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Petroleum Warfare Department
The Petroleum Warfare Department (PWD) was a government department established in Britain in 1940 in response to the invasion crisis during World War II, when Germany apparently would invade the country. The department was initially tasked with developing the uses of petroleum as a weapon of war, and it oversaw the introduction of a wide range of flame warfare weapons. Later in the war, the department was instrumental in the creation of the Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation (commonly known as FIDO) that cleared runways of fog allowing the landing of aircraft returning from bombing raids over Germany in poor visibility, and Operation Pluto, which installed prefabricated fuel pipelines between England and France soon after the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944. Inception At the beginning of World War II, in September 1939, little fighting occurred in the West until the German invasion of France and the Low Countries in May 1940. Following the fall of France an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Anti-invasion Preparations Of World War II
British anti-invasion preparations of the Second World War entailed a large-scale division of military and civilian mobilisation in response to the threat of invasion ( Operation Sea Lion) by German armed forces in 1940 and 1941. The British Army needed to recover from the defeat of the British Expeditionary Force in France, and 1.5 million men were enrolled as part-time soldiers in the Home Guard. The rapid construction of field fortifications transformed much of the United Kingdom, especially southern England, into a prepared battlefield. Sea Lion was never taken beyond the preliminary assembly of forces. Today, little remains of Britain's anti-invasion preparations, although reinforced concrete structures such as pillboxes and anti-tank cubes can still be commonly found, particularly in the coastal counties. Political and military background On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland; two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany, launching the Second W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rationing
Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time. There are many forms of rationing, although rationing by price is most prevalent. Rationing is often done to keep price below the market-clearing price determined by the process of supply and demand in an unfettered market. Thus, rationing can be complementary to price controls. An example of rationing in the face of rising prices took place in the various countries where there was rationing of gasoline during the 1973 energy crisis. A reason for setting the price lower than would clear the market may be that there is a shortage, which would drive the market price very high. High prices, especially in the case of necessities, are undesirable with regard to those who cannot afford them. Traditionalist economi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State for Air. Organisations before the Air Ministry The Air Committee On 13 April 1912, less than two weeks after the creation of the Royal Flying Corps (which initially consisted of both a naval and a military wing), an Air Committee was established to act as an intermediary between the Admiralty and the War Office in matters relating to aviation. The new Air Committee was composed of representatives of the two war ministries, and although it could make recommendations, it lacked executive authority. The recommendations of the Air Committee had to be ratified by the Admiralty Board and the Imperial General Staff and, in consequence, the Committee was not particularly effective. The increasing separation of army and naval aviation from 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General Post Office
The General Post Office (GPO) was the state mail, postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Before the Acts of Union 1707, it was the postal system of the Kingdom of England, established by Charles II of England, Charles II in 1660. Similar General Post Office (other), General Post Offices were established across the British Empire. In 1969 the GPO was abolished and the assets transferred to Post Office Ltd#History, The Post Office, changing it from a Department of State to a statutory corporation. In 1980, the telecommunications and postal sides were split prior to BT Group, British Telecommunications' conversion into a totally separate publicly owned corporation the following year as a result of the British Telecommunications Act 1981. For the more recent history of the postal system in the United Kingdom, see the articles Royal Mail and Post Office Ltd. Originally, the GPO was a state monopoly covering the dispatch of items from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Military Cross
The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC is granted in recognition of "an act or acts of exemplary gallantry during active operations against the enemy on land" to all members of the British Armed Forces of any rank. In 1979, the Queen approved a proposal that a number of awards, including the Military Cross, could be recommended posthumously. History The award was created on 28 December 1914 for commissioned officers of the substantive rank of captain or below and for warrant officers. The first 98 awards were gazetted on 1 January 1915, to 71 officers, and 27 warrant officers. Although posthumous recommendations for the Military Cross were unavailable until 1979, the first awards included seven posthumous awards, with the word 'deceased' after the name of the recipient, from r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat. Since 1993 it has been awarded specifically for 'highly successful command and leadership during active operations', with all ranks being eligible. History Instituted on 6 September 1886 by Queen Victoria in a royal warrant published in '' The London Gazette'' on 9 November, the first DSOs awarded were dated 25 November 1886. The order was established to reward individual instances of meritorious or distinguished service in war. It was a military order, until recently for officers only and typically awarded to officers ranked major (or equivalent) or higher, with awards to ranks below this usually for a high degree of gallantry, just short of deserving the Victoria Cross. Whilst normally given for service u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donald Banks
