1st East Riding Artillery Volunteers, Volunteer Force
Henry Willoughby, 8th Baron Middleton, was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 1st Administrative Brigade on 17 December 1862, and his son the Hon. Digby Willoughby, (later 9th Baron), a former captain in the Scots Fusilier Guards, was appointed second major on 30 July 1869. The 9th Baron later commanded the unit as Lt-Col, became Hon Col in turn on 29 May 1879, and held the post into the 20th century.


1st East Riding Artillery Volunteers, Reorganisation
The Volunteer Force was reorganised in 1880, and in April the administrative brigade was consolidated as the 2nd East Riding AVC, rapidly changing to 1st Yorkshire (East Riding) Artillery Volunteers, with the cumbersome (if accurate) subtitle of (East Riding, West Riding and North Riding). The unit had the following organisation:


1st East Riding Artillery Volunteers, Reorganisation
This was reduced to eight batteries in 1886, and seven by 1889. On 1 April 1882 all artillery volunteer units were affiliated to one of the territorial divisions of the Royal Artillery (RA) and the unit was assigned to the Northern Division. When the number of divisions was reduced from 1 July 1889 it changed to the Western Division. The unit's HQ moved to York in the 1880s, but returned to Scarborough by 1889.


1st East Riding Artillery Volunteers, Reorganisation
As well as manning fixed coast defence artillery, some of the early Artillery Volunteers  manned semi-mobile 'position batteries' of smooth-bore field guns pulled by agricultural horses. But the War Office refused to pay for the upkeep of field guns for Volunteers and they had largely died out in the 1870s. In 1888 the 'position artillery' concept was  revived and some Volunteer companies were reorganised as position batteries to work alongside the Volunteer infantry brigades. On 14 July 1892 the 1st East Riding Volunteer Artillery were reorganised as 1 position battery and 6 companies.


1st East Riding Artillery Volunteers, Reorganisation
By 1893 the War Office Mobilisation Scheme had allocated the Garrison Artillery companies to the Humber defences and its position battery of 40-pounder Armstrong rifled breechloading guns to the Western Counties Volunteer Field Brigade, which would concentrate around Guildford in the event of mobilisation.


1st East Riding Artillery Volunteers, Reorganisation
On 1 June 1899 all the volunteer artillery units became part of the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) and with the abolition of the RA's divisional organisation on 1 January 1902 the unit was redesignated 1st East Riding of Yorkshire RGA (Volunteers) when the divisional structure was  abolished.


1st East Riding Artillery Volunteers, Territorial Force
With the creation of the Territorial Force by the Haldane Reforms in 1908, the RGA Volunteers were extensively reorganised. In the original plan, the 1st East Riding Artillery Volunteers would have formed two RGA units:


1st East Riding Artillery Volunteers, Territorial Force
However, these plans were revised in 1910, so that the North and East Yorkshire portion of the proposed Durham and Yorkshire RGA instead joined the 2nd Northumbrian Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, providing the 3rd North Riding Battery at Scarborough and part of the brigade ammunition column.


1st East Riding Artillery Volunteers, Territorial Force
The remainder of the 1st East Riding RGA, the batteries at York, became the West Riding Heavy Battery, RGA and its attendant ammunition column. This unit saw service during World War I and beyond, but no longer had any links with the East Riding.


1st East Riding Artillery Volunteers, Insignia
Around 1859–60 the 1st East Riding AVC wore an embroidered forage cap badge consisting of crossed cannons surmounted by a crown and with a scroll underneath bearing the word 'BURLINGTON'. Waistbelt clasps and enrolment medals bore the same badge with a wheel superimposed on the crossed guns. An alternative brass forage cap badge comprised a grenade, with the figure '1' superimposed on a Yorkshire Rose on the ball.


1st Eastern Provincial Council
The 1st Eastern Provincial Council was a meeting of the Eastern Provincial Council, with the membership determined by the results of the 2008 provincial council election held on 10 May 2008. The council met for the first time on 4 June 2008 and was dissolved prematurely on 27 June 2012.


1st Eastern Provincial Council, Election
The 1st Eastern Provincial Council election was held on 10 May 2008. The United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), which was in power nationally, formed an alliance the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) paramilitary group and won 20 of the 37 seats. The United National Party (UNP) formed an alliance the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and won 15 seats. Smaller parties won the remaining 2 seats. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the largest party representing the Sri Lankan Tamils boycotted the election.


1st Eastern Provincial Council, Election, Results
The new provincial council met for the first time on 4 June 2008. Ajju  Mohamed Mohamed Faiz and M. K. D. S. Gunawardena were elected Chairman and Deputy Chairman respectively.


1st Eastern Provincial Council, Government/Board of Ministers
S. Chandrakanthan, leader of the paramilitary Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal, was appointed Chief Minister by Governor Mohan Wijewickrama. Chandrakanthan was sworn in on 16 May 2008 in Colombo in front of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The four government ministers appointed by the Governor with effect from 16 May 2008 were: M. L. Alim Mohammad Hisbullah (UPFA-ACMC); Thuraiyappa Navarathnaraja (UPFA-TMVP); Meera Sahibu Udumalebbe (UPFA-NC); and Dissanayaka Wimalaweera (UPFA-SLFP).


1st Eastern Provincial Council, Government/Board of Ministers
Minister M. L. Alim Mohammad Hisbullah (UPFA-ACMC) lost his seat on the council after being elected to Parliament. His ministerial replacement Muhamed Sharief Subair (UPFA-ACMC) was sworn in on 17 May 2010 in Trincomalee in front of the Governor.


1st Eastern Provincial Council, Government/Board of Ministers
According to article 154E of the Constitution of Sri Lanka the normal life of a provincial council is five years from the date of its first meeting. But using powers granted to him by article 154B(8)c Governor Mohan Wijewickrama dissolved the council prematurely on 27 June 2012, nearly a year ahead of schedule.


1st Eastern Provincial Council, Deaths and resignations
The 1st Eastern Provincial Council saw the following deaths and resignations:


1st Eastern Shore Infantry Regiment
The 1st Regiment Eastern Shore Maryland Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.


1st Eastern Shore Infantry Regiment
The regiment was organized at Cambridge, Maryland in September 1861. Enlistments were for 3 years.


1st Eastern Shore Infantry Regiment
Companies A, B and C were recruited in Dorchester County, Companies D, E, F and G in Caroline County, Company H in Talbot County, Company I at Baltimore City, and Company K in Somerset County.


1st Eastern Shore Infantry Regiment
Once formed, the regiment was attached to Major General John Adams Dix's division of the Army of the Potomac. It was assigned to the Eastern Shore of Maryland.


1st Eastern Shore Infantry Regiment
The regiment was originally commanded by Colonel James Wallace, a slaveowning lawyer and state legislator from Cambridge.


1st Eastern Shore Infantry Regiment
In the fall of 1861, Dix led an expeditionary force, including the 1st Maryland Eastern Shore, south to occupy the Virginia counties of Accomack and Northampton.


1st Eastern Shore Infantry Regiment
In January, 1863, the regiment was attached to the VIII Corps.


1st Eastern Shore Infantry Regiment
“The 1st Maryland Confederate Regiment met us and were cut to pieces. We sorrowfully gathered up many of our old friends and acquaintances and had them carefully and tenderly cared for.”


1st Eastern Shore Infantry Regiment
Colonel James Wallace, 1st Maryland Eastern Shore, on the confederate assault on Culp’s Hill at the Battle of Gettysburg.


1st Eastern Shore Infantry Regiment
When Lee invaded Pennsylvania in the summer of 1863, the regiment was attached to Brig. Gen. Henry H. Lockwood’s Brigade of the XII Corps of the Army of the Potomac and sent north to Pennsylvania. The regiment arrived at the Battle of Gettysburg on the morning of July 3 and engaged the 1st Maryland Infantry, CSA on Culp's Hill, suffering 5 dead, 16 wounded, and 2 missing, out of 583 total men.


1st Eastern Shore Infantry Regiment
At Gettysburg, Color Sergeant Robert Ross of the Union 1st Maryland Eastern Shore regiment was a cousin to Color Sergeant P.M. Moore of the Confederate 1st Maryland regiment, who was wounded several times.


1st Eastern Shore Infantry Regiment
In December 1863, Colonel Wallace resigned his command over the issue of enlisting African-Americans in the army.


1st Eastern Shore Infantry Regiment
The 1st Regiment Eastern Shore Maryland Volunteer Infantry was eventually consolidated into the 11th Regiment Maryland Volunteer Infantry.


1st Edda Awards
The 1st Edda Awards ceremony was held on 15. November 1999 by the Icelandic Film and Television Academy (ÍKSA). The awards were held at Borgarleikhúsið in Reykjavik, and were hosted by Þorfinnur Ómarsson, director of the Icelandic Film Fund. Awards were given in eight categories, plus one Honorary Award given for special contribution to the Icelandic film industry. Ungfrúin góða og húsið, based on the novel by Halldór Kiljan Laxness, received five nominations, The film ended up winning two awards, for Best Film and Best Director.


1st Edda Awards
The public could cast their vote online on the Icelandic news website mbl.is. Public votes had 30% say in the results and the academy the other 70%. The awards were broadcast live on Stöð 2.


1st Electoral Unit of Republika Srpska
The first electoral unit of Republika Srpska is a parliamentary constituency used to elect members to the House of Representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2000.


1st Electoral Unit of Republika Srpska (NSRS)
The first electoral unit of Republika Srpska is a parliamentary constituency used to elect members to the National Assembly of Republika Srpska since 2014. It consists of the Municipalities of Krupa na Uni, Novi Grad, Kozarska Dubica, Prijedor, Ostra Luka and Kostajnica.


1st Electoral Unit of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The first electoral unit of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is a parliamentary constituency used to elect members to the House of Representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2000. It consists of Una-Sana Canton and Canton 10.


1st Electoral Unit of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HoR FBiH)
The first electoral unit of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is a parliamentary constituency used to elect members to the House of Representatives of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2000. It consists of Una-Sana Canton.


