Haute-Vienne is a French department named after the river Vienne. It is one of the 12 departments; the neighbouring departments are: Creuse, Corrèze, Charente and Indre. There are three arrondissements in the department; the chief and largest city in the department is Limoges, the other towns in the department each having fewer than twenty thousand inhabitants. Haute-Vienne is part of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, it is bordered by six departments. The department has two main rivers. To the southeast of the department lies the Massif Central, the highest point in the department is Puy Lagarde, 795 m; the source of the Charente is in the department, in the commune of Chéronnac, near Rochechouart. At the west end of the department is the Rochechouart crater, an impact crater caused by a meteorite that crashed into the earth's surface over 200 million years ago. A few Paleolithic and Mesolithic remains have been found in the department, Neolithic inhabitants are attested to by standing stones and by burial chambers, like the dolmen Chez Boucher in La Croix-sur-Gartempe, others at Berneuil and Breuilaufa.

Artefacts from the Bronze Age include. With the coming of the Romans, trade was opened up and gold and tin were mined. Agriculture developed and grapes were grown. During the reign of Augustus, the city of Augustoritum was founded at a strategic ford across the Vienne; the Romans built roads from here to Brittany and the Mediterranean. The city declined in the 3rd Century; the domination of the Visigoths was short-lived and Clovis I seized control of Limousin after the battle of Vouillé in 507. By 674, the region was attached to the duchy of Aquitaine, the Viscount of Limoges was created. There followed an unsettled period with various powers vying for control. In 1199, Richard Cœur de Lion was mortally wounded during the siege of the Château de Châlus-Chabrol; the region was much involved in the Hundred Years' War and at the Treaty of Brétigny in 1360, France granted England a large area of territory comprising much of Limousin. Limoges city rebelled and gave its allegiance to the French crown, as a result was sacked in 1370.

Further troubled years followed but when peace was restored, the department benefited economically. After a revolt by the peasants, Henri IV brought prosperity to the region of Limousin, he was greeted enthusiastically. The Counter-Reformation led to the creation of numerous convents and religious orders in Limoges. In 1761, Anne Robert Jacques Turgot was appointed intendent of Limoges, he negotiated a reduction in taxes payable by the region and developed fairer methods of collecting taxes, as well as improving the road system and encouraging agricultural development. Around 1765, kaolin was discovered near Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche in the south of the department, the porcelain industry developed; the department was created on 4 March 1790, during the French Revolution, the southern half being a subdivision of the Region of Limousin while the northern half was carved out of the county of Marche, as well as some parts of Angoumois and Poitou. At first it was given the number 81, but in the nineteenth century, the number was changed to the 87th department, when further land to the east and northeast was added.

It takes its name from the upper reaches of the Vienne. In 1998, the southwest part of the department, together with the northern part of the region of Périgord was designated as the Parc Naturel Régional Périgord-Limousin. In 2013, twenty million euros were earned from agriculture in the province, as against twenty-one million three hundred thousand from Limousin. There were 351,475 cattle in 22,780 pigs, 320,500 sheep and 6,500 goats. 723,340 hectolitres of milk were produced from 30,690 hectolitres from sheep. In the same year, 1,897,800 hectares of cereals were grown and in the previous year, 12,294 hectares of land were producing organic foodstuffs. In 1801, the population of the department was 245,150, it grew over the next century so that in 1901 it was 381,753. It peaked at 385,732 in 1906, fell back in 1911 to 384,736 and fell to 350,235 in 1921, after the Great War. By 1954 it had dwindled to 324,429 but after that it began to rise again, in 2007 stood at 371,102; the three arrondissements of the Haute-Vienne department are: Arrondissement of Bellac, with 63 communes.

The population of the arrondissement was 42,687 in 1990 and 40,120 in 1999, a decrease of 6.01%. Arrondissement of Limoges, with 108 communes; the population of the arrondissement was 274,643 in 1990 and 278,439 in 1999, an increas

Frank Baker was a footballer who played in the Football League for Stoke City. He made 174 appearances for Stoke. Baker was born in Stoke-on-Trent and earned his living driving a laundry van, whilst playing for Port Vale's reserves as an amateur, his performances for Vale's second string caught the attention for Wolverhampton Wanderers and on one evening manager Frank Buckley was due to travel to Vale to sign Baker. But Stoke City manager Bob McGrory caught wind of the potential transfer and arrived earlier and persuaded Baker to sign for Stoke instead, he spent the 1936–37 season in Stoke's reserves, making only the occasional first team appearance due to England international Joe Johnson occupying left-wing position. But he managed to get his chance one match into the 1937–38 season as Johnson injured his ankle and Baker took full advantage, he linked up well with his centre forward Freddie Steele providing him with many crosses and he chipped in with 12 goals and scored a further 10 in 1938–39.

He was called up for army duty in 1939 and therefore played few matches for Stoke in the War League, although he did guest for Sunderland and Northern Irish club Linfield. He played for Stoke against Bolton Wanderers during the Burnden Park disaster on 9 March 1946, broke down in tears on the final whistle; when League football resumed in 1946–47, Baker had competition in the form of the hunchback Alexander Ormston. McGrory decided to move Baker to inside left to replace the retired Tommy Sale, although his goalscoring suffered the pair formed one of the best left wing combinations in the country which nearly helped Stoke win the First Division title – the "Potters" their must win match against Sheffield United 2–1. Baker suffered a crop of serious injuries which ended his career, in August 1947 he broke his arm against Liverpool and missed most of the 1947–48 season, he broke his leg against Manchester United in October 1948 and fractured it again at Wolves five games into his comeback in April 1949.

