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria. His father was Prince George, Duke of York, the second and eldest-surviving son of the Prince and his mother was the Duchess of York, the eldest child and only daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Teck. His birthday was the 34th anniversary of the death of his great-grandfather, Albert, uncertain of how the Prince Consorts widow, Queen Victoria, would take the news of the birth, the Prince of Wales wrote to the Duke of York that the Queen had been rather distressed. Two days later, he again, I really think it would gratify her if you yourself proposed the name Albert to her. Consequently, he was baptised Albert Frederick Arthur George at St. Mary Magdalenes Church near Sandringham three months later, within the family, he was known informally as Bertie
George VI
–
Formal portrait, c. 1940–46
George VI
–
Four kings: Edward VII (far right), his son George, Prince of Wales, later George V (far left), and grandsons Edward, later Edward VIII (rear), and Albert, later George VI (foreground), c. 1908
George VI
–
Prince Albert (left) at an
RAF dinner in 1919 with
Sir Hugh Trenchard (centre) and
Christopher Courtney (right)
George VI
–
The Duke and Duchess (centre, reading programmes) at
Eagle Farm Racecourse,
Brisbane, 1927
30.
Other ranks (UK)
–
In the Royal Navy, these personnel are called ratings. Non-commissioned member is the equivalent term for the Canadian Armed Forces, colloquially, members of the other ranks are known as rankers. The term is considered to exclude warrant officers, and occasionally also excludes NCOs. In the standard rank scale maintained by NATO, other ranks are coded from OR1 to OR9, in British India, a distinction was made between British other ranks and Indian other ranks
Other ranks (UK)
United Kingdom
British Army
