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Royal Automobile Club Volunteer Force
The Royal Automobile Club Volunteer Force (also known as "RAC Corps of Volunteer Motor Drivers") was a group of civilian members of the Royal Automobile Club, who at the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, took their personal cars and joined the British Army in France and Belgium, to act as chauffeurs for senior officers. Following their involvement in the early battles of the war, several of their number were appointed to senior positions in the British military establishment. Formation Shortly after departure of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) for France on 7 August 1914, the War Office made a request to the Royal Automobile Club (RAC), that twenty-five suitable members, together with their own vehicles, make themselves available to the General Headquarters at the front. Volunteers were interviewed and their cars inspected by the RAC themselves under the direction of the club secretary, Julian Orde. Once accepted, the volunteers were told to obtain an officer's khaki S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Automobile Club
The Royal Automobile Club is a British private Club (organization)#Country or sports club, social and athletic club. It has two clubhouses: one in London at 89 Pall Mall, London, Pall Mall, and the other in the countryside at Woodcote Park, near Epsom in Surrey. Both provide accommodation and a range of dining and sporting facilities. It is best-known for establishing the roadside assistance service RAC Limited, though this is no longer owned by the club. History It was founded on 10 August 1897, with the name Automobile Club of Great Britain (which was later changed to Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland). The headquarters was originally in a block of flats at 4 Whitehall Court, before moving to 119 Piccadilly in 1902. In 1902, the organisation, together with the recently formed Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, Association of Motor Manufactures and Traders, campaigned vigorously for the relaxation of speed limits, claiming that the 14 mph speed li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corps
Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was formally introduced March 1, 1800, when Napoleon ordered General Jean Victor Marie Moreau to divide his command into four corps. The size of a corps varies greatly, but two to five divisions and anywhere from 40,000 to 80,000 are the numbers stated by the US Department of Defense. Within military terminology a corps may be: *an military organization, operational formation, sometimes known as a field corps, which consists of two or more division (military), divisions, such as the I Corps (Grande Armée), , later known as ("First Corps") of Napoleon I's ); *an administrative corps (or Muster (military), mustering) – that is a #Administrative corps, specialized branch of a military service (such as an artillery corps, an armoured corps, a signal corps, a medical corps, a marine corps, or a corps of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Small Arms
A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes containing gunpowder and pellet projectiles were mounted on spears to make the portable fire lance, operable by a single person, which was later used effectively as a shock weapon in the siege of De'an in 1132. In the 13th century, fire lance barrels were replaced with metal tubes and transformed into the metal-barreled hand cannon. The technology gradually spread throughout Eurasia during the 14th century. Older firearms typically used black powder as a propellant, but modern firearms use smokeless powder or other explosive propellants. Most modern firearms (with the notable exception of smoothbore shotguns) have rifled barrels to impart spin to the projectile for improved flight stabili ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christopher Baker-Carr
Christopher is the English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or '' Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Christ" or "Anointed", and φέρειν (''phérein''), "to bear"; hence the "Christ-bearer". As a given name, 'Christopher' has been in use since the 10th century. In English, Christopher may be abbreviated as "Chris", "Topher", and sometimes " Kit". It was frequently the most popular male first name in the United Kingdom, having been in the top twenty in England and Wales from the 1940s until 1995, although it has since dropped out of the top 100. Within the United Kingdom, the name is most common in England and not so common in Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland. Cognates in other languages *Afrikaans: Christoffel, Christoforus *Albanian: Kristofer, Kristofor, Kristoforid, Kristo *Arabic: كريستوفر (''Krīstafor, Kristūfar, Krístufer''), اصطفر (''ʔi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful command and leadership during active operations, typically in actual combat. Equal in Awards and decorations of the British Armed Forces, British precedence of military decorations to the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross and Royal Red Cross, since 1993 the DSO is eligible to all Military rank, ranks awarded specifically for "highly successful command and leadership during active operations". History Instituted on 6 September 1886 by Queen Victoria by Warrant (law), Royal Warrant published in ''The London Gazette'' on 9 November, the first DSOs awarded were dated 25 November 1886. The Order (distinction), order was established to recognise individual instances of meritorious or distinguished service in war. It is a military order, and wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously awarded to service personnel in the broader British Empire (later Commonwealth of Nations), with most successor independent nations now having established their own honours systems and no longer recommending British honours. It may be awarded to a person of any military rank in any service and to civilians under military command. No civilian has received the award since 1879. Since the first awards were presented by Queen Victoria in 1857, two thirds of all awards have been personally presented by the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarch. The investitures are usually held at Buckingham Palace. The VC was introduced on 29 January 1856 by Queen Victoria to honour acts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Naval Air Service
