1.
2nd Commando Regiment (Australia)
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The 2nd Commando Regiment is a special forces unit of the Australian Army, and is part of Special Operations Command. The regiment was established on 19 June 2009 when the 4th Battalion and it is based at Holsworthy, New South Wales. It has also involved in a number of domestic security operations including the 2006 Commonwealth Games. The role of the regiment is to large scale offensive, support and recovery operations beyond the scope. The decision was taken that the 4th Battalion would become a Regular Army commando unit and on 1 February 1997 the unit was renamed to 4th Battalion. No General Reserve positions existed in the new structure, and reserve members discharged or posted to reserve units and it was planned that 4 RAR would eventually take over the SASR counter terrorist role. The initial years were busy with the creating a structure and recruiting members suitable for commando training. B Company was raised in 1997, followed by C Company in 1999, in 2000, elements were involved in the evacuation of Australian nationals from the Solomon Islands in June. In 2000, it was decided that the counter terrorist role should remain with the SASR, a period of rapid capability development, equipment acquisition and training subsequently followed. The unit that was developed as a result is regarded by coalition special operation forces abroad. It has also awarded a number of citations for bravery. On 19 June 2009, the battalion was renamed the 2nd Commando Regiment, the 2nd Commando Regiment, then known as 4 RAR, was deployed as a part of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor in 2001. When notified to replace 1 RAR in East Timor,4 RAR had not long previously been raised as a commando battalion, with the commitment to East Timor continuing, however,4 RAR was re-roled as a light infantry battalion for deployment to East Timor as AUSBATT IV. This involved reorganising from the existing two commando-companies structure to an infantry battalion with four companies and a growth in the unit from 220 to 670 personnel. This saw B and C Company remain commando-qualified, a Company was formed in June 2000 followed by D Company in November both filled with Regular infantry soldiers posted in to the unit. The battalion took control over Area of Operations Matilda in the northern border region on 25 April under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Sengelman. The battalion saw few contacts while in East Timor, the battalion was withdrawn and replaced in October 2001. Following the battalions return from East Timor it was restructured to resume its role as a two-company commando battalion
2.
Canadian Airborne Regiment
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The Canadian Airborne Regiment was a Canadian Forces formation created on April 8,1968. It was not a regiment in the commonly accepted British Commonwealth sense. It was disbanded in 1995 after the Somalia Affair and it was designed as a flexible short-term immediate response available to the government when it accepted an overseas reinforcement or intervention mission within NATO, or elsewhere. Over time, and a succession of chiefs of defence, the Airborne remained an object of conflicting concepts of operations, military structure, the original concept of the Airborne envisaged a rotation of young infantry soldiers and officers through its units, serving a maximum of two years. It was to be an essential and exciting posting for all young infantry leaders prior to their promotion to sergeant or captain in their own regiment. Allard wrote, this regiment would not reflect the identity of a Victorian-era regiment because its members would serve in it for only a short period. However, under Allards successors, the Airborne became instead another separate regiment, specializing in parachuting and it adopted all the symbols of a line regiment, including badges, colours, and history. In particular, it sought to replace the identity of its members from Canadas line regiments with that of the Airborne and this aborted the original operational purpose of the Airborne and, significantly, planted the seeds of an ongoing conflict of identity and loyalty within the Canadian infantry family. Allard wrote that those who took this route showed an absolute ignorance of the requirement for quick-reaction in todays world, on General Allards retirement, the unit was established in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1968. This was a large Air Transport Command base, the prairie weather is ideal for specialized parachute training, and Edmonton is the gateway to the North. There was a brigade in the West, plus the Airborne. In central and eastern Canada, there were four battalions of infantry. The Edmonton location also created linguistic problems, the Airbornes French-speaking elements had initially been left at CFB Valcartier in Quebec, but they have also moved to Alberta in 1970. There, it became difficult to them up to strength. Finally, in the face of recruiting and retention problems, as well as operational concerns, the Airborne was moved to CFB Petawawa in Ontario, in 1970 a mechanized infantry battalion was added to the regiment and was named 3rd Canadian Mechanized Commando. This unit was an element of the 4th Canadian Mechanized Brigade and was stationed in CFB Baden, although it was part of the regiment it did not have a parachute role. The Airborne Regiment also suffered from frequent reorganizations, over time, this support was generally excellent, and the commandos became a legitimate part of their regimental family of origin. There were, however, occasions when the quality of support was questioned
3.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
4.
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
5.
British Commandos
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Their operations ranged from small groups of men landing from the sea or by parachute, to a brigade of assault troops spearheading the Allied invasions of Europe and Asia. After the war most Commando units were disbanded, leaving only the Royal Marines 3 Commando Brigade, the modern Royal Marine Commandos, Parachute Regiment, Special Air Service and Special Boat Service trace their origins to the Commandos. The British Commandos were a formation of the British Armed Forces organized for service in June 1940. One staff officer, Lieutenant Colonel Dudley Clarke, had already submitted such a proposal to General Sir John Dill, Dill, aware of Churchills intentions, approved Clarkes proposal and on 23 June 1940, the first Commando raid took place. The Special Service Brigade was quickly expanded to 12 units which became known as Commandos, each Commando had a lieutenant colonel as the commanding officer and numbered around 450 men. Technically these men were only on secondment to the Commandos, they retained their own cap badges. The Commando force came under the control of the Combined Operations Headquarters. The man initially selected as the commander of Combined Operations was Admiral Roger Keyes, a veteran of the Gallipoli Campaign, Keyes resigned in October 1941 and was replaced by Vice Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten. Major-General Robert Laycock was the last Commander of Combined Operations, he took over from Mountbatten in October 1943, the Commando units formed in the United Kingdom were, No. At the same there were four Commando units formed in the Middle East. 51, No,52, and the Middle East Commando, the No.10 Commando was formed from volunteers from the occupied territories and enemy aliens. It was the largest Commando unit formed, and contained troops from France, Belgium, Poland, Norway, the Netherlands, and No.3 Troop. The No.3 Troop consisted of enemy aliens, it was known as the English, Jewish. Most of the troop had German, Austrian, or Eastern European backgrounds, some Commandos were designated for different tasks from the start. No.2 Commando was always intended to be a parachute unit, in June 1940 they began parachute training and were re-designated the 11th Special Air Service Battalion, which eventually became the 1st Parachute Battalion. After their re-designation a new No.2 Commando was formed, other Commandos were grouped together in a larger formation known as Layforce and sent to the Middle East. The Special Air Service and the Special Boat Squadron were formed from the survivors of Layforce, the men of No.14 Commando were specially trained for operations in the Arctic Circle and specialised in using small boats and canoes to attack shipping. The joint service unit No.30 Commando was formed for intelligence gathering and its members were trained in the recognition of enemy documents, search techniques, safe cracking, prisoner handling, photography, and escape techniques
6.
Combined operations
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The concept of combined operations evolved largely as a result of expeditionary warfare that can be traced to the Sea Peoples. In its basic form it involved raiding coastal regions by land forces arriving from the naval vessels, the raiding tactics were expanded into more complex operations by Alexander the Great who used naval vessels for both troop transporting and logistics in his campaigns. These operations were conducted as sea, coastal and riverine operations, in South East Asia, the development of combined operations proceeded along the same developmental path as in Europe with the raids by the Wokou, or so called Japanese pirates. Because the Wokou were weakly resisted by the Ming Dynasty, the raiding eventually developed into fully fledged expeditionary warfare with the Japanese invasions of Korea. Some have argued that this was the first revolution in military affairs that changed national strategies, operational methods, one notable example of this evolution was the French Invasion of Egypt. Though a significantly expanded combined operation, the Crimean War was the first example of a combined operations campaign that was directed as part of a multinational coalition strategy. It was at time that naval troops previously used almost exclusively for defence of vessels or minor beach operations were expanded to enable extended littoral operations. The colonial experience, though confined to the period before the First World War. Given U. S. usage of the word joint meaning such activities, since the early 1980s the concept of combined operations had been referred to by NATO and in particular by the United States Department of Defence as joint operations. The ability to conduct combined operations allows national forces, their subordinated formations, units or systems to perform tasks, the overriding requirement is that they share common doctrine and procedures, utilise each others infrastructure and bases, and to be able to communicate with each other. These abilities reduce duplication of effort and increase economies of scale in an alliance of its members, allow pooling of resources. In the NATO concept, interoperability does not necessarily require common military equipment, what is important is that this equipment can share common facilities and is able to communicate with other equipment. NATO militaries claim to have achieved interoperability because of decades of joint planning, training, Joint warfare Symonds, Craig L. ed. Union Combined Operations in the Civil War 240 pages, scholarly studies of the thrusts up the York and James rivers during the Peninsular campaign. Combined Operations Command dedication site http, //www. combinedops. com/index. htm Williams, facilitating Joint Operations, The Evolving Battlefield Coordination Element
7.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
8.
St Nazaire Raid
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The St Nazaire Raid or Operation Chariot was a successful British amphibious attack on the heavily defended Normandie dry dock at St Nazaire in German-occupied France during the Second World War. The operation was undertaken by the Royal Navy and British Commandos under the auspices of Combined Operations Headquarters on 28 March 1942. The obsolete destroyer HMS Campbeltown, accompanied by 18 smaller craft, a force of commandos landed to destroy machinery and other structures. Almost all were forced to surrender when their ammunition was expended, after the raid 228 men of the force of 611 returned to Britain,169 were killed and 215 became prisoners of war. German casualties were over 360 dead, some killed after the raid when Campbeltown exploded, to recognise their bravery,89 decorations were awarded to members of the raiding party, including five Victoria Crosses. After the war, St Nazaire was one of 38 battle honours awarded to the Commandos, St Nazaire is on the north bank of the Loire 400 km from the nearest British port. In 1942, it had a population of 50,000, the St Nazaire port has an outer harbour known as the Avant Port, formed by two piers jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean. This leads to two lock gates before the Bassin de St Nazaire and these gates control the water level in the basin so that it is not affected by the tide. Beyond the basin is the inner dock called the Bassin de Penhoët. There is also an old entrance to the Bassin de St Nazaire located southwest of the Normandie dry dock, built to house the ocean liner SS Normandie, this dock was the largest dry dock in the world when it was completed in 1932. The Old Mole jetty juts into the Loire halfway between the pier of the Avant Port and the old entrance into the basin. On 24 May 1941, the Battle of the Denmark Strait was fought between the German ships Bismarck and Prinz Eugen and the British ships HMS Prince of Wales, Hood was sunk and the damaged Prince of Wales was forced to retire. She was intercepted by the British and sunk en route, britains Naval Intelligence Division first proposed a commando raid on the dock in late 1941. When the German battleship Tirpitz was declared operational in January 1942, planners from Combined Operations Headquarters were looking at potential scenarios if Tirpitz escaped the naval blockade and reached the Atlantic. They decided the only port able to accommodate her was St Nazaire, especially if, like the Bismarck, she was damaged en route and they came to the conclusion that if the dock at St Nazaire were unavailable the Germans were unlikely to risk sending Tirpitz into the Atlantic. Combined Operations examined a number of options while planning the destruction of the dock, at this stage of the war the British government still tried to avoid civilian casualties. This ruled out an attack by the RAF, which at the time did not possess the accuracy needed to destroy the dock without serious loss of civilian life. The Special Operations Executive were approached to see if its agents could destroy the dock gates and they decided that the mission was beyond their capabilities because the weight of explosives required would have needed too many agents to carry them
9.
