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245-712: After the end of the Battle of France in June 1940, the Prime Minister , Winston Churchill , advocated the development of a resistance movement in Europe. His aim was two-fold: to develop a spirit of resistance in the Nazi occupied countries, and to develop a fifth column of resistance fighters who would be able to assist in the liberation of their countries when the British returned. To support these aims

490-468: A Bronze Age bridge were found on the south River Thames foreshore, upstream from Vauxhall Bridge . Two of the timbers were radiocarbon dated to 1750–1285 BC. In 2010, foundations of a large timber structure, dated to 4800–4500 BC, were found on the Thames' south foreshore downstream from Vauxhall Bridge. Both structures are on the south bank of the Thames, where the now-underground River Effra flows into

735-673: A German aircraft, carrying a staff officer with the Luftwaffe plans for an offensive through central Belgium to the North Sea, force-landed near Maasmechelen (Mechelen) in Belgium. The documents were captured but Allied intelligence doubted that they were genuine. In the full moon period in April 1940, another Allied alert was called for a possible attack on the Low Countries or Holland, an offensive through

980-612: A German attack in the centre of the French front. After the transfer from the strategic reserve of the Seventh Army to the 1st Army Group, seven divisions remained behind the Second and Ninth armies and more could be moved from behind the Maginot Line. All but one division were either side of the junction of the two armies, GQG being more concerned about a possible German attack past the north end of

1225-504: A German force consisting of 43 divisions (32 of them reserves) and no tanks. The French advanced until they met the thin and undermanned Siegfried Line . On 17 September, Gamelin gave the order to withdraw French troops to their starting positions; the last of them left Germany on 17 September, the day of the Soviet invasion of Poland . Following the Saar Offensive, a period of inaction called

1470-748: A German invasion of the Netherlands but not Belgium, by changing the deployment area to be reached by the Seventh Army; the Escaut plan would only be followed if the Germans forestalled the French move into Belgium. In the winter of 1939–40, the Belgian consul-general in Cologne had anticipated the angle of advance that Manstein was planning. Through intelligence reports, the Belgians deduced that German forces were concentrating along

1715-454: A close 138 Squadron was converted into a regular line unit on 9 March 1945. The squadron's insignia was of a sword cutting through a rope bind, with the motto "For Freedom" . 161 (Special Duties) Squadron was formed at RAF Newmarket on 15 February 1942 from 138's Lysander flight and a flight of Whitleys and Wellingtons. These were combined with pilots and aircraft from the King's Flight to create

1960-504: A concentration of forces in a position impossible to adequately resupply, along routes that could be cut easily by the French. If the Allies did not react as expected, the German offensive could end in catastrophe. Their objections were ignored and Halder argued that, as Germany's strategic position seemed hopeless anyway, even the slightest chance of decisive victory should be grasped. Shortly before

2205-473: A corridor free of flak to a pinpoint target in France south of Saumur . The target was described to the pilot as a light. When the pilot arrived over the target he found a brilliantly lit rectangle. It was in fact a prison camp, whose bright lighting of the fence wire made it a "pinpoint" of uniquely brilliant quality. When the pilot returned and reported on this astonishing target he confirmed he had made it there and

2450-565: A determined stand on the Somme and Aisne rivers but were defeated by the German combination of air superiority and armoured mobility. Italy entered the war on the German side on 10 June 1940 and began the Italian invasion of France . German armies outflanked the Maginot Line and pushed deep into France, occupying Paris unopposed on 14 June. After the flight of the French government and the collapse of

2695-510: A flight of aircraft was formed on 21 August 1940 by 11 Group Fighter Command and set aside to support the effort. Control was transferred to 3 Group on 2 October 1940. The needs of the SOE grew, as did those of the air units supporting them. Eventually two "Special Duties" squadrons were created by the RAF as a link with the underground movements in the occupied countries. A third was added in 1943 to work in

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2940-446: A grass field. This training was done at "RAF Somersham", a "dummy" airfield near RAF Tempsford initially used as a decoy during the Blitz . It was later put to use by the RAF and the SOE for training of agent operators and Lysander pilots, as the rough field approximated a typical landing ground in occupied France. The final test for a Lysander pilot was to navigate over the continent through

3185-529: A heavy tank like the French Char B1 ; French tanks were better designs, more numerous, with superior armour and armament but slower and with inferior mechanical reliability than the German designs. Although the German Army was outnumbered in artillery and tanks, it possessed some advantages over its opponents. The newer German Panzers had a crew of five: commander, gunner, loader, driver, and mechanic. Having

3430-529: A larger area, similar in size to Greater London, although some outer districts are excluded and some just outside included. The Greater London boundary has been aligned to the M25 motorway in places. Further urban expansion is now prevented by the Metropolitan Green Belt , although the built-up area extends beyond the boundary in places, producing a separately defined Greater London Urban Area . Beyond this

3675-509: A local home known as the Tangmere Cottage. The cottage was partially hidden from view by large hedges that had been allowed to grow up. Located opposite the main entrance to the base, Tangmere Cottage was also used by the SOE to do final checks on the outgoing agents, and to give returning agents a meal prior to taking them to London for debriefing. During the day the Lysander pilots would cross

3920-518: A long war in the west. Hitler ordered a conquest of the Low Countries to be executed at the shortest possible notice to forestall the French and prevent Allied air power from threatening the industrial area of the Ruhr . It would also provide the basis for a long-term air and sea campaign against Britain. There was no mention in the directive of a consecutive attack to conquer the whole of France, although

4165-463: A mass firepower effect in attack or defence. The French numerical advantage in heavy weapons and equipment, which was often deployed in "penny-packets" (dispersed as individual support weapons) was offset. Most French tanks also lacked radio and orders between infantry units were typically passed by telephone or verbally. The German communications system permitted a degree of communication between air and ground forces. Attached to Panzer divisions were

4410-701: A method of communication and supply to the resistance needed to be developed. To this purpose a highly secret organisation separate from MI6 was formed which had no official existence. Formed on 22 July 1940 under Hugh Dalton , the Minister of Economic Warfare , it was called the Special Operations Executive (SOE). Known only among the highest levels of the cabinet, extensive efforts were taken to keep its existence secret. The SOE cloaked itself by interacting with other agencies under seemingly unrelated names. Traditional armed service organisations might deal with

4655-461: A mission in April 1942 that almost resulted in an aircraft and pilot being lost on a boggy field the RAF insisted they would only land aircraft on fields handled by an operator that 161 Squadron had trained. If the agent failed the training he would not be allowed to manage landings. Operators who passed their training were said to be qualified to "lay on an operation". The special duties squadrons had to recruit and train pilots for their command. Being

4900-772: A move towards Breda in the Netherlands; if the Allies prevented a German occupation of Holland, the ten divisions of the Dutch army would join the Allied armies, control of the North Sea would be enhanced and the Germans would be denied bases for attacks on Britain. By May 1940, the 1st Army Group was responsible for the defence of France from the Channel coast south to the Maginot Line. The Seventh Army ( Général d'armée Henri Giraud ), BEF (General Lord Gort ), First Army ( Général d'armée Georges Maurice Jean Blanchard ) and Ninth Army ( Général d'armée André Corap ) were ready to advance to

5145-462: A number of dangers, including flak, German night fighters, Allied night fighters, the Gestapo, poor weather and mud. Of these, the most dangerous were poor weather and mud caked fields. German flak was concentrated along the coast, over towns and over German operated airfields. However, these locations were known to the pilots, so if a pilot plotted his course carefully and did not stray from it while flying

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5390-512: A pair of Scottish guardsmen, whose English they could not understand. They were brought in to the senior officer at the RAF coastal command base at Oban as suspected spies. The station commander inquired who they were and what they were doing there. Farley limited his answer to his name and service number. Schneidau said they had been doing a special recce over the Atlantic, but he was unable to give his name. Finding these answers entirely unsatisfactory,

5635-468: A pilot was seen by a fellow aviator climbing into a Lysander they tended to get a look of slight regard. Clearly they did not appear to be on the sharp end of the war effort. Regardless of public snubbing, morale among Lysander pilots was high, and they had a great deal of satisfaction for pulling agents out of Europe right under the nose of the Gestapo. After the D-Day landings in June 1944 the favored entry point

5880-433: A pistol as a personal sidearm, though the pistol was rarely put to use. Pilots also carried an escape kit, in case. The worst fear of the pilots was a muddy field that would cause their aircraft to become stuck, trapping them on the ground in occupied France. This occurred to pilots a number of times. Their options were to try to get their aircraft unstuck, or to burn the plane and try to escape out of France on foot. Freeing up

6125-568: A plane stuck on the ground was a battle against time, for the pilot needed to get up in the air and out of France before daylight and the inevitable Luftwaffe morning patrols. If the flight was delayed too long an alternative route home was worked out by RAF Tempsford's CO, Mouse Fielden , who when he found himself delayed in the south of France took his Hudson out over the Mediterranean to the British airfield in Algiers at Maison Blanche . From there on

6370-410: A point along its course just east of Blois the river takes a sharp bend and two small islands are present. This easily identifiable terrain feature became a primary navigational pinpoint for operations deep into France. Upon leaving England a pilot would drop down to 500 ft (150 m) over the channel to get under German radar. Crossing the French coastline was one of the more dangerous aspects of

6615-403: A population density of 802 per acre (325 per hectare). In addition to the growing number of stores selling goods, such as Harding, Howell & Co. —one of the first department stores —located on Pall Mall , the streets had scores of street sellers . London's overcrowded conditions led to cholera epidemics, claiming 14,000 lives in 1848, and 6,000 in 1866. Rising traffic congestion led to

6860-609: A population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Thames in southeast England, at the head of a 50-mile (80 km) estuary down to the North Sea , and has been a major settlement for nearly 2,000 years. Its ancient core and financial centre , the City of London , was founded by the Romans as Londinium and has retained its medieval boundaries. The City of Westminster , to the west of

7105-549: A population of 7,172,036 in 2001 and a population density of 11,760 inhabitants per square mile (4,542/km ). The extended area known as the London Metropolitan Region or the London Metropolitan Agglomeration, comprises a total area of 3,236 square miles (8,382 km ) has a population of 13,709,000 and a population density of 3,900 inhabitants per square mile (1,510/km ). Modern London stands on

7350-482: A quick tempo and exploit opportunities faster than the Allies. Panzer divisions could conduct reconnaissance, advance to contact or defend and attack vital positions and weak spots. Captured ground would be occupied by infantry and artillery as pivot points for further attacks. Although many German tanks were outgunned by their opponents, they could lure Allied tanks onto the divisional anti-tank guns. The avoidance of tank-versus-tank engagements conserved German tanks for

7595-431: A reception field at 500–600 ft (150–180 m), just high enough for the parachute to open a few seconds before the agent hit the ground. Some 1,500 agents were dropped into France, and many of these did several drops. The aircrews generically called the agents "Joes" and for the most part did not get to know them. If the aircraft was a little too low it made for a rough landing, and a number of agents were injured. Over

