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.

ww2dbaseAlan now resides in Lincoln (founded by the Romans) and is married with three adult children. He is currrently employed, part-time, as a driver for a local Taxi company.

Photographs/Maps Contributions

See all 6 photographs of Alan Chanter

Timeline Contributions

Alan Chanter has also contributed 3,071 entries in the WW2 Timeline. A small sample of his timeline contributions is shown below.

» 19 Nov 1940: German bombers arrived over Leicester, England, United Kingdom at 1940 hours and by the time they left their 150 high explosive bombs had killed 108 people, injured 284, and destroyed 255 homes and 56 industrial premises. This was the worst night of bombing that Leicester experienced during the war.
» 18 Dec 1941: HMS Neptune struck a mine off Libya. Read More
» 3 Mar 1943: British anti-aircraft gunners used a new rocket projectile for the first time during an air raid on London, England, United Kingdom. Civilians descending into a new tube station at Bethnal Green to take cover became panicked by the unfamiliar sound and, believing they were being bombed, stampeded down the stairs. In the crush someone stumbled causing others to fall. Those behind, not being able to see what was happening below continued to press forward, and soon 300 bodies were piled up. Tragically 173 people were crushed to death or suffocated. For the sake of public morale, news of the tragedy was suppressed for another two years.
» 25 Jun 1944: British No. 617 Squadron attacked the German V-2 store at Siracourt, France with 17 Lancaster, two Mosquito, and a Mustang (a gift from the USAAF) aircraft; the Mustang fighter was flown by Leonard Cheshire and used as a low-level marker aircraft. Read More
» 9 May 1945: Japanese special attack aircraft damaged two destroyer escorts off Okinawa, Japan and two British carriers (Victorious and Formidable) off Taiwan. On land, the Americans still engaged in vicious close quarter fighting on Okinawa. The Japanese defenders resorted to turning themselves into human bombs, loading themselves with explosives to charge US positions; prisoners were a rarity as the US Marines fired on anything that moved.

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