1.
Admiralty Arch
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Admiralty Arch, commissioned by King Edward VII in memory of his mother, Queen Victoria and designed by Aston Webb is now a Grade I listed building. In the past, it served as residence of the First Sea Lord and was used by the Admiralty, the arch was designed by Aston Webb, who also designed the Victoria Memorial and the new façade of Buckingham Palace on the other end of the Mall. Admiralty Arch was constructed by John Mowlem & Co and completed in 1912 and it adjoins the Old Admiralty Building, hence the name. The building was commissioned by King Edward VII in memory of his mother Queen Victoria, the Admiralty Arch served as the official residence of the First Sea Lord, including Winston Churchill and the Earl of Mountbatten. It also housed government offices, initially for the Admiralty. In 2000, the Cabinet Office moved into offices in the building and it was also home to the Prime Ministers Strategy Unit and the Social Exclusion Task Force. In 2011, as part of the austerity programme, the building became vacant and was put up for sale for a reported £75 million. In October 2012, the bidder was reported to be Spanish real estate developer Rafael Serrano. The property was sold as a 125-year lease, in August 2013, Westminster City Council granted full planning permission for the restoration and conversion of Admiralty Arch into a 100-room hotel, residences and private members club. Architects Blair Associates have been retained to convert the building into a hotel, restaurant, the residences went on sale in July 2016. The hotel is scheduled to open in 2020, as the ceremonial entrance from Trafalgar Square to The Mall, itself the ceremonial road leading up to Buckingham Palace, Admiralty Arch plays an important role on ceremonial occasions. Processions at royal weddings, funerals, coronations and other public processions such as the 2012 processions at the end of the Olympic and Paralympic Games all passed under its arches, the central archway is reserved for use by royalty. The structure, which combines the features of an arch with those of a government office building, is asymmetrical. As viewed from the Mall, the wing of the building has one floor more than the left one. A Latin inscription along the top reads, The sculptural figures of Navigation, beneath the building is a warren of subterranean tunnels and chambers, including vaults which used to house the government archives. On the inside wall of the northernmost arch is a small protrusion the size and it was placed there by artist Rick Buckley in 1997 as part of a campaign against the Big Brother society. The nose is at a height of seven feet. Media related to Admiralty Arch at Wikimedia Commons Official website of current commercial redevelopment Admiralty Arch at the Historic England website
2.
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
3.
British Army
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The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom. As of 2017 the British Army comprises just over 80,000 trained Regular, or full-time, personnel and just over 26,500 trained Reserve, or part-time personnel. Therefore, the UK Parliament approves the continued existence of the Army by passing an Armed Forces Act at least once every five years, day to day the Army comes under administration of the Ministry of Defence and is commanded by the Chief of the General Staff. Repeatedly emerging victorious from these decisive wars allowed Britain to influence world events with its policies and establish itself as one of the leading military. In 1660 the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were restored under Charles II, Charles favoured the foundation of a new army under royal control and began work towards its establishment by August 1660. The Royal Scots Army and the Irish Army were financed by the Parliament of Scotland, the order of seniority of the most senior line regiments in the British Army is based on the order of seniority in the English army. At that time there was only one English regiment of dragoons, after William and Marys accession to the throne, England involved itself in the War of the Grand Alliance, primarily to prevent a French invasion restoring Marys father, James II. Spain, in the two centuries, had been the dominant global power, and the chief threat to Englands early transatlantic ambitions. The territorial ambitions of the French, however, led to the War of the Spanish Succession and the Napoleonic Wars. From the time of the end of the Seven Years War in 1763, Great Britain was the naval power. As had its predecessor, the English Army, the British Army fought the Kingdoms of Spain, France, and the Netherlands for supremacy in North America and the West Indies. With native and provincial assistance, the Army conquered New France in the North American theatre of the Seven Years War, the British Army suffered defeat in the American War of Independence, losing the Thirteen Colonies but holding on to Canada. The British Army was heavily involved in the Napoleonic Wars and served in campaigns across Europe. The war between the British and the First French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte stretched around the world and at its peak, in 1813, the regular army contained over 250,000 men. A Coalition of Anglo-Dutch and Prussian Armies under the Duke of Wellington, the English had been involved, both politically and militarily, in Ireland since being given the Lordship of Ireland by the Pope in 1171. The campaign of the English republican Protector, Oliver Cromwell, involved uncompromising treatment of the Irish towns that had supported the Royalists during the English Civil War, the English Army stayed in Ireland primarily to suppress numerous Irish revolts and campaigns for independence. Having learnt from their experience in America, the British government sought a political solution, the British Army found itself fighting Irish rebels, both Protestant and Catholic, primarily in Ulster and Leinster in the 1798 rebellion. The Haldane Reforms of 1907 formally created the Territorial Force as the Armys volunteer reserve component by merging and reorganising the Volunteer Force, Militia, Great Britains dominance of the world had been challenged by numerous other powers, in the 20th century, most notably Germany
4.
British Army during the Second World War
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This article is about the British Army during the Second World War. The British Army was, in 1939, a army, that introduced limited conscription in early 1939. During the early years of the Second World War, the British Army suffered defeat in almost every theatre of war in which it was deployed, with mass conscription, the expansion of the British Army was reflected in the formation of larger armies and army groups. From 1943, the larger and better-equipped British Army never suffered a strategic defeat, the pre-war British Army was trained and equipped to be a small, mechanised, professional army. Its main function was to garrison the British Empire and it became evident early in the war that its initial structure and manpower was woefully unprepared and ill-equipped for a war with multiple enemies on multiple fronts. The British Army, a force until 1939, was small in comparison to its enemies at the start of the Second World War in 1939. By the end of the Second World War, however, over 3.5 million men had served in the British Army, the British Army was called on to fight around the world, starting with campaigns in Europe in 1940. After the Dunkirk evacuation, the army fought on in the Mediterranean and Middle East theatre, after a series of setbacks, retreats and evacuations, the British Army eventually, with its Allies, gained the upper hand. This started with victory in the Tunisian Campaign, and then Italy was forced to surrender after the invasions of Sicily and mainland Italy itself in 1943. In 1944, the returned to France, driving the German Army back into Germany. Both the Germans and Japanese were defeated by 1945 and surrendered within months of each other, with the expansion of the British Army to fight a world war, new armies were formed and eventually army groups were created to control even larger formations. In command of new armies, eight men would be promoted to the rank of Field Marshal. The army commanders not only had to manage the new armies, but also a new type of soldier in formations like the Special Air Service, Special Boat Service, Commandos and the Parachute Regiment. Prior to the war, the British Army was a professional army, designed to be able to win quick victories by utilising superior mobility. Nevertheless, its effectiveness was hampered by the doctrine of casualty avoidance, the army knew that British society, and the soldiers themselves, would never again allow them to recklessly throw away lives. There was also a tendency to consolidate gains made on the battlefield instead of aggressively exploiting successes. Developments were constrained by the Treasury, in the 1920s, and much of the 1930s, the General Staff tried to establish a small mechanized professional army, using the Experimental Mechanized Force as a prototype. However, with the lack of any identified threat, the Armys main function was to garrison the British Empire, during this time, the army suffered from a lack of funding
5.
Dad's Army
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Dads Army is a BBC television sitcom about the British Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on the BBC from 1968 to 1977, the sitcom ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio version based on the television scripts, a feature film and a stage show. The series regularly gained audiences of 18 million viewers and is still repeated worldwide, the Home Guard consisted of local volunteers otherwise ineligible for military service, either because of age or by being in professions exempt from conscription. Dads Army deals almost exclusively with over age men and featured older British actors, including Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier, Arnold Ridley, younger members in the cast included Ian Lavender, Clive Dunn, Frank Williams, James Beck, and Bill Pertwee. In 2004, Dads Army was voted fourth in a BBC poll to find Britains Best Sitcom and it had been placed 13th in a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000 and voted for by industry professionals. The series has influenced British popular culture, with the series catchphrases and it highlighted a forgotten aspect of defence during the Second World War, although it greatly distorted the true history and function of the Home Guard. The Radio Times magazine listed Captain Mainwarings You stupid boy, among the 25 greatest put-downs on TV. A new feature film of Dads Army with a different cast was released in 2016, originally intended to be called The Fighting Tigers, Dads Army was based partly on co-writer and creator Jimmy Perrys experiences in the Local Defence Volunteers. Perry was only 17 years old when he joined the 10th Hertfordshire Battalion and his mother did not like him being out at night and feared he might catch cold, he partly resembled the character of Private Pike. An elderly lance corporal in the often referred to fighting under Kitchener against the Fuzzy Wuzzies and was the model for Corporal Jones. Other influences included the work of such as Will Hay whose film Oh. Featured a pompous ass, an old man and a man which gave him Mainwaring, Godfrey. Another influence was the Lancastrian comedian Robb Wilton, who portrayed a work-shy husband who joined the Home Guard in numerous sketches during WW2. Croft was impressed and sent the script to Michael Mills, the BBCs Head of Comedy, in his book Dads Army, Graham McCann explained that the show owes much to Michael Mills. It was he who renamed the show Dads Army and he did not like Brightsea-on-Sea so the location was changed to Walmington-on-Sea. He also suggested adding a Scot, Jimmy Perry had produced the original idea but needed an experienced man to see it through. Mills suggested David Croft and so their partnership began, when an episode was shown to members of the public, to gauge audience reaction prior to broadcast of the first series, the majority of the audience thought it was very poor. The production team put the report containing the negative comments at the bottom of David Crofts in-tray and he only saw it several months later, after the series had been broadcast and had received great acclamation
6.
Nazi Germany
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Nazi Germany is the common English name for the period in German history from 1933 to 1945, when Germany was governed by a dictatorship under the control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Under Hitlers rule, Germany was transformed into a fascist state in which the Nazi Party took totalitarian control over all aspects of life. The official name of the state was Deutsches Reich from 1933 to 1943, the period is also known under the names the Third Reich and the National Socialist Period. The Nazi regime came to an end after the Allied Powers defeated Germany in May 1945, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by the President of the Weimar Republic Paul von Hindenburg on 30 January 1933. The Nazi Party then began to eliminate all opposition and consolidate its power. Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934, and Hitler became dictator of Germany by merging the powers and offices of the Chancellery, a national referendum held 19 August 1934 confirmed Hitler as sole Führer of Germany. All power was centralised in Hitlers person, and his word became above all laws, the government was not a coordinated, co-operating body, but a collection of factions struggling for power and Hitlers favour. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Nazis restored economic stability and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending, extensive public works were undertaken, including the construction of Autobahnen. The return to economic stability boosted the regimes popularity, racism, especially antisemitism, was a central feature of the regime. The Germanic peoples were considered by the Nazis to be the purest branch of the Aryan race, millions of Jews and other peoples deemed undesirable by the state were murdered in the Holocaust. Opposition to Hitlers rule was ruthlessly suppressed, members of the liberal, socialist, and communist opposition were killed, imprisoned, or exiled. The Christian churches were also oppressed, with many leaders imprisoned, education focused on racial biology, population policy, and fitness for military service. Career and educational opportunities for women were curtailed, recreation and tourism were organised via the Strength Through Joy program, and the 1936 Summer Olympics showcased the Third Reich on the international stage. Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels made effective use of film, mass rallies, the government controlled artistic expression, promoting specific art forms and banning or discouraging others. Beginning in the late 1930s, Nazi Germany made increasingly aggressive territorial demands and it seized Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939. Hitler made a pact with Joseph Stalin and invaded Poland in September 1939. In alliance with Italy and smaller Axis powers, Germany conquered most of Europe by 1940, reichskommissariats took control of conquered areas, and a German administration was established in what was left of Poland. Jews and others deemed undesirable were imprisoned, murdered in Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps, following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the tide gradually turned against the Nazis, who suffered major military defeats in 1943
7.
