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Krystyna Skarbek
Maria Krystyna Janina Skarbek, (, ; 1 May 1908 – 15 June 1952), also known as Christine Granville, was a Polish agent of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War. She became celebrated for her daring exploits in intelligence and irregular-warfare missions in Nazi-Occupation of Poland (1939–1945), occupied Poland and German occupation of France during World War II, France. Journalist Alistair Horne, who described himself in 2012 as one of the few people still alive who had known Skarbek, called her the "bravest of the brave." Spymaster Vera Atkins of the SOE described Skarbek as "very brave, very attractive, but a loner and a law unto herself." She became a British spy, agent months before the SOE was founded in July 1940. She was the first female agent of the British to serve in the field and the longest-serving of all Britain's wartime women agents. Her resourcefulness and success have been credited with influencing the organisation's dec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Medal
The George Medal (GM), instituted on 24 September 1940 by King George VI,''British Gallantry Medals'' (Abbott and Tamplin), p. 138 is a decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for gallantry, typically by civilians, or in circumstances where military honours are not appropriate. History In 1940, at the height of the Blitz, there was a strong desire to reward many acts of civilian courage. Existing awards open to civilians were not considered suitable to meet the new situation, so the George Cross and the George Medal were instituted to recognise civilian gallantry in the face of enemy bombing, and brave deeds more generally. Announcing the new awards, the King said The warrant for the GM (along with that of the GC), dated 24 January 1941, was published in ''The London Gazette'' on 31 January 1941. Criteria The medal is granted in recognition of "acts of great bravery". The original warrant for the George Medal did not explicitly per ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Occupation Of Poland (1939–1945)
During World War II, Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union following the invasion in September 1939, and it was formally concluded with the defeat of Germany by the Allies in May 1945. Throughout the entire course of the occupation, the territory of Poland was divided between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union (USSR), both of which intended to eradicate Poland's culture and subjugate its people. In the summer-autumn of 1941, the lands which were annexed by the Soviets were overrun by Germany in the course of the initially successful German attack on the USSR. After a few years of fighting, the Red Army drove the German forces out of the USSR and crossed into Poland from the rest of Central and Eastern Europe. Sociologist Tadeusz Piotrowski argues that both occupying powers were hostile to the existence of Poland's sovereignty, people, and the culture and aimed to destroy them. Before Operation Barbarossa, Germany and the Soviet Union coordinated th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ronald Nowicki
Ronald Nowicki is an American author and magazine editor. Life In April 1975 Nowicki founded the ''San Francisco Review of Books'', which was published in the San Francisco Bay Area until 1997. The ''SFRB'' began as a magazine and later adopted a tabloid format. In addition to his editor's column, Nowicki also wrote occasional reviews. The ''San Francisco Review'' received little funding and had no backers, so it relied for financial support on a combination of advertising revenues, subscriptions, grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, and volunteers. Despite the limited funding, the ''Review'' was published regularly under Nowicki's editorship until the late 1980s. When it was sold in 1989, Nowicki was retained as editor for a year until a successor was installed. The publication continued well into the late 1990s with various owners, while Nowicki left to interview the last survivors of the Warsaw cabaret for his first book, ''Warsaw: The Cabaret Years'' (Mercury Hous ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herb Abdank
Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typically distinguishes herbs from spices. ''Herbs'' generally refers to the leafy green or flowering parts of a plant (either fresh or dried), while ''spices'' are usually dried and produced from other parts of the plant, including seeds, bark, roots and fruits. Herbs have a variety of uses including culinary, medicinal, aromatic and in some cases, spiritual. General usage of the term "herb" differs between culinary herbs and medicinal herbs; in medicinal or spiritual use, any parts of the plant might be considered "herbs", including leaves, roots, flowers, seeds, root bark, inner bark (and cambium), resin and pericarp. The word "herb" is pronounced in Commonwealth English, but is standard among American English speakers as well as those from regions whe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wish Me Luck
''Wish Me Luck'' is a British television drama about the exploits of civilian women who became undercover agents in Occupied France during the Second World War. The series was made by London Weekend Television for the ITV network between 17 January 1988 and 25 February 1990 and created by Lavinia Warner and Jill Hyem, who had previously produced and written the BBC women prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ... series ''Tenko (TV series), Tenko''. The series was filmed on location in England and France. ''Wish Me Luck'' is similar to ''Tenko (TV series), Tenko'' and the 1970s BBC drama ''Secret Army (TV series), Secret Army'', in that it deals with strong female characters coping under extreme conditions in wartime. The organisation for which the seri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Digne-les-Bains
