World War II Database

ww2dbaseAlan Chanter was born in London in 1947. Enlisting in the British Army in 1967, Alan saw service in Germany and Northern Ireland and visited Berlin and Cyprus. Rising to the rank of Staff Sergeant, he was twice introduced to members of the Royal Family and awarded both the General Service Medal with clasp for Northern Ireland and the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. Retiring from the Army in 1989, Alan took employment in a factory manufacturing components for machine tools until his job became redundant in 2002.

ww2dbaseAlways interested in History (particularly that relating to the Military), in 2001 Alan began writing short items for a number of History-based Internet Newsgroups. Whilst unemployed this developed into some rather lengthier essays.

ww2dbaseA retired widower with three adult children, Alan's interests now include studying the equipment, weapons, aircraft etc. from the Second World war and compiling articles for this website.

Photographs/Maps Contributions

See all 17 photographs of Alan Chanter

Timeline Contributions

Alan Chanter has also contributed 3,230 entries in the WW2 Timeline. A small sample of his timeline contributions is shown below.

» 12 May 1940: The first tank battle of the European War took place at Hannut in central Belgium between the German 3rd and 4th Panzer Divisions and two French armored divisions; French S35 and H35 tanks overwhelmed their German counterparts, destroying large numbers of Panzer I and II tanks. In the air over Belgium, five Fairey Battle aircraft of No. 12 Squadron RAF flown by volunteer crews attacked the vital road bridges over the Albert Canal in the face of extremely heavy ground fire; the attack was pressed home with considerable gallantry and one bridge was seriously damaged, but at the cost of all five aircraft.

» 14 Apr 1945: Brigadier George Webb, the talented head of the British XXX Corps Rear Headquarters, was killed when his Jeep hit a pothole and ran into a tree.

» 30 Sep 1939: No. 150 Squadron RAF lost four out of five Fairey Battle light bombers to German Bf 109 fighters. After this unescorted missions were ordered to cease.

» 20 Oct 1914: German troops under General von Falkenhayn began an offensive at the British Expeditionary Force at Ypres, Belgium, starting the First Battle of Ypres.

» 20 Jul 1934: The British Government proposed the expansion of the RAF by 41 squadrons over the next five years. It was considered to be an unnecessary and panic measure by both the Labour and Liberal Parties and was censured by both.

» 12 May 1940: Winston Churchill appointed the newly created Viscount Simon (former Sir John Simon) to the post of Lord High Chancellor, the Chief Law Officer to the Government, succeeding the Viscount Caldecote.

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