1.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
2.
Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
3.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
4.
Royal Air Force
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The Royal Air Force is the United Kingdoms aerial warfare force. Formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, following victory over the Central Powers in 1918 the RAF emerged as, at the time, the largest air force in the world. The RAF describe its mission statement as, an agile, adaptable and capable Air Force that, person for person, is second to none, and that makes a decisive air power contribution in support of the UK Defence Mission. The mission statement is supported by the RAFs definition of air power, Air power is defined as the ability to project power from the air and space to influence the behaviour of people or the course of events. Today the Royal Air Force maintains a fleet of various types of aircraft. The majority of the RAFs rotary-wing aircraft form part of the tri-service Joint Helicopter Command in support of ground forces, most of the RAFs aircraft and personnel are based in the UK, with many others serving on operations or at long-established overseas bases. It was founded on 1 April 1918, with headquarters located in the former Hotel Cecil, during the First World War, by the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps, at that time it was the largest air force in the world. The RAFs naval aviation branch, the Fleet Air Arm, was founded in 1924, the RAF developed the doctrine of strategic bombing which led to the construction of long-range bombers and became its main bombing strategy in the Second World War. The RAF underwent rapid expansion prior to and during the Second World War, under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan of December 1939, the air forces of British Commonwealth countries trained and formed Article XV squadrons for service with RAF formations. Many individual personnel from countries, and exiles from occupied Europe. By the end of the war the Royal Canadian Air Force had contributed more than 30 squadrons to serve in RAF formations, additionally, the Royal Australian Air Force represented around nine percent of all RAF personnel who served in the European and Mediterranean theatres. In the Battle of Britain in 1940, the RAF defended the skies over Britain against the numerically superior German Luftwaffe, the largest RAF effort during the war was the strategic bombing campaign against Germany by Bomber Command. Following victory in the Second World War, the RAF underwent significant re-organisation, during the early stages of the Cold War, one of the first major operations undertaken by the Royal Air Force was in 1948 and the Berlin Airlift, codenamed Operation Plainfire. Before Britain developed its own nuclear weapons the RAF was provided with American nuclear weapons under Project E and these were initially armed with nuclear gravity bombs, later being equipped with the Blue Steel missile. Following the development of the Royal Navys Polaris submarines, the nuclear deterrent passed to the navys submarines on 30 June 1969. With the introduction of Polaris, the RAFs strategic nuclear role was reduced to a tactical one and this tactical role was continued by the V bombers into the 1980s and until 1998 by Tornado GR1s. For much of the Cold War the primary role of the RAF was the defence of Western Europe against potential attack by the Soviet Union, with many squadrons based in West Germany. With the decline of the British Empire, global operations were scaled back, despite this, the RAF fought in many battles in the Cold War period
5.
Wing commander (rank)
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It is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-specific rank structure. It ranks immediately above squadron leader and immediately below group captain. It has a NATO ranking code of OF-4, and is equivalent to Commander in the Royal Navy and to Lieutenant Colonel in the British Army, the Royal Marines, and the US Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps. The equivalent rank in the Womens Auxiliary Air Force, Womens Royal Air Force, the equivalent rank in the Royal Observer Corps was observer commander which had a similar rank insignia. In response to the proposal that the RAF should use its own titles, it was suggested that the RAF might use the Royal Navys officer ranks. For example, the rank that later became wing commander would have been air commander and it was also suggested that RAF lieutenant colonels might be entitled reeves or wing-leaders. However, the rank wing commander was chosen as wings were typically commanded by RAF lieutenant colonels. The rank of wing commander has been used continuously since 1 August 1919, in the early years of the RAF, a wing commander commanded a flying wing, typically a group of three or four aircraft squadrons. In current usage a wing commander is more likely to command a wing which is an administrative sub-division of an RAF station, a flying squadron is normally commanded by a wing commander but is occasionally commanded by a squadron leader for small units. In the Air Training Corps, a commander is usually the officer commanding of a wing. The rank insignia is based on the three bands of commanders in the Royal Navy and consists of three narrow light blue bands over slightly wider black bands. This is worn on both the sleeves of the tunic or on the shoulder of the flying suit or the casual uniform. The command pennant is two triangular command pennants used in the RAF, two thin red lines differentiate this one from the other. It is also used in the Egyptian Air Force, Hellenic Air Force, Royal Air Force of Oman, the Royal Canadian Air Force used the rank until the unification of the Canadian Forces in 1968, when army-type rank titles were adopted. A Canadian wing commander became a lieutenant colonel. In official French Canadian usage, a wing commanders rank title was lieutenant-colonel daviation, the rank of wing commander continues to be used as a cadet rank at the Royal Military College of Canada. In the 1990s, the Canadian Forces Air Command altered the structure of those bases under its control, the commander of such an establishment was re-designated as the wing commander. Like the United States Air Force usage, the wing commander is an appointment
6.
Special Operations Executive
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The Special Operations Executive was a British World War II organisation. Few people were aware of SOEs existence, to those who were part of it or liaised with it, it was sometimes referred to as the Baker Street Irregulars, after the location of its London headquarters. It was also known as Churchills Secret Army or the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, SOE operated in all countries or former countries occupied by or attacked by the Axis forces, except where demarcation lines were agreed with Britains principal Allies. It also made use of territory on occasion, or made plans and preparations in case neutral countries were attacked by the Axis. The organisation directly employed or controlled just over 13,000 people, after the war, the organisation was officially dissolved on 15 January 1946. A memorial to SOEs agents was unveiled on the Albert Embankment by Lambeth Palace in London in October 2009, the organisation was formed from the merger of three existing secret departments, which had been formed shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War. Immediately after Germany annexed Austria in March 1938, the Foreign Office created an organisation known as Department EH. In the autumn of the year, the War Office expanded an existing research department known as GS. GS was renamed MI in early 1939 and these three departments worked with few resources until the outbreak of war. There was much overlap between their activities and Section D and EH duplicated much of each others work, on the other hand, the heads of Section D and MI knew each other and shared information. They agreed a rough division of their activities, MI researched irregular operations which could be undertaken by regular uniformed troops, during the early months of the war, Section D was based first at St Ermins Hotel in Westminster and then the Metropole Hotel near Trafalgar Square. The Section attempted unsuccessfully to sabotage deliveries of vital materials to Germany from neutral countries by mining the Iron Gate on the River Danube. MI meanwhile produced pamphlets and technical handbooks for guerrilla leaders, on 13 June 1940, at the instigation of newly appointed Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Lord Hankey persuaded Section D and MI that their operations should be coordinated. On 1 July, a Cabinet level meeting arranged the formation of a single sabotage organisation, on 16 July, Hugh Dalton, the Minister of Economic Warfare, was appointed to take political responsibility for the new organisation. As Dalton was leaving Churchills study after being given his new task, the new organisation was formally created on 22 July. Dalton used the Irish Republican Army during the Irish war of Independence as a model for the organisation, Campbell Stuart left the organisation, and the flamboyant Major Grand was returned to the regular army. At his own request, Major Holland also left to take up an appointment in the Royal Engineers. However, Hollands former deputy at MI, Brigadier Colin Gubbins, one department of MI, MI R, which was involved in the development of weapons for irregular warfare, was not formally integrated into SOE but became an independent body codenamed MD1
7.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
8.
George Cross
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The George Cross is the second highest award of the United Kingdom honours system. It is awarded for not in the face of the enemy to members of the British armed forces. It has always been able to be awarded posthumously and it was previously awarded to Commonwealth countries, most of which have established their own honours systems and no longer recommend British honours. Many of the awards have been presented by the British monarch to both recipients and in the case of posthumous awards to next of kin. These investitures are held at Buckingham Palace. The George Cross was instituted on 24 September 1940 by King George VI, at this time, during the height of the Blitz, there was a strong desire to reward the many acts of civilian courage. I propose to give my name to this new distinction, which will consist of the George Cross, which will rank next to the Victoria Cross, the medal was designed by Percy Metcalfe. The Warrant for the GC, dated 24 September 1940, was published in The London Gazette on 31 January 1941. The GC replaced the Empire Gallantry Medal, all holders of the EGM were instructed to exchange their medals for a GC and this substitution policy ignored holders of the Albert Medal and the Edward Medal, awards which both took precedence over the EGM. The anomaly was rectified in 1971, when the recipients of the AM. Of the 64 holders of the Albert Medal and 68 holders of the Edward Medal eligible to exchange,49 and 59 respectively took up the option. The GC, which may be awarded posthumously, is granted in recognition of, the award is for civilians but also for military personnel whose actions would not normally be eligible to receive military awards, such as gallantry not in the face of the enemy. The Warrant states, The Cross is intended primarily for civilians, bars are awarded to the GC in recognition of the performance of further acts of bravery meriting the award, although none has yet been awarded. Recipients are entitled to the postnominal letters GC, All GC awards are published in The London Gazette with the exception of the two collective bestowals. Since its inception in 1940, the GC has been awarded 407 times,401 to men,4 to women, of the 159 individuals who received original awards,86 have been posthumous. In addition there were four recipients of the Empire Gallantry Medal whose awards were gazetted after the start of the Second World War. All the other recipients were living as of the date of the decisions for the exchanges. The George Cross has, on the instruction of the Sovereign, been awarded twice on a collective basis, to the island of Malta
9.
Military Cross
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The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and used to be awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC is granted in recognition of an act or acts of gallantry during active operations against the enemy on land to all members. In 1979, the Queen approved a proposal that a number of awards, including the Military Cross, the award was created on 28 December 1914 for commissioned officers of the substantive rank of Captain or below and for Warrant Officers. In August 1916, Bars were awarded to the MC in recognition of the performance of acts of gallantry meriting the award. In 1931 the award was extended to Majors and also to members of the Royal Air Force for actions on the ground, the MC now serves as the third-level award for gallantry on land for all ranks of the British Armed Forces. 46 mm max height,44 mm max width, ornamental silver cross with straight arms terminating in broad finials, suspended from plain suspension bar. Obverse decorated with crowns, with the Royal Cypher in centre. Reverse is plain, but from 1938 the name of the recipient, the ribbon width is 32 mm and consists of three equal vertical moire stripes of white, purple, and white. During World War I, Acting Captain Francis Wallington of the Royal Field Artillery was the first person to be awarded the MC, during World War II Captain Sam Manekshaw, Indian Army, was leading a counter-offensive operation against the invading Japanese Army in Burma. During the course of the offensive, he was hit by a burst of machine-gun fire, Major General D. T. Cowan spotted Manekshaw holding on to life and was aware of his valour in face of stiff resistance from the Japanese. Fearing the worst, Major General Cowan quickly pinned his own Military Cross ribbon on to Manekshaw saying, the first posthumous Military Cross was that awarded to Captain Herbert Westmacott, Grenadier Guards for gallantry in Northern Ireland during the period 1 February 1980 to 30 April 1980. The first woman to be awarded the Military Cross was Private Michelle Norris of the Royal Army Medical Corps, Norris was awarded her medal personally by Queen Elizabeth II on 21 March 2007 as the result of her actions in Iraq on 11 June 2006. Able Seaman Kate Nesbitt, second woman, first in the Royal Navy, sergeant Michael Lockett MC was the first holder of the MC to be killed in action since World War II. Database of Australian Awardees at the Australian Government Honours website Search recommendations for the Military Cross on The UK National Archives website, the Kings Own Royal Regiment Museum, Military Cross
10.
