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Alfred B. Thompson
Alfred Burke Thompson (1915–1985), was an officer in the Royal Air Force and then the Royal Canadian Air Force, was the first Canadian taken prisoner in World War II, was a participant in the 'Great Escape', and was the Canadian who was the longest ever held as a prisoner of war. Early life Alfred Burke Thompson was born on August 8, 1915, at Penetanguishene, Ontario, Canada, a small town on Georgian Bay about north of Toronto. His father, who was also named Alfred Burke Thompson was a prominent lawyer and politician in the area. At the time of Thompson's birth, his father, aged 53, was the sitting Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario (or MLA, known today as MPP) for the riding of Simcoe Centre. (Thompson's father later sat in Canada's House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for Simcoe East from 1925 to '35.) His mother was Marie Alberta Thompson (née McFadyen), aged 30. Alfred senior and Alberta had wed just the year before, in 1914; it was a second marriage ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penetanguishene, Ontario
Penetanguishene (, sometimes shortened to Penetang) is a town in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the southeasterly tip of Georgian Bay. Incorporated on February 22, 1882, this bilingual ( French and English) community has a population of 8,962 in the Canada 2016 Census. The name ''Penetanguishene'' is believed to come from either the Wyandot or Abenaki via Ojibwe, meaning "land of the white rolling sands". History As early as AD 800, the Wyandot people settled in semi-permanent villages in the area. The young French translator, Étienne Brûlé, was the first European to set foot in the Penetanguishene area, some time between 1610 and 1614. He was murdered in 1633 in Toanche, just across the bay from the modern town of Penetanguishene. In 1793, John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, visited the area and saw the location's potential as a Royal Navy naval base. He wanted to use the bay to shelter warships to protect Upper Canada, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Kingdom Declaration Of War On Germany (1939)
On 3 September 1939, the United Kingdom declared war on Germany—two days after the German invasion of Poland. France also declared war on Germany later the same day. The state of war was announced to the British public in a radio broadcast at 11:00 by the prime minister Neville Chamberlain. Historical context At the conclusion of the First World War, the German Empire signed the Armistice of 11 November 1918 as an end to hostilities with France, Britain, and the United States during the convoluted German revolution of 1918–1919, which began on 29 October 1918. Negotiations between the Allied powers regarding post-war Europe started on 18 January 1919 in the Salle de l'Horloge at the French Foreign Ministry on the Quai d'Orsay in Paris. Seventy delegates from 27 nations participated in the negotiations. The opposing nations of the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire were excluded from the negotiations. At first a "Council of Ten" comprising two delegates e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canadian Volunteer Service Medal
The Canadian Volunteer Service Medal is granted to persons of any rank in the Naval, Military or Air Forces of Canada who voluntarily served on Active Service from September 3, 1939, to March 1, 1947. The medal was established on October 22, 1943. Criteria Members of the Naval, Military or Air Forces of Canada are eligible for this medal if they voluntarily served on Active Service and honourably completed eighteen months (540 days) total service from September 3, 1939, to March 1, 1947. On March 14, 2001, the Governor General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ... extended the eligibility to individuals who served, but not as members of the military forces. Those granted eligibility were Canadian World War II merchant mariners; Auxiliary Services personnel, engaged ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stalag Luft III Murders
The Stalag Luft III murders were war crimes perpetrated by members of the Gestapo following the " Great Escape" of Allied prisoners of war from the German Air Force prison camp known as Stalag Luft III on March 25, 1944. Of the 76 successful escapees, 73 were recaptured, most within several days of the breakout, 50 of whom were executed on the personal orders of Adolf Hitler. These executions were conducted shortly after the prisoners' recapture. Outrage at the killings was expressed immediately, both in the prison camp, among comrades of the escaped prisoners and in the United Kingdom, where Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden rose in the House of Commons to announce in June 1944 that those guilty of what the British government suspected was a war crime would be "brought to exemplary justice." After Nazi Germany's capitulation in May 1945, the Police branch of the Royal Air Force, with whom the 50 airmen had been serving, launched an investigation into the killings, having branded th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gestapo
The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Free State of Prussia, Prussia into one organisation. On 20 April 1934, oversight of the Gestapo passed to the head of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS), Heinrich Himmler, who was also appointed Chief of German Police by Hitler in 1936. Instead of being exclusively a Prussian state agency, the Gestapo became a national one as a sub-office of the (SiPo; Security Police). From 27 September 1939, it was administered by the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). It became known as (Dept) 4 of the RSHA and was considered a sister organisation to the (SD; Security Service). The Gestapo committed widespread atrocities during its existence. The power of the Gestapo was used to focus upon political opponents, ideological dissenters (clergy and religious org ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Görlitz
Görlitz (; ; ; ; ; Lusatian dialects, East Lusatian: , , ) is a town in the Germany, German state of Saxony. It is on the river Lusatian Neisse and is the largest town in Upper Lusatia, the second-largest town in the region of Lusatia after Cottbus, and the largest town in the German part of the region of Silesia. Görlitz is the easternmost town in Germany (the easternmost village being Zentendorf, Zentendorf (Šćeńc)) and lies opposite the Poland, Polish town of Zgorzelec, which was the eastern part of Görlitz until 1945. The town has approximately 56,000 inhabitants, which make Görlitz the List of cities in Saxony by population, sixth-largest town in Saxony. It is the seat of the Görlitz (district), district of Görlitz. Together with Zgorzelec it forms the Euro City of Görlitz/Zgorzelec, which has a combined population of around 86,000. The town's recorded history began in the 11th century as a Sorbs, Sorbian settlement. Through its history it has been under German ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
War Of 1812
The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the United Kingdom, declared war on Britain on 18 June 1812. Although peace terms were agreed upon in the December 1814 Treaty of Ghent, the war did not officially end until the peace treaty was ratified by the 13th United States Congress, United States Congress on 17 February 1815. AngloAmerican tensions stemmed from long-standing differences over territorial expansion in North America and British support for Tecumseh's confederacy, which resisted U.S. colonial settlement in the Old Northwest. In 1807, these tensions escalated after the Royal Navy began enforcing Orders in Council (1807), tighter restrictions on American trade with First French Empire, France and Impressment, impressed sailors who were originally British subjects, even those who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Queenston Heights
The Battle of Queenston Heights was the first major engagement of the War of 1812. The battle took place on 13 October 1812 at Queenston in Upper Canada (now Ontario) and was a decisive British victory. United States regulars and New York (state), New York militia led by Major General Stephen Van Rensselaer crossed the Niagara River from Lewiston, New York, Lewiston and engaged British regulars and Canadian militia led by Major General Isaac Brock. Major General Roger Hale Sheaffe took command of British forces after Brock was killed. Mohawk people, Mohawk warriors led by John Norton (Mohawk chief), John Norton supported the British during the battle. The battle was an American attempt to establish a foothold on the Canadian side of the Niagara River before campaigning ended with the onset of winter. The British victory was mainly due to the poorly managed American offensive. Despite their numerical advantage and the widely dispersed British forces defending the Niagara frontier, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canadian Militia
The Canadian Militia is a historical title for military units raised for the defence of Canada. The term has been used to describe sedentary militia units raised from local communities in Canada; as well as the regular army for the Province of Canada and post-Canadian Confederation, confederated Canada, referred to as the active militias. The earliest militia units in Canada dates back to 16th century in New France. In the French colony, a compulsory militia of settlers from every parish was raised in order to support the military of New France in the defence and expansion of the colony. Sedentary militia units were also raised by the British, to defend its colonies and to support British military operations on the continent. The sedentary militia eventually fell into disuse in the late-19th century, although vestiges of the sedentary militia system continued into the early-20th century. The Canadian Militia also referred to the regular army established by the Province of Canada ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Żagań
Żagań (French language, French and , ) is a town in western Poland, on the Bóbr river, with 25,731 inhabitants (2019), capital of Żagań County in the Lubusz Voivodeship, located in the historic region of Lower Silesia. Founded in the 12th century by Polish monarch Bolesław IV the Curly, Żagań was the capital of an Duchy of Żagań, eponymous principality from 1274 to 1935. The main sights are the former Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, Żagań, Augustinian Monastery, one of the burial sites of the Piast dynasty, listed as a List of Historical Monuments (Poland), Historic Monument of Poland, the Ducal Palace and Park ensemble and the POW Camps Museum, located at the site of German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II, German-operated WWII prisoner-of-war camps for over 60,000 Allies of World War II, Allied soldiers of various nationalities, where the ''List of Allied airmen from the Great Escape, Great Escape'' took place. The town hosts the Polish 11th Armour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stalag Luft III
Stalag 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 personnel. The camp was established in March 1942 near the town of Sagan, Lower Silesia, in what was then Nazi Germany (now Żagań, Poland), south-east of Berlin. The site was selected because its sandy soil made it difficult for POWs to escape by tunnelling. It is best known for two escape plots by Allied POWs. One was in 1943 and became the basis of a fictionalised film, '' The Wooden Horse'' (1950), based on a book by escapee Eric Williams. The second breakout—the so-called Great Escape—of March 1944, was conceived by Squadron Leader Roger Bushell of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and was authorised by the senior British officer at Stalag Luft III, Herbert Massey. A fictionalised version of the escape was depicted in the film '' The Great Escape'' (1963), which was based on a book by for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
