X-Nico

86 unusual facts about British Army


1915 FA Cup Final

Vivian Woodward an amateur and England international who played for Chelsea in peacetime but was currently serving in the British Army, had been given leave to play in the final.

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.

1996 in Northern Ireland

7 October - Thiepval barracks bombing: The IRA explodes two car bombs inside the British Army headquarters at Lisburn, killing one soldier and injuring 37 other people.

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.

Africa Star

The sand of the desert is represented by pale buff, the Royal Navy (and Merchant Navy), British Army, and Royal Air Force are represented by stripes of dark blue, red, and light blue respectively.

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.

Amerigo Dumini

He remained in the region for more than a decade and was captured by the British Army during the North African Campaign of World War II.

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.

Although a match was played between the officers of the British Army and the officers of the Royal Navy at Kennington Oval, London on 13 February 1878, it was not until 1909 that the Army Navy Match became an annual fixture, when it was jointly administered by the newly formed Royal Navy Rugby Union (RNRU - 1906) and the Army Rugby Union (ARU - 1906).

Arthur Guy Empey

He left the United States at the end of 1915 frustrated at its neutrality in the conflict at that point and travelled to London, England, where he joined the 1st London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), Territorial Force, of the British Army, going on to serve with it in the 56th (London) Infantry Division on the Western Front as a bomber and a machine-gunner.

Bacon Grill

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

Battle of the Imjin River

The section of the UN line where the battle of the Imjin River took place was defended primarily by British forces of 29th Infantry Brigade.

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.

Boquet, Pennsylvania

Though his name was spelled somewhat differently, it is commonly accepted that Boquet was named after General Henry Bouquet, a British army officer of the 18th century.

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.

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.

Campbell's Island, Illinois

Campbell's Island was the site of the Battle of Rock Island Rapids, one of the westernmost battles of the War of 1812, when a band of approximately 500 Sauk warriors allied with the British Army clashed on July 19, 1814 with an American force led by Lieutenant John Campbell of the 1st U.S. Regiment of Infantry.

Capel Curig

It is also home to a youth hostel, Army training camp, a camp site, several cafes and hotels and outdoor activity gear shops.

CCGS Edward Cornwallis

Named after Lieutenant General Edward Cornwallis, British Army officer and founder of Halifax, Nova Scotia (home port of this ship as well).

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.

Crossmaglen Rangers GAC

In 1971 the British Army took possession of a portion of the ground despite opposition from the club and the Irish Government, and this led to a controversy regarding the British Army's conduct.

Cyril Bassett

However, his mother, from a family with a history of service in the British Army, convinced him to enlist in the New Zealand Military Forces.

Deir Yassin

Many inhabitants were employed outside the village in the nearby British Army camps as waiters, carpenters, and foremen; others as clerks and teachers in the mandatory civil service.

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.

Edwin Alexander Forbes

His paternal ancestors were soldiers for many generations in the Highland regiments of the British Army.

Emma Drummond

Drummond was born in a Military Hospital, as her father was a member of the British Army.

Epistle to Dippy

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

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.

Forage cap

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

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 de l'Île Sainte-Hélène

After the British Army left the fort for ruin, it became part of the City of Montreal.

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.

Garleton Hills

The western spur is crowned by the Hopetoun Monument to John, 4th Earl of Hopetoun, who commanded the British Army in the Peninsular War, after the death of Sir John Moore at Corunna.

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 Glas Sandeman Carey

Major General George Glas Sandeman Carey (1867-1948), an officer in the British Army who, during World War I, prevented a breakthrough of the German forces to Amiens in the Second Battle of the Somme in 1918 by assembling a scratch force of British and American troops.

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.

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 Martyn Lazelle

After serving as an inspector for the Division of the Pacific and the Department of the Columbia, Lazelle represented the U. S. Army as an observer during the maneuvers of the British Army in India from November 1885 to March 1886.

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).

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.

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.

King's shilling

For many years a soldier's daily pay, before stoppages, was the shilling given as an earnest payment to recruits of the British Army and the Royal Navy of the 18th and 19th centuries.

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.

The majority of the remainder claim some benefit from the experience and some have chosen the British Army as a career at the end of it.

Light Aid Detachment

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

Lockheed Martin Desert Hawk

The Desert Hawk is also used by the 32nd Regiment Royal Artillery of the British Army as a tactical surveillance system, and has seen use in Afghanistan.

Martin Middlebrook

This is a detailed study of the single worst day for the British Army.

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.

Meggitt Banshee

Banshee entered service with the British Army in the mid-1980s as an aerial target for the Short Blowpipe and Javelin shoulder launched missiles.