1st Empire Awards
The 1st Empire Awards ceremony, presented by the British film magazine Empire, honored the best films of 1995 and took place in 1996. During the ceremony, Empire presented Empire Awards in eight categories as well as one honorary award. The first award ceremony introduced eight award categories for Best Film, Best British Film, Best Actor, Best British Actor, Best Actress, Best British Actress, Best Director and Best Debut as well as the honorary Lifetime Achievement Award.


1st Empire Awards
Shallow Grave won the most awards with three including Best British Film, Best Director for Danny Boyle and Best British Actor for Ewan McGregor. Other winners included Braveheart with one award for Best Film and Heavenly Creatures, The Madness of King George, The Usual Suspects and To Die For also with one. Mike Leigh received the Lifetime Achievement Award.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States)
The 1st Engineer Battalion is a unit of the United States Army with a record of accomplishment in both peace and war; an organization that provides sustained engineer support across the full spectrum of military operations. The 1st Engineer Battalion is the oldest and most decorated engineer battalion in the US Army, tracing its lineage to the original Company of Sappers and Miners organized at West Point, New York in 1846.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Transformation
With the Army Structure (ARSTRUC) announcement, 1st Engineer Battalion re-aligned into the Brigade Engineer Battalion formation while retaining its heraldry and name, aligned under the 1st Armor Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. To accomplish this, 72nd MAC inactivated in September 2014 and 41st Clearance Company became an echelons above Brigade asset in October 2014. In addition, the battalion reflagged 111th Sapper Company to their historic roots as A/1st EN and welcomed three new companies (formerly of the 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion):


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Origins and the Mexican–American War
The battalion's history can be traced back to 15 May 1846 when a company of miners, sappers, and pontoniers was formed at West Point, New York. Alpha Company, 1st Engineer Battalion is that company's direct descendant. The battalion has received 67 decorations and campaign streamers and eight foreign awards. Company A served during the Mexican–American War of 1846, participating in the Veracruz campaign and charging up the heights of Chapultepec in Mexico City.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Origins and the Mexican–American War
During the war, three future Civil War generals, among them George McClellan and P.G.T. Beauregard served as lieutenants in Alpha Company, and the company worked closely with then-Captain Robert E. Lee, an engineer aide to General Winfield Scott.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, The American Civil War
With initiation of hostilities, the Company was expanded into the "Battalion of Engineer Troops". On 31 December 1861, the battalion was officially designated as "The United States Engineer Battalion", and was assigned to the Engineer Brigade of the Union Army of the Potomac through the remainder of the war. The battalion earned ten campaign streamers. The battalion fought at Antietam, bridged the Rappahannock River six times at Fredericksburg, breached fortifications at Petersburg and was present at the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox. The first Company C was attritted during the Civil War. In 1865, Company E was redesignated Company C, replacing it.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, The American Civil War
Following the cessation of hostilities, on 1 July 1866, The United States Engineer Battalion was redesignated the "1st Battalion of Engineers".


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, The American Civil War
The battalion's first Sergeant Major, Frederick W. Gerber, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his 25 years of service to the battalion, which included the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, The Spanish–American War
During the Spanish–American War, Company C and Company E of the battalion were sent to Cuba where they fought in the campaign to take the city of Santiago. The remainder of the battalion was sent to the Philippines where they provided engineer support during the battles for Manila and Cavite. Alpha Company remained in the Philippines and conducted pacification operations during the Philippine Insurrection.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, World War I
On 1 July 1916, the 1st Battalion of Engineers was redesignated the "1st Engineer Battalion". With America's entry into World War I, the battalion was expanded on 15 May 1917 to become the 1st Engineer Regiment, composed of six companies, and assigned to the 1st Infantry Division. As part of this expansion, Company C and Company D were reorganized to form the 6th Engineer Battalion the same day. A new Company C (the third company to bear the name), was formed to replace the company reorganized as part of the 6th Engineers.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, World War I
The regiment fought as part of the "Big Red One" and participated in the Lorraine and Meuse-Argonne campaigns and was awarded the French Fourragère and two awards of the Croix de guerre for valorous service. Sergeant Wilbur E. Colyer of Company A received the Medal of Honor for advancing under fire and destroying a series of enemy machine gun positions near Verdun, France in 1918.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Between the wars
In May 1922, the 1st Engineer Regiment arrived at Fort DuPont in Delaware City, Delaware, and garrisoned the army post until 1941. In 1931 and 1933 the unit was responsible for floating six sets of officer quarters from Fort Mott in Pennsville, N.J., just across the Delaware River. From 1934 to 1936, the unit was commanded by Col. Ulysses S. Grant III, the grandson of the former general and president. The unit oversaw the Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Progress Administration programs while in Delaware. At Fort DuPont, the First Engineers along with these civilian workers, constructed four identical sets of brick duplexes and a 398-seat movie theatre, all of which still stand today.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, World War II
Prior to the start of World War II, the 1st Engineer Regiment was reorganized as the "1st Engineer Combat Battalion" and again assigned to fight as part of the 1st Infantry Division. In October 1939, the 1st Engineer Regiment was reorganized, separating into two battalions. Companies A, B and C formed the 1st Engineer Battalion and Companies D, E and F formed the 27th Engineer Battalion.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, World War II
In 1942, the battalion was redesignated the "1st Engineer Combat Battalion" and landed with the initial forces in the North Africa invasion. In 1943, the battalion cleared underwater obstacles and destroyed enemy pillboxes during the landings on Sicily. During the Normandy landings at Omaha Beach in 1944, the battalion led the assault forces, breaching gaps in the extensive enemy mine and wire obstacles and clearing the combat trails leading off the beaches.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, World War II
The battalion received the Presidential Unit Citation for actions at Gafsa, at Tunisia, and at Omaha Beach. The battalion fought as part of the 1st Infantry Division during the remainder of the war in the European Theater and after 10 years of occupation duty moved to Fort Riley, Kansas.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, World War II
In 1953, the 1st Engineer Combat Battalion was redesignated the "1st Engineer Battalion (Combat)", continuing to support the 1st Infantry Division.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Vietnam War
On 2 May 1965 the battalion, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Howard L. Sargent, Jr., deployed to South Vietnam as part of the 1st Infantry Division. For five years the battalion cleared obstacles, built roads, airfields, basecamps and bridges in support of numerous combat operations including Junction City I and II and the Tet Offensive of 1968. The battalion's DieHard Tunnel Rat section cleared the extensive Vietcong tunnel systems with little more than small arms and demolitions. The battalion received four Meritorious Unit Commendations for actions during the Vietnam War.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Vietnam War
Some time following its return to Ft. Riley, the battalion was reorganized as a mechanized engineer battalion, composed of one headquarters company ("HHC"), four line companies (A-D) and an assault float ribbon bridge company (E Company).


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Vietnam War
During the next 20 years at Fort Riley, the battalion took part in numerous training exercises, National Training Center (NTC) rotations in the Mojave Desert, and REFORGER deployments to and from West Germany. During this period, Company D, 1st Engineers, was detached and stationed in northern Germany as part of a forward-deployed combat brigade of the 1st Infantry Division known as 1st Infantry Division (Forward), or "1st IDF".


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Desert Shield and Desert Storm
Following the invasion of Kuwait by the military forces of Iraq, the battalion deployed with the 1st Infantry Division to Southwest Asia in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in December 1990, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Steven R. Hawkins (later Brigadier General). The battalion supported the destruction of the Republican Guard Division "Hammurabi".


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Desert Shield and Desert Storm
Equipped with M113 Armored Personnel Carriers, Mine Clearing Line Charges and M728 Combat Engineer Vehicles, the battalion breached and cleared lanes through Iraqi obstacle belts that allowed the passage of two divisions including the British "1st Armoured Division". Elements of the battalion destroyed 58 Iraqi tanks, 41 anti-aircraft artillery pieces, and other large quantities of ammunition and war material. The battalion was one of the first operators of the new M9 Armored Combat Earthmover, a critical obstacle breaching asset.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Desert Shield and Desert Storm
The battalion returned to Fort Riley in 1991, receiving the Valorous Unit Citation for actions in Southwest Asia.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Post-Desert Storm reorganization
In 1992, engineer battalions across the Army were significantly reorganized. Known as the Engineer Restructure Initiative ("ERI"), under this new organization, the 1st Engineer Battalion, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel (later Brigadier General) Joseph Schroedel, was separated into three distinct organizations.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Post-Desert Storm reorganization
The first organization, composed of Company A, Company B, and a portion of the 1st Engineers' headquarters remained as the 1st Engineer Battalion.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Post-Desert Storm reorganization
The second organization, composed of Company C, Company E, and a second portion of the battalion headquarters formed the nucleus of the reactivated 70th Engineer Battalion (Mechanized), whose nickname is "Kodiaks". Company C, 1st Engineers "Charlie Rock", under the command of Captain (later Lieutenant Colonel) Joseph Gandara, became Company C, 70th Engineer Battalion. Company E, an assault float ribbon bridge company at the time equipped with powerful bridge erection boats, float bridge bays and trucks, was reorganized and re-equipped as a mechanized engineer company becoming Company A, 70th Engineer Battalion, under the command of Captain (later Colonel) Vance F. Stewart. A new Company B, 70th Engineers was formed from new personnel and equipment.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Post-Desert Storm reorganization
To replace the Company C that moved to the 70th Engineers, a new Company C, 1st Engineers was organized, the fourth company to hold the name. A platoon each from Company A, 1st Engineers and Company B, 1st Engineers, were combined to form the new Company C under the command of Captain (later Lieutenant Colonel) Stephen C. Larsen with First Sergeant Mark D. Burrell.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Post-Desert Storm reorganization
Since the new Company C, adopting the nickname "Cold Steel", was composed of elements of the original Companies A and B, it carries forth the old lineage of the battalion and is therefore, like Companies A and B, a direct descendant of the oldest combat engineer organization of the US Army. Six months and two-month-long National Training Center rotations after its organization, Company C was awarded the prestigious 1st Infantry Division Company of the Quarter Award.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Post-Desert Storm reorganization
Company D, 1st Engineers, detached from the Battalion and serving as part of a combat brigade of the 1st Infantry Division in northern Germany (the 1st Infantry Division (Forward)), was inactivated.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Post-Desert Storm reorganization
The third organization was composed of the remainder of the battalion headquarters and became the newly activated Division Engineer Brigade headquarters under the command of Colonel Henry "Chip" Leonard.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Post-Desert Storm reorganization
The 1st Engineer Battalion was assigned in direct support of the 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division while the 70th Engineer Battalion was assigned in direct support of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Post-Desert Storm reorganization
From 1994–1996, the battalion was commanded by then-Lieutenant Colonel Thomas P. Bostick, later to achieve the rank of Lieutenant General (LTG) and serve as the Chief of Engineers, the commanding general of the US Army Corps of Engineers.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Post-Desert Storm reorganization
The Battalion Operations Officer during ERI was then-Major Todd T. Semonite, later to achieve the rank of Lieutenant General, succeeding LTG Bostick as the Chief of Engineers.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Post-Desert Storm reorganization
Since 1992, the battalion participated in many National Training Center and Joint Readiness Training Center rotations, fought fires in the Northwestern United States, and supported anti-drug operations as part of JTF-6.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Post-Desert Storm reorganization
In 1995, the 1st Engineer Battalion was awarded the Army Superior Unit Award for performance during the Engineer Restructuring Initiative on Fort Riley.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Bosnia and Herzegovina
On 30 August 1999 the battalion deployed to Bosnia and Herzegovina in support of SFOR. Units redeploying on 12 December 1999, the battalion helped provide a stable and secure environment in the area. To this end, the battalion conducted reconnaissance of over 1,230 kilometers of routes and 298 bridges; destroyed 116,000 anti-personnel land mines; constructed 30 kilometers of roads and 5 bridges; supervised Entity Armed Forces' clearance of more than 43,000 square miles (110,000 km2) of minefields; and distributed toys, clothing, and humanitarian aid to Bosnian children and homeless families. Upon completing their task the unit received the NATO Ribbon as well as the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Global War on Terror
On 8 September 2003, the 1st Engineer Battalion deployed to Iraq as part of the 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division for Operation Iraqi Freedom. In one year the battalion exploited over 370 enemy caches consisting of 28 tons of munitions and weapons, found and destroyed over 150 improvised devices, fortified 21 government buildings and coalition camps in the Al Anbar Province, cleared several hundred kilometers of roads, supported six battalions in the Ar Ramadi and Habbaniyah areas with combat engineer operations for six other camps in the Ar Ramadi area. The battalion returned to Fort Riley in October 2004. For actions in Al Anbar, the battalion earned a second Valorous Unit Award.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Global War on Terror
The battalion restructured its companies in 2006 as part of the Corps of Engineers restructuring plan for engineer forces Army-wide. A part of this restructuring made the battalion a separate, echelon above brigade unit and assigned training and readiness authority to the 555th Engineer Brigade and briefly to the 36th Engineer Brigade.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Global War on Terror
The battalion deployed to Iraq again in the fall of 2006 for a 15-month deployment, conducting route clearance operations in Multinational Division-North. Working as Task Force Trailblazer, the battalion earned a third Valorous Unit Award for combat action.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Global War on Terror
In July 2009 the 41st Clearance Company deployed to the RC-East Area of Operations in Afghanistan as a part of Operation Enduring Freedom. The company headquarters was located at FOB Fenty, with the four clearance platoons separated, relocating numerous times, to provide route clearance assets for three separate brigade combat teams and the Polish Battle Group. The 41st CC redeployed in July 2010.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Global War on Terror
In November 2009 the 1st Engineer Battalion deployed in support of OIF IX-X. The 1st Engineer Battalion(-), composed of HHC, FSC, 111th Sapper Company, and 72nd Mobility Augmentation Company, conducted engineer operations in United States Division - North (USD-N) in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 573rd Clearance Company out of White Sands Missile Range, NM was modularly deployed and assigned to the 1st Engineer Battalion(-) to round out the battalion's clearance capabilities.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Global War on Terror
The battalion conducted route clearance along assigned division routes while concurrently partnering with the 4th and 12th Iraqi Army Field Engineer Regiments in a modified advise and assist role in order to help these FERs become mission capable. HHC, FSC, and 111th redeployed in July 2010. The 72nd MAC remained in Iraq until their redeployment in November 2010. For actions in Iraq, the battalion was awarded its fifth Meritorious Unit Citation.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Global War on Terror
In September 2012, the battalion deployed to Regional Command-East, Afghanistan. Once deployed, the 72d MAC and the 111th Sapper Companies were task organized to the 178th En Bn (SCANG) to provide route clearance in Paktiya and Paktika Provinces, while the 41st CC remained in the north with the battalion as Task Force Diehard. As Task Force Diehard, headquartered at FOB Shank, the battalion assumed control of all mobility, counter-mobility, survivability, general engineering, and engineer partnerships in the Logar, Wardak, Nangahar, Kunar, Laghman and Kapisa Provinces.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Global War on Terror
Over the nine-month deployment, the battalion assumed responsibility for all engineer operations in RC-East; thus adding Kabul, Paktika, Paktiya, and Ghazni Provinces. By April 2013, the task force had 1,100 soldiers with six combat engineer and two construction companies. The battalion returned to Fort Riley in June 2013. For actions in Afghanistan, the battalion was awarded a sixth Meritorious Unit Citation.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Global War on Terror
In November 2013, after 2162 days, the battalion was again reassigned back to the 1st Infantry Division.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Global War on Terror
The battalion reorganized in October 2014 as a brigade engineer battalion under Devil Brigade, 1st Infantry Division.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Korea
In October 2016, the battalion marked its first visit to the Korean Peninsula with a deployment to Camp Hovey, South Korea with the 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division. The deployment was part of an HQDA initiated Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT) rotation of forces to the Republic of Korea (ROK) in support of national level and theater specific requirements. The mission of the Diehard Battalion was to enable 1ABCT to deter North Korean aggression and maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula; and, if deterrence failed, enable the Devil Brigade to "Fight Tonight" in support of the US-ROK Alliance.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Korea
For nine months, the Diehard Battalion supported national interests in the Korean Theater of Operations by preparing for non-combatant evacuation operations (NEO), counter weapons of mass destruction (CWMD) operations, relocating elements of the battalion from Area I into Area III, and integrating enablers in support of the brigade. The battalion redeployed to Ft Riley, Kansas in June 2017.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Unit history, Europe
In January 2019, the battalion deployed with the 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, to Europe in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve. The deployment supported deterrence operations in US Army EUCOM, as well as facilitating multiple multinational training events, including Allied Spirit X and Combined Resolve XII at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC). Engineers of the 1st Engineer Battalion deployed to multiple locations across the continent, including Germany, Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria. The battalion redeployed to Ft Riley, Kansas in September 2019.


1st Engineer Battalion (United States), Sources
This article incorporates  from the United States Army Center of Military History document:  This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Government document: "".


1st Engineer Brigade (United States)
The 1st Engineer Brigade is a military engineering training brigade of the United States Army subordinate to the United States Army Engineer School. It is headquartered at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.


1st Engineer Brigade (United States), History, World War II
The 1st Engineer Amphibian Brigade was activated at Camp Edwards, Massachusetts on 15 June 1942. Some 2,269 men were transferred from existing units, the 37th Engineer Combat Regiment providing the nucleus of the boat regiment, and the 87th Engineer Heavy Ponton Battalion that of the shore regiment. Brigadier General Henry C. Wolfe was assigned as commanding general on 7 July 1942. The brigade trained until 15 July, when it was assigned to the Amphibious Training Command.


1st Engineer Brigade (United States), History, World War II
The brigade was pulled from the Amphibious Training Center early and sent to England to participate in Operation Sledgehammer, departing from the New York Port of Embarkation on 5 August, and arriving on 17 August. Elements of the brigade participated in the Operation Torch. The 531st Shore Regiment and 286th Signal Company acted as the shore party for the 1st Infantry Division, while the 2nd Battalion, 591st Engineer Boat Regiment was reorganized as a shore battalion, and operated in support of Combat Command B, 1st Armored Division. Brigade headquarters departed Glasgow on 24 November, and landed in North Africa on 6 December. Wolfe became chief engineer at the Services of Supply on 22 February and Colonel R. L. Brown of the 531st Engineer Shore Regiment acted as commander.


1st Engineer Brigade (United States), History, World War II
Wolfe rejoined the brigade on 22 March 1943, but on 25 May he became S-3 at Allied Force Headquarters, and was replaced by Colonel Eugene M. Caffey. On 10 May 1943, the brigade was redesignated the 1st Engineer Special Brigade. The 591st Boat Regiment was detached, as was the 561st Boat Maintenance Company, which remained in England working on Navy landing craft, but the 36th and 540th Engineer Combat Regiments were attached for the 10 July Allied invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky), bringing the strength of the brigade to over 20,000. The brigade then participated in the Allied invasion of Italy at Salerno (Operation Avalanche) on 9 September.


1st Engineer Brigade (United States), History, World War II
In November 1943, the headquarters of the 1st Engineer Special Brigade, along with the 531st Shore Regiment, 201st Medical Battalion, 286th Signal Company, 262nd Amphibian Truck Battalion and 3497th Ordnance Medium Automotive Maintenance Company, returned to England to participate in the invasion of Normandy (Operation Overlord). This nucleus of 3,346 men was built up to a strength of 15,000 men for Overlord. During Exercise Tiger, a rehearsal for the Normandy operation on 28 April, German E-Boats attacked a convoy of landing ships, tank (LSTs) of the XI Amphibious Force carrying troops of the brigade.


1st Engineer Brigade (United States), History, World War II
Two LSTs were sunk, and the brigade lost 413 men dead and 16 wounded. The exercise was observed by Lieutenant General Omar N. Bradley, who, unaware of the sinking of the LSTs, blamed the resulting poor performance of the brigade on Caffey, and had him temporarily replaced for the Normandy landings by Brigadier General James E. Wharton.


1st Engineer Brigade (United States), History, World War II
The brigade participated in the D-Day landing on Utah Beach, and operated as Utah Beach Command until 23 October 1944, and then as the Utah District of the Normandy Base Section until 7 December 1944. Under the command of Colonel Benjamin B. Talley, the brigade headquarters returned to England, and embarked for the United States on 23 December. It arrived at Fort Dix, New Jersey, on 30 December. After four weeks leave, it reassembled at Fort Lewis, Washington.