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7840-548: A reserve in the hands of HQs above corps, about 700 88 mm (3.46 in) and 180 37 mm (1.46 in) guns manned by Luftwaffe ground units and 816 20 mm (0.79 in) guns manned by the army. London London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom , with a population of 8,866,180 in 2022. The wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe , with

8085-408: A river, and so forth. Water reflected silver in the moonlight against the dark gray of the land, and made for the easiest terrain features to identify. During the flight the pilot would hold his folding map in one hand and the stick in the other. Over the course of the trip the pilot could ensure his progress by going folded section by section, point by point. The river Loire was a frequent guide. At

8330-466: A secret organisation, recruitment was a problem. Some pilots were drawn to the SD squadrons by personal contacts, others by the pilot's own experience in escaping from the continent. All of them had an "Above Average" pilot rating. Many had also qualified as navigators. Self-reliance in navigation was an important quality for the SD pilots. Many judged it a more essential skill for a successful SD pilot than piloting

8575-460: A small number of the best-equipped and " elite divisions were offset by many second and third rate divisions". Army Group A, commanded by Gerd von Rundstedt, comprised 45 + 1 ⁄ 2 divisions, including seven Panzer and was to execute the main movement effort through the Allied defences in the Ardennes. The manoeuvre carried out by the Germans is sometimes referred to as a "Sichelschnitt" ,

8820-494: A temperate oceanic climate ( Köppen : Cfb ). Rainfall records have been kept in the city since at least 1697, when records began at Kew . At Kew, the most rainfall in one month is 7.4 inches (189 mm) in November 1755 and the least is 0 inches (0 mm) in both December 1788 and July 1800. Mile End also had 0 inches (0 mm) in April 1893. The wettest year on record is 1903, with a total fall of 38.1 inches (969 mm) and

9065-417: A trained individual for each task allowed a logical division of labour. French tanks had smaller crews; the commander had to load the main gun, distracting him from observation and tactical deployment. The Germans enjoyed an advantage through the theory of Auftragstaktik (mission command) by which officers, NCOs and men were expected to use their initiative and had control over supporting arms, rather than

9310-449: A try. Though taking off in a storm, the weather cleared some over France. Farley located Schneidau's field, landed and made the pick-up. On the way out a German sentry put a bullet into Farley's airplane, which entered the cockpit, passed between Farley's legs and struck the compass, destroying it. As the two men began their flight back the storm worked up into a southwesterly gale, pushing them north and east. With rain and wind pouring into

9555-690: Is 1,049.8 millibars (31.00 inHg) on 20 January 2020. Summers are generally warm, sometimes hot. London's average July high is 23.5 °C (74.3 °F). On average each year, London experiences 31 days above 25 °C (77.0 °F) and 4.2 days above 30.0 °C (86.0 °F). During the 2003 European heat wave , prolonged heat led to hundreds of heat-related deaths. A previous spell of 15 consecutive days above 32.2 °C (90.0 °F) in England in 1976 also caused many heat related deaths. A previous temperature of 37.8 °C (100.0 °F) in August 1911 at

9800-508: Is agreed that the name came into these languages from Common Brythonic ; recent work tends to reconstruct the lost Celtic form of the name as * Londonjon or something similar. This was then adapted into Latin as Londinium and borrowed into Old English. Until 1889, the name "London" applied officially only to the City of London , but since then it has also referred to the County of London and to Greater London . In 1993, remains of

10045-528: Is formed of two tiers: a citywide, strategic tier and a local tier. Citywide administration is coordinated by the Greater London Authority (GLA), while local administration is carried out by 33 smaller authorities. The GLA consists of two elected components: the mayor of London , who has executive powers , and the London Assembly , which scrutinises the mayor's decisions and can accept or reject

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10290-738: Is headquartered in Thames House on the north bank of the River Thames and the foreign intelligence service ( MI6 ) is headquartered in the SIS Building on the south bank. Crime rates vary widely across different areas of London. Crime figures are made available nationally at Local Authority and Ward level. In 2015, there were 118 homicides, a 25.5% increase over 2014. Recorded crime has been rising in London, notably violent crime and murder by stabbing and other means have risen. There were 50 murders from

10535-572: Is held by an independent . The ministerial post of minister for London was created in 1994, however as of 2024, the post has been vacant. Policing in Greater London, with the exception of the City of London , is provided by the Metropolitan Police ("The Met"), overseen by the mayor through the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC). The Met is also referred to as Scotland Yard after

10780-553: Is known as London . It is the capital of the United Kingdom and of England by convention rather than statute. The capital of England was moved to London from Winchester as the Palace of Westminster developed in the 12th and 13th centuries to become the permanent location of the royal court , and thus the political capital of the nation. Greater London encompasses a total area of 611 square miles (1,583 km ) an area which had

11025-523: Is the vast London commuter belt . Greater London is split for some purposes into Inner London and Outer London , and by the River Thames into North and South , with an informal central London area. The coordinates of the nominal centre of London, traditionally the original Eleanor Cross at Charing Cross near the junction of Trafalgar Square and Whitehall , are about 51°30′26″N 00°07′39″W  /  51.50722°N 0.12750°W  / 51.50722; -0.12750 . Within London, both

11270-775: The Heer (German Army), 1,000,000 of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force), 180,000 of the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) and 100,000 of the Waffen-SS (military arm of the Nazi Party). When consideration is made for those in Poland, Denmark and Norway, the Army had 3,000,000 men available for the offensive starting on 10 May 1940. These manpower reserves were formed into 157 divisions. Of these, 135 were earmarked for

11515-512: The 2012 Summer Olympics . London is an ancient name, attested in the first century AD, usually in the Latinised form Londinium . Modern scientific analyses of the name must account for the origins of the different forms found in early sources: Latin (usually Londinium ), Old English (usually Lunden ), and Welsh (usually Llundein ), with reference to the known developments over time of sounds in those different languages. It

11760-708: The Albert Canal and increased the readiness of the army; Gamelin and Grand Quartier Général (GQG) began to consider the possibility of advancing further than the Escaut. By November, GQG had decided that a defence along the Dyle Line was feasible, despite the doubts of General Alphonse Georges , commander of the North-Eastern Front, about reaching the Dyle before the Germans. The British had been lukewarm about an advance into Belgium, but Gamelin persuaded them; on 9 November,

12005-749: The Allies failed to fulfil their military obligations to Poland, later called the Western betrayal by the Poles. The possibility of Soviet assistance to Poland had ended with the Munich Agreement of 1938, after which the Soviet Union and Germany eventually negotiated the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , which included an agreement to partition Poland. The Allies settled on a long-war strategy in which they would complete

12250-529: The Black Death in the mid-14th century, London lost nearly a third of its population. London was the focus of the Peasants' Revolt in 1381. London was a centre of England's Jewish population before their expulsion by Edward I in 1290. Violence against Jews occurred in 1190, when it was rumoured that the new king had ordered their massacre after they had presented themselves at his coronation. In 1264 during

12495-520: The Canary Wharf development. This was born out of London's increasing role as an international financial centre in the 1980s. Located about 2 miles (3 km) east of central London, the Thames Barrier was completed in the 1980s to protect London against tidal surges from the North Sea . The Greater London Council was abolished in 1986, leaving London with no central administration until 2000 and

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12740-648: The Corn Laws in 1846 was specifically aimed at weakening Dutch economic power. London then overtook Amsterdam as the leading international financial centre. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, an unprecedented growth in urbanisation took place, and the number of High Streets (the primary street for retail in Britain) rapidly grew. London was the world's largest city from about 1831 to 1925 , with

12985-412: The Dyle river to Antwerp, which was 70–80 km (43–50 mi) shorter than the alternatives. A second possibility was a line from the French border to Condé , Tournai , along the Escaut ( Scheldt ) to Ghent and thence to Zeebrugge on the North Sea coast, possibly further along the Scheldt (Escaut) to Antwerp, which became the Escaut plan/Plan E. The third possibility was along field defences of

13230-404: The Fliegerleittruppen ( Tactical Air Control Party troops) in wheeled vehicles. There were too few Sd.Kfz. 251 command vehicles for all of the army but the theory allowed the army in some circumstances to call Luftwaffe units to support an attack . Fliegerkorps VIII , equipped with Junkers Ju 87 dive-bombers ( Stukas ), was to support the dash to the Channel if Army Group A broke through

13475-435: The French Army , German commanders met with French officials on 18 June to negotiate an end to hostilities. On 22 June 1940, the Second Armistice at Compiègne was signed by France and Germany. The neutral Vichy government led by Marshal Philippe Pétain replaced the Third Republic and German military occupation began along the French North Sea and Atlantic coasts and their hinterlands. The Italian invasion of France over

13720-403: The Georgian era , new districts such as Mayfair were formed in the west; new bridges over the Thames encouraged development in South London . In the east, the Port of London expanded downstream. London's development as an international financial centre matured for much of the 18th century. In 1762, George III acquired Buckingham House , which was enlarged over the next 75 years. During

13965-419: The Inter-Services Research Bureau , the Joint Technical Board, or the Special Training Schools Headquarters. At the Admiralty the naval service dealt with the NID (Q), at the War Office the MO I(SP), while at the Air Ministry the operative entity was known as the AI IO. Most never gained an insight that these entities were the same organisation, nor did they penetrate the nature and extent of it To support

14210-429: The King's Road , Chelsea and Carnaby Street . The role of trendsetter revived in the punk era. In 1965 London's political boundaries were expanded in response to the growth of the urban area and a new Greater London Council was created. During The Troubles in Northern Ireland, London was hit from 1973 by bomb attacks by the Provisional Irish Republican Army . These attacks lasted for two decades, starting with

14455-411: The London Ambulance Service (LAS) NHS Trust , the largest free-at-the-point-of-use emergency ambulance service in the world. The London Air Ambulance charity operates in conjunction with the LAS where required. Her Majesty's Coastguard and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution operate on the River Thames , which is under the jurisdiction of the Port of London Authority from Teddington Lock to

14700-400: The London Stock Exchange , London remains a European economic powerhouse, and one of the world's major financial centres . It hosts Europe's largest concentration of higher education institutions , some of which are the highest-ranked academic institutions in the world: Imperial College London in natural and applied sciences , the London School of Economics in social sciences , and

14945-435: The Mediterranean was normally through Antwerp and over the Alps ; any ships passing through the Strait of Gibraltar to or from England were likely to be Italian or Ragusan . The reopening of the Netherlands to English shipping in January 1565 spurred a burst of commercial activity. The Royal Exchange was founded. Mercantilism grew and monopoly traders such as the East India Company were founded as trade expanded to

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15190-429: The New Model Army entered London in 1647, and they were levelled by Parliament the same year. London was plagued by disease in the early 17th century, culminating in the Great Plague of 1665–1666, which killed up to 100,000 people, or a fifth of the population. The Great Fire of London broke out in 1666 in Pudding Lane in the city and quickly swept through the wooden buildings. Rebuilding took over ten years and

