23rd Division (United Kingdom)
The 23rd Division was an infantry division of the British Army raised in 1914 in the Great War as part of Kitchener's Army. The division was sent to France in August 1915 under the command of Major-General Sir James Melville Babington C.B. C.M.G. During the war the division fought on the Western Front until October 1917 when it moved to the Italian Front. It remained in Italy and was disbanded by March 1919. Unit history 1914–1915 Formation and training The division formed part of Kitchener's third New Army, with concentration of units beginning on 16 September, the 68th Brigade at Bullswater and the 69th and 70th brigades, together with Royal Engineers companies at Frensham. It was commanded by Maj. Gen. James Melville Babington, who was at first hampered by a lack of clerks, cooks and a means of communicating orders, other than verbally. Together with other New Army divisions, uniforms of any description were not received until mid October, by which time many of the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Division (military)
A division is a large military unit or Formation (military), formation, usually consisting of between 6,000 and 25,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades; in turn, several divisions typically make up a corps. Historically, the division has been the default combined arms unit capable of independent Military tactics, operations. Smaller combined arms units, such as the American regimental combat team (RCT) during World War II, were used when conditions favored them. In recent times, modern Western militaries have begun adopting the smaller brigade combat team (similar to the RCT) as the default combined arms unit, with the division they belong to being less important. While the focus of this article is on army divisions, in naval usage "division (naval), division" has a completely different meaning, referring to either an administrative/functional sub-unit of a department (e.g., fire control division of the weapons department) aboar ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is headed by the Chief Royal Engineer. The Regimental Headquarters and the Royal School of Military Engineering are in Chatham in Kent, England. The corps is divided into several regiments, barracked at various places in the United Kingdom and around the world. History The Royal Engineers trace their origins back to the military engineers brought to England by William the Conqueror, specifically Bishop Gundulf of Rochester Cathedral, and claim over 900 years of unbroken service to the crown. Engineers have always served in the armies of the Crown; however, the origins of the modern corps, along with those of the Royal Artillery, lie in the Board of Ordnance established in the 15th century. In Woolwich in 1716, the Board formed the Royal Regime ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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70th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)
The 70th Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Army that saw service during both the First and Second World War and postwar. First World War The 70th Brigade was first raised in September 1914, shortly after the beginning of the First World War, as part of the 23rd Division. Consisting of men volunteering for Kitchener's Army, the brigade, after initially experiencing severe difficulties in training the men, due to a shortage of weapons and equipment, was sent to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front in August 1915, later fighting, most notably, in the battles of the Somme, Messines and Passchendaele. The brigade remained there until late 1917 when it was sent to the Italian Front, remaining there until the end of the war. In June 1918 the brigade was awarded its only Victoria Cross (VC), belonging to Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Hudson of the Sherwood Foresters. Order of battle The 70th Brigade was constituted as follows du ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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69th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)
The 69th Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Army in the Second World War. It was a second-line Territorial Army formation, and fought in the Battle of France with the 23rd (Northumbrian) Division. The brigade was later part of the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division. It went on to fight in the North African campaign, the Allied invasion of Sicily, the Normandy landings and the North West Europe campaign. Order of Battle First World War * 11th Battalion, Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment) * 8th Battalion, Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regiment) * 9th Battalion, Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regiment) * 11th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment) * 69th Machine Gun Company, Machine Gun Corps ''(formed 4 March 1916, moved to 23rd Battalion, Machine Gun Corps 1 April 1918)'' * 69th Trench Mortar Battery ''(formed 13 June 1916)'' Order of Battle Second World War 69th Infantry Brigade was constitut ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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68th Brigade (United Kingdom)
The 68th Brigade was a formation of the British Army. It was raised as part of the new army also known as Kitchener's Army and assigned to the 23rd Division and served on the Western Front during the First World War. Formation The infantry battalions did not all serve at once, but all were assigned to the brigade during the war. * 10th (Service) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers *11th (Service) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers *12th (Service) Battalion, Durham Light Infantry The Durham Light Infantry (DLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1968. It was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 68th (Durham) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) and t ... *13th (Service) Battalion, Durham Light Infantry *68th Machine Gun Company *68th Trench Mortar Battery Commanders References {{reflist Infantry brigades of the British Army in World War I ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Italian Front (World War I)