Allied invasion of Italy
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The Allied invasion of Italy was the Allied amphibious landing on mainland Italy that took place on 3 September 1943 during the early stages of the Italian Campaign of World War II. The operation was undertaken by General Sir Harold Alexanders 15th Army Group, the main invasion force landed around Salerno on 9 September on the western coast in Operation Avalanche, while two supporting operations took place in Calabria and Taranto. Following the defeat of the Axis Powers in North Africa in May 1943, the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, in particular wanted to invade Italy, which in November 1942 he called the soft underbelly of the axis. Popular support in Italy for the war was declining, and he believed an invasion would remove Italy, in addition, it would tie down German forces. When it became clear that no cross-channel invasion of occupied France could be undertaken in 1943, it was agreed to invade Sicily, Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, to go ahead at the earliest possible date. The Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943, codenamed Operation Husky, was successful, although many of the Axis forces managed to avoid capture. The Axis viewed this as a success, more importantly, in late July, a coup deposed Mussolini as head of the Italian government, which then began approaching the Allies to make peace. It was believed an invasion of Italy might hasten an Italian surrender. However, Italian resistance proved relatively strong, and fighting in Italy continued even after the fall of Berlin in April 1945. In addition, the left the Allies in a position of supplying food and supplies to conquered territory. As well, Italy occupied by a hostile German army would have created problems for the German Commander-in-Chief. The short distance from Sicily meant landing craft could launch from there directly, montgomery was strongly opposed to Operation Baytown. He was proved correct, after Operation Baytown the British Eighth Army marched 300 miles north to the Salerno area against no other than engineering obstacles. Plans for the use of Allied airborne forces took several forms, the initial plan to land glider-borne troops in the mountain passes of the Sorrento Peninsula above Salerno was abandoned 12 August. Six days later it was replaced by Operation Giant, in two regiments of the U. S. 82nd Airborne Division would seize and hold crossings over the Volturno River. The main landings were scheduled to take place on 9 September and it would consist of the U. S. Its primary objectives were to seize the port of Naples to ensure resupply, the naval task force of warships, merchant ships and landing craft totaling 627 vessels came under the command of Vice Admiral Henry K. Hewitt. However, with the signing of the armistice with the Italians on 3 September the picture changed, the airborne division, which was undergoing training exercises in two locations 640 kilometres apart, was ordered on 4 September to embark on 8 September
10.
Operation Roast
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This was the first major action in the Allied 15th Army Groups big spring offensive to push the German Army back to and across the River Po and out of Italy. S. Fifth Army completing the encirclement of the German divisions defending Bologna, on 1 April 1945 the whole of 2nd Commando Brigade was engaged in the operation. 9, No.40 Royal Marine Commando and No.43 Commando under the command of Brigadier Ronnie Tod. The Comacchio lagoon is a vast area of brackish water stretching from the River Reno, in the south, to over the town of Comacchio, in the north. This lagoon is separated from the Adriatic Sea, to the east, the Germans had approximately 1,200 men entrenched there. The Commandos were to clear the spit, securing the flank of the Eighth Army, No.40 Commando conducted a feint attack to the south, crossing the River Reno and clearing and holding its north bank. No.40 was supported by the 28th Garibaldi Brigade, Royal Artillery, No.2 and No.9 Commando were to cross the lagoon from the southwest, to points around the middle of the spit. No.2 was to land above the Bellocchio Canal and thereafter head south and capture the two bridges across it and prevent German reinforcements crossing. No.9 Commando were to land south of the then head south along the lagoon’s shore. The operation started on the evening of 1 April with engagement to start shortly after midnight, the lagoon crossing, took far longer than planned due to the exceptionally low water level and exceptionally muddy lagoon bottom, which was as deep as chest high. The Commandos struggled through the muddy waste all night, manhandling their boats, exhausted and covered in glutinous slime they pressed home their attacks. Nos.2,40 and 43 Commandos all made their objectives relatively as expected although the Germans succeeded in one bridge before it was captured by No.2 Commando. No.9 Commando initially made good progress until No.5 and No.6 Troops,1 and 2 Troops made good progress down the centre of the Spit and when advised of the situation of 5 and 6 Troops, bypassed Leviticus in order to turn about. They laid smoke, and conducted a charge, from the southeast. The German position was overrun despite the smoke clearing too quickly exposing the Commandos during the last 150 metres, routed German defenders who had fled north, fell into the waiting Bren guns of 6 Troop. The bayonet charge was accompanied by 1 Troop’s piper playing ’The Road to the Isles’, No.2 Commando captured 115 German prisoners and No.9 Commando captured 232. No.9 Commando lost 9 men killed and a further 39 wounded, of which 8 dead and 27 wounded came from No.5 Troop, the operation carried the frontline forward seven miles. That evening No.9 and No.43 Commandos moved up to the bridges on the Bellocchio Canal, the following day,3 April, Royal Engineers made serviceable the blown bridge and the Commandos moved over the canal, supported by tanks of the North Irish Horse
11.
Jack Churchill
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Nicknamed Fighting Jack Churchill and Mad Jack, he is known for the motto, Any officer who goes into action without his sword is improperly dressed. Churchill was born in Hong Kong, both his father, Alec Fleming Churchill, and grandfather, John Fleming Churchill, served in the Ceylon Civil Service. Soon after Churchills birth, the returned to Surrey, where his younger brother. In 1910, the Churchills moved to Hong Kong when Alec Fleming Churchill was appointed as Director of Public Works in Hong Kong, the Churchills third and youngest son, Robert Alec Farquar Churchill, was born in Hong Kong in 1911. The family returned to England in 1917, John Jack Churchill was educated at King Williams College on the Isle of Man. Churchill graduated from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in 1926 and he enjoyed riding a motorbike while in Burma. He left the army in 1936 and worked as an editor in Nairobi, Kenya. He used his archery and bagpipe talents to play a role in the 1924 film The Thief of Bagdad. He took second place in the 1938 military piping competition at the Aldershot Tattoo, in 1939 Jack Churchill represented Great Britain at the World Archery Championships in Oslo. Churchill resumed his commission after Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, as part of the British Expeditionary Force to France, in May 1940 Churchill and his unit, the Manchester Regiment, ambushed a German patrol near LÉpinette, France. Churchill gave the signal to attack by cutting down the enemy Feldwebel with a barbed arrow, becoming the only British soldier known to have felled an enemy with a longbow in the war. According to his son Malcolm, He and his section were in a tower and as the Germans approached he said I will shoot that first German with an arrow, after fighting at Dunkirk, he volunteered for the Commandos. Jacks younger brother, Thomas Tom Churchill also served with and led a Commando brigade during the war, after the war Thomas wrote a book, Commando Crusade, that details some of the brothers experiences during the war. Their youngest brother, Robert, also known as Buster, served in the Royal Navy and was killed in action in 1942. Jack Churchill was second in command of No.3 Commando in Operation Archery, a raid on the German garrison at Vågsøy, Norway, on 27 December 1941. As the ramps fell on the first landing craft, Churchill leapt forward from his position playing March of the Cameron Men on his bagpipes, before throwing a grenade, for his actions at Dunkirk and Vågsøy, Churchill received the Military Cross and Bar. Leading 2 Commando, Churchill was ordered to capture a German observation post outside of the town of Molina, with the help of a corporal, he infiltrated the town and captured the post, taking 42 prisoners including a mortar squad. Churchill led the men and prisoners back down the pass, with the wounded being carried on carts pushed by German prisoners and he commented that it was an image from the Napoleonic Wars
12.
Battalion
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A battalion is a military unit. The use of the term varies by nationality and branch of service. Typically a battalion consists of 300 to 800 soldiers and is divided into a number of companies, a battalion is typically commanded by a lieutenant colonel. In some countries the word battalion is associated with the infantry, the term was first used in Italian as battaglione no later than the 16th century. It derived from the Italian word for battle, battaglia, the first use of battalion in English was in the 1580s, and the first use to mean part of a regiment is from 1708. The battalion must, of course, have a source of re-supply to enable it to sustain operations for more than a few days, the battalion is usually part of a regiment, brigade, or group, depending on the organizational model used by that service. The bulk of a battalions companies are often homogeneous with respect to type, a battalion includes a headquarters company and some sort of combat service support, typically organized within a combat support company. The term battalion is used in the British Army Infantry and some including the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. It was formerly used in the Royal Engineers, and was used in the now defunct Royal Army Ordnance Corps. Other corps usually use the term regiment instead, an infantry battalion is numbered ordinarily within its regiment. It normally has a company, support company, and three rifle companies. Each company is commanded by a major, the officer commanding, the HQ company contains signals, quartermaster, catering, intelligence, administration, pay, training, operations and medical elements. The support company usually contains anti-tank, machine gun, mortar, pioneer, mechanised units usually have an attached light aid detachment of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers to perform field repairs on vehicles and equipment. A British battalion in theatre during World War II had around 845 men in it, and, as of 2012, with successive rounds of cutbacks after the war, many infantry regiments were reduced to a single battalion. A battalion group or battlegroup consists of a battalion or armoured regiment with sub-units detached from other military units acting under the command of the battalion commander. In the Canadian Forces, most battalions are reserve units of between 100–200 soldiers that include an operationally ready, field-deployable component of approximately a half-company apiece, the nine regular force infantry battalions each contain three or four rifle companies and one or two support companies. Canadian battalions are generally commanded by lieutenant-colonels, though smaller reserve battalions may be commanded by majors, with the Dutch artillery units, the equivalent of a battalion is called an afdeling. Combat companies consist of infantry, combat engineers, or tanks, in the latter case, the unit is called an eskadron, which translates roughly to squadron
13.
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
14.