Medal bar
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A medal bar or medal clasp is a thin metal bar attached to the ribbon of a military decoration, civil decoration, or other medal. When used in conjunction with decorations for service, such as gallantry medals. In the example, Group Captain Leonard Cheshire, VC, OM, DSO, a British convention is to indicate bars by the use of asterisks, thus, DSO** would denote a DSO and two bars. Bars are also used on long service medals to indicate the length of service rendered. The two terms are used because terms bar and clasp both refer to two parts of the medal, the indicator discussed in article, and the part of the medal connected to the ribbon. One exception was the Army Gold Medal issued to higher ranking participants in the Peninsular War, a medal was given for service, with a clasp for each battle fought. After four clasps were earned the medal was turned in for a cross with the names on the arms. The maximum was achieved by the Duke of Wellington, with a cross, over the next 40 years, it became customary for governments to present a medal to all soldiers and officers involved in a campaign. These medals were engraved with the names of the major battles the recipient had fought in during the campaign. The Sutlej Medal was the earliest medal to use such bars and it was awarded to British Army and Honourable East India Company soldiers who fought in the First Anglo-Sikh War between 1845 and 1846. The first battle the recipient participated in would be engraved on the medal itself, if the recipient had participated in multiple engagements, silver bars bearing the name of each additional battle were attached to the medals ribbon. The creation of bars led to the development of General Service medals, bars would be awarded to denote the particular campaign or war the recipient fought in. The 1854 India General Service Medal was awarded to soldiers over a 41-year period, twenty-three clasps were created for this award, becoming one of the more extreme uses of this system. The Crimea Medal was issued with ornate battle bars, since then the general trend has been to have simple horizontal devices. Campaign bars or battle bars are used to denote the campaign, battle. This is the most common use of bars on military decorations. In the United Kingdom, campaign bars are known as clasps. Examples of ones that were issued are the enemy fire clasp on the 1914 Star
11.
Legion of Honour
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The Legion of Honour, full name National Order of the Legion of Honour, is the highest French order of merit for military and civil merits, established 1802 by Napoléon Bonaparte. The order is divided into five degrees of increasing distinction, Chevalier, Officier, Commandeur, Grand Officier and Grand-Croix. The orders motto is Honneur et Patrie and its seat is the Palais de la Légion dHonneur next to the Musée dOrsay, in the French Revolution, all French orders of chivalry were abolished, and replaced with Weapons of Honour. The Légion however did use the organization of old French orders of chivalry, the badges of the legion also bear a resemblance to the Ordre de Saint-Louis, which also used a red ribbon. Napoleon originally created this to ensure political loyalty, the organization would be used as a facade to give political favours, gifts, and concessions. The Légion was loosely patterned after a Roman legion, with legionaries, officers, commanders, regional cohorts, the highest rank was not a grand cross but a Grand Aigle, a rank that wore all the insignia common to grand crosses. The members were paid, the highest of them extremely generously,5,000 francs to an officier,2,000 francs to a commandeur,1,000 francs to an officier,250 francs to a légionnaire. Napoleon famously declared, You call these baubles, well, it is with baubles that men are led, do you think that you would be able to make men fight by reasoning. That is good only for the scholar in his study, the soldier needs glory, distinctions, rewards. This has been quoted as It is with such baubles that men are led. The order was the first modern order of merit, under the monarchy, such orders were often limited to Roman Catholics, and all knights had to be noblemen. The military decorations were the perks of the officers, the Légion, however, was open to men of all ranks and professions—only merit or bravery counted. The new legionnaire had to be sworn in the Légion and it is noteworthy that all previous orders were crosses or shared a clear Christian background, whereas the Légion is a secular institution. The jewel of the Légion has five arms, in a decree issued on the 10 Pluviôse XIII, a grand decoration was instituted. This decoration, a cross on a sash and a silver star with an eagle, symbol of the Napoleonic Empire, became known as the Grand Aigle. After Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French in 1804 and established the Napoleonic nobility in 1808, the title was made hereditary after three generations of grantees. Napoleon had dispensed 15 golden collars of the legion among his family and this collar was abolished in 1815. The Légion dhonneur was prominent and visible in the French Empire, the Emperor always wore it and the fashion of the time allowed for decorations to be worn most of the time
12.
Cross of Merit (Poland)
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The Cross of Merit is a Polish civil state award established on June 23,1923, to recognize services to the state. The Order has three grades, At the time of its establishment in 1923, the Cross of Merit was the highest civilian award in Poland and it was awarded to citizens who went beyond the call of duty in their work for the country and society as a whole. May be awarded twice in each grade to the same person, moses Schorr, Rabbi, Polish Historian, Politician, Bible Scholar, assyriologist and orientalist. Francis K. Czyzewski, b.1904 - d, Henri Strzelecki, co-founder of Henri Lloyd. Tomasz Miśkiewicz - for work with the immigrant and native Islamic Youth in 2006 Michal Kuleczka, & Chairman of Quo Vadis Leadership Conference. Lynch - CEO & Founder Lynka Michael Biegler - The German head coach of the Polish national handball team, thomas Gabriel Grasza Esq Postage Stamp & Coin Designer and Noted Canadian Polish Philatelist of Four Decades. Joanna Zawadzka - Community Activist living in Scotland, Director of Polish Cultural Festival Association
13.
Vichy France
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Vichy France is the common name of the French State headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. In particular, it represents the southern, unoccupied Free Zone that governed the southern part of the country, from 1940 to 1942, while the Vichy regime was the nominal government of France as a whole, Germany militarily occupied northern France. Thus, while Paris remained the de jure capital of France, following the Allied landings in French North Africa in November 1942, southern France was also militarily occupied by Germany and Italy. The Vichy government remained in existence, but as a de facto client and it vanished in late 1944 when the Allies occupied all of France. After being appointed Premier by President Albert Lebrun, Marshal Pétain ordered the French Governments military representatives to sign an armistice with Germany on 22 June 1940, Pétain subsequently established an authoritarian regime when the National Assembly of the French Third Republic granted him full powers on 10 July 1940. At that point, the Third Republic was dissolved, calling for National Regeneration, the French Government at Vichy reversed many liberal policies and began tight supervision of the economy, with central planning a key feature. Labour unions came under government control. The independence of women was reversed, with a put on motherhood. Paris lost its status in European art and culture. The media were tightly controlled and stressed virulent anti-Semitism, and, after June 1941, the French State maintained nominal sovereignty over the whole of French territory, but had effective full sovereignty only in the unoccupied southern zone libre. It had limited and only civil authority in the zones under military occupation. The occupation was to be a state of affairs, pending the conclusion of the war. The French Government at Vichy never joined the Axis alliance, Germany kept two million French soldiers prisoner, carrying out forced labour. They were hostages to ensure that Vichy would reduce its forces and pay a heavy tribute in gold, food. French police were ordered to round up immigrant Jews and other such as communists. Public opinion in some quarters turned against the French government and the occupying German forces over time, when it became clear that Germany was losing the war, and resistance to them increased. Most of the legal French governments leaders at Vichy fled or were subject to show trials by the GPRF, thousands of collaborators were summarily executed by local communists and the Resistance in so-called savage purges. The last of the French State exiles were captured in the Sigmaringen enclave by de Gaulles French 1st Armoured Division in April 1945, in 1940, Marshal Pétain was known as a First World War hero, the victor of the battle of Verdun
14.
Dieppe
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Dieppe is a coastal community in the Arrondissement of Dieppe in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. The population stood at 34,670 in 2006, the mouth of the Scie river lies in the Canton of Dieppe-Ouest at Hautot-sur-Mer. The inhabitants of the town of Dieppe are called Dieppois and Dieppoise in French, Dieppe belongs to the Pays de Caux, lying along the Alabaster Coast in the region of Normandy. It is located on the Channel coast, north of Rouen at the mouth of the Arques river, mentioned as Deppae in 1015–1029, Dieppa in 1030, then in the 12th century, Deppa, Deupa and Diopa. From Dutch diep > deep, or Old English deop or Old Norse djupr, the same adjective can be recognized in other place-names like Dieppedalle and Dipdal in Normandy, which is the same as Deepdale in Great Britain. The stream running through Dieppe was called Tella in Merovingian and Carolingian documents, the name has stuck to the town, although the name of the stream changed again, to Béthune. First recorded as a fishing settlement in 1030, Dieppe was an important prize fought over during the Hundred Years War. Dieppe housed the most advanced French school of cartography in the 16th century, the expedition resulted in the construction of Fort Caroline, the first French colony in the New World. Another expedition two years before where Goulaine de Laudonnière was under command of Jean Ribault, a local Huguenot captain, had resulted in the foundation of Charlesfort, Dieppe was the premier port of the kingdom in the 17th century. On July 23,1632,300 colonists heading to New France departed from Dieppe, at the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, Dieppe lost 3,000 of its Huguenot citizens, who fled abroad. Dieppe was an important target in wartime, the town was destroyed by an Anglo-Dutch naval bombardment in 1694. It was rebuilt after 1696 in a typical French classical style by Ventabren, an architect and it was popularised as a seaside resort following the 1824 visit of the widowed Duchess of Berry, daughter-in-law of Charles X. She encouraged the building of the recently renovated municipal theatre, the Petit-Théâtre, during the later 19th century, Dieppe became popular with English artists as a beach resort. Prominent literary figures such as Arthur Symons loved to keep up with the latest fads of avant-garde France here, Dieppe was occupied by German naval and army forces after the fall of France in 1940. In order to allow a better defence of the coast against a possible Allied landing, the destruction of the casino had only begun at the time of the Dieppe Raid. The Dieppe Raid in the Second World War was a battle for the Allies. The Allies suffered more than 1,400 deaths,1,946 Canadian soldiers were captured—more prisoners than the army lost in the 11 months of the 1944–45 NW Europe campaign. However, no major objectives on the ground were achieved, in the air, the port remained garrisoned by German forces until the conclusion of the Battle of Normandy
15.
Edward Molyneux
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Edward Henry Molyneux was a leading British fashion designer whose salon in Paris was in operation from 1919 until 1950. Born in London to Justin Molyneux and Lizzy Kenny, Edward Molyneux attended Beaumont College, owing to the death of his father, he dropped out at age 16 to support himself and his mother while pursuing ambitions as a painter and illustrator. Molyneux soon found employment as a sketch artist for the London magazine Smart Set where his drawings of women attracted the attention of the celebrated couturier Lucile. She hired him as a sketcher in her London salon in 1910 and he returned to work for Lucile after being invalided out of the war but a disagreement with her resulted in his termination in 1919. Molyneux opened his own house in Paris at 14 rue Royale in November 1919, expanding to Monte Carlo in 1925, Cannes in 1927. The designer quickly became known for an impeccably refined simplicity, frowning on superfluous decoration, he regularly dressed European royals, including Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent. He was also a favorite with trendsetting actresses like Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Gertrude Lawrence, Margaret Leighton, proteges included future couturiers Christian Dior and Pierre Balmain, and he was friends with playwright Noël Coward. During World War II, he moved his firm to London for the duration of the conflict, retiring in 1950, Molyneux left his fashion house in the hands of Jacques Griffe. He resumed designing in 1964, opening Studio Molyneux, a high quality ready-to-wear line that received mixed reviews, during this period Time magazine described him as the Parisian equivalent of Manhattans Mainbocher, a classicist devoted to the soft look and tailored line. He retired again in 1969, but Studio Molyneux continued under the direction of his cousin John Tullis until it closed in 1977, Molyneux, of Irish and French Huguenot ancestry, had a complicated personal life. One of his early relationships was with Foreign Office diplomat Harold Nicolson, although married to writer Vita Sackville-West, Nicolson was open with her about his affairs, including his fling with Molyneux. Yet in 1923 Molyneux married Muriel Dunsmuir, one of eight daughters of the Hon. James Dunsmuir, Molyneux painted throughout his life, and exhibitions of his paintings were held at the Galerie Weill in Paris and at the Hammer Galleries in New York. Here, Carnations in Vase was purchased by the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, molyneuxs Uncle, Maj. Edward Mary Joseph Molyneux, during his years in the Himalayan Valley of Kashmir, painted many scenes of the capital city of Srinagar and other areas which inspired him. The paintings were published in a book titled Kashmir accompanied by descriptions of the Valley by Francis Younghusband, captain Molyneux also amassed an extensive Impressionist art collection, including paintings by Picasso, Monet, Manet and 17 by Renoir. They were sold as a lot to Ailsa Mellon Bruce, who bestowed the entire collection on the National Gallery of Art, Molyneux was mentioned in the 5th season of the internationally successful TV miniseries Downton Abbey. In the third episode, the character of Cora, Countess of Grantham, portrayed by Elizabeth McGovern, Edward Molyneux at the Fashion Model Directory Interactive timeline of couture houses and couturier biographies
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Battle of France
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The Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries in 1940 during the Second World War. Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940 and attempted an invasion of France, the German plan for the invasion of France consisted of two main operations. After the withdrawal of the BEF, the German forces began Fall Rot on 5 June, the sixty remaining French divisions made a determined resistance but were unable to overcome the German air superiority and armoured mobility. German tanks outflanked the Maginot Line and pushed deep into France, German forces occupied Paris unopposed on 14 June after a chaotic period of flight of the French government that led to a collapse of the French army. German commanders met with French officials on 18 June with the goal of forcing the new French government to accept an armistice that amounted to surrender and this led to the end of the French Third Republic. France was not liberated until the summer of 1944, in 1939, Britain and France offered military support to Poland in the likely case of a German invasion. In the dawn of 1 September 1939, the German Invasion of Poland began, France and the United Kingdom declared war on 3 September, after an ultimatum for German forces to immediately withdraw their forces from Poland was met without reply. Following this, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada, on 7 September, in accordance with their alliance with Poland, France began the Saar Offensive with an advance from the Maginot Line 5 km into the Saar. France had mobilised 98 divisions and 2,500 tanks against a German force consisting of 43 divisions, the French advanced until they met the then thin and undermanned Siegfried Line. On 17 September, the French supreme commander, Maurice Gamelin gave the order to withdraw French troops to their starting positions, following the Saar Offensive, a period of inaction called the Phoney War set in between the belligerents. Adolf Hitler had hoped that France and Britain would acquiesce in the conquest of Poland, on 6 October, he made a peace offer to both Western powers. On 9 October, Hitler issued a new Führer-Directive Number 6, the plan was based on the seemingly more realistic assumption that German military strength would have to be built up for several years. For the moment only limited objectives could be envisaged and were aimed at improving Germanys ability to survive a long war in the west. Hitler ordered a conquest of the Low Countries to be executed at the shortest possible notice to forestall the French and it would also provide the basis for a long-term air and sea campaign against Britain. On 10 October 1939, Britain refused Hitlers offer of peace and on 12 October, colonel-General Franz Halder, presented the first plan for Fall Gelb on 19 October. This was the codename of plans for a campaign in the Low Countries. Halders plan has been compared to the Schlieffen Plan, the given to the German strategy of 1914 in the First World War. It was similar in both plans entailed an advance through the middle of Belgium
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Dunkirk evacuation
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The operation was decided upon when large numbers of Belgian, Canadian, British, and French troops were cut off and surrounded by the German army during the Battle of France. In his We shall fight on the speech on 4 June. After Nazi Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, France and the British Commonwealth, the British Expeditionary Force was sent to aid in the defence of France. After the Phoney War, Germany invaded Belgium and the Netherlands on 10 May 1940, by 21 May, the German forces had trapped the BEF, the remains of the Belgian forces, and three French armies in an area along the northern coast of France. On 22 May 1940, an order was issued by the German High Command. This gave the trapped Allied forces time to construct defensive works and pull back large numbers of troops toward Dunkirk, to fight the Battle of Dunkirk. On the first day of the evacuation, only 7,669 men were evacuated, but by the end of the eighth day, the BEF lost 68,000 soldiers during the French campaign and had to abandon nearly all of their tanks, vehicles, and other equipment. In his speech to the House of Commons on 4 June, wars are not won by evacuations. By May 1940 the force consisted of ten divisions in three corps under the command of General John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort, working with the BEF were the Belgian Army and the French First, Seventh, and Ninth Armies. During the 1930s, the French had constructed the Maginot Line and this line had been designed to deter a German invasion across the Franco-German border and funnel an attack into Belgium, which could then be met by the best divisions of the French Army. Thus, any war would take place outside of French territory avoiding a repeat of the First World War. He believed that any enemy force emerging from the forest would be vulnerable to a pincer attack, the French commander-in-chief, Maurice Gamelin, also believed the area to be of a limited threat, noting that it never favoured large operations. With this in mind, the area was lightly defended. The initial plan for the German invasion of France called for an encirclement attack through the Netherlands and Belgium, avoiding the Maginot Line. Erich von Manstein, then Chief of Staff of the German Army Group A, prepared the outline of a different plan and submitted it to the OKH via his superior, Generaloberst Gerd von Rundstedt. Mansteins plan suggested that Panzer divisions should attack through the Ardennes, then establish bridgeheads on the Meuse River, the Germans would thus cut off the Allied armies in Belgium and Flanders. This part of the later became known as the Sichelschnitt. Adolf Hitler approved a version of Mansteins ideas, today known as the Manstein Plan
18.
Charles de Gaulle
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Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman. He was the leader of Free France and the head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic, in 1958, he founded the Fifth Republic and was elected as the 18th President of France, a position he held until his resignation in 1969. He was the dominant figure of France during the Cold War era, born in Lille, he graduated from Saint-Cyr in 1912. He was an officer of the First World War, wounded several times. During the interwar period, he advocated mobile armoured divisions, during the German invasion of May 1940, he led an armoured division which counterattacked the invaders, he was then appointed Under-Secretary for War. Refusing to accept his governments armistice with Nazi Germany, de Gaulle exhorted the French population to resist occupation and he led a government in exile and the Free French Forces against the Axis. Despite frosty relations with Britain and especially the United States, he emerged as the leader of the French resistance. He became Head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic in June 1944, frustrated by the return of petty partisanship in the new Fourth Republic, he resigned in early 1946 but continued to be politically active as founder of the RPF party. He retired in the early 1950s and wrote his War Memoirs, when the Algerian War was ripping apart the unstable Fourth Republic, the National Assembly brought him back to power during the May 1958 crisis. De Gaulle founded the Fifth Republic with a presidency. He granted independence to Algeria and progressively to other French colonies and he restored cordial Franco-German relations to create a European counterweight between the Anglo-American and Soviet spheres of influence. However, he opposed any development of a supranational Europe, favouring a Europe of sovereign nations, De Gaulle openly criticised the US intervention in Vietnam and the exorbitant privilege of the US dollar. In his later years, his support for an independent Quebec, De Gaulle resigned in 1969 after losing a referendum in which he proposed more decentralization. He died a year later at his residence in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, leaving his Presidential memoirs unfinished, many French political parties and figures claim the Gaullist legacy. De Gaulle was ranked as Le Plus Grand Français de tous les temps, De Gaulle was born in the industrial region of Lille in the Nord departement, the third of five children. He was raised in a devoutly Catholic and traditional family and his father, Henri de Gaulle, was a professor of history and literature at a Jesuit college who eventually founded his own school. Henri de Gaulle came from a line of parliamentary gentry from Normandy and Burgundy. De Gaulles mother, Jeanne, descended from a family of entrepreneurs from Lille
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Free France
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It was set up in London in June 1940 and also organised and supported the Resistance in occupied France. On 27 October 1940, the Empire Defense Council was constituted to organise the rule of the territories in central Africa and it was replaced on 24 September 1941 by the French National Committee. After the reconquest of North Africa, this was in turn merged with de Gaulles rival general Henri Girauds command in Algiers to form the French Committee of National Liberation. Exile officially ended with the capture of Paris by the 2nd Armoured Free French Division and Resistance forces on 25 August 1944, the Free French fought Axis and Vichy regime troops and served on battlefronts everywhere from the Middle East to Indochina and North Africa. The Free French Navy operated as a force to the Royal Navy and, in the North Atlantic. Free French units also served in the Royal Air Force, Soviet Air Force, the French Army of Africa switched allegiance to Free France, and this caused the Axis to occupy Vichy in reaction. On 1 August 1943, LArmée dAfrique was formally united with the Free French Forces to form LArmée française de la Liberation. By mid-1944, the forces of this army numbered more than 400,000, and they participated in the Normandy landings, the Free French government re-established a provisional republic after the liberation, preparing the ground for the Fourth Republic in 1946. Historically, an individual became Free French by enlisting in the military units organised by the CFN or by employment by the arm of the Committee. In many sources, Free French describes any French individual or unit that fought against Axis forces after the June 1940 armistice, postwar, to settle disputes over the Free French heritage, the French government issued an official definition of the term. Under this ministerial instruction of July 1953, only those who served with the Allies after the Franco-German armistice in 1940, between 27 May and 4 June, around 200,000 British soldiers and 140,000 French troops were evacuated from the beaches to safety in England. General Charles de Gaulle was a minister in the French cabinet during the Battle of France, as France was overwhelmed by the stunning German victory, he found himself part of a small group of politicians who argued against a negotiated surrender to Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. That same day, the new French President of the Council, former First World War Marshal Philippe Pétain, De Gaulle briefly travelled to Bordeaux to continue the fight but, realising that Pétain would surrender, he returned to London on 17 June. On 18 June, General de Gaulle spoke to the French people via BBC radio, urging French soldiers, sailors and airmen to join in the fight against the Nazis and she has a great empire behind her. Together with the British Empire, she can form a bloc that controls the seas and she may, like England, draw upon the limitless industrial resources of the United States. In Vichys case those reasons were compounded with ideas of a Révolution nationale about stamping out Frances republican heritage. On 22 June 1940, Marshall Pétain signed an armistice with Germany, followed by a one with Italy on 24 June. After a parliamentary vote on 10 July, Pétain became leader of the newly established authoritarian regime known as Vichy France, despite de Gaulles call to continue the struggle, few French forces, at least initially, pledged their support
20.
