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Admiral Locklear: After the end of World War II and before 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States had a continual presence in the Asia-Pacific. This presence enabled the...
Operation Dynamo was the rescue operation implemented by the Royal Navy. It was co-ordinated by Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay and his small team in Dover Castle. There, beneath the fortress, a network of tunnels deep within the cliffs became the nerve centre controlling the evacuation of Allied forces.
- The Battle of Britain
- The Unsinkable Ship
- The North African Campaign
- British Intelligence
- The British Empire
- The Royal Navy
Between June and October 1940, the RAF engaged in a deadly battle over the skies of southern Englandwith wave after wave of Luftwaffe bombers and fighter planes. At stake was the supremacy of the air and, in turn, the survival of the United Kingdom. Following the fall of France, the only country still standing in the way of Hitler’s total dominance...
Free from occupying forces, Britain became an unsinkable ship, able to launch constant bombing raids against German industrial, military, and civilian targets. This hampered the Germans’ ability to fight the war effectively and severely lowered enemy morale. As well as being a base for both British raids on the German homeland and its military inte...
Unable to fight in continental Europe, the British instead turned their attention to North Africa, fighting several battles against the Italians and the Germans to drive them from the continent. The battles fought between General Bernard Montgomery and his opposite number, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, culminated in Rommel’s defeat in the Battle of E...
The British knew they hadn’t much hope of taking the fight directly to the Germans at the start of the war, but what they did have was an intelligence network that was second to none. The full weight of British intelligence was thrown into the war effort and produced astonishing results that proved vital. The Special Operations Executive (SOE), for...
With an empire stretching from Canada to Australia, Britain was able to raise a fighting force the Germans and the Japanese could never hope to match. In India alone, Britain raised an army of 1.4 million troops who went on to play vital roles in both the European and Pacific theatres. While many people see the Pacific as primarily a war between Ja...
Of course, it wasn’t just on land that Britain made an invaluable contribution to the war. At sea, the gigantic Royal Navyplayed a pivotal role in defeating the Axis powers from day one of the conflict to the very end of the war. In Europe and the Middle East, Royal Navy blockades confined the Italian and German navies to port due to a chronic shor...
The flag officers most identified with this practice were Admiral of the Fleet the Earl of Cork and Orrery to command operations off Narvik in May 1940; Admiral of the Fleet Sir Roger Keyes as Director of Combined Operations 1940-1941; and Admiral Sir Frederick Dreyer as Chief of Naval Aviation.
Special Operations Executive (SOE) Explore our collections relating to the Special Operations Executive (SOE). Image: IWM (MH 26392) Winston Churchill. Operation Postmaster was backed by newly appointed Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who proved he was willing to employ every possible tactic to ensure victory.
The Royal Navy in World War 2 was a huge and complex organisation spread all across the world. It is therefore not surprising that the Navy's rank, profession, trade, pay and related badges structures were complex, and even today defy any claim to really understand them in full.
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During World War Two, the contribution of troops from the British Empire was crucial. The map below gives an idea of the number of soldiers who signed up to fight for Britain from several...
