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Operation BANNER was the United Kingdom's military operation in Northern Ireland that began on 14 August 1969 and ended on 31 July 2007. The first deployment was in response to a request from the government of Northern Ireland. Following the widespread public disorder earlier in 1969, the deployment was to support the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC)*.
On 14 November 1977, the Fire Brigade’s Union in the UK began a national strike, demanding a 30% increase in pay and a 40-hour week. Initially there was widespread public support for the firemen.
Under Operation BURBERRY, troops were deployed to provide emergency cover using 1950s vintage Bedford RLHZ Self Propelled Pumping tenders, colloquially known as Green Goddesses. The 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Rangers deployed to Manchester on 1 December 1977 and provided emergency fire cover until the end of the month.
In the review of the strike debated in the House of Lords on 8 February 1978, Lord Clifford of Chudleigh made the following remarks:
During September 1951, the 1st Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles remained on Line 'Wyoming' facing north-west. Across 2,000 yards of broken ground with low, scrub-covered hills, lay an enemy position. It was occupied by what was estimated to be a battalion, with supporting arms, centred on Hill 187.
Operation DIADEM was the code name for the Allied spring offensive in Italy in 1944 and included the Fourth Battle of Cassino. General Alexander's intention was to destroy the right wing of the German Tenth Army, drive the remnants of Fourteenth Army to the north of Rome, and then pursue the Germans, all the while inflicting maximum losses on them, as they withdrew to their defensive line that ran from Rimini to Pisa - the Gothic Line.
Following the withdrawal to Dunkirk, the evacuation of the Allies began on 27 May and was completed by 4 June 1940 with the eventual rescue of around 338,226 personnel. The British Expeditionary Force evacuated from Dunkirk included the:
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2nd Battalion The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (13 Infantry Brigade/5th Infantry Division/BEF Headquarters Troops)
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2nd Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles (9 Infantry Brigade/3rd Infantry Division/II Corps)
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1st Battalion The Royal Irish Fusiliers (25 Infantry Brigade/50th (Northumbrian) Motor Infantry Division/II Corps)
On 11 September 2001, four American passenger jets were taken over in flight by al-Qaeda terrorists. Two of the aircraft were flown into each of the twin towers of The World Trade Centre in New York, both of which subsequently collapsed; a third was flown into The Pentagon, headquarters of the United States Department of Defence; the fourth aircraft crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers tried to wrest control from the terrorist hijackers.
The first Operation OVERLORD communiqué on 6 June 1944 stated:
'Under the command of General Eisenhower, Allied naval forces, supported by strong air forces, began landing Allied armies on the northern coast of France.’
Montgomery's message to 21st Group, 23 March 1945:
'Over the Rhine then, let's go, and good hunting to you all on the other side.'
Operation PLUNDER was Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's 21st Army Group operation to cross the River Rhine on a two-corps front and advance from the east bank through Northern Germany. There were three major ground operations and an airborne operation:
Op TURNSCREW - XXX Corps' Rhine crossing at Rees.
Operation STRANGLE, from 19 March to 11 May 1944, was an independent air operation designed to force the withdrawal of the German armies from central Italy by denying them supply of all essential materiel. Air interdiction operations, south of a line from Pisa to Rimini, were flown by the United States of America's Fifteenth Air Force and Twelfth Air Force. Coastal shipping, marshaling yards, trains, road and rail bridges, and military logistic transport were all targeted and attacked.