Digne-les-Bains (; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Dinha dei Banhs''), or simply and historically Digne (''Dinha'' in the Franco-Provençal, classical norm or ''Digno'' in the Mistralian norm), is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of Southeastern France. As of 2018, the Communes of France, commune had a population of 16,333. Its inhabitants are called ''Dignois'' (masculine) and ''Dignoises'' (feminine). Geography Site and location Located on the edge of the Digne Prealps and on both sides of the river Bléone, which flows southwest through the middle of the commune and crosses the town; it forms part of the commune's northeastern and southwestern borders. Digne-les-Bains is the capital of the Department of Alpes de Haute-Provence. Placed in the geographical centre of the Department, the commune is home to 17,400 inhabitants, making it one of the sma ... [...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] |
Xan Fielding
Alexander Wallace Fielding (26 November 1918 – 19 August 1991), known as Xan Fielding, was a British author, translator, journalist and traveller, who served as a Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent in Crete, France and East Asia during World War II. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe and Asia against the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. Biography Early life Fielding was born in Ootacamund, India, where his father, Alexander James Lumsden Wallace, served in the Indian Army, as a major in the 52nd Sikhs (Frontier Force). Fielding's mother Mary Gertrude (née Feilmann) died soon after his birth, on 13 December 1918, and he was largely brought up in Nice, France, by his maternal grandparents who adopted the name Fielding. For the first eight years of his life, he thought his grandparents were his parents and his seven aunts and uncles were his older siblings. He was educated at Charterhouse School and then studie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francis Cammaerts
Francis Charles Albert Cammaerts, DSO (16 June 1916 – 3 July 2006), code named Roger, was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe and Asia against the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. In France, SOE agents allied themselves with French Resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England. Cammaerts was the creator and the organiser (leader) of the Jockey network (or circuit) in southeastern France in 1943 and 1944. At the beginning of World War II in 1939, Cammaerts declared himself a conscientious objector, but in 1942 he joined the SOE. He recruited and supplied with arms and training a large number of resistance networks and cells over an extensive area east of the Rhone River extending to the border with Italy and north from the Mediterranean Sea to the city of Grenoble. Despi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naturalisation
Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the United Nations excludes citizenship that is automatically acquired (e.g. at birth) or is acquired by declaration. Naturalization usually involves an application or a motion and approval by legal authorities. The rules of naturalization vary from country to country but typically include a promise to obey and uphold that country's laws and taking and subscribing to an oath of allegiance, and may specify other requirements such as a minimum legal residency and adequate knowledge of the national dominant language or culture. To counter multiple citizenship, some countries require that applicants for naturalization renounce any other citizenship that they currently hold, but whether this renunciation actually causes loss of original citizens ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's own. Many pseudonym holders use them because they wish to remain anonymous and maintain privacy, though this may be difficult to achieve as a result of legal issues. Scope Pseudonyms include stage names, user names, ring names, pen names, aliases, superhero or villain identities and code names, gamertags, and regnal names of emperors, popes, and other monarchs. In some cases, it may also include nicknames. Historically, they have sometimes taken the form of anagrams, Graecisms, and Latinisations. Pseudonyms should not be confused with new names that replace old ones and become the individual's full-time name. Pseudonyms are "part-time" names, used only in certain contexts: to provide a more clear-cut separation between one's privat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marcus Binney
Marcus Hugh Crofton Binney ( Marcus Hugh Crofton Simms; 21 September 1944) is a British architectural historian and author. He is best known for his conservation work regarding Britain's heritage. Early and family life Binney is the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Crofton Simms MC and his wife, Sonia (née Beresford Whyte). His father was in the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) in the Second World War. He was captured in Libya in January 1942 prior to being held as a prisoner of war in Italy and escaped from a lorry in transit in Northern italy and stayed free until he was able to cross the Allied lines in Southern Italy. His mother worked in code-breaking. Following his father's death and his mother's remarriage to Sir George Binney (DSO) in 1955, Marcus took his stepfather's surname. Binney was educated at Eton College and read history of art at the University of Cambridge. The architect Walter Ison was a family friend, who encouraged the young Binney to study Sir Robert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
