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Nickforce
Nickforce was an improvised formation of the British First Army in the Tunisian campaign of the Second World War. It was hastily formed from elements of the British 6th Armoured Division on 14 February 1943, for the defence of Thala, during the latter stages of the Battle of Kasserine Pass. It took its name from the commanding officer, Brigadier Cameron Nicholson. In desperate fighting, the force successfully blocked a '' Kampfgruppe'' of the 10th Panzer Division, under the direct control of ''Generalfeldmarschall'' Erwin Rommel, on 21 and 22 February. Order of battle On 14 February 1943 * 17th/21st Lancers * 2nd Lothians and Border Horse * 10th Battalion, Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) * 1 Troop, "F" Battery 12th (Honourable Artillery Company) Regiment Royal Horse Artillery * 1 Troop, 450th Battery 71st (West Riding) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery Units subsequently attached: * 2nd/5th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment The Leicestershire Regiment (Royal Leiceste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cameron Nicholson
General Sir Cameron Gordon Graham Nicholson, (30 June 1898 – 7 July 1979) was a British Army officer who served as Adjutant-General to the Forces. He later served as Governor of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. Military career After being educated at Wellington College, Berkshire and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Cameron Nicholson was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in July 1915.Who Was Who Volume V11 1971 to 1980 (1981) He served in the First World War and was awarded Military Cross and Bar in 1918. Nicholson served with the Royal Horse Artillery in France, India, Iraq, Palestine and Egypt from 1917 to 1927. He served as an instructor at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich from 1927 to 1930, attended the Staff College, Camberley from 1931 to 1932, and then worked as an instructor at the Staff College from 1938 to 1939. He served in the Second World War and was awarded Distinguished Service Order and Bar in 1940. The beginning of the war in September 1939 foun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Kasserine Pass
The Battle of Kasserine Pass was a series of battles of the Tunisian campaign of World War II that took place in February 1943 at Kasserine Pass, a gap in the Grand Dorsal chain of the Atlas Mountains in west central Tunisia. The Axis forces, led by ''Generalfeldmarschall'' Erwin Rommel, were primarily from the ''Afrika Korps'' Assault Group, the Italian ''Centauro'' Armored Division and two Panzer divisions detached from the 5th Panzer Army, while the Allied forces consisted of the U.S. II Corps (Major General Lloyd Fredendall), the British 6th Armoured Division (Major-General Charles Keightley) and other parts of the First Army (Lieutenant-General Kenneth Anderson). The battle was the first major engagement between U.S. and Axis forces in Africa. The American troops were numerically superior, but inexperienced and poorly led; they suffered many casualties and were quickly pushed back over from their original positions west of Faïd Pass. After the early defeat, elem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thala, Tunisia
Thala ( ar, تالة, translit=Tāla) is a town and commune in Tunisia. It is located in the Kasserine Governorate since 1956. As of the 2004 census it had inhabitants. The altitude of Thala is , which makes it the highest and the coldest town in the country. History During the Roman Empire Thala was the site of a Roman settlement and was the seat of an ancient bishopric. It still has a titular absentee bishop (currently the auxiliary Bishop of Sydney, Richard Umbers), who is appointed by the Pope. In 1906, an attack by local bedouin on the French civil administration offices during the Thala-Kasserine Disturbances was the first violent resistance to French authority under the protectorate. Thala was the scene of fierce fighting during World War II, in the late stages of the Battle of the Kasserine Pass. The 10th Panzer Division sought to exploit its early success against US forces. In a series of defensive actions on 21 February 1943, the British 26th Armoured Brigade, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vickers Machine Gun Team Of 10th Battalion The Rifle Brigade, Training Near Bou Arada, Tunisia, 30 April 1943
Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 1867, acquired more businesses, and began branching out into military hardware and shipbuilding. In 1911, the company expanded into aircraft manufacture and opened a flying school. They expanded even further into electrical and railway manufacturing, and in 1928 acquired an interest in the Supermarine. Beginning in the 1960s, various parts of the company were nationalised, and in 1999 the rest of the company was acquired by Rolls-Royce plc, who sold the defence arm to Alvis plc. The Vickers name lived on in Alvis Vickers, until the latter was acquired by BAE Systems in 2004 to form BAE Systems Land Systems. History Early history Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 18 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
17th/21st Lancers
The 17th/21st Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was formed in England by the amalgamation of the 17th Lancers and the 21st Lancers in 1922 and, after service in the Second World War, it amalgamated with the 16th/5th The Queen's Royal Lancers to form the Queen's Royal Lancers in 1993. History Second World War The regiment was formed in England during the interwar period by the amalgamation of the 17th Lancers and the 21st Lancers on 27 June 1922. The regiment was deployed to Meerut in India in 1936 and it was mechanised in 1938. On the outbreak of the Second World War, in September 1939, the regiment transferred back to the United Kingdom and became part of the 1st Motor Machine Gun Brigade defending south-east England. On 12 October 1940, the 1st Motor Machine Gun Brigade became the 26th Armoured Brigade. On 9 November 1940, the brigade became part of the newly raised 6th Armoured Division, with which it served for the rest of the war. Some personnel fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Leicestershire Regiment