Axis powers
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The Axis powers, also known as the Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, were the nations that fought in World War II against the Allied Powers. The Axis agreed on their opposition to the Allies, but did not completely coordinate their activity, the Axis grew out of the diplomatic efforts of Germany, Italy, and Japan to secure their own specific expansionist interests in the mid-1930s. The first step was the treaty signed by Germany and Italy in October 1936, Mussolini declared on 1 November that all other European countries would from then on rotate on the Rome–Berlin axis, thus creating the term Axis. The almost simultaneous second step was the signing in November 1936 of the Anti-Comintern Pact, Italy joined the Pact in 1937. At its zenith during World War II, the Axis presided over territories that occupied parts of Europe, North Africa. There were no three-way summit meetings and cooperation and coordination was minimal, the war ended in 1945 with the defeat of the Axis powers and the dissolution of their alliance. As in the case of the Allies, membership of the Axis was fluid, at the time he was seeking an alliance with the Weimar Republic against Yugoslavia and France in the dispute over the Free State of Fiume. The term was used by Hungarys prime minister Gyula Gömbös when advocating an alliance of Hungary with Germany, when Mussolini publicly announced the signing on 1 November, he proclaimed the creation of a Rome–Berlin axis. Italy under Duce Benito Mussolini had pursued an alliance of Italy with Germany against France since the early 1920s. He believed that Italy could expand its influence in Europe by allying with Germany against France, in early 1923, as a goodwill gesture to Germany, Italy secretly delivered weapons for the German Army, which had faced major disarmament under the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. General Hans von Seeckt supported an alliance between Germany and the Soviet Union to invade and partition Poland between them and restore the German-Russian border of 1914. The discussions concluded that Germans still wanted a war of revenge against France but were short on weapons, however at this time Mussolini stressed one important condition that Italy must pursue in an alliance with Germany, that Italy must. Tow them, not be towed by them, the French government warned Italy that it had to choose whether to be on the side of the pro-Versailles powers or that of the anti-Versailles revanchists. Grandi responded that Italy would be willing to offer France support against Germany if France gave Italy its mandate over Cameroon, France refused Italys proposed exchange for support, as it believed Italys demands were unacceptable and the threat from Germany was not yet immediate. In 1932, Gyula Gömbös and the Party of National Unity rose to power in Hungary, Gömbös sought to alter Hungarys post–Treaty of Trianon borders by forming an alliance with Austria and Italy, knowing that Hungary alone was not capable of challenging the Little Entente powers. At the meeting between Gömbös and Mussolini in Rome on 10 November 1932, the question came up of the sovereignty of Austria in relation to the rise to power in Germany of the Nazi Party. Mussolini was worried about Nazi ambitions towards Austria, and indicated that at least in the term he was committed to maintaining Austria as a sovereign state. Italy had concerns over a Germany which included Austria laying land claims to German-populated territories of the South Tyrol within Italy, Mussolini said he hoped the Anschluss could be postponed as long as possible until the breakout of a European war that he estimated would begin in 1938
8.
Volunteer Training Corps
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The Volunteer Training Corps was a voluntary home defence militia in the United Kingdom during World War I. The government was suspicious of this movement, seeing it as potentially diverting men from volunteering for the armed services, lord Desborough became the President of the Association and General Sir OMoore Creagh VC was appointed the Military Advisor. Although the Central Association had been recognized, the local Volunteer Training Corps were not. Units had to be financially self-supporting and members had to provide their own uniforms, which could not be khaki, all members were required to wear a red brassard or arm band, bearing the letters GR for Georgius Rex. No weapons or equipment were provided from public funds, although local Territorial Army Associations were asked to supply a few DP rifles, the volunteers therefore had to purchase their own weapons and ammunition - typically Martini Enfield carbines and rifles. Local VTCs soon grouped together to form county Volunteer Regiments, in October 1915, the Marquess of Lincolnshire attempted to give the Volunteers legal status by means of a private members bill in the House of Lords, but it ran out of parliamentary time. However, MPs discovered that the Volunteer Act 1863 had never been repealed, eventually they were allowed to wear khaki and equipment began to be officially supplied. In July 1918, the War Office decided to include the VTC Battalions into the County Infantry Regiment system, by February 1918, there were 285,000 Volunteers,101,000 of whom had been directed to the Corps by the Tribunals. During 1917, P.14 Enfield Rifles began to be issued, followed by Hotchkiss Mk I machine guns, the Corps trained in drill and, if the equipment was available, use of the rifle. In case of a German invasion, battalions were tasked with such as line of communication defence. In north Worcestershire some units helped to man anti-aircraft guns ringing Birmingham, in 1918, when there was an acute shortage of manpower because of the German spring offensive, c.7,000 Volunteers undertook three-month coast defence duties in East Anglia. The force was sometimes ridiculed by the public, there were jokes that the GR on their armbands stood for Georges Wrecks, Grandpas Regiment, Genuine Relics, Gorgeous Wrecks or Government Rejects. The only time that Volunteer Training Corps men were engaged in combat, was in the Easter Rising in Dublin starting on Easter Monday,24 April 1916. Some 120 members of the 1st Battalion, Associated Volunteer Training Corps were returning from field exercises at Ticknock, the commanding officer, Major Harris, decided to march to Beggars Bush Barracks. They carried rifles but were without ammunition or bayonets and they were fired on by a party of Irish Volunteers from a railway bridge. Part of the VTC force entered the barracks by the front gate, others made their way to the rear and scaled the wall. About 40 men at the rear of the column were pinned down by fire from surrounding houses and four were killed, including the cricketer, Francis Browning. The VTC men then assisted the small garrison of soldiers to hold the barracks for eight days
9.
Tom Wintringham
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Thomas Henry Wintringham was a British soldier, military historian, journalist, poet, Marxist, politician and author. He was an important figure in the formation of the Home Guard during the Second World War and was one of the founders of the Common Wealth Party, Tom Wintringham was born 1898 in Grimsby, Lincolnshire. He was educated at Greshams School, Holt, and Balliol College, at the end of the war he was involved in a brief barracks mutiny, one of many minor insurrections which went unnoticed in the period. As the party was formed, Wintringham graduated from Oxford and moved to London, ostensibly to study for the bar at the Temple, in 1923, Wintringham joined the recently formed Communist Party of Great Britain. In 1925, he was one of the twelve CPGB officials imprisoned for seditious libel, in 1930, he helped to found the Communist newspaper, the Daily Worker, and was one of the few named writers to publish articles in it. In writing for the Communist partys theoretic journal Labour Monthly, he established himself as the military expert. In LM articles and in booklets on the subject, Wintringham formed the arguments against Air Assault and called for ARP precautions several years before Guernica. His arguments were the basis for the most successful of the Communist Partys wartime campaigns, that for ARP provision, wintringhams ideas became party dogma when the Comintern announced the Popular Front, a form of communism Wintringham was prepared to fight for. In 1934, he became the founder, editor and major contributor of Left Review, although published by Wintringham and funded by the CPGB, it embraced writers of all shades of socialism, regardless of their party affiliations. The journal established a pattern for what was to become cultural studies, at the start of the Spanish Civil War, Wintringham went to Barcelona as a journalist for the Daily Worker, but he joined and eventually commanded the British Battalion of the International Brigades. Some socialist commentators have credited him with the idea of international brigades. He also had an affair with a US journalist, Kitty Bowler, in February 1937 he was wounded in the Battle of Jarama. While injured in Spain he became friends with Ernest Hemingway who based one of his characters upon him and he spent some months as a machine gun instructor. When he returned to the battalion the next summer he contracted typhoid, was wounded at Quinto in August 1937 and was repatriated in October. His later book English Captain is based on these experiences, in 1938, the Communist Party condemned his wife as a Trotskyist spy but he refused to leave her, he quit the party instead. He came to mistrust the partys subservience to Joseph Stalins Russia, back in England, Tom Hopkinson recruited him to work for the magazine Picture Post. On returning from Spain, Wintringham began to call for a civilian guard to repel any fascist invasion. He taught the troops tactics of Guerrilla Warfare, including a movement known as the Monkey Crawl and they were also taught how to deal with dive bombers
10.
Spanish Civil War
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Ultimately, the Nationalists won, and Franco then ruled Spain for the next 36 years, from April 1939 until his death in November 1975. Sanjurjo was killed in an accident while attempting to return from exile in Portugal. The coup was supported by units in the Spanish protectorate in Morocco, Pamplona, Burgos, Zaragoza, Valladolid, Cádiz, Córdoba. However, rebelling units in some important cities—such as Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao, and Málaga—did not gain control, Spain was thus left militarily and politically divided. The Nationalists and the Republican government fought for control of the country, the Nationalist forces received munitions and soldiers from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, while the Republican side received support from the Communist Soviet Union and leftist populist Mexico. Other countries, such as the United Kingdom and France, operated a policy of non-intervention. The Nationalists advanced from their strongholds in the south and west and they also besieged Madrid and the area to its south and west for much of the war. Those associated with the losing Republicans were persecuted by the victorious Nationalists, with the establishment of a dictatorship led by General Franco in the aftermath of the war, all right-wing parties were fused into the structure of the Franco regime. The war became notable for the passion and political division it inspired, organized purges occurred in territory captured by Francos forces to consolidate the future regime. A significant number of killings took place in areas controlled by the Republicans, the extent to which Republican authorities took part in killings in Republican territory varied. The 19th century was a turbulent time for Spain and those in favour of reforming Spains government vied for political power with conservatives, who tried to prevent reforms from taking place. Some liberals, in a tradition that had started with the Spanish Constitution of 1812, sought to limit the power of the monarchy of Spain, the reforms of 1812 did not last after King Ferdinand VII dissolved the Constitution and ended the Trienio Liberal government. Twelve successful coups were carried out between 1814 and 1874, until the 1850s, the economy of Spain was primarily based on agriculture. There was little development of an industrial or commercial class. The land-based oligarchy remained powerful, a number of people held large estates called latifundia as well as all the important government positions. In 1868 popular uprisings led to the overthrow of Queen Isabella II of the House of Bourbon, two distinct factors led to the uprisings, a series of urban riots and a liberal movement within the middle classes and the military concerned with the ultra-conservatism of the monarchy. In 1873 Isabellas replacement, King Amadeo I of the House of Savoy, abdicated owing to increasing pressure. After the restoration of the Bourbons in December 1874, Carlists and Anarchists emerged in opposition to the monarchy, alejandro Lerroux, Spanish politician and leader of the Radical Republican Party, helped bring republicanism to the fore in Catalonia, where poverty was particularly acute
11.
International Brigades
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The International Brigades were paramilitary units set up by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The organisation existed for two years, from 1936 until 1938, the headquarters of the brigade was located at the Los Llanos Air Base, Albacete, Castilla-La Mancha. They participated in the Battle of Madrid, Jarama, Guadalajara, Brunete, Belchite, Teruel, Aragon, most of these ended in defeat. For the last year of its existence, the International Brigades were integrated into the Spanish Republican Army as part of the Spanish Foreign Legion. The organisation was dissolved on 23 September 1938 by Spanish Prime Minister, Juan Negrín, the largest number of volunteers came from France and communist exiles from Italy and Germany. A large number of Jews from the English-speaking world and Eastern Europe also participated, as a security measure, non-Communist volunteers would first be interviewed by an NKVD agent. By the end of September, the Italian and French Communist Parties had decided to set up a column, Luigi Longo, ex-leader of the Italian Communist Youth, was charged to make the necessary arrangements with the Spanish government. The Soviet Ministry of Defense also helped, since they had experience of dealing with corps of volunteers during the Russian Civil War. The idea was opposed by Largo Caballero, but after the first setbacks of the war, he changed his mind. However, the Soviet Union did not withdraw from the Non-Intervention Committee, probably to avoid conflict with France. The main recruitment centre was in Paris, under the supervision of Soviet colonel Karol Walter Świerczewski, volunteers were sent by train or ship from France to Spain, and sent to the base at Albacete. However, many of them went by themselves to Spain. The volunteers were under no contract, nor defined engagement period, there were also many unemployed workers, and adventurers. Finally, some 500 communists who had exiled to Russia were sent to Spain. The operation was met with enthusiasm by communists, but by anarchists with skepticism, at first, the anarchists, who controlled the borders with France, were told to refuse communist volunteers, but reluctantly allowed their passage after protests. A group of 500 volunteers arrived in Albacete on 14 October 1936 and they were met by international volunteers who had already been fighting in Spain, Germans from the Thälmann Battalion, Italians from Centuria Gastone Sozzi and French from Commune de Paris Battalion. Among them was British poet John Cornford, men were sorted according to their experience and origin, and dispatched to units. In 30 May 1937, the Spanish liner Ciudad de Barcelona, the ship sunk and up to 65 volunteers are estimated to have drowned
12.
