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British Army Aid Group
The British Army Aid Group (B.A.A.G.) was a para-military organisation for British and Allied forces in southern China during the Second World War. The B.A.A.G. was officially classified in the British Army's order of battle as an MI9 unit that was responsible for assisting prisoners of war and internees to escape from the Imperial Japanese Army's camps. History Background After the Battle of Hong Kong, Lt. Colonel Sir Lindsay Ride, who was then a professor of Physiology at The University of Hong Kong, was captured. Before the end of the battle, he had been the commander of the Hong Kong Voluntary Defence Corps (H.K.V.D.C.) Field Ambulance, and, once hostilities commenced, was given command of the Combined Field Ambulance. Shortly after being captured, Ride escaped from Sham Shui Po POW camp to China with three trusted men. There, in order to further the war effort, support the Chinese, and shore up damaged British prestige in the area, he suggested forming a group that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Hong Kong
Hong Kong was a colony and later a dependent territory of the British Empire from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of occupation under the Japanese Empire from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War. The colonial period began with the British occupation of Hong Kong Island in 1841, during the First Opium War between the British and the Qing dynasty. The Qing had wanted to enforce its prohibition of opium importation within the dynasty that was being exported mostly from British India, as it was causing widespread addiction among its populace. The island was ceded to Britain by the Treaty of Nanking, ratified by the Daoguang Emperor in the aftermath of the war of 1842. It was established as a crown colony in 1843. In 1860, the British took the opportunity to expand the colony with the addition of the Kowloon Peninsula after the Second Opium War, while the Qing was embroiled in handling the Taiping Rebellion. With the Qing further weakened after the First Sino-Japanese War, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Directorate Of Military Intelligence (United Kingdom)
The Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) was a department of the British War Office. Over its lifetime the Directorate underwent a number of organisational changes, absorbing and shedding sections over time. History The first instance of an organisation which would later become the DMI was the Department of Topography & Statistics, formed by Major Thomas Best Jervis, late of the Bombay Engineer Corps, in 1854 in the early stages of the Crimean War. In 1873 the Intelligence Branch was created within the Quartermaster General's Department with an initial staff of seven officers. Initially the Intelligence Branch was solely concerned with collecting intelligence, but under the leadership of Henry Brackenbury, a protege of influential Adjutant-General Lord Wolseley, it was increasingly concerned with planning. However despite these steps towards a nascent general staff, the Intelligence Branch remained a purely advisory body, something that sharply limited its influenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hong Kong Volunteer Company
Hong Kong Volunteer Company () was a company of British-Chinese soldiers that escaped Japanese occupied Hong Kong, and served with the British in India and Burma during the Burma Campaign of World War II. History Following the surrender of Hong Kong in December 1941, a number of British-Chinese soldiers made their escape to Free China, and volunteered to go to India to join the British Army and fight the Japanese. The volunteer company was initially made up of 128 Chinese members of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corp, 49 Chinese members of the British Army, as well as a number of members from the Air Transport Auxiliary, Air Raid Precautions, and other personnel that escaped from Japanese occupied Hong Kong to Free China. Escapees were assisted by the British Army Aid Group, and transported to Assam, and then to Calcutta by the Royal Air Force. Lieutenant Colonel Mike Calvert, a British officer who previously commanded Chinese sappers in Hong Kong before 1941, called ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II (1941–1945). It was created on 20 June 1941 as successor to the previous United States Army Air Corps and is the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force, today one of the six armed forces of the United States. The AAF was a component of the United States Army, which on 2 March 1942 was divided functionally by executive order into three autonomous forces: the Army Ground Forces, the United States Army Services of Supply (which in 1943 became the Army Service Forces), and the Army Air Forces. Each of these forces had a commanding general who reported directly to the Army Chief of Staff. The AAF administered all parts of military aviation formerly distributed among the Air Corps, General Headquarters Air Force, and the groun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
China Air Task Force
The China Air Task Force (CATF) was a combat organization of the United States Army Air Forces created in July 1942 under the command of Brig. Gen. Claire Chennault, after the Flying Tigers of the 1st American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force were disbanded on 4 July of that year. It consisted of the 23rd Fighter Group with four squadrons, the assigned 74th, 75th, 76th, and attached 16th Fighter Squadrons, plus the 11th Bombardment Squadron. It was a subordinate unit of the Tenth Air Force in India, commanded by Brig. Gen. Earl Naiden and (from 18 August 1942) by Maj. Gen. Clayton Bissell. "Chennault had no respect for Bissell as a combat airman," wrote his biographer Martha Byrd, and "Bissell had no respect for Chennault as an administrator." Their relationship, she wrote, was ugly.Byrd, p. 169 On 19 March 1943, the CATF was disbanded and replaced by the Fourteenth Air Force, with Chennault, now a major general, in command. In the nine months of its existence, the Chi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Cross
The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational Courage, gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, has been equal in stature to the Victoria Cross, the highest military gallantry award. It is awarded "for acts of the greatest heroism or for most conspicuous courage in circumstance of extreme danger", not in the presence of the enemy, to members of the British armed forces and to British civilians. Posthumous awards have been allowed since it was instituted. It was previously awarded to residents of Commonwealth countries (and in one case George Cross (Malta), to Malta, a colony that subsequently became a Commonwealth country), most of which have since established their own honours systems and no longer recommend British honours. It may be awarded to a person of any military rank in any service and to civilians including police, emergenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mateen Ansari
Captain Mateen Ahmed Ansari GC (15 December 1916 – 29 October 1943) of the 5th Battalion, 7th Rajput Regiment, in the Indian Army during World War II, and member of the British Army Aid Group. He was awarded the George Cross posthumously. The decoration, the highest British (and Commonwealth) award for bravery out of combat, was announced in a supplement to the London Gazette of 16 April 1946 as being awarded for the 'most conspicuous gallantry.' He was taken prisoner when Japan occupied Hong Kong in December 1941 after the Battle of Hong Kong. After the Japanese discovered that he was related to the ruler of one of the Princely States they demanded that he renounce his allegiance to the British and foment discontent in the ranks of Indian prisoners in the prison camps. This page gives both 20 October and 29 October as the date of his death. Thoverall pagesfor Stanley Military Cemetery suggest that 29 October is correct He refused and was thrown into the notorious Stanley ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rajputana Rifles
The Rajputana Rifles is the oldest rifle regiment of the Indian Army. It was originally a part of the British Indian Army, when six previously existing regiments were amalgamated to form six battalions of the 6th Rajputana Rifles. In 1945, the numeral designation was dropped from the title and in 1947 the regiment was transferred to the newly independent Indian Army. Since independence, the regiment has been involved in a number of conflicts against Pakistan, as well as contributing to the Custodian Force (India) in Korea under the aegis of the United Nations in 1953–54 and to the UN Mission to the Congo in 1962. As a rifle regiment, it uses a bugle horn as its insignia, the same as the British Light Division, but unlike its British counterparts, the Rajputana Rifles march at the same march pace used in the Indian Army as a whole. Etymology The name Rajputana Rifles is derived from northwest, and the word Rajputana , a historic region in northwest India that is roughly coext ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kweilin
Guilin (Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''; alternatively romanized as Kweilin) is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the west bank of the Li River and borders Hunan to the north. Its name means "forest of sweet osmanthus", owing to the large number of fragrant sweet osmanthus trees located in the region. The city has long been renowned for its scenery of karst topography. Guilin is one of China's most popular tourist destinations, and the epithet "By water, by mountains, most lovely, Guilin" () is often associated with the city. The State Council of China has designated Guilin a National Famous Historical and Cultural City, doing so in the first edition of the list. History Before the Qin dynasty, Guilin region was settled by the Baiyue people. In 314 BC, a small settlement was established along the banks of the Li River. During the Qin dynasty's (221–206 BC) campaigns against the state of Nanyue, the fir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian National Army
The Indian National Army (INA; ''Azad Hind Fauj'' ; 'Free Indian Army') was a collaborationist armed force formed by Indian collaborators and Imperial Japan on 1 September 1942 in Southeast Asia during World War II. Its aim was to secure Indian independence from British rule. It fought alongside Japanese soldiers in the latter's campaign in the Southeast Asian theatre of WWII. The army was first formed in 1942 under Rash Behari Bose by Indian PoWs of the British Indian Army captured by Japan in the Malayan campaign and at Singapore. This first INA, which had been handed over to Rash Behari Bose, collapsed and was disbanded in December that year after differences between the INA leadership and the Japanese military over its role in Japan's war in Asia. Rash Behari Bose handed over INA to Subhas Chandra Bose. It was revived under the leadership of Subhas Chandra Bose after his arrival in Southeast Asia in 1943. The army was declared to be the army of Bose's ''Arzi Hukumat- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Indian Army
The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which could also have their own armies. As quoted in the Imperial Gazetteer of India, "The British Government has undertaken to protect the dominions of the Native princes from invasion and even from rebellion within: its army is organized for the defence not merely of British India, but of all possessions under the suzerainty of the King-Emperor." The Indian Army was an important part of the British Empire's forces, both in India and abroad, particularly during the First World War and the Second World War. The term ''Indian Army'' appears to have been first used informally, as a collective description of the Presidency armies, which collectively comprised the Bengal Army, the Madras Army and the Bombay Army, of the Presidencies of British India, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