Moses Amadu Yahaya

Moses Yahaya's relationships with the British Army with assistance from the UK based organization 58AI aided him to drill 67 boreholes for 32 communities in the Tolon-Kumbungu District.

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

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.

Patterson Park

The high ground at the northwest corner of Patterson Park, called Hampstead Hill, was the key defensive position for U.S. forces against British ground forces in the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812.

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 Brawdy

It was operational between 1944 and 1992 being used by both the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy before the site was turned over to the British Army and was named Cawdor Barracks.

RAF Rheindahlen

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

Ramon Tikaram

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

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.

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.

Sindhuli District

They British Army had advanced weaponry such as guns and cannons whereas the Gurkha were with bows and arrows, spears, etc.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Tetbury Woolsack Races

Most competitors come from local rugby teams or the British Army; many of the course records are held by Tetbury Rugby Club.

Thales Watchkeeper WK450

Watchkeeper WK450 is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for all weather, Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) use by the British Army, provided under an £800 million contract awarded in July 2005 to Thales UK.

The Consultant

At the British Army M*A*S*H where the artery resides, Trapper and Hawkeye talk with a pompous and talkative British CO who is cordial enough, but takes his time signing over the artery.

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.

Toronto Hunt Club

The Toronto Hunt Club was established in by British Army officers of the Toronto garrison (Fort York) in 1843.

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.

Vagrancy Act 1824

Nine years after the end of hostilities with France, the British Army and British Navy had undergone a massive reduction in numbers.

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.

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.

Amba Alagi

The initial attacks on the approaches to Amba Alagi by British troops under Major-General Mayne from the north, commenced on May 4 with a pincer from the eastern and western sides.

Anthony Yates

After national service with the British Army in Kenya, Egypt, and the Suez Canal, he became a member of the Royal College of Physicians of London in 1957.

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.

Besa machine gun

It was considered by BSA and the Ministry of Supply that the industrial, technical, and logistical handicap of converting the design to the .303 round was more onerous than retaining the original calibre, especially given that the chain of supply for the Royal Armoured Corps was already separate from the other fighting arms of the British Army.

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.

Charles Pitt

He is also described in a further letter written in about 1900 as a "surgeon .... in the British Army" and "lost his life in Ticonderoga, America".

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.

DOT AU Vodka

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

Drambuie

In 1916, Drambuie became the first liqueur to be allowed in the cellars of the House of Lords, and Drambuie began to ship world-wide to stationed British soldiers.

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.

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.

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 Stuart Henderson

Henderson was 26 years old, and a captain in the 2nd Battalion, The Manchester Regiment, British Army during the 1920 Iraqi revolt, than called Mesopotamia when the following deed took place on 24 July 1920 near Hillah, Mesopotamia for which he was awarded the VC.

George Walters

The British Army alone was an all-volunteer force, whose soldiers enlisted for an initial period of ten years in the Infantry.

Harsha Abeywickrama

Air Marshal Harsha Abeywickrema, RWP, RSP, VSV, USP, rcds, psc, qfi, SLAF is a Sri Lankan fighter pilot and the current Commander of the Sri Lankan Air Force.

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 Cavendish, 5th Baron Chesham

He fought in the Second World War as a Captain in the Army, also briefly serving as an Air Observation Post pilot with No. 664 Squadron RCAF.

John Folan

He was a private in the 3rd Battalion, Connaught Rangers, British Army during World War I when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the DCM.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Pinal Airpark

It is also extensively used by the British Army for 'Conversion To Role' training for Apache combat operations in Afghanistan.

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.

RAF Dishforth

The airfield opened in 1936 as use by Royal Air Force (RAF) until 1943 when the Royal Canadian Air Force took over but the airfield was returned in 1945 before the site was handed over to the British Army in 1992 and became Dishforth Airfield.

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.

Samuel McGaw

McGaw was about 36 years old, and a lance-sergeant in the 42nd Regiment of Foot (later The Black Watch Royal Highlanders), British Army during the First Ashanti Expedition when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

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.

Sulu Archipelago

In the second half of the 18th century, Great Britain became a new player in the archipelago After occupying Manila from 1762 – 64, during the Thirty years war between Spain and Great Britain, the British Army withdrew to the south and established trading alliances between the Sulu Sultanate and the British East India Company.

The Robin Flies at Dawn

"The Robin Flies at Dawn" is a special edition of the British sitcom Only Fools and Horses, filmed specifically for the British troops serving in the 1990-91 Gulf 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.

Vintage amateur radio

There is considerable interest in vintage military and commercial radio equipment among EU amateur radio operators, especially gear from British manufacturers such as Marconi, Racal, Eddystone, Pye, and a variety of Russian, German, Canadian, British RAF and British Army equipment, such as the well known Wireless Set No. 19.

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.