The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty (United Kingdom), Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force (RAF), the world's first independent air force. It was replaced by the Fleet Air Arm, initially consisting of those RAF units that normally operated from ships, but emerging as a separate unit similar to the original RNAS by the time of the Second World War. History Background On 21 July 1908 Captain Reginald Bacon, who was a member of the Aerial Navigation Sub-Committee, submitted to the First Sea Lord John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher, Sir John Fisher that a rigid airship based on the Imperial Germany, German Zeppelin be designed and constructed by the firm of Vickers. After much discussion on the Committee of Imperial Defence the suggestion was approved on 7 May 1909. Though Bacon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siege Of Antwerp (1914)
The siege of Antwerp (, , ) was an engagement between the German and the Belgian, British and French armies around the fortified city of Antwerp during the First World War. German troops besieged a garrison of Belgian fortress troops, the Belgian field army and the British Royal Naval Division in the Antwerp area, after the German invasion of Belgium in August 1914. The city, which was ringed by forts known as the National Redoubt, was besieged to the south and east by German forces. The Belgian forces in Antwerp conducted three sorties in late September and early October, which interrupted German plans to send troops to France, where reinforcements were needed to counter the French armies and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). A German bombardment of the Belgian fortifications with heavy and super-heavy artillery began on 28 September. The Belgian garrison had no hope of victory without relief; despite the arrival of the Royal Naval Division beginning on 3 October, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uhlan
Uhlan (; ; ; ; ) is a type of light cavalry, primarily armed with a lance. The uhlans started as Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army, Lithuanian irregular cavalry, that were later also adopted by other countries during the 18th century, including Polish Armed Forces, Poland, French Army, France, Imperial Russian Army, Russia, Prussian Army, Prussia, Royal Saxon Army, Saxony, and Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Emperor, Austria. The term "lancer" was often used interchangeably with "uhlan"; the lancer regiments later formed for the British Army were directly inspired by the uhlans of other armies (even though they were never known by that name). Uhlans traditionally wore a double-breasted short-tailed jacket with a coloured ''plastron'' panel at the front, a coloured sash, and a square-topped Polish lancer cap (, also called ). This cap or cavalry helmet was derived from a traditional Polish cap design, formalised and stylised for military use. Their lances were traditionally topped wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Staff Officer
A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military unit in their command and control role through planning, analysis, and information gathering, as well as by relaying, coordinating, and supervising the execution of their plans and orders, especially in case of multiple simultaneous and rapidly changing complex operations. They are organised into functional groups such as administration, logistics, operations, intelligence, training, etc. They provide multi-directional flow of information between a commanding officer, subordinate military units and other stakeholders.PK Mallick, 2011Staff System in the Indian Army: Time for Change Centre for Land Warfare Studies, New Delhi, vol 31. A centralised general staff results in tighter top-down control but requires larger staff at headquart ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First Battle Of Ypres
The First Battle of Ypres (, , – was a battle of the First World War, fought on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front around Ypres, in West Flanders, Belgium. The battle was part of the First Battle of Flanders, in which German Army (German Empire), German, French Army in World War I, French, Belgian Land Component, Belgian armies and the British Expeditionary Force (World War I), British Expeditionary Force (BEF) fought from Arras in France to Nieuwpoort, Belgium, Nieuwpoort (Nieuport) on the Belgian coast, from 10 October to mid-November. The battles at Ypres began at the end of the Race to the Sea, reciprocal attempts by the German and Franco-British armies to advance past the northern flank of their opponents. North of Ypres, the fighting continued in the Battle of the Yser between the German 4th Army (German Empire), 4th Army, the Belgian army and French marines. The fighting has been divided into five stages, an encounter battle from 19 to 21 October, the B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First Battle Of The Marne
The First Battle of the Marne or known in France as the Miracle on the Marne () was a battle of the First World War fought from the 5th to the 12th September 1914. The German army invaded France with a plan for winning the war in 40 days by occupying Paris and destroying the French and British armies. The Germans had initial successes in August. They were victorious in the Battles of Mons and the Frontiers and overran a large area of northern France and Belgium. In what is called the Great Retreat the Germans pursued the retreating French and British forces more than southwards. The French and British halted their retreat in the Marne River valley while the Germans advanced to from Paris. With the battlefield reverses of August, Field Marshal John French, commander of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), lost faith in the French and began to plan for a British retreat to port cities on the English Channel for an evacuation to Britain. The French commander Joseph Joffr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