The Italian front or Alpine front ( it, Fronte alpino, "Alpine front"; in german: Gebirgskrieg, "Mountain war") involved a series of battles at the border between Austria-Hungary and Italy, fought between 1915 and 1918 in the course of World War I. Following secret promises made by the Allies in the 1915 Treaty of London, Italy entered the war aiming to annex the Austrian Littoral, northern Dalmatia, and the territories of present-day Trentino and South Tyrol. Although Italy had hoped to gain the territories with a surprise offensive, the front soon bogged down into trench warfare, similar to that on the Western Front in France, but at high altitudes and with very cold winters. Fighting along the front displaced much of the local population, and several thousand civilians died from malnutrition and illness in Italian and Austro-Hungarian refugee-camps. The Allied victory at Vittorio Veneto, the disintegration of the Habsburg empire, and the Italian capture of Trento and Tri ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Western Front (World War I)
The Western Front was one of the main theatres of war during the First World War. Following the outbreak of war in August 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The German advance was halted with the Battle of the Marne. Following the Race to the Sea, both sides dug in along a meandering line of fortified trenches, stretching from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier with France, which changed little except during early 1917 and in 1918. Between 1915 and 1917 there were several offensives along this front. The attacks employed massive artillery bombardments and massed infantry advances. Entrenchments, machine gun emplacements, barbed wire and artillery repeatedly inflicted severe casualties during attacks and counter-attacks and no significant advances were made. Among the most costly of these offensives were the Battle of Verdun, in 1916, with a combined 700,000 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Companion Of The Order Of St Michael And St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. It is named in honour of two military saints, Michael (archangel), Michael and Saint George, George. The Order of St Michael and St George was originally awarded to those holding commands or high position in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean territories acquired in the Napoleonic Wars, and was subsequently extended to holders of similar office or position in other territories of the British Empire. It is at present awarded to men and women who hold high office or who render extraordinary or important non-military service to the United Kingdom in a foreign country, and can also be conferred for important or loyal service in relation to foreign and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth affairs. Description The Order includes three class ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Companion Of The Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as "Knights of the Bath". George I "erected the Knights of the Bath into a regular Military Order". He did not (as is commonly believed) revive the Order of the Bath, since it had never previously existed as an Order, in the sense of a body of knights who were governed by a set of statutes and whose numbers were replenished when vacancies occurred. The Order consists of the Sovereign (currently King Charles III), the Great Master (currently vacant) and three Classes of members: *Knight Grand Cross ( GCB) ''or'' Dame Grand Cross ( GCB) *Knight Commander ( KCB) ''or'' Dame Commander ( DCB) *Companion ( CB) Members belong to either the Civil or the Military Division.''Statutes'' 1925, arti ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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James Melville Babington
Lieutenant General Sir James Melville Babington (31 July 1854 – 15 June 1936) was a British Army officer and a renowned leader of cavalry, making a name for himself for his actions in the Second Boer War. He was Commander of the New Zealand Defence Force and one of the most respected British generals in the First World War, in command of the 23rd Division. After the war he was Commander of the British Forces in Italy. General Babington's image was chosen by Paul McCartney and used by the Beatles to depict the fictional "Sgt. Pepper" for the album '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' in 1967. Biography Babington was born in Scotland at Hanley House, Corstorphine, on 31 July 1854 to William Babington (1826–1913) and Augusta Mary Melville (1832–1913), daughter of James Moncrieff Melville, writer to the signet. His ancestors were of the Anglo-Irish branch of the Babington family. He was a cousin to Sir Anthony Babington. In 1873, Babington was commissioned as a lie ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Knight
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Greek ''hippeis'' and '' hoplite'' (ἱππεῖς) and Roman '' eques'' and ''centurion'' of classical antiquity. In the Early Middle Ages in Europe, knighthood was conferred upon mounted warriors. During the High Middle Ages, knighthood was considered a class of lower nobility. By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior. Often, a knight was a vassal who served as an elite fighter or a bodyguard for a lord, with payment in the form of land holdings. The lords trusted the knights, who were skilled in battle on horseback. Knighthood in the Middle Ages was closely linked with horsemanship (and especially the joust) from its origins in th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |