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Colin McVean Gubbins
Major-General Sir Colin McVean Gubbins, (2 July 1896 – 11 February 1976) was the prime mover of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in the Second World War. Gubbins was also responsible for setting up the secret Auxiliary Units, a commando force based around the Home Guard, to operate on the flanks and to the rear of German lines if the United Kingdom were invaded during Operation Sea Lion, Germany's planned invasion. Early life Gubbins was born in Japan on 2 July 1896, the younger son and third child of John Harington Gubbins (1852–1929), Oriental Secretary at the British Legation. In the 1901 census he is shown living with his grandparents, Colin Alexander McVean and four siblings at Killiemore House on the Isle of Mull. He was educated at Cheltenham College and at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich where he graduated 56th out of 70 cadets. Military career First World War Gubbins was commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery in 1914. On the outbreak of war he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most populous urban areas in the world. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes Tokyo and parts of six neighboring Prefectures of Japan, prefectures, is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, with 41 million residents . Lying at the head of Tokyo Bay, Tokyo is part of the Kantō region, on the central coast of Honshu, Japan's largest island. It is Japan's economic center and the seat of the Government of Japan, Japanese government and the Emperor of Japan. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government administers Tokyo's central Special wards of Tokyo, 23 special wards, which formerly made up Tokyo City; various commuter towns and suburbs in Western Tokyo, its western area; and two outlying island chains, the Tokyo Islands. Although most of the w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Sea Lion
Operation Sea Lion, also written as Operation Sealion (), was Nazi Germany's code name for their planned invasion of the United Kingdom. It was to have taken place during the Battle of Britain, nine months after the start of the Second World War. Following the Battle of France and that country's capitulation, Adolf Hitler, the German Führer and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, hoped the British government would accept his offer to end the state of war between the two. He considered invasion to be a last resort, to be used only if all other options had failed. As a precondition for the invasion of Great Britain, Britain, Hitler demanded both air superiority, air and naval superiority over the English Channel and the proposed landing sites. The German forces achieved neither at any point of the war. Further, both Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, the German High Command and Hitler himself held serious doubts about the prospects for success. Nevertheless, both the German Army (1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Front (World War I)
The Western Front was one of the main Theatre (warfare), theatres of war during World War I. Following the outbreak of war in August 1914, the Imperial German Army, German Army opened the Western Front by German invasion of Belgium (1914), invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in Third Republic of France, France. The German advance was halted with the First Battle of the Marne, Battle of the Marne. Following the Race to the Sea, both sides dug in along a meandering line of fortified trench warfare, trenches, stretching from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier with France, the position of which changed little except during early 1917 and again in 1918. Between 1915 and 1917 there were several offensives along this Front (military), front. The attacks employed massive artillery bombardments and massed infantry advances. Entrenchments, machine gun emplacements, barbed wire, and artillery repeatedly inflicted severe casualties ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dover
Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. The town is the administrative centre of the Dover District and home of the Port of Dover. Archaeological finds have revealed that the area has always been a focus for peoples entering and leaving Great Britain, Britain. The name derives from the River Dour that flows through it. In recent times the town has undergone transformations with a high-speed rail link to London, new retail in town with St James' area opened in 2018, and a revamped promenade and beachfront. This followed in 2019, with a new 500m Pier to the west of the Harbour, and new Marina unveiled as part of a £330m investment in the area. It has also been a point of destination for many English Channel migrant crossings (2018-present), illegal migrant crossings. The Port ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Language
German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It is also an official language of Luxembourg, German-speaking Community of Belgium, Belgium and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol, as well as a recognized national language in Namibia. There are also notable German-speaking communities in other parts of Europe, including: Poland (Upper Silesia), the Czech Republic (North Bohemia), Denmark (South Jutland County, North Schleswig), Slovakia (Krahule), Germans of Romania, Romania, Hungary (Sopron), and France (European Collectivity of Alsace, Alsace). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in the Americas. German is one of the global language system, major languages of the world, with nearly 80 million native speakers and over 130 mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of students, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 51st-largest city. Located about south of Frankfurt, Heidelberg is part of the densely populated Rhine-Neckar, Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region which has its centre in Mannheim. Heidelberg is located on the Neckar River, at the point where it leaves its narrow valley between the Oden Forest and the Kleiner Odenwald, Little Oden Forest, and enters the wide Upper Rhine Plain. The old town lies in the valley, the end of which is flanked by the Königstuhl (Odenwald), Königstuhl in the south and the Heiligenberg (Heidelberg), Heiligenberg in the north. The majority of the population lives in the districts west of the mountains in the Upper Rhine Plain, into which the city has expan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woolwich