1st Engineer Brigade (United States), History, World War II
Part of the brigade headquarters went by air to Leyte to join the XXIV Corps for the invasion of Okinawa, while the rest traveled directly to Okinawa on the USS Achernar. The brigade was in charge of unloading on Okinawa from 9 April to 31 May. It then prepared for the invasion of Japan. This did not occur due to the end of the war, and the brigade landed in Korea on 12 September 1945. Its final commander was Colonel Robert J. Kasper, who assumed command on 1 November 1945. The brigade was inactivated in Korea on 18 February 1946.


1st Engineer Brigade (United States), History, Postwar
On 30 September 1986, the brigade was reformed at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, as the 1st Engineer Brigade, and was assigned to the United States Army Engineer School within the Training and Doctrine Command.


1st Engineer Regiment (Jamaica)
The 1st Engineer Regiment is a unit of the Jamaica Defence Force primarily responsible for providing military and civil engineering. The regiment was formed in 1992 after a requirement was identified for increased military and civil engineering capability for the JDF than could be provided by the then existing structure. At the time, all JDF engineering capacity was provided by the Construction Squadron and the Engineering Unit of the Support and Services Battalion.


1st Engineer Regiment (Jamaica), Composition
The regiment today consists of a total of four distinct sub-units:


1st Engineer Regiment (Jamaica), Directives
The regiment's primary purpose is to provide military engineering support to the JDF, and to assist as required agencies of the government when so directed by HQ JDF. As such, it has a number of specific priorities:


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers
The 1st Essex Artillery Volunteers was a unit of Britain's part-time auxiliary forces raised in Essex in 1860 in response to an invasion scare. It served under various designations as field artillery in Palestine during World War I. During  World War II its units served as mountain artillery in Italy and as jungle artillery and medium artillery in Burma. Postwar it became an airborne unit until it was merged with other units in the 1950s.


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, Volunteer Force
The enthusiasm for the Volunteer movement following an invasion scare in 1859 saw the creation of many units composed of part-time soldiers eager to supplement the Regular British Army in time of need. It is not clear what happened to the 1st Essex Artillery Volunteer Corps (AVC), which was apparently formed in November 1859 but was short-lived. The 2nd Essex AVC was formed at Harwich and its first officers were commissioned by the Lord Lieutenant of Essex on 18 February 1860; it was renumbered as the 1st Essex AVC in September.


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, Volunteer Force
Similarly, the original 3rd Essex at Barking was renumbered 2nd; its officers were commissioned on 13 September and it moved to Grays in November. A new 3rd Essex AVC was formed at Plaistow on 26 June 1861, later moving to Stratford. No administrative brigade was formed for the Essex AVCs, which were attached to various other units for administration:


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, Volunteer Force
A major reorganisation of the Volunteer Force in 1880 saw the 1st Norfolk Admin Brigade consolidated into a single unit, with the 1st Essex AVC due to become No 5 Battery at Harwich. Meanwhile the 2nd and 3rd Essex, with one-and-a-half batteries and eight batteries respectively, merged to form a new 1st Essex. However, the Harwich volunteers were unhappy with the arrangements and asked to be transferred to the new 1st Essex AVC, which thus had the following organisation:


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, Volunteer Force
The unit was attached to the Eastern Division of the Royal Artillery (RA) from 1 April 1882, and from September 1886 its official title was 2nd Volunteer (Essex) Brigade, Eastern Division, RA; it reverted to '1st Essex Artillery Volunteers' in 1889. It was increased to 12 batteries in April 1886.


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, Volunteer Force
As well as manning fixed coast defence artillery, some of the early Artillery Volunteers  manned semi-mobile 'position batteries' of smooth-bore field guns pulled by agricultural horses. But the War Office refused to pay for the upkeep of field guns for Volunteers and they had largely died out in the 1870s. In 1888–91 the 'position artillery' concept was  revived and some Volunteer batteries were reorganised as position batteries to work alongside the Volunteer infantry brigades, the others becoming garrison companies. On 14 July 1892 the 1st Essex Volunteer Artillery was reorganised as one position battery and 11 companies:


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, Volunteer Force
By April 1899 there were two companies at Harwich, and they left to combine with four newly-raised companies in Suffolk to form a new 1st Suffolk and Harwich Volunteer Artillery grouped around the ports of Harwich, Ipswich and Felixstowe. This left the rest of the 1st Essex concentrated in the London suburbs and along the Thames Estuary. On 1 June 1899 all the Volunteer artillery units became part of the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) and with the abolition of the RA's divisional organisation  on 1 January 1902 the unit became the 1st Essex RGA (Volunteers).


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, Volunteer Force
When the City Imperial Volunteers were raised to serve in the Second Boer War, some 240 members of the 1st Essex VA volunteered, of whom 14 non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and gunners were selected. One sergeant died while on service.


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, Volunteer Force
In 1907 the Member of Parliament for Epping, Lt-Col Amelius Lockwood, asked a Parliamentary question implicitly criticising the small number of 15-pounder breechloading guns assigned to the one heavy battery and eight companies of the Essex RGA (V), all of which were allocated to mobile guns.


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, Territorial Force
When the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms of 1908, the Essex RGA (V) was split up. While one battery at Stratford remained with the RGA as the East Anglian (Essex) Heavy Battery, the bulk of the unit was assigned to the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) as the II (or 2nd) East Anglian Brigade, with the following organisation:


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, Territorial Force
The three batteries were each equipped with four modernised BLC 15-pounder guns. The unit was assigned to the East Anglian Division of the TF.


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, World War I, Mobilisation
The East Anglian Division began its annual training on 27 July 1914, with the divisional artillery travelling to Redesdale Training Area in Northumberland. When the order to mobilise was given on 4 August, the units had to return to their headquarters by train and then move to their war stations. By 10 August the division had concentrated around Brentwood, Essex, and on 20 August it moved to Chelmsford and formed part of the coast defences of the UK until the following May.


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, World War I, Mobilisation
On the outbreak of war, units of the Territorial Force were invited to volunteer for Overseas Service. On 15 August 1914, the War Office issued instructions to separate those men who had signed up for Home Service only, and form these into reserve units. On 31 August, the formation of a reserve or 2nd Line unit was authorised for each 1st Line unit where 60 per cent or more of the men had volunteered for Overseas Service. The titles of these 2nd Line units would be the same as the original, but distinguished by a '2/' prefix. In this way duplicate battalions, brigades and divisions were created, mirroring those TF formations being sent overseas.


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, World War I, 1/II East Anglian Brigade
The 1st East Anglian Division was employed on coast defence until May 1915, when it was concentrated at St Albans preparatory to going overseas as the 54th (1st East Anglian) Division. However, when the infantry departed for the Gallipoli Campaign, the divisional artillery was left behind. In August it joined the 2nd East Anglian Division at Thetford and Brandon, Suffolk, rearmed with modern 18-pounder guns and handed over its obsolete 15-pounders to the 2nd Line batteries.


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, World War I, 1/II East Anglian Brigade
On 17 November 1915 the 54th Divisional Artillery embarked for France, where it joined 33rd Division, a 'Kitchener's Army' division whose artillery were still under training. After a month on the Western Front, during which parties of officers and men had been attached for training to other divisions in the Front Line, 54th Divisional Artillery was warned that it was to be transferred to Egypt to rejoin its parent division, which had been withdrawn from Gallipoli. Embarkation began at Marseille on 30 January 1916 and disembarkation was completed at Alexandria by 14 February. The divisional artillery rejoined 54th (EA) Division at Mena Camp near Cairo and in April moved into No 1 (Southern) Section of the Suez Canal defences, where it began training for desert warfare.


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, World War I, 1/II East Anglian Brigade
On 26 May 1916 1/II East Anglian Brigade was renumbered CCLXXI (271) Brigade, RFA, and its batteries became A, B and C. On 20 December it was reorganised into two six-gun batteries, with C Battery split up between A and B, and was joined by A Bty from 272 (H) Bde (the old 1/1st Suffolk Bty in 1/III East Anglian Howitzer Bde), which became C (H)/271 Bty equipped with four 4.5-inch howitzers and with its share of 272's Brigade Ammunition Column.


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, World War I, 1/II East Anglian Brigade
CCLXXI Brigade then took part in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, including the First (26–7 March), Second (17–9 April) and Third Battles of Gaza (27 October–7 November) and the final capture of Gaza (1–7 November). At the end of the year the division was engaged in the Battle of Jaffa (21–22 December). 54th (EA) Division was next engaged in the action at Berukin (9–10 April 1918). Finally it took part in the opening stage of Allenby's final offensive (the Battle of Megiddo), known as the Battle of Sharon (19–23 September).


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, World War I, 1/II East Anglian Brigade
The division was then taken out of the line and concentrated at Haifa, where it was engaged in repairing communications for the rapidly advancing army. It next moved to Beirut, where it was concentrating when the Armistice of Mudros was signed with Turkey and hostilities ended on 31 October.


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, World War I, 1/II East Anglian Brigade
In late November 1918 the division was ordered to return to Egypt, the artillery proceeding by sea and arriving in mid-December. Demobilisation began in January 1919, and the TF units were slowly reduced to cadres. In March and April, when its guns had been handed in and about one-third of its men had left, 54th Divisional Artillery was converted into an ad hoc cavalry regiment to act as mounted police during disturbances in Cairo. Demobilisation recommenced in May and was completed in June.


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, World War I, 2/II East Anglian Brigade
The volunteers pouring into the depots manned the 2nd Line TF units. Training for the 2nd Line artillery was hindered by the shortage of equipment, and several months passed before guns, horses and harness were received. Even then, only obsolete French De Bange 90 mm cannon were available for training. Early in 1915 the 2nd East Anglian Division (which was numbered 69th in August 1915) concentrated round Thetford, where it formed part of First Army in Central Force. The divisional artillery was distributed around Brandon, Cambridge and Tuddenham. In November the divisional artillery took over the 15-pounder guns released by its 1st Line (see above).


