23-608: Arkforce may refer to: Arkforce (1940) , of the British Expeditionary Force during the Battle of France in 1940 Arkforce (Force 140) , created from 23rd Armoured Brigade in 1944 for security duties in Greece [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles about military units and formations which are associated with
46-673: A Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1936. From 1938 James was a full admiral . During the Second World War, James served as Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth , from 1939. In 1940 he commanded Operation Aerial , the evacuation of British troops from Brittany and Normandy , a parallel operation to the Dunkirk evacuation . In 1942 he was appointed as Chief of Naval Information, in charge of coordinating naval publicity. James
69-405: A flotilla leader , HMS Codrington across the channel, accompanied by six British and two Canadian destroyers, smaller craft and many Dutch coasters (known as schuyts ). A hasty plan was made to block Dieppe harbour and on 10 June, HMS Vega (Captain G. A. Garnon-Williams) escorted three blockships to the port. Two ships were sunk in the approach channel but the third ship hit
92-722: A British naval commander, politician and author. He served in the Royal Navy from the early 20th century to the Second World War . During the First World War , he was an integral part of the Naval Intelligence Division in its early years. James was the son of Major W. C. James of the 16th Lancers and his wife Effie, daughter of the painter John Everett Millais . He was educated at Trinity College, Glenalmond , and HMS Britannia . As
115-535: A career in the Royal Navy, rising to hold a number of important positions. Following early service on the training ship HMS Britannia , he was confirmed in the rank of sub-lieutenant on 15 April 1901. He was posted to the destroyer HMS Skate on 7 October 1902, and promoted to lieutenant later the same year, when in November he was posted to the battleship HMS Venerable , on her first commission, to
138-411: A child, James sat as a subject for several paintings by his grandfather, Millais. The most well-known of these is Bubbles , in which the five-year-old William is shown gazing enraptured at a soap bubble he has just blown. When the painting was used in an advertisement for Pears soap , it became famous. The image dogged James throughout his life, and he was regularly nicknamed "Bubbles". James pursued
161-447: A line of defence closer to Le Havre, to aid the evacuation. Due to congested roads, units were late arriving and elements of the 7th Panzer Division were already driving between Arkforce and the rest of IX Corps. Arkforce moved on the night of 9/10 June towards Fécamp, where most had passed through before the 7th Panzer Division arrived. A Brigade managed to force its way out but lost the wireless truck intended to keep contact with
184-443: A mine just outside, which prevented it being sunk at the entrance to the inner harbour. (James had signalled that many IX Corps troops would probably be trapped against the sea near St. Valery, where he had assembled flotillas of smaller craft under the local Senior Naval Officer.) Beach parties landed at Le Havre to take control of the evacuation on 10 June and after a postponement, the evacuation began on 11 June, hindered somewhat by
207-715: The Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet , in 1929 and Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet , in 1930. In 1932 he took command of the Battlecruiser Squadron , with his flag in HMS ; Hood . He was promoted vice admiral on 30 September 1933, and from 1935 to 1938 he was Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff and a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty . He was appointed
230-729: The Mediterranean Fleet . He achieved the rank of commander in 1913. During the First World War he served as executive officer aboard the battlecruiser HMS Queen Mary , leaving the ship shortly before it sailed to its doom at the Battle of Jutland . He was flag commander to Vice Admiral Sir Doveton Sturdee , commanding the 4th Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet in HMS Benbow from 1916 to 1917. Later in
253-527: The 51st (Highland) Division. The possibility of holding a line from Fécamp to Lillebonne was discounted and Stanley-Clarke ordered Arkforce on to Le Havre. The port was severely bombed by the Luftwaffe on 7 June; a Royal Navy demolition party had been in Le Havre since late May and two days later, the Admiralty sent orders for an evacuation. Admiral William James , the Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth sent
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#1732790070213276-451: The Seine, via the ferry crossings at Caudebec or to the ships at Quillebeuf at the river mouth. The quartermaster of the 14th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers succeeded in getting his transport away. Arkforce Data from Joslen (2003) unless indicated. William James (Royal Navy officer, born 1881) Admiral Sir William Milbourne James , GCB (22 December 1881 – 17 August 1973) was
