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William Ash (writer)
William Franklin Ash MBE (30 November 1917 – 26 April 2014) was an American-born British writer, broadcaster and Marxist, who served as a fighter pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II. He was shot down, made a prisoner of war, and was noted as an escaper. Early life Born into a lower-middle-class family in Dallas, Texas, Ash was a migrant worker during the U.S. Great Depression, and graduated from the University of Texas with a BA degree, writing privileged pupils' essays to gain money and also for his personal development as an author. Around this time, the Spanish Civil War broke out, and the largely apolitical Ash, driven by a hatred of bullies and fascism, decided that if the war was still going when he turned 21, being old enough to fight, he would join the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. World War II service Ash enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force at Windsor, Ontario, on 22 June 1940. He did his basic training at No.1 Initial Training School from 20 J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Order Of The British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established on 4 June 1917 by King George V and comprises five classes across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two of which make the recipient either a knight if male or dame if female. There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of, the order. Recommendations for appointments to the Order of the British Empire were originally made on the nomination of the United Kingdom, the self-governing Dominions of the Empire (later Commonwealth) and the Viceroy of India. Nominations continue today from Commonwealth countries that participate in recommending British honours. Most Commonwealth countries ceased recommendations for appointments to the Order of the British Empire when they ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supermarine Spitfires
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griffon engined Mk 24 using several wing configurations and guns. It was the only British fighter produced continuously throughout the war. The Spitfire remains popular among enthusiasts; around 70 remain airworthy, and many more are static exhibits in aviation museums throughout the world. The Spitfire was designed as a short-range, high-performance interceptor aircraft by R. J. Mitchell, chief designer at Supermarine Aviation Works, which operated as a subsidiary of Vickers-Armstrong from 1928. Mitchell developed the Spitfire's distinctive elliptical wing with innovative sunken rivets (designed by Beverley Shenstone) to have the thinnest possible cross-section, achieving a potential top speed greater than that of several contemporary fight ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stalag Luft III
, partof = ''Luftwaffe'' , location = Sagan, Lower Silesia, Nazi Germany (now Żagań, Poland) , image = , caption = Model of the set used to film the movie ''The Great Escape.'' It depicts a smaller version of a single compound in ''Stalag Luft III''. The model is now at the museum near where the prison camp was located. , map_alt = Sagan, Germany (pre-war borders, 1937) , map_type = Poland#Germany 1937 , coordinates = , type = Prisoner-of-war camp , controlledby = , open_to_public = , condition = , built = , builder = , used = March 1942January 1945 , materials = , demolished = , battles = World War II , events = The "Great Escape" , past_commanders = ''Oberst'' Friedrich Wilhelm von Lindeiner-Wildau , garrison = , occupants = Allied air crews Stalag Luft III (german: Stammlager Luft III; literally "Main Camp, Air, III"; SL III) was a ''Luftwaffe''-run prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during the Second World War, which held captured Western Allied air force ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officially estimated at 1.86 million residents within a greater metropolitan area of 3.1 million residents, which makes Warsaw the 7th most-populous city in the European Union. The city area measures and comprises 18 districts, while the metropolitan area covers . Warsaw is an Alpha global city, a major cultural, political and economic hub, and the country's seat of government. Warsaw traces its origins to a small fishing town in Masovia. The city rose to prominence in the late 16th century, when Sigismund III decided to move the Polish capital and his royal court from Kraków. Warsaw served as the de facto capital of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1795, and subsequently as the seat of Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Day
Harry Melville Arbuthnot Day, (3 August 1898 – 11 March 1977) was a Royal Marine and later a Royal Air Force pilot during the Second World War. As a prisoner of war, he was senior British officer in a number of camps and a noted escapee. Early life Day was born in Sarawak on Borneo on 3 August 1898, and grew up there. His grandfather had been a major in the 66th Foot before forming a private army for Charles Brooke, the second White Rajah of Sarawak. The army became known as the Sarawak Rangers. Day's father joined the Rajah's service and became a Sarawak resident.'Wings Day' by Sydney Smith page 26 Day's great-uncle was George Fiott Day, who had won the Victoria Cross during the Crimean War. He is also a descendant of George Miller Bligh, who was an officer on during the Battle of Trafalgar. Day was sent to England and was educated at Haileybury College, where he joined the Officers Cadet Corps. While on manoeuvres, he was wounded when shot in the back with a blank cart ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Szubin
