Marlborough Lines | |||||||
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Near Andover in England | |||||||
Coordinates | 51°12′31″N001°31′31″W / 51.20861°N 1.52528°W | ||||||
Type | Headquarters | ||||||
Site information | |||||||
Owner | Ministry of Defence | ||||||
Operator | British Army | ||||||
Site history | |||||||
Built | 2009 | ||||||
In use | 2009-present | ||||||
Garrison information | |||||||
Garrison | Army Headquarters | ||||||
Airfield information | |||||||
Elevation | 78 metres (256 ft) AMSL | ||||||
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Marlborough Lines is a British Army installation on the former site of RAF Andover in Hampshire, England.
The site is the location of Army Headquarters, the most senior headquarters in the British Army, led by the Chief of the General Staff, as well as Headquarters, Field Army Troops, Headquarters, Joint Helicopter Command, and Headquarters, 1st Military Police Brigade, led by the Provost Marshal (Army). [1] [2]
Marlborough Lines was built on the former airfield of RAF Andover, on the western outskirts of the town of Andover, which had been established in 1917 and closed in 2009. [3] The site was renamed Marlborough Lines in honour of John Churchill, the 1st Duke of Marlborough, [4] who has been described as Britain’s greatest-ever general. [5]
The main buildings constructed at Marlborough Lines were named as Blenheim (named after the Battle of Blenheim in 1704), Sedgemoor (named after the Battle of Sedgemoor in 1685) and Ramillies (named after the Battle of Ramillies in 1706). The garden outside Blenheim is called the Churchill Garden. [4]
In 2011, Army Headquarters was established at Marlborough Lines. [6]
On 1 December 2014, Headquarters, 1st Military Police Brigade was established, commanded by the Provost Marshal (Army), at Marlborough Lines. [7]
The Army Families Federation's central office is also based at Ramillies Building. [8]
The Battle of Blenheim fought on 13 August [O.S. 2 August] 1704, was a major battle of the War of the Spanish Succession. The overwhelming Allied victory ensured the safety of Vienna from the Franco-Bavarian army, thus preventing the collapse of the reconstituted Grand Alliance.
The Battle of Ramillies, fought on 23 May 1706, was a battle of the War of the Spanish Succession. For the Grand Alliance – Austria, England, and the Dutch Republic – the battle had followed an indecisive campaign against the Bourbon armies of King Louis XIV of France in 1705. Although the Allies had captured Barcelona that year, they had been forced to abandon their campaign on the Moselle, had stalled in the Spanish Netherlands and suffered defeat in northern Italy. Yet despite his opponents' setbacks Louis XIV wanted peace, but on reasonable terms. Because of this, as well as to maintain their momentum, the French and their allies took the offensive in 1706.
General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reigns of five monarchs. From a gentry family, he served first as a page at the court of the House of Stuart under James, Duke of York, through the 1670s and early 1680s, earning military and political advancement through his courage and diplomatic skill.
The Desert Air Force (DAF), also known chronologically as Air Headquarters Western Desert, Air Headquarters Libya, the Western Desert Air Force, and the First Tactical Air Force (1TAF), was an Allied tactical air force created from No. 204 Group RAF under RAF Middle East Command in North Africa in 1941 to provide close air support to the British Eighth Army against Axis forces. Throughout the Second World War, the DAF was made up of squadrons from the Royal Air Force (RAF), the South African Air Force (SAAF), the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) and other Allied air forces.
Lieutenant-General William Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan was an Irish-born British Army officer. He began his active military service during the Williamite War in Ireland in 1689 and ended it with the suppression of the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion. A close associate and confidant of the Duke of Marlborough, he was also a diplomat and Whig politician who sat in the English and British Houses of Commons from 1705 until 1716, when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Cadogan.
The Anglo-Iraqi War was a British-led Allied military campaign during the Second World War against the Kingdom of Iraq under Rashid Gaylani, who had seized power in the 1941 Iraqi coup d'état with assistance from Germany and Italy. The campaign resulted in the downfall of Gaylani's government, the re-occupation of Iraq by the British, and the return to power of the Regent of Iraq, Prince 'Abd al-Ilah, a British ally.
