X-Nico

84 unusual facts about British Army


1917–18 Manchester United F.C. season

On 9 October 1917 while Fighting in France during the First World War, United former player Arthur Beadsworth was killed while serving as a Sergeant in the Seventh Battalion of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment of the British Army.

1939–45 Star

The ribbon for this medal, along with those of the other Second World War campaign stars, is reputed to have been designed by King George VI, with the three equal bands representing the equal contributions towards victory of the Royal Navy, Army, and the Royal Air Force respectively.

1950 in Israel

26 March – The remains of the Hannah Szenes, a Jewish paratrooper who had fought in the British Army during World War II and was captured, tortured and executed in Hungary, are brought to Israel and buried in the cemetery on Mount Herzl, Jerusalem.

1st South Carolina Regiment

The regiment was captured at Charleston on May 12, 1780 together with the rest of the Southern Department by the British Army.

2nd South Carolina Regiment

The regiment was captured by the British Army at Charleston on May 12, 1780, together with the rest of the Southern Department.

Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction

The best friend of Adrian's son Glenn and a private in the British Army, through which he is deployed to Iraq.

Alfred Finnigan

Finnigan’s family emigrated to Australia when he was a boy, where he gained experience with horses that was to stand him in good stead when he joined the Army in 1914.

Anti-Structures Munition

The Anti-Structures Munition is a developmental program for the British Army to provide a man-portable shoulder-launched weapon capable of destroying hardened structures such as buildings or bunkers.

Army Navy Match

The Army Navy Match is the annual rugby union match played between the senior XV teams of the Royal Navy and British Army.

Bacon Grill

Bacon Grill was a standard element of rations in the British Army.

Battle of Morlaix

Initially, Edward III of England could do little to help the de Montforts, he had his own problems at home, but eventually he felt able to send a small force under Sir Walter Mauny to aid them.

Berets of the United States Army

Although it is unusual for American units to wear distinctive headgear, it is the norm in the British Army, where most regiments wear headdress which reflects regimental history.

Bob Archer

He lied about his age in 1916 to be admitted into the Army for World War I and was later invalided back into civilian life after being gassed.

Bogwoman

"Bogwoman" is a play on the term of abuse shouted at a Derry woman by the British Army; the term is a play on the word used to describe those women that live in the IRA stronghold of the Bogside in Derry.

Bonapartism

The death knell for Bonapartism was probably sounded when Eugène Bonaparte, the only son of Napoleon III, was killed in action while serving as a British Army officer in Zululand in 1879.

Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land

He joins a British Army officer, Captain Hill in tracking down a secret cult while the war rages about them.

Cambridge University Association Football League

This gives Cambridge University county status (separate from Cambridgeshire), with the same voice in English football's governing body as such associations as London, the Army and Women's football.

Camp Roberts, California

Camp Roberts is host to annual training to almost every California Army National Guard unit and it is also used by the British Army.

Captain William Mackintosh

Captain William Mackintosh was an Irish-born British Army officer and Canadian surveyor and engineer.

Charles C. Walcutt

She was born in Belfast, Ireland, and was a daughter of Hugh Neill, who had served as an officer in the British Army.

Colonel commandant

In the British Army, the term colonel-commandant goes back at least to the American War of Independence, when it denoted an officer in command of a regiment.

Conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman

The phrase was used as a charge in courts martial of the British Army in the 18th and early 19th centuries, although it was not defined as a specific offence in the Articles of War.

Defence College of Communications and Information Systems

It also delivers training in military skills, command and leadership management courses alongside its technical courses, and standalone packages to Royal Signals NCOs and warrant officers from the Army.

DOT AU Vodka

The recipe was traded with a Scottish soldier in the British Army, who took it back to Scotland.

Drum Major General

The Drum Major General was a royal appointment in the British Army used from the mid-17th century and into the 18th century.

Epistle to Dippy

The real "Dippy" was, at the time, serving in the British Army in Malaysia.

Espantoon

The word itself derives from that of a pole weapon, the spontoon, which was carried by infantry officers of the British Army during the Revolutionary period.

Exercise Cambrian Patrol

In 2006 the event which ran from 27 October to 5 November 2006, attracted 95 teams from the British Army (regular and territorial) and Royal Air Force.

Fearless Nadia

She was the daughter of Scotsman Herbertt Evans, a volunteer in the British Army, and Margret.

