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Walter Kirke
General Sir Walter Mervyn St George Kirke, (19 January 1877 – 2 September 1949) was the Commander in Chief of the British Home Forces at the beginning of the Second World War. Military career Born the second son of Colonel St. George Mervyn Kirke of the Royal Engineers and his wife Sarah, Walter Kirke was commissioned into the Royal Artillery as a second lieutenant on 21 September 1896. He was promoted to lieutenant on 21 September 1899, and to captain on 4 December 1901 while serving in Waziristan on the North West Frontier of India between 1901 and 1902. From July 1902 he was seconded for service with the Burma Military Police. Kirke was instrumental in creating the Army's Intelligence Corps in 1907, and he worked for Colonel George Macdonogh in the War Office's Intelligence Department. This area of work comprised special duties, such as protective security, ciphers and censorship of post (news) and telegraphs. Starting 1 October 1909, the new Secret Service Bureau (MI ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portsea Island
Portsea Island is a flat and low-lying natural island in area, just off the southern coast of Hampshire in England. The island contains the majority of the city of Portsmouth. Portsea Island has the third-largest population of all the islands in the British Isles after the mainlands of Great Britain and Ireland; it also has the highest population density of any British Isle, and Portsmouth has the highest population density of any city in the UK outside of London. To the east of Portsea Island lies Hayling Island, separated by Langstone Harbour. To the west is the peninsular mainland town of Gosport, separated by Portsmouth Harbour. To the south, it faces into the Spithead area of the wider Solent. A narrow tidal channel along the northern edge of Portsea Island, known as Portsea Creek, separates Portsea Island from the mainland. Three roads connect Portsea Island to the mainland road network: the M275 motorway, the A3 London Road (split on two separate bridges), a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
War Office
The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at which point its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from this source, which is available under th Open Government Licence v3.0 © Crown copyright It was equivalent to the Admiralty (United Kingdom), Admiralty at that time, which was responsible for the Royal Navy (RN), and (much later) the Air Ministry, which oversaw the Royal Air Force (RAF). The name 'Old War Office' is also given to the former home of the department, located at the junction of Horse Guards Avenue and Whitehall in central London. The landmark building was sold on 1 March 2016 by HM Government for more than British pound, £350 million, on a 250-year lease for conversion int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Michael
Operation Michael () was a major German military offensive during World War I that began the German spring offensive on 21 March 1918. It was launched from the Hindenburg Line, in the vicinity of Saint-Quentin, France. Its goal was to break through the Allied (Entente) lines and advance in a north-westerly direction to seize the Channel Ports, which supplied the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), and to drive the BEF into the sea. Two days later General Erich Ludendorff, the chief of the German General Staff, adjusted his plan and pushed for an offensive due west, along the whole of the British front north of the River Somme. This was designed to first separate the French and British Armies before continuing with the original concept of pushing the BEF into the sea. The offensive ended at Villers-Bretonneux, to the east of the Allied communications centre at Amiens, where the Allies managed to halt the German advance; the German Army had suffered many casualties and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General 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 rank, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a Division (military), division or Military organization, 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 Military administration, administration, Military logistics, logistics, Military operation, operations, Military intelligence, intelligence, Military education and training, training, etc. They provide multi-directional flow of information between a commanding officer, subordinate military units and other stakeholders.PK Mallick, 2011Staff System ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting took place mainly in European theatre of World War I, Europe and the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I, Middle East, as well as in parts of African theatre of World War I, Africa and the Asian and Pacific theatre of World War I, Asia-Pacific, and in Europe was characterised by trench warfare; the widespread use of Artillery of World War I, artillery, machine guns, and Chemical weapons in World War I, chemical weapons (gas); and the introductions of Tanks in World War I, tanks and Aviation in World War I, aircraft. World War I was one of the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflicts in history, resulting in an estimated World War I casualties, 10 million military dead and more than 20 million wounded, plus some 10 million civilian de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mansfield Smith-Cumming