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, World War I, 2/II East Anglian Brigade
The division's role throughout the war was to train drafts of reinforcements for units serving overseas. In May 1916, 2/II East Anglian Brigade was numbered CCCXLVI (346) Bde, the batteries became A, B and C, and it was joined by 2/2nd Suffolk (Howitzer) Bty from 2/III East Anglian Brigade, which became D (H) Bty. The following month the division was transferred to Northern Command and moved to Harrogate in North Yorkshire.


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, World War I, 2/II East Anglian Brigade
On 10 November 1916, B Bty was broken up to bring A and C Btys up to six-gun strength, and the following month CCCXLV (2/I East Anglian) Bde was broken up, with C (2/3rd Norfolk) Bty becoming B Bty in CCCXLVI Bde. On 22 December a group of new six-gun 18-pdr batteries were formed at Harrogate in 69th (2nd EA) Division's billeting area, and on 30 December two of these, 384 and 385, were attached to CCCXLVI Bde, affiliated to A and B Bty respectively. This gave the brigade the following organisation:


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, World War I, 2/II East Anglian Brigade
After training alongside CCCXLVI Bde, 384 and 385 Batteries joined CLXVI Bde and went with it in September 1917 to join 14th Indian Division in Mesopotamia.


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, World War I, 2/II East Anglian Brigade
At the beginning of May 1917 69th (2nd EA) Division moved to Nottinghamshire, remaining in Northern Command, with the artillery at Welbeck Camp. The following winter it went into winter quarters in Doncaster. By now many of the original infantry units had left the division, which lost its territorial designation, becoming simply 69th Division. It never went overseas, spending the whole war providing reinforcement drafts for units serving overseas. Demobilisation began after the Armistice with Germany, and the divisional artillery had virtually disappeared by 27 January 1919.


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, World War I, 3/II East Anglian Brigade
A 3rd Line Depot brigade (3/II East Anglian Brigade) was formed early in March 1915. At first, training had to be carried out without any guns, harness or horses. In May the unit was affiliated to No 4 TF Artillery School at High Wycombe, which took over training while 3/II became a holding and draft-finding unit. The 3rd Line East Anglian brigades were merged into the school in August 1916, when it became 4th Reserve Brigade, RFA (TF).


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, Interwar, 85th (East Anglian) Field Brigade
When the TF was reformed on 7 February 1920 the unit was reformed in 54th (East Anglian) Division as 2nd East Anglian Brigade, RFA, with a new 4th Essex Bty at Colchester. On the reconstitution of the TF as the Territorial Army in 1921 it was numbered as 85th (East Anglian) Brigade, RFA, with the following organisation:


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, Interwar, 85th (East Anglian) Field Brigade
When the RFA merged into the Royal Artillery on 1 June 1924, the unit became a 'Field Brigade, RA' In July 1925 the subtitle of the Colchester battery was changed to 'Essex RHA', commemorating the Essex Royal Horse Artillery that had been disbanded in 1919. On 1 October 1932, 339 (Essex RHA) Bty transferred to 104th (Essex Yeomanry) Fd Bde and was replaced by 213 Bty, converted from 232 Medium Bty (formerly the East Anglian (Essex) RGA, see above) of 58th (Essex and Suffolk) Medium Bde. This battery had always shared the brigade's HQ at Stratford.


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, Interwar, 85th (East Anglian) Field Brigade
The RA adopted the more usual designation of 'Regiment' for its brigades on 1 November 1938, and when the TA was doubled in size after the Munich Crisis 85th (East Anglian) Field Rgt formed 134th Field Rgt as its duplicate.


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, World War II
Both 85th and 134th (East Anglian) Field Rgts were serving with 54th (EA) Division in Eastern Command when it mobilised on the outbreak of war.


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, World War II
In January 1942 54th (EA) Division was placed on a lower establishment, an acknowledgement that it was not going to be sent on active service. 85th (East Anglian) Field Rgt later served in Persia and Iraq Command (PAIFORCE) and then converted to mountain artillery, in which role it fought in the Italian Campaign. 134th Field Rgt, which was granted the '(East Anglian)' subtitle in 1942, was shipped to India, where it first became a jungle field regiment and then a medium regiment, in which role it served in the Burma Campaign.


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, Postwar
When the TA was reconstituted on 1 January 1947, 134th Medium Rgt was disbanded and 85th Mountain Rgt was reformed as 285 (Essex) Airborne Light Rgt with RHQ and P Bty at Artillery House, Stratford Green. The regiment formed part of the TA's 16th Airborne Division.


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, Postwar
On 28 May 1951 the regiment became 285 (Essex) Airborne Field Rgt, and on 27 June 1955 it was redesignated again as 285 (Essex) Parachute Field Rgt. However, 16th Airborne Division was disbanded in 1956 and the number of air-portable units was reduced. On 31 October 1956 the regiment merged with 292 (5th London) Parachute Field Rgt to form 289 Parachute Light Rgt in 44th Independent Parachute Brigade Group. This regiment in turn was reduced to 289 Parachute Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, in 1967.


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, Memorials
There is a memorial plaque to the men of the 1st Essex VA who served in the Second Boer War in St John's Church, Stratford.


1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, Memorials
There is a memorial at the Army Reserve Centre at Romford, originally at Artillery House, Stratford, in memory of the men of 2nd East Anglian Bde, RFA, and the other units based there who died in 1914–18.


1st European Film Awards
The 1st Annual European Film Awards, presented by the European Film Academy, recognized excellence in Euopean cinema. The ceremony took place on 1 December 1988 at the Theater des Westens in West Berlin and was hosted by Luxembourgish presenter Desirée Nosbusch and German actor Jan Niklas.


1st European Film Awards
British film Distant Voices, Still Lives led the nominations with five but the films Wings of Desire, Pelle the Conqueror and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown got the most wins with two each. Krzysztof Kieślowski's A Short Film About Killing received the award for Best European Film.


1st European Film Awards
The Lifetime Achievement Award was awarded to two iconic European directors, to Swedish director Ingmar Bergman presented by German actress Nastasja Kinski and to Italian director Marcello Mastroianni presented by Italian actress Giulietta Masina. English actor Sir Richard Attenborough received the Award of Merit, which was presented by Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida while two Special Awards were presented, one to Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci for The Last Emperor and one to Russian composer Yuri Khanon for the music of The Days of Eclipse.


1st European Film Awards, Winners and nominees
The winners are in a yellow background and in bold.


1st European Film Awards, Winners and nominees, Special Jury Award
Yuri Khanon - The Days of Eclipse (Special Prize of the Jury for the music the film)


1st Executive Council of the People's Republic of Croatia
The 1st Executive Council of the People's Republic of Croatia was that state's executive branch of government in 1953.


1st Executive Council of the People's Republic of Croatia, Background
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia held its V. Plenum in May 1952 when a new Constitutional Law was proposed. On 13 January 1953 the National Assembly adopted a new Constitutional Law on the Basics of Social and Political Organization of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia and Federal Governing Organs. The law established a new Federal Executive Council as the executive branch of government. The constituent republics subsequently adopted matching laws.


1st Executive Council of the People's Republic of Croatia, Background
On 5 February 1953 the Parliament of the People's Republic of Croatia adopted the Constitutional Law of the People's Republic of Croatia on the Basics of Social and Political Organization and Republican Governing Organs which created the republic's new Executive Council. The following day the Parliament adopted an enabling law for the new Constitutional Law, and then proceeded to elect the first Executive Council.


1st Executive Council of the People's Republic of Croatia, Background
The Executive Council organized elections to the Parliament, now divided into a Republican Council and a Council of Producers, on 22 November 1953. A joint session of the two newly elected legislative councils elected a new Executive Council on 18 December 1953. Vladimir Bakarić was replaced by Jakov Blažević as president of the Executive Council, while he moved to the position of President of the Parliament.


1st Expeditionary Force (Ottoman Empire)
The 1st Expeditionary Force (Turkish: Birinci Kuvve-i Seferiye) of the Ottoman Empire was one of the expeditionary forces of the Ottoman Army.


1st Expeditionary Force (Ottoman Empire), Order of battle
In December 1914, the 1st Expeditionary Force was structured as follows:


1st Expeditionary Rescue Group
The 1st Expeditionary Rescue Group is a provisional unit of the United States Air Force assigned to Air Combat Command to activate or inactivate as necessary. It was activated in Southwest Asia in September 2015 to provide combat search and rescue for Operation Inherent Resolve.


1st Expeditionary Rescue Group
The group was first activated during World War II as the 1st Emergency Rescue Squadron. After training with the United States Navy in Florida, the squadron moved to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, where it flew Consolidated OA-10 Catalinas (and later other aircraft) to perform combat search and rescue missions, earning a Distinguished Unit Citation in August 1944. After VE Day, the squadron returned to the United States and was inactivated in 1946.


1st Expeditionary Rescue Group
The group was activated later in 1946 as the 1st Rescue Squadron and was responsible for air rescue operations in the Caribbean and mid-Atlantic area. In 1952, it expanded to become the 1st Air Rescue Group, but was inactivated in 1956 as Air Force operations in the Caribbean were reduced. It was active again in 1995 at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, where it provided rescue and range support for the Eastern Test Range. It was inactivated in 1997, when its component squadrons moved to Moody Air Force Base, Georgia and were reassigned, while the Eastern Test Range support mission was assumed by Air Force Reserve Command.


1st Expeditionary Rescue Group, Mission
The mission of the 1st Expeditionary Rescue Group is combat search and rescue.


1st Expeditionary Rescue Group, Units
The 1st Expeditionary Rescue Group consists of the following units:


1st Expeditionary Rescue Group, History, World War II, Training as the first squadron of its kind
The group was first activated as the 1st Emergency Rescue Squadron at Boca Raton Army Air Field, Florida on 1 December 1943 with an initial cadre of one officer and four enlisted men. The squadron and the 2d Emergency Rescue Squadron, activated two weeks later in California, were the first of their kind in the Army Air Forces. Two naval officers were attached to the squadron to perform check flights for the pilots, who had received training on the Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina at Naval Air Station Pensacola and Naval Air Station Jacksonville. The training included water landings on Lake Okeechobee and navigation training. After two and a half months of training, the unit departed for overseas assignment. The squadron left for overseas from Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia, sailing on board the SS William L. Mitchell on 3 March.