15435-452: The New World . London became the main North Sea port, with migrants arriving from England and abroad. The population rose from about 50,000 in 1530 to about 225,000 in 1605. In the 16th century, William Shakespeare and his contemporaries lived in London during English Renaissance theatre . Shakespeare's Globe Theatre was constructed in 1599 in Southwark . Stage performances came to a halt in London when Puritan authorities shut down

15680-421: The Old Bailey bombing . Racial inequality was highlighted by the 1981 Brixton riot . Greater London's population declined in the decades after the Second World War, from an estimated peak of 8.6 million in 1939 to around 6.8 million in the 1980s. The principal ports for London moved downstream to Felixstowe and Tilbury , with the London Docklands area becoming a focus for regeneration, including

15925-437: The Panzerwaffe should be concentrated at Sedan. This concentration of armour would advance to the west to the English Channel , without waiting for the main body of infantry divisions. This might lead to a strategic collapse of the enemy, avoiding the relatively high number of casualties normally caused by a Kesselschlacht (cauldron battle). Such a risky independent use of armour had been widely discussed in Germany before

16170-459: The Phoney War (the French Drôle de guerre , joke war or the German Sitzkrieg , sitting war) set in between the belligerents. Adolf Hitler had hoped that France and Britain would acquiesce in the conquest of Poland and quickly make peace. On 6 October, in a speech to the Reichstag he made a peace offer to the Western powers. On 9 October 1939, Hitler issued Führer-Directive Number 6 ( Führer-Anweisung N°6 ). Hitler recognised

16415-424: The Second Barons' War , Simon de Montfort 's rebels killed 500 Jews while attempting to seize records of debts. During the Tudor period , the Reformation produced a gradual shift to Protestantism . Much of London property passed from church to private ownership, which accelerated trade and business in the city. In 1475, the Hanseatic League set up a main trading base ( kontor ) of England in London, called

16660-412: The Stalhof or Steelyard . It remained until 1853, when the Hanseatic cities of Lübeck , Bremen and Hamburg sold the property to South Eastern Railway . Woollen cloth was shipped undyed and undressed from 14th/15th century London to the nearby shores of the Low Countries . Yet English maritime enterprise hardly reached beyond the seas of north-west Europe . The commercial route to Italy and

16905-495: The Thames , its primary geographical feature, a navigable river which crosses the city from the south-west to the east. The Thames Valley is a flood plain surrounded by gently rolling hills including Parliament Hill , Addington Hills , and Primrose Hill . Historically London grew up at the lowest bridging point on the Thames. The Thames was once a much broader, shallower river with extensive marshlands ; at high tide, its shores reached five times their present width. Since

17150-428: The Tower of London ; the site featuring the Palace of Westminster , Church of St. Margaret , and Westminster Abbey ; and the historic settlement in Greenwich where the Royal Observatory defines the prime meridian (0° longitude ) and Greenwich Mean Time . Other landmarks include Buckingham Palace , the London Eye , Piccadilly Circus , St Paul's Cathedral , Tower Bridge , and Trafalgar Square . The city has

17395-533: The United Kingdom and France offered military support to Poland in the likely case of a German invasion. At dawn on 1 September 1939, the German invasion of Poland began. France and the United Kingdom declared war on 3 September, after an ultimatum for German forces immediately to withdraw their forces from Poland was not answered. Australia and New Zealand also declared war on 3 September, South Africa on 6 September and Canada on 10 September. While British and French commitments to Poland were met politically,

17640-521: The Victorian era the Thames has been extensively embanked , and many of its London tributaries now flow underground . The Thames is a tidal river, and London is vulnerable to flooding. The threat has increased over time because of a slow but continuous rise in high water level caused by climate change and by the slow 'tilting' of the British Isles as a result of post-glacial rebound . London has

17885-737: The Western Campaign ( German : Westfeldzug ), the French Campaign ( Frankreichfeldzug , campagne de France ) and the Fall of France , during the Second World War was the German invasion of the Low Countries ( Belgium , Luxembourg and the Netherlands ) and France . The invasion plan for the Low Countries and France was called Case Yellow ( German , Fall Gelb ). Fall Rot ( Case Red )

18130-447: The chef de terrain . Training initially was done at 'F' section in London at Tempsford's Station 61, the so-called "Joe School." The training was completed at RAF Tempsford, with the aid of the special duties pilots from 161 Squadron. This was done during the dark of the moon, the pilot's off periods. Commented one pilot after the war: "We had to have decent fields, so we brought back men of

18375-403: The "B" lamp was the "C" lamp. The three lights formed an inverted "L". With the correct code letters exchanged the pilot would fly a circuit over the field and then bring the aircraft down to land. The Lysander's landing lights would be switched on just before landing so the pilot might be able to see obstructions. The pilot tried to touch down at the “A” lamp, and by applying hard brake usually had

18620-505: The 11th century, London was clearly the largest town in England. Westminster Abbey , rebuilt in Romanesque style by King Edward the Confessor , was one of the grandest churches in Europe. Winchester had been the capital of Anglo-Saxon England , but from this time London became the main forum for foreign traders and the base for defence in time of war. In the view of Frank Stenton : "It had

18865-404: The 178 Lysanders sent to France 118 were destroyed, and the type was soon retired from this role. However, the aircraft's exceptional short-field performance made it the ideal aircraft for covert ops and it was soon put to use in this role. The Lysander was ideal for landing on small, unimproved airstrips behind enemy lines. It was equipped with automatic slats which extended down when the aircraft

19110-494: The 18th century, London was said to be dogged by crime, and the Bow Street Runners were established in 1750 as a professional police force. Epidemics during the 1720s and 30s saw most children born in the city die before reaching their fifth birthday. Coffee-houses became a popular place to debate ideas, as growing literacy and development of the printing press made news widely available, with Fleet Street becoming

19355-537: The 300,000 of the French Army. All of the British Expeditionary Force was motorised. Most of the German logistical transport consisted of horse-drawn vehicles. Only 50 per cent of the German divisions available in 1940 were fit for operations, often being worse equipped than the German army of 1914 or their equivalents in the British and French Armies. In the spring of 1940, the German Army was semi-modern;

19600-547: The Alps took a small amount of ground and after the armistice , Italy occupied a small area in the south-east. The Vichy regime retained the zone libre (free zone) in the south. Following the Allied invasion of French North Africa in November 1942, in Case Anton , the Germans and Italians took control of the zone until France was liberated by the Allies in 1944. During the 1930s,

19845-443: The Ardennes and kept a Ju 87 and a fighter group on call. On average, they could arrive to support armoured units within 45–75 minutes of orders being issued. The German army conducted combined arms operations of mobile offensive formations, with well-trained artillery, infantry, engineer and tank formations, integrated into Panzer divisions. The elements were united by wireless communication, which enabled them to work together at

20090-400: The Army should attack early, ready or not, hoping that Allied unreadiness might bring about an easy victory. Hitler proposed an invasion on 25 October 1939 but accepted that the date was probably unrealistic. On 29 October, Halder presented Aufmarschanweisung N°2, Fall Gelb , with a secondary attack on the Netherlands. On 5 November, Hitler informed Walther von Brauchitsch that he intended

20335-497: The B Flight's Whitleys were replaced with the four-engine Halifax. The squadron moved to RAF Tempsford in April 1942, which remained its home base for the duration of the war. When on operations during the full moon period the A Flight would move forward to RAF Tangmere . Tangmere is on the coast, 100 miles south of Tempsford. The move extended the reach of A Flight's Lysanders into Europe. 161 Squadron would deliver SOE agents, wireless operators, wireless equipment and weapons to assist

20580-589: The Belgian and Luxembourg frontiers. In March 1940, Swiss intelligence detected six or seven Panzer divisions on the German-Luxembourg-Belgian border and more motorised divisions were detected in the area. French intelligence were informed through aerial reconnaissance that the Germans were constructing pontoon bridges about halfway over the Our River on the Luxembourg–German border. On 30 April,

20825-624: The Beveland Peninsula (now the Walcheren – Zuid-Beveland –Noord-Beveland peninsula ) in the Holland Hypothesis . On 12 March 1940, Gamelin discounted dissenting opinion at GQG and decided that the Seventh Army would advance as far as Breda, to link with the Dutch. Georges was told that the role of the Seventh Army on the left flank of the Dyle manoeuvre would be linked to it and Georges notified Billotte that if it were ordered to cross into

21070-523: The British consulate and a flight home. When Robin Hooper's Lysander became trapped in mud in mid-November 1943, a Lysander recovery flight was launched during the next moon period to pick him up. This was carried out on 17 December 1943 by Squadron Leader Bob Hodges. Hodges knew the forecast over England for the night was poor, and purposed an early flight to get back and down before the home airfields became shrouded in fog. An hour later thick ground fog resulted in

21315-467: The City of London and the City of Westminster have city status . The City of London and the remainder of Greater London are both counties for the purposes of lieutenancies . The area of Greater London includes areas that are part of the historic counties of Middlesex , Kent , Surrey , Essex and Hertfordshire . More recently, Greater London has been defined as a region of England and in this context

21560-441: The City of London, has been the centuries-long host of the national government and parliament . London grew rapidly in the 19th century , becoming the world's largest city at the time . Since the 19th century, the name "London" has referred to the metropolis around the City of London, historically split between the counties of Middlesex , Essex , Surrey , Kent , and Hertfordshire , which since 1965 has largely comprised

21805-503: The Dyle Line, by pivoting on the right (southern) Second Army. The Seventh Army would take over west of Antwerp, ready to move into Holland and the Belgians were expected to delay a German advance, then retire from the Albert Canal to the Dyle, from Antwerp to Louvain. On the Belgian right, the BEF was to defend about 20 km (12 mi) of the Dyle from Louvain to Wavre with nine divisions and

22050-650: The Dyle plan was adopted. On 17 November, a session of the Supreme War Council deemed it essential to occupy the Dyle Line and Gamelin issued a directive that day detailing a line from Givet to Namur, the Gembloux Gap, Wavre, Louvain and Antwerp. For the next four months, the Dutch and Belgian armies laboured over their defences, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) expanded and the French army received more equipment and training. Gamelin also considered

22295-506: The English Channel at night was a test itself. Mechanical failure and a forced ditching in the sea was unlikely to end well. The ground crews knew this, and their Lysanders never suffered an engine failure. As the pilot approached the French coastline he would climb to 8,000 ft (2,400 m) to get above the light flak found there, then drop down to 2,000 to 1,500 ft (610 to 460 m) while flying across France for ease in reading

22540-576: The First Army, on the right of the BEF, was to hold 35 km (22 mi) with ten divisions from Wavre across the Gembloux Gap to Namur. The gap from the Dyle to Namur north of the Sambre, with Maastricht and Mons on either side, had few natural obstacles and was a traditional route of invasion, leading straight to Paris. The Ninth Army would take post south of Namur, along the Meuse to the left (northern) flank of

22785-674: The French Armée de l'Air . Agents were trained at the false airfield at "RAF Somersham" in signaling aircraft in Morse code and in laying out a flare path. Supply drop flare paths were made with 5 flashlights forming an "X". For a Lysander landing the skeleton flare path was made with 3 flashlights that formed an inverted "L". To avoid problems the RAF strongly preferred to land on fields handled by operators they had trained. If an operator started to pick out less than desirable landing fields he would be recalled to Tempsford for remedial training. Following