Feldwebel

The word Feldwebel is usually translated as sergeant, being rated OR-6 in the NATO rank comparison scale, equivalent to the British Army Sergeant and the US Army Staff Sergeant.

Florence of Arabia

The title of the novel is a play on "Lawrence of Arabia", a popular name for the British Army officer T. E. Lawrence, who became famous for his exploits in the Middle East, particularly as a liaison during the Arab Revolt of 1916-1918.

Flushing Bay

On September 21, 1776, the Colonial patriot Nathan Hale was captured by the British Army near a tavern at Flushing Bay after being fingered as a spy.

Forbes George Vernon

Forbes George Vernon (21 August 1843 – 20 January 1911), Lieutenant (ret.) British Army, was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of the Canadian province of British Columbia from 1875 to 1882, and from 1886 to 1894, representing the riding of Yale.

Fort Severn

Americans suspected that the British Army might attack the area during the War of 1812, but no conflict occurred at the fort during the war.

Forty Foot

It has been speculated that it may have been called the Forty Foot after the 42nd Highland Regiment of Foot (now known as the Black Watch), a regiment of the British Army, which is said to have been stationed here.

Garrison FM

Garrison FM is a network of radio stations in the United Kingdom serving British Army bases around the country.

Geoffrey Douglas Hale Carpenter

Upon the outbreak of World War I, Carpenter was called to service in the British Army Medical Corps.

George E. P. Box

During World War II, he performed for the British Army experiments exposing small animals to poison gas.

George Melachrino

He joined the Army a year later, and received training at the Corps of Military Police where he became a P.T. Instructor.

German occupation of Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovak units and formations with overwhelming majority of Czechs (cca 82–85%) served with the Polish Army (Czechoslovak Legion), the French Army, the Royal Air Force, the British Army (the 1st Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade), and the Red Army (I Corps).

Giuseppe Wilson

He was born in Darlington to a Neapolitan woman Lina Di Francesca and Dennis Wilson, a Briton who worked as an iron and steel worker at the local factory, but had met Lina while serving with the British Army.

Gremmendorf

After the Second World War, the barracks originally intended for German soldiers were taken over and utilized by British occupational forces (Following the defeat of Nazi Germany, the country was divided into 4 separate sectors: American, French, British, and Soviet, which would eventually be known as East Germany ), who ended up constructing even more barracks.

Guillemard Bridge

In December 1941, at the start of the World War II in Malaya, the British forces retreating south to Kuala Krai, destroyed the last span of the bridge to prevent the Imperial Japanese Army advancing.

Henry Denny Denson

He married in Ireland but shortly afterwards joined the British Army as a lieutenant, leaving his wife behind in Dublin.

Henry Tyrell-Smith

In the late 1930s he worked for Excelsior motor-cycle company and when the War broke out, joined the British Army and served in the D-Day landings with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME).

Jean Thierry du Mont, comte de Gages

When Marshal Saxe defeated the British Army at Battle of Fontenoy in 1745 and overran the Low Countries, the Spanish Crown granted du Mont the county of Gages, near his birthplace until then occupied by the Austrians since 1713.

Jock McLaren

During World War I, McLaren served in the British Army with the 51st Highland Division.

Johan Host Herkimer

In February 1780, at the command of the governor of Quebec, General Frederick Haldimand, Herkimer served as boat-master in the Commissariat at Coteau-du-Lac, Quebec, providing stores and supplies for the British Army posts.

Kafr Yasif

The British Army proceeded to start burning Kafr Yasif in retaliation, but were then told by the residents that Kuwaykat's inhabitants were responsible for the attack.

Lads' Army

Shown on ITV, Bad Lads Army is based on the premise of subjecting today's delinquent young men to the conditions of conscripts to British Army National Service of the 1950s to see if this could rehabilitate them.

Light Aid Detachment

These units provide dedicated logistic support to every field unit of the British Army or Canadian Army.

Louis Joubert Lock

Owned by the Port authority of Nantes-Saint-Nazaire and not the ship building company Chantiers de l'Atlantique, its strategic importance as a major naval construction and maintenance asset since its completion in 1934, resulted in it becoming the main target of the British Army Commando raid of 1942, the St. Nazaire Raid, to stop German battleships such as Tirpitz from accessing maintenance facilities in the Atlantic Ocean.

Luke Kerr

Kerr has a background in professional sport and is a qualified full England ABA boxing coach, FA and UEFA football licensed coach as well as a tutor and assessor, he spent several years in the British Army as a PTI (Physical Training Instructor), where he represented the British Army at both boxing and football.

Mary Herring

In 1918 she had met Edmund Herring, then a young Australian captain in the British Army on leave from the Macedonian front of the Great War, and they were married on 6 April 1922 at Toorak Presbyterian Church.

Michael McPartland

At the age of 15, McPartland left school and worked for five years as a salesman before joining the British Army in 1960, serving for eleven years after which he worked for British Rail.

Niagara, New York

The Town of Niagara was founded in 1812 (originally as the "Town of Schlosser" after the local fortification Fort Schlosser and after Captain Joseph Schlosser, a German officer in the British Army) from the Town of Cambria.

Ntshingwayo Khoza

He outmanoeuvred Lt. Gen. Lord Chelmsford, diverting part of the British force, then defeating and annihilating the encamped British Army at the Battle of Isandlwana, after the epic battle he became Britain's biggest foe.

Oath of office

All recruits to the British Army, Royal Air Force must take an oath of allegiance upon joining these armed forces, a process known as "attestation".

Old Lyme, Connecticut

John McCurdy (b.1724), whose home was the resting place for George Washington on April 10, 1776 while traveling to New York City to take on the British Army and Navy (source: Papers of George Washington, Connecticut State Library); grandfather of Connecticut Supreme Court judge Charles McCurdy

Oliver Bulleid

World War I intervened; Bulleid joined the British Army and was assigned to the rail transport arm, rising to the rank of Major.

Pacific Star

The Royal Navy (and Merchant Navy), Army, and Royal Air Force are represented by stripes of dark blue, red, and light blue respectively.

Palcho Monastery

In 1904, the town and monastery were attacked by British soldiers under the leadership of Francis Younghusband (commanding 1000 troops, 10,000 servants, and 4,000 yaks) and although most of the damage was later restored, bullet holes from this attack remain in the monastery to this day.

Pessie Madan

In 1943, Madan was commissioned into the British Army in India, where he commanded a field unit in the turbulent Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

RAF Rheindahlen

Is now occupied by the British Army, as HQ United Kingdom Support Command (Germany) - HQ UKSC(G).

Regimental Aid Post

In the British Army, Canadian Forces and other Commonwealth militaries, the RAP is a front line military medical establishment incorporated into an infantry battalion or armoured regiment and designed for the immediate treatment and triage of battlefield casualties.

Second-in-command

The second-in-command (2i/c or 2IC) is the deputy commander of any British Army or Royal Marines unit, from battalion or regiment downwards.

Sharpe's Tiger

Rather than do this, he adopts a "prequel" approach and uses an earlier campaign period in the history of the British Army, that of colonial India.

Siege of Multan

Whish's combined force amounted to 32,000, of which 15,000 were from the British Army or European (mainly Irish) troops of the Bengal and Bombay armies.

Southern Rhodesian general election, 1980

British Army forces then set up 16 assembly points throughout Southern Rhodesia where Patriotic Front guerillas could disarm and return to civilian life; 18,300 did so by the deadline of 6 January.

St. George's Anglican Church, Berlin

The church served as the garrison church of the British Army during the Allied occupation, and reverted to civilian control in 1994.

Stylianos Lenas

In a battle with the British Army in the area of Potamitissa on 17 February 1957, Stylianos Lenas was seriously wounded and captured.

Thales Watchkeeper WK450

On 15 July 2007, the UK MoD revealed that 54 Watchkeepers will be delivered to the British Army.

The Devil in Amber

Since then he served in the British Army, specifically during action on the border of France and Switzerland which caused him to suffer a mental breakdown.

The Egyptian Gazette

At the end of the war and with the departure of most of the British Army stationed in Egypt, the market for English-language newspapers shrank dramatically.

The Freedom of the City

Lily, a 43-year-old mother of eleven, Michael, a 22-year-old man (unemployed), and 'Skinner', 21 and unemployed (signs himself as Freeman of the City in the Visitor's Book), are the antiheroes, who perish as British soldiers shoot them in cold blood when they surrender.

The Funniest Joke in the World

The British Army test the joke on Salisbury Plain against a rifleman (Terry Jones), who snickers and falls dead on the range, then translate it into German.

The Place of the Dead

Initially, the soldiers are shown training while a voiceover by expedition leader Lt. Col. Robert Niell (Simon Dutton) tells us that there will be five British Army soldiers, two Territorial Army soldiers and three Hong Kong Chinese soldiers on the expedition.

