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4th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)
The 4th Infantry Division was a Regular army, regular infantry Division (military), division of the British Army with a very long history, seeing active service in the Peninsular War and Battle of Waterloo, Waterloo Campaign, the Crimean War, Crimean and Second Boer War, Boer Wars and both World Wars. It was disbanded after the Second World War and reformed in the 1950s as an Armoured warfare, armoured formation before being disbanded and reformed again and finally disbanded on 1 January 2012. Napoleonic Wars The 4th Division was originally formed in 1809 by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, as part of the Anglo-Portuguese Army, for service in the Peninsular War. It fought in the Battle of Talavera, Battles of Talavera, Battle of Salamanca, Salamanca, Battle of Roncesvalles (1813), Roncesvalles, Battle of Vitoria, Vitoria, Battle of the Pyrenees, the Pyrenees, Battle of Orthez, Orthez, and Battle of Toulouse (1814), Toulouse, and the Siege of Badajoz (1812), siege of Bada ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Divisional Insignia Of The British Army
Formation signs at the division level were first introduced in the British Army in the First World War. They were intended (initially) as a security measure to avoid displaying the division's designation in the clear. They were used on vehicles, sign posts and notice boards and were increasingly, but not universally, worn on uniform as the War progressed. Discontinued by the regular army after 1918, only a few Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Territorial divisions continued to wear them before 1939. Reintroduced officially in late 1940 in the Second World War, divisional formation signs were much more prevalent on uniforms and were taken up by many other formations, independent brigades, Higher Formation Insignia of the British Army, corps, armies, overseas and home commands, military districts and lines of communication areas. The sign could be based on many things, geometry (simple or more complex), heraldry, regional or historical associations, a pun, the role of the division or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siege Of Ladysmith
The siege of Ladysmith was a protracted engagement in the Second Boer War, taking place between 2 November 1899 and 28 February 1900 at Ladysmith, Natal. Boer invasion of Natal Outbreak of war The Second Boer War began on 11 October 1899 when the Boer republics of Transvaal and the Orange Free State (OFS), under their Presidents Paul Kruger and Martinus Theunis Steyn respectively, declared war on the British Empire. Two days previously, the republics had issued a joint ultimatum demanding the withdrawal of British troops from the northern part of Natal—which bordered OFS on the west and Transvaal on the east—and the recall of all reinforcements dispatched to Natal in recent weeks. The British government ignored the ultimatum, which they are held to have provoked. They claimed to be protecting the interests of its own citizens who lived in Transvaal. Kruger's Afrikaner government refused to extend the franchise to Uitlanders ("foreigners"), who potentially outnumbered ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Le Transloy
The Battle of Le Transloy was the last big attack by the Fourth Army of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in the 1916 Battle of the Somme in France, during the First World War. The battle was fought in conjunction with attacks by the French Tenth and Sixth armies on the southern flank and the Reserve/5th Army on the northern flank, against Army Group Rupprecht of Bavaria () created on 28 August. General Ferdinand Foch, commander of (GAN, Northern Army Group) and co-ordinator of the armies on the Somme, was unable to continue the sequential attacks of September because persistent rain, mist and fog grounded aircraft, turned the battlefield into a swamp and greatly increased the difficulty of transporting supplies to the front over the roads land devastated since 1 July. The German armies on the Somme managed a recovery after the string of defeats in September, with fresh divisions to replace exhausted troops and more aircraft, artillery and ammunition diverted from Verdun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Albert (1916)
The Battle of Albert (1–13 July 1916) is the British name for the first two weeks of British–French offensive operations of the Battle of the Somme. The Allied preparatory artillery bombardment commenced on 24 June and the British–French infantry attacked on 1 July, on the south bank from Foucaucourt to the Somme and from the Somme north to Gommecourt, beyond Serre. The French Sixth Army and the right wing of the British Fourth Army inflicted a considerable defeat on the German 2nd Army but from near the Albert–Bapaume road to Gommecourt, the British attack was a disaster, where most of the casualties of the day were incurred. Against the wishes of General Joseph Joffre, General Sir Douglas Haig abandoned the offensive north of the road to reinforce the success in the south, where the British–French forces pressed forward through several intermediate lines closer to the German second position. The French Sixth Army advanced across the Flaucourt plateau south ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second Battle Of Ypres
The Second Battle of Ypres was fought from 22 April – 25 May 1915, during the First World War, for control of the tactically-important high ground to the east and the south of the Flanders, Flemish town of Ypres, in western Belgium. The First Battle of Ypres had been fought the previous autumn. The Second Battle of Ypres was the first mass use by Germany of Chemical weapon, poison gas on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front. Background The Germans, German chemist Walther Nernst, who in 1914 was a volunteer driver, proposed to Colonel Max Bauer, the German general staff officer responsible for liaison with scientists, that they could empty the opposing trenches by a surprise attack with tear gas. Observing a field test of this idea, the chemist Fritz Haber instead proposed using heavier-than-air chlorine gas. The German commander Erich von Falkenhayn agreed to try the new weapon but intended to use it in a diversionary attack by the 4th Army (German Empire), 4t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Capture Of Hill 60 (Western Front)