Pierre Brossolette
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Pierre Brossolette was a French journalist, a leading left-wing politician, and a major hero of the French Resistance. Pierre Brossolette was born in Paris, France to a deeply involved in the fights for laic schools in early 20th century France. In 1925 he graduated second to Georges Bidault after a scandal on the dissertation themes for the final examination. His passion for history had led him to choose this agrégation instead of the more usual, during this time he married Gilberte Bruel and had two children, Anne and Claude. Instead of pursuing a career like most normaliens, he longed for action and decided to enter journalism. He joined the Section française de lInternationale ouvrière, the main socialist party, in 1929, adhered to the LDH and LICA league and entered freemasonry. In his newspaper columns, Brossolette had evolved from a resolute pacifist and europeanist, after Aristide Briands ideals, to a denunciator of both fascism and communism. After the Armistice, when the Vichy regime forbade him to teach, Brossolette and he was a popular voice on the radio before the war and his chronicles on Hitlers rise led to being blacklisted early in the 1930s by the Nazis. It did not take long before he was approached by his friend Agnès Humbert and introduced to Jean Cassou and the Groupe du musée de lHomme and he just had time to produce the last issue of the newsletter Résistance before narrowly escaping its dismantlement. He finally obtained a liaison with London and General Charles de Gaulle when he was hired by conservative Gilbert Renault a. k. a, colonel Rémy as press and propaganda manager of Confrérie Notre-Dame, by then the most important network in northern France. At the same time, he was promoted to major and awarded Compagnon de la Libération, strong ties of camaraderie were forged between Brossolette, BCRAs chief André Dewavrin and SOEs Forest Frederick Edward Yeo-Thomas. During this time, Pierre Brossolette resumed his radio chronicles on BBC with high-profile speeches to the army of shadows, replacing Maurice Schumann as anchor. In a speech at the Albert Hall on June 18,1943, he praised the soutiers de la gloire in a reference to the fallen anonymous soldiers. In addition to journalism, Pierre Brossolette was also a politician and he was a protégé of Léon Blum and was considered an up-and-coming star of the SFIO party, running elections on his Troyes base. He assumed cabinet functions during the Popular Front government and as a pundit on official Radio-PTT he was considered the de facto foreign policy spokesman of the socialist government. Already calling for rejuvenation of the political class before the war. This political and social plan, including nationalisations and price controls, Brossolettes criticism of the old parliamentarian system, together with the role of communist networks inside the CNR, became the main point of disagreement with his southern counterpart Jean Moulin. His desire to disband all the old parties through a reshuffle of ideological lines logically brought him into conflict with the party leaders
21.
Klaus Barbie
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Nikolaus Klaus Barbie was an SS-Hauptsturmführer and Gestapo member. He was known as the Butcher of Lyon for having personally tortured French prisoners of the Gestapo while stationed in Lyon, after the war, United States intelligence services employed him for their anti-Marxist efforts, and also helped him escape to South America. The Bundesnachrichtendienst later recruited him, and he may also have helped the CIA capture Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara in 1967, Barbie is suspected of having had a hand in the Bolivian coup détat orchestrated by Luis García Meza Tejada in 1980. After the fall of the dictatorship, Barbie no longer had the protection of the Bolivian government, and in 1983 was extradited to France and he died of cancer in prison on 23 September 1991. Nikolaus Klaus Barbie was born on 25 October 1913 in Godesberg, later renamed Bad Godesberg, the Barbie family came from Merzig, in the Saar near the French border. His patrilineal ancestors were likely French Roman Catholics named Barbier who had left France at the time of the French Revolution, in 1914, his father, also named Nikolaus, was conscripted to fight in the First World War. He returned an angry, bitter man, wounded in the neck at Verdun and captured by the French, whom he hated, he never recovered his health. He became an alcoholic who abused his children, until 1923, when he was 10, Klaus Barbie attended the local school where his father taught. Afterward, he attended a school in Trier, and was relieved to be away from his abusive father. In 1925, the entire Barbie family moved to Trier, in June 1933, Barbies younger brother, Kurt, died at the age of eighteen of chronic illness. Later that year, their father died, the death of his father derailed plans for the 20-year-old Barbie to study theology, or otherwise become an academic, as his peers had expected. While unemployed, Barbie was conscripted into the Nazi labour service, on 26 September 1935, aged 22, he joined the SS, and began working in the Sicherheitsdienst, the SS security service, which acted as the intelligence-gathering arm of the Nazi Party. On 1 May 1937, he became member 4,583,085 of the Nazi Party, in April 1939, Barbie became engaged to Regina Margaretta Willms, the 23-year-old daughter of a postal clerk. After the German conquest and occupation of the Netherlands, Barbie was assigned to Amsterdam, in 1942 he was sent to Dijon, France, in the Occupied Zone. In November of the year, at the age of 29. He became known as the Butcher of Lyon, the daughter of a French Resistance leader based in Lyon claimed her father was beaten and skinned alive, and that his head was immersed in a bucket of ammonia, he died shortly afterward. Historians estimate that Barbie was directly responsible for the deaths of up to 14,000 people and he arrested Jean Moulin, one of the highest-ranking members of the French Resistance and his most prominent captive. In 1943, he was awarded the Iron Cross First Class for his campaign against the French Resistance, in April 1944, Barbie ordered the deportation to Auschwitz of a group of 44 Jewish children from an orphanage at Izieu
22.
Lyon
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Lyon or Lyons is a city in east-central France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, about 470 km from Paris and 320 km from Marseille. Inhabitants of the city are called Lyonnais, Lyon had a population of 506,615 in 2014 and is Frances third-largest city after Paris and Marseille. Lyon is the capital of the Metropolis of Lyon and the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the metropolitan area of Lyon had a population of 2,237,676 in 2013, the second-largest in France after Paris. The city is known for its cuisine and gastronomy and historical and architectural landmarks and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Lyon was historically an important area for the production and weaving of silk. It played a significant role in the history of cinema, Auguste, the city is also known for its famous light festival, Fête des Lumières, which occurs every 8 December and lasts for four days, earning Lyon the title of Capital of Lights. Economically, Lyon is a centre for banking, as well as for the chemical, pharmaceutical. The city contains a significant software industry with a focus on video games. Lyon hosts the headquarters of Interpol, Euronews, and International Agency for Research on Cancer. Lyon was ranked 19th globally and second in France for innovation in 2014 and it ranked second in France and 39th globally in Mercers 2015 liveability rankings. These refugees had been expelled from Vienne by the Allobroges and were now encamped at the confluence of the Saône and Rhône rivers, dio Cassius says this task was to keep the two men from joining Mark Antony and bringing their armies into the developing conflict. The Roman foundation was at Fourvière hill and was officially called Colonia Copia Felix Munatia, a name invoking prosperity, the city became increasingly referred to as Lugdunum. The earliest translation of this Gaulish place-name as Desired Mountain is offered by the 9th-century Endlicher Glossary, in contrast, some modern scholars have proposed a Gaulish hill-fort named Lugdunon, after the Celtic god Lugus, and dúnon. It then became the capital of Gaul, partly due to its convenient location at the convergence of two rivers, and quickly became the main city of Gaul. Two emperors were born in city, Claudius, whose speech is preserved in the Lyon Tablet in which he justifies the nomination of Gallic senators. Today, the archbishop of Lyon is still referred to as Primat des Gaules, the Christians in Lyon were martyred for their beliefs under the reigns of various Roman emperors, most notably Marcus Aurelius and Septimus Severus. Local saints from this period include Blandina, Pothinus, and Epipodius, in the second century AD, the great Christian bishop of Lyon was the Easterner, Irenaeus. Burgundian refugees fleeing the destruction of Worms by the Huns in 437 were re-settled by the commander of the west, Aëtius. This became the capital of the new Burgundian kingdom in 461, in 843, by the Treaty of Verdun, Lyon, with the country beyond the Saône, went to Lothair I
23.