1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment
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The 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment, forms the United Kingdoms Special Forces Support Group. An airborne light infantry unit, the battalion has since 2006 been the contributor of manpower to the Special Forces Support Group and is capable of a wide range of operations. Personnel regularly deploy outside of the United Kingdom on operations and training, all personnel complete the Pre Parachute Selection course at the Infantry Training Centre Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire. 1 PARA is permanently attached to the SFSG, once selected, they receive further training on additional weapons, communications equipment and specialist assault skills. All men within the Parachute Regiment can expect to serve with the SFSG on rotation and this ensures that the advanced military skills taught to the SFSG are maintained in the other two regular battalions. Under Army 2020, it is expected that 1 PARA will remain as part of the SFSG, the 1st Battalion can trace its origins to 1940, when No.2 Commando trained as parachutists. In 1941, the battalion was assigned to the 1st Parachute Brigade which also included the 2nd, the 1st Parachute Brigade was part of the 1st Airborne Division and remained with it throughout the war. The battalion took part in operations in Tunisia in late 1942 to May 1943, the plan turned out not to be required. During the fighting in Normandy numerous plans to drop the 1st Airborne were formed, after the war the battalion was reconstituted in 1946, and affiliated to the Brigade of Guards and served with the 6th Airborne Division in Palestine. It was disbanded in 1948, only to be reformed by the renumbering of the 4th/6th Battalion, the battalion was part of Operation Musketeer in 1956. In the 1970s, the battalion first deployed to Northern Ireland in Operation Banner, the second official inquiry of the killings found 1st Paras actions unjustified and unjustifiable. To date, none of the members of 1 Para have been prosecuted, the battalion was involved in the NATO operation in Kosovo in 1999, Operation Agricola. One Company was also selected to support for the Special Air Service in Sierra Leone during Operation Palliser in 2000
15.
Allied invasion of Sicily
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The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II, in which the Allies took the island of Sicily from the Axis powers. It was an amphibious and airborne operation, followed by a six-week land campaign and was the beginning of the Italian Campaign. Husky began on the night of 9/10 July 1943, and ended on 17 August, the Italian leader, Benito Mussolini, was toppled from power in Italy and the way was opened for the Allied invasion of Italy. The German leader, Adolf Hitler, canceled a major offensive at Kursk after only a week, in part to divert forces to Italy, resulting in a reduction of German strength on the Eastern Front. The plan for Operation Husky called for the assault of Sicily by two Allied armies, one landing on the south-eastern and one on the central southern coast. The amphibious assaults were to be supported by gunfire, as well as tactical bombing, interdiction. As such, the operation required a complex structure, incorporating land, naval. The overall commander was American General Dwight D. Eisenhower, as Commander-in-Chief of all the Allied forces in North Africa, British General Sir Harold Alexander acted as his second-in-command and as the 15th Army Group commander. The American Major General Walter Bedell Smith was appointed as Eisenhowers Chief of Staff, the overall Naval Force Commander was the British Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham. The Allied land forces were from the American, British and Canadian armies, the Eastern Task Force was led by General Sir Bernard Montgomery and consisted of the British Eighth Army. The Western Task Force was commanded by Lieutenant General George S. Patton, the two task force commanders reported to Alexander as commander of the 15th Army Group. Seventh Army consisted initially of three divisions, organized under II Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General Omar Bradley. Middleton, sailed from the United States via Oran in Algeria, the 2nd Armored Division, under Major General Hugh Joseph Gaffey, also sailing from Oran, was to be a floating reserve and be fed into combat as required. On 15 July, Patton reorganized his command into two corps by creating a new Provisional Corps headquarters, commanded by his deputy army commander, Major General Geoffrey Keyes. The two divisions of XIII Corps, the 5th and 50th Infantry Divisions, commanded by Major-Generals Horatio Berney-Ficklin and Sidney Kirkman and this request was granted by the British, displacing the veteran British 3rd Infantry Division. The Red Patch Division was added to Leeses XXX Corps to become part of the British Eighth Army, in addition to the amphibious landings, airborne troops were to be flown in to support both the Western and Eastern Task Forces. To the east, the British 1st Airborne Division, commanded by Major-General George F. Hopkinson, was to seize vital bridges and high ground in support of the British Eighth Army. The initial plan dictated that the U. S. 82nd Airborne Division, Allied naval forces were also grouped into two task forces to transport and support the invading armies
16.
Yugoslavia
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Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe during most of the 20th century. The Serbian royal House of Karađorđević became the Yugoslav royal dynasty, Yugoslavia gained international recognition on 13 July 1922 at the Conference of Ambassadors in Paris. The country was named after the South Slavic peoples and constituted their first union, following centuries in which the territories had been part of the Ottoman Empire, renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on 3 October 1929, it was invaded by the Axis powers on 6 April 1941. In 1943, a Democratic Federal Yugoslavia was proclaimed by the Partisan resistance, in 1944, the king recognised it as the legitimate government, but in November 1945 the monarchy was abolished. Yugoslavia was renamed the Federal Peoples Republic of Yugoslavia in 1946 and it acquired the territories of Istria, Rijeka, and Zadar from Italy. Partisan leader Josip Broz Tito ruled the country as president until his death in 1980, in 1963, the country was renamed again as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The constituent six socialist republics that made up the country were the SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SR Croatia, SR Macedonia, SR Montenegro, SR Serbia, and SR Slovenia. Serbia contained two Socialist Autonomous Provinces, Vojvodina and Kosovo, which after 1974 were largely equal to the members of the federation. After an economic and political crisis in the 1980s and the rise of nationalism, Yugoslavia broke up along its republics borders, at first into five countries, eventually, Serbia and Montenegro accepted the opinion of the Badinter Arbitration Committee about shared succession. Serbia and Montenegro themselves broke up in 2006 and became independent states, the concept of Yugoslavia, as a single state for all South Slavic peoples, emerged in the late 17th century and gained prominence through the Illyrian Movement of the 19th century. The name was created by the combination of the Slavic words jug, Yugoslavia was the result of the Corfu Declaration, as a project of the Serbian Parliament in exile and the Serbian royal Karađorđević dynasty, who became the Yugoslav royal dynasty. The country was formed in 1918 immediately after World War I as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes by union of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and it was commonly referred to at the time as the Versailles state. Later, the government renamed the country leading to the first official use of Yugoslavia in 1929, on 6 January 1929 King Alexander I suspended the constitution, banned national political parties, assumed executive power and renamed the country Yugoslavia. He hoped to curb separatist tendencies and mitigate nationalist passions and he imposed a new constitution and relinquished his dictatorship in 1931. None of these three regimes favored the policy pursued by Alexander I, Alexander attempted to create a centralised Yugoslavia. He decided to abolish Yugoslavias historic regions, and new internal boundaries were drawn for provinces or banovinas, the banovinas were named after rivers. Many politicians were jailed or kept under police surveillance, the effect of Alexanders dictatorship was to further alienate the non-Serbs from the idea of unity. During his reign the flags of Yugoslav nations were banned, Alexander was succeeded by his eleven-year-old son Peter II and a regency council headed by his cousin, Prince Paul
17.
Albania
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Albania, officially the Republic of Albania, is a country in Southeastern Europe. It has a population of 3.03 million as of 2016, Tirana is the nations capital and largest city, followed by Durrës and Vlorë. The country has a coastline on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, the Adriatic Sea to the west. Albania is less than 72 km from Italy, across the Strait of Otranto which connects the Adriatic Sea to the Ionian Sea. In antiquity, the area of Albania was home to several Illyrian, Thracian. After the Illyrian Wars, it part of the Roman provinces of Dalmatia, Macedonia and Moesia Superior. In 1190, the first Albanian state, the Principality of Arbanon was established by archon Progon in the region of Krujë, the territory of Albania was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century, of which it remained part of for the next five centuries. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, following the Balkan Wars, the Kingdom of Albania was invaded by Italy in 1939, which formed Greater Albania, before becoming a Nazi German protectorate in 1943. The following year, a socialist Peoples Republic was established under the leadership of Enver Hoxha, Albania experienced widespread social and political transformations in the communist era, as well as isolation from much of the international community. In 1991, the Socialist Republic was dissolved and the Republic of Albania was established, Albania is a democratic and developing country with an upper-middle income economy. The service sector dominates the economy, followed by the industrial. After the fall of communism in Albania, Free-market reforms have opened the country to foreign investment, especially in the development of energy, Albania has a high HDI and provides universal health care system and free primary and secondary education to its citizens. Albania is a member of the United Nations, NATO, WTO, World Bank, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and it is also an official candidate for membership in the European Union. Albania is one of the members of the Energy Community, Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. It is home to the largest lake in Southern Europe and one of the oldest lakes in Europe, Albania is the Medieval Latin name of the country. The name may have a continuation in the name of a settlement called Albanon and Arbanon. During the Middle Ages, the Albanians called their country Arbëri or Arbëni, Albanians today call their country Shqipëri. As early as the 17th century the placename Shqipëria and the ethnic demonym Shqiptarë gradually replaced Arbëria, the two terms are popularly interpreted as Land of the Eagles and Children of the Eagles
18.
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
19.
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
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The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of Her Majestys Government in the United Kingdom. The prime minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Monarch, to Parliament, to their political party, the office is one of the Great Offices of State. The current prime minister, Theresa May, leader of the Conservative Party, was appointed by the Queen on 13 July 2016. The position of Prime Minister was not created, it evolved slowly and erratically over three hundred years due to acts of Parliament, political developments, and accidents of history. The office is therefore best understood from a historical perspective, the origins of the position are found in constitutional changes that occurred during the Revolutionary Settlement and the resulting shift of political power from the Sovereign to Parliament. The political position of Prime Minister was enhanced by the development of political parties, the introduction of mass communication. By the start of the 20th century the modern premiership had emerged, prior to 1902, the prime minister sometimes came from the House of Lords, provided that his government could form a majority in the Commons. However as the power of the aristocracy waned during the 19th century the convention developed that the Prime Minister should always sit in the lower house. As leader of the House of Commons, the Prime Ministers authority was further enhanced by the Parliament Act of 1911 which marginalised the influence of the House of Lords in the law-making process. The Prime Minister is ex officio also First Lord of the Treasury, certain privileges, such as residency of 10 Downing Street, are accorded to Prime Ministers by virtue of their position as First Lord of the Treasury. As the Head of Her Majestys Government the modern Prime Minister leads the Cabinet, in addition the Prime Minister leads a major political party and generally commands a majority in the House of Commons. As such the incumbent wields both legislative and executive powers, under the British system there is a unity of powers rather than separation. In the House of Commons, the Prime Minister guides the process with the goal of enacting the legislative agenda of their political party. The Prime Minister also acts as the face and voice of Her Majestys Government. The British system of government is based on an uncodified constitution, in 1928, Prime Minister H. H. Asquith described this characteristic of the British constitution in his memoirs, In this country we live. Our constitutional practices do not derive their validity and sanction from any Bill which has received the assent of the King, Lords. They rest on usage, custom, convention, often of slow growth in their early stages, not always uniform, the relationships between the Prime Minister and the Sovereign, Parliament and Cabinet are defined largely by these unwritten conventions of the constitution. Many of the Prime Ministers executive and legislative powers are actually royal prerogatives which are still vested in the Sovereign
20.