23030-420: The French border from Luxembourg to Dunkirk . For the first fortnight of the war, Gamelin favoured Plan E, because of the example of the fast German advances in Poland. Gamelin and the other French commanders doubted that they could move any further forward before the Germans arrived. In late September, Gamelin issued a directive to Général d'armée Gaston Billotte , commander of the 1st Army Group, ...assuring

23275-583: The French built the Maginot Line , fortifications along the border with Germany . The line was intended to economise on manpower and deter a German invasion across the Franco–German border by diverting it into Belgium, which could then be met by the best divisions of the French Army . The war would take place outside French territory, avoiding the destruction of the First World War . The main section of

23520-593: The French military attaché in Bern warned that the centre of the German assault would come on the Meuse at Sedan, sometime between 8 and 10 May. These reports had little effect on Gamelin, as did similar reports from neutral sources such as the Vatican and a French sighting of a 100 km-long (60 mi) line of German armoured vehicles on the Luxembourg border trailing back inside Germany. Germany had mobilised 4,200,000 men of

23765-547: The General Staff Oberkommando des Heeres [OKH]), presented the first plan for Fall Gelb on 19 October. Fall Gelb entailed an advance through the middle of Belgium; Aufmarschanweisung N°1 envisioned a frontal attack, at a cost of half million German soldiers to attain the limited goal of throwing the Allies back to the River Somme . German strength in 1940 would then be spent and only in 1942 could

24010-494: The German armies there. British , Belgian and French forces were pushed back to the sea by the Germans where the British and French navies evacuated the encircled elements of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French and Belgian armies from Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo . German forces began Fall Rot ("Case Red") on 5 June 1940. The remaining Allied divisions in France, sixty French and two British, made

24255-739: The German translation of the phrase "sickle cut" coined by Winston Churchill after the event. It involved three armies (the 4th , 12th and 16th ) and had three Panzer corps. The XV had been allocated to the 4th Army but the XLI (Reinhardt) and the XIX (Guderian) were united with the XIV Army Corps of two motorised infantry divisions on a special independent operational level in Panzergruppe Kleist (XXII Corps). Army Group B ( Fedor von Bock ), comprised 29 + 1 ⁄ 2 divisions including three armoured,

24500-588: The London area. This called for the Corporation of the city to extend its jurisdiction and administration over expanding areas around the city. Fearing an attempt by the Crown to diminish the Liberties of London , coupled with a lack of interest in administering these additional areas or concern by city guilds of having to share power, caused the Corporation's "The Great Refusal", a decision which largely continues to account for

24745-403: The Low Countries to outflank the Maginot Line from the north, an attack on the Maginot Line or an invasion through Switzerland. None of the contingencies anticipated the German attack through the Ardennes but after the loss of the Luftwaffe plans, the Germans assumed that the Allied appreciation of German intentions would have been reinforced. Aufmarschanweisung N°3, Fall Gelb , an amendment to

24990-452: The Lysander, and was faster. Its three-man crew included a navigator and a wireless operator, taking the burden of navigation off the shoulders of the pilot. Most importantly, it had the capacity to carry ten passengers, instead of the Lysander's three. On the down side the Hudson's greater weight and higher stall speed required a longer field to land on. The use of the Hudson for pick-up missions

25235-618: The Maginot Line and then south-east through the Stenay Gap, for which the divisions behind the Second Army were well placed. If the Allies could control the Scheldt Estuary, supplies could be transported to Antwerp by ship and contact established with the Dutch Army along the river. On 8 November, Gamelin directed that a German invasion of the Netherlands must not be allowed to progress around

25480-513: The Maginot Line ran from the Swiss border and ended at Longwy ; the hills and woods of the Ardennes region were thought to cover the area to the north. General Philippe Pétain declared the Ardennes to be "impenetrable" as long as "special provisions" were taken to destroy an invasion force as it emerged from the Ardennes by a pincer attack . The French commander-in-chief, Maurice Gamelin , also believed

25725-499: The Mediterranean theater. In the last year of the war a fourth was added for the Far East. The squadrons worked in support of SOE and the SIS, though with SOE organising, arming and supplying a civilian army, it required the lion's share of the air transport services. The peak effort was reached just around the time of the Allied invasion of occupied Europe in June 1944. The first task of the RAF

25970-576: The Moselle but failed to detect the redeployment from the Dutch frontier to the Eifel – Moselle area. On 27 January, Manstein was sacked as Chief of Staff of Army Group A and appointed commander of an army corps in East Prussia . To silence Manstein, Halder had instigated his transfer to Stettin on 9 February. Manstein's staff brought his case to Hitler, who had independently suggested an attack at Sedan, against

26215-405: The Netherlands, the left flank of the army group was to advance to Tilburg if possible and certainly to Breda. The Seventh Army was to take post between the Belgians and Dutch by passing the Belgians along the Albert Canal and then turning east, a distance of 175 km (109 mi), when the Germans were only 90 km (56 mi) distant from Breda. On 16 April, Gamelin also made provision for

26460-463: The Norwegians, skis and sleds. The bulk of supplies to the resistance in France were transported to them by 138 Squadron, with the B Flight of 161 Squadron doing agent and supply drops as well. Both squadrons depended on moonlight for visibility over the landing fields and drop zones. To receive the supplies the operator on the ground would wait at a designated field. When the aircraft was heard overhead

26705-512: The Polish pilots in 138 were formed into their own unit, Flight 301. By the end of the war 138 Squadron had flown more than 2,500 sorties, dropped 29,000 containers, 10,000 packages and 995 "Joes" into occupied Europe, while losing 70 aircraft. Over half of these missions were in Handley Page Halifax bombers, modified to provide a parachute hatch called the "Joe hole." As the war was coming to

26950-478: The RAF Special Duties squadrons. The special duties service required its own administrative support. Ordinary administrative procedures useful in the arming and targeting of large numbers of aircraft for bombing raids as practised by the RAF were unsuitable for the work of secretly moving agents, arms, supplies and special funds by solitary flights to isolated fields in France. The formation was initially under

27195-413: The RAF insisted on tighter control of pick-up operations, and refused to perform pick-ups except with operators that 161's pilots had trained. The squadron's insignia was of a released shackle, with the motto "Liberate" . In 1943 a special duties squadron was created for operations in the Mediterranean. The unit was formed with the conversion of 148 Squadron to 148 (Special Duties) Squadron . The squadron

27440-417: The RAF's Photographic Reconnaissance Unit to allow the pilot to study the appearance of the proposed field. The pilot would then make up a route map to the target field by cutting a map of France into small folding sections that could be easily held in the pilot's hand. The route chosen was made up of a series of navigation pinpoints. The best navigational pinpoints were bodies of water, such as lakes, bends in

27685-447: The Second Army. The Second Army was the right (eastern) flank army of the 1st Army Group, holding the line from Pont à Bar 6 km (3.7 mi) west of Sedan to Longuyon . GQG considered that the Second and Ninth armies had the easiest task of the army group, dug in on the west bank of the Meuse on ground that was easily defended and behind the Ardennes, a considerable obstacle, the traversing of which would give plenty of warning of

27930-558: The Special Duties service units were created. Harris was told by the Air Ministry to provide the air services support, which he did, though he continued to argue that it was taking resources away from the main task. The air units created and the missions they were performing were kept secret. This sometimes proved a challenge. In one instance in 1942 poor weather resulted in a Whitley flight having to return without dropping its agents. On

28175-647: The Special squadrons were based, though twice a German agent was picked up lurking about near the airfield. RAF Tangmere was 100 miles south of RAF Tempsford, on the south coast of England. It was primarily a fighter squadron base, but during the moon periods the Lysanders and their ground crews would come down to Tangmere. This placed them closer to the target field and allowed the Lysanders to extend their range over France. For much of its wartime life two Spitfire squadrons were based at Tangmere. As such Tangmere airfield attracted

28420-456: The Thames. Despite the evidence of scattered Brythonic settlements in the area, the first major settlement was founded by the Romans around 47 AD, about four years after their invasion of 43 AD. This only lasted until about 61 AD, when the Iceni tribe led by Queen Boudica stormed it and burnt it to the ground. The next planned incarnation of Londinium prospered, superseding Colchester as

28665-477: The United Kingdom's population and over 16% of England's population. The Greater London Built-up Area is the fourth-most populous in Europe, with about 9.8 million inhabitants as of 2011. The London metropolitan area is the third-most populous in Europe, with about 14 million inhabitants as of 2016, making London a megacity . Four World Heritage Sites are located in London: Kew Gardens ;

28910-602: The Viking incursions formally agreed by the Danish warlord , Guthrum and the West Saxon king Alfred the Great in 886. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that Alfred "refounded" London in 886. Archaeological research shows this involved abandonment of Lundenwic and a revival of life and trade within the old Roman walls . London then grew slowly until a dramatic increase in about 950. By

29155-410: The ability to carry in and bring out groups of as many as ten people in one mission using a single aircraft. The Hudson was three times the weight of the Lysander, and required three times the length to land. To accommodate this, the flare path was extended to 450 yards by adding two lamps. The 5 lights were spaced out, with the A, B, C and D lamps 150 yards from each other, and with the E lamp 50 yards to

29400-418: The administrative area of Greater London , governed by 33 local authorities and the Greater London Authority . As one of the world's major global cities , London exerts a strong influence on world art , entertainment, fashion , commerce, finance, education , healthcare , media , science, technology, tourism , transport , and communications. Despite a post- Brexit exodus of stock listings from

29645-524: The administrative control of No. 11 Group RAF . In September 419 Flight was bombed out of North Weald and moved to Stradishall. Administrative control switched to 3 Group, which provided administrative support to all Special Duties squadrons until the end of the war. Two Whitleys were added to the flight in September. Many of the early Whitley missions were flown to Poland. In February 1941 Flight 419 had its designation changed to No. 1419 Flight RAF to eliminate

29890-570: The advice of OKH. On 2 February, Hitler was told of Manstein's plan and on 17 February, Hitler summoned Manstein, General Rudolf Schmundt (Chief of Personnel of the German Army) and General Alfred Jodl , the Chief of Operations of Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW, Supreme Command of the Armed Forces), to a conference. The next day, Hitler ordered Manstein's thinking to be adopted, because it offered

30135-448: The aircraft itself. A pilot had to fly in the dark of night over enemy occupied territory, frequently in weather that grounded other squadrons, and navigate by himself to a small dark field in the middle of France. Pilots had to be self-reliant, capable of thinking and acting on their own. Hugh Verity wrote a set of instructions for the Lysander pilots in A Flight of 161 Squadron. These were guides offered from an experienced Lysander pilot to

30380-448: The aircraft stopped by the time it reached the B lamp. He would turn around at the "C" lamp, and then taxi back to the "A" lamp for the exchange. The incoming passengers would clamber down the fixed ladder to the ground. The last passenger to disembark would hand off the luggage and take aboard the outgoing luggage before he climbed down the ladder himself. Then the outgoing passengers would climb aboard. The change over of passengers and load