Woolwich () is a town in South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throughout the 16th to 20th centuries. After several decades of economic hardship and social deprivation, the area now has several large-scale urban renewal projects. Geography Woolwich is situated from Charing Cross. It has a long frontage to the south bank of the River Thames. From the riverside it rises up quickly along the northern slopes of Shooter's Hill towards the common, at and the ancient London–Dover Road, at . The Woolwich (parish), ancient parish of Woolwich, more or less the present-day Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, wards Woolwich Riverside and Woolwich Common, comprises . This included North Woolwich, which is now part of the London Borough of Newham. The ancient parishes of Plumstead and E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Military Academy, Woolwich
The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of Officer (armed forces), commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Signals and other technical corps. RMA Woolwich was commonly known as "The Shop" because its first building was a converted workshop of the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich Arsenal. History Origins in the Royal Arsenal An attempt had been made by the Board of Ordnance in 1720 to set up an academy within its Arsenal (then known as the Warren) to provide training and education for prospective officers of its new Royal Regiment of Artillery, Regiment of Artillery and Corps of Royal Engineers, Corps of Engineers (both of which had been established there in 1716). A new building was being constructed in readiness for the Academy and funds had been secured, seemingly, through investment in the South Sea Company; but the latter's col ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cheltenham College
Cheltenham College is a public school ( fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18) in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school opened in 1841 as a Church of England foundation and is known for its outstanding linguistic, military, and sporting traditions. History Two Cheltenham residents, G. S. Harcourt and J. S. Iredell, founded the college in July 1841 to educate the sons of gentlemen. The plan to establish a "Proprietary Grammar School" had been agreed at a meeting of residents at Harcourt's home on 9 November 1840.Michael Croke Morgan, (1968), ''Cheltenham College: The First Hundred Years'', page 219, (published for the Cheltonian Society by Sadler) It originally opened in three houses along Bays Hill Terrace in the centre of the town. Within two years it had moved to its present site, with Boyne House as the first College Boarding House, and soon became known simply as Cheltenham College. Accepting both boarding and day boys, it was divided int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isle Of Mull
The Isle of Mull or simply Mull ( ) is the second-largest island of the Inner Hebrides (after Skye) and lies off the west coast of Scotland in the Council areas of Scotland, council area of Argyll and Bute. Covering , Mull is the fourth-largest island in Scotland. From 2001 to 2020, the population has gradually increased: during 2020 it was estimated to be 3,000, in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census it was about 2,800, and in 2001, it was measured at 2,667 people. It has the eighth largest island population in Scotland. In the summer, these numbers are augmented by an influx of many tourists. Much of the year-round population lives in the colourful main settlement of Tobermory, Mull, Tobermory. There are two distilleries on the island: the Tobermory distillery, formerly named Ledaig, produces single malt Scotch whisky and another, opened in 2019 and located in the vicinity of Tiroran, which produces Whitetail Gin. Mull is host to numerous sports competitions, nota ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colin Alexander McVean
Colin Alexander McVean, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, FRGS (6 March 1838 – 18 January 1912) was a Scottish civil engineer who contributed to Japan's engineering development in 1870s. He left two brief autobiographies, diaries, photos, letters and a collection of Japanese antiques. Early life and career He was born the first son of The Reverend Donald McVean, minister of the Free Church of Iona and Mull. After a five-year apprenticeship at Edinburgh, he joined the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, Hydrographic Office, Admiralty, and was engaged in a survey of the Hebrides under the direction of Captain Henry Charles Otter during 1861-64. He worked together with William Maxwell, RN, Henry Scharbau and W.E. Cheesman. In 1865-66, he worked for railway construction at Bulgaria. In June, just before departure to Japan, he married Mary Wood Cowan, youngest daughter of Alexander Cowan, a paper-maker in Penicuik. Marriage witness were Archibald Constable and Campbe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