1st Expeditionary Rescue Group, History, World War II, Operations in the Mediterranean
The squadron arrived at the port of Casablanca, French Morocco on 12 March and proceeded to the encampment at Camp Don B. Passage. They staged through Sidi Ahmed, Tunisia before arriving at their operational station of Ajaccio, Corsica, France. Meanwhile, crews picked up their Catalinas at Port Lyautey Airfield, French Morocco. The squadron flew its first operational mission from Ajaccio on 10 April. Its first rescue, of a crewmember of a Royal Air Force Vickers Wellington bomber, occurred a week later.


1st Expeditionary Rescue Group, History, World War II, Operations in the Mediterranean
In May 1944, the squadron began a split operation to increase the area in which it could provide rescue coverage. Headquarters and C Flight remained at Ajaccio, while B Flight left for Foggia Main Airfield and A Flight for Grottaglie Airfield, both in Italy. B Flight was attached to 323 Wing of the Royal Air Force for operations. On 10 May the squadron staged a rescue operation from Vis, an island controlled by Yugoslav Partisans in a search for a fighter aircraft downed over Yugoslavia. On 20 May.


1st Expeditionary Rescue Group, History, World War II, Operations in the Mediterranean
A Flight performed the first rescue flown from Italy, landing a Catalina a few miles off the coast of Albania to pick up the pilot of an RAF Supermarine Spitfire who had been shot down while attacking a German Q-Ship. B Flight performed its first rescue, of a Consolidated B-24 Liberator crew of the 741st Bombardment Squadron, four days later.


1st Expeditionary Rescue Group, History, World War II, Operations in the Mediterranean
Not only Allied fliers were rescued by the squadron. On 14 June, for the first time, C Flight responded to a distress signal received by a fighter control center. Upon arrival at the signal's location, the crew discovered the source of the signal was from two Luftwaffe fliers. They were retrieved and made the squadron's first capture of prisoners of war.


1st Expeditionary Rescue Group, History, World War II, Operations in the Mediterranean
By July 1944, B Flight acquired a Stinson L-5 Sentinel, which it used for searches of crash sites on land. The squadron was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation for the period o 17 to 21 August 1944. During this period, with only nine aircraft to cover its area of responsibility, the squadron rescued 21 allied airmen, making open sea landings in hazardous weather conditions and heavy seas.


1st Expeditionary Rescue Group, History, World War II, Operations in the Mediterranean
During the month of October, A Flight temporarily operated from a French naval base. The squadron also added a boat crew to its strength, but this unit was reassigned a month later.


1st Expeditionary Rescue Group, History, World War II, Operations in the Mediterranean
In late December 1944, the squadron and C Flight moved to Foggia. The move to Foggia also brought the assignment of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses, transferred from units in Fifteenth Air Force. One month later, most of A and C Flights were detached from the squadron for shipment to the China-Burma-India Theater as the cadre for the 7th Emergency Rescue Squadron, which was being organized at Agartala. With these flights went the squadron's B-17s, although once the 1st was reorganized it again flew the B-17. This reduced the squadron to (new) A Flight at Falconara Airfield and B Flight with the squadron headquarters at Foggia.


1st Expeditionary Rescue Group, History, World War II, Return to the United States
The last combat rescue performed by the squadron, on 1 May 1945, was also the only one performed by dropping a lifeboat from a B-17 Dumbo. Fighting in Italy ended the following day. After VE Day, A Flight joined the squadron headquarters at Foggia. On 25 May 1945, the squadron left the Mediterranean, assembling at Keesler Field, Mississippi in late June. The squadron spent the next year at Keesler before inactivating in June 1946.


1st Expeditionary Rescue Group, History, Caribbean operations
The squadron was activated again as the 1st Rescue Squadron at Howard Field, Panama Canal Zone in November 1946 and assumed responsibility for search and rescue in the Caribbean.


1st Expeditionary Rescue Group, History, Caribbean operations
The squadron moved to MacDill Air Force Base, Florida in September 1949 and was assigned to Air Rescue Service. Despite the move, the squadron's area of responsibility (the Caribbean and eastward in the mid-Atlantic to Bermuda) remained the same. At MacDill the squadron became the 1st Air Rescue Squadron. A Flight was located with the squadron until early 1951, when its personnel were distributed to other Air Rescue Service units.


1st Expeditionary Rescue Group, History, Caribbean operations
In 1951 the squadron headquarters returned to the Canal Zone, moving to Albrook Air Force Base, where its B Flight was already located. In November 1952 it expanded into the 1st Air Rescue Group. Its three flights, were replaced by squadrons. A and B Flights, both located at Albrook with group headquarters, became the 26th and 27th Air Rescue Squadrons, C Flight at Ramey Air Force Base, Puerto Rico, became the 28th Air Rescue Squadron, and D Flight at Kindley Air Force Base, Bermuda became the 29th Air Rescue Squadron. Less than a year later, in September 1953, the second rescue squadron at Albrook was inactivated. As US operations in the Caribbean were reduced, the group and its remaining squadrons inactivated in December 1956.


1st Expeditionary Rescue Group, History, Patrick Air Force Base
In June 1995, the group, now designated the 1st Rescue Group, was activated at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida as the command element for the 41st Rescue Squadron, flying Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters and the 71st Rescue Squadrons, flying Lockheed HC-130 Hercules tankers, although the group was not manned until the middle of July. The squadrons had previously reported to the 1st Operations Group, stationed at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia.


1st Expeditionary Rescue Group, History, Patrick Air Force Base
The group provided rescue, recovery and medical evacuation capability for Space Shuttle launches. It also performed range safety and surveillance for launches on the Eastern Test Range by government and commercial operators. While stationed at Patrick, the group deployed airmen to Southwest Asia. Five members of the group were among those killed in the Khobar Towers bombing.


1st Expeditionary Rescue Group, History, Patrick Air Force Base
In April 1997, the group's two flying squadrons moved to Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, where they were reassigned to the 347th Operations Group. Air Combat Command and Air Force Reserve Command had been transitioning the Eastern Test Range support mission to the reserve 301st Rescue Squadron. The group remained behind at Patrick until September 1997, when it was inactivated, as the remaining rescue mission at Patrick was transferred to the reserve 920th Rescue Wing.


1st Expeditionary Rescue Group, History, Expeditionary operations
The group was converted to provisional status as the 1st Expeditionary Rescue Group and assigned to Air Combat Command to activate or inactivate as needed in January 2015. In September, the group was activated to support Operation Inherent Resolve, military operations against ISIL. The need for a rescue capability as part of Inherent Resolve was highlighted by the failure to recover Muath al-Kasasbeh, a Royal Jordanian Air Force pilot, who was captured by ISIL, then tortured and barbarously killed after his fighter crashed in Syria. The US Navy's Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron FIVE (HSC-5) deployed with 1st ERQG during 2016 in support of OIR during their deployment with Carrier Air Wing SEVEN (CVW-7).


1st Expeditionary Rescue Group, References, Bibliography
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website .


1st Expeditionary Space Control Squadron
The United States Air Force's 1st Expeditionary Space Control Squadron is a provisional squadron attached to the 21st Space Wing at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado.


1st Expeditionary Space Control Squadron
Before conversion to provisional status, the 1st Space Control Squadron' was a space situational awareness unit last located at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The squadron commanded the United States Space Surveillance Network to detect, track, identify and catalog positional data for all man-made objects in Earth orbit. The squadron was established in 1989 as the 1st Command and Control Squadron at Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Base, Colorado. It was inactivated in 2008 and its personnel and equipment were integrated into the 614th Air and Space Operations Center.


1st Expeditionary Space Control Squadron, History, Background
The roots of the squadron can be traced to 1961, when the Space Detection and Tracking System Center at opened at Ent Air Force Base, Colorado. The center brought together Air Force and Navy systems designed to track objects in space in all directions, not merely Soviet missiles launched over the North Pole. The center came under the operational control of North American Air Defense Command. There were several subsequent moves, name changes, and changes in personnel, experience, and equipment.


1st Expeditionary Space Control Squadron, History, Activation
The Air Force activated the 1st Command and Control Squadron at Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, Colorado in December 1989 to operate the system. The 1st Command and Control Squadron provided collision avoidance support during each shuttle mission as well as maintaining an extensive satellite catalog (the "SATCAT" or "Box score"). This catalog is used by U.S. civilian and military agencies when launching new satellites into space, as well as by U.S. allies.


1st Expeditionary Space Control Squadron, History, Activation
The 1 SPCS tracked and compiled positional data on thousands of man-made objects in space partly to prevent collisions between newly launched satellites and other objects already orbiting the earth. Additionally, the unit had the mission to task 30 space sensors within Space Surveillance Network to track satellites for US Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) to maintain an accurate satellite catalog (SATCAT) of over 9000 objects orbiting the earth., To support manned space flight, 1 SPCS constructs a theoretical box around the space shuttle, MIR or ISS, and projects flight path intersections for 36 to 72 hours.


1st Expeditionary Space Control Squadron, History, Activation
If any objects intersects the theoretical box, the unit forwarded the analysis to NASA, allowing them to determine whether to change the spacecraft/space station's flight path. Based on 1 SPCS mission analysis, and its predecessor units, NASA has moved the space shuttle 12 times and the International Space Station five times since 1981. In June 1995, the unit tracked the U.S. Space Shuttle Atlantis during its historic rendezvous with the Russian space station Mir. The unit also compiled a catalog of space objects.


1st Expeditionary Space Control Squadron, History, Activation
The 1 SPCS also contained international personnel, such as Canadian military, since SSA was not just a U.S. problem.