30625-463: The area to be safe from attack, noting it "never favoured large operations". French war games, held in 1938, of a hypothetical German armoured attack through the Ardennes, left the army with the impression that the region was still largely impenetrable and that this, along with the obstacle of the Meuse River , would allow the French time to bring up troops into the area to counter any attack. In 1939,

30870-519: The attention of the Luftwaffe. After Flight 419's second successful pick-up operation Gordon Scotter returned to Tangmere to find the airfield under attack. He was obliged to orbit about while the attack was in progress, and received the ire of the base commander when he brought his Lysander in without lights after the German attack was over. When at Tangmere the Lysanders were parked off by themselves. The pilots were billeted and did their flight planning at

31115-405: The base commander confined them. Meanwhile, Farley's commanding officer had been searching for them, looking for signs of a wreck along the cliffs of the coast of England. He was informed that a Lysander had crashed in northern Scotland, but dismissed the wreck as being too far away. When he was told the pilot's name was Farley, he realized his man had made it back. Thus began the covert activities of

31360-481: The battle. German tanks had radio receivers that allowed them to be directed by platoon command tanks, which had voice communication with other units. Wireless allowed tactical control and far quicker improvisation than the opponent. Some commanders regarded the ability to communicate to be the primary method of combat and radio drills were considered to be more important than gunnery. Radio allowed German commanders to co-ordinate their formations, bringing them together for

31605-525: The cargo. The operator would have arranged means to move the supplies off to places of concealment. Stores were usually parachuted in using cylindrical containers to protect the loads. C-type metal containers were 6 feet long and could weigh up to 250 pounds. This container could be used to carry longer loads such as rifles. The "H" type had been developed by the Poles. It was the same size overall, but could be broken down into five smaller sections to make it easier to carry away and conceal. Packages delivered, on

31850-546: The centre of the British press. The invasion of Amsterdam by Napoleonic armies led many financiers to relocate to London and the first London international issue was arranged in 1817. Around the same time, the Royal Navy became the world's leading war fleet, acting as a major deterrent to potential economic adversaries. Following a fire in 1838, the Royal Exchange was redesigned by William Tite and rebuilt in 1844. The repeal of

32095-478: The city's metropolis. The City of London at its core once comprised the whole settlement, but as its urban area grew, the Corporation of London resisted attempts to amalgamate the city with its suburbs , causing "London" to be defined several ways. Forty per cent of Greater London is covered by the London post town , in which 'London' forms part of postal addresses. The London telephone area code (020) covers

32340-412: The city, to intimidate the inhabitants. In 1097, William II began building Westminster Hall , near the abbey. It became the basis of a new Palace of Westminster . In the 12th century, the institutions of central government, which had hitherto followed the royal English court around the country, grew in size and sophistication and became increasingly fixed, for most purposes at Westminster , although

32585-588: The combined revenue expenditure by London councils and the GLA amounted to just over £22 billion (£14.7 billion for the boroughs and £7.4 billion for the GLA). The London Fire Brigade is the statutory fire and rescue service for Greater London, run by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority . It is the third largest fire service in the world. National Health Service ambulance services are provided by

32830-405: The comprehensive University College London . It is the most visited city in Europe and has the world's busiest city airport system . The London Underground is the world's oldest rapid transit system. London's diverse cultures encompass over 300 languages. The 2023 population of Greater London of just under 10 million made it Europe's third-most populous city , accounting for 13.4% of

33075-432: The confusion that had developed with No. 419 Squadron RAF . The flight was moved to Newmarket on 22 May 1941, and in September to Stapleford Tawney until October, when it was moved back to Stradishall. On 25 August 1941 Flight 1419 was expanded with the addition of 5 Whitleys and became 138 (Special Duties) Squadron . Throughout the conflict 138 Squadron did the bulk of the heavy lifting of supplies and agents to France and

33320-427: The continent at about 2,000 feet to navigate to the target field, but would drop down to 400 to 500 feet as the aircraft approached the drop point and reduced air speed to just above stalling to minimize scatter and damage to the cargo. The drops had to be accurate to ensure the waiting resistance agents would be able to get the materials dropped and hide them away. Agents were dropped at 600 feet, barely enough time for

33565-463: The course of the war six agents were killed from failed drops, the result of either the aircraft being too low or the chute failing to open. Agent drop operations almost always went off during the moon period, though occasionally "blind drops" were completed to empty fields in the dark period. Said 161 Squadron's B Flight commander Bob Hodges We sometimes dropped agents in the dark period with no moon, and these were often what we call blind drops. There

33810-612: The creation of the Greater London Authority . To mark the 21st century, the Millennium Dome , London Eye and Millennium Bridge were constructed. On 6 July 2005 London was awarded the 2012 Summer Olympics , as the first city to stage the Olympic Games three times. On 7 July 2005, three London Underground trains and a double-decker bus were bombed in a series of terrorist attacks . In 2008, Time named London alongside New York City and Hong Kong as Nylonkong , hailing them as

34055-542: The creation of the London Underground , the world's first urban rail network . The Metropolitan Board of Works oversaw infrastructure expansion in the capital and some surrounding counties; it was abolished in 1889 when the London County Council was created out of county areas surrounding the capital. From the early years of the 20th century onwards, teashops were found on High Streets across London and

34300-408: The directive read that as much as possible of the border areas in northern France should be occupied. On 10 October 1939, Britain refused Hitler's offer of peace and on 12 October, France did the same. The pre-war German codename of plans for a campaign in the Low Countries was Aufmarschanweisung N°1, Fall Gelb (Deployment Instruction No. 1, Case Yellow). Colonel-General Franz Halder (Chief of

34545-713: The driest is 1921, with a total fall of 12.1 inches (308 mm). The average annual precipitation amounts to about 600mm, which is half the annual rainfall of New York City . Despite relatively low annual precipitation, London receives 109.6 rainy days on the 1.0mm threshold annually. London is vulnerable to climate change , and there is concern among hydrological experts that households may run out of water before 2050. Temperature extremes in London range from 40.2 °C (104.4 °F) at Heathrow on 19 July 2022 down to −17.4 °C (0.7 °F) at Northolt on 13 December 1981. Records for atmospheric pressure have been kept at London since 1692. The highest pressure ever reported

34790-660: The east (right flank) and attack on the west (left flank) by advancing into Belgium, to fight forward of the French frontier . The extent of the forward move was dependent on events, which were complicated when Belgium ended the Franco-Belgian Accord of 1920 after the German Remilitarisation of the Rhineland on 7 March 1936. The neutrality of the Belgian state was reluctant openly to co-operate with France but information

35035-560: The end of the war. In 1944 No. 357 (Special Duties) Squadron began operations in the Far East , flying Liberators , Dakotas , Lysanders and Catalina Flying Boats in support of SOE's Force 136 in Burma and other resistance groups in Thailand and Malaya. 357 (Special Duties) Squadron dropped more supplies by unit weight in the Far East than any other RAF unit dropped in weight of bombs. Tempsford

35280-435: The expense of Army Group B to the north. While Manstein was formulating new plans in Koblenz , Generalleutnant Heinz Guderian , commander of the XIX Army Corps , was lodged in a nearby hotel. Manstein was initially considering a move north from Sedan, directly in the rear of the main Allied mobile forces in Belgium. When Guderian was invited to contribute to the plan during informal discussions, he proposed that most of

35525-444: The field and take meals at the normal RAF officer's mess. The 161 pilots would fly out to Tangmere two weeks at a time during the "moon period", which was a week before and a week after the full moon. The cover story for the Lysanders given to the RAF squadrons stationed at Tangmere was that the planes were used to do "photographic reconnaissance by night, using special flash flares". The torpedo like extra fuel cylinder slung in-between

35770-410: The field army would have needed more troops than the British Expeditionary Force.) The 88 mm Flak had an elevation of −3° to +85° and could be used as artillery i.e. against panzers. The armies which invaded the west had 85 heavy and 18 light batteries belonging to the Luftwaffe , 48 companies of light Flak integral to divisions of the army and 20 companies of light Flak allocated as army troops,

36015-550: The first Muslim mayor of a major Western capital. The mayor's statutory planning strategy is published as the London Plan , which was most recently revised in 2011. The local authorities are the councils of the 32 London boroughs and the City of London Corporation . They are responsible for most local services, such as local planning, schools, libraries, leisure and recreation, social services , local roads and refuse collection. Certain functions, such as waste management , are provided through joint arrangements. In 2009–2010

36260-403: The flanks. Hitler made such a suggestion on 11 November, pressing for an early attack on unprepared targets. Halder's plan satisfied no-one; General Gerd von Rundstedt , the commander of Army Group A ( Heeresgruppe A ) recognised that it did not adhere to the classic principles of Bewegungskrieg ( war of manoeuvre ) that had guided German strategy since the 19th century. A breakthrough

36505-449: The fliers resulted a number of close calls. Being caught on the ground and subjected to interrogations by the Gestapo was always on the minds of the pilots as they orbited over a field and touched down. If an aircraft became stuck the plane had to be destroyed, and the pilot had to look for other means to get home. Usually this meant a long trek through the escape lines to southern France, over the Pyrenees and into Spain with hopes of reaching

36750-474: The flight, which comprised two Lysanders . Prior to Flight Lt. Wallace and immediately before the Flight was officially formed Acting Flight Lt John Coghlan was appointed to command it. He was lost whilst flying an agent into Belgium on the night of the 17/18 August and he was then replaced by Flight Lt Wallace three days later. The first commander of this, as yet, unnamed flight was John Coghlan. By September three Whitleys and another Lysander had been added to

36995-478: The flight. While Flight 419 was working up the first clandestine flight was flown by Wing Commander Andrew Geddes , who took an SIS agent to a field near Tours France on the night of 3 September 1940, flying a Lysander. This Lysander was part of an Army Cooperation unit. Flight 419's first mission was undertaken the night of 19/20 October 1940 when Flight Lt. Farley set out to pick-up SIS agent Philip Schneidau. Schneidau had parachuted into France ten days earlier on

37240-454: The flights were all undertaken at night, the local farmers saw very little of the aircraft that operated out of Tempsford. Built over a bog , this became telling later when fog proved a recurring significant hazard to landing aircraft. The airfield lay largely dormant until the arrival of the SD squadrons in 1942. 138 Squadron moved to Tempsford 11 March 1942. 161 Squadron followed 10 April 1942. The first covert supply mission flown from Tempsford

37485-437: The four-engined Halifax bomber. Throughout the war the Lysander was the principal aircraft used for pick-ups. The Lysander had been developed as an Army co-operation aircraft, intended to act as a spotter aircraft for artillery and to shuttle personnel as a liaison aircraft . In daylight service in France 1940 Lysanders were lost at an alarming rate. Their slow speed resulted in very low survive-ability in contested air space. Of