Szubin (german: Schubin) is a town in Nakło County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland, located southwest of Bydgoszcz. It has a population of around 9,300. It is located in the ethnocultural region of Pałuki. History The first record of a settlement next to the castle of the Pałuka family was noted in 1365. It became a town in 1434. Szubin was a private town of Polish nobility, including the Mycielski and Opaliński families, administratively located in the Kcynia County in the Kalisz Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown. It was granted new privileges in 1645 and 1750. In 1773, it was annexed by Prussia during the Partitions of Poland. In 1783, the town had a population of 1,170, of which 936 (80%) were Poles, 154 (13%) were Germans and 80 (7%) were Jews. In 1807, it was regained by the Poles and included in the short-lived Polish Duchy of Warsaw, administratively located within its Bydgoszcz Department. After the duchy's dissolution it was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oflag XXI-B
Oflag XXI-B and Stalag XXI-B were World War II German prisoner-of-war camps for officers and enlisted men, located at Szubin a few miles southwest of Bydgoszcz, Poland, which at that time was occupied by Nazi Germany. Timeline * September 1939 – The Germans established a camp for arrested Polish civilians, mostly the intelligentsia, arrested as part of the ''Intelligenzaktion''. * October 1939 – First Polish soldiers captured during the German Invasion of Poland (1939) brought to Szubin, ''Kriegsgefangenenlager Schubin'' prisoner-of-war camp for Poles established. The camp was built around a Polish boys' school by adding barracks. Polish POWs were used for the expansion of the camp. * December 1939 - The Germans formally established the Stalag XXI-B2 POW camp in Szubin, and the Stalag XXI-B1 POW camp in Antoniewo near Skoki, both for Polish POWs. * March-May 1940 - Polish POWs were transferred to other camps, located in Germany. * June 1940 - French officers were brought ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lille
Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, and the main city of the Métropole Européenne de Lille, European Metropolis of Lille. The city of Lille proper had a population of 234,475 in 2019 within its small municipal territory of , but together with its French suburbs and exurbs the Lille metropolitan area (French part only), which extends over , had a population of 1,510,079 that same year (Jan. 2019 census), the fourth most populated in France after Paris, Lyon, and Marseille. The city of Lille and 94 suburban French municipalities have formed since 2015 the Métropole Européenne de Lille, European Metropolis of Lille, an Indirect election, indirectly elected Métropole, metr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Resistance
The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régime during the World War II, Second World War. Resistance Clandestine cell system, cells were small groups of armed men and women (called the Maquis (World War II), Maquis in rural areas) who, in addition to their guerrilla warfare activities, were also publishers of underground newspapers, providers of first-hand intelligence information, and maintainers of escape networks that helped Allies of World War II, Allied soldiers and airmen trapped behind enemy lines. The Resistance's men and women came from all economic levels and political leanings of French society, including émigrés, academics, students, Aristocratic family, aristocrats, conservative Catholic Church, Roman Catholics (including priests and Yvonne Beauvais, nuns), Protestantis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calais
Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. The population of the city proper is 72,929; that of the urban area is 149,673 (2018).Comparateur de territoire: Aire d'attraction des villes 2020 de Calais (073), Commune de Calais (62193) INSEE Calais overlooks the Strait of Dover, the narrowest point in the |
Vieille-Église
Vieille-Église ( vls, Oudekerke, lang) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Vieille-Église is located 9 miles (15 km) east of Calais, at the D229 and D255 road junction, just a hundred yards from the A16 autoroute. Population Places of interest * The church of Saint Omer, dating from the nineteenth century. See also *Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department The following is a list of the 890 communes of the Pas-de-Calais department of France. The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2020):Vieilleeglise Pale of Calais {{PasdeCalais-geo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jagdgeschwader 26
''Jagdgeschwader'' 26 (JG 26) ''Schlageter'' was a German fighter-wing of World War II. It was named after Albert Leo Schlageter, a World War I veteran, Freikorps member, and posthumous Nazi martyr, arrested and executed by the French for sabotage in 1923. The wing fought predominantly against the Western Allies. Formed in May 1939, JG 26 spent the Phoney War period guarding Germany's western borders following the German invasion of Poland and the outbreak of World War II. In May and June 1940 it served in the Battle of Belgium and Battle of France. From July 1940 it operated over England in the Battle of Britain under the command of Adolf Galland, future ''General der Jagdflieger''. JG 26 remained in France and Belgium fighting against the RAF Fighter Command Circus offensive in 1941 and 1942, with considerable tactical success. In 1943 it faced the USAAF Eighth Air Force, and along with the rest of the Luftwaffe fighter force, was worn down over Western Europe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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