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Coastwatcher
The Coastwatchers, also known as the Coast Watch Organisation, Combined Field Intelligence Service or Section C, Allied Intelligence Bureau, were Allied military intelligence operatives stationed on remote Pacific islands during World War II to observe enemy movements and rescue stranded Allied personnel. They played a significant role in the Pacific Ocean theatre and South West Pacific theatre, particularly as an early warning network during the Guadalcanal campaign. Overview Captain Chapman James Clare, district naval officer of Western Australia, proposed a coastwatching programme in 1919. In 1922, the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board directed the Naval Intelligence Division of the Royal Australian Navy to organise a coastwatching service. Walter Brooksbank, a civil assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence, worked in the 1920s and 1930s to organise a skeleton service of plantation owners and managers whose properties were in strategic locations in northern A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Augustas Feldt
Commander Eric Augustas Feldt (3 January 1899 – 12 March 1968) was an officer in the Royal Australian Navy and the director of the Coastwatchers organisation for much of the Second World War. Early life Feldt was born in Ingham, North Queensland, on 3 January 1899, the eighth child of Swedish immigrants, Peter Nilsson Feldt, a cane farmer, and Augusta Blixt. Feldt attended the local school before winning a scholarship to Brisbane Grammar School where he boarded for a year. He then won selection for the first intake of cadets into the Royal Naval College in 1913, being the only cadet from Queensland. He graduated as a midshipman in 1917 and sailed to England in April 1917 where he initially served on HMS Canada. He was promoted to lieutenant in February in 1920. In 1922 he left the Navy and was placed on the retired list. In February 1923, Feldt became a clerk in the public service of the mandated Territory of New Guinea. He rose to a patrol officer and then to district of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guadalcanal Campaign
The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by American forces, was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theater of World War II. It was the first major land offensive by Allied forces against the Empire of Japan. On 7 August 1942, Allied forces, predominantly United States Marines, landed on Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida in the southern Solomon Islands, with the objective of using Guadalcanal and Tulagi as bases in supporting a campaign to eventually capture or neutralize the major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain. The Japanese defenders, who had occupied those islands since May 1942, were outnumbered and overwhelmed by the Allies, who captured Tulagi and Florida, as well as the airfield – later named Henderson Field – that was under construction on Guadalcanal. Surprised by the Allied offensive, the Japanese made ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James McManus (Royal Australian Navy)
Commander James Cathal Boyd McManus (a.k.a. Tom, 11 March 1891 – 1972) was an officer in the Royal Australian Navy. He commanded the Coastwatchers from 1943 until the end of World War II. Early life Born to Margaret Helen Alexandrina Boyd and Arthur Corrigan McManus on 11 March 1891, McManus' brother Rondal Arthur was born two years later in 1893. The family lived in Echuca, Victoria in Australia. McManus' father died suddenly in 1894. His mother Margaret took her infant children James and Rondal to live near their uncle and aunt, John Reed McManus and Caroline McManus, in Neutral Bay in New South Wales. McManus' uncle, John, sailed with the China Navigation Company and inspired the young James McManus' lifelong love of the sea. Family McManus married Vera Spedding in 1915. They had two children, Terence and June. McManus was widowed in 1950 and married Louise Zimmerman in 1965. He is a cousin to Emily MacManus. Service McManus was an officer in the Royal Aus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Solomon Islands
The British Solomon Islands Protectorate was first declared over the southern Solomons in 1893, when Captain Gibson, R.N., of , declared the southern islands a British protectorate. Other islands were subsequently declared to form part of the Protectorate. Establishment and addition of islands After the Anglo-German Declarations about the Western Pacific Ocean, the Protectorate was first declared over the southern Solomons in 1893. The formalities in its establishment were carried out by officers of the Royal Navy, who hoisted the British flag and read Proclamations on twenty-one islands. In April 1896, Charles Morris Woodford was appointed as an Acting Deputy Commissioner of the British Western Pacific Territories. From 30 May to 10 August 1896, HMS ''Pylades'' toured through the Solomon Islands archipelago with Woodford, who had been sent to survey the islands and to report on the economic feasibility of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate. On 29 September 189 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chapman James Clare
Chapman James Clare (23 June 1853 – 28 September 1940) was a British sailor who worked on merchant vessels, then on Australian government ships, and after formation of the Royal Australian Navy as a senior naval officer. He served during the Boxer Rebellion (1899–1901) and World War I (1914–1918). It was on his suggestion, 1919, that a Coastwatchers organisation should be established. The coastwatchers played an important role during World War II. Early years Chapman James Clare was the son of James Coughron Clare, a merchant ship master. He was born on his father's ship ''Matilda Wattenbach'' on 23 June 1853 in the Bay of Biscay. His father became a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve. Clare was educated in private schools in England at Cheshunt and Edmonton. When Clare was fifteen he joined Smith, Fleming & Co. of London as a merchant marine apprentice, and worked on sailing ships for the next five years. In 1873 Clare became mate on a steamer of the Royal Mail Line o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Story Of Ferdinand