The Leicestershire Regiment (Royal Leicestershire Regiment after 1946) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, with a history going back to 1688. The regiment saw service for three centuries, in numerous wars and conflicts such as both World War I and World War II, before being amalgamated, in September 1964, with the 1st East Anglian Regiment (Royal Norfolk and Suffolk), the 2nd East Anglian Regiment (Duchess of Gloucester's Own Royal Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire) and the 3rd East Anglian Regiment (16th/44th Foot) to form the present day Royal Anglian Regiment, of which B Company of the 2nd Battalion continues the lineage of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment. History Early wars On 27 September 1688 a commission was issued to Colonel Solomon Richards to raise a regiment of foot in the London area. In its early years, like other regiments, the regiment was known by the name of its various colonels. Following a failed attempt to break the siege of Derry in 1689 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises thirteen Regular Army regiments, the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery and five Army Reserve regiments. History Formation to 1799 Artillery was used by the English army as early as the Battle of Crécy in 1346, while Henry VIII established it as a semi-permanent function in the 16th century. Until the early 18th century, the majority of British regiments were raised for specific campaigns and disbanded on completion. An exception were gunners based at the Tower of London, Portsmouth and other forts around Britain, who were controlled by the Ordnance Office and stored and maintained equipment and provided personnel for field artillery 'traynes' that were organised as needed. These personnel, responsible in peacetime for maintaining the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West Riding Artillery
The West Riding Artillery was formed as a group of volunteer units of the British Army in 1860. Its units later formed the divisional artillery of the West Riding Division of the Territorial Force in World War I and World War II. The West Riding Artillery's lineage is continued in a battery of today's Army Reserve Volunteer Force In 1859, as the United Kingdom feared invasion from the continent, the government reluctantly accepted the creation of many Rifle, Artillery and Engineer Volunteer Corps composed of part-time soldiers eager to supplement the Regular British Army in time of need. The Secretary of State for War allowed the Artillery Volunteer Corps (AVCs) free access to guns and ammunition for practice. Most of the AVCs were formed in the coastal counties to man fixed coast defence guns but the following corps were raised in the inland West Riding of Yorkshire:Frederick, p. 672.Litchfield & Westlake, pp. 183–6. * 1st (Leeds) Yorkshire (West Riding) AVC raised at Leeds on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Horse Artillery
The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) was formed in 1793 as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery (commonly termed Royal Artillery) to provide horse artillery support to the cavalry units of the British Army. (Although the cavalry link remained part of its defining character, as early as the Battle of Waterloo the RHA was sometimes deployed more along the lines of conventional field artillery, fighting from comparatively fixed positions). The Royal Horse Artillery, currently consists of three regiments, ( 1 RHA, 3 RHA and 7 RHA) and one ceremonial unit (King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery). Almost all the batteries of the Royal Horse Artillery have served continuously since the French Revolutionary Wars or Napoleonic Wars, except the King's Troop, created in 1946, and M Battery which was 'reanimated' in 1993. Horses are still in service for ceremonial purposes but were phased out from operational deployment in the 1930s. History In 1793, in the course of the French ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Honourable Artillery Company
The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) is a reserve regiment in the British Army. Incorporated by royal charter in 1537 by King Henry VIII, it is the oldest regiment in the British Army and is considered the second-oldest military unit in the world. Today, it is also a charity whose purpose is to attend to the "better defence of the realm", primarily through supporting the HAC regiment and a detachment of City of London Special Constabulary. The word "artillery" in "Honourable Artillery Company" does not have the current meaning that is generally associated with it, but dates from a time when in the English language that word meant any projectile, including for example arrows shot from a bow. The equivalent form of words in modern English would be either "Honourable Infantry Company" or "Honourable Military Company". In the 17th century, its members played a significant part in the formation of both the Royal Marines and the Grenadier Guards. More recently, regiments, battalions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own)
The Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army formed in January 1800 as the "Experimental Corps of Riflemen" to provide sharpshooters, scouts, and skirmishers. They were soon renamed the "Rifle Corps". In January 1803, they became an established regular regiment and were titled the 95th Regiment of Foot (Rifles). In 1816, at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, they were again renamed, this time as the "Rifle Brigade". The unit was distinguished by its use of green uniforms in place of the traditional redcoat as well as by being armed with the Baker rifle, which was the first British-made rifle accepted by the British Army in place of smooth-bore muskets. The 95th was the first regular infantry corps in the British Army to be so armed. They performed distinguished service in both the First and Second World Wars. Post war, in 1958 the regiment formed part of the Green Jackets Brigade as 3rd Green Jackets and was amalgamated with the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lothians And Border Horse
The Lothians and Border Horse was a Yeomanry regiment, part of the British Territorial Army. It was ranked 36th in the Yeomanry order of precedence and was based in the Scottish Lowland area, recruiting in the Lothians – East Lothian (Haddingtonshire), Midlothian (Edinburghshire), and West Lothian (Linlithgowshire) – and along the border with England, particularly Berwickshire. It amalgamated with the Lanarkshire Yeomanry and the Queen's Own Royal Glasgow Yeomanry to form the Queen's Own Lowland Yeomanry in 1956. In 2014 following the 2013 Future Army Reserves announcement, the regiment was re-formed within the new Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry. History Formation and early history Raised in 1797, the regiment comprised five troops among which were the "East Lothian Yeomanry Cavalry" and the "Berwickshire Yeomanry". After disbandment in 1838 and re-raising in 1846, the unit became the Lothians and Berwickshire Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry in 1888. Second Boer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