Amphibious warfare
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Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducted using ships boats as the method of delivering troops to shore. Amphibious warfare includes operations defined by their type, purpose, scale, all armed forces that employ troops with special training and equipment for conducting landings from naval vessels to shore agree to this definition. Since the 20th century an amphibious landing of troops on a beachhead is acknowledged as the most complex of all military maneuvers, an amphibious operation is both similar and different in many ways to both land, naval and air operations. Historically, within the scope of these phases a vital part of success was based on the military logistics, naval gunfire. Another factor is the variety and quantity of specialised vehicles and equipment used by the force that are designed for the specific needs of this type of operation. The purpose of operations is always offensive, but limited by the plan. Landings on islands less than 5,000 km2 in size are tactical, usually with the objectives of neutralising enemy defenders. Such an operation may be prepared and planned in days or weeks, a strategic landing operation requires a major commitment of forces to invade a national territory in the archipelagic, such as the Battle of Leyte, or continental, such as Operation Neptune. Such an operation may require multiple naval and air fleets to support the landings, although most amphibious operations are thought of primarily as beach landings, they can take exploit available shore infrastructure to land troops directly into an urban environment if unopposed. In this case non-specialised ships can offload troops, vehicles and cargo using organic or facility wharf-side equipment, tactical landings in the past have utilised small boats, small craft, small ships and civilian vessels converted for the mission to deliver troops to the waters edge. Preparation and planning the naval landing operation requires the assembly of vessels with sufficient capacity to lift necessary troops employing combat loading, the military intelligence services produce a briefing on the expected opponent which guides the organisation and equipping of the embarked force. First specially designed landing craft were used for the Gallipoli landings, helicopters were first used to support beach landings during Operation Musketeer. Hovercraft have been in use for naval landings by military forces since the 1960s, recorded amphibious warfare goes back to ancient times. The Sea Peoples menaced the Egyptians from the reign of Akhenaten as captured on the reliefs at Medinet Habu, the Hellenic city states routinely resorted to opposed assaults upon each others shores, which they reflected upon in their plays and other expressions of art. In 1565, the island of Malta was invaded by the Ottoman Turks during the Great Siege of Malta, forcing its defenders to retreat to the fortified cities. A strategic choke point in the Mediterranean Sea, its loss would have been so menacing for the Western European kingdoms that forces were raised in order to relieve the island. But it took four months to train, arm, and move a 5, then, Philip II, King of Spain decided to train and assign amphibious-assault skilled units to the Royal Armada
21.
Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy)
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Admiral of the Fleet is a five-star naval officer rank and the highest rank of the British Royal Navy. The five-star NATO rank code is OF-10, although routine appointments ceased in 1995, the rank of Admiral of the Fleet is equivalent to a field marshal in the British Army or a marshal of the Royal Air Force. The rank evolved from sailing days and the admiral distinctions then used by the Royal Navy when the fleet was divided into three divisions – red, white, or blue, each division was assigned an admiral, who in turn commanded a vice-admiral and a rear admiral. In the 18th century, the nine ranks began to be filled by more than one person at any one time. The admiral of the red was pre-eminent and became known as the admiral of the fleet, the organisation of the British fleet into coloured squadrons was abandoned in 1864, although the Royal Navy kept the White Ensign. Since 1811 five members of the British Royal family, other than the monarch, of the British royalty granted the rank, only one, the Prince of Wales had not seen service in the Royal Navy. During the two World Wars a number of serving officers held active commissions as admirals of the fleet, following the creation of the Chief of the Defence Staff in 1959, the five naval officers appointed to that position became admirals of the fleet. In 2014, Lord Boyce, a former First Sea Lord, Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom First Sea Lord Heathcote, Tony. The British Admirals of the Fleet 1734–1995, media related to Royal Navy admirals of the fleet at Wikimedia Commons
22.
Sir
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Sir is an honorific address used in a number of situations in many anglophone cultures. The term can be used as a prefix, especially in the Commonwealth, for males who have been given certain honours or titles. The term is commonly used as a respectful way to address a man. Equivalent terms of address to females are maam or madam in most cases, or in the case of a woman, girl, or unmarried woman who prefers to be addressed as such. The equivalent term for a woman or baronetess is Dame. Sir derives from the Middle French honorific title sire, sire developed alongside the word seigneur, also used to refer to a feudal lord. Both derived from the Vulgar Latin senior, sire comes from the nominative case declension senior and seigneur, the prefix is used with the holders given name or full name, but never with the surname alone. For example, whilst Sir Alexander and Sir Alexander Fleming would be correct, the equivalent for a female who holds a knighthood or baronetcy in her own right is Dame, and follows the same usage customs as Sir. For example, while Lady Fiennes is correct, Lady Virginia, the widows of knights retain the style of wives of knights, however widows of baronets are either referred to as dowager, or use their forename before their courtesy style. For example, the widow of Sir Thomas Herbert Cochrane Troubridge, 4th Baronet, would either be known as Dowager Lady Troubridge or Laura, Lady Troubridge. Examples include, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Bruce Fraser, GCB, KBE Field Marshal Sir Thomas Blamey, GBE, KCB, CMG, DSO, ED This is also the case with academic titles, such as professor. For example, Patrick Bateson is both a professor and a bachelor, his correct title would be Professor Sir Patrick Bateson. The title of Doctor, however, is not used in combination with sir, knighted doctors are addressed as knights, though they may still use any post-nominal letters associated with their degrees. Church of England clergy who receive knighthoods do not use the title Sir, for example, the Reverend Dr John Polkinghorne, KBE is never referred to as Sir John Polkinghorne. Clergy of other denominations may use different conventions, peers who have been knighted are not addressed as Sir in the formal sense of the style, as their titles of nobility take precedence. Other male heirs of an earl who lack courtesy titles, and the heirs of a viscount or baron, do however use the style of Sir if knighted. Dual nationals holding a Commonwealth citizenship that recognise the British monarch as head of state are entitled to use the styling, the permissibility of using the style of Sir varies. Regular creation of new knights of the order ended in 1921 upon the formation of the Irish Free State, with the death of the last knight in 1974, the Order became dormant
23.
Roger Keyes, 1st Baron Keyes
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Admiral of the Fleet Roger John Brownlow Keyes, 1st Baron Keyes, GCB, KCVO, CMG, DSO was a Royal Navy officer. As a junior officer he served in a corvette operating from Zanzibar on slavery suppression missions, early in the Boxer Rebellion, he led a mission to capture a flotilla of four Chinese destroyers moored to a wharf on the Peiho River. He was one of the first men to climb over the Peking walls, to break through to the diplomatic legations. During the First World War Keyes was heavily involved in the organisation of the Dardanelles Campaign, Keyes took charge in an operation when six trawlers and a cruiser attempted to clear the Kephez minefield. The operation was a failure, as the Turkish mobile artillery pieces bombarded Keyes minesweeping squadron and he also planned and led the famous raids on the German submarine pens in the Belgian ports of Zeebrugge and Ostend. Between the wars Keyes commanded the Battlecruiser Squadron, the Atlantic Fleet and then the Mediterranean Fleet before becoming Commander-in-Chief, during the Second World War he initially became liaison officer to Leopold III, King of the Belgians. He went on to be the first Director of Combined Operations and implemented plans for the training of commandos and raids on hostile coasts. Born the second son of General Sir Charles Patton Keyes of the Indian Army and Katherine Jessie Keyes, Keyes told his parents from an early age, I am going to be an Admiral. After being brought up in India and then the UK, where he attended school at Margate. He was appointed to the cruiser HMS Raleigh, flagship of the Cape of Good Hope and West Africa Station, promoted to midshipman on 15 November 1887, he transferred to the corvette HMS Turquoise, operating from Zanzibar on slavery suppression missions. Promoted to sub-lieutenant on 14 November 1891 and to lieutenant on 28 August 1893, after returning home in 1897 he became commanding officer of the destroyer HMS Opossum at Plymouth in January 1898. Keyes was then posted out to China to command another destroyer, HMS Hart, in September 1898 transferring to a newer ship, HMS Fame in January 1899. In April 1899 he went to the rescue of a small British force which was attacked and surrounded by irregular Chinese forces while attempting to demarcate the border of the Hong Kong New Territories. He went ashore, leading half the party, and, while HMS Fame fired on the besiegers, he led the charge which routed the Chinese. In June 1900, early in the Boxer Rebellion, Keyes led a mission to capture a flotilla of four Chinese destroyers moored to a wharf on the Peiho River. Together with another officer, he took boarding parties onto the Chinese destroyers, captured the destroyers. Shortly thereafter he led a mission to capture the heavily fortified fort at Hsi-cheng, he loaded HMS Fame with a party of 32 men, armed with rifles, pistols. His men quickly destroyed the Chinese gun mountings, blew up the powder magazine and returned to the ship
24.
Gallipoli Campaign
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The peninsula forms the northern bank of the Dardanelles, a strait that provided a sea route to the Russian Empire, one of the Allied powers during the war. Intending to secure it, Russias allies Britain and France launched an attack followed by an amphibious landing on the peninsula. The naval attack was repelled and after eight months fighting, with casualties on both sides, the land campaign was abandoned and the invasion force was withdrawn to Egypt. The campaign was one of the greatest Ottoman victories during the war, in Turkey, it is regarded as a defining moment in the nations history, a final surge in the defence of the motherland as the Ottoman Empire crumbled. In 1908, a group of officers, known as the Young Turks. The new régime implemented a program of reform to modernise the political and economic system. An enthusiastic supporter, Germany provided significant investment, German diplomats subsequently found increasing influence, despite Britain previously being the predominant power in the region, while German officers assisted in training and re-equipping the army. Despite this support, the resources of the Ottoman Empire were depleted by the cost of the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913. In December 1913, the Germans sent a mission to Constantinople. The geographical position of the Ottoman Empire meant that Russia and her allies France, during the Sarajevo Crisis in 1914, German diplomats offered Turkey an anti-Russian alliance and territorial gains in Caucasia, north-west Iran and Trans-Caspia. The pro-British faction in the Cabinet was isolated due to the British ambassador taking leave until 18 August, as the crisis deepened in Europe, Ottoman policy was to obtain a guarantee of territorial integrity and potential advantages, unaware that the British might enter a European war. This action strained diplomatic relations between the two empires and the German government offered SMS Goeben and SMS Breslau to the Ottoman navy as replacements, by allowing the German ships to enter the Dardanelles, the Ottomans confirmed their links to Germany. In September, the British naval mission to the Ottomans, which had established in 1912 under Admiral Arthur Limpus, was recalled due to increasing concern that Turkey would soon enter the war. Rear Admiral Wilhelm Souchon of the Imperial German Navy took over command of the Ottoman navy, the German naval presence and the success of German armies on all fronts, gave the pro-German faction in the Ottoman government enough influence to declare war on Russia. On 27 October, Goeben and Breslau, having been renamed Yavûz Sultân Selîm and Midilli, sortied into the Black Sea, bombarded the Russian port of Odessa and sank several Russian ships. The Ottomans refused an Allied demand that they expel the German missions and on 31 October 1914, Russia declared war on Turkey on 2 November. The next day, the British ambassador left Constantinople and a British naval squadron off the Dardanelles bombarded the outer defensive forts at Kum Kale, a shell hit a magazine, knocked the guns off their mounts and killed 86 soldiers. Fighting also began in Mesopotamia, following a British landing to occupy the oil facilities in the Persian Gulf, the Ottomans prepared to attack Egypt in early 1915, aiming to occupy the Suez Canal and cut the Mediterranean route to India and the Far East
25.
Zeebrugge Raid
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The Zeebrugge Raid, was an attempt by the Royal Navy to block the Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge. The British intended to sink obsolete ships in the canal entrance, the port was used by the Imperial German Navy as a base for U-boats and light shipping, which were a threat to Allied shipping, especially in the English Channel. Several attempts to close the Flanders ports by bombardment failed and Operation Hush, as shipping losses to U-boats increased, finding a way to close the ports became urgent and a raid was considered. The first attempt on Zeebrugge was made on 2 April 1918 but cancelled at the last moment, after the direction changed. Another attempt was made on 23 April with a concurrent attack on Ostend, two of three blockships were scuttled in the narrowest part of the Bruges Canal and one of two submarines rammed the viaduct, which linked the shore and the mole, to isolate the German garrison. The blockships were sunk in the place and after a few days. British casualties were 583 men and German losses were 24 men, at the end of 1916 a combined operation against Borkum, Ostend and Zeebrugge had been considered by Admiral Lewis Bayly, senior officer on the coast of Ireland. The plan was rejected due to the difficulty of supplying a landing force, Bacon was asked to give his opinion and rejected the plan, as did the Admiralty. Bacon also proposed an operation on 18 December, which combined Tyrwhitts landing on the mole with a blocking operation, the raid was approved in January 1918 and crews were obtained from the Grand Fleet to perform a hazardous service. The operation was dependent on the advance of the British armies in the Third Battle of Ypres and would have no influence on events at Zeebrugge and Ostend. If landings at the ports were achieved, the forces involved would be doomed unless they were relieved by the advance of the armies in Flanders. Bacon devised a plan to destroy the gates at Zeebrugge by bombardment with 15-inch guns in the monitors Erebus, Terror. Bacon calculated that 252 shells would be necessary and that it would take at least 84 minutes, Bacon thought that the destruction of the lock gates was worth the sacrifice of a monitor but that risking all three for no result was impossible to avoid. Such conditions were unlikely to recur for several days and so a second bombardment on the day would be most unlikely. The bombardment force sailed for Zeebrugge three times, when changes in the forced a return to England but on 11 May. A buoy was laid 15 miles to the north-west of the mole as a guide, the ship returned to the buoy by 4,45 a. m. with the bearing and distance. The bombardment ships had taken position, the motor launches had formed a line, ready to generate the smoke-screen, the bombardment opened late because of the need to tow Marshal Soult, which slowed the fleet and also by haze off the harbour. Two Royal Naval Air Service artillery observation aircraft from Dunkirk, which had taken off at 2,00 a. m. had to wait from 3,00 a. m. over Zeebrugge for almost two hours
26.
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
27.
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
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During the Second World War, he was Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command. He was the last Viceroy of India and the first Governor-General of independent India, from 1954 until 1959 he was First Sea Lord, a position that had been held by his father, Prince Louis of Battenberg, some forty years earlier. Thereafter he served as Chief of the Defence Staff until 1965, during this period Mountbatten also served as Chairman of the NATO Military Committee for a year. He was the youngest child and the son of Prince Louis of Battenberg and his wife Princess Victoria of Hesse. His maternal grandparents were Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse, and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and his paternal grandparents were Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and Julia, Princess of Battenberg. His siblings were Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark, Queen Louise of Sweden, young Mountbattens nickname among family and friends was Dickie, although Richard was not among his given names. This was because his great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, had suggested the nickname of Nicky, but to avoid confusion with the many Nickys of the Russian Imperial Family, Nicky was changed to Dickie. Mountbatten was educated at home for the first 10 years of his life, he was sent to Lockers Park School in Hertfordshire and on to the Royal Naval College. His second son acquired the courtesy title Lord Louis Mountbatten and was known as Lord Louis until he was created a peer in 1946 and he paid a visit of ten days to the Western Front, in July 1918. He was appointed officer of the small warship HMS P.31 on 13 October 1918 and was promoted sub-lieutenant on 15 January 1919. HMS P.31 took part in the Peace River Pageant on 4 April 1919, Mountbatten attended Christs College, Cambridge for two terms, starting in October 1919, where he studied English literature in a programme that was specially designed for ex-servicemen. He was posted to the battlecruiser HMS Renown in March 1920 and accompanied Edward, Prince of Wales and he was promoted lieutenant on 15 April 1920. HMS Renown returned to Portsmouth on 11 October 1920, early in 1921 Royal Navy personnel were used for civil defence duties as serious industrial unrest seemed imminent. Mountbatten had to command a platoon of stokers, many of whom had never handled a rifle before and he transferred to the battlecruiser HMS Repulse in March 1921 and accompanied the Prince of Wales on a Royal tour of India and Japan. Edward and Mountbatten formed a friendship during the trip. Mountbatten survived the deep defence cuts known as the Geddes Axe and he was posted to the battleship HMS Revenge in the Mediterranean Fleet in January 1923. Promoted lieutenant-commander on 15 April 1928, he returned to the Signals School in July 1929 as Senior Wireless Instructor. He was appointed Fleet Wireless Officer to the Mediterranean Fleet in August 1931, in 1934, Mountbatten was appointed to his first command – the destroyer HMS Daring
28.
Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom)
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See Lieutenant colonel for other countries which use this rank Lieutenant colonel, is a rank in the British Army and Royal Marines which is also used in many Commonwealth countries. The rank is superior to major, and subordinate to colonel, the comparable Royal Navy rank is commander, and the comparable rank in the Royal Air Force and many Commonwealth air forces is Wing Commander. The rank insignia in the British Army and Royal Marines, as well as many Commonwealth countries, is a crown above a 4 pointed Bath star, the crown has varied in the past with different monarchs, the current one being the Crown of St Edward. Most other Commonwealth countries use the insignia, or with the state emblem replacing the crown. In the modern British Armed forces, the commander of a regiment or battalion is a lieutenant colonel. From 1 April 1918 to 31 July 1919, the Royal Air Force maintained the rank of lieutenant colonel and it was superseded by the rank of wing commander on the following day
29.
Troop
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A troop is a military sub-subunit, originally a small formation of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron. In many armies a troop is the equivalent element to the section or platoon. Exceptions are the Royal Horse Artillery and the US Cavalry, where troops are subunits that compare to a company or artillery battery. A cavalry soldier of private rank is called a trooper in many Commonwealth armies, a related sense of the term troops refers to members of the military collectively, as in the troops, see Troop. In some countries, like Italy, the cavalry unit is called Squadron. Today, a troop is defined differently in different armed forces, SASR troops are also unusual as they are commanded by a captain—most troop/platoon sized elements are commanded by a lieutenant. In all cases, units which refer to platoon sized elements as troops refer to company-sized elements as squadrons, privates in the RAAC and SASR hold the rank trooper, however this is not the case for any other Corps/units which use the term troops. In the British Army the definition of a troop varies by corps, household Cavalry and Royal Armoured Corps, Three or four armoured fighting vehicles commanded by a subaltern, i. e. effectively the same level element as an infantry platoon. A unit of two to four guns or launchers, or an equivalent headquarters unit, in the Royal Horse Artillery, a troop used to be the equivalent to a battery in other artillery units. The Royal Engineers and Royal Corps of Signals used platoons instead until after World War II, other army corps do not use the term. In the Royal Marines, a troop is the equivalent to an army platoon, in the Canadian Army, a troop is the equivalent of a platoon within the armoured, artillery, engineer, and signals branches. Two to four troops comprise the elements of a squadron. Companies were renamed troops in 1883, in the United States, state police forces are often regionally divided into troops. This usage came about from these organizations modelling themselves on the US Army, for this same reason the state police and highway patrol personnel of most states are known as trooper rather than officer. In Scouting, a troop is a made up of scouts or guides from the same locality under a leader. In the case of Guides, the company is used more often
30.
Section (military unit)
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A section is a military sub-subunit. It usually consists of six and 20 personnel, and is usually an alternate name for, and equivalent to. As such two or more sections usually make up a platoon or an air force flight. However, in the French Army and in armies based on the French model, under the new structure of the infantry platoon, Australian Army sections are made up of eight men divided into two four-man fireteams. Each fireteam consists of a leader, a marksman with enhanced optics, a grenadier with an M203. Typical fire team structure, At the start of World War I, the Australian Army used a section that consisted of 27 men including the section commander, during World War II, a rifle section comprised ten soldiers with a corporal in command and a lance-corporal as his second-in-command. The corporal used an M1928 Thompson submachine gun, while one of the privates used a Bren gun, the other eight soldiers all used No.1 Mk.3 Lee–Enfield rifles with a bayonet and scabbard. They all carried two or three No.36 Mills bomb grenades, post–World War II, and during the Vietnam War, a rifle section consisted of ten personnel comprising, a command & scout group, a gun group and a rifle group. The British Army section now consists of eight soldiers made up of a Corporal as the section commander, three sections together form a platoon. In conventional warfare, the section is split into two four-man fireteams, commanded by the corporal and lance-corporal respectively. With the switch from.303 to 7. 62mm NATO in the 1950s until the introduction of 5.56 mm calibre weapons in the late 1980s, the section was typically divided into two groups, a rifle group and a gun group. The gun group was commanded by the section 2IC with an L1A1, and comprised the gunner with the GPMG and this organization was abandoned in favour of fireteams when 5.56 mm assault rifles and SAWs were introduced in the late 1980s. These were the L85 IW and the longer-barrelled L86 LSW, the firepower of the team has now been extended by the L110A1 LMG. The LSW is now used as a designated marksmans rifle. Each fire team has two IW, one with a grenade launcher, one LSW and one LMG. An infantry section now consists of, Charlie Fireteam, Corporal, rifleman, armed with an L85A25. 56mm rifle with 40mm underslung grenade launcher. Rifleman, armed with an L110A15. 56mm light machine gun, rifleman, armed with an L129A17. 62x51 mm sharpshooter rifle. Delta Fireteam, Lance Corporal, armed with an L85A25. 56mm rifle, rifleman, armed with an L85A25. 56mm rifle with 40mm underslung grenade launcher
31.
Cap badge
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A cap badge, also known as head badge or hat badge, is a badge worn on uniform headgear and distinguishes the wearers nationality and/or organisation. Cap badges are a form of heraldry and their design generally incorporates highly symbolic devices. In the British Army each regiment and corps has its own cap badge and that of the Grenadier Guards is known as The Grenade Fired Proper The concept of regimental badges appears to have originated with the British Army. Plastic cap badges were introduced during the Second World War, when metals became strategic materials. Nowadays many cap badges in the British Army are made of a material called stay-brite, regimental cap badges are usually cast as one single piece but in a number of cases they may be cast in different pieces. The Royal Corps Of Signals also have a two part badge, the top being a brass crown and the bottom consisting of a silver flying body of Mercury above a brass world and the motto Certa Cito. A regiment or battalion may maintain variations of the cap badge for different ranks. These variations are usually in the material, size and stylization. Variations in cap badges are made for, Officers, usually three-dimensional in design with more expensive materials such as silver, enamel. Most officers beret badges are embroidered rather than metal or stay-brite, there are exceptions such as the Welsh Guards, where all ranks wear a cloth cap badge. Officers wearing an elaborate version to that of soldiers, made using gold thread and has a more three-dimensional design. All ranks of the Special Air Service wear an embroidered capbadge and all ranks of The Rifles, some regiments maintain a blackened or subdued version of their cap badges as shiny brass cap badges may attract the enemys attention on the battlefield. However, since the practice of British soldiers operating in theatre with regimental headdress has all but died out, the back badge is unique in the British Army and was awarded to the 28th Regiment of Foot for their actions at the Battle of Alexandria in 1801. Additional items that reflect a regiments historical accomplishments, such as backing cloth and hackles, in Scottish regiments, for instance, it is a tradition for soldiers to wear their cap badges on a small square piece of their regimental tartans. Officer Cadets may wear a white backing behind their badges. For a period leading up to Remembrance Day artificial poppies are worn by people in the United Kingdom. When worn in uniform the plastic stem of the poppy is discarded, on forage caps the paper petals are fitted under the left hand chin strap button. In the Royal Marines, the cap badges of commissioned officers are split into two, the crown and lion atop, but separated from, the globe and laurels, the Canadian Forces utilize a variety of metal and cloth cap badges on their headdress
32.
Achnacarry
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Achnacarry is a small hamlet, private estate, and a castle in the Lochaber region of Highland, Scotland. It occupies a position on an isthmus between Loch Lochy to the east, and Loch Arkaig to the west. The settlement has an association with Clan Cameron, Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel built the original Achnacarry Castle in about 1655. This was destroyed by government troops after the Battle of Culloden and it was used as a Commando Training Depot in World War II and the village retains close ties to British Commandos, the United States Army Rangers and similar units from other Allied nations. In 1928, the Achnacarry Agreement was signed, an attempt to set petroleum production quotas. Achnacarry is not far from the village of Spean Bridge and about 15 miles north of the town of Fort William. —Royal Visit to Achnacarry, from the Journal of Queen Victoria, Friday,12 September 1873. In 1665 the Stand-off at the Fords of Arkaig took place near Achnacarry, Achnacarry Castle is the ancestral home of the Chiefs of Clan Cameron, located at Achnacarry, about 15 mi northeast of Fort William, Scotland near the foot of Loch Arkaig. The original castle was built around 1655 and destroyed after the Battle of Culloden in 1746, Ewen Eoghainn MacAilein Cameron, XIII Chief of Clan Cameron, built the highly disputed Tor Castle in the early 16th century. Tor Castle would remain the seat of the Camerons of Lochiel until demolished by his grandson, Sir Ewen Dubh Cameron. Sir Ewen Cameron wanted a more convenient house, which was removed from the Clan Mackintosh, Clan Campbell. He built Achnacarry Castle in around 1655 in a position on the isthmus between Loch Lochy and Loch Arkaig. One of the few remaining descriptions relate that Lochiels seat was a house, all built of fir-planks. Others portrayed old Achnacarry as a home, with the feel. From Donald Cameron XIX Chief we find the best description of the grounds of Achnacarry. In his marriage contract a requirement was placed in which Lochiel had to build his wife a house. to the value of 100 pounds sterling at least, with gardens, office houses, lands, other conveniencys. With the Jacobite armys defeat at the Battle of Culloden in April 1746 the clans retreated into the Scottish Highlands, after this last attempt at resistance failed, he and his men took to the mountains. Many valued relics and personal possessions were relocated beforehand, but the great fir-planked Old Achnacarry was left in ashes and his wife Anne née Abercromby engaged James Gillespie as architect. The current building and the estate gained fame as the Commando Training Depot for the Allied Forces from March 1942 to 1945
33.
Brigade
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A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment, two or more brigades may constitute a division. Brigades formed into divisions are usually infantry or armored, in addition to combat units, they may include combat support units or sub-units, such as artillery and engineers, and logistic units or sub-units. Historically, such brigades have sometimes been called brigade-groups, on operations, a brigade may comprise both organic elements and attached elements, including some temporarily attached for a specific task. Brigades may also be specialized and comprise battalions of a branch, for example cavalry, mechanized, armored, artillery, air defence, aviation, engineers. Some brigades are classified as independent or separate and operate independently from the division structure. The typical NATO standard brigade consists of approximately 3,200 to 5,500 troops, however, in Switzerland and Austria, the numbers could go as high as 11,000 troops. The Soviet Union, its forerunners and successors, mostly use regiment instead of brigade, a brigades commander is commonly a major general, brigadier general, brigadier or colonel. In some armies, the commander is rated as a General Officer, the brigade commander has a self-contained headquarters and staff. Some brigades may also have a deputy commander, the headquarters has a nucleus of staff officers and support that can vary in size depending on the type of brigade. On operations, additional specialist elements may be attached, the headquarters will usually have its own communications unit. In some gendarmerie forces, brigades are the organizational unit. The brigade as a military unit came about starting in the 15th century when the British army, as such a field army became larger, the number of subordinate commanders became unmanageable for the officer in general command of said army, usually a major general, to effectively command. In order to streamline command relationships, as well as effect some modicum of control, especially in regard to combined arms operations. The terms origin is found in two French roots, which together, meant roughly those who fight, the so-called brigada was a well-mixed unit, comprising infantry, cavalry and normally also artillery, designated for a special task. The size of such brigada ranged from a company of up to two regiments. The brigada was the forerunner of the battalion task force, battle group. The brigade was improved as a unit by the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus
34.
Vickers machine gun
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The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the water-cooled.303 British machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The machine gun typically required a six to eight-man team to operate, one fired, one fed the ammunition and it was in service from before the First World War until the 1960s, with air-cooled versions of it on many Allied World War I fighter aircraft. The weapon had a reputation for solidity and reliability. Using 100 barrels, they fired a million rounds without a failure and it was this absolute foolproof reliability which endeared the Vickers to every British soldier who ever fired one. The Vickers machine gun was based on the successful Maxim gun of the late 19th century, a muzzle booster was also added. The British Army formally adopted the Vickers gun as its machine gun on 26 November 1912. There were still great shortages when the First World War began, Vickers was, in fact, threatened with prosecution for war profiteering, due to the exorbitant price it was demanding for each gun. As a result, the price was slashed, as the war progressed, and numbers increased, it became the British Armys primary machine gun, and served on all fronts during the conflict. After the First World War, the Machine Gun Corps was disbanded, however, the Vickers remained in service with the British Army until 30 March 1968. Its last operational use was in the Radfan during the Aden Emergency and its successor in UK service is the L7 GPMG. In 1913, a Vickers machine gun was mounted on the experimental Vickers E. F. B.1 biplane, which was probably the worlds first purpose-built combat aeroplane. However, by the time the version, the Vickers F. B.5, had entered service the following year. During World War I, the Vickers gun became a weapon on British and French military aircraft. Although heavier than the Lewis, its closed bolt firing cycle made it easier to synchronize to allow it to fire through aircraft propellers. The belt feed was enclosed right up to the guns feed-way to inhibit effects from wind, steel disintegrating-link ammunition belts were perfected in the UK by William de Courcy Prideaux in mid-war and became standard for aircraft guns thereafter. The famous Sopwith Camel and the SPAD XIII types used twin synchronized Vickers, as did most British and French fighters between 1918 and the mid-1930s. Several sets of louvred slots were cut into the jacket to aid air cooling. The Gloster Gladiator was the last RAF fighter to be armed with the Vickers, the Fairey Swordfish continued to be fitted with the weapon until production ended in August 1944
35.
No. 3 Commando
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No.3 Commando was a battalion-sized Commando unit raised by the British Army during the Second World War. Formed in July 1940 from volunteers for service, it was the first such unit to carry the title of Commando. Shortly afterwards the unit was involved in an unsuccessful raid upon the German-occupied Channel Island of Guernsey. On D-Day they went ashore on 6 June 1944 as part of the 1st Special Service Brigade tasked with linking up with the 6th Airborne Division on the flank of Sword Beach before being withdrawn. Later they took part in the Allied counterattack during the Ardennes Offensive in early 1945 before taking part in the advance into Germany as part of Operation Plunder. Following the end of the war, No.3 Commando carried out duties in Germany before it was disbanded on 4 January 1946. By 5 July 1940 they had been raised and a little more than a week later they carried out one of the first Commando raids of the war. This raid, known as Operation Ambassador, which had been organised at the behest of the British prime minister. As a result of a number of mishaps and hurried planning, as a part of this organisation, the units name was changed to A Special Service Company. At the end of 1940, the service battalions were reorganised into a headquarters. In January 1941 the special service battalions were broken up, the Commandos were delinked and raised back to full battalion-sized units themselves. In March 1941,250 officers and men from No.3 Commando took part in the first large-scale Commando raid, which was launched on four ports in the Lofoten Islands in Norway. On 27 December 1941, the Commandos carried out another raid in Norway, this time on the port of Vaagso, in addition to the troops from No.3 Commando, there were two troops from No.2 Commando acting as the floating reserve. 6 Troop under Peter Young were ferried across from Maaloy, overhead a considerable air battle ensued, while in the anchorage the naval force continued to bombard the shore line and attack German shipping in the port. Finally, by 13,45 the order for the Commandos to withdraw was given, withdrawing by troops back down the road, they moved back to the landing craft and by 14,45 they had re-embarked, taking a number of German prisoners and Norwegian volunteers with them. The overall losses for the Commandos were 19 killed and 57 wounded, the majority of which were from No.3 Commando while 120 Germans were killed, in August 1942 No.3 Commando was involved in the ill-fated Operation Jubilee, an exploratory raid on Dieppe in France. The plan called for an assault on the port by the Canadian 2nd Division. No.3 Commando was assigned the task of attacking the Goebbels Battery, landing on the eastern flank, the battery was located near Berneval-le-Grand, about half a mile from the sea with steep cliffs in front of it
36.
Operation Archery
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Operation Archery, also known as the Måløy Raid, was a British Combined Operations raid during World War II against German positions on the island of Vågsøy, Norway, on 27 December 1941. The action was supported by Royal Navy gunfire, led by the light cruiser HMS Kenya, with the destroyers HMS Onslow, Oribi, Offa, the submarine HMS Tuna was in support as the force navigational check. For troop transport the Prince Charles and Prince Leopold were used, also in support were Royal Air Force bombers and fighter-bombers. The commando force of 570 troops was divided into five with these objectives, central to the operation was the destruction of fish-oil production and stores which the Germans used in the manufacture of high explosives. Another intention was to cause the Germans to maintain and increase forces in Norway which otherwise might be employed on the Eastern Front, the dawn landing was preceded by a very effective naval bombardment and objectives went according to plan except in the town of Måløy itself. Opposition there was much stiffer than expected as, unknown to the British and their experience in sniping and street fighting caused the operation to develop into a bitter house-to-house battle. This caused the commander, John Durnford-Slater, to call in the floating reserve, a number of local citizens assisted the commandos by acting as porters for ammunition, grenades and other explosives, and in carrying away the wounded. At around 14,00, the commandos started their withdrawal having destroyed four factories, the stores, ammunition and fuel stores. Much of the town was in flames, the naval assault force of one cruiser and four destroyers had meanwhile sunk 10 vessels, some found in the act of being scuttled to prevent capture. Technical difficulties had prevented the German coastal artillery from being fully effective, No Royal Navy ships were lost, but the navy suffered four men killed and four wounded. The commandos accounted for at least 120 defenders killed and returned with 98 prisoners, captain OFlaherty seen here was hit by sniper fire. He lost one eye and subsequently became a Brigadier wearing an eyepatch, several Quislings and over 70 loyal Norwegians were also brought back. In conjunction with this raid, Operation Anklet was mounted by No.12 Commando on the Lofoten Islands as a diversion, the raid was enough to persuade Adolf Hitler to divert 30,000 troops to Norway and to upgrade coastal and inland defences. Hitler thought that the British might invade northern Norway to put pressure on Sweden, SUPPLEMENT to The London Gazette Of FRIDAY the 2nd of July 1948 RAID ON MILITARY AND ECONOMIC OBJECTIVES IN THE VICINITY OF VAAGSO ISLAND. Ibiblio. org Combined Operations, Operation Archery I Was There, – We Went to Vaagso with the Commando Men, The War Illustrated,20 January 1942
37.
Operation Musketoon
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Operation Musketoon was the codeword for an Anglo-Norwegian raid in the Second World War. The operation was mounted against the German-held Glomfjord power plant in Norway between 11–21 September 1942, the raiding party consisted of two officers and eight men from No.2 Commando, and two men of the Norwegian Armed Forces in exile who were part of the Special Operations Executive. Crossing the North Sea by submarine, on arrival in Norway they successfully attacked and sufficiently damaged the plant, to evade German search parties, the commandos split into two groups. One group of four men safely reached Sweden and were repatriated back to the United Kingdom. The second group were captured, one man died of his wounds, one staff officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Dudley Clarke, had already submitted such a proposal to General Sir John Dill, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff. Dill, aware of Churchills intentions, approved Clarkes proposal, three weeks later the first commando raid took place. The raiders failed to any intelligence or damage any German equipment. No.2 Commando was a unit of the British Army during the Second World War. The original No.2 Commando, unlike the other units, was formed from volunteers from across the United Kingdom and was always intended to be a parachute unit. On 22 June 1940, No.2 Commando was turned over to parachute duties, the first No.2 Commando did not carry out any operations before being turned over to parachute duties. After its re-designation as the 11th Special Air Service Battalion, a second No.2 Commando was formed. This new No.2 Commando was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Augustus Charles Newman and this was followed by the St Nazaire Raid in March 1942. The next action involving men of No.2 Commando was Operation Musketoon, the objective was to destroy the Glomfjord power plant at Glomfjord, south of Narvik, which supplied an aluminium plant in the area. The Glomfjord power plant was built in 1918, at the end of Glomfjord and it is located on a plateau that drops straight down to the sea. It was a power plant supplied by two water pipes coming down the mountain from inland lakes. Apart from the factory, the power plant also supplied power to local villages. The raid was commanded by Captain Graeme Black, from Ontario in Canada, the second in command was Captain Joseph Houghton. The two Norwegian corporals were Erling Djupdraet and Sverre Granlund, for a fortnight before leaving for Norway, the team had been training on a large country estate in Scotland
38.
Glomfjord power plant
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Glomfjord power plant is a 6×20 MW hydroelectric power plant in Glomfjord in the municipality of Meløy in Nordland county, Norway. It gets its water from Nedre Navervatn lake which is located about 465 meters above sea level, the outlet of the plant is Glomfjorden. The plant is owned by Statkraft. The power plant was built in 1918 to a design by the architect Olaf Nordhagen, in 1942, during the Second World War, an Anglo-Norwegian raid, Operation Musketoon, attacked the German-held power plant. Http, //www. statkraft. com Arkitekturguide for Nord-Norge og Svalbard Konsesjonssøknad - Fykanvannet kraftverk
39.
Norway
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The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land, until 1814, the kingdom included the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland. It also included Isle of Man until 1266, Shetland and Orkney until 1468, Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres and a population of 5,258,317. The country shares a long border with Sweden. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. King Harald V of the Dano-German House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway, erna Solberg became Prime Minister in 2013, replacing Jens Stoltenberg. A constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the Parliament, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court, as determined by the 1814 Constitution, the kingdom is established as a merger of several petty kingdoms. By the traditional count from the year 872, the kingdom has existed continuously for 1,144 years, Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels, counties and municipalities. The Sámi people have an amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament. Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States, the country maintains a combination of market economy and a Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system. Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the countrys gross domestic product. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the worlds largest producer of oil, the country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World Bank and IMF lists. On the CIAs GDP per capita list which includes territories and some regions, from 2001 to 2006, and then again from 2009 to 2017, Norway had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world. It also has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking, Norway ranks first on the World Happiness Report, the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity and the Democracy Index. Norway has two names, Noreg in Nynorsk and Norge in Bokmål. The name Norway comes from the Old English word Norðrveg mentioned in 880, meaning way or way leading to the north. In contrasting with suðrvegar southern way for Germany, and austrvegr eastern way for the Baltic, the Anglo-Saxon of Britain also referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land. This was the area of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and because of him
40.
Captain (armed forces)
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The army rank of captain is a commissioned officer rank historically corresponding to the command of a company of soldiers. The rank is used by some air forces and marine forces. Today, a captain is typically either the commander or second-in-command of a company or artillery battery, in the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army, a captain may also command a company, or be the second-in-command of a battalion. In NATO countries, the rank of captain is described by the code OF-2 and is one rank above an OF-1, the rank of captain is generally considered to be the highest rank a soldier can achieve while remaining in the field. The rank of captain should not be confused with the rank of captain or with the British-influenced air force rank of group captain. The term ultimately goes back to Late Latin capitaneus meaning chief, prominent, in Middle English adopted as capitayn in the 14th century, the military rank of captain was in use from the 1560s, referring to an officer who commands a company. The naval sense, an officer who commands a man-of-war, is earlier, from the 1550s. He would in turn receive money from another nobleman to serve as his lieutenant, the funding to provide for the troops came from the monarch or his government, the captain had to be responsible for it. If he was not, or was otherwise court-martialed, he would be dismissed, otherwise, the only pension for the captain was selling the right to another nobleman when he was ready to retire. In most countries, the air force is the junior service, many, such as the United States Air Force, use a rank structure and insignia similar to those of the army. However, the United Kingdoms Royal Air Force, many other Commonwealth air forces, a group captain is OF-5 and was derived from the naval rank of captain. In the unified system of the Canadian Forces, the air force rank titles are pearl grey, a variety of images illustrative of different forces insignia for captain are shown below, Captain Captain Senior captain Staff captain
41.
Military Cross
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The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and used to be awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC is granted in recognition of an act or acts of gallantry during active operations against the enemy on land to all members. In 1979, the Queen approved a proposal that a number of awards, including the Military Cross, the award was created on 28 December 1914 for commissioned officers of the substantive rank of Captain or below and for Warrant Officers. In August 1916, Bars were awarded to the MC in recognition of the performance of acts of gallantry meriting the award. In 1931 the award was extended to Majors and also to members of the Royal Air Force for actions on the ground, the MC now serves as the third-level award for gallantry on land for all ranks of the British Armed Forces. 46 mm max height,44 mm max width, ornamental silver cross with straight arms terminating in broad finials, suspended from plain suspension bar. Obverse decorated with crowns, with the Royal Cypher in centre. Reverse is plain, but from 1938 the name of the recipient, the ribbon width is 32 mm and consists of three equal vertical moire stripes of white, purple, and white. During World War I, Acting Captain Francis Wallington of the Royal Field Artillery was the first person to be awarded the MC, during World War II Captain Sam Manekshaw, Indian Army, was leading a counter-offensive operation against the invading Japanese Army in Burma. During the course of the offensive, he was hit by a burst of machine-gun fire, Major General D. T. Cowan spotted Manekshaw holding on to life and was aware of his valour in face of stiff resistance from the Japanese. Fearing the worst, Major General Cowan quickly pinned his own Military Cross ribbon on to Manekshaw saying, the first posthumous Military Cross was that awarded to Captain Herbert Westmacott, Grenadier Guards for gallantry in Northern Ireland during the period 1 February 1980 to 30 April 1980. The first woman to be awarded the Military Cross was Private Michelle Norris of the Royal Army Medical Corps, Norris was awarded her medal personally by Queen Elizabeth II on 21 March 2007 as the result of her actions in Iraq on 11 June 2006. Able Seaman Kate Nesbitt, second woman, first in the Royal Navy, sergeant Michael Lockett MC was the first holder of the MC to be killed in action since World War II. Database of Australian Awardees at the Australian Government Honours website Search recommendations for the Military Cross on The UK National Archives website, the Kings Own Royal Regiment Museum, Military Cross
42.
Colditz Castle
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Colditz Castle is a Renaissance castle in the town of Colditz near Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz in the state of Saxony in Germany. It gained international fame as Oflag IV-C, a camp during World War II for incorrigible Allied officers who had repeatedly escaped from other camps. The castle lies between the towns of Hartha and Grimma on a spur over the Zwickauer Mulde. It had the first wildlife park in Germany when, in 1523, in 1046, Henry III of the Holy Roman Empire gave the burghers of Colditz permission to build the first documented settlement at the site. In 1083, Henry IV urged Margrave Wiprecht of Groitzsch to develop the castle site, in 1158, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa made Thimo I Lord of Colditz, and major building works began. By 1200, the town around the market was established, forests, empty meadows, and farmland were settled next to the pre-existing Slavic villages Zschetzsch, Zschadraß, Zollwitz, Terpitzsch and Koltzschen. Around that time the larger villages Hohnbach, Thierbaum, Ebersbach, in the Middle Ages, the castle played an important role as a lookout post for the German Emperors and was the centre of the Reich territories of the Pleißenland. In 1404, the nearly 250-year rule of the dynasty of the Lords of Colditz ended when Thimo VIII sold Colditz Castle for 15,000 silver marks to the Wettin ruler of the period in Saxony. As a result of dynastic politics, the town of Colditz was incorporated into the Margraviate of Meissen. In 1430, the Hussites attacked Colditz and set town and castle on fire, around 1464, renovation and new building work on the castle were carried out by Prince Ernest, who died in Colditz Castle in 1486. Under Frederick the Wise and John the Gentle, Colditz was a residence of the electors of Saxony. In 1504, the servant Clemens the baker accidentally set Colditz on fire, and the hall, church, castle. In 1506, reconstruction began and new buildings were erected around the castle courtyard. In 1523, the park was turned into one of the largest zoos in Europe. In 1524, rebuilding of the floors of the castle began. The castle was reconstructed in a fashion that corresponded to the way it was divided up—into the cellar, the royal house and the banqueting hall building. There is nothing more to be seen of the fortified castle, where the present rear of the castle is located. Architects Hans Irmisch and Peter Kummer supervised further restoration and rebuilding, later, Lucas Cranach the Younger was commissioned as an artist in the castle
43.
Sachsenhausen (detention camp)
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Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the camp ground with the remaining buildings is now open to the public as a museum. The camp was established in 1936, executions took place at Sachsenhausen, especially of Soviet prisoners of war. During the earlier stages of the existence the executions were done in a trench. A large task force of prisoners was used from the camp to work in nearby brickworks to meet Albert Speers vision of rebuilding Berlin, Sachsenhausen was originally not intended as an extermination camp—instead, the systematic murder was conducted in camps to the east. In 1942 large numbers of Jewish inmates were relocated to Auschwitz, however the construction of a gas chamber and ovens by camp-commandant Anton Kaindl in March 1943 facilitated the means to kill larger numbers of prisoners. The Main gate or Guard Tower A, with its 8mm Maxim machine gun, on the front entrance gates to Sachsenhausen is the infamous slogan Arbeit Macht Frei. About 200,000 people passed through Sachsenhausen between 1936 and 1945, anchoring the base of the triangular shaped thousand-acre site was the large Appellplatz, where tens of thousands of prisoners would line up for morning and evening roll call. Creating a semi circular configuration, were the barracks of custody zone I which fanned out from the base of the Appellplatz, Sachsenhausen was intended to set a standard for other concentration camps, both in its design and the treatment of prisoners. The camp perimeter is, approximately, a triangle with a semi circular roll call area centered on the main entrance gate in the boundary running northeast to southwest. Barrack huts lay beyond the roll call area, radiating from the gate, the layout was intended to allow the machine gun post in the entrance gate to dominate the camp but in practice it was necessary to add additional watchtowers to the perimeter. The standard barrack layout was to have a central washing area and a room with toilet bowls. There was an infirmary inside the angle of the perimeter. There was also a kitchen and a camp laundry. The camps capacity became inadequate and the camp was extended in 1938 by a new rectangular area northeast of the entrance gate, there was an additional area outside the main camp perimeter to the north, this was built in 1941 for special prisoners that the regime wished to isolate. The camp was secure and there were few successful escapes, the perimeter consisted of a 3-metre-high stone wall on the outside. Within that there was a space that was patrolled by guards and dogs, it was bordered on the inside by an electric fence. Any prisoner venturing onto the strip would be shot by the guards without warning
44.
Adolf Hitler
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Adolf Hitler was a German politician who was the leader of the Nazi Party, Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and Führer of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945. As dictator of the German Reich, he initiated World War II in Europe with the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and was central to the Holocaust, Hitler was born in Austria, then part of Austria-Hungary, and raised near Linz. He moved to Germany in 1913 and was decorated during his service in the German Army in World War I and he joined the German Workers Party, the precursor of the NSDAP, in 1919 and became leader of the NSDAP in 1921. In 1923 he attempted a coup in Munich to seize power, the failed coup resulted in Hitlers imprisonment, during which he dictated the first volume of his autobiography and political manifesto Mein Kampf. Hitler frequently denounced international capitalism and communism as being part of a Jewish conspiracy, by 1933, the Nazi Party was the largest elected party in the German Reichstag, which led to Hitlers appointment as Chancellor on 30 January 1933. Hitler aimed to eliminate Jews from Germany and establish a New Order to counter what he saw as the injustice of the post-World War I international order dominated by Britain, Hitler sought Lebensraum for the German people in Eastern Europe. His aggressive foreign policy is considered to be the cause of the outbreak of World War II in Europe. He directed large-scale rearmament and on 1 September 1939 invaded Poland, resulting in British, in June 1941, Hitler ordered an invasion of the Soviet Union. By the end of 1941 German forces and the European Axis powers occupied most of Europe, failure to defeat the Soviets and the entry of the United States into the war forced Germany onto the defensive and it suffered a series of escalating defeats. In the final days of the war, during the Battle of Berlin in 1945, Hitler married his long-time lover, on 30 April 1945, less than two days later, the two killed themselves to avoid capture by the Red Army, and their corpses were burned. Hitler and the Nazi regime were also responsible for the killing of an estimated 19.3 million civilians, in addition,29 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of military action in the European Theatre of World War II. The number of civilians killed during the Second World War was unprecedented in warfare, Hitlers father Alois Hitler Sr. was the illegitimate child of Maria Anna Schicklgruber. The baptismal register did not show the name of his father, in 1842, Johann Georg Hiedler married Aloiss mother Maria Anna. Alois was brought up in the family of Hiedlers brother, Johann Nepomuk Hiedler, in 1876, Alois was legitimated and the baptismal register changed by a priest to register Johann Georg Hiedler as Aloiss father. Alois then assumed the surname Hitler, also spelled Hiedler, Hüttler, the Hitler surname is probably based on one who lives in a hut. Nazi official Hans Frank suggested that Aloiss mother had been employed as a housekeeper by a Jewish family in Graz, and that the familys 19-year-old son Leopold Frankenberger had fathered Alois. No Frankenberger was registered in Graz during that period, and no record has been produced of Leopold Frankenbergers existence, Adolf Hitler was born on 20 April 1889 in Braunau am Inn, a town in Austria-Hungary, close to the border with the German Empire. He was one of six born to Alois Hitler and Klara Pölzl
45.
Commando Order
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This was in fact the second Commando Order, the first being issued by Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt on 21 July 1942, stipulating that parachutists should be handed over to the Gestapo. The Commando Order mentioned violations of the Geneva Conventions by Allied commando troops and it is widely believed that occurrences at Dieppe and on a small raid on the Channel Island of Sark by the Small Scale Raiding Force brought Hitlers rage to a head. On 19 August 1942, during this raid, a Canadian brigadier took a copy of the operational order ashore against explicit orders, the order was subsequently discovered on the beach by the Germans and found its way to Hitler. Among the dozens of pages of orders was an instruction to bind prisoners, the orders were for the Canadian forces participating in the raid, and not the commandos. Bodies of shot German prisoners with their hands tied were allegedly found by German forces after the battle, during the raid, five prisoners were taken. To minimize the task of the left with the captives. According to the British personnel, one prisoner allegedly started shouting to alert those in a hotel, the remaining four prisoners were silenced by stuffing their mouths, according to Anders Lassen, with grass. En route to the beach, three made a break. Whether or not some had freed their hands during the firefight has never been established, two are believed to have been shot and one stabbed. The fourth was conveyed back to England. A few days after the Sark raid, the Germans issued a propaganda communiqué implying that at least one prisoner had escaped and they also claimed this hand-tying practice was used at Dieppe. Subsequently, on October 9, Berlin announced that 1376 Allied prisoners would henceforth be shackled, the Canadians responded with a like shackling of German prisoners in Canada. However, before the Canadians ended the policy, an uprising of German POWs occurred at Bowmanville POW camp. At any rate, by this time many German camps had abandoned the practice or reduced it to merely leaving a pile of shackles in a prison billet as a token. On October 18 after much deliberation by High Command lawyers, officers and staff, Hitler issued his Commando Order or Kommandobefehl in secret, commandos of these types captured were turned over to German security and police forces and transported to concentration camps for execution. The Gazette citation reporting the awarding of the G. C. to Yeo-Thomas describes this process in detail, the first victims were two officers and five other ranks of Operation Musketoon, who were shot in Sachsenhausen on the morning of 23 October 1942. In November 1942, British survivors of Operation Freshman were executed, in December 1942, Royal Marine commandos captured during Operation Frankton were executed under this order. On 30 July 1943, the captured crew of the Royal Norwegian Navy motor torpedo boat MTB345 were executed by the Germans in Bergen
United Kingdom
British Army