War Office
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The name War Office is also given to the former home of the department, the War Office building located at the junction of Horse Guards Avenue and Whitehall in central London. During August 2013 it was announced that the former War Office building would be sold on the open market. The War Office developed from the Council of War, an ad hoc grouping of the King and his military commanders which managed the Kingdom of Englands frequent wars. It was equivalent to the Admiralty, responsible for the Royal Navy, and the Air Ministry, the department had several London homes until it settled at Horse Guards in Whitehall during 1722, where it was to remain until 1858. The first War Office Secretary at War is usually said to have been William Blathwayt and it was, however, a fairly minor government job which dealt with the minutiae of administration rather than grand strategy. Issues of strategic policy during wartime were managed by the Northern and Southern Departments, from 1704 to 1855, the job of Secretary was possessed by a minister of the second rank, although he was occasionally part of the Cabinet. Many of his responsibilities were transferred to the Secretary of State for War after the creation of more senior post during 1794. The job of Secretary at War was merged with that of the Secretary of State for War during 1855, during 1855 the Board of Ordnance was abolished as a result of its perceived poor performance during the Crimean War. This powerful independent body, dating from the 15th century, had directed by the Master-General of the Ordnance. The disastrous campaigns of the Crimean War resulted in the consolidation of all duties during 1855 as subordinate to the Secretary of State for War. He was not, however, solely responsible for the Army and this was reduced in theory by the reforms introduced by Edward Cardwell during 1870, which subordinated the Commander-in-Chief to the Secretary for War. His resistance to reform caused military efficiency to lag well behind that of Britains rivals, the management of the War Office was hampered by persistent disputes between the civilian and military parts of the organisation. The government of H. H. Asquith attempted to resolve this during the First World War by appointing Lord Kitchener as Secretary for War, making him the first, however, this was thought unsatisfactory, during his tenure, the Imperial General Staff was virtually dismantled. Its role was replaced effectively by the Committee of Imperial Defence, the War Office decreased greatly in importance after the First World War, a fact illustrated by the drastic reductions of its staff numbers during the inter-war period. On 1 April 1920, it employed 7,434 civilian staff and its responsibilities and funding were also reduced. During 1936, the government of Stanley Baldwin appointed a Minister for Co-ordination of Defence, when Winston Churchill became Prime Minister during 1940, he bypassed the War Office altogether and appointed himself Minister of Defence. Clement Attlee continued this arrangement when he came to power during 1945, during 1964, the present form of the Ministry of Defence was established, unifying the War Office, Admiralty, and Air Ministry. The records of the War Office are kept by The National Archives with the code WO and it contains about 1,000 rooms across seven floors, linked by 2½ miles of corridors
13.
Walter Kirke
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General Sir Walter Mervyn St George Kirke GCB CMG DSO was the Commander in Chief of the British Home Forces during the Second World War. Born the second son of Colonel St. George Mervyn Kirke RE and his wife Sarah and he served in Waziristan on the North West Frontier of India between 1901 and 1902. He served in World War I as a General Staff Officer at GHQ in France, in 1918 he became Deputy Director of Military Operations at the War Office and was then moved to Aldershot in 1922. In 1924 he was appointed Head of the British Military Mission to Finland, then in 1926 he became Deputy Chief of the General Staff for India moving on to be General Officer Commanding 5th Division in 1929. In 1933 he was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief for Western Command and he was also an Aide-de-Camp General to the King from 1937 to 1940. Private Papers of General Sir Walter Kirke GCB CMG DSO can be found in the Imperial War Museum, Documents and Sound section, ref, Documents.20171
14.
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
15.
Board of Admiralty
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The Board of Admiralty was established in 1628 when Charles I put the office of Lord High Admiral into commission. This system remained in place until 1832, when the Board of Admiralty became the authority charged with both administrative and operational control of the navy when the Navy Board was abolished. The office of Lord High Admiral was created in around 1400 to take charge of the Royal Navy and it was one of the Great Officers of State. The office could be exercised by an individual, by the Crown directly, in 1679 this was changed, and the number of Commissioners was reduced to seven, who were to receive salaries and need not be members of the Privy Council. The eighteenth century Board of Admiralty usually contained a preponderance of civilians, although there was a naval element and often a sea officer was First Lord. The Lords Commissioners were all active politicians, even the naval members, after 1806 the First Lord was always a civilian and a senior member of the ministry, while the separate post of First Sea Lord was evolved for the senior professional member. Until the absorption of the High Court of Admiralty into the Court of Judicature they nominally retained, as executors of the office of Lord High Admiral, their centuries-old link with that court. When the Navy Board was abolished in 1832 and responsibility for the administration of the Navy passed to the Board of Admiralty. It now consisted of the First Lord of the Admiralty, four Naval Lords, known from 1904 as Sea Lords, and a Civil Lord, with a Parliamentary and a Permanent Secretary. Between 1832 and 1869 following the abolition of Navy Board a number of Civilian Naval Officials were also appointed as members. During the First World War the number of Sea Lords was increased at one time to eight, in 1938 the title of the Board member designated Assistant Chief of Naval Staff was altered to Fifth Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Air Services. For fuller details of Board membership during this period see The Second World War, duties were assigned to each Lord Commissioner by the First Lord and defined in a Minute of the Board, and amended form time to time. The Secretary to the Admiralty to be posted in the room of each Member of the Board, more informally, they were known in short as The Lords of the Admiralty. That, for example, is the term used throughout the well-known Horatio Hornblower series of historical novels. In 2011, currently Queen Elizabeth II bestowed the title of Lord High Admiral on the Duke of Edinburgh. nationalarchives. gov. uk/details/r/C706. © Crown copyright, which is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, London, By His Majestys Statute and Law Printer. Naval Administration, The Constitution, Character, and Functions of the Board of Admiralty, the Admiralty, Reforms and Re-organization, 1868-1892. The Origin and Constitution of the Admiralty and Navy Boards, to which is added an Account of the various Buildings in which the Business of the Navy has been transacted from time to time, London, For Her Majestys Stationary Office
16.
Samuel Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood
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He was Secretary of State for Air during most of the 1920s and briefly again in 1940. He is perhaps most famous for serving as Foreign Secretary in 1935, in 1936 he became First Lord of the Admiralty, then served as Home Secretary from 1937 to 1939 and was British ambassador to Spain from 1940 to 1944. Hoare was born in London, an Anglican descendant of the Quaker Samuel Hoare, Hoare was educated at Harrow School and New College, Oxford, where he graduated with a B. A. in 1903 and M. A. in 1910 and later became Honorary Fellow. He married in 1909 Lady Maud Lygon, youngest daughter of Frederick Lygon, Hoare, who had become a J. P. He served as Chairman of the London Fire Brigade Committee and he was first elected to the House of Commons at the January 1910 general election as Member of Parliament for Chelsea. In these early years he was a member of the Anti-Socialist Union, aged 34 at the time, he began the First World War as a soldier, having been commissioned into the Norfolk Yeomanry but, due to illness, was unable to serve at the front. While acting as an officer, he learnt Russian and in 1916 was recruited by Mansfield Cumming to be the future MI6s liaison officer with the Russian Intelligence service in Petrograd. In that post, he reported to the British Government the death of Rasputin and apologised, because of the nature of the event. In Italy, he met and recruited the former socialist leader Benito Mussolini on behalf of the British overseas intelligence service, newly published documents show that Britain’s intelligence service helped Mussolini to finance his first forays into Italian politics as a right-wing politician. Hoare returned to Parliament and became one of the principal Conservatives who revolted against continued participation in the government of David Lloyd George in 1922 and he was rewarded with the position of Secretary of State for Air, which he held in all the various Conservative governments of the 1920s. In 1927 he was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the British Empire and he followed his interest in aviation affairs as Honorary Air Commodore of No 601 and No 604 Bomber Squadrons of the Auxiliary Air Force. Butler later wrote of Hoare, “I was amazed by his ambition, I admired his imagination, I shared his ideals, but I was never touched by his humanity. He was the coldest fish with whom I ever had to deal. ”Hoare was appointed Knight Grand Commander of the Star of India in 1934 and he was, however, most famous for his activities as Foreign Secretary in 1935. That year, Hoare dealt with the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and he admitted that his negotiations in Paris with Laval had caught him at a disadvantage. The public uproar against this apparent sell-out of the Ethiopians led to Hoares resignation as Foreign Secretary at the end of the year. When Eden had his first audience with King George V, the King is said to have remarked humorously, No more coals to Newcastle, the minority alternative which emerged, led in particular by Eden, would have confronted Italy without regard to the German threat. Hoare quickly returned to important posts in government, at Baldwins invitation and this was too quickly, thought Lord Halifax, who criticised Baldwin for giving in to Hoares importunity. Hoare was consistently close to Chamberlain, on taking over from Baldwin
17.
Lord Privy Seal
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The Lord Privy Seal is the fifth of the Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and above the Lord Great Chamberlain. The office is one of the sinecure offices of state. Originally, its holder was responsible for the personal seal. Today, the holder of the office is given a seat in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. Since the premiership of Clement Attlee, the position of Lord Privy Seal has frequently been combined with that of Leader of the House of Lords or Leader of the House of Commons. The office of Lord Privy Seal, unlike those of Leader of the Lords or Commons, is eligible for a ministerial salary under the Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1975. The office does not confer membership of the House of Lords, leading to Ernest Bevins remark on holding office that he was neither a Lord, nor a Privy. During the reign of Edward I, prior to 1307, the Privy Seal was kept by the Controller of the Wardrobe, the Lord Privy Seal was the president of the Court of Requests during its existence
18.
Essex
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Essex /ˈɛsᵻks/ is a county in England immediately north-east of London. It borders the counties of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, the county town is Chelmsford, which is the only city in the county. Essex occupies the part of the old Kingdom of Essex, before this. As well as areas, the county also includes London Stansted Airport, the new towns of Basildon and Harlow, Lakeside Shopping Centre, the port of Tilbury. Originally recorded in AD527, Essex occupied territory to the north of the River Thames, incorporating all of what later became Middlesex and its territory was later restricted to lands east of the River Lea. In changes before the Norman conquest the East Saxons were subsumed into the Kingdom of England and, following the Norman conquest, Essex became a county. During the medieval period, much of the area was designated a Royal forest, including the county in a period to 1204. Gradually, the subject to forest law diminished, but at various times included the forests of Becontree, Chelmsford, Epping, Hatfield, Ongar. County-wide administration Essex County Council was formed in 1889, however County Boroughs of West Ham, Southend-on-Sea and East Ham formed part of the county but were unitary authorities. 12 boroughs and districts provide more localised services such as rubbish and recycling collections, leisure and planning, parish-level administration – changes A few Essex parishes have been transferred to other counties. Before 1889, small areas were transferred to Hertfordshire near Bishops Stortford, Essex became part of the East of England Government Office Region in 1994 and was statistically counted as part of that region from 1999, having previously been part of the South East England region. Two unitary authorities In 1998 the boroughs of Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock were granted autonomy from the county of Essex after successful requests to become unitary authorities. Essex Police covers the county and the two unitary authorities. The county council chamber and main headquarters is at the County Hall in Chelmsford, before 1938 the council regularly met in London near Moorgate, which with significant parts closer to that point and the dominance of railways had been more convenient than any place in the county. It currently has 75 elected councillors, before 1965, the number of councillors reached over 100. The highest point of the county of Essex is Chrishall Common near the village of Langley, close to the Hertfordshire border, the pattern of settlement in the county is diverse. Epping Forest also acts as a barrier to the further spread of London. Part of the southeast of the county, already containing the population centres of Basildon, Southend and Thurrock, is within the Thames Gateway
19.