37730-413: The fuselage to allow for easy disembarkation. The Whitley was famous for carrying the paratroopers who pulled off the Bruneval raid . Though an older design, over 1,000 Whitleys were produced after the start of the war. Whitleys were used as cargo carriers and agent drop aircraft in 138 Squadron and the B Flight of 161 Squadron. 138 Squadron operated the Whitley until November 1942 when they were replaced by

37975-401: The general area of the target field by dead reckoning. However he would still need a break over the target field in order to see the reception committee light and the flare path for the landing. The first RAF special duties formation was Flight 419, officially formed 21 August 1940 and operating out of the fighter base at RAF North Weald . Flight Lt. Wallace Farley was the commanding officer of

38220-443: The integrity of the national territory and defending without withdrawing the position of resistance organised along the frontier.... giving the 1st Army Group permission to enter Belgium, to deploy along the Escaut according to Plan E. On 24 October, Gamelin directed that an advance beyond the Escaut was only feasible if the French moved fast enough to forestall the Germans. By late 1939, the Belgians had improved their defences along

38465-463: The invasion to begin on 12 November. Brauchitsch replied that the military had yet to recover from the Polish campaign and offered to resign; this was refused but two days later Hitler postponed the attack, giving poor weather as the reason for the delay. More postponements followed, as commanders persuaded Hitler to delay the attack for a few days or weeks, to remedy some defect in the preparations or to wait for better weather. Hitler also tried to alter

38710-420: The invasion, Hitler, who had spoken to forces on the Western Front and who was encouraged by the success in Norway , confidently predicted the campaign would take only six weeks. He was most excited over the planned military glider attack on Fort Eben-Emael . On 3 September 1939, French military strategy had been settled, taking in analyses of geography, resources and manpower. The French Army would defend in

38955-417: The landmarks. If the sky was clear some pilots preferred to transit at 7,000 to 8,000 ft (2,100 to 2,400 m) to avoid flak and conserve fuel, but the locations of flak were known, so this was less an issue after the coastline had been crossed. Once across the French coast the pilot would hold his map on his knee and fly the aircraft with his other hand, checking off his pinpoints as he moved inland. When

39200-401: The limited Saar Offensive but by mid-October had withdrawn to their start lines. German armies invaded Belgium , Luxembourg , the Netherlands , and France on 10 May 1940. In Fall Gelb ("Case Yellow"), German armoured units made a surprise push through the Ardennes and then along the Somme valley, cutting off and surrounding the Allied units that had advanced into Belgium to meet

39445-425: The location of its original headquarters in a road called Great Scotland Yard in Whitehall. The City of London has its own police force – the City of London Police . First worn by Met police officers in 1863, the custodian helmet has been called a "cultural icon" and a "symbol of British law enforcement". Introduced by the Met in 1929, the blue police telephone box (basis for the TARDIS in Doctor Who )

39690-413: The loss of two Lysanders and three Halifaxes in the worst night of losses in the history of the Special Duties squadrons. To minimize the risk of capture while the plane was on the ground the job of dis-embarking and boarding passengers was choreographed and practised, so that the time the Lysander was on the ground was kept to a minimum. The goal was to complete turnover in 3 minutes. Most pilots flew with

39935-473: The main attack against France begin. When Hitler raised objections to the plan and wanted an armoured breakthrough, as had happened in the invasion of Poland, Halder and Brauchitsch attempted to dissuade him, arguing that while the fast-moving mechanised tactics were effective against a "shoddy" Eastern European army, they would not work against a first-rate military like the French. Hitler was disappointed with Halder's plan and initially reacted by deciding that

40180-409: The mayor's budget proposals each year. The GLA has responsibility for the majority of London's transport system through its functional arm Transport for London (TfL), it is responsible for overseeing the city's police and fire services, and also for setting a strategic vision for London on a range of issues. The headquarters of the GLA is City Hall , Newham. The mayor since 2016 has been Sadiq Khan ,

40425-413: The mission had been completed. If the pick-up failed on the first attempt due to weather, subsequent efforts to make the same pick-up were put on under the same operational name. By 1942 a routine had developed for putting together an operation. A resistance group would request a pick-up, choose a landing ground and provide a detailed description and map reference to London. The field would be photographed by

40670-427: The mission he should be able to avoid most if not all flak. German night fighters posed a threat, and there were interceptions. The night fighters were concentrated to the north over Belgium and in Germany, and presented a threat more to Halifax pilots flying to Poland then to Lysander pilots flying to Vichy France. A number of pilots and their passengers were lost in this way. In the early years Gestapo efforts to capture

40915-400: The missions flown tended to expose the crews to a great deal of time over enemy occupied territory. Due to this their first tour was completed with 250 hours of operational flight, if that were accumulated before the 30 sorties that was the normal for marking the completion of a first tour for Bomber Command crews. The needs for supplies increased as the circuits being supported grew larger and

41160-434: The most museums , art galleries, libraries, and cultural venues in the UK, including the British Museum , National Gallery , Natural History Museum , Tate Modern , British Library , and numerous West End theatres. Important sporting events held in London include the FA Cup Final , the Wimbledon Tennis Championships , and the London Marathon . It became the first city to host three Summer Olympic Games upon hosting

41405-436: The most diverse cities in the world. In 1951, the Festival of Britain was held on the South Bank . The Great Smog of 1952 led to the Clean Air Act 1956 , which ended the " pea soup fogs " for which London had been notorious, and had earned it the nickname the "Big Smoke". Starting mainly in the mid-1960s, London became a centre for worldwide youth culture , exemplified by the Swinging London sub-culture associated with

41650-572: The movement forming in Europe a clandestine air service was necessary. Foreign Office officials approached the Air Ministry to ask if agents could be parachuted or flown into France and the Low Countries. They received a frosty reception. Air marshal Charles Portal , commander-in-chief of RAF Bomber Command , baulked at using aircraft just to ferry spies. His Air vice-marshal , Arthur Harris , did not want to divert aircraft and pilots needed elsewhere "to carry ragamuffins to distant spots". Others, notably Churchill, disagreed. The SOE got its support and

41895-453: The necessity of military campaigns to defeat the Western European nations, preliminary to the conquest of territory in Eastern Europe, to avoid a two-front war but these intentions were absent from Directive N°6. The plan was based on the seemingly more realistic assumption that German military strength would have to be built up for several years. Only limited objectives could be envisaged and were aimed at improving Germany's ability to survive

42140-406: The next day he flew to Gibraltar and then back to England. Flights at night to make pick-ups have largely been viewed as the more glamorous duty of the Special Duties squadrons, though at the time the pilots were rarely acknowledged publicly. The Lysanders they flew had been relegated to towing targets for firing practice or performing scouting flights as part of air/sea rescue operations. Thus if

42385-442: The next stage of the offensive, units carrying supplies for three to four days' operations. The Panzer divisions were supported by motorised and infantry divisions. German tank battalions ( Panzer-Abteilungen ) were to be equipped with the Panzerkampfwagen III and Panzerkampfwagen IV tanks but shortages led to the use of light Panzerkampfwagen II and even lighter Panzerkampfwagen I instead. The German Army lacked

42630-446: The night of 16/17 December 1943 poor weather caused five of the Tempsford SD aircraft to be lost. 138 Squadron lost three of its Halifaxes. One was lost over the sea, one crash landed along the coast, and the crew of the third, unable to land their plane, bailed out. On the same night fog claimed two of 161 Squadron's Lysanders. Though Lysander pilots had parachutes, the passengers they were carrying did not. If they were carrying passengers

42875-427: The night of October 9. Before he left Schneidau and Farley had worked out how he would be retrieved. As no small wireless sets were available at that time, he had brought along 10 messenger pigeons as the means to communicate back to England. The two had worked out a 3 light flare path pattern to guide the Lysander on its landing. The simple flare path remained in use for Lysander landings without modification throughout

43120-407: The novitiate, but were more helpful tips rather than a set of hard fast rules. 161 Squadron did not have rigid rules they followed, as conditions and obstacles such as bad weather, low cloud and fog, boggy landing fields, or possible enemy action were too variable. As 161 Squadron commander Charles Pickard often remarked: "There's always bloody something!" It took about a month for a pilot to complete

43365-405: The number of people needed to be picked up was more than three 161 Squadron would send two Lysanders in missions they called "a double." The two aircraft were to coordinate their landings to minimize time on the ground and the risk of German intervention. This was difficult to do, as an aircraft in the dark of night was very hard to find, and radio transmissions brought their own risks. Consideration

43610-408: The offensive, including 42 reserve divisions. The German forces in the west in May and June deployed some 2,439 tanks and 7,378 guns. In 1939–40, 45 per cent of the army was at least 40 years old and 50 per cent of all the soldiers had just a few weeks' training. The German Army was far from motorised; ten per cent of their army was motorised in 1940 and could muster only 120,000 vehicles, compared with

43855-467: The old Roman city. By about 680 the city had become a major port again, but there is little evidence of large-scale production. From the 820s repeated Viking assaults brought decline. Three are recorded; those in 851 and 886 succeeded, while the last, in 994, was rebuffed. The Vikings applied Danelaw over much of eastern and northern England, its boundary running roughly from London to Chester as an area of political and geographical control imposed by

44100-407: The open rear cockpit, the wireless set became inoperable. Schneidau was soon soaked through and became increasingly cold. Making their way north through the storm, the two had no reference points to guide them. They soon had no idea if they had made it over England , were still over the North Sea or had been blown back over northern Germany . The pair flew on through the night, hoping for a break in

44345-418: The operator would flash a prearranged Morse code letter. The supply aircraft would flash a corresponding letter using its "downward identification light". The team on the ground would light the field, using five lights placed in an "X" pattern to mark the drop target. The aircraft came over the field at very low altitude, 400 to 500 feet, and reduced speed to just above stalling to minimize scatter and damage to

44590-524: The other hand, seldom weighed more than 100 pounds. Some materials such as boots and blankets were "free-dropped" by simply throwing them bundled together out of the aircraft, often to the hazard of any receiving committee on the ground. 20% of the drop missions were aborted, either because the reception committee was not there or the weather was too poor to find the drop field. High value items, such as forged documents and money, were often transported in with an agent, often by Lysander. Harris did not approve of

44835-410: The other occupied countries in Europe. The squadron comprised 2 Lysanders, 10 Whitleys, 3 Halifaxes and a Martin Maryland . The Squadron operated during the moon periods, flying to remote fields where they did their drops. They had no special navigational aides. The aircraft observed strict wireless silence over hostile territory, and reached their target fields by navigation alone. The aircraft flew over

45080-448: The paper and the story was suppressed. Said a pilot after the war: "Even when high ranking officers who were not in the know asked about the work we were doing we had to lie like old Harry. It was court martial if we breathed a word about the job. Not even the mechanics knew about the passenger flights". For the special duties aircrews, who they were and what they did remained a secret until the war had been over for over 30 years. Initially

45325-421: The parachute to open and slow the fall of the agent. If the aircraft was a little too low it made for a very hard landing, and a number of agents were injured from hard landings. The Lysanders did the pick-up operations and made up their own B Flight in 138. In February 1942 the squadron split, with its Lysanders and a number of its Whitleys and Halifaxes combining with the King's Flight to form 161 Squadron. After