Major-General Sir Thomas MacDonald "Donald" Banks (31 March 1891 – 11 July 1975) was a British Army officer, senior civil servant and a founder member and first Chairman of the Guernsey Society. Family Banks was born in Guernsey on 31 March 1891, the son of Thomas Brownsort Banks, a stationer, and Margaret Elizabeth (''née'' Roebuck). He had an elder sister, Blanche, and a younger brother, Maurice Rowley. He married Dorothea Webster, and they had one daughter, Dawn Louise, born in 1932. They lived in Lymington, Hampshire. Dorothea died in 1947. In 1948,Sir Donald married Elizabeth Bradley of Lymington, and they had two children together. They moved to Cadnam Lodge in the New Forest, where he kept a herd of Guernsey cattle. Early years He attended Elizabeth College, Guernsey between 1899 and 1909, where he was in the Shooting VIII 1908-9. Career He entered the Civil Service in 1909 in the Exchequer and Audit Department. In 1914, he passed the Civil Service Examination, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Secretary For Petroleum
The position of Secretary for Petroleum is a now defunct office in the United Kingdom Government, associated with the Board of Trade. In 1929, the Secretary for Mines (now also defunct) took over responsibility for petroleum. In 1939 the Petroleum Board assumed responsibility for the coordination of the petroleum 'pool' for oil supplies (except oil for the Royal Navy). In 1940, the department was divided with Geoffrey Lloyd and Sir Alfred Faulkner becoming respectively Secretary and Permanent Under-Secretary for Petroleum and David Grenfell and Sir Alfred Hurst respectively Secretary and Permanent Under-Secretary for Mines. On 11 June 1942, both these sub-departments of the Board of Trade were transferred to the new Ministry of Fuel and Power The Ministry of Power was a United Kingdom government ministry dealing with issues concerning energy. The Ministry of Power (then named Ministry of Fuel and Power) was created on 11 June 1942 from functions separated from the Bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geoffrey Lloyd, Baron Geoffrey-Lloyd
Geoffrey William Geoffrey-Lloyd, Baron Geoffrey-Lloyd, PC (17 January 1902 – 12 September 1984), was a British Conservative politician. Background and education The eldest son of G. W. A. Lloyd of Newbury, Lloyd was educated at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge (MA), during which time he was President of the Cambridge Union Society in 1925. Political career Lloyd contested South East Southwark in 1924 without success and Birmingham Ladywood in 1929, when he was defeated by just 11 votes. He was Private Secretary to Sir Samuel Hoare (Secretary of State for Air), 1926–1929, then to Stanley Baldwin (Prime Minister, 1929, subsequently as Leader of the Opposition), 1929–1931. He was elected as member of parliament (MP) for Birmingham Ladywood in 1931 with a 14,000 majority, holding the seat until 1945. He was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Stanley Baldwin ( Lord President of the Council), 1931–1935 and as Prime Minister in 1935. He held office as Under- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edmund Ironside, 1st Baron Ironside
Field Marshal William Edmund Ironside, 1st Baron Ironside, (6 May 1880 – 22 September 1959) was a senior officer of the British Army who served as Chief of the Imperial General Staff during the first year of the Second World War. Ironside joined the Royal Artillery in 1899, and served throughout the Second Boer War. This was followed by a brief period spying on the German colonial forces in South-West Africa. Returning to regular duty, he served on the staff of the 6th Infantry Division during the first two years of the First World War, before being appointed to a position on the staff of the newly raised 4th Canadian Division in 1916. In 1918, he was given command of a brigade on the Western Front. In 1919, he was promoted to command the Allied intervention force in northern Russia. Ironside was then assigned to an Allied force occupying Turkey, and then to the British forces based in Persia in 1921. He was offered the post of the commander of British forces in Iraq, but w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ministry Of Home Security
The Ministry of Home Security was a British government department established in 1939 to direct national civil defence, primarily tasked with organising air raid precautions, during the Second World War. The Ministry for Home Security was headed by Sir John Anderson, the Home Secretary and Minister of Home Security. The Ministry's responsibilities covered all central and regional civil defence organisations, such as air raid wardens, rescue squads, fire services, and the Women’s Voluntary Service. It was also responsible for giving approval to local ARP schemes and providing public shelters. The Ministry, run under the auspices of the Home Office, produced hundreds of leaflets that were delivered to the population and advised on how to deal with the impending air raids. It also managed propaganda poster campaigns, such as to encourage the carrying of gas masks and volunteers to join civil defence groups like the Fire Guards. In October 1940, Sir John Anderson was replaced by H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Home Secretary
The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national security, policing and immigration policies of the United Kingdom. As a Great Office of State, the home secretary is one of the most senior and influential ministers in the government. The incumbent is a statutory member of the British Cabinet and National Security Council. The position, which may be known as interior minister in other nations, was created in 1782, though its responsibilities have changed many times. Past office holders have included the prime ministers Lord North, Robert Peel, the Duke of Wellington, Lord Palmerston, Winston Churchill, James Callaghan and Theresa May. In 2007, Jacqui Smith became the first female home secretary. The incumbent home secretary is Suella Braverman. The office holder works alongside ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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