''The Story of Ferdinand'' (1936) is the best-known work by the American author Munro Leaf. Illustrated by Robert Lawson, the children's book tells the story of a bull who would rather smell flowers than fight in bullfights. He sits in the middle of the bull ring failing to take heed of any of the provocations of the matador and others to fight. ''The Story of Ferdinand'' was published in 1936 by Viking Books. Later, after the Spanish Civil War, it was viewed as having a political agenda. During World War II, the British Air Transport Auxiliary started flying into Europe after D-Day and their pilots, who were non-combatants, used Ferdinand the Bull as their call sign. The book has been adapted into two films, the 1938 animated short ''Ferdinand the Bull'' and the 2017 computer-animated feature film ''Ferdinand''. Plot Young Ferdinand does not enjoy butting heads with other young bulls, preferring instead to sit under a cork tree smelling the flowers. His mother is concerned ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South West Pacific Area (command)
South West Pacific Area (SWPA) was the name given to the Allied supreme military command in the South West Pacific Theatre of World War II. It was one of four major Allied commands in the Pacific War. SWPA included the Philippines, Borneo, the Dutch East Indies (excluding Sumatra), East Timor, Australia, the Territories of Papua and New Guinea, and the western part of the Solomon Islands. It primarily consisted of United States and Australian forces, although Dutch, Filipino, British and other Allied forces also served in the SWPA. General Douglas MacArthur was appointed as the Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area, on its creation on 18 April 1942. He created five subordinate commands: Allied Land Forces, Allied Air Forces, Allied Naval Forces, United States Army Forces in Australia (USAFIA), and the United States Army Forces in the Philippines. The last command disappeared when Corregidor surrendered on 6 May 1942, while USAFIA became the United States Army Serv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allied Intelligence Bureau
The Allied Intelligence Bureau (AIB) was a joint United States, Australian, Dutch and British intelligence and special operations agency during World War II. It was responsible for operating parties of spies and commandos behind Japanese lines in order to collect intelligence and conduct guerrilla warfare against Japanese forces in the South West Pacific. The AIB was formed in June 1942 to coordinate the existing Allied propaganda and guerrilla organisations. The first controller of the AIB was Colonel C. G. Roberts. At its peak the AIB contained men from ten individual services and controlled or coordinated eight separate organisations. The role of the AIB was to obtain information about the enemy, "to weaken the enemy by sabotage and destruction of morale and to lend aid and assistance to local effort to the same end in enemy territories." One member of the AIB was Alfred Deakin Brookes, who went on to become the first head of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service in May ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RANVR
Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RANVR) was a reserve force of the Royal Australian Navy. Formation In late 1920, the Navy Board proposed the creation of an Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve scheme, with approaches made to yachting and rowing clubs, starting in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, and Tasmania. Men who were undergoing or liable to compulsory training under the ''Defence Act'' (Cwlth) were ineligible for enrolment. For the volunteers, a period of five years of service was proposed with parading twice a month, training occur outside of business hours, entry as an able seaman rating, and officer appointments not based on social or other positions. Requirements later included fourteen days training every alternate year, and 'seven days out of this period should be spent afloat'. By 1925, following mufti attire on parades, the uniform was determined to be the same as the regular forces, with 'RANVR' replacing 'RANR' on the cap band, and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of Defence (MINDEF) and the Chief of Defence Force (CDF). The Department of Defence as part of the Australian Public Service administers the ADF. Formed in 1901, as the Commonwealth Naval Forces (CNF), through the amalgamation of the colonial navies of Australia following the federation of Australia. Although it was originally intended for local defence, it became increasingly responsible for regional defence as the British Empire started to diminish its influence in the South Pacific. The Royal Australian Navy was initially a green-water navy, and where the Royal Navy provided a blue-water force to the Australian Squadron, which the Australian and New Zealand governments helped to fund, and that was assigned to the Australia Station. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imperial Japanese Army
The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor of Japan as supreme commander of the army and the Imperial Japanese Navy. Later an Inspectorate General of Aviation became the third agency with oversight of the army. During wartime or national emergencies, the nominal command functions of the emperor would be centralized in an Imperial General Headquarters (IGHQ), an ad hoc body consisting of the chief and vice chief of the Army General Staff, the Minister of the Army, the chief and vice chief of the Naval General Staff, the Inspector General of Aviation, and the Inspector General of Military Training. History Origins (1868–1871) In the mid-19th century, Japan had no unified national army and the country was made up of feudal domains (''han'') with the Tokugawa shogunate (''bakuf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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