Maquis (World War II)
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The Maquis were rural guerrilla bands of French Resistance fighters, called maquisards, during the Occupation of France in World War II. Initially, they were composed of men who had escaped into the mountains to avoid conscription into Vichy Frances Service du travail obligatoire to provide forced labor for Germany, to avert capture and deportation to Germany, they became increasingly organized into active resistance groups. Originally the word came from the kind of terrain in which the resistance groups hid. Although strictly meaning thicket, maquis could be translated as the bush. The term established the image of a ‘maquisard’ as a “committed and voluntary fighter, members of those bands were called maquisards. The term became an honorific that meant armed resistance fighter, the Maquis have come to symbolize the French Resistance. Most maquisards operated in the remote or mountainous areas of Brittany and southern France, especially in the Alps and they relied on guerrilla tactics to harass the Milice and German occupation troops. The Maquis also aided the escape of downed Allied airmen, Jews and others pursued by the Vichy, Maquisards usually relied on some degree of sympathy or cooperation from the local populace. In March 1944, the German Army began a campaign throughout France. This included reprisals against civilians living in areas where the French Resistance was active, the Maquisards were later to take their revenge in the épuration sauvage that took place after the wars end. Most of the Maquis cells—like the Maquis du Limousin or the Maquis du Vercors—took names after the area they were operating in, the size of these cells varied from tens to thousands of men and women. They were supplied by airlifts of the British Force 136, politically, the Maquis were very diverse—including right-wing nationalists, socialists, communists, and anarchists. Some Maquis bands that operated in southwest France, were composed entirely of left-wing Spanish veterans of the Spanish Civil War, Spanish Civil War veteran Colonel Romero Giménez was a center-democratic liberal, operating from Bordeaux. When Germany began a forced draft in France at the beginning of 1943. The British Special Operations Executive helped the Maquis with supplies and agents, the American Office of Strategic Services also began to send its own agents to France in cooperation with the SOE and the French BCRA agents, as part of Operation Jedburgh. The British government provided supplies and support to assist Charles de Gaulle to unify the Free French resistance movement, prior to the inception of the maquis, small resistance groups were created in the occupied and unoccupied zones of France. Some of these also took the first steps at hiding weapons. The connection between the Vichy government and armed resistance paved the way for the formation of the Maquis
24.
Winston Churchill
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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
25.
RAF Tempsford
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RAF Tempsford is a former Royal Air Force station located 2.3 miles north east of Sandy, Bedfordshire, England and 4.4 miles south of St. Neots, Cambridgeshire, England. The airfield was perhaps the most secret airfield in the Second World War and it was home to the Special Duties Squadrons, No. 138, which dropped Special Operations Executive agents and their supplies into occupied Europe,161, which specialised in personnel delivery and retrieval by landing in occupied Europe. RAF Tempsford is very close to Little Gransden Airfield and can be seen from flights climbing out from the westerly runway 28. Other active airfields nearby include the former RAF bases at Gransden Lodge, a nearby public footpath led to the end of a substantially intact runway and then on to Gibraltar Farm, the agents final dispatch point. This barn contains several plaques and memorials to the agents, both men and women, who were flown from the airfield, many of whom were killed after being captured and tortured. Andrée Borrel and Lise de Baissac, were the first female SOE agents to be parachuted into occupied France and they flew out from RAF Tempsford on 24 September 1942. Flying Officer Gerald Cruwys was awarded the Croix de guerre for his work with the French Resistance while at RAF Tempsford. Group Captain Edward Mouse Fielden, Station Commander of RAF Tempsford, wing Commander F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas, otherwise known as the White Rabbit, was dropped in France on 27 February 1943 having been flown out from RAF Tempsford by Pilot Officer Foster. Agents by Moonlight, The Secret History of RAF Tempsford during the Second World War, Tempsford Airfield, Now the story can be told…1998. MOD site for Tempsford - Details about Tempsford on the Bomber Command section of the MOD website, RAF Tempsford Special Duties Squadrons RAF Tempsford Special Duties Squadrons. Wartime Memories Project - Recollections from the war years, a History of RAF Tempsford - A chronology of some of the main events at RAF Tempsford. RAF Tempsford Roll of Honour RAF history of 138 Squadron RAF history of 161 Squadron A walking tour of the Airfield and Gibraltar Farm in 2002 A look at the memorials in Tempsford Church
26.
Gestapo
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The Gestapo, abbreviation of Geheime Staatspolizei, or the Secret State Police, was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various security agencies of Prussia into one organization. Then from 27 September 1939 forward, it was administered by the Reichssicherheitshauptamt and was considered an organization to the SS Sicherheitsdienst. This gave Göring command of the largest police force in Germany, soon afterward, Göring detached the political and intelligence sections from the police and filled their ranks with Nazis. On 26 April 1933, Göring merged the two units as the Geheime Staatspolizei, which was abbreviated for a stamp and became known as the Gestapo. He originally wanted to name it the Secret Police Office, and its first commander was Rudolf Diels, a protégé of Göring. Diels was appointed with the title of chief of Abteilung Ia of the Political Police of the Prussian Interior Ministry, Diels was best known as the primary interrogator of Marinus van der Lubbe after the Reichstag fire. In late 1933, the Reich Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick wanted to integrate all the forces of the German states under his control. Göring outflanked him by removing the Prussian political and intelligence departments from the interior ministry. Göring himself took over the Gestapo in 1934 and urged Hitler to extend the agencys authority throughout Germany and this represented a radical departure from German tradition, which held that law enforcement was a Land and local matter. In this, he ran into conflict with Heinrich Himmler, who was chief of the second most powerful German state. Frick did not have the muscle to take on Göring by himself so he allied with Himmler, with Fricks support, Himmler took over the political police of state after state. Concerned that Diels was not ruthless enough to counteract the power of the Sturmabteilung, Göring handed over control of the Gestapo to Himmler on 20 April 1934. Also on that date, Hitler appointed Himmler chief of all German police outside Prussia, Heydrich, named chief of the Gestapo by Himmler on 22 April 1934, also continued as head of the SS Security Service. Himmler wanted to free himself entirely from Roehm, who he viewed as an obstacle, roehms position was menacing as upwards of over 4. Several Nazi chieftains, among them Goering, Joseph Goebbels, Rudolf Hess, both the SD and Gestapo released information concerning an imminent putsch by the SA. Once persuaded, Hitler acted by setting Himmlers SS into action, on 17 June 1936, Hitler decreed the unification of all police forces in the Reich and named Himmler as Chief of German Police. This action effectively merged the police into the SS and removed it from Fricks control, Himmler was nominally subordinate to Frick as police chief, but as Reichsführer-SS, he answered only to Hitler
27.
Avenue Foch
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Avenue Foch is a street in Paris, France, named after World War I Marshal Ferdinand Foch in 1929. It is one of the most prestigious streets in Paris, and one of the most expensive addresses in the world, home to many palaces, including ones belonging to the Onassis. The Rothschilds once owned numbers 19-21 and it is located in the 16th arrondissement and runs from the Arc de Triomphe southwest to the Porte Dauphine at the edge of the Bois de Boulogne city park. It is the widest avenue in Paris and is lined with trees along its full length. The Avenue was constructed during the reign of Emperor Napoleon III, as part of the plan for the reconstruction of Paris conducted by Napoleons Prefect of the Seine. It was designed to connect the Place dEtoile with another important part of Haussmanns plan, the Bois de Boulogne, the new public park on the west end of the city. Haussmann scrapped this plan and instead called for an avenue at least one hundred meters wide and its purpose was to provide an impressive grand approach for fashionable Parisians to promenade from the center of the city to the Park in their carriages, to see and be seen. It was to be called the Avenue de lImpératrice, the Avenue of the Empress, for the Empress Eugenie and it was, in fact, an extension of the Bois de Boulogne, and connected directly with the avenues and paths of the park. It opened in 1854, was popular with Parisians. After the downfall of Napoleon III in 1870, the name was changed from Avenue de lImpératrice to avenue du Général-Uhrich and it was changed again in 1929 to Avenue Foch, after the hero of the First World War, who died in that year. The street was nicknamed « avenue Boche » by the Parisians, the gardens of Avenue Foch occupy a space of 6.62 hectares, in the space 1200 meters long and 140 meters wide. In addition to the four trees that line that avenue, the garden was originally planted with 2,400 different species of trees and plants, making it, as Alphand wrote. The gardens contain a monument to their creator, Jean-Charles Alphand, designed by architect Jules Formigé, the monument was dedicated 14 December 1899. 84 Avenue Foch History of Parks and Gardens of Paris Jean-Charles Alphand List of most expensive streets by city Napoleon III Paris during the Second Empire Rothschild family Jarrassé, Dominique. Patrice de Moncan, Paris- les jardins du Baron Haussmann, Les Éditions du Mécène, Paris, insecula. com, Avenue Foch parisrama. com, Avenue Foch paris. org, Musée National dEnnery / Musée Arménien
28.
Torture
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Torture is the act of deliberately inflicting physical or psychological pain on an organism in order to fulfill some desire of the torturer or compel some action from the victim. Torture, by definition, is a knowing and intentional act, in other cases, the torturer may be indifferent to the condition of the victim. Alternatively, some forms of torture are designed to inflict pain or leave as little physical injury or evidence as possible while achieving the same psychological devastation. The torturer may or may not kill or injure the victim, depending on the aim, even a form of torture that is intentionally fatal may be prolonged to allow the victim to suffer as long as possible. Although torture is sanctioned by some states, it is prohibited under international law, although widely illegal and reviled there is an ongoing debate as to what exactly is and is not legally defined to be torture. It is a violation of human rights, and is declared to be unacceptable by Article 5 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Torture is also prohibited for the signatories of the United Nations Convention Against Torture, despite these findings and international conventions, organizations that monitor abuses of human rights report widespread use condoned by states in many regions of the world. Amnesty International estimates that at least 81 world governments currently practice torture, the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which is currently in force since June 26,1987, provides a broad definition of torture. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in, or incidental to and this definition includes torture as part of domestic violence or ritualistic abuse, as well as in criminal activities. The Rome Statute is the treaty set up the International Criminal Court. The treaty was adopted at a conference in Rome on 17 July 1998. The Rome Statute provides a simplest definition of torture regarding the prosecution of war criminals by the International Criminal Court, since 1973, Amnesty International has adopted the simplest, broadest definition of torture. Title 18 of the United States Code contains the definition of torture in 18 U. S. C, §2340, which is only applicable to persons committing or attempting to commit torture outside of the United States. The Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 provides remedies to individuals who are victims of torture by persons acting in a capacity of any foreign nation. The definition is similar to the U. S. Code §2340, Torture grew into an ornate discipline, where calibrated violence served two functions, to investigate and produce confessions and to attack the body as a form of punishment. Entire populaces of towns would show up to witness an execution by torture in the public square and those who had been spared torture were commonly locked barefooted into the stocks, where children took delight in rubbing feces into their hair and mouths. The Age of Enlightenment in the world further developed the idea of universal human rights. The adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 marks the recognition at least nominally of a ban of torture by all UN member states
29.