Legion of Frontiersmen
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The Legion of Frontiersmen is a paramilitary group formed in Britain in 1905 by Roger Pocock, a former constable with the North-West Mounted Police and Boer War veteran. Prompted by fears of an invasion of Britain and the Empire. Headquartered in London, branches of the Legion of Frontiersmen were formed throughout the empire to prepare patriots for war, despite persistent efforts, the Legion never achieved much official recognition. Various Legion of Frontiersmen groups still exist throughout the Commonwealth, but as a whole, breeches or – Any shade of khaki. Footwear – Brown leather, any combination that affords cover as high as the calves, headdress – Straight brim Stetson, any shade of brown, with leather band and regimental crest and monogram. Accessories – Brown leather fringed gauntlets, silk blue and white “bird’s-eye” neckerchief and this is either worn with a russett-coloured beret, an SD cap or a colonial-pattern Lemon Squeezer. Jodhpurs and riding boots are worn by the Legion of Horse when mounted, different branches of the legion, in different parts of the Commonwealth award medals within their units and occasionally to external branches, commands or units. These medals are not part of any government honours system and should not be treated or claimed as any kind of military decoration. These medals are much like those of the Freemasons, valued only by members, christopher M. Andrew, Secret Service, The Making of the British Intelligence Community. ISBN 978-0-340-40430-0 Robert H. MacDonald, Sons of the Empire, The Frontier, Toronto, University of Toronto Press,1993. Gentleman Spies, intelligence agents in the British Empire and beyond, one Hundred Years of the Legion of Frontiersmen
20.
Adjutant-General to the Forces
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The Adjutant-General to the Forces, commonly just referred to as the Adjutant-General, was for just over 250 years one of the most senior officers in the British Army. He was latterly responsible for developing the Armys personnel policies and supporting its people, the Adjutant-General usually held the rank of General or Lieutenant-General. Despite his administrative role, the Adjutant-General, like most officers above the rank of Major-General, was drawn from one of the combat arms. In the late 19th and all of the 20th century the Adjutant-General was the Second Military Member of the Army Board, headquarters Adjutant-General was based at the former RAF Upavon, now Trenchard Lines, Upavon, Wiltshire. On 1 April 2008 it amalgamated with HQ Land Command to form HQ Land Forces under Project Hyperion, in 2015 the post was re-designated Commander Personnel and Support Command. In evidence to the House of Commons Defence Committee the Chief of the General Staff explained, In my new operating model, the reason that I do not have an Adjutant-General is that effectively I am the Adjutant-General. People matter so much to me that I have put that at the heart of my agenda, I am the first CGS ever to have done that. 1900 to 1902 Major-General Joseph Henry Laye 1902 to 1903 Major-General Arthur Wynne Adjutant general Regiments website
21.
Robert Gordon-Finlayson
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General Sir Robert Gordon-Finlayson KCB CMG DSO was Adjutant-General to the Forces. Finlayson entered the British Army from the Suffolk Militia and was commissioned into the Royal Artillery as second lieutenant on 17 March 1900 and he served during the First World War initially as a Royal Artillery officer with 7th Division from 1914 and transferring to 3rd Division in 1915. He was awarded the DSO in 1915 and he became Deputy Assistant Adjutant General,1 Army Corps in 1916 and then General Staff Officer to a Special Mission to Russia in 1917. After the War he was Deputy Commander, North Russia Forces and he then became an Instructor at the Senior Officer School in 1919 before being appointed Military Assistant to Chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1921. He went on to be a General Staff Officer at the War Office in 1922 and joined the Staff College and he was appointed Commander Royal Artillery within 3rd Division in 1927 and Commander Rawalpindi District in India in 1931. He served with 3rd Division again between 1934 and 1936 - this time as General Officer Commanding and he was promoted to General in 1937 and was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief the British Troops in Egypt in 1938. He also served in World War II being appointed Adjutant General in 1939 in which role he was responsible for organising the Home Guard to defend the Country and he became General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command in 1940 from which post retired in 1941. He was ADC General to the King from 1940 to 1941 and he was also Colonel Commandant of the Royal Artillery from 1936 to 1946 and Colonel Commandant of the Royal Horse Artillery from 1937 to 1947. He was awarded the CMG in 1918 and he was also awarded the CB in 1931 and the KCB in 1937. In retirement he was appointed a Special Commissioner for the Imperial War Graves Commission in 1942 and he was a Deputy Lieutenant for Suffolk. He lived in Hadleigh in Suffolk and he was churchwarden of St Marys Church, Kersey and a memorial was erected in his memory in this church
22.
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
23.
Wehrmacht
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The Wehrmacht was the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1946. It consisted of the Heer, the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe, after the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, one of Adolf Hitler’s most overt and audacious moves was to establish the Wehrmacht, a modern armed forces fully capable of offensive use. In December 1941, Hitler designated himself as commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht, the Wehrmacht formed the heart of Germany’s politico-military power. In the early part of World War II, Hitlers generals employed the Wehrmacht through innovative combined arms tactics to devastating effect in what was called a Blitzkrieg, the Wehrmachts new military structure, unique combat techniques, newly developed weapons, and unprecedented speed and brutality crushed their opponents. Closely cooperating with the SS, the German armed forces committed war crimes and atrocities. By the time the war ended in Europe in May 1945, only a few of the Wehrmacht’s upper leadership were tried for war crimes, despite evidence suggesting that more were involved in illegal actions. The German term Wehrmacht generically describes any nations armed forces, for example, the Frankfurt Constitution of 1848 designated all German military forces as the German Wehrmacht, consisting of the Seemacht and the Landmacht. In 1919, the term Wehrmacht also appears in Article 47 of the Weimar Constitution, establishing that, from 1919, Germanys national defense force was known as the Reichswehr, a name that was dropped in favor of Wehrmacht on 21 May 1935. In January 1919, after World War I ended with the signing of the armistice of 11 November 1918, in March 1919, the national assembly passed a law founding a 420, 000-strong preliminary army, the Vorläufige Reichswehr. The terms of the Treaty of Versailles were announced in May, the army was limited to one hundred thousand men with an additional fifteen thousand in the navy. The fleet was to consist of at most six battleships, six cruisers, submarines, tanks and heavy artillery were forbidden and the air-force was dissolved. A new post-war military, the Reichswehr, was established on 23 March 1921, General conscription was abolished under another mandate of the Versailles treaty. The Reichswehr was limited to 115,000 men, and thus the armed forces, under the leadership of Hans von Seeckt, though Seeckt retired in 1926, the army that went to war in 1939 was largely his creation. Germany was forbidden to have an air-force by the Versailles treaty, nonetheless and these officers saw the role of an air-force as winning air-superiority, tactical and strategic bombing and providing ground support. That the Luftwaffe did not develop a strategic bombing force in the 1930s was not due to a lack of interest, but because of economic limitations. The leadership of the Navy led by Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, officers who believed in submarine warfare led by Admiral Karl Dönitz were in a minority before 1939. By 1922, Germany had begun covertly circumventing the conditions of the Versailles Treaty, a secret collaboration with the Soviet Union began after the treaty of Rapallo. Major-General Otto Hasse traveled to Moscow in 1923 to further negotiate the terms, Germany helped the Soviet Union with industrialization and Soviet officers were to be trained in Germany
24.
English Channel
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The English Channel, also called simply the Channel, is the body of water that separates southern England from northern France, and links the southern part of the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. It is about 560 km long and varies in width from 240 km at its widest to 33.3 km in the Strait of Dover and it is the smallest of the shallow seas around the continental shelf of Europe, covering an area of some 75,000 km2. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the English Channel as follows, a line joining Isle Vierge to Lands End. The southwestern limit of the North Sea, the IHO defines the southwestern limit of the North Sea as a line joining the Walde Lighthouse and Leathercoat Point. The Walde Lighthouse is 6 km east of Calais, and Leathercoat Point is at the end of St Margarets Bay. The Strait of Dover, at the Channels eastern end, is its narrowest point and it is relatively shallow, with an average depth of about 120 m at its widest part, reducing to a depth of about 45 m between Dover and Calais. Eastwards from there the adjoining North Sea reduces to about 26 m in the Broad Fourteens where it lies over the watershed of the land bridge between East Anglia and the Low Countries. It reaches a depth of 180 m in the submerged valley of Hurds Deep,48 km west-northwest of Guernsey. The eastern region along the French coast between Cherbourg and the mouth of the Seine river at Le Havre is frequently referred to as the Bay of the Seine. There are several islands in the Channel, the most notable being the Isle of Wight off the English coast. The coastline, particularly on the French shore, is indented, several small islands close to the coastline, including Chausey. The Cotentin Peninsula in France juts out into the Channel, whilst on the English side there is a parallel channel known as the Solent between the Isle of Wight and the mainland. The Celtic Sea is to the west of the Channel, the time difference of about six hours between high water at the eastern and western limits of the Channel is indicative of the tidal range being amplified further by resonance. It was never defined as a border and the names were more or less descriptive. It was not considered as the property of a nation, strangely, before the development of the modern nations, British scholars very often referred to it as Gaulish and the French one as British or English. The name English Channel has been used since the early 18th century. In modern Dutch, however, it is known as Het Kanaal, later, it has also been known as the British Channel or the British Sea having been called the Oceanus Britannicus by the 2nd-century geographer Ptolemy. The same name is used on an Italian map of about 1450, the Anglo-Saxon texts often call it Sūð-sǣ as opposed to Norð-sǣ
25.
Belgian Land Component
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The Land Component is the land-based branch of the Belgian Armed Forces. The current chief of staff of the Land Component is Major-General Jean-Paul Deconinck, for a detailed history of the Belgian Army from 1830 to post 1945 see Belgian Armed Forces. Ranks in use by the Belgian Army are listed at Belgian military ranks, at the outbreak of war this reorganisation was nowhere near complete and only 117,000 men could be mobilised for the field forces, with the other branches equally deficient. In this way the King secured his control of the command, 4th Division - Namur and Charleroi. In addition, there were garrisons at Antwerp, Liège and Namur, each division contained three mixed brigades, one cavalry regiment, and one artillery regiment, as well as various support units. Each infantry regiment contained three battalions, with one regiment in each brigade having a company of six guns. An artillery regiment had three batteries of four guns, the nominal strength of a division varied from 25,500 to 32,000 all ranks, with a total strength of eighteen infantry battalions, a cavalry regiment, eighteen machine-guns, and forty-eight guns. Two divisions each had an artillery regiment, for a total of sixty guns. In 1940, the King of Belgium was the commander in chief of the Belgian Army which had 100,000 active duty personnel, its strength could be raised to 550,000 when fully mobilized. The army was composed of seven corps, that were garrisoned at Brussels, Antwerp, and Liege. Each infantry divisions had a divisional staff along with three regiments, each of 3,000 men. Each regiment had 108 light machine guns,52 heavy machine guns, nine heavy mortars or infantry gun howitzers, plus six antitank guns. Within the Free Belgian Forces that were formed in Great Britain during the occupation of Belgium between 1940–45, there was a land formation, the 1st Belgian Infantry Brigade. An additional three divisions were raised and trained in Northern Ireland, but the war ended before they could see action, however, they joined the initial Belgian occupation force in Germany, I Belgian Corps, whose headquarters moved to Luedenscheid in October 1946. Of the 75,000 troops that found themselves in Germany on 8 May 1945, there were also two reserve brigades, slightly bigger than the four active brigades, which were intended as reinforcements for the two divisions. After the end of the Cold War, forces were reduced, initial planning in 1991 called for a Belgian-led corps with 2 or 4 Belgian brigades, a German brigade, and possibly a U. S. brigade. However, by 1992 this plan was looking unlikely and in 1993 a single Belgian division with two brigades became part of the Eurocorps, the Land Component is organised using the concept of capacities, whereby units are gathered together according to their function and material. Within this framework, there are five capacities, command, combat, support, services, the command capacity groups the following levels of command, COMOPSLAND, Medium Brigade at Leopoldsburg and Light Brigade at Marche-en-Famenne
26.