45570-403: The perimeter track of an RAF airfield, but at Tempsford the Gibraltar Farm and a number of other farm buildings were located there. After final briefings and checks at the farm, the agents were issued firearms in the barn, and then boarded onto an awaiting aircraft flown by one of a team of pilots. Though keen to discover the source of the SD flights, the Germans were never able to determine where

45815-403: The pilot got close to the target there would be a near pinpoint. Identifying it, he could make a calculation based on course direction and time of flight for when he would be over the field. As the aircraft approached, the field agent laying on the operation would signal a prearranged code letter in Morse. Operating his signal key, the pilot would flash back the agreed to Morse letter response via

46060-449: The pilots were committed to trying to land the aircraft. One crashed short of the field while trying to set down at RAF Tangmere. The pilot was trapped in the aircraft when it started to burn, but his two passengers were able to get free and survived. The other had been diverted from Tangmere to nearby RAF Ford , but the pilot had become disoriented in the fog and crashed into a hillside. There were no survivors from this flight. The Whitley

46305-409: The plan on 30 January, was only a revision of details. On 24 February, the main German effort was moved south to the Ardennes. Twenty divisions (including seven panzer and three motorised divisions) were transferred from Heeresgruppe B opposite Holland and Belgium to Heeresgruppe A facing the Ardennes. French military intelligence uncovered a transfer of German divisions from the Saar to the north of

46550-432: The plan, which he found unsatisfactory; his weak understanding of how poorly prepared Germany was for war and how it would cope with losses of armoured vehicles were not fully considered. Though Poland had been quickly defeated, many armoured vehicles had been lost and were hard to replace. This led to the German effort becoming dispersed; the main attack would remain in central Belgium, secondary attacks would be undertaken on

46795-401: The plane's downward light. With the correct exchange of signals the operator and his men would light the flare path. The flare path was simply three flashlights staked out to poles. The operator and waiting passengers would be to the left of the "A" lamp at the base of the landing ground; 160 yd (150 m) beyond it and into the wind was the "B" light. 50 m (55 yd) to the right of

47040-503: The possibility of decisive victory. Hitler recognised the breakthrough at Sedan only in tactical terms, whereas Manstein saw it as a means to an end. He envisaged an operation to the English Channel and the encirclement of the Allied armies in Belgium; if the plan succeeded, it could have a strategic effect. Halder then went through an "astonishing change of opinion", accepting that the Schwerpunkt should be at Sedan. He had no intention of allowing an independent strategic penetration by

47285-439: The principal city of the Roman province of Britannia in 100. At its height in the 2nd century, Roman London had a population of about 60,000. With the early 5th-century collapse of Roman rule, the walled city of Londinium was effectively abandoned, although Roman civilisation continued around St Martin-in-the-Fields until about 450. From about 500, an Anglo-Saxon settlement known as Lundenwic developed slightly west of

47530-476: The rearmament plans of the 1930s while fighting a defensive land war against Germany and weakening its war economy with a trade blockade , ready for an eventual invasion of Germany. On 7 September, in accordance with the Franco-Polish alliance , France began the Saar Offensive with an advance from the Maginot Line 5 km (3 mi) into the Saar . France had mobilised 98 divisions (all but 28 of them reserve or fortress formations) and 2,500 tanks against

47775-539: The resistance movement to teach them the sort of places to select and what to do to help us to land." The operators learned what to look for in selecting a field: a clear path without trees or telephone wires, with at least 600 yards of clearing. The ground had to be firm. They were to avoid mud at all costs. The agents trained were either of French heritage, were French expatriates living in exile in England, or were resistance members picked up from France and brought back to England for training. Some of them had been pilots in

48020-419: The resistance. Out of France they transported French political leaders, leaders of the resistance, and agents whose cover had been blown. Occasionally they gave a lift out to evading Allied airmen. They had the goal of making their pick-up operations as reliable as a London taxi service. The squadron also had the responsibility for operator training. Following a poorly directed and unnecessary pick-up in April 1942

48265-414: The resources, and it was rapidly developing the dignity and the political self-consciousness appropriate to a national capital ." After winning the Battle of Hastings , William, Duke of Normandy was crowned King of England in newly completed Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066. William built the Tower of London , the first of many such in England rebuilt in stone in the south-eastern corner of

48510-468: The rest of Britain, with Lyons , who opened the first of their chain of teashops in Piccadilly in 1894, leading the way. The tearooms, such as the Criterion in Piccadilly, became a popular meeting place for women from the suffrage movement. The city was the target of many attacks during the suffragette bombing and arson campaign , between 1912 and 1914, which saw historic landmarks such as Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral bombed. London

48755-552: The rest of the war. Schneidau had also made a number of modifications to the Lysander, including the welding of a ladder to the side of the fuselage to make it easier for him to climb in, which was helpful, and the removal of the aircraft's rear canopy for the same reason, which was not. The plan was for Schneidau to be retrieved on the night of the 19th. On the night of his planned pick-up, heavy wind and rain resulted in all RAF operations being cancelled. Knowing Schneidau would be waiting for him, Farley convinced his CO to let him give it

49000-402: The return trip the plane crashed along the English coast, killing all aboard. Among the dead were five SOE agents dressed as civilians. It was explained to the public that they were members of the press along to observe the results of a bombing raid. When a local newspaper pressed further, asking why so many press members were aboard the flight, the Army Special Investigation Branch made a visit to

49245-711: The right of D. The first Hudson operation was completed the night of 13/14 February by Wing Commander Pickard, flying five agents into a field near the River Loire. Battle of France Germany : 27,074 killed 111,034 wounded 18,384 missing 1,129 airmen killed 1,236 aircraft lost 795–822 tanks lost German: 156,547 Italian: 6,029–6,040 Asia-Pacific Mediterranean and Middle East Other campaigns Coups Luxembourg The Netherlands Belgium France Britain 1941–1943 1944–1945 Germany Strategic campaigns The Battle of France ( French : bataille de France ; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as

49490-401: The royal treasury came to rest in the Tower . While the City of Westminster developed into a true governmental capital, its distinct neighbour, the City of London , remained England's largest city and principal commercial centre and flourished under its own unique administration, the Corporation of London . In 1100, its population was some 18,000; by 1300 it had grown to nearly 100,000. With

49735-428: The sea. London is the seat of the Government of the United Kingdom . Many government departments, as well as the prime minister's residence at 10 Downing Street , are based close to the Palace of Westminster , particularly along Whitehall . There are 75 members of Parliament (MPs) from London; As of June 2024 , 59 are from the Labour Party , 9 are Conservatives , 6 are Liberal Democrats and one constituency

49980-487: The second SD squadron. The unit was commanded by Edward Fielden, an experienced pilot who had been the CO of the King's Flight. He inherited two very experienced officers in Guy Lockhart and “Sticky” Murphy from 138. 161's A Flight was made up of 6 Lysanders, with Guy Lockhart as its commanding officer. A Flight undertook the pick-up operations. The squadron's B Flight flew two-engine Whitleys and Wellingtons, and did agent parachute drops and supply drop missions. In November 1942

50225-470: The seven Panzer divisions of Army Group A. Much to the dismay of Guderian, this element was absent from the new plan, Aufmarschanweisung N°4, Fall Gelb , issued on 24 February. The bulk of the German officer corps was appalled and called Halder the "gravedigger of the Panzer force". Even when adapted to more conventional methods, the new plan provoked a storm of protest from the majority of German generals. They thought it utterly irresponsible to create

50470-470: The sky. Six hours later they were running out of fuel, still with no idea of where they were. At last a break in the cloud gave them a glimpse of a small plateau at the top of the steep cliffs of a rugged coastline. With no other option available, they dropped down to make a landing and crashed through a number of anti-glider posts. They had crashed six miles north of RAF Oban in Scotland , 600 miles north of Farley's home airfield. The two men were spotted by

50715-466: The slower, top-down methods of the Allies. Army Group B had the support of 1,815 combat aircraft, 487 transport aircraft and 50 gliders; 3,286 combat aircraft supported Army Groups A and C. The Luftwaffe was the most experienced, well-equipped and well-trained air force in the world. The combined Allied total was 2,935 aircraft, about half the size of the Luftwaffe . The Luftwaffe could provide close support with dive-bombers and medium bombers but

50960-445: The split the majority of supply drops and agent drops were still handled by 138 Squadron. 161 Squadron did all of the pick-ups of personnel, and also would land agents who lacked the training to parachute in or were physically unable to do so. A month later, in March 1942, the squadron was moved to the secret airfield at Tempsford , where it remained until the end of the war. A number of Polish pilots operated in 138 Squadron. In July 1943

51205-424: The start of 2018 to mid April 2018. Funding cuts to police in London are likely to have contributed to this, though other factors are involved. However, homicide figures fell in 2022 with 109 recorded for the year, and the murder rate in London is much lower than other major cities around the world. London, also known as Greater London , is one of nine regions of England and the top subdivision covering most of

51450-463: The theatres in the 1640s. The ban on theatre was lifted during the Restoration in 1660, and London's oldest operating theatre, Drury Lane , opened in 1663 in what is now the West End theatre district. By the end of the Tudor period in 1603, London was still compact. There was an assassination attempt on James I in Westminster, in the Gunpowder Plot of 5 November 1605. In 1637, the government of Charles I attempted to reform administration in

51695-425: The time of the invasion approached. 138 Squadron's lift capacity was improved with the loan of Short Stirling bombers in December 1943. The loan became permanent in 1944 when the Stirlings were retired from Bomber Command and 138 Squadron converted from Halifaxes to Stirlings. The majority of agents arrived in France by parachute drop. This was not a gentle daytime float from altitude. They were dropped at night over

51940-410: The training and for the commanding officer to determine if the pilot would be able to do the job. Training required the pilot to be extremely comfortable with the layout of the aircraft's controls. He had to learn how to work out a course to his target and back. The course set was made up of a string of pinpoints, navigational terrain features which were identifiable and whose location was sure. The course

52185-413: The trip, as German forces and anti-aircraft guns were present over much of the coastline opposite England. Cabourg was the favored spot to cross into the continent, as it avoided heavy anti-aircraft guns to the northeast at Le Havre and German army forces to the southwest at Caen . From Tangmere to Cabourg was about an hour's flight in a Lysander. Flying the single engine airplane over the cold waters of

52430-479: The unique governmental status of the City . In the English Civil War , the majority of Londoners supported the Parliamentary cause. After an initial advance by the Royalists in 1642, culminating in the battles of Brentford and Turnham Green , London was surrounded by a defensive perimeter wall known as the Lines of Communication . The lines were built by up to 20,000 people, and were completed in under two months. The fortifications failed their only test when

52675-479: The use of aircraft for these purposes, and in particular complained that they did nothing for 2 weeks at a time during the dark period. This was not entirely true, as the long flights of their operations had a high maintenance requirement, and they did perform training work. Nevertheless, it seemed prudent to assist, and during the dark period some of 138s aircraft contributed in the bombing campaign over Germany. With target drop zones as far away as Poland and Yugoslavia,