Fresnes Prison
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Fresnes Prison is the second largest prison in France, located in the town of Fresnes, Val-de-Marne South of Paris. It comprises a large mens prison of about 1200 cells, a one for women. Fresnes is one of the three main prisons of the Paris area, the Fleury-Mérogis Prison and the La Santé Prison being the other two, the prison was constructed between 1895 and 1898 according to a design devised by the architect, Henri Poussin. An example of the so-called telephone-pole design, the facility was radically different from previous prisons, at Fresnes prison, for the first time, cell houses extended crosswise from a central corridor. The design, an example of which is the Rikers Island prison in New York City, was used extensively in North America for much of the next century. During World War II, Fresnes prison was used by the Germans to house captured British SOE agents, held in horrific conditions, these prisoners were tortured, and some, such as Berty Albrecht, co-founder of the Combat movement, died there. As soon as the Allied forces broke through at Normandy and fought their way to liberate Paris, christopher Burney was freed in 1945, and published Solitary Confinement, an account of his fifteen months there. Squadron Leader Phil Lamason of the RNZAF was the ranking officer and they were also transferred to Buchenwald concentration camp just days before Paris was liberated. Like any major prison, Fresnes has had its share of famous and notorious inmates, agnès Humbert, with other members of the French Resistance Groupe du musée de lHomme were imprisoned, tried, and sentenced there in 1941-1942. Edmond Debeaumarché was imprisoned there and was transported by train to Buchenwald, as one of the group of 77,000. The automobile industrialist Louis Renault, arrested for collaborating with the Nazis, paul Touvier died of prostate cancer in 1996 at the Fresnes prison hospital during his incarceration for war crimes. Throughout Fresnes prisons history, there have also been several memorable escapes, arrested again four months later, Ferrara is now imprisoned in Fleury-Mérogis. One member of Operation Aquatint, Captain Graham Hayes, MC, longmans 1967 Fresnes - Etablissement pénitentiaire - maison darrêt - Ministry of France
30.
Buchenwald concentration camp
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From 1945 to 1950, the camp was used by the Soviet occupation authorities as an internment camp, known as NKVD special camp number 2. Today the remains of Buchenwald serve as a memorial and permanent exhibition, in 1934, the Nazis constructed Buchenwald concentration camp, near Weimar, Germany. Embedded in the main entrance gate is the slogan Jedem das Seine. The camp was operational until its liberation in 1945, between 1945 and 1950, it was used by the Soviet Union as an NKVD special camp for Germans. On January 6,1950, the Soviets handed over Buchenwald to the East German Ministry of Internal Affairs, the camp was to be named K. L. Quickly the fate of the oak became associated with the fate of Germany, if the one was to fall, between April 1938 and April 1945, some 238,380 people of various nationalities including 350 Western Allied prisoners of war s were incarcerated in Buchenwald. SS-Obersturmbannführer Karl-Otto Koch SS-Standartenführer Hermann Pister Buchenwald’s first commandant was Karl-Otto Koch and his second wife, Ilse Koch, became notorious as Die Hexe von Buchenwald for her cruelty and brutality. In February 1940 Koch, to his and his wifes delight, had a riding hall built by the prisoners who died in the dozen due to the harsh conditions of the construction site. The hall was built inside the camp, near the canteen, Koch himself was eventually imprisoned at Buchenwald by the Nazi authorities for incitement to murder. The charges were lodged by Prince Waldeck and Dr. Morgen, to which were later added charges of corruption, embezzlement, black market dealings, other camp officials were charged, including Ilse Koch. The trial resulted in Karl Koch being sentenced to death for disgracing both himself and the SS, he was executed by firing squad on April 5,1945, Ilse Koch was sentenced to a term of four years imprisonment after the war. Her sentence was reduced to two years and she was set free and she was subsequently arrested again and sentenced to life imprisonment by the post-war German authorities, she committed suicide in Aichach prison in September 1967. The second commandant of the camp was Hermann Pister and he was tried in 1947 and sentenced to death, but 28 September 1948 he died in Landsberg Prison of a heart attack before the sentence could be carried out. The number of women held in Buchenwald was somewhere between 500 and 1,000, the SS later fired the SS woman on duty in the brothel for corruption, her position was taken over by “brothel mothers” as ordered by SS chief Heinrich Himmler. The majority of prisoners, however, arrived in 1944 and 1945 from other camps, mainly Auschwitz, Ravensbrück. Only one barrack was set aside for them, this was overseen by the female block leader Franziska Hoengesberg, No female guards were permanently stationed at Buchenwald. Many, including van Pels, died sometime between April and May 1945, because the female prisoner population at Buchenwald was comparatively small, the SS only trained female overseers at the camp and assigned them to one of the female subcamps. Twenty-two known female guards had personnel files at the camp, Ilse Koch served as head supervisor of 22 other female guards and hundreds of women prisoners in the main camp
31.
Malbork
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Malbork is a town in northern Poland in the Żuławy region, with 38,478 inhabitants. Situated in the Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999, it was assigned to Elbląg Voivodeship. It is the capital of Malbork County, the town was built in Prussia around the fortress Ordensburg Marienburg, which was founded in 1274 on the east bank of the river Nogat by the Teutonic Knights. Both the castle and the town were named for their patron saint and this fortified castle became the seat of the Teutonic Order and Europes largest Gothic fortress. During the Thirteen Years War, the castle of Marienburg was pawned by the Teutonic Order to their soldiers from Bohemia. They sold the castle in 1457 to King Casimir IV of Poland in lieu of indemnities, under continuous construction for nearly 230 years, the castle complex is actually three castles combined in one. A classic example of a fortress, it is the world’s largest brick castle. The castle was in the process of being restored by the Germans when World War II broke out, during the war, the castle was over 50% destroyed. Restoration has been ongoing since the war, the castle and its museum are listed as one of UNESCOs World Heritage Sites. The town of Marienburg grew in the vicinity of the castle, the river Nogat and flat terrain allowed easy access for barges a hundred kilometers from the sea. During Prussias government by the Teutonic Knights, the Order collected tolls on river traffic, the town later became a member of the Hanseatic League, and many Hanseatic meetings were held there. The Teutonic Order weakened greatly after the Battle of Grunwald against advancing Poles, the Siege of Marienburg left the Teutonic Order in control only of the town, until it sold the castle and in 1457 transferred its seat to Königsberg. The town of Marienburg, under Mayor Bartholomäus Blume and others, but when the Poles finally took control, Blume was hanged and quartered, and fourteen officers and three remaining Teutonic knights were thrown into dungeons, where they met a miserable end. A monument to Blume was erected in 1864, the town became part of the Polish province of Royal Prussia after the Second Peace of Thorn. In the town of Marienburg,9,641 votes were cast for Germany,165 votes for Poland, as a result, Marienburg was included in the Regierungsbezirk Marienwerder within the German Province of East Prussia. During the Weimar era, Marienburg was located at the tripoint between Poland, Germany and the Free State of Danzig, the town was hit by an economic crisis following the end of World War I. After a brief recovery in the mid-1920s, the Great Depression was particularly severe in East Prussia. ), after the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, leaders of the Polish minority were arrested and sent to concentration camps. During World War II a Focke-Wulf aircraft factory was set up at the airfield to the east of Marienburg and it was bombed twice by the USAAF in 1943 and 1944
32.
Squadron leader
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Squadron leader is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-specific rank structure. An air force squadron leader ranks above lieutenant and immediately below wing commander. The air force rank of squadron leader has a NATO ranking code of OF-3, the equivalent rank in the Womens Auxiliary Air Force, Womens Royal Air Force and Princess Marys Royal Air Force Nursing Service was squadron officer. Squadron leader has also used as a cavalry command appointment. In Argentina it is used as an appointment by both the armys cavalry and by the air forces flying units. The cavalry rank of squadron leader in France is also an OF-4 equivalent to a major, the rank originated in the British Royal Air Force and was adopted by several other air forces which use, or used, the RAF rank system. In response to the proposal that the RAF should use its own titles, it was suggested that the RAF might use the Royal Navys officer ranks. For example, the rank that later became squadron leader would have been air lieutenant commander, however, the Admiralty objected to this modification of their rank titles. The rank title squadron leader was chosen as squadrons were typically led by RAF majors, the rank of squadron leader has been used continuously since 1 August 1919. From 1 April 1918 to 31 July 1919, the RAF used major as the equivalent rank to squadron leader, Royal Naval Air Service lieutenant-commanders and Royal Flying Corps majors on 31 March 1918 became RAF majors on 1 April 1918. On 31 August 1919, the RAF rank of major was superseded by squadron leader which has remained in continuous usage ever since. Promotion to squadron leader is strictly on merit, and requires the individual to be appointed to a Career Commission, before the Second World War, a squadron leader commanded a squadron of aircraft. Today, however, a squadron is usually commanded by a wing commander. However, ground-operating squadrons which are sub-divisions of a wing are ordinarily commanded by a squadron leader and this includes squadrons of the RAF Regiment and University Air Squadrons. The rank insignia consists of a blue band on a slightly wider black band between two narrow blue bands on slightly wider black bands. This is worn on both the sleeves of the tunic or on the shoulders of the flying suit or the casual uniform. Squadron leaders are the lowest ranking officers that may fly a command flag, the flag may be depicted on the officers aircraft or, should the squadron leader be in command, the flag may be flown from a flagpole or displayed on an official car as a car flag
33.