In all, Baker broke bones five times in two years. After spending a year in rehabilitation he retired in the Summer of 1951 on the advice of doctors, he ran a fish and chips shop in Fenton for many years, coached Stoke's'A' team and managed non-league Foley until his death in 1989 at the age of 71. Source

The 3rd Infantry Brigade is a Lebanese Army unit that fought in the Lebanese Civil War, being active since its creation in January 1983 until its disbandment in December 1984, being subsequently re-formed in June 1991. In the aftermath of the June–September 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, President Amin Gemayel, convinced that a strong and unified national defense force was a prerequisite to rebuilding the nation, announced plans to raise a 60,000-man army organized into twelve brigades and equipped by France and the United States. In late 1982, the 3rd Infantry Regiment was therefore re-organized and expanded to a brigade group numbering 2,000 men Sunni Muslims from Southern Lebanon, which became on January 18, 1983 at the southern port city of Sidon, the 3rd Infantry Brigade; the Brigade's emblem consists of a silvered sword that symbolizes law and strength, emerging from the brown soil of the country, held by the hands of the 3rd Brigade soldiers in the defense of their homeland. The sword is embraced by the blazing flame of sacrifice which enlightens Lebanon's blue sky and burns the enemy with his flames, so that the green cedar tree remains eternal, uniting all Lebanese in its heart, the same as the Indian numeral inserted at the center of the cedar.

The emblem bears the motto "Our land is ours" in Arabic script. The new unit grew from an understrength battalion comprising three rifle companies to a equipped mechanized infantry brigade, capable of aligning a Headquarters' battalion, an armoured battalion equipped with Panhard AML-90 armoured cars, AMX-13 light tanks and M48A5 main battle tanks, three mechanized infantry battalions issued with M113 armored personnel carriers, plus an artillery battalion fielding US M114 155 mm howitzers; the Brigade fielded a logistics battalion, equipped with US M151A2 jeeps, Land-Rover long wheelbase series III, Chevrolet C20 and Dodge Ram pickups, US M35A2 2½-ton military trucks. Headquartered at the Mohamed Zogheib Barracks near Sidon, in 1983 it was placed under the command of Colonel Nizar Abdelkader replaced by Col. Said al-Qaqur. Commanded by Colonel Nizar Abdelkader, the Third Brigade during the Mountain War was split into two separated commands deployed at different locations: some of its battalions were positioned in east Beirut, at the Hadath and the Faculty of Sciences sectors leading to the southern suburbs of the Lebanese Capital, while the other units remained stationed at Sidon.

During the Battle for west Beirut on 6 February 1984, the Third Brigade's battalions stationed at Beirut's eastern sector provided support to the other Lebanese Army units deployed in the western sector of the city fighting the anti-Government Muslim militias. In late February-early March 1984, the Third Brigade was placed under the command of Col. Said al-Qaqur and its units stationed at east Beirut were transferred back to Sidon. At that time, it was presumed that the Brigade would patrol the Southern regions along the Israeli border; until early 1983, the Sidon-based units of the Brigade could not leave Israeli-controlled areas for training, but, no longer the case by mid-year. Confined to barracks for most of the time and forced into inactivity, the Third Brigade was disbanded on December 1, 1984 by order of the Lebanese Armed Forces Command in east Beirut and by 1987 its units had been dispersed. Upon the end of the war in October 1990, the LAF Command proceeded to reorganize and expand the Lebanese Army's battered mechanized infantry brigades structure, with the Third Brigade being re-established in Sidon on June 1, 1991.

Lebanese Arab Army Lebanese Armed Forces Lebanese Civil War Lebanese Forces Mountain War Progressive Socialist Party People's Liberation Army 1st Infantry Brigade 2nd Infantry Brigade 4th Infantry Brigade 5th Infantry Brigade 6th Infantry Brigade 7th Infantry Brigade 8th Infantry Brigade 9th Infantry Brigade 10th Infantry Brigade 11th Infantry Brigade 12th Infantry Brigade Weapons of the Lebanese Civil War Denise Ammoun, Histoire du Liban contemporain: Tome 2 1943-1990, Paris 2005. ISBN 978-2-213-61521-9 – Edgar O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon 1975-92, Palgrave Macmillan, London 1998. ISBN 0-333-72975-7 Éric Micheletti and Yves Debay, Liban – dix jours aux cœur des combats, RAIDS magazine n.º41, October 1989 issue. ISSN 0769-4814 Joseph Hokayem, L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République, Lulu.com, Beyrouth 2012. ISBN 9781291036602, 1291036601 – Ken Guest, Lebanon, in Flashpoint! At the Front Line of Today’s Wars and Armour Press, London 1994, pp. 97–111.

ISBN 1-85409-247-2 Matthew S. Gordon, The Gemayels, Chelsea House Publishers, 1988. ISBN 1-55546-834-9 Moustafa El-Assad, Civil Wars Volume 1: The Gun Trucks, Blue Steel books, Sidon 2008. ISBN 9953-0-1256-8 Oren Barak, The Lebanese Army – A National institution in a divided society, State University of New York Press, Albany 2009. ISBN 978-0-7914-9345-8 – Rex Brynen and Survival: the PLO in Lebanon, Boulder: Westview Press, 1990. Robert Fisk, Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War, London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280130-9 Samer Kassis, 30 Years of Military Vehicles in Lebanon, Beirut: Elite Group, 2003. ISBN 9953-0-0705-5 Samer Kassis, Véhicules Militaires au Liban/Military Vehicles in Lebanon 1975-1981, Trebia Publishing, Chyah 2012. ISBN 978-9953-0-2372-4 Samuel M. Katz, Lee E