299-400: The damage to the port caused by Luftwaffe bombing. The troopship SS Bruges , was hit and beached and the electric power to the docks was cut, rendering the cranes on the docks useless; ramps were tried for vehicle loading but it was too slow. On 12 June, RAF fighters began patrolling the port to deter raids. An attempt was made to save the transport and equipment by diverting it over
322-600: The inter-war years, James served on the China Station as captain of HMS Curlew and chief of staff to the stations commander-in-chief from 1921 to 1922. From 1923, he was deputy director at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich , and Director in 1925. In 1926 he returned as flag captain of HMS Royal Sovereign . He went on to be Naval Assistant to the First Sea Lord in 1927, Chief of Staff to
345-528: The lower reaches of the river Somme. Command of the corps was given to Major-General Victor Fortune of the Highland Division, who was under the command of General Robert Altmayer the Tenth Army commander. After almost continuous fighting against a German bridgehead on the south bank at Abbeville, the division was ordered to retreat on 7 June, to a 13 mi (21 km) defensive line along
368-473: The port of Le Havre , taking the rest of IX Corps with him. The units grouped into Arkforce were near Arques-la-Bataille and its name was derived from village. Arkforce was to form a defensive line about 19 mi (30 km) to the east of Le Havre, on the Fécamp – Bolbec line, to allow the 51st Highland Division and the rest of IX Corps to retreat. It was also charged with providing the reconnaissance for
391-749: The river Bresle . When the second German offensive Fall Rot (Case Red) reached the area the next day, the 5th Panzer Division outflanked the Bresle position at Rouen , leaving the Highlanders and the French 31st Division cut off from their line of retreat across the River Seine . Fortune decided to ignore orders from Altmayer and the War Office to retire towards the Seine (through an area now occupied by several German divisions) and to head for
414-516: The same title. If an internal link referred you to this page, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. [REDACTED] Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arkforce&oldid=989518349 " Category : Military units and formations disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Arkforce (1940) Arkforce
437-482: The story of John Ruskin, Effie Gray and John Everett Millais told for the first time in their unpublished letters (1947), a collection of family letters detailing the romance between his grandparents. His grandmother Effie Gray had been married to John Ruskin when she fell in love with Millais . Her first marriage was annulled, due to non-consummation. James was the first to publish the full details of these events and to vindicate his grandmother, whose victimisation by
460-573: The war he assisted William Reginald Hall , the Director of Naval Intelligence, eventually becoming a deputy director. Hall and James worked together in " Room 40 " which decrypted a number of crucial enemy signals relating to the Battle of Jutland , the plans of Roger Casement , and the Zimmermann Telegram . At one point James ran Room 40 on Hall's behalf. James related some of the events in his biography of Hall, published in 1955. In
483-740: Was an ad hoc formation of the British Expeditionary Force during the Battle of France in 1940. At the start of the Battle of France, the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division was on detachment from the rest of the BEF, having been reinforced, to man part of the Maginot Line under French command. After being withdrawn and sent west, the division was attached to IX Corps of the French Tenth Army in Normandy along
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#1732790070213506-464: Was dedicated to his writings on aspects of British naval history. In addition to his biography of Hall, he published books and articles on other aspects of his wartime experiences, including an account of Winston Churchill 's attitudes to naval affairs in Churchill by His Contemporaries . Other publications on naval matters included: His most notable non-Naval publication was The Order of Release,
529-512: Was elected in 1943 as Conservative Member of Parliament for the constituency of Portsmouth North , which he held until 1945. He retired from the Navy in 1944. Following his retirement from public life, James was active in support for ventures relating to seafaring, supporting clubs such as the Elie and Earlsferry Sailing Club, which named their dinghy Bubbles in his honour. Most of his retirement
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