Fifth column
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A fifth column is any group of people who undermine a larger group from within, usually in favor of an enemy group or nation. The activities of a column can be overt or clandestine. Forces gathered in secret can mobilize openly to assist an external attack and this term is also extended to organized actions by military personnel. Clandestine fifth column activities can involve acts of sabotage, disinformation, the term was then widely used in Spain. The rapid fall of France in 1940 led many to blame a fifth rather than German military superiority. Political factions in France blamed one another for the defeat and military officials blamed the civilian leadership. In June 1940, Life magazine ran a series of photos under the heading Signs of Nazi Fifth Column Everywhere, in July 1940, Time magazine called fifth column talk a national phenomenon. In August 1940 the New York Times mentioned the first spasm of fear engendered by the success of fifth columns in less fortunate countries, one report identified participants in Nazi fifth columns as partisans of authoritarian government everywhere, citing Poland, Czechoslovakia, Norway, and the Netherlands. John Langdon-Davies, a British journalist who covered the Spanish Civil War, the New York Times published three editorial cartoons that used the term on August 11,1940. In the US an Australian radio play, The Enemy Within, proved to be very popular, in December 1940 the Australian censors had the series banned. British reviewers of Agatha Christies novel N or M. in 1941 used the term to describe the struggle of two British partisans of the Nazi regime working on its behalf in England during World War II. Connell says to John, Listen, pal, this stuff is pretty rotten. Identifying the businessman with interests in the United States. When Doe agrees, he adds, And youd feel like an awful sucker if you found yourself marching right in the middle of it, the term was soon so widely known that it very quickly appeared in popular U. S. entertainment. Introducing a 1941 newsreel, Meet John Doughboy, the animated character Porky Pig asked any fifth columnists in the audience to leave the theater immediately, in Alfred Hitchcocks Saboteur, Robert Cummings asks for help against fifth columnists who are conspiring to sabotage the American war effort. The next year in Looney Tunes Foney Fables, the narrator of a fairy tale described a wolf in sheeps clothing as a fifth columnist. In 1943, a cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series was called The Fifth-Column Mouse. Both before and after Pearl Harbor, comic books contained references to the Fifth column, an example of this is the June 1942 Green Lantern
27.
Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount Kemsley
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Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount Kemsley GBE, was a Welsh colliery owner and newspaper publisher. Berry was born the son of John Mathias and Mary Ann Berry and he was the younger brother of Henry Berry, 1st Baron Buckland, an industrialist, and William Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose, a fellow press lord. Berry originally co-owned The Daily Telegraph with his second brother Lord Camrose and he founded Kemsley Newspapers, which owned The Sunday Times, The Daily Sketch and The Sunday Graphic amongst its titles. Berry was chairman of the Reuters News Agency from 1951 to 1958, in 1954 Berry was part of the Kemsley-Winnick consortium, which won the initial ITV weekend contracts for the Midlands and the North of England. Berry had cold feet over the risk, and withdrew. In 1959 Kemsley Newspapers was bought by Lord Thomson, ironically enabled by Thomsons profits from Scottish Television, Berry was created a baronet in 1928, and was appointed as an Officer of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem in 1931. In 1936, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Kemsley, of Farnham Royal in the County of Buckingham, in 1929 he was appointed High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire and in 1959, a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire for political and public service. There were no children of this marriage, upon his death, Viscount Kemsley was buried in St Annes churchyard, Dropmore. Marie Edith, Viscountess Kemsley OBE was buried with him following her death on 12 September 1976, the title passed to his eldest son Lionel. His youngest son, Conservative politician the Honourable Sir Anthony Berry, was killed by the IRA in the 1984 Brighton hotel bombing, as owner of Kemsley Newspapers, Viscount Kemsley made several written contributions to his in-house journal The Kemsley Writer. Kemsley also oversaw the publication of the large format hardcover book The Kemsley Manual of Journalism, hansard 1803–2005, contributions in Parliament by the Viscount Camrose
28.
Josiah Wedgwood, 1st Baron Wedgwood
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He was a prominent single-tax activist following the political-economic reformer Henry George. He was the great-great-grandson of the famous potter Josiah Wedgwood, Josiah Wedgwood was born at Barlaston in Staffordshire, the son of Clement Wedgwood. He was the great-great-grandson of the potter Josiah Wedgwood and his mother Emily Catherine was the daughter of the engineer James Meadows Rendel. He was educated at Clifton College and then studied at the Royal Naval College and he married his first cousin Ethel Kate Bowen, daughter of Sir Charles Bowen, 1st Baron Bowen in 1894 but she left him in 1913 and divorced him in 1919. Since divorce at that time required a guilty party, he agreed to take the blame and was guilty of adultery and desertion of his wife. This led to criticism from the press and pulpit, more criticism was levelled after the divorce was final and he revealed that the desertion was a formality and the adultery staged. They had seven children, Helen Bowen Wedgwood, married the geneticist Michael Pease, one of their sons was the physicist Bas Pease and one of their daughters, Jocelyn Richenda Gammell Pease, married Andrew Huxley, the biologist. Rosamund Wedgwood Francis Charles Bowen Wedgwood, 2nd Baron Wedgwood and he was father of the 3rd Baron. Josiah Wedgwood V, managing director of Wedgwood and he was father of Dr John Wedgwood, former heir presumptive to the barony. Camilla Hildegarde Wedgwood, anthropologist Elizabeth Julia Wedgwood Gloria Wedgwood In 1919 he remarried, proficient in mathematics, he joined the workshops of an arms manufacturer, Elswick. He worked for a year from 1895 as an Assistant Naval Constructor in Portsmouth before returning to Newcastle upon Tyne to head the office of another arms manufacturer. Following the outbreak of the Second Boer War in 1899 he was given the rank of captain. He remained in South Africa after the war, spending two years as a Resident Magistrate in the district of Ermelo in the Transvaal and his studies of native land laws gave him an interest in Land Reform. He became president of the League for the Taxation of Land Values in 1908, having returned to England, Wedgwood was elected as Member of Parliament for Newcastle-under-Lyme at the 1906 general election. Though he stood for the Liberal Party, he made it clear that he would take an independent line in Parliament if necessary and he was re-elected at both elections in 1910, and that year was also elected to Staffordshire County Council, remaining a Councillor until 1918. He became disillusioned with the Liberals after 1910, when it became clear that the government would not honour campaign commitments to land reform and his disillusionment was increased by the governments reaction against the Suffragettes, whom he also supported. In 1913 he staged a filibuster against the governments Mental Deficiency Bill and this campaign brought him to public attention outside of his own constituency and the Land Reform movement, and he became known as a leading backbencher. Following the outbreak of the First World War, he volunteered for service with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and he returned to mechanical work and was posted with the Royal Naval Air Service and Armoured Cars
29.
Labour Party (UK)
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The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Labour later served in the coalition from 1940 to 1945. Labour was also in government from 1964 to 1970 under Harold Wilson and from 1974 to 1979, first under Wilson and then James Callaghan. The Labour Party was last in government from 1997 to 2010 under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, beginning with a majority of 179. Having won 232 seats in the 2015 general election, the party is the Official Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the party also organises in Northern Ireland, but does not contest elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Labour Party is a member of the Party of European Socialists and Progressive Alliance. In September 2015, Jeremy Corbyn was elected Leader of the Labour Party, the first Lib–Lab candidate to stand was George Odger in the Southwark by-election of 1870. In addition, several small socialist groups had formed around this time, among these were the Independent Labour Party, the intellectual and largely middle-class Fabian Society, the Marxist Social Democratic Federation and the Scottish Labour Party. In the 1895 general election, the Independent Labour Party put up 28 candidates, Keir Hardie, the leader of the party, believed that to obtain success in parliamentary elections, it would be necessary to join with other left-wing groups. Hardies roots as a lay preacher contributed to an ethos in the party led to the comment by 1950s General Secretary Morgan Phillips that Socialism in Britain owed more to Methodism than Marx. The motion was passed at all stages by the TUC, the meeting was attended by a broad spectrum of working-class and left-wing organisations—trades unions represented about one third of the membership of the TUC delegates. This created an association called the Labour Representation Committee, meant to coordinate attempts to support MPs sponsored by trade unions and it had no single leader, and in the absence of one, the Independent Labour Party nominee Ramsay MacDonald was elected as Secretary. He had the task of keeping the various strands of opinions in the LRC united. The October 1900 Khaki election came too soon for the new party to campaign effectively, only 15 candidatures were sponsored, but two were successful, Keir Hardie in Merthyr Tydfil and Richard Bell in Derby. Support for the LRC was boosted by the 1901 Taff Vale Case, the judgement effectively made strikes illegal since employers could recoup the cost of lost business from the unions. In their first meeting after the election the groups Members of Parliament decided to adopt the name The Labour Party formally, the Fabian Society provided much of the intellectual stimulus for the party. One of the first acts of the new Liberal Government was to reverse the Taff Vale judgement, the Peoples History Museum in Manchester holds the minutes of the first Labour Party meeting in 1906 and has them on display in the Main Galleries. Also within the museum is the Labour History Archive and Study Centre, the governing Liberals were unwilling to repeal this judicial decision with primary legislation
30.
Daily Express
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The Daily Express is a daily national middle market tabloid newspaper in the United Kingdom. It is the title of Express Newspapers, a subsidiary of Northern & Shell. It was first published as a broadsheet in 1900 by Sir Arthur Pearson and its sister paper The Sunday Express was launched in 1918. As of December 2016, it had a daily circulation of 391,626. The paper was acquired by Richard Desmond in 2000, hugh Whittow has served as the papers editor since February of 2011. The papers editorial stances are often seen as aligned to the UK Independence Party, in addition to its sister paper, Express Newspapers also publishes the red top newspapers the Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday. The Daily Express was founded in 1900 by Sir Arthur Pearson, Pearson, who had lost his sight to glaucoma in 1913, sold the title to the future Lord Beaverbrook in 1916. It was one of the first papers to place instead of advertisements on its front page along with carrying gossip, sports. It was also the first newspaper in Britain to have a crossword puzzle, the Express began printing copies in Manchester in 1927 and in 1931, the publication moved to 120 Fleet Street, a specially commissioned art deco building. Under Beaverbrook, the newspaper achieved a high circulation, setting records for newspaper sales several times throughout the 1930s. Its success was due to its aggressive marketing campaign and a vigorous circulation war with other populist newspapers. Beaverbrook also discovered and encouraged an editor named Arthur Christiansen who, at an early age, showed talent for writing. Christiansen became editor in October 1933, under his editorial direction sales climbed from two million in 1936 to four million in 1949. The paper also featured Alfred Bestalls Rupert Bear cartoon and satirical cartoons by Carl Giles which it began publishing in the 1940s, on 24 March 1933, a front page headline titled Judea Declares War on Germany was published by the Daily Express. During the late thirties, the paper was an advocate of the appeasement policies of the Chamberlain government. The ruralist author Henry Williamson wrote for the paper on many occasions for half a century and he also wrote for the Sunday Express at the beginning of his career. In 1938, the moved to the Daily Express Building. It opened a building in Glasgow in 1936 in Albion Street
31.
