|
Blacker Bombard
The Blacker Bombard, also known as the 29-mm Spigot Mortar, was an infantry anti-tank weapon devised by Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart Blacker in the early years of the Second World War. Intended as a means to equip Home Guard units with an anti-tank weapon in case of German invasion, at a time of grave shortage of weapons, it was accepted only after the intervention of Churchill. Although there were doubts about the effectiveness of the Bombard, many were issued. Few, if any, saw combat. Development With the end of the Battle of France and the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from the port of Dunkirk between 26 May and 4 June 1940, a German invasion of Great Britain seemed likely. However, the British Army was not well-equipped to defend the country in such an event; in the weeks after the Dunkirk evacuation it could field only twenty-seven divisions.Lampe, p. 3 (The German Army had more than 100 divisions at that time.) The Army was particularly short of anti-tank g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saxmundham
Saxmundham ( ) is a market town in Suffolk, England, set in the valley of the River Fromus about north-east of Ipswich and west of the coast at Sizewell. The town is bypassed by the main A12 road between London and Lowestoft. The town is served by Saxmundham railway station on the East Suffolk Line between Ipswich and Lowestoft. Governance Saxmundham Town Council comes under East Suffolk District. It was previously in Suffolk Coastal District before April 2019. The district electoral ward also has the name Saxmundham. Its population at the 2011 census was 4,913. As of December 2022, Saxmundham Town Council consisted of ten councillors. Heritage The place-name Saxmundham is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Sasmunde(s)ham''. It appears as ''Saxmundham'' in the Feet of Fines of 1213. The name denotes "Seaxmund's village or estate". The Parish Church of St John the Baptist dates back to the 11th century. Some features remain from the medieval period, but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ordnance QF 2 Pounder
The Ordnance QF 2-pounder (British ordnance terms#QF, QF denoting "quick firing"), or simply "2 pounder gun", was a British anti-tank gun and vehicle-mounted gun employed in the World War II, Second World War. It was the main anti-tank weapon of the artillery units in the Battle of France and, due to the need to rearm quickly after the Dunkirk evacuation, remained in service during the North African campaign. In its vehicle-mounted variant the 2-pounder was a common main gun on British tanks early in World War II, as well as being a typical main armament of Armored car (military), armoured cars, such as the Daimler Armoured Car, Daimler, throughout the war. As the armour protection of Axis powers, Axis tanks improved, the 2-pounder lost effectiveness and it was gradually replaced by the 57 mm Ordnance QF 6 pounder, QF 6-pounder starting in 1942. It equipped infantry battalion anti-tank platoons replacing their anti-tank rifles until in turn replaced by 6-pounders but remained ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ML 3-inch Mortar
The Ordnance ML 3-inch mortar was the United Kingdom's standard mortar used by the British Army from the early 1930s to the late 1960s, superseding the Stokes mortar. Initially handicapped by its short range compared to similar Second World War mortars, improvements of the propellant charges enabled it to be used with great satisfaction by various armies of the British Empire and of the Commonwealth. Design The ML 3-inch mortar is a conventional Stokes-type mortar that is muzzle-loaded and drop-fired. It also reuses many of the Brandt mortar features. History Based on their experience in the First World War, the British infantry sought some sort of artillery for close support. The initial plan was for special batteries of artillery, but the cost was prohibitive and the mortar was accepted instead. The Mark II mortar (Mark I was the Stokes) was adopted by the British Army in the early 1930s; and this was the standard British mortar when the Second World War broke out i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amatol
Amatol is a highly explosive material made from a mixture of TNT and ammonium nitrate. The British name originates from the words ammonium and toluene (the precursor of TNT). Similar mixtures (one part dinitronaphthalene and seven parts ammonium nitrate) were known as Schneiderite in France. Amatol was used extensively during World War I and World War II, typically as an explosive in military weapons such as aircraft bombs, shells, depth charges, and naval mines.Brown, G. I. (1998). ''The Big Bang: A History of Explosives''. Sutton Publishing . pp. 158-163. It was eventually replaced with alternative explosives such as Composition B, Torpex, and Tritonal. Invention Following the Shell Crisis of 1915 in which the UK did not have enough ordnance due to a lack of explosives, a team at the Royal Arsenal laboratories produced a mixture of ammonium nitrate and TNT, known as Amatol for short. Special factories were constructed for the manufacture of ammonium nitrate by the double dec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cordite
Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in the United Kingdom since 1889 to replace black powder as a military propellant. Like modern gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burning rates and consequently low brisance. These produce a subsonic deflagration wave rather than the supersonic detonation wave produced by brisants, or high explosives. The hot gases produced by burning gunpowder or cordite generate sufficient pressure to propel a bullet or shell to its target, but not so quickly as to routinely destroy the barrel of the gun. Cordite was used initially in the .303 British, Mark I and II, standard rifle cartridge between 1891 and 1915; shortages of cordite in World War I led to the creation of the "Devil's Porridge" munitions factory (HM Factory, Gretna) on the English-Scottish border, which produced 800 tonnes of cordite per annum. The UK also imported some United States–developed smokeless powders for us ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Fuze
