


Alan Chanter
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.
Latest Contributions
Aircraft: DH.95 Flamingo | 23 Aug 2023 |
Aircraft: Bre.521 Bizerte | 21 Jun 2023 |
Vehicle: SdKfz 186 Jagdtiger | 7 Jun 2023 |
Other: Special Operations Executive | 29 May 2023 |
Aircraft: Latécoère 298 | 22 May 2023 |
Person: Fritz Kolbe | 17 Apr 2023 |
Person: Josephine Baker | 15 Mar 2023 |
Vehicle: Light Tank Mk VI | 22 Feb 2023 |
Weapon: ZB-53 vz. 37 | 15 Feb 2023 |
Weapon: ZB-60 | 15 Feb 2023 |
Person: William Joyce | 8 Feb 2023 |
Aircraft: N-3PB | 25 Jan 2023 |
Vehicle: Guy Armored Car | 18 Jan 2023 |
Vehicle: Infantry Mk I Matilda | 11 Jan 2023 |
Aircraft: Harrow | 4 Jan 2023 |
Aircraft: Vincent | 28 Dec 2022 |
Vehicle: UE | 21 Dec 2022 |
Other: Special Air Service | 14 Dec 2022 |
Aircraft: Ar 96 | 2 Dec 2022 |
Vehicle: SdKfz 161/3 Möbelwagen | 23 Nov 2022 |
Photographs/Maps Contributions
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Timeline Contributions
Alan Chanter has also contributed 3,231 entries in the WW2 Timeline. A small sample of his timeline contributions is shown below.» 17 Apr 1945: In an address to the House of Commons, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill paid tribute to the late US President Franklin Roosevelt concluding with "in Franklin Roosevelt there died the greatest American friend we have ever known, and the greatest champion of freedom who has ever brought help and comfort from the new world to the old."» 6 Sep 1938: HMS Zulu (L18) was commissioned into service with Commander J. S. Crawford in command.
» 14 Feb 1940: The British government agreed to allow British volunteers to serve in the Finnish armed forces.
» 23 Sep 1916: Eleven German Zeppelin airships raided England, United Kingdom, with three heading for London. LZ 76 (L-33) was forced to land after being damaged by anti-aircraft fire, and LZ 74 (L-32) was attacked by Second Lieutenant F. Sowrey, causing it to burst into flames.
» 19 Jan 1915: Two German Navy Zeppelins made the first airship attack on the United Kingdom.
» 26 Mar 1945: The Fletcher-class destroyer USS Halligan was fatally damaged by a mine off Okinawa, Japan. The abandoned hulk drifted aground on Tokashiki Island where she was finished off by Japanese shore batteries on the following day.
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Visitor Submitted Comments
1 Sep 2017 10:08:19 AM
Please could I ask you contact me as Sgt George Benton is my grandfather and you mentioned him in one of your threads ref Dunkirk - he used a stretcher to walk over on East mole to take casualties to a ship to be casivac -my email is stellarithornton@gmail.com
Thank you so much
Stella
17 Feb 2018 01:43:54 PM
For 23 Feb 1943, AC sites "seven tankers sunk by ACOUSTIC TORPEDOES."
The Germans did not deploy such devices until march of that year, per Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G7e_torpedo#G7e
Scroll down to the citation for the model G7e/T4 Falke
All the best, Tom Lee
7 Mar 2023 02:36:36 AM
I am a great Neice of Jack Frith, killed in the Suez Maru atrocity, and have written a book on the atrocity - and you have erroneously repeated the myth that there was a survivor. this myth is sometimes presented as an 'amusing anecdote' but we the families do not find it amusing, and I would like to request that you remove the sentence ' Of the 549 British and Dutch prisoners, there was only one survivor, Kenneth Thomas, who was picked up twenty-four hours later by an Australian ship. ww2dbase [AC] '
The myth was perpetuated by COFEPOW and they have removed the source, probably from D Courant. Please refer to the family group on facebook @suezmaru
I would be grateful for your understanding on this point.
JFC
All visitor submitted comments are opinions of those making the submissions and do not reflect views of WW2DB.
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- » 1,167 biographies
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- » 44,617 timeline entries
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- » 350 aircraft models
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- » 261 facilities
- » 470 book reviews
- » 28,519 photos
- » 365 maps
George Patton, 31 May 1944

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9 Aug 2016 07:34:01 AM
Your article for 9 Aug 1924 says that this was the date the Shenandoah docked with the Patoka - and may, in the date-line boundary sense of the world, be correct. However, the US Naval History and Heritage Command web site, and others, show and 8 Aug date of that event. I think you are a day off. Check: https://www.history.navy.mil/today-in-history/august-8.html