Sunday Mirror
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The Sunday Mirror is the Sunday sister paper of the Daily Mirror. It began life in 1915 as the Sunday Pictorial and was renamed the Sunday Mirror in 1963, the paper launched as the Sunday Pictorial on 14 March 1915. Although the newspaper has gone through many refinements in its near 100-year history those original core values are still in place today. Ever since 1915, the paper has published the best and most revealing pictures of the famous and the infamous. The first editor of the Sunday Pictorial, or the Sunday Pic as it was known, was F. R Sanderson. His launch edition led with three stories on the front page, two of which reported from the front line of the war, “THE TASK OF THE RED CROSS” and “ALL THAT WAS LEFT OF A BIG GUN”. From day one the paper was a success and within six months of launch the Sunday Pictorial was selling more than one million copies. One of the reasons for early success was due to a series of articles written by Winston Churchill. In 1915, Churchill, disillusioned with government, resigned from the Cabinet, the articles he then wrote for the Sunday Pictorial attracted such high levels of interest that sales lifted by 400,000 copies every time his stories appeared. A further reason for the success was its political influence. As a popular paper that always spoke its mind, the Sunday Pictorial struck a chord with millions, sport was also a key ingredient of the Sunday Pictorials success. Football, even then, made it onto the front pages, although the paper’s early life started with a flourish, by the mid-1930s its success began to flounder. That, however, all changed when the editorship was given to 24-year-old Hugh Cudlipp in 1937. Within three years of taking over he saw the circulation of the rise to more than 1,700,000 by the time he went to fight in World War II in 1940. On resuming the editorship in 1946, Cudlipp successfully developed the Sunday Pic to reflect the social awareness of the post-war years. In all, Cudlipp edited the title for three spells and has often been described as the “greatest of all popular journalists”. Most people know there are such things – pansies – mincing, effeminate, young men who call themselves queers but simple decent folk regard them as freaks and rarities. The Sunday Pictorial compared homosexuality to a fungus that had contaminated generals, admirals, fighter pilots
32.
Secretary of State for War
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The position of Secretary of State for War, commonly called War Secretary, was a British cabinet-level position, first held by Henry Dundas. In 1801 the post became that of Secretary of State for War, the position was re-instated in 1854. In 1946, with the creation of a cabinet-level Minister of Defence separate from the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for War ceased to be a cabinet position. On 1 April 1964, with the creation of the Secretary of State for Defence position, in charge of a new united Ministry of Defence, for 1801–1854 see Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
33.
Anthony Eden
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Achieving rapid promotion as a young Member of Parliament, he was Foreign Secretary at the age of 38, before resigning in protest at Neville Chamberlains appeasement policy towards Mussolinis Italy. He again held that position for most of the Second World War, having been Winston Churchills deputy for almost 15 years, he succeeded him as Prime Minister in 1955, and a month later won a general election. Most historians argue that he made a series of blunders, especially not realising the depth of U. S. opposition to military action. Eden is generally ranked among the least successful British Prime Ministers of the 20th century, thorpe says the Suez Crisis was a truly tragic end to his premiership, and one that came to assume a disproportionate importance in any assessment of his career. Eden was born at Windlestone Hall, County Durham, England and he was born into a very conservative family of landed gentry. He was a son of Sir William Eden, 7th and 5th Baronet. Sir William, an eccentric and often foul-tempered man, was a talented watercolourist, Edens mother, Sybil Frances Grey, was a member of the famous Grey family of Northumberland. She had wanted to marry Francis Knollys, later an important Royal adviser, although she was a popular figure locally, she had a strained relationship with her children, and her profligacy ruined the family fortunes. Eden’s older brother Tim had to sell Windlestone in 1936, Rab Butler would later quip that Eden—a handsome but ill-tempered man—was half mad baronet, half beautiful woman. Edens great-grandfather was William Iremonger who commanded the 2nd Regiment of Foot during the Peninsular War, fighting under Wellington at Vimiero. He was also descended from Governor Sir Robert Eden, 1st Baronet, of Maryland, the Calvert Family of Maryland, the Schaffalitzky de Muckadell family of Denmark, and Bie family of Norway. Eden was once amused to learn one of his ancestors had, like Churchill’s ancestor the Duke of Marlborough. His mother was rumoured to have had an affair with Wyndham, Eden was educated at two independent schools. The first was Sandroyd School in Cobham from 1907 to 1910 and he then started at Eton College in January 1911. There he won a Divinity prize and excelled at cricket, rugby, Eden learned French and German on continental holidays and, at one stage, as a child spoke French better than English. g. When he met Hitler in February 1934, although Eden later claimed to have had no interest in politics until the early 1920s, his teenage letters and diaries show him to have been obsessed with the subject. By 1914 he was a member of the Eton Society, during the First World War, Edens older brother John was killed on 17 October 1914 whilst serving with the 17th Lancers. His uncle Robin was later shot down and captured whilst serving with the RFC and he was commissioned a temporary second lieutenant on 2 November 1915
34.
Lord Lieutenant
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The Lord-Lieutenant is the British monarchs personal representative in each county of the United Kingdom. Historically, the Lord-Lieutenant was responsible for organising the militia but it is today a largely ceremonial position. Lieutenants were first appointed to a number of English counties by King Henry VIII in the 1540s and he raised and was responsible for the efficiency of the local militia units of the county, and afterwards of the yeomanry, and volunteers. He was commander of forces, whose officers he appointed. Lieutenancies soon became more organised, probably in the reign of his successor King Edward VI, however, it was not until the threat of invasion by the forces of Spain in 1585 that lieutenants were appointed to all counties and counties corporate and became in effect permanent. Although not explicitly stated, from that date lieutenants were appointed to counties at large, the origin of this anomaly may have lain in the former palatine status of Pembrokeshire. The City of London was uniquely given a commission of lieutenancy, an Act to make the Militia of this Kingdom more useful was passed by the Parliament of Ireland in 1715. The lieutenants were empowered to embody militia regiments, in 1921, with the establishment of Northern Ireland, lord-lieutenants continued to be appointed through the Governor of Northern Ireland to the six counties and two county boroughs. By the Militia Act 1797, the lieutenants appointed for the Counties, Stewartries, Cities, the Lord Provosts of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Dundee are, by virtue of office, also the Lord-Lieutenant of their respective city. The Militia Act 1802 provided for the appointment of lieutenants to Lieutenants for the Counties, Ridings, and Places in England and Wales, and gave them command of the county militia. In the case of towns or cities which were counties of themselves, the Militia Act 1882 revested the jurisdiction of the lieutenants in the crown. Counties for lieutenancy purposes were also redefined as a county at large, the text of the letters patent appointing lieutenants under the act stated they were to be. Haverfordwest was permitted to retain a lieutenant while the Tower Hamlets, from 1889 lieutenancy counties in England and Wales were to correspond to groupings of administrative counties and county boroughs established by the Local Government Act 1888. The creation of a new County of London also led to the ending of the Tower Hamlets lieutenancy, the Act also extinguished the lieutenancy of the Cinque Ports. Section 69 of the Local Government Act 1898 realigned the lieutenancy counties with the new counties created by the Act. The one exception was County Tipperary, which administered by two county councils, was to remain united for lieutenancy. In contrast to the legislation in England and Wales, each county borough was to have its own lieutenant, and those counties corporate not made county boroughs were abolished. The effect of this was to create a lieutenant for the county boroughs of Belfast and Londonderry, the office of lieutenant was honorary, and held during the royal pleasure, but virtually for life
35.
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
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Her Majestys Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians, who are present or former members of either the House of Commons or the House of Lords, the Council also holds the delegated authority to issue Orders of Council, mostly used to regulate certain public institutions. The Council advises the sovereign on the issuing of Royal Charters, which are used to grant special status to incorporated bodies, otherwise, the Privy Councils powers have now been largely replaced by the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. The Judicial Committee consists of judges appointed as Privy Counsellors, predominantly Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The Privy Council of the United Kingdom was preceded by the Privy Council of Scotland, the key events in the formation of the modern Privy Council are given below, Witenagemot was an early equivalent to the Privy Council of England. During the reigns of the Norman monarchs, the English Crown was advised by a court or curia regis. The body originally concerned itself with advising the sovereign on legislation, administration, later, different bodies assuming distinct functions evolved from the court. The courts of law took over the business of dispensing justice, nevertheless, the Council retained the power to hear legal disputes, either in the first instance or on appeal. Furthermore, laws made by the sovereign on the advice of the Council, powerful sovereigns often used the body to circumvent the Courts and Parliament. During Henry VIIIs reign, the sovereign, on the advice of the Council, was allowed to enact laws by mere proclamation, the legislative pre-eminence of Parliament was not restored until after Henry VIIIs death. Though the royal Council retained legislative and judicial responsibilities, it became an administrative body. The Council consisted of forty members in 1553, but the sovereign relied on a smaller committee, by the end of the English Civil War, the monarchy, House of Lords, and Privy Council had been abolished. The remaining parliamentary chamber, the House of Commons, instituted a Council of State to execute laws, the forty-one members of the Council were elected by the House of Commons, the body was headed by Oliver Cromwell, de facto military dictator of the nation. In 1653, however, Cromwell became Lord Protector, and the Council was reduced to thirteen and twenty-one members, all elected by the Commons. In 1657, the Commons granted Cromwell even greater powers, some of which were reminiscent of those enjoyed by monarchs, the Council became known as the Protectors Privy Council, its members were appointed by the Lord Protector, subject to Parliaments approval. In 1659, shortly before the restoration of the monarchy, the Protectors Council was abolished, Charles II restored the Royal Privy Council, but he, like previous Stuart monarchs, chose to rely on a small group of advisers. Under George I even more power transferred to this committee and it now began to meet in the absence of the sovereign, communicating its decisions to him after the fact. Thus, the British Privy Council, as a whole, ceased to be a body of important confidential advisers to the sovereign and it is closely related to the word private, and derives from the French word privé
36.
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
37.
British Expeditionary Force (World War II)
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The British Expeditionary Force was the name of the British Army in Western Europe from 1939 to 1940, in the early stages of the Second World War. During the 1930s, the British government planned to deter war by rearming from the low level of readiness of the early 30s. The bulk of the money went to the Royal Navy. The BEF began moving to France in September 1939, the British assembled along the Belgian–French border on the left of the French First Army as part of the French 1er groupe darmées of the Front du Nord-est. Most of the BEF spent the Phoney War digging field defences on the French–Belgian border before the Battle of France began on 10 May 1940, the BEF constituted 10 percent of the Allied forces on the Western Front. The BEF, French and Belgian forces were evacuated from Dunkirk on the French North Sea coast in Operation Dynamo, Saar Force, the 51st Infantry Division, had been detached for service along the Maginot Line as part of a plan for the BEF units to gain experience. At the beginning of the 1930s, the Ten Year Rule had reduced war spending from £766 million in 1920 to £102 million when it was abolished on 23 March 1932. The British army had fewer men than in 1914, no organisation or equipment for a war in Europe and in three weeks, the War Office could only mobilise an infantry division and a cavalry brigade. The committee urged the creation of a Field Force of four infantry divisions, expenditure of £71 million was recommended, half to go in the army, which would be the defence against an invasion. The government accepted the report apart from the price and cut 1⁄3 from the estimate, in March 1937, the Regular Army stood at 121,000 men at home and 89,000 overseas, with some 716 tanks, of which 200 were obsolete First World War models. By the later 1930s, the despatch of an Expeditionary Force to France of Belgium might increase British security, the government also announced that the twelve TA divisions would be brought up to establishment and then another twelve. Anti-Aircraft Command formed seven divisions and early steps were taken to requisition the necessary to carry the Expeditionary Force to France. According to the 1939 Army Estimates, Britain had home forces of 230,000 men in the army,183,000 in reserve and 270,000 part-timers in the TA a total of 683,000 men. One lieutenant stuffed his holster with paper because he had no pistol, there were immense pressures to produce equipment, which led to a rapid increase in output. Clothing items were one example of this, greatcoats and boots being produced at up to fifty times the normal peacetime rates, twenty-five years of greatcoats were produced in six months and 18 months army boots were turned out in one week but shortages remained. Following the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, the BEF was despatched to France, German submarines had been limited by Hitlers orders to avoid provoking the Allies and only a few mines were laid near Dover and Weymouth. By 19 October, the BEF had received 25,000 vehicles to complete the first deployment, Belgium and the Netherlands were neutral countries and no troops were stationed in them. Morale was high amongst the British troops but the actions of the Germans by 9 May, had led many into assuming that there would not be much chance of a big German attack in that area
38.