Captain (Royal Navy), Captain Sir Mansfield George Smith-Cumming (1 April 1859 – 14 June 1923) was a British naval officer who served as the first Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). Origins He was a great-great-grandson of the prominent merchant John Smith, a director of both the South Sea Company and the East India Company, the second son of Abel Smith (1717–1788), Abel Smith (d. 1756), the Nottingham banker who founded a banking dynasty and whose business much later became National Westminster Bank, now one of the largest banks in the United Kingdom.J. Leighton Boyce, ''Smith's the Bankers 1658–1958'' (1958). His father was Colonel John Thomas Smith of the Madras Royal Engineers who became Master of the Madras and India Government Mint, Kolkata, Calcutta Mints and designed a machine for minting coins that was displayed at the Great Exhibition in 1851.A. Judd, ''The Quest for C'' (1999). Early naval career Smith join ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vernon Kell
Major General Sir Vernon George Waldegrave Kell, (21 November 1873 – 27 March 1942) was a British Army general and the founder and first Director of the British Security Service, otherwise known as MI5. Known as K, he was described in ''Who's Who'' as "Commandant, War Department Constabulary". Early life Born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, in 1873, Kell was the son of Major Waldegrave Kell of the 38th Foot and his wife, Georgiana Augusta Konarska, daughter of Samuel Alexander Ernest Konarski and Harriet Fraser Lucas. Military service After graduating from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Kell was commissioned into the South Staffordshire Regiment on 10 October 1894, and promoted to lieutenant on 15 December 1896. He was in January 1900 seconded for service in China, and fought in the Boxer Rebellion later that year. He could speak German, Italian, French and Polish with equal facility, and after serving and studying in China and Russia, he learned their respective ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Macdonogh
Sir George Mark Watson Macdonogh (4 March 1865 – 10 July 1942) was a British Army general officer. After early service in the Royal Engineers he became a staff officer prior to the outbreak of the First World War. His main role in the war was as Director of Military Intelligence at the War Office in 1916–18. Early career He was born on 4 March 1865, son of George Valentine MacDonogh, Deputy Inspector of the Royal Naval Hospital, Greenwich. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 5 July 1884. Ian Beckett comments that he had "considerable intellectual ability" but was "diffident and taciturn". He was promoted to captain on 22 October 1892. In 1896 he entered the Staff College, Camberley by examination. The normal order of results was varied in order to conceal the fact that he and his contemporary James Edmonds were far ahead of the other entrants. Both men found their studies easy, and whilst Edmonds wrote a History of the American Civil War i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intelligence Corps (United Kingdom)
The Intelligence Corps (Int Corps) is a corps of the British Army. It is responsible for gathering, analysing and disseminating military intelligence and also for counter-intelligence and security. The Director of the Intelligence Corps is a brigadier. History 1814–1914 In the 19th century, British intelligence work was undertaken by the Intelligence Department of the War Office. An important figure was Charles William Wilson, Sir Charles Wilson, a Royal Engineer who successfully pushed for reform of the War Office's treatment of topographical work. In the early 1900s intelligence gathering was becoming better understood, to the point where a counter-intelligence organisation (MI5) was formed by the Directorate of Military Intelligence (United Kingdom), Directorate of Military Intelligence (DoMI) under Captain (later Major-General) Vernon Kell; overseas intelligence gathering began in 1912 by Secret Intelligence Service, MI6 under Commander (later Captain) Mansfield Smith-Cum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burma Military Police
The Burma Military Police (BMP) was a paramilitary force of British Burma. Its main functions were the pacification of Upper Burma and the policing of the Burmese frontier. The force was made up of Indian and Burmese recruits. Dating back to 1886, it was formally established under the Upper Burma Military Police Regulation in 1887, which was superseded the same year by the Burma Military Police Act. In July 1917, the 85th Burman Rifles were raised from the Burma Military Police. After the separation of Burma from British India, most battalions of the Burma Military Police became part of the new Burma Frontier Force, which after the Second World War became the Burma Frontier Constabulary. The remaining battalions were allocated to the Inspector-General of Police, Burma in 1942. History Formation The Burma Military Police was raised in 1886 to reduce the cost of controlling Upper Burma by replacing regular Indian army units. The first unit of the BMP was the Mogaung Levy in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North-West Frontier Province (1901–1955)
The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ) was a province of British India from 1901 to 1947, of the Dominion of Pakistan from 1947 to 1955, and of the Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Pakistan from 1970 to 2010. It was established on 9 November 1901 from the north-western districts of the Punjab Province (British India), British Punjab, during the British Raj. Following the 1947 North-West Frontier Province referendum, referendum in 1947 to join either Pakistan or India, the province voted hugely in favour of joining Dominion of Pakistan, Pakistan and it acceded accordingly on 14 August 1947. It was dissolved to form a unified province of West Pakistan in 1955 upon promulgation of One Unit Scheme and was reestablished in Legal Framework Order, 1970, 1970. It was known by this name until 19 April 2010, when it was dissolved and redesignated as the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa following the enactment of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan, Eighteenth Amendmen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