1st Expeditionary Space Control Squadron, History, Move
In 2006, Admiral Timothy Keating, commander of NORAD directed a study on the continued use of the hardened command post at Cheyenne Mountain in view of what was perceived as diminished threats. The decision to close Cheyenne Moungain required a unit move. The unit moved to Vandenberg Air Force Base, California in 2007 to better coordinate activities with the Joint Space Operations Center, it lost over 150 years of expert civilian experience. (archive returns only an error message)


1st Expeditionary Space Control Squadron, History, Inactivation
The unit was inactivated on 9 Jun 2008, and its mission and members integrated into the 614th Air and Space Operations Center / Joint Space Operations Center. Unconfirmed sources state that Cheyenne Mountain may retain some capability to cover the 1 SPCS mission, if required. At the time of inactivation, 106


1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group
The 1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the Air Proving Ground Command and stationed at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. It was inactivated on 22 July 1949.


1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group
The 1st EGMG was the initial United States Army Air Forces (later United States Air Force) dedicated missile unit.


1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group, History
Formed a result of the Air Materiel Command's Engineering Division at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base looking for a location to allow its contractors to launch missiles.


1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group, History, Missile technologies
Initial mission of unit was to determine Air Force missile requirements and review missile propulsion, guidance, and launching technologies. Also matrixed contractors to technologies:


1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group, History, Missile technologies
The contractor would be responsible for the requirements, and ultimately responsible for seeing that the project planning and development came together. In the late 1940s, the available funding that was provided to the Air Force was directed towards jet aircraft development. Missiles, at the time, were a piecemeal effort which reflected much competition among the three military branches and development often took a backseat to Strategic Air Command bomber and tanker force improvements.


1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group, History, Program plan development
In March 1947, when the group received its first series of test projects. Though most of the group's efforts were devoted to "on-the-job" training and providing assistance to  contractors who launched those weapons, the 1st began implementing its mission, which included


1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group, History, Operations, B-17 Drone development
During the war, experiments were made with approximately twenty-five war-weary B-17s (mostly F models) that were packed with high explosives to be used against heavily fortified Nazi weapons sites in France. These aircraft, designated "BQ-7" experiments (Project Aphrodite and Project Castor) were not successful due to the inability of the aircraft to be launched and controlled remotely, and the need for the aircraft to have a flight crew that would bail out and control of the plane be transferred to a director aircraft which would direct it to the target. Control difficulties in the wartime conditions led to the cancellation of the program.


1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group, History, Operations, B-17 Drone development
Development in the United States of the wartime technology was accelerated by the 1946 Operation Crossroads atomic tests. The testing program called for drone aircraft to be flown through the atomic clouds after the explosion with monitoring and air sampling equipment. The requirement was for the drone aircraft to be taken off, flown and landed by radio control. The Air Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Field, Ohio, developed a refined remote control system in about six weeks, advancing the World War II technology to meet the requirements. Initial testing was performed at Clovis Army Air Field, New Mexico. On 16 February 1946, the technology was successfully demonstrated using a war-weary B-17 that was flown in all phases of the flight remotely by radio control from a "mother" aircraft.


1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group, History, Operations, B-17 Drone development
In May 1946, sixteen new B-17s were drawn from storage at South Plains Army Air Field, Lubbock, Texas. and were flown to the San Antonio Air Depot, Kelly Field, Texas. All defensive armament and turrets were stripped; the bomb bay doors being sealed along with the waist gunner openings. Then, the aircraft equipped with radio, radar, television and other equipment. Six of the aircraft were fitted with drone director equipment to control one drone aircraft and the capability to back up one other director aircraft.


1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group, History, Operations, B-17 Drone development
The aircraft were tested at Clovis, then attached to the 509th Composite Group at Roswell Army Air Field, New Mexico. and were set to deploy to the Marshall Islands for use in Operation Crossroads. Their mission was atmospheric sampling collection and atmospheric research, to fly through the mushroom cloud and take measurements. In June 1946, both the Director and Drone B-17s were flown to Eniwetok Airfield, Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands, some 200 miles west of Bikini Atoll where the Crossroads tests were to take place.


1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group, History, Operations, B-17 Drone development
On 1 July 1946 Test Able took place and the aircraft were flown through the mushroom cloud for sample collections successfully. An extensive post-test inspection was conducted on the aircraft and all was found to be well. Test Baker took place two weeks later and again inspections were conducted. The aircraft returned to Roswell in August.


1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group, History, Operations, B-17 Drone development
The success of the drone B-17s led to the development of other types of sampling methods and establishment of other squadrons for a wide variety of programs. In September 1947, the B-17Gs were re-designated as QB-17 for drones and the DB-17 for the controller aircraft.


1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group, History, Operations, B-17 Drone development
With the completion of the Operation Crossroads tests, management of the B-17 drone program was transferred to the Army Air Forces Proving Ground Command from Material Command. The 1st EGMG was given the mission to oversee development of drone aircraft to support the Atomic Energy Commission nuclear tests. On 13 January 1947, the Guided Missiles Group received nationwide publicity by conducting a successful drone flight from Eglin AFB to Washington, D.C., in a simulated bombing mission. In April 1948, the Group deployed the QB/DB Fortresses to Eniwetok Atoll for the Operation Sandstone nuclear tests in the spring of 1948.


1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group, History, Operations, B-17 Drone development
At Holloman Air Force Base, the Group established a detachment to support the 2754th Experimental Wing, and testing for the ASM-A-2 RASCAL  missile. QB-17 Fortress drones were used as aerial weapons targets for the missile. The drone Fortresses were also used as weapons targets for the testing and development of the  AIM-4 Falcon air-to-air missile.


1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group, History, Operations, JB-2 missile testing
The 1st regrouped its activities after Operation Sandstone, and it spent several months preparing a detachment to depart for cold weather testing of the JB-2 flying bomb in Alaska in November 1948. The Republic-Ford JB-2 was a United States copy of the World War II German V-1 flying bomb. Developed in 1944, it was extensively tested at Eglin Field. It was planned to be used in the United States invasion of Japan (Operation Downfall), however, with the sudden end of the war, the JB-2 was never used in combat. It was the forerunner of the family of United States Guided Missiles.


1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group, History, Operations, JB-2 missile testing
Testing by the 1st EGMG of the JB-2 was performed with two versions — the wartime version with preset internal guidance and another version fitted with radar control  Testing began at Alamogordo Army Airfield, New Mexico in March 1947 and it spent several months preparing a detachment to depart for cold weather testing of the JB-2 in Alaska in November 1948. Additional testing was also done at the Santa Rosa Island Range Complex, Florida, and at Wagner Field (Eglin  Auxiliary Field #1) from with MB-17Gs were fitted with the JB-2 for airborne launches.


1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group, History, Operations, JB-2 missile testing
The JB-2 was used for development of missile guidance control and seeker systems, testing of telemetering and optical tracking facilities, and as a target for new surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles (ironically fulfilling the former V1's covername, Flakzielgerät — anti-aircraft target device). The JB-2 project used the North American Aviation NATIV (North American Test Instrument Vehicle) Blockhouse and two launch ramps at Holloman: a 400 ft (120 m), two-rail ramp on a 3° earth-filled slope, and a 40 ft (12 m) trailer ramp.


1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group, History, Operations, JB-2 missile testing
The 40-foot trailer ramp was the first step toward a system that would eventually be adapted for the forthcoming Martin MGM-1 Matador, first operational surface-to-surface cruise missile built by the United States. The program at Holloman was terminated on 10 January 1949 after successful development of a radio guidance and control system that could control and even skid-land a JB-2 under the control of an airborne or ground transmitter.


1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group, History, Operations, JB-2 missile testing
The Group also began providing observers for guided missile tests at laboratories and factories, including those programs sponsored by the Army and Navy. The JB-2 was never used operationally, however, it led to the development of the first operational USAF cruise missile, the Martin B-61A Matador.


1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group, History, Operations, Gliding bomb testing
The wartime Henschel Hs 293 was a German radio-controlled glide bomb with a rocket engine slung underneath it. It was used as an anti-ship weapon. After the war, the German technology was used to develop the VB-3 Razon, VB-6 Felix and VB-13 Tarzon gliding bombs. Testing of these weapons began in 1947 by the 1st EGMG at Eglin, using MB-17 Flying Fortresses as launch platforms. During the Korean War, the VB-3 and VB-13 were used operationally against enemy targets in North Korea.


1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group, History, Inactivation
On 20 July 1949, the 1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group was inactivated and the unit structure was replaced by the 550th Guided Missiles Wing on the same date, which assumed the personnel and equipment of the 1st EGMG.


1st Extreme Ironing World Championships
The 1st Extreme Ironing World Championships was the inaugural championship for the quirky British sport of extreme ironing.


1st Extreme Ironing World Championships
The first event, held in mid-September 2002 in Valley, Bavaria, a small village near Munich in the district Miesbach, was host to competitors from ten nations, comprising 12 teams (three were from Britain).


1st Extreme Ironing World Championships, Results
The GB1 and GB3 teams managed to win the gold and bronze team medals. German and Austrian competitors picked up the individual prizes. 1st Place Chrissy Quaid. 2nd Place Jade Dunn. 3rd Place Becca Rogers.


1st Extreme Ironing World Championships, Results
Competitors were tested on their abilities to cope with five arduous ironing tests on a variety of fabrics and in different environments ranging from rocky to forest, urban and water. A 70-strong contingent gathered in a muddy field to combine the often mundane household task with "extreme" pursuits such as rock climbing. They were judged on their creative ironing skills as well as the creases in the clothing. The British team prepared for the championships in different locations such as Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in the hope of winning prizes including a holiday in Hawaii, washing machines and other household goods.


1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring
The Fallschirm-Panzer-Division 1. Hermann Göring (1st Paratroop Panzer Division Hermann Göring - abbreviated Fallschirm-Panzer-Div 1 HG) was an elite German Luftwaffe armoured division. The HG saw action in France, North Africa, Sicily, Italy and on the Eastern Front. The division began as a battalion-sized police unit in 1933. Over time it grew into a regiment, brigade, division, and finally was combined with the Parachute-Panzergrenadier Division 2 Hermann Göring on 1st May 1944 to form a Panzer corps under the by then Reichsmarschall. It surrendered to the Soviet Army near Dresden on May 8, 1945.