In military munitions, a fuze (sometimes fuse) is the part of the device that initiates function. In some applications, such as torpedoes, a fuze may be identified by function as the exploder. The relative complexity of even the earliest fuze designs can be seen in cutaway diagrams. A fuze is a device that detonates a munition's explosive material under specified conditions. In addition, a fuze will have safety and arming mechanisms that protect users from premature or accidental detonation. For example, an artillery fuze's battery is activated by the high acceleration of cannon launch, and the fuze must be spinning rapidly before it will function. "Complete bore safety" can be achieved with mechanical shutters that isolate the detonator from the main charge until the shell is fired. A fuze may contain only the electronic or mechanical elements necessary to signal or actuate the detonator, but some fuzes contain a small amount of primary explosive to initiate the detonation. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BB Mortar
BB, Bb, or similar, may refer to: In arts and entertainment *BB, abbreviation for a catalogue of works by Béla Bartók * ''BB'' (album), by Mod Sun (2017) *"BB Talk", 2015 song by Miley Cyrus * BB (Transformers), a character in the franchise *BB, pseudonym of author and artist Denys Watkins-Pitchford * Les B.B., a Canadian band from Quebec *BattleBots, a robot combat TV show *Beast Boy, a comic book character *Beyond Birthday, a character from the novel '' Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases'' * Big Brother (''Nineteen Eighty-Four'') or BB in Orwell's novel * ''Big Brother'' (TV series), home living reality TV popularity contest show *Billy Butcher, supporting character and final antagonist of the ''The Boys'' comic book series ** ''Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker'', spin-off comic miniseries of ''The Boys'', following Billy Butcher *** "Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker" (''The Boys''), television adaptation of the comic miniseries *BB, the productio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RAF Regiment
The Royal Air Force Regiment (RAF Regiment) is part of the Royal Air Force and functions as a specialist corps. Founded by royal warrant in 1942, the Corps carries out soldiering tasks relating to the delivery of air power. Examples of such tasks are non-combatant evacuation operation (NEO), recovery of downed aircrew (joint personnel recovery – JPR), and in-depth defence of airfields by way of aggressively patrolling and actively seeking out infiltrators in a large area surrounding airfields. In addition the RAF Regiment provides Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTACs) to the British Army and Royal Marines, and provides flight size commitment to the Special Forces Support Group. The RAF Regiment Gunners are personnel trained in various disciplines such as infantry tactics, force protection, field craft, sniper, support special forces operations, CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) defence, equipped with advanced vehicles and detection measures. RAF Regi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). Following the Allied victory over the Central Powers in 1918, the RAF emerged as the largest air force in the world at the time. Since its formation, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history. In particular, it played a large part in the Second World War where it fought its most famous campaign, the Battle of Britain. The RAF's mission is to support the objectives of the British Ministry of Defence (MOD), which are to "provide the capabilities needed to ensure the security and defence of the United Kingdom and overseas territories, including against terrorism; to support the Government's foreign policy objectives particularly in promoting international peace and security". The R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southern Command (United Kingdom)
Southern Command was a Command of the British Army. Nineteenth century Great Britain was divided into military districts on the outbreak of war with France in 1793. By the 1830s the command included the counties of Kent and Sussex (the original Southern District during the Napoleonic Wars) as well as Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire (the original South Inland District) and Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset (the original South-West District) and Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire (the original Severn District). The role of South-West District Commander, which was doubled hatted with that of Lieutenant-Governor of Portsmouth, was originally based at Government House in Grand Parade in Portsmouth. This building became very dilapidated and a new Government House was established in the High Street in Portsmouth in 1826. In January 1876 a ‘Mobilization Scheme for the forces in Great Britain and Ireland’ was published, with the ‘Act ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces
Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces was a senior officer in the British Army during the First and Second World Wars. The role of the appointment was firstly to oversee the training and equipment of formations in preparation for their deployment overseas, and secondly, to command the forces required to defend the United Kingdom against an enemy incursion or invasion. The First World War The post was created for Field Marshal John French, 1st Earl of Ypres in December 1915, after his enforced resignation as the Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force in the aftermath of the Battle of Loos. Bitterly disappointed, Lord French regarded the appointment as a demotion. Despite this, he energetically restructured the system of military training, drew up plans to defend the country against a German invasion and devised the first British air defence system, so that incoming Zeppelins and bombers could be tracked and countered by fighters and anti-aircraft artillery. Commanders ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.svg "Click for more on -> Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces")