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Allan Beckett
Allan Harry Beckett MBE (b. 4 March 1914, East Ham, London Borough of Newham, United Kingdom, d. 19 June 2005, Farnborough, London) was a civil engineer whose design for the 'Whale' floating roadway was crucial to the success of the Mulberry harbour that was used in the Normandy Landings. Starting the war as a sapper digging trenches on the South Coast at the time of the Dunkirk evacuation, Allan Beckett came to play a significant role in the success of the Mulberry harbour used during and after the Normandy landings of June 1944. His contribution to the Mulberry was to design the floating roadways which connected the pierhead to the shore, and a system of anchors. The roadway had to be strong enough to withstand constant wave action which, as occurred in the appalling weather of June 1944, was much more severe than anticipated. Beckett's design, which had been tested in the severe conditions of Scotland in winter, survived the storm which struck on 19 June 1944, and rag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is headed by the Chief Royal Engineer. The Regimental Headquarters and the Royal School of Military Engineering are in Chatham in Kent, England. The corps is divided into several regiments, barracked at various places in the United Kingdom and around the world. History The Royal Engineers trace their origins back to the military engineers brought to England by William the Conqueror, specifically Bishop Gundulf of Rochester Cathedral, and claim over 900 years of unbroken service to the crown. Engineers have always served in the armies of the Crown; however, the origins of the modern corps, along with those of the Royal Artillery, lie in the Board of Ordnance established in the 15th century. In Woolwich in 1716, the Board formed the Royal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galloway
Galloway ( ; sco, Gallowa; la, Gallovidia) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway. A native or inhabitant of Galloway is called a Gallovidian. The place name Galloway is derived from the Gaelic ' ("amongst the '"). The , literally meaning "Stranger-'"; the specific identity of whom the term was applied to is unknown, but the predominant view is that it referred to an ethnic and/or cultural identity such as the Strathclyde Britons or another related but distinct population. A popular theory is that it refers to a population of mixed Scandinavian and Gaelic ethnicity that may have inhabited Galloway in the Middle Ages. Galloway is bounded by sea to the west and south, the Galloway Hills to the north, and the River Nith to the east; the border between Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire is marked by the River Cree. The definition ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bhavnagar
Bhavnagar is a city in the Bhavnagar district of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, a state of India. It was founded in 1723 by Bhavsinhji Takhtasinhji Gohil (1703–1764). It was the capital of Bhavnagar State, which was a princely state before it was merged into the Indian Union in 1948. It is now the administrative headquarters of the Bhavnagar district. Bhavnagar is situated 190 kilometres away from the state capital Gandhinagar and to the west of the Gulf of Khambhat. It has always been an important city for trade with many large and small scale industries along with the world's largest ship breaking yard, Alang which is located 50 kilometres away. Bhavnagar is also famous for its version of the popular Gujarati snack ' Ganthiya' and 'Jalebi'. History The Gohil Rajput of the Suryavanshi clan faced severe competition in Marwar. Around 1260 AD, they moved down to the Gujarat's coastal area and established three capitals: Sejakpur (now Ranpur), Umrala, and Siho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bruce White
Brigadier Sir Bruce Gordon White, KBE, FCGI, FICE, FIEE (1885-1983) was one of the leading British consulting engineers of his generation. Son of the engineer Robert White (1842-1925), Bruce White joined his father's practice in 1919 together with his brother Colin White in 1923. On his father's death Bruce White became senior partner. After World War II Bruce White was knighted, and the practice became known as Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry and Partners. On Sir Bruce's retirement Allan Beckett became senior partner. The family firm continues today as marine consulting engineers Beckett Rankine where Sir Bruce's grandson Gordon Rankine and Allan Beckett's son Tim Beckett are directors. Born on 5 February 1885, White saw military service in Europe during World War I as a Major in the Royal Engineers; he was involved in the design and construction of Richborough military port near Sandwich in Kent; the port was notable for being equipped with the UK's first electric gantry cran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bas Relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane. When a relief is carved into a flat surface of stone (relief sculpture) or wood ( relief carving), the field is actually lowered, leaving the unsculpted areas seeming higher. The approach requires a lot of chiselling away of the background, which takes a long time. On the other hand, a relief saves forming the rear of a subject, and is less fragile and more securely fixed than a sculpture in the round, especially one of a standing figure where the ankles are a potential weak point, particularly in stone. In other materials such as metal, clay, plaster stucco, ceramics or papier-mâché the form can be simply added to or raised up from the background. Monumental bronze relie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arromanches-les-Bains
Arromanches-les-Bains (; or simply Arromanches) is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region of north-western France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Arromanchais'' or ''Arromanchaises''. Geography Arromanches-les-Bains is 12 km north-east of Bayeux and 10 km west of Courseulles-sur-Mer on the coast where the Normandy landings took place on D-Day, 6 June 1944. Access to the commune is by the D514 road from Tracy-sur-Mer in the west passing through the town and continuing to Saint-Côme-de-Fresné in the east. The D87 road also goes from the town south to Ryes. The D65 road goes east to Meuvaines. About a third of the commune is the urban area of the town with the rest farmland. History Arromanches is remembered as a historic place of the Normandy landings and in particular as the place where a Mulberry harbour artificial port was installed. This artificial port allowed the disembarkation of 9,000 tons of materiel per day. It was on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arromanches Monument To Allan Beckett