The Capture of Hill 60 () took place near Hill 60 (Ypres), Hill 60 south of Ypres on the Western Front, during the First World War. Hill 60 had been captured by the German 30th Division (German Empire), 30th Division on 11 November 1914, during the First Battle of Ypres (19 October – 22 November 1914). Initial French preparations to raid the hill were continued by the British 28th Division (United Kingdom), 28th Division, which took over the line in February 1915 and then by the 5th Division (United Kingdom), 5th Division. The plan was expanded into an ambitious attempt to capture the hill, despite advice that Hill 60 could not be held unless the nearby Caterpillar ridge was also occupied. It was found that Hill 60 was the only place in the area not waterlogged and a French mine gallery was extended. Experienced miners from Northumberland and Wales were recruited for the digging and the British attack began on 17 April 1915. The hill was captured quickly with only seven casua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Messines (1914)
The Battle of Messines was fought in October 1914 between the armies of the German Empire against the British Empire and France, as part of what came to be called the Race to the Sea: reciprocal attempts by the German and Entente armies to attack beyond the northern flank of their opponent. The attempts to turn the northern flank led to several meeting engagements until the North Sea left neither side with a flank to aim at. The battle was fought between the river Douve and the Comines–Ypres canal. Background Strategic developments From the belligerents had made reciprocal attempts to turn the northern flank of their opponent. Joseph Joffre, the head of (Chief of the General Staff) ordered the French Second Army to move to the north of the Sixth Army, by transferring by rail from eastern France from Erich von Falkenhayn, Chief of (the German General Staff) ordered the German 6th Army to move from the German–French border to the northern flank on 17 September. By the ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First Battle Of Ypres
The First Battle of Ypres (, , – was a battle of the First World War, fought on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front around Ypres, in West Flanders, Belgium. The battle was part of the First Battle of Flanders, in which German Army (German Empire), German, French Army in World War I, French, Belgian Land Component, Belgian armies and the British Expeditionary Force (World War I), British Expeditionary Force (BEF) fought from Arras in France to Nieuwpoort, Belgium, Nieuwpoort (Nieuport) on the Belgian coast, from 10 October to mid-November. The battles at Ypres began at the end of the Race to the Sea, reciprocal attempts by the German and Franco-British armies to advance past the northern flank of their opponents. North of Ypres, the fighting continued in the Battle of the Yser between the German 4th Army (German Empire), 4th Army, the Belgian army and French marines. The fighting has been divided into five stages, an encounter battle from 19 to 21 October, the B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First Battle Of The Aisne
The First Battle of the Aisne () was the Allied follow-up offensive against the right wing of the German First Army (led by Alexander von Kluck) and the Second Army (led by Karl von Bülow) as they retreated after the First Battle of the Marne earlier in September 1914. The Advance to the Aisne (6 September – 1 October) consisted of the Battle of the Marne and the Battle of the Aisne The Battle 12–15 September When the Germans turned to face the pursuing Allies on 13 September, they held one of the most formidable positions on the Western Front. Between Compiègne and Berry-au-Bac, the Aisne River winds westward and is about wide, ranging from deep. Low-lying ground extends on each side, rising abruptly to a line of steep cliffs high, then gently levelling to a plateau. The Germans settled on the higher northern side beyond the crest, behind a dense thicket that covered the front and slope. Low crops in the unfenced countryside offered no natural concealment ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Retreat
The Great Retreat (), also known as the retreat from Mons, was the long withdrawal to the River Marne in August and September 1914 by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French Fifth Army. The Franco-British forces on the Western Front in the First World War had been defeated by the armies of the German Empire at the Battle of Charleroi (21 August) and the Battle of Mons (23 August). A counter-offensive by the Fifth Army, with some assistance from the BEF, at the First Battle of Guise (Battle of St. Quentin failed to end the German advance and the retreat continued over the Marne. From 5 to 12 September, the First Battle of the Marne ended the Allied retreat and forced the German armies to retire towards the Aisne River and to fight the First Battle of the Aisne . Reciprocal attempts to outflank the opposing armies to the north known as the Race to the Sea followed from Background Battle of the Frontiers, 7 August – 13 September The Battle of the Fronti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First Battle Of The Marne
The First Battle of the Marne or known in France as the Miracle on the Marne () was a battle of the First World War fought from the 5th to the 12th September 1914. The German army invaded France with a plan for winning the war in 40 days by occupying Paris and destroying the French and British armies. The Germans had initial successes in August. They were victorious in the Battles of Mons and the Frontiers and overran a large area of northern France and Belgium. In what is called the Great Retreat the Germans pursued the retreating French and British forces more than southwards. The French and British halted their retreat in the Marne River valley while the Germans advanced to from Paris. With the battlefield reverses of August, Field Marshal John French, commander of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), lost faith in the French and began to plan for a British retreat to port cities on the English Channel for an evacuation to Britain. The French commander Joseph Joffr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Le Cateau
The Battle of Le Cateau was fought on the Western Front during the First World War on 26 August 1914. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French Fifth Army had retreated after their defeats at the Battle of Charleroi (21–23 August) and the Battle of Mons (23 August). The British II Corps fought a delaying action at Le Cateau to slow the German pursuit. Most of the BEF was able to continue its retreat to Saint-Quentin. Prelude Having retreated from Mons two days earlier, Le Cateau and Mons being apart, the British II Corps (General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien) was exhausted. The corps had become separated from the rest of the BEF because of the unexpected retreat by Sir Douglas Haig, the commander of I Corps, who had fought a rearguard action at Landrecies on 25 August. Following that engagement, where Haig had rallied his troops, revolver in hand, he succumbed to panic, writing to the French High Command about the imminent debacle. He had greatly overe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