Phil Lamason
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Raised in Napier, he joined the RNZAF in September 1940, and by April 1942 was a pilot officer serving with the Royal Air Force in Europe. On 8 June 1944, Lamason was in command of a Lancaster heavy bomber that was shot down during a raid on railway marshalling yards near Paris, bailing out, he was picked up by members of the French Resistance and hidden at various locations for seven weeks. While attempting to reach Spain along the Comet line, Lamason was double-crossed by a traitor within the Resistance, after interrogation, he was taken to Fresnes prison. Classified as a Terrorflieger, he was not accorded prisoner-of-war status, by 15 August 1944, Lamason was senior officer of a group of 168 captured Allied airmen who were taken by train to Buchenwald concentration camp, arriving there five days later. At Buchenwald, the airmen were fully shaved, starved, denied shoes, as senior officer, Lamason took control and instilled a level of military discipline and bearing. For several weeks Lamason negotiated with the authorities to have the airmen transferred to a POW camp. Most of the airmen credit their survival at Buchenwald to the leadership, after the war, he moved to Dannevirke and became a farmer until his retirement. During the 1980s and 1990s, he was a speaker at KLB Club. Lamason was born and raised in Napier, a city in New Zealands North Island and he was educated at Napier Boys High School and Massey University where he was awarded a Diploma in Sheepfarming. During this period, Lamason described himself as a bit of a ratbag, prior to the war, he worked for the Department of Agriculture at New Plymouth as a stock inspector. It was there Lamason took the opportunity of flying lessons. He was described as a tall, good-looking man with blue eyes, Lamason joined the RNZAF in September 1940. By April 1942, he had posted to the European theatre of operations as a pilot officer in No.218 Squadron RAF. During a bombing raid on Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, he was in command of an aircraft that was attacked by a fighter and badly damaged. As a result of his actions, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on 15 May 1942, the citation read, Pilot Officer Philip John. LAMASON, Royal New Zealand Air Force, No.218 Squadron, one night in April,1942, this officer was the captain of an aircraft which attacked Pilsen. By his fine airmanship and great devotion to duty, Pilot Officer Lamason was undoubtedly responsible for the return of the aircraft. This officer has completed 21 sorties and he has at all times displayed courage, after his first tour ended flying Stirlings with 218 Squadron, Lamason then instructed other pilots at 1657 Heavy Conversion Unit
34.
KLB Club
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The KLB Club was formed on 12 October 1944, and included the 168 allied airmen who were held prisoner at Buchenwald concentration camp between 20 August and 19 October 1944. 166 airmen survived Buchenwald, while two died of sickness at the camp, as allied air forces took control of the skies over Europe in the summer of 1944, Adolf Hitler ordered the immediate execution of allied flyers accused of committing certain acts. The most common act was to be captured in civilian clothing and/or without their dog tags by the Gestapo or Secret Police, a notable traitor within the French Resistance was Jacques Desoubrie, who was responsible for betraying a significant number of allied airmen to the German authorities. These captured airmen were given the name Terrorflieger, and were not given a trial, the German Foreign Office however, expressed concern about shooting prisoners of war and suggested that enemy airmen suspected of such offenses not be given the legal status of POWs. Following this advice, the Gestapo and Security Police informed these captured allied airmen that they were criminals, after five days in the boxcars, they arrived at Buchenwald on 20 August 1944. For the first three weeks at Buchenwald, the prisoners were shaven, denied shoes and forced to sleep outside without shelter in one of Buchenwalds sub-camps. Most airmen doubted they would ever get out of Buchenwald because their documents were stamped with the acronym DIKAL, in late 1944 a rumor crossed inspector of day fighters Colonel Hannes Trautlofts desk that a large number of Allied airmen were being held at Buchenwald. Trautloft decided to visit the camp and see for himself under the pretence of inspecting aerial bomb damage near the camp, Trautloft was about to leave the camp when captured US airman Bernard Scharf called out to him in fluent German from behind a fence. The SS guards tried to intervene, but Trautloft pointed out that he out-ranked them, Scharf explained that he was one of more than 160 allied airmen imprisoned at the camp and begged Trautloft to rescue him and the other airmen. Trautlofts adjutant also spoke to the commanding officer, Phil Lamason. Disturbed by the event, Trautloft returned to Berlin and began the process to have the airmen transferred out of Buchenwald, seven days before their scheduled execution, the airmen were taken by train by the Luftwaffe to Stalag Luft III. To address the constant stress, long appells, boredom, insecurity and apprehension, it was decided amongst the 168 airmen to hold meetings to give them a sense of purpose. Thus, the exclusive KLB Club came into existence with several chapters, Canada, United States, Great Britain, elected representatives of each nationality held separate meetings to collate the previously scattered efforts of those who had proposed address lists, meetings after the war and other pursuits. The meetings at Buchenwald displayed the 168 airmens militariness and solidarity, at one meeting, it was agreed to design a club pin. The winning design, put forward by Bob Taylor from Great Britain, showed a naked, winged foot, the foot is chained to a ball bearing the letters KLB, with the whole mounted on a white star, which was the crest of the Allied invasion forces. Canadian airman, Willie Walderam, also wrote the poem titled, A Reflection, on the night of 19 October,156 of the 168 airmen were transferred from Buchenwald to Stalag Luft III by the Luftwaffe. Two airmen died from sickness at Buchenwald, while the remaining 10 were transported in small groups, more than 30 years later, in 1979,4 Canadian KLB members made the first serious attempt to trace all club members. Of the original 168 members, only 28 have not been located or accounted for, KLB78402 Burgess, Colin, Destination Buchenwald, Kenthurst, NSW, Kangaroo Press, ISBN 0-86417-733-X, OCLC35019954
35.
Luftwaffe
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The Luftwaffe was the aerial warfare branch of the combined German Wehrmacht military forces during World War II. During the interwar period, German pilots were trained secretly in violation of the treaty at Lipetsk Air Base, with the rise of the Nazi Party and the repudiation of the Versailles Treaty, the Luftwaffe was officially established on 26 February 1935. The Condor Legion, a Luftwaffe detachment sent to aid Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War, provided the force with a testing ground for new doctrines. By the summer of 1939, the Luftwaffe had twenty-eight Geschwaders, during World War II, German pilots claimed roughly 70,000 aerial victories, while over 75,000 Luftwaffe aircraft were destroyed or significantly damaged. Of these, nearly 40,000 were lost entirely, the Luftwaffe proved instrumental in the German victories across Poland and Western Europe in 1939 and 1940. From 1942, Allied bombing campaigns gradually destroyed the Luftwaffes fighter arm, in addition to its service in the West, the Luftwaffe operated over the Soviet Union, North Africa and Southern Europe. In January 1945, during the stages of the Battle of the Bulge, the Luftwaffe made a last-ditch effort to win air superiority. After the defeat of Germany, the Luftwaffe was disbanded in 1946, the Luftwaffe had only two commanders-in-chief throughout its history, Hermann Göring and later Generalfeldmarschall Robert Ritter von Greim. Throughout the war, the force was responsible for war crimes, one of the forerunners of the Luftwaffe, the Imperial German Army Air Service, was founded in 1910 with the name Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches, most often shortened to Fliegertruppe. It was renamed Luftstreitkräfte on 8 October 1916, after the defeat of Germany, the service was dissolved on 8 May 1920 under the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles, which also mandated the destruction of all German military aircraft. Since the Treaty of Versailles forbade Germany to have an air force, to train its pilots on the latest combat aircraft, Germany solicited the help of its future enemy, the Soviet Union, which was also isolated in Europe. This base was known as 4th squadron of the 40th wing of the Red Army. Hundreds of Luftwaffe pilots and technical personnel visited, studied and were trained at Soviet air force schools in locations in Central Russia. The first steps towards the Luftwaffes formation were undertaken just months after Adolf Hitler came to power, in April 1933 the Reichsluftfahrtministerium was established. Görings control over all aspects of aviation became absolute, on 25 March 1933 the Deutschen Luftsportverband absorbed all private and national organizations, while retaining its sports title. On 15 May 1933, all military organizations in the RLM were merged, forming the Luftwaffe. The |Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps was formed in 1937 to give pre-military flying training to male youths, military-age members of the NSFK were drafted to the Luftwaffe. As all such prior NSFK members were also Nazi Party members, the absence of Göring in planning and production matters was fortunate
36.
Blue plaque
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The brainchild of British politician William Ewart in 1863, it is the oldest such scheme in the world. The worlds first blue plaques were erected in London in the 19th century to mark the homes and workplaces of famous people. This scheme continues to the present day, having been administered successively by the Society of Arts, the London County Council, the Greater London Council, many other plaque schemes have since been initiated in the United Kingdom. Some are restricted to a geographical area, others to a particular theme of historical commemoration. The plaques erected by these schemes are manufactured in a variety of designs, shapes, materials, the term blue plaque may be used narrowly to refer to the official English Heritage scheme, but is often used informally to encompass all similar schemes. There are also commemorative plaque schemes throughout the world such as those in Paris, Rome, Oslo, Dublin, and in cities in Australia, Canada, Russia. The forms these take vary, and they tend to be known as historical markers, the original blue plaque scheme was established by the Society of Arts in 1867, and since 1986 has been run by English Heritage. It is the oldest such scheme in the world, since 1984 English Heritage have commissioned Frank Ashworth to make the plaques which have then been inscribed by his wife, Sue, at their home in Cornwall. English Heritage plans to erect an average of twelve new blue plaques each year in London. After being conceived by politician William Ewart in 1863, the scheme was initiated in 1866 by Ewart, Henry Cole and the Society of Arts, the first plaque was unveiled in 1867 to commemorate Lord Byron at his birthplace,24 Holles Street, Cavendish Square. This house was demolished in 1889, the earliest blue plaque to survive, also put up in 1867, commemorates Napoleon III in King Street, St Jamess. Byron’s plaque was blue, but the colour was changed by the manufacturer Minton, in total the Society of Arts put up 35 plaques, fewer than half of which survive today. The Society only erected one plaque within the square-mile of the City of London, in 1879, it was agreed that the City of London Corporation would be responsible for erecting plaques within the City to recognise its jurisdictional independence. This demarcation has remained ever since, in 1901, the Society of Arts scheme was taken over by the London County Council, which gave much thought to the future design of the plaques. It was eventually decided to keep the shape and design of the Societys plaques, but to make them uniformly blue, with a laurel wreath. Though this design was used consistently from 1903 to 1938, some experimentation occurred in the 1920s, in 1921, the most common plaque design was revised, as it was discovered that glazed ceramic Doulton ware was cheaper than the encaustic formerly used. In 1938, a new design was prepared by an unnamed student at the LCCs Central School of Arts and Crafts and was approved by the committee. It omitted the decorative elements of earlier designs, and allowed for lettering to be better spaced and enlarged
37.