Dunkirk
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Dunkirk is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It lies 10 kilometres from the Belgian border, the population of the city at the 2012 census was 90,995 inhabitants. The name of Dunkirk derives from West Flemish dun and kerke, nowadays, Dunkirk is the worlds northernmost Francophone city. About 960AD Count Baldwin III had a wall erected, in order to protect the settlement against Viking raids. The surrounding wetlands were drained and cultivated by the monks of nearby Bergues Abbey, the name Dunkirk was first mentioned in a tithe privilege of 27 May 1067, issued by Count Baldwin V of Flanders. Count Philip I brought further large tracts of marshland under cultivation, laid out first plans to build a Canal from Dunkirk to Bergues and vested the Dunkirkers with market rights. However, in the course of the Western Schism from 1378, English supporters of Pope Urban VI disembarked at Dunkirk, captured the city and they were ejected by King Charles VI of France, but left great devastations in and around the town. Upon the extinction of the Counts of Flanders with the death of Louis II in 1384, Flanders was acquired by the Burgundian, the fortifications were again enlarged, including the construction of a belfry daymark. As Maximilian was the son of Emperor Frederick III, all Flanders was immediately seized by King Louis XI of France. However, the defeated the French troops at the 1479 Battle of Guinegate. The area remained disputed between Spain, the United Netherlands, England and France. At the beginning of the Eighty Years War, Dunkirk was briefly in the hands of the Dutch rebels, Spanish forces under Duke Alexander Farnese of Parma re-established Spanish rule in 1583 and it became a base for the notorious Dunkirkers. The Dunkirkers briefly lost their home port when the city was conquered by the French in 1646, in 1658, as a result of the long war between France and Spain, it was captured after a siege by Franco-English forces following the battle of the Dunes. The city along with Fort-Mardyck was awarded to England in the peace the following year as agreed in the Franco-English alliance against Spain and it came under French rule when Charles II of England sold it to France for £320,000 on 17 October 1662. The French government developed the town as a fortified port, the towns existing defences were adapted to create ten bastions. The port was expanded in the 1670s by the construction of a basin that could hold up to thirty warships with a lock system to maintain water levels at low tide. The basin was linked to the sea by a channel dug through coastal sandbanks secured by two jetties and this work was completed by 1678. The jetties were defended a few years later by the construction of five forts, Château dEspérance, Château Vert, Grand Risban, Château Gaillard, an additional fort was built in 1701 called Fort Blanc
39.
Molotov cocktail
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A Molotov cocktail, also known as a petrol bomb, bottle bomb, poor mans grenade, fire bomb or just Molotov, is a generic name used for a variety of bottle-based improvised incendiary weapons. They are primarily intended to set targets ablaze rather than obliterate them, the name Molotov cocktail was coined by the Finns during the Winter War. The name was a reference to Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov. The Finns sarcastically dubbed the Soviet cluster bombs Molotov bread baskets in reference to Molotovs propaganda broadcasts, when the hand-held bottle firebomb was developed to attack Soviet tanks, the Finns called it the Molotov cocktail, as a drink to go with the food. The wick is soaked in alcohol or kerosene, rather than petrol. In action, the wick is lit and the bottle hurled at a target such as a vehicle or fortification. When the bottle smashes on impact, the cloud of petrol droplets and vapour ignites. Other flammable liquids such as fuel, methanol, turpentine, jet fuel. Improvised incendiary devices were used for the first time in the Spanish Civil War between July 1936 and April 1939, before they became known as Molotov cocktails, after that, both sides used simple petrol bombs or petrol-soaked blankets with some success. Tom Wintringham, a veteran of the International Brigades, later publicised his recommended method of using them, We made use of petrol bombs roughly as follows, take a heavy curtain, half a blanket, or some other heavy material. Wrap this over the mouth of the jar, tie it round the neck with string, when you want to use it have somebody standing by with a light. Put a corner of the material down in front of you, turn the bottle over so that petrol soaks out round the mouth of the bottle and drips on to this corner of the material. Turn the bottle right way up again, hold it in right hand, most of the blanket bunched beneath the bottle. When near enough, your pal lights the petrol soaked corner of the blanket, throw the bottle and blanket as soon as this corner is flaring. See that it drops in front of the tank, the blanket should catch in the tracks or in a cog-wheel, or wind itself round an axle. Do not play with these things, the Battle of Khalkhin Gol, a border conflict of 1939 ostensibly between Mongolia and Manchukuo, saw heavy fighting between Japanese and Soviet forces. Short of anti-tank equipment, Japanese infantry attacked Soviet tanks with gasoline-filled bottles, Japanese infantrymen claimed that several hundred Soviet tanks had been destroyed this way, though Soviet loss records do not support this assessment. On 30 November 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Finland, starting what came to be known as the Winter War, the Finns perfected the design and tactical use of the petrol bomb
40.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
41.
Ross rifle
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The Ross rifle was a straight-pull bolt action.303 inch-calibre rifle produced in Canada from 1903 until 1918. By 1916, the rifle had been withdrawn from front line service, the Ross Rifle Co. made sporting rifles from early in its production, most notably chambered in.280 Ross, introduced in 1907. This cartridge is recorded as the first to achieve over 3000 feet per second velocity, during the Second Boer War, a minor diplomatic fight broke out between Canada and the United Kingdom, after the latter refused to license the Lee–Enfield SMLE design for production in Canada. Sir Charles Ross offered to finance the construction of a factory in Canada to produce his newly designed straight-pull rifle for Canadian service. This offer was accepted by the Liberal government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the operating principle of the straight pull bolt action comprises a bolt sleeve to which the bolt lever or handle is attached. The sleeve is hollow and has spiral grooves or teeth cut into its surface in which slide corresponding projections or teeth on the outside of the bolt head or body. As the bolt lever and sleeve are moved, the head is forced to rotate through about 90°. The bolt handle and sleeve thus need only be pushed backwards or forwards to open or close the action of the rifle. The single motion required to open or close the bolt of a straight pull action rifle is theoretically faster and easier for soldiers to learn, the first 1,000 rifles were given to the Royal Northwest Mounted Police for testing. Routine inspection before operational testing found 113 defects bad enough to warrant rejection, one of these was a poorly designed bolt lock that enabled the bolt to fall right out of the rifle. Another was poorly tempered component springs that were described as being as soft as copper, in 1906, the RNWMP reverted to their Model 1894 Winchesters and Lee–Metfords. The Ross rifle was modified to correct these faults and became the Mark II Ross, in 1907, the Mk II was modified to handle the higher pressure of newly designed.280 Ross, this variant was called Mk II**. The Model 10 was a new design, made to correct the shortcomings of the 1905. None of the parts are interchangeable between the 1905 and the 1910 models. Although the British were now encouraging standardization across the Empire on the Lee–Enfield, the Model 10 was the standard infantry weapon of the First Canadian Contingent of the Canadian Expeditionary Force when it first arrived in France in February 1915. The shortcomings of the rifle were made apparent before the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915, the rifle showed poor tolerance of dirt when used in field conditions, particularly the screw threads operating the bolt lugs, jamming the weapon open or closed. Another part of the problem came from the bolts outer face hitting the bolt stop. Another well-known deficiency was the tendency for the bayonet to fall off the rifle when the weapon was fired, many Canadians of the First Contingent at Ypres retrieved Lee–Enfields from British casualties to replace their Ross rifles
42.
Pattern 1914 Enfield
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The Rifle.303 Pattern 1914 was a British service rifle of the First World War period. A bolt action weapon with an integral 5-round magazine, it was principally contract manufactured by companies in the United States and it served as a sniper rifle and as second line and reserve issue until being declared obsolete in 1947. The Pattern 1914 Enfield was the successor to the Pattern 1913 Enfield experimental rifle, during the Boer War the British were faced with accurate long-range fire from Mauser rifles, model 1893 and 1895, in 7×57mm caliber. This smaller, high-velocity round prompted the War Department to develop their own magnum round, the primary contractor was unable to produce more than a handful of rifles, so the P14 became a de facto afterthought. The Short Magazine Lee–Enfield therefore remained the standard British rifle during World War I, shortly afterwards a modification was made to enlarge the bolt lugs and the rifle became the Mark I*. Eventually Winchester would manufacture 235,293 rifles, Remington 400,000 and Eddystone 600,000, when the U. S. entered World War I, the P14 was modified and standardized by the U. S. Ordnance Department and went into production at the factories as had produced the P14, production of that rifle having ceased. Sometimes called the M1917 Enfield, it was chambered for the standard US, in 1926 the Pattern 1914 Enfield was re-designated by the British military as the No3Mk1. Prior to and during World War II, the Pattern 1914 Enfield was used, post Dunkirk and with the great loss of arms that the British forces endured in 1940 the No3Mk1 stock suddenly became a valued resource. The rifle was used again as a sniper rifle, the configuration being different from the World War I incarnation. The Australian Army also used some quantities of the variant of the P14 during World War II. Once sufficient numbers were built up of the Short Magazine Lee–Enfields, the P14/No3Mk1 was declared obsolete in British service in 1947. Adapting the design to fire the standard.303 British round led to the Rifle.303 Pattern 1914, with its prominent sight protection ears on the receiver, dog-leg bolt handle and pot-belly magazine, it was distinctive in appearance. The P14 was a design for the time, and was said to be the most advanced service rifle of World War I. The Pattern 1914 Enfield had a large, strong action. The bolt action had a Model 98 Mauser type claw extractor, the unusual dog-leg bolt handle is low profile and places the knob close to the firers hand, again facilitating rapid fire. Like the Lee–Enfield, the safety falls under the firers thumb, the rifle was designed with a iron sight line consisting of rear receiver aperture battle sight calibrated for. The ladder aperture sight moves vertically on a slide, and hence was not able to correct for wind drift, the front sighting element consisted of a wing guards protected front post, and was adjusted laterally and locked into position during assembly at the arsenal
43.
M1917 Enfield
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Numerically, it was the main rifle used by the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe during World War I. The Danish Slædepatruljen Sirius still use the M1917 as their service weapon, before World War I, the British had the Short Magazine Lee–Enfield as their main rifle. Compared to the German Mausers or U. S.1903 Springfield, the starting point was to copy many of the features of the Mauser system. The rifle was developed at the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield in the United Kingdom. This development, named the Pattern 1913 Enfield or P13, included a front locking, dual lug bolt action with Mauser type claw extractor as well as a new, powerful rimless.276 Enfield cartridge. The design carried over a Lee–Enfield type safety at the rear of the action, an advanced design of aperture rearsight and a long sight radius were incorporated to maximize accuracy potential. Ease of manufacture was also an important criterion, however, the onset of World War I came too quickly for the UK to put it into production before the new cartridge could be perfected, as it suffered from overheating in rapid fire and bore fouling. As it entered World War I, the UK had an urgent need for rifles and they decided to ask these companies to produce the new rifle design in the old.303 British chambering for convenience of ammunition logistics. The new rifle was termed the Pattern 14, in the case of the P14 rifle, Winchester and Remington were selected. A third manufacturer, Eddystone Arsenal – a subsidiary of Remington – was tooled up at the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Eddystone, thus, three variations of the P14 and M1917 exist, labeled Winchester, Remington and Eddystone. When the U. S. entered the war, it had a similar need for rifles, the Enfield design was well-suited to the. 30-06 Springfield, it was a big, strong action and was originally intended to employ a long, powerful, rimless bottlenecked cartridge. Eddystone made 1,181,908 rifles – more than the production of Remington, the standardized production effort regarding parts interchangeability did not work out as intended. Winchester produced slightly differing parts, leading to interchangeability issues with the Remington, the markings were changed to reflect the model and caliber change. A16. 5-inch blade bayonet, the M1917 bayonet was produced for use on the rifle and it would later be used on several other small arms like the M97 and M12 trench shotguns and early M1 Garands. The new rifle was used alongside the M1903 Springfield and quickly surpassed the Springfield design in numbers produced, by November 11,1918 about 75% of the AEF in France were armed with M1917s. An M1917 Enfield rifle may have used by Sergeant Alvin C. York on October 8,1918, during the event that would see him awarded the Medal of Honor, according to his diary, Sergeant York also used a Colt M1911 semi-automatic pistol on that day. After the armistice, the M1917 rifles were placed in storage for the most part, during the 1920s and 1930s a large number of M1917 rifles were released for civilian use through the NRA or were sold as surplus
44.