It is a 'true story' account of a British Army expedition in Malaysia that made headlines in 1994 when it went badly wrong.

Thomas Storrow Brown

In November, Brown was wounded and partially blinded in one eye during the street fight between the Société des Fils de la Liberté and the Doric Club but nevertheless in December he still fought against the British Army at the Battle of Saint-Charles.

Timeline of the British Army since 2000

The Time line of the British Army since 2000, lists the conflicts and wars the British Army were involved in.

Trevor Meredith

He was conscripted into the British Army at the age of 17, and was playing semi-professional football for Kidderminster Harriers when he was scouted by Burnley.

Turlough O'Carolan

In addition, O'Carolan's Concerto has been used as a neutral Slow March by the Foot Guards of the British Army during the ceremony of Trooping the Colour.

Valley Creek

In 1777, the forge and mills were destroyed by the British Army during the American Revolutionary War.

Yamnuska Mountain Adventures

:Yamnuska has supplied mountaineering and rock instructors for the British Army for 14 years (in 2010) and provides instruction and logistical support for the Royal Canadian Army Cadets - Rocky Mountain National Army Cadet Summer Training Centre (RMNACSTC) in the Canadian Rockies.


1915–16 Blackpool F.C. season

With a large number of British Army personnel based in the town, many of the Blackpool players during the four seasons of wartime football were soldiers.

Ancroft

Boots were also made for the British army - the Duke of Marlborough's troops marched to victory shod in Ancroft boots.

Armstrong-CCM Motorcycles

They acquired the rights to the Rotax engine enduro motorcycle SWM XN Tornado from the Italian owners and developed the Armstrong MT500 military motorcycle used by the British Army in the Falklands War.

Articles of War

The first set of Articles of War for the British Army were written under William III, taking the place of the medieval Rules and Ordinances of War, a list of regulations issued by the king at the beginning of every expedition or campaign.

C. H. Fernando

Major General C.H. Fernando, VSV, psc, SLAC (1930 - ) is a Sri Lankan general, who was the former Director of Operations, General Staff; GOC, 2 Division; Commander, Northern Command.

Castlemartin Training Area

In 1962 there was a shortage of suitable tank training areas in Northern part of Germany for the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR), an agreement was made whereby armoured training for German recruits was undertaken in the UK so the Bergen-Hohne Training Area could be freed for use by the British Army.

Corps of Canadian Voyageurs

The Corps of Canadian Voyageurs was raised in September 1812 by the British Army as a military water transportation corps.

Denshawai Incident

On 13 June 1906 five officers of the occupying British army, with their interpreter and a police official, visited Denshawai (AR: دنشواي) to go pigeon shooting.

Diplomatic Dan

When, in 1970, Lieutenant Colonel Dan Raschen is posted to Stockholm as Military Attaché for three years he claims it must be because the British Army can't think of anything else to do with him.

Edward Kinder Bradbury

Bradbury was an officer in the British Army during the First World War where as second-in-command of L Battery, Royal Horse Artillery he led the battery during an engagement at Néry during the Retreat from Mons on 1 September 1914, where he was killed in action.

Edwin St Hill

During the Second World War, he joined the British Army and took part in the Dunkirk evacuation before returning to England; he resumed his league career and played many wartime charity games.

Eyre Massey, 1st Baron Clarina

Eyre Massey, 1st Baron Clarina (24 May 1719–17 May 1804), was an Irish British army officer of the 18th century, known primarily for his successful action at La Belle-Famille during the French and Indian War.

Forage cap

The coloured peaked cap worn by the modern British Army for parade and other dress occasions is known as a forage cap.

George Louch

Or he might have been in the British Army during the American Revolutionary War (as was the Earl of Winchilsea and, possibly, Richard Purchase).

George Walters

The battle fought in heavy fog at Inkermann proved to be a testament to the skill and initiative of the individual men and officers of the British Army of the day.

Ike Webb

Webb retired from the game in 1910 and joined the Army, serving as a catering orderly in the West Yorkshire Regiment.

John Barrington, 1st Viscount Barrington

William, the eldest, became Chancellor of the Exchequer; John was a Major-General in the British Army; Daines was a lawyer, antiquarian and naturalist; Samuel was a Rear-Admiral in the Royal Navy; and Shute became Bishop of Salisbury and Bishop of Durham.

John Jeremiah Bigsby

In 1816, he joined the British Army as an assistant surgeon and was stationed at the Cape of Good Hope in 1817.