Guilford Street
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Guilford Street is a road in Bloomsbury in central London, England, designated the B502. From Russell Square it extends east-northeast to Grays Inn Road, note that it is not spelt the same way as Guildford in Surrey. It is, in fact, named after Frederick North, Lord North, a former Prime Minister, the nearest tube station is Russell Square. The street contains the entrance to Goodenough College, an international residential centre for postgraduates studying or training in London. It has the entrance to Corams Fields, a park containing extensive facilities for children. Unusually access is reserved for those under 16, adults are allowed entry if accompanying a child. On the junction with Russell Square is the Hotel Russell and it was built in 1898 by the architect Charles Fitzroy Doll. It is distinctively clad in decorative thé-au-lait terracotta and was based on the Château de Madrid on the Bois de Boulogne in Paris. Its restaurant, which was named after the architect but has since been renamed Tempus, is said to be almost identical to the RMS Titanics dining room which he also designed, media related to Guilford Street at Wikimedia Commons
38.
Brookwood Cemetery
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Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe, the cemetery is listed a Grade I site in the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. The cemetery is said to have been landscaped by architect William Tite, in 1854, Brookwood was the largest cemetery in the world. Brookwood originally was accessible by rail from a special station – the London Necropolis railway station – next to Waterloo station in Central London, the original London Necropolis station was relocated in 1902 but its successor was demolished after suffering bomb damage during World War II. Two stations were in the cemetery itself, North for non-conformists and their platforms still exist along the path called Railway Avenue. For visitors wishing to use the South Western Main Line, Brookwood station has provided direct access since June 1864. A commemorative very short piece of track with signpost and plaque which purposefully gives way to a grass field recollects the old final main stage of the journey of the deceased. The LNC offered three classes of funerals, A first class funeral allowed its buyer to select the site of their choice anywhere in the cemetery. The LNC charged extra for burials in some designated special sites in the cemetery, at the time of opening prices began at £2 10s for a basic 9-by-4-foot with no special coffin specifications. It was expected by the LNC that those using first class graves would erect a permanent memorial of some kind in due course following the funeral, Second class funerals cost £1 and allowed some control over the burial location. The right to erect a permanent memorial cost an additional 10 shillings, third class funerals were reserved for pauper funerals, those buried at parish expense in the section of the cemetery designated for that parish. Brookwood was one of the few cemeteries to permit burials on Sundays, the LNC provided dedicated sections of the cemetery for these groups, on the basis that those who had lived or worked together in life could remain together after death. A large number of these plots were established, ranging from Chelsea Pensioners and the Ancient Order of Foresters to the Corps of Commissionaires. The Nonconformist cemetery also includes a Parsee burial ground established in 1862, dedicated sections in the Anglican cemetery were also reserved for burials from those parishes which had made burial arrangements with the LNC. The first burial was of the twins of a Mr and Mrs Hore of Ewer Street. The Hore twins, along with the burials on the first day, were pauper funerals. The first burial at Brookwood with a permanent memorial was that of Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Goldfinch, buried on 25 November 1854, the 26th person to be buried in the cemetery. The first permanent memorial erected in the Nonconformist section of cemetery was that of Charles Milligan Hogg, son of botanist Robert Hogg, buried on 12 December 1854
39.
Nuremberg trials
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The trials were held in the city of Nuremberg, Germany, and their decisions marked a turning point between classical international law and contemporary international law. Not included were Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and Joseph Goebbels, all of whom had committed suicide in the spring of 1945, reinhard Heydrich was not included, as he had been assassinated in 1942. The second set of trials of war criminals was conducted under Control Council Law No.10 at the U. S. Nuremberg Military Tribunals, which included the Doctors Trial. This article primarily deals with the IMT, see Subsequent Nuremberg Trials for details on the NMT, at the beginning of 1940, the Polish government-in-exile asked the British and French governments to condemn the German invasion of their country. The British initially declined to do so, however, in April 1940, three-and-a-half years later, the stated intention to punish the Germans was much more trenchant. In order that justice may be done and this intention by the Allies to dispense justice was reiterated at the Yalta Conference and at Berlin in 1945. British War Cabinet documents, released on 2 January 2006, showed that as early as December 1944 the Cabinet had discussed their policy for the punishment of the leading Nazis if captured. In late 1943, during the Tripartite Dinner Meeting at the Tehran Conference, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt joked that perhaps 49,000 would do. Churchill was vigorously opposed to executions for political purposes, US Secretary of the Treasury, suggested a plan for the total denazification of Germany, this was known as the Morgenthau Plan. The plan advocated the forced de-industrialisation of Germany and the execution of so-called arch-criminals. Roosevelt initially supported this plan, and managed to convince Churchill to support it in a less drastic form, later, details were leaked generating widespread condemnation by the nations newspapers. Roosevelt, aware of public disapproval, abandoned the plan. The demise of the Morgenthau Plan created the need for a method of dealing with the Nazi leadership. The plan for the Trial of European War Criminals was drafted by Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, following Roosevelts death in April 1945, the new president, Harry S. Truman, gave strong approval for a judicial process. After a series of negotiations between Britain, the US, Soviet Union and France, details of the trial were worked out, the trials were to commence on 20 November 1945, in the Bavarian city of Nuremberg. On 20 April 1942, representatives from the nine countries occupied by Germany met in London to draft the Inter-Allied Resolution on German War Crimes, France was also awarded a place on the tribunal. The legal basis for the jurisdiction of the court was that defined by the Instrument of Surrender of Germany. Because the court was limited to violations of the laws of war, leipzig and Luxembourg were briefly considered as the location for the trial
40.
Buchenwald Trial
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It took place from April 11 to August 14,1947 in the internment camp of Dachau, where the former Dachau concentration camp had been located until late April 1945. In this trial,31 people were indicted for war related to the Buchenwald concentration camp and its satellite camps. The Buchenwald Trial was part of the Dachau trials, which were held between 1945 and 1948, on 16 April 1945,1000 people from Weimar under American command were mandated to visit Buchenwald concentration camp where they could witness the remaining traces of the mass extinction. Elsewhere nearby residents had to bury the victims from the evacuation marches, in this context, as part of the U. S. War Crimes Trial Program, a U. S, the perpetrators were soon caught and detained, including the last commandant of Buchenwald concentration camp Hermann Pister, who was arrested in June 1945 by American soldiers in Munich. The Command staff was interned in a camp at Bad Aibling and was interrogated shortly after the war ended in 1945 by the Counterintelligence Corps. At least 450 former Buchenwald inmates were called as witnesses, including Hermann Brill, because of the London EAC Protocols, on 1 July 1945 the American military in Thuringia handed it over to the Soviet Military Administration in Germany. After preliminary investigations against more than 6000 people until the fall of 1945, however, witnesses were often no longer available to identify or incriminating photographs were not properly assigned, and some suspects managed to flee. After 14 hours of waiting, the prisoners and the evidence were taken back to the center at Dachau. The Soviets may not have accepted the offer because they used the camp after the takeover as Special Camp 2. Private negotiations regarding the competence of the Buchenwald proceedings arose because of the significant delayed international criticism, after the Soviet military authorities showed no interest, French and Belgian judicial authorities announced their desire to carry out the trial. This option was rejected by the American side having regard to the work of translation that should have been done. The lead investigator in the U. S. Army forced then the beginning of the process, by the end of December 1946 the preparation for the process was completed. The camp commander, Hermann Pister, and members of the staff, as well as the widow of the first commander. Also, three of the doctors and senior SS medical officers had to stand trial. Finally, even block leaders, detachment commanders, three prisoner functionaries and a civilian employee stood trial, the legal basis of the process was the Legal and Penal Administration from March 1947, based on the decrees of the Military Government. Buchenwald-Hauptprozess, Deputy Judge Advocate’s Office 7708 War Crimes Group European Command APO407, göttingen, Wallstein,2007, ISBN 978-3-8353-0167-2 Manfred Overesch, Buchenwald und die DDR – oder die Suche nach Selbstlegitimation. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht,1995, ISBN 978-3-525-01356-4, katrin Greiser, Entsetzen der Befreier, Das US-War Crimes Program. In, Die Todesmärsche von Buchenwald
41.
Dachau concentration camp
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Dachau concentration camp was the first of the Nazi concentration camps opened in Germany, intended to hold political prisoners. It is located on the grounds of a munitions factory northeast of the medieval town of Dachau, about 16 km northwest of Munich in the state of Bavaria. The Dachau camp system grew to include nearly 100 sub-camps, which were work camps or Arbeitskommandos. The camps were liberated by U. S. forces on 29 April 1945, There were 32,000 documented deaths at the camp, and thousands that are undocumented. Approximately 10,000 of the 30,000 prisoners were sick at the time of liberation, in the postwar years the Dachau facility served to hold SS soldiers awaiting trial. After 1948, it held ethnic Germans who had expelled from eastern Europe and were awaiting resettlement. It was finally closed in 1960, There are several religious memorials within the Memorial Site, which is open to the public. After the takeover of Bavaria on 9 March 1933, Heinrich Himmler, then Chief of Police in Munich, began to speak with the administration of an unused gunpowder and he toured the site to see if it could be used for quartering protective-custody prisoners. The Concentration Camp at Dachau was opened 22 March 1933, with the arrival of about 200 prisoners from Stadelheim Prison in Munich and it became the first regular concentration camp established by the coalition government of the National Socialist German Workers Party and the German National Peoples Party. Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, and emigrants were sent to Dachau after the 1935 passage of the Nuremberg Laws which institutionalized racial discrimination, in early 1937, the SS, using prisoner labor, initiated construction of a large complex capable of holding 6,000 prisoners. The construction was completed in mid-August 1938. More political opponents, and over 11,000 German and Austrian Jews were sent to the camp after the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland in 1938. Sinti and Roma in the hundreds were sent to the camp in 1939, the prisoners of Dachau concentration camp originally were to serve as forced labor for a munition factory, and to expand the camp. It was used as a center for SS guards and was a model for other concentration camps. The camp was about 300 m ×600 m in rectangular shape, the prisoners entrance was secured by an iron gate with the motto “Arbeit macht frei”. This reflected Nazi propaganda, which trivialized concentration camps as labor and re-education camps, as of 1938, the procedure for new arrivals occurred at the Schubraum, where prisoners were to hand over their clothing and possessions. One former Luxembourgian prisoner, Albert Theis, reflected about the room, everything had to be handed over, money, rings, watches. The camp included a building that contained offices for the Gestapo trial commissioner, SS authorities
United Kingdom
Royal Air Force
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