Auxiliary Units
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The Auxiliary Units would fight as uniformed guerrillas during the military campaign. Urged on by the War Office, Prime Minister Winston Churchill initiated the Auxiliary Units in the summer of 1940. This was to counter the civilian Home Defence Scheme already established by SIS, the Auxiliary Units answered to GHQ Home Forces, but were organised as if part of the local Home Guard. Churchill appointed Colonel Colin Gubbins to found the Auxiliary Units, Most recently, he had returned from Norway, where he headed the Independent Companies, the predecessors of the British Commandos. In November 1940 Gubbins moved to the Special Operations Executive, in modern times, the Auxiliary Units have been referred to as the British Resistance Organisation. This is a title was never used by the organization officially but has recently been used to describe the movement to explain to layman what their role was. Gubbins used several officers who had served with the Independent Companies in Norway, Units were localised on a county structure, as they would probably be fragmented and isolated from each other. The two best known officers from this period were Captain Peter Fleming of the Grenadier Guards and Captain Mike Calvert of the Royal Engineers, Calvert had recently served in the 5th Battalion, Scots Guards, which had been formed to fight as a ski-troop in Finland. Both of these men were too valuable to stay long, once the threat of invasion was over. Operational Patrols consisted of four and eight men, often farmers or landowners. They were usually recruited from the most able members of the Home Guard, gamekeepers and even poachers were particularly valued. They were always intended to fight in Home Guard uniform and from 1942 the men were badged to Home Guard battalions 201,202, or 203. Around 3,500 men were trained on weekend courses at Coleshill House near Highworth, Wiltshire, in the arts of guerrilla warfare including assassination, unarmed combat, demolition and sabotage. Each Patrol was a cell, expected to be self-sufficient and operationally autonomous in the case of invasion. They were provided with elaborately concealed underground Operational Bases, usually built by the Royal Engineers in a woodland, with a camouflaged entrance. It is thought that 400 to 500 such OBs were constructed, some Patrols had an additional concealed Observation Post and/or underground ammunition store. Members anticipated being shot if they were captured, and were expected to shoot themselves first rather than be taken alive. A2011 Cranfield University PhD on the Home Guard by Dale Clarke has a chapter on the weapons and explosives used by them, the mission of the units was to attack invading forces from behind their own lines while conventional forces fell back to the last-ditch GHQ Line
45.
Guerrilla warfare
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The term, the diminutive form of war in Spanish, is usually translated as little war, and the word, guerrilla, has been used to refer to the concept since the 18th century, and perhaps earlier. In correct Spanish usage, a person who is a member of a guerrilla is a guerrillero if male, the term guerrilla was used in English as early as 1809, to refer to the fighters, and also to denote a group or band of such fighters. However, in most languages guerrilla still denotes the style of warfare. The use of the diminutive evokes the differences in number, scale, guerrillas usually carries positive connotations, and is often used by such fighters themselves and by their sympathizers, while their foes in many cases call them terrorists. Making an objective definition of the difference between a guerrilla and a terrorist has proven a difficult task, the strategy and tactics of guerrilla warfare tend to focus around the use of a small, mobile force competing against a larger, more unwieldy one. The Guerrilla focuses on organizing in small units, depending on the support of the local population, tactically, the guerrilla army would avoid any confrontation with large units of enemy troops, but seek and eliminate small groups of soldiers to minimize losses and exhaust the opposing force. Not limiting their targets to personnel, enemy resources are preferred targets. All of that is to weaken the strength, to cause the enemy eventually to be unable to prosecute the war any longer. It is often misunderstood that guerrilla warfare must involve disguising as civilians to cause enemy troops to fail in telling friend from foe, however, this is not a primary feature of a guerrilla war. This type of war can be practiced anywhere there are places for combatants to cover themselves, at least one author credits the ancient Chinese work The Art of War with providing instruction in such tactics to Mao. The Chinese general and strategist Sun Tzu, in his The Art of War or 600 BC to 501 BC, was the earliest to propose the use of guerrilla warfare and this directly inspired the development of modern guerrilla warfare. Guerrilla tactics were employed by prehistoric tribal warriors against enemy tribes. Evidence of conventional warfare, on the hand, did not emerge until 3100 BC in Egypt. Since the Enlightenment, ideologies such as nationalism, liberalism, socialism, because of the innovative tactics he used during his command, he made himself the name of Terror Romanorum. A counter-insurgency or counterinsurgency operation involves actions taken by the government of a nation to contain or quell an insurgency taken up against it. Counter-insurgency operations are common during war, occupation and armed rebellions, the two most influential of scholars of counter-insurgency have been Westerners whose job it had been to fight insurgents. Robert Thompson fought during the Malayan Emergency and David Galula fought during the Algerian War, together these officers advocated multi-pronged strategies to win over the civilian population to the side of the counter-insurgent. The widely distributed and influential work of Sir Robert Thompson, counter-insurgency expert of the Malayan Emergency, thompsons underlying assumption was that the counter-insurgent was committed to improving the rule of law and bettering local governance
46.
Edith Summerskill
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Edith Clara Summerskill, Baroness Summerskill CH PC was a British physician, feminist, Labour politician and writer. She was appointed to the Privy Council in 1949, Summerskill was educated at Kings College London and was admitted to medical school at Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, one of the first few women to be admitted to medical school. She was one of the founders of the Socialist Health Association which spearheaded the National Health Service and she pressed for equal rights for women in the British Home Guard. In 1938 she initiated the Married Womens Association to promote equality in marriage, Summerskill entered politics at 32 when she was asked to fight the Green Lanes ward in Harringay in the Middlesex County Council elections. She then served as a councillor on Middlesex County Council from 1934 until 1941 and she stood for a seat in the House of Commons unsuccessfully in Putney in 1934 and Bury in 1935, before becoming Labour Member of Parliament for Fulham West thanks to the working womens vote. She caused some disquiet by taking the seat in her maiden name, when the Fulham West constituency was abolished for the 1955 general election, she was returned to the House of Commons as MP for Warrington. Summerskill was included in Clement Attlees Labour government following the victory in 1945. As well as her service in government, Summerskill also served on the House of Commons Political Honours Scrutiny Committee from 1967 to 1976, Summerskill served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food and as Minister of National Insurance. She was a member of the Labour Partys National Executive Committee from 1944 to 1958 and she left the House of Commons in 1961 and was created a life peer as Baroness Summerskill, of Ken Wood in the County of London on 4 February 1961. Furthermore, she was awarded an additional honour being initiated into the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1966, Summerskill appears in a specially selected list of Fabian Society members from 1942 to 1947, showing continuity and prestige. An active feminist, she was instrumental in promoting women’s causes throughout that period, during the 1950s, Summerskill wrote a series of letters to her daughter Shirley, who, like her mother, was an active feminist. Shirley studied medicine in Oxford at that time and later became a doctor, edith Summerskill’s letters to Shirley were collected and published in a book Letters to My Daughter. Summerskill outlines her belief that women are superior to men in almost every way, in support of such a theory Summerskill presents three facts, firstly, that only women can enjoy two worlds of creative enterprise the biological and the intellectual. Secondly she suggests women are stronger, live longer are constitutionally tougher. Finally she believes women have equal if not greater intellect than men and it would be quite inaccurate to suggest that we were welcomed into the universities or into public life. Summerskill constantly struggles for and raises consciousness about women’s equal rights, in response to Shirley’s complaint about the stock question of the anti-feminists, Why have not more women achieved eminence in the arts and sciences. She answers, Personally I am astounded that so many have distinguished themselves despite the conditions which society has imposed upon them, yet Summerskill’s conclusion in 1956 is similar to the one Virginia Woolf reached twenty-five years earlier. Summerskill was married in 1925 to Dr Jeffrey Samuel and their children took their mothers surname
47.
Fulham West (UK Parliament constituency)
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Fulham West was a borough constituency based in the London district of Fulham. It was represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1955, at the 1918 general election the previous Fulham constituency was divided into two constituencies, Fulham East and Fulham West, the two halves were re-united for the 1955 general election. At the 1997 general election, the Fulham constituency was replaced by Hammersmith, the Metropolitan Borough of Fulham wards of Hurlingham, Margravine, Munster, and Town. Endorsed by Coalition Government General Election 1939/40 Another General Election was required to place before the end of 1940
48.
Blacker Bombard
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The Blacker Bombard, also known as the 29mm Spigot Mortar, was an infantry anti-tank weapon devised by Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart Blacker in the early years of the Second World War. Intended as a means to equip Home Guard units with a weapon in case of German invasion, at a time of grave shortage of weapons. Although there were doubts about the effectiveness of the Bombard, many were issued. With the end of the Battle of France and the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from the port of Dunkirk between 26 May and 4 June 1940, a German invasion of Great Britain seemed likely. However, the British Army was not well-equipped to defend the country in such an event, one of these was the Blacker Bombard, designed by Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Blacker, the origins of which went back to the 1930s. During the early part of the 1930s, Blacker became interested in the concept of the spigot mortar, when the mortar was to be fired, the bomb was pushed down onto the spigot, which exploded the propellant charge and blew the bomb into the air. Blacker began to experiment with the concept in the hopes of creating a platoon mortar that was lighter in weight than the one used by the British Army at the time and this evolved into the Arbalest, which he submitted to the Army but was rejected for a Spanish design. However he was successful in creating an anti-tank mortar, which he named the Blacker Bombard. When the Second World War began, Blacker was a lieutenant-colonel in the Territorial Army, Blacker showed his list of ideas to the head of MD1, Major Millis Jefferis, who was taken with the design for the Bombard. Objections were raised by the Director of Artillery and other government officials, Churchill took a liking to the weapon and ordered it into full production. It would act as a temporary anti-tank weapon for the Home Guard until more 2 pounders could be supplied to them and it was decided by General Headquarters Home Forces that Bombards would be useful as an anti-tank weapon for use by regular forces, as well as the Home Guard. General Alan Brooke entertained doubts about the effectiveness, but believed that its simplicity would allow it to be used by younger soldiers. However, RAF personnel were forbidden from using the weapons, a restriction which was extended to the RAF Regiment when it was formed in 1942, the Bombard was a 29mm spigot mortar, weighing between 112 and 360 lb, placed on top of a swivel or pivot. The anti-tank rounds were found to possess several problems and they had insensitive fuzes, which meant that they would often pass through an unarmoured target without detonating, and when they did explode fragments were often thrown back at the crew. The Bombard was either affixed to a cruciform platform, or an immobile concrete pedestal, in either case would usually be placed in range of defensive positions. In a static position, the weapon was usually emplaced in a pit with ammunition lockers nearby, the first Bombards appeared in late 1941, and were issued to both regular and Home Guard units, in Southern Command, no more were issued after July 1942. By that time, approximately 22,000 of the Bombards had been produced and issued to forces throughout the country. Mackenzie also argues that the Bombard did have a side, as it equipped otherwise unarmed Home Guard personnel with a weapon
United Kingdom
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