RAF Andover is a former Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force station in England, 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Andover, Hampshire. As well as RFC and RAF units, units of the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps, Royal Canadian Air Force, United States Army Air Forces, and the Air Transport Auxiliary were also stationed at the airfield.
Joint Helicopter Command (JHC) is a tri-service organisation uniting battlefield military helicopters of the British Armed Forces for command and coordination purposes.
Jean Baptist, Comte d'Arco was a diplomat and Generalfeldmarschall in the service of the Electorate of Bavaria during the Great Turkish War and the War of the Spanish Succession. He should not be confused with his contemporary Johann Philipp d'Arco, who fought on the opposite (Austrian) side in the latter conflict.
Aldershot Garrison, also known as Aldershot Military Town, is a major garrison in South East England, between Aldershot and Farnborough in Hampshire. The garrison was established when the War Department bought a large area of land near the village of Aldershot, with the objective of establishing a permanent training camp for the Army. Over time, this camp grew into a military town and continues to be used by the Army to the present day. It is home to the headquarters of the Army's Regional Command, and it is also the administrative base for the 101st Logistic Brigade. The garrison plays host to around 70 military units and organisations.
Royal Air Force Upavon or RAF Upavon is a former Royal Air Force station in Wiltshire, England. It was a grass airfield, military flight training school, and administrative headquarters of the Royal Air Force. The station opened in 1912 and closed in 1993, when it was transferred to the British Army and became known as Trenchard Lines.
Task Force Leatherneck or MEB-Afghanistan was a Marine Air-Ground Task Force that operated in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The name was originally given to the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade during its 2009-10 operations for Operation Enduring Freedom as part of Regional Command South. It is also the name used by the 1st Marine Division and 2nd Marine Division during their deployments to Afghanistan. Task Force Leatherneck was commanded by Brigadier General Lawrence D. Nicholson with the command element at Camp Leatherneck. The task force took over the battlespace from Special Purpose MAGTF-Afghanistan on May 29, 2009. In July 2009, Task Force Leatherneck participated in Operation Strike of the Sword, the largest Marine Corps operation since the Battle of Fallujah, and then in February 2010 an even larger battle, the largest of the Afghan Campaign, Operation Moshtarak.
General Charles Churchill was a British Army officer who served during the War of the Spanish Succession and an English politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1701 to 1710. He was a younger brother of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and both his military and political careers were closely connected with his brother's. Along with Marlborough's Irish Chief of Staff William Cadogan, he was one of Churchill's closest advisors. He was a Tory, in contrast to his Whig brother who tolerated and possibly used Churchill's Tory connections.
Land Command was a military command and formation and part of the structure of the British Army from 1995 to 2008. Its headquarters was at Erskine Barracks, at Fugglestone St Peter, some four kilometres northwest of Salisbury in Wiltshire.
The city of Bangkok, Thailand was bombed by the Allies on numerous occasions during World War II. It was also the target for the first combat mission by Boeing B-29 Superfortresses in June 1944.
Army Headquarters is a British Army organisation based at Marlborough Lines, Hampshire. The equivalent in the Royal Navy is Navy Command Headquarters at Portsmouth, and the equivalent in the Royal Air Force is Headquarters Air Command at High Wycombe.
The 1st Military Police Brigade is a policing formation of the British Army, which is the only one-star command of the Royal Military Police. The brigade was formed in 2014, but due to be reduced to a Colonel's command in 2022 and re-structure by 2023.
The structure of the British Army is being reorganised to the Future Soldier structure. The Army is commanded by the Chief of the General Staff (CGS), with Army Headquarters which is located in Andover, Hampshire. Subordinate to that post, there is a Commander Field Army, and a personnel and UK operations command, Home Command.
The following is a hierarchical outline for the structure of the British Army in 1989. The most authoritative source for this type of information available is Ministry of Defence, Master Order of Battle, and United Kingdom Land Forces, HQ UKLF, UKLF ORBAT Review Action Plan, HQ UKLF, 1990.
Future Soldier is a reform of the British Army resulting from the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy published in March 2021. The aim of the reform is to create a more lethal, agile and expeditionary force, able to fight and win wars and to operate in the grey-zone between peace and war. Future Soldier was published on 25 November 2021 and deals with the organizational changes of the British Army, with changes to personnel and equipment were set out in the Defence in a Competitive Age paper published on 22 March 2021.