52920-639: The war but OKH doubted such an operation could work. Manstein's general operational ideas won immediate support from Guderian, who understood the terrain, having experienced the conditions with the German Army in 1914 and 1918. Manstein wrote his first memorandum outlining the alternative plan on 31 October. In it he avoided mentioning Guderian and played down the strategic part of the armoured units, to avoid unnecessary resistance. Six more memoranda followed between 31 October 1939 and 12 January 1940, each becoming more radical. All were rejected by OKH and nothing of their content reached Hitler. On 10 January 1940,

53165-399: The west of Antwerp and gain the south bank of the Scheldt. The left flank of the 1st Army Group was reinforced by the Seventh Army, containing some of the best and most mobile French divisions, which moved from the general reserve by December. The role of the army was to occupy the south bank of the Scheldt and be ready to move into Holland and protect the estuary by holding the north bank along

53410-502: The wheels of the undercarriage was said to contain special nighttime cameras. Jimmy McCairns , a Lysander pilot with 161, had accepted this story without a thought earlier in his career when he was stationed at Tangmere while flying Spitfires with Douglas Bader 's 601 Squadron . Fog over England was a major hazard when attempting to locate and set down on their return flights. More special duties aircrew people died from aircraft accidents due to fog over England than to any other reason. On

53655-476: The world's three most influential global cities . In January 2015, Greater London's population was estimated to be 8.63 million, its highest since 1939. During the Brexit referendum in 2016, the UK as a whole decided to leave the European Union , but most London constituencies voted for remaining. However, Britain's exit from the EU in early 2020 only marginally weakened London's position as an international financial centre. The administration of London

53900-465: Was bombed by the Germans in the First World War , and during the Second World War , the Blitz and other bombings by the German Luftwaffe killed over 30,000 Londoners, destroying large tracts of housing and other buildings across the city. The tomb of the Unknown Warrior , an unidentified member of the British armed forces killed during the First World War, was buried in Westminster Abbey on 11 November 1920. The Cenotaph , located in Whitehall ,

54145-483: Was a 50 mi (80 km)-wide corridor designed to avoid German flak emplacements. On his trip the pilot flew from pinpoint to pinpoint, staying in the corridor until he reached the target area. He would practice this by flying by navigation alone over England by day, without making use of the radio to ask for a homing bearing, flying from navigation point to navigation point. The flights would be repeated at night. Next they practised night time landings and take-offs from

54390-508: Was a broadly based force, intended to support national strategy and could carry out operational, tactical and strategic bombing operations. Allied air forces were mainly intended for army co-operation but the Luftwaffe could fly air superiority missions, medium-range interdiction , strategic bombing and close air support operations, depending on circumstances. It was not a Panzer spearhead arm, since in 1939 fewer than 15 per cent of Luftwaffe aircraft were designed for close support as this

54635-490: Was at low speeds to increase lift and lower its stall speed. The aircraft was modified for its SD missions. The small standard bomb racks and forward firing machine guns, mounted to each wheel fairing, were removed. The rear firing machine gun for the observer/spotter was also removed. The aircraft's range was extended by adding a 150-gallon auxiliary fuel tank underneath the fuselage, which increased its round trip range from 600 miles to 1,150 miles. The rather large service radio

54880-469: Was carried out by 138 Squadron in the March moon period to a drop zone in northern France, 18 March 1942. Underdeveloped, Tempsford was not a typical RAF airfield. It did have the standard three runways laid out at 60 degree angles to each other in a triangular pattern, and a perimeter track which circled the field's dispersals. Hugh Verity , the former commanding officer of 161 Squadron's A Flight, described it as "not much of an RAF station." RAF Tempsford

55125-431: Was changed from Cabourg to south of the Cotentin peninsula to avoid Allied anti-aircraft fire and night fighters. Poor weather of either cloud or fog were the most prominent reasons for failing to complete a mission. The pilot might carry on and attempt to reach the objective, calculating his position from a last known navigational point. Using the aircraft's speed, time and direction, he might estimate when he would be over

55370-413: Was communicated about Belgian defences. By May 1940, there had been an exchange of the general nature of French and Belgian defence plans but little co-ordination against a German offensive to the west, through Luxembourg and eastern Belgium. The French expected Germany to breach Belgian neutrality first, providing a pretext for French intervention or that the Belgians would request support when an invasion

55615-447: Was completed in under three minutes. Often the operator would climb up to greet the pilot. There was a quick exchange of greetings and gifts, then full power with brake on until the tail lifted. With that it was off brake and airborne again in less than 150 yd (140 m). Though a brazenly bold undertaking, on occasion landings were made at abandoned French aerodromes that the Germans were not making use of. The Lysander pilots faced

55860-451: Was designed to look like an ordinary working farm. SOE agents were lodged in a local hotel before being brought to Tempsford's farm buildings. No one was allowed to see, let alone speak to, the agents being ferried to France. One of the buildings was brick built, but had wood siding framed around the structure to disguise it. This structure was commonly referred to as the Gibraltar Farm. It was very unusual for any structure to be standing within

56105-403: Was developed by Charles Pickard and Hugh Verity. By trial flights Pickard learned that the Hudson's stall speed was actually some 20 mph slower than what was stated in the plane's manual. Pickard showed Verity how to land a Hudson short, and together they worked out the operating procedures that enabled this twin-engined aircraft to operate to fields in occupied France. This gave the squadron

56350-408: Was given to making use of a larger aircraft. Sticky Murphy had already done a pick up using an Anson borrowed from a training unit, but the type was deemed underpowered and inappropriate for pick-ups. The squadron also had available a Lockheed Hudson brought over from the King's Flight. This proved to be an effective aircraft. The twin-engined aircraft had a range 200 miles (320 km) greater than

56595-416: Was imminent. Most of the French mobile forces were assembled along the Belgian border, ready to forestall the Germans. An early appeal for help might give the French time to reach the German–Belgian frontier but if not, there were three feasible defensive lines further back. A practicable line existed from Givet to Namur , across the Gembloux Gap ( la trouée de Gembloux ), Wavre , Louvain and along

56840-413: Was in a relatively remote part of the Bedfordshire countryside. It was built on the land of the Gibraltar Farm, which was situated across a low bog. The airfield was developed in 1940 under the specifications of an "A" class airfield , though it was kept clandestine. The locals knew there was an RAF station down a little side-road marked “This road is closed to the public”, but they knew little else. Since

57085-614: Was made operational. Supply delivery was the primary undertaking of the Special Duties squadrons. To support the burgeoning resistance forces a great deal of material was needed, and the needs increased as numbers in the resistance increased. In May 1941 an Air Ministry staff officer estimated that to supply 45,000 resistance fighters in the field would require 2,000 sorties a year. Supplies delivered included arms, ammunition, plastic explosives, radio sets, bicycles for transportation, bicycle tires, food, clothing and medical supplies. Specialty supplies included radio crystals, printer's ink, and for

57330-410: Was needed to encircle and destroy the main body of Allied forces. The most practical place to achieve this would be in the region of Sedan , which lay in the sector of Army Group A. On 21 October, Rundstedt agreed with his chief of staff , Generalleutnant Erich von Manstein , that an alternative operational plan to reflect these principles was needed, by making Army Group A as strong as possible at

57575-403: Was no reception committee on the ground and this method had security advantages, but there was always the risk of injury in the parachute landings. Pick-up operations were initially handled by the Lysander flight in 138 Squadron. After the split to form 161 Squadron the pick-ups were handled by 161's A Flight. Each planned pick-up operation was given an operational name, and the name was used until

57820-428: Was not its main role. The Germans had an advantage in anti-aircraft guns ( Fliegerabwehrkanone [ Flak ]), with 2,600 88 mm (3.46 in) heavy Flak guns and 6,700 37 mm (1.46 in) and 20 mm (0.79 in) . Light Flak refers to the number of guns in the German armed forces, including the anti-aircraft defence of Germany and the equipment of training units. (A 9,300-gun Flak component with

58065-437: Was once a common sight throughout London and regional cities in the UK. The British Transport Police are responsible for police services on National Rail , London Underground , Docklands Light Railway and Tramlink services. The Ministry of Defence Police is a special police force in London, which does not generally become involved with policing the general public. The UK's domestic counter-intelligence service ( MI5 )

58310-438: Was planned to finish off the French and British after the evacuation at Dunkirk. The Low Countries and France were defeated and occupied by Axis troops down to the Demarcation line , ending land operations on the Western Front until the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944. On 3 September 1939, France and Britain declared war on Germany, over the German invasion of Poland on 1 September. In early September 1939, France began

58555-419: Was replaced with a much smaller one, and a rearward facing bench for 2 passengers was installed in the observer compartment with a stowage locker underneath. At the rear of the aircraft a shelf was built which also served as an additional seat, and a ladder was affixed to the left side of the fuselage. The peak year of activity for the Lysanders was 1943, when the Moon Squadrons made 125 landings in France. When

58800-494: Was sent to Algiers to support an SOE unit, which was known as Interservice Signals Unit 6, codenamed 'Massingham'. The unit's Halifaxes dropped supplies to partisans in southern France , Italy and the Balkans . In February Peter Vaughan-Fowler was selected to command a flight of Lysanders to do agent pick-up operations to Greece, Yugoslavia and southern France. The unit participated in the Warsaw airlift , where it suffered heavy losses. 148 (SD) Squadron continued its work through

59045-406: Was supervised by polymath Robert Hooke . In 1710, Christopher Wren 's masterpiece, St Paul's Cathedral , was completed, replacing its medieval predecessor that burned in the Great Fire of 1666. The dome of St Paul's dominated the London skyline for centuries, inspiring the artworks and writing of William Blake , with his 1789 poem " Holy Thursday " referring to 'the high dome of Pauls'. During

59290-403: Was the work horse aircraft used on special duties missions for the first two years of their operations. The two-engine bomber was introduced to the service in 1937. It had a crew of five and a lift capacity of 7,000 pounds. From its conception the Whitley was intended for night operations. For special duties work the aircraft was modified by having a drop hatch, or “Joe hole”, cut into the bottom of

59535-441: Was to advance through the Low Countries and lure the northern units of the Allied armies into a pocket. It was composed of the 6th and 18th Armies. Army Group C, (General Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb ) comprising 18 divisions of the 1st and 7th Armies, was to prevent a flanking movement from the east and with launching small holding attacks against the Maginot Line and the upper Rhine . Wireless proved essential to German success in

59780-425: Was to deliver agents to France trained in the selection of fields suitable for their aircraft to land and take off again. These agents had to be fluent in French to blend in. Once the agent was in place and had selected a number of potential locations for landings he was ready to receive an operation. French nationals trained as agents were presented to the RAF to be specially trained as 'operators', known in French as

60025-458: Was unveiled on the same day, and is the focal point for the National Service of Remembrance held annually on Remembrance Sunday , the closest Sunday to 11 November. The 1948 Summer Olympics were held at the original Wembley Stadium , while London was still recovering from the war. From the 1940s, London became home to many immigrants, primarily from Commonwealth countries such as Jamaica, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, making London one of

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