Arromanches-les-Bains (; or simply Arromanches) is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region of north-western France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Arromanchais'' or ''Arromanchaises''. Geography Arromanches-les-Bains is 12 km north-east of Bayeux and 10 km west of Courseulles-sur-Mer on the coast where the Normandy landings took place on D-Day, 6 June 1944. Access to the commune is by the D514 road from Tracy-sur-Mer in the west passing through the town and continuing to Saint-Côme-de-Fresné in the east. The D87 road also goes from the town south to Ryes. The D65 road goes east to Meuvaines. About a third of the commune is the urban area of the town with the rest farmland. History Arromanches is remembered as a historic place of the Normandy landings and in particular as the place where a Mulberry harbour artificial port was installed. This artificial port allowed the disembarkation of 9,000 tons of materiel per day. It was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inundation Of Walcheren
The Inundation of Walcheren was the intentional, but ''uncontrolled'' military inundation, effected by bombing the sea dikes of the former island of Walcheren in Zeeland by the Allies on and after 3 October 1944 in the context of Operation Infatuate during the Battle of the Scheldt after the Allied Invasion of Normandy during World War II. Though the inundation was justified by military necessity, it is controversial whether it was proportional in view of the predictable devastating effects for the civilian population, and the ecology of the island. The fact that the breaches in the sea dikes of the island remained open for a very long time (until October 1945), subjecting the island to the full impact of the twice-daily tides, caused severe damage to agricultural land and infrastructure, and severe hardship for the civilian population. Leaving the breaches open for such a long time, which was unavoidable due to the war-time lack of resources making closing impossible, subjected ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Het Verjaagde Water
(''The chased water'') is a 1947 Dutch-language literature, Dutch non-fiction novel written by A. den Doolaard, which gives an account of the recovery works to repair levee, dike breaches after the October 1944 Inundation of Walcheren as part of operations by The Allies of World War II during Operation Infatuate. Researchers from Delft University of Technology have found high levels of historical accuracy in den Doolaard's descriptions of the events that took place, the methods used to close the dikes and the key people involved. Den Doolaard assigned pseudonyms to most of the main characters and organisations. The name ''A. den Doolaard'' is also a pseudonym, the author’s real name being ''Cornelis Johannes George Spoelstra Jr.'' Context In October 1944, several dikes surrounding the Dutch island of Walcheren were bombed by the Allies at strategic locations including Westkapelle, Netherlands, Westkapelle, Vlissingen, and Ritthem, Fort Rammekens in order to deliberately flood ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walcheren
Walcheren () is a region and former island in the Dutch province of Zeeland at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. It lies between the Eastern Scheldt in the north and the Western Scheldt in the south and is roughly the shape of a rhombus. The two sides facing the North Sea consist of dunes and the rest of its coastline is made up of dykes. Middelburg, the provincial capital, lies at Walcheren's centre. Vlissingen, to the south, is the main harbour and the third municipality is Veere. Originally, Walcheren was an island, but the Sloedam, constructed in 1871 for a railway, and poldering after World War II have connected it to the (former) island of Zuid-Beveland, which in turn has been connected to the North Brabant mainland. History Early history As early as Roman times, the island functioned as a point of departure for ships going to Britain; it had a temple of the goddess Nehalennia who was popular with those who braved the waters of the North Sea. The Romans called it "Wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest), is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels, which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is located in the central portion of the country and is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the Flemish Region (within which it forms an enclave) and the Walloon Region. Brussels is the most densely populated region in Belgium, and although it has the highest GDP per capita, it has the lowest available income per household. The Brussels Region covers , a relatively small area compared to the two other regions, and has a population of over 1.2 million. The five times larger metropolitan area of Bruss ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of The Scheldt
The Battle of the Scheldt in World War II was a series of military operations led by the First Canadian Army, with Polish and British units attached, to open up the shipping route to Antwerp so that its port could be used to supply the Allies in north-west Europe. Under acting command of the First Canadian's Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds, the battle took place in northern Belgium and southwestern Netherlands from 2 October to 8 November 1944. The Canadians had been delayed, and pressure on the Scheldt left wanting, by Allied decisions to focus on Arnhem ( Operation Market Garden), Boulogne ( Operation Wellhit), Calais ( Operation Undergo) and Dunkirk. By the time the Canadians were sent into the Battle of the Scheldt, the Wehrmacht defenders had been reinforced. The Germans staged an effective delaying action, during which they flooded land areas in the Scheldt estuary, slowing the Allied advance. After five weeks of difficult fighting, the Canadian First Army, at a cost ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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