1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring
Its personel was initially recruited from volunteers from Nazi organizations such as the Hitler Youth, later receiving intakes from the Army (especially panzer troops) and conscripts of the Luftwaffe. The unit was stationed in Berlin in the newly built Hermann Göring barracks (today's Julius Leber barracks) and in Velten; being named after the Reichsmarschall and Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe Hermann Göring. This naming was intended to establish a close connection between Wehrmacht units and National Socialism, while at the same time documenting the domestic power within the party hierarchy. Among its combat missions, the Hermann Göring mantained guard forces, such as a guard in the Reichsmarschall's estate at Carinhall and the Flak defense of Hitler's headquarters and personal train.


1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring
The division, during its time in Italy, committed a number of war crimes, and, together with the 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS, was disproportionately involved in massacres of the civilian population, the two divisions accounting for approximately one-third of all civilians killed in war crimes in Italy.


1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring, Formation, Establishment and initial phase - Police Administration
When Hitler, of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), was appointed Reich Chancellor on January 30, 1933, Captain Hermann Göring was appointed the Prussian Minister of the Interior in February 1933. This gave him the supreme command of the entire Prussian police and a general's rank.


1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring, Formation, Establishment and initial phase - Police Administration
On February 24, 1933, Göring established the Polizeiabteilung z. b. V. Wecke (z. b. V. meaning "for special use"). His intention was to create a police association that was loyal to the NSDAP regime. The outfit was named after its commander Major der Schutzpolizei Walther Wecke, a veteran of the First World War and a member of the NSDAP. Numbering 400 men, it was stationed in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin - a notoriously left-wing working-class area.


1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring, Formation, Establishment and initial phase - Police Administration
The battalion soon became notorious for its brutal practices. In cooperation with the Gestapo, which was also under Göring's control, the Special Duties Police Battalion was involved in many attacks against Communists and Social Democrats and was responsible for the arrest of opponents of the regime.


1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring, Formation, Establishment and initial phase - Police Administration
In June 1933 Göring enlarged the battalion and placed it under the command of the state police (Landespolizei), becoming the Landespolizeigruppe Wecke z. b. V. (Special Duties State Police Group Wecke), and then Landespolizeigruppe General Göring in January 1934. In the same month, under pressure from Hitler and Himmler, Göring gave Himmler's SS control of the Gestapo. To reinforce the position of his remaining unit, Göring increased its size and instituted a military training program. During the Night of the Long Knives, Hitler resorted to both Göring's state police group and Himmler's Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, who executed many SA leaders, thus removing the formation as a threat to the NSDAP.


1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring, Formation, Air Force Control - Early Missions
In 1935 Göring was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force. Since he wanted to keep control of his "favorite unit", it was transferred to the Luftwaffe in September 1935 and renamed the Regiment General Göring.


1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring, Formation, Air Force Control - Early Missions
At the beginning of 1936 the regiment was ready to fight again. At that time all organized resistance against the NSDAP had been eliminated. During this time, the regiment served Göring as a personal bodyguard and covered Hitler's headquarters with its anti-aircraft guns. During this time the IV. (Jäger-) Bataillon/RGG and the 15th Pioneer Company (15. Pionier-Kompanie) were assigned to the Döberitz Aviation School for parachute training; at the end of 1937 these units were renamed IV.Fallschirmschützen-Bataillon (Parachute Rifle Battalion). The battalion was separated from the regiment in March 1938, sent to the training grounds of Stendal and transformed into the I./Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1, the first paratrooper unit of the Wehrmacht.


1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring, Formation, Air Force Control - Early Missions
The regiment participated in the so-called Blumenkrieg (Flower Wars), taking part in the annexation of Austria (Anschluss); being among the first units to cross the border. Two companies landed by Junkers Ju 52/3m transport planes at Aspern Airport near Vienna. The unit remained in-country for several weeks on duty in Wiener Neustadt. The Regiment General Göring was also involved in the occupation of the Sudetenland in October 1938 and the occupation of the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939; after which, the regiment undertook guard duties at the strategically important Skoda vehicle works.


1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring, Formation, Training and selection
The Regiment General Göring intended for its ranks to be filled with selected personel to square of with its competitors, the Army's élite Infanterie-Regiment "Großdeutschland" and the Waffen-SS Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler. Among the criteria for acceptance in the regiment:


1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring, Formation, Training and selection
During the wars years a further requirement was added: the volunteer would have to sign up for 12 years service. Those conditions were much the same as those demanded for ingress into the Großdeutschland and the Leibstandarte. As the war progressed and the scale of combat losses mounted, such restrictive criteria could not be susteined in any of these élite formations. Many Luftwaffe personel would simply be drafted into the Hermann Göring from other units to replace combat losses.


1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring, Formation, Training and selection
With high caliber recruits, the regiment occupied a brand new purpose-built barracks complex at Berlin-Reinickendorf, which was constructed to the highest standards and with the most modern of facilities. The complex boasted over 120 buildings and included gymnasia, outdoor and indoor swimming pools, sports areas and its own post office. The smartly dressed General Göring soldiers, in their distinctive uniforms with white collar patches and special unit cuffband (Ärmelstreifen), became a regular sight on the streets of Berlin.


1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring, Formation, Training and selection
By 1939 the regiment had grown considerably. Troops of the regiment took part in many of the great pre-war parades through Berlin. They provided guards for Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring's own headquarters, the changing of the guard often being performed with all due cerimony including the presence of the regiment's own military band. The regiment also undertook guard duties at Göring's private retreat, the sumptuous Carinhall estate - named after Göring's deceased first wife, Carin Axelina Hulda Göring.


1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring, Combat History, Blitzkrieg in the West
During the attack on Poland only a small part of the Regiment General Göring (RGG) was involved in the fighting. Most of the unit remained in Berlin to protect Göring's headquarters and the Reichshauptstadt. During the Phoney War parts of the regiment formed an infantry battalion and took part in Operation Weserübung against Denmark and Norway in the spring of 1940; with the largest part of the RGG relocated to the west on the German-Dutch border under the camouflage designations "Flak-Regiment 101" and "Flak-Regiment 103".


1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring, Combat History, Blitzkrieg in the West
In April, a detachment under Hauptmann Kluge was sent to Denmark. Composed of a company of the Wachbataillon, a 2cm self-propelled Flak-Batterie and a Kradschützen-Kompanie, it took part in the seizure of the airfield and radio station at Esbjerg and the securing of the coastline of Jutland. The detachment was then transferred by sea to Oslo, in Norway, being engaged alongside the Army first in the advance to Trondheim, then north up into the Arctic Circle to take the port of Bodo and relieve the pressure on the beleaguered élite Gebirgsjäger further north at Narvik.


1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring, Combat History, Blitzkrieg in the West
At first the Germans forces were pushed back by the Allies, with General Eduard Dietl making a fighting retreat and retiring along Beisfjord. With Fall Gelb initiated, the Allies evacuated Norway to concentrate on Flanders, leaving Narvik to the Germans. After completing its mission, Kluge's detachment was sent back home to Berlin.


1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring, Combat History, Blitzkrieg in the West
As part of the Western campaign, the RGG took part in the invasion of the Netherlands and Belgium. During the campaign the Eben-Emael fortress in Belgium was taken by paratroopers under Captain Walther Koch, many of whom had previously served in the Regiment General Göring - including Koch himself. The RGG took part in the crossing of the Maas and the advance into eastern Belgium. There it crossed the Albert Canal against stiff resistance and took part in the capture of Brussels.


1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring, Combat History, Blitzkrieg in the West
After the surrender of the Netherlands, the regiment was divided into several small combat groups (Kampfgruppen), which were assigned to the panzer divisions that spearheaded the attack on France. The anti-aircraft troops were particularly noted for their efficacy, with the superb 8.8cm anti-aircraft of the heavy batteries often used to fight tanks and the 3rd and 5th batteries of the RGG destroyed 18 French tanks at pointblank range during a battle in the Forest of Mormal, breaking their counterattack; the crews of the guns Casar and Dona kept firing at the French heavy tanks at 15 meters.


1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring, Combat History, Blitzkrieg in the West
The Regiment General Göring was rewarded for its excellent performance by forming part of the honour guard of the Fürher-Begleit-Kompanie (Fürher's Escort Company) for the formal armistice at Compiègne on 21 June 1940. After the capitulation of France, the RGG provided Flak defences in bunkers on the Channel coast as well as contributing to the anti-aircraft defence ring around Paris. The new regimental commander was Colonel Paul Conrath in June 1940, who was to lead the regiment and the later division until 1944. At the end of 1940 the regiment was transferred back to Berlin to resume its old job as a bodyguard and air defense unit.


1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring, Combat History, The invasion of the USSR
At the beginning of 1941 the unit was motorized and renamed Regiment (mot.) Hermann Göring after Göring had been appointed Reichsmarschall in 1940.When Germany joined hostilities in the Balkans in April 1941, the motorized regiment was sent to Romania for intended attachment to Generaloberst Wilhelm List's 12.Armee; instead it was held in reserve and placed in the air defense of the strategic oil fields at Ploesti. In preparation for the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 the regiment had been moved into positions along the River Bug, the dividing line between the German and Soviet occupation zones of Poland; forming part II.Flak-Korps of Panzergruppe von Kleist.


1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring, Combat History, The invasion of the USSR
During Operation Barbarossa, the regiment was attached to the 11th Panzer Division, a part of Army Group South. The regiment saw action in the initial breakthrough and the advance via Radziechów, where the Flak crews once again showed remarkable performance against enemy tanks. The unit then drove towards Dubno, fighting in the tank battle of Brody in Ukraine, against Soviet T-34 and KV tanks; with the 11th Panzer Division being momentarily cut-off by Soviet armoured forces. The regiment then took part in the encirclement of Kiev and the Battle of Bryansk.


1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring, Combat History, The invasion of the USSR
These battles were hard-fought and the regiment took significant losses, albeit reinforcing the unit's growing reputation for steadfastness in combat. At the end of 1941, the regiment was moved back to Germany for rest and refitting, with the Schützen-Bataillon Hermann Göring remaining at the front until May 1942. At the same time, a newly formed II.Schützen-Bataillon was sent to the Eastern Front, where it was all but decimated in extremely heavy-fighting around Juchnow and Anissowo-Goroditsche.