The Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway (RH&DR) is a 15 in gauge light railway in Kent, England, operating steam and internal combustion locomotives. The 13+1⁄2-mile (21.7 km) line runs from the Cinque Port of Hythe via Dymchurch, St. Mary's Bay, New Romney and Romney Sands to Dungeness, close to Dungeness nuclear power station and Dungeness Lighthouse.
Romney Marsh is a sparsely populated wetland area in the counties of Kent and East Sussex in the south-east of England. It covers about 100 square miles (260 km2). The Marsh has been in use for centuries, though its inhabitants commonly suffered from malaria until the 18th century. Due to its location, geography and isolation, it was a smuggler's paradise between the 1600s and 1800s. The area has long been used for sheep pasture: Romney Marsh sheep are considered one of the most successful and important sheep breeds. Criss-crossed with numerous waterways, and with some areas lying below sea level, the Marsh has over time sustained a gradual level of reclamation, both through natural causes and by human intervention.
Hythe is a coastal market town on the edge of Romney Marsh, in the district of Folkestone and Hythe on the south coast of Kent. The word Hythe or Hithe is an Old English word meaning haven or landing place.
The Polish 1st Armoured Division was an armoured division of the Polish Armed Forces in the West during World War II. Created in February 1942 at Duns in Scotland, it was commanded by Major General Stanisław Maczek and at its peak numbered approximately 18,000 soldiers. The division served in the final phases of the Battle of Normandy in August 1944 during Operation Totalize and the Battle of Chambois and then continued to fight throughout the campaign in Northern Europe, mainly as part of the First Canadian Army.
An armoured train is a railway train protected with armour. Armoured trains usually include railway wagons armed with artillery, machine guns and autocannons. Some also had slits used to fire small arms from the inside of the train, a facility especially prevalent in earlier armoured trains. For the most part they were used during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when they offered an innovative way to quickly move large amounts of firepower. Most countries discontinued their use – road vehicles became much more powerful and offered more flexibility, and train tracks proved too vulnerable to sabotage and attacks from the air. However, the Russian Federation used improvised armoured trains in the Second Chechen War of 1999–2009 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Dymchurch Grand Redoubt is a fortification at Palmarsh on the coast of Kent in England, built during the Napoleonic War as part of a large defensive scheme to protect the country from an expected French invasion.
Dymchurch is a village and civil parish in the Folkestone and Hythe district of Kent, England. The village is located on the coast five miles (8 km) south-west of Hythe, and on the Romney Marsh.
The Devon and Cornwall County Division was a County Division of the British Army created during the Second World War. It was formed on 28 February 1941, from recently recruited soldiers, in response to the renewed threat of a German invasion. The 10,000-strong division was a static formation, lacking transport, intended to defend possible landing sites along the southern Cornish and Devon coastlines from invading German troops. The creation of the division also helped to free up the more experienced troops, who were then held back from the coastline to be able to launch a counterattack against any potential German landings.
The Royal Military Canal is a canal running for 28 miles (45 km) between Seabrook near Folkestone and Cliff End near Hastings, following the old cliff line bordering Romney Marsh, which was constructed as a defence against the possible invasion of England during the Napoleonic Wars.
Hythe station is the northern terminus of the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway. The station has curved platforms with an overall roof, loco release road, former engine shed, signalbox with 16 lever frame, and a turntable. In terms of passenger bookings Hythe is the busiest station on the railway.
The Polish I Corps was a tactical unit of the Polish Armed Forces in the West during World War II.
New Romney railway station is a station on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway in New Romney, Kent, England. It has always been the headquarters location of the railway.
The Pilot Inn railway station was a station on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway in Kent, England.
Greatstone is a beach-side town, the third town up from the "point" of the Romney Marsh area of Kent. It is situated near the largest town there, New Romney in Kent, England. Although permission was given for a company to construct large numbers of homes and facilities in the 1920s, only a small number were actually built. There was widespread development in the 1960s and 1970s, however, leading to a sizable community. The church of St Peter's, built in the 1960s, is a daughter church of All Saints, Lydd, in which parish half of Greatstone is situated. It is in the civil parish of Lydd. There is a small group of shops at one end of the town, and the other end simply melds into Lydd-on-Sea. The local school is the Greatstone Primary School, from which most students either go on to The Marsh Academy, the Folkestone School for Girls or the Harvey Grammar School.
The Lothians and Border Horse was a Yeomanry regiment, part of the British Territorial Army. It was ranked 36th in the Yeomanry order of precedence and was based in the Scottish Lowland area, recruiting in the Lothians – East Lothian (Haddingtonshire), Midlothian (Edinburghshire), and West Lothian (Linlithgowshire) – and along the border with England, particularly Berwickshire. It amalgamated with the Lanarkshire Yeomanry and the Queen's Own Royal Glasgow Yeomanry to form the Queen's Own Lowland Yeomanry in 1956.
The armoured train Śmiały, sometimes PP 53 and officially Armoured Train number 53 was an armoured train of the Polish Army that saw significant action during the German Invasion of Poland in September 1939. The train in the end served under four flags—Austrian, Polish, Soviet, German—and fought in several wars from 1914 to 1945. Śmiały distinguished itself in the Battle of Mokra, after which it withdrew eastwards, taking part in the Battle of Brześć Litewski. After the Soviet invasion of Poland on September 17, the train left the western front via Kowel to Lwów, where it fought in the Battle of Lwów. On September 22, 1939, abandoned by its crew, it was seized by the Red Army.
Piłsudczyk was a Polish armoured train of the early 20th century. It was among the first armoured trains serving the Polish Army and took part in the Polish-Ukrainian War of 1918-1919, the subsequent Polish-Soviet War and the Silesian Uprisings. Kept in reserve during the inter-war years, it was mobilised again in 1939 to be used during the Nazi-Soviet Invasion of Poland. "Piłsudczyk" was destroyed by its crew on 20 September 1939 at the train station at Mrozy.
The Battle of Mill was a day long struggle in and around the Dutch village of Mill along the Peel-Raam line on the first day of the invasion of the Netherlands in 1940. Although the Germans broke through, they suffered heavy casualties and were delayed in their advance by one day.
The armoured train Groźny also known as PP 54 and Armoured Train number 54 was an armoured train of the Polish Army that saw action during German Invasion of Poland in September 1939 and later in German service with portions of it seeing service on the Eastern Front and the occupation of France. It was originally captured about 1919–20 from the Soviet Union in the Polish-Soviet War.