Kiran Shamsher Rana

General Kiran made an official visit to Malaya in 1955 at the invitation of Commander-in-Chief, Far Eastern Command (Land Forces) of the British Army and inspected the Gurkha regiments stationed there.

Lapel

Jackets with mandarin collars, also called stand collars, band collars or choker collars, include Nehru jackets and various military dress uniforms, such as the British Army and US Marine Corps.

Mark Sutcliffe

Mark Sutcliffe MBE (born 29 July 1979 in Peterborough, England) joined the British Army in 1997 aged 17, enlisting into the 2nd Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment The Poachers, initially joining C (Northamptonshire) Company.

Moosa Ali Jaleel

MSc ndc psc was the former Chief of Defence Force of the Maldives National Defence Force and most senior military officer in the country at his time.

Ngwane National Liberatory Congress

Golden Highlanders were sent by the British Army in the early sixties due to pressure of the party’s protest actions in demanding political reforms for an Independent state and class struggle for a minimum wage.

Palace of St. Michael and St. George

The palace is designed in the Regency style by the British architect George Whitmore, who was a Colonel and later a Major-General in the Royal Engineers.

Pearl Vardon

She was arrested there when she enquired how to obtain new identity papers and she was then held by the British Army at Esterwegen Internment Camp, the former Esterwegen concentration camp, where she was interrogated.

Prize of war

This included two Agusta A109 helicopters captured by the British Army from the Argentine Army which were used by the Army Air Corps until 2007.

PULHHEEMS

PULHHEEMS is tri-service, which is to say that it is used by the British Army, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force.

Ramon Tikaram

Born in Singapore, Tikaram is the son of Fijian-Indian British Army soldier Pramod Tikaram and Sarawakian mother Fatimah Rohani.

Reavey and O'Dowd killings

RUC SPG officer John Weir, in his affidavit made to Irish Supreme Court Justice Henry Barron, named those involved in the Reavey shootings as Robert McConnell (a soldier of the British Army's Ulster Defence Regiment), Laurence McClure (an RUC SPG officer), James Mitchell and another man.

Sir Benjamin Slade, 7th Baronet

He was married (from the late 1970s to 1991) to Pauline Myburgh (daughter of Major Claude Myburgh) and divorced.

Sir Charles Monro, 1st Baronet

General Sir Charles Carmichael Monro, 1st Baronet of Bearcrofts, GCB, GCSI, GCMG, (15 June 1860 – 7 December 1929) was a British Army General during World War I and Governor of Gibraltar from 1923 to 1929.

Sophia Kingdom

Sophia Kingdom, Lady Brunel (c. 1775 – 1854) was the daughter of William Kingdom, a contracting agent for the navy and the army, born in Plymouth.

Steimatzky

He had originally came to the British Mandate of Palestine on a short visit for the opening of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and decided to stay after he saw the potential in opening a foreign language bookstore that would serve a growing immigrants' market as well as British Army soldiers serving under the British Mandate.

Stokes mortar

The Stokes mortar was a British trench mortar invented by Sir Wilfred Stokes KBE that was issued to the British, Commonwealth and U.S. armies, as well as the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps (CEP), during the latter half of the First World War.

The Troubles in Crossmaglen

4 March 1978 - Nicholas Smith (20), 7 Platoon, B Company, 2 RGJ, Royal Green Jackets, British Army was killed by a Provisional Irish Republican Army booby trap bomb while removing an Irish flag from a telegraph pole in Crossmaglen.

Tim Barlow

He lost his hearing in the 1950s when testing a high Muzzle velocity Rifle for the British Army, until recently, when surgery to fit a cochlear implant allowed him to recover some of his hearing.

Veterinary corps

Royal Army Veterinary Corps -an administrative and operational branch of the British Army

Whiggism

The opposing Tory position was held by the other great families, the Church of England, and most of the landed gentry and officers of the army and the navy.

William Nicholas Willis

He had become a supplier of horses and fodder to the British Army in South Africa and he recruited Australian bushmen as scouts and sharpshooters during the Boer War.

Wrexham Lager Beer

However Graesser reformed the brewery as, and found a non-local market in export sales, primarily through railways such as the Great Western Railway (who were also the primary method of shipping the beer out of Wrexham), shipping lines such as Cunard, and the British Army; there was documentary evidence of the lager appearing in many places, such as Khartoum as early as 1898.