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Author: Jack Alexander
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1845968212
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 216
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Book Description
McCrae's Own was the 'Heart of Midlothian Battalion' mentioned all too briefly in Martin Middlebrook's classic book The First Day on the Somme. Raised in Edinburgh shortly after the start of the Great War, it was perhaps the finest unit in Lord Kitchener's volunteer army - a brotherhood of sportsmen, bound together by their extraordinary colonel and their loyalty to a quaintly named Association Football club, the famous Gorgie 'Hearts'. McCrae's were blooded in the Battle of the Somme, losing three-quarters of their strength on the first day alone. The Colonel himself was invalided home. In time the battalion recovered. It came of age at Arras, endured the muddy horror of Passchendaele, and held the line unbroken in the face of furious German attacks on the Lys in 1918. For almost a century their story remained untold. It was all but lost forever. Now, after 12 years of exacting historical detective work, Jack Alexander has reclaimed the 16th Royal Scots for posterity. In this stirring book he draws upon interviews with veterans and a unique archive of letters, diaries and photographs, assembled from the families of more than 1,000 of Sir George McCrae's men.
Author: Jack Alexander
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1845968212
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 216
Get Book Here
Book Description
McCrae's Own was the 'Heart of Midlothian Battalion' mentioned all too briefly in Martin Middlebrook's classic book The First Day on the Somme. Raised in Edinburgh shortly after the start of the Great War, it was perhaps the finest unit in Lord Kitchener's volunteer army - a brotherhood of sportsmen, bound together by their extraordinary colonel and their loyalty to a quaintly named Association Football club, the famous Gorgie 'Hearts'. McCrae's were blooded in the Battle of the Somme, losing three-quarters of their strength on the first day alone. The Colonel himself was invalided home. In time the battalion recovered. It came of age at Arras, endured the muddy horror of Passchendaele, and held the line unbroken in the face of furious German attacks on the Lys in 1918. For almost a century their story remained untold. It was all but lost forever. Now, after 12 years of exacting historical detective work, Jack Alexander has reclaimed the 16th Royal Scots for posterity. In this stirring book he draws upon interviews with veterans and a unique archive of letters, diaries and photographs, assembled from the families of more than 1,000 of Sir George McCrae's men.
Author: Andrew Beaujon
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
ISBN: 0897337387
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 195
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Book Description
Each November, about a hundred people with paper poppies pinned to their coats gather around a memorial in Edinburgh. They're there to commemorate the more than a dozen members of the local football team, Heart of Midlothian—almost every member of its starting lineup and many of its backup players—who went to war. When they enlisted in November 1914, the Edinburgh Evening News ran pages of splendid photos of the Hearts players in McCrae's Battalion. After the war, surviving soldiers, many of them wounded, gassed, and suffering from what was then called "shell shock," returned home to a public that had only the weakest grasp of what had happened. Perhaps the pointlessness of so much suffering and death was too awful to contemplate. All of Edinburgh threw a parade for the men of McCrae's Battalion when they marched off to war, but no one wanted to be reminded that their commanders later traded their lives and health for a few yards of French mud. A Bigger Field Awaits Us: The Scottish Football Team That Fought the Great War tells the little-known but poignant story of a group of Scottish athletes and their fans who went to war together—and the stories of the few who made it home. The saga of McCrae's Battalion brings much-needed human scale to World War I and explains why a group of young men from a small country with almost no direct connection to the conflict would give up their careers, their homes, their health, and in many cases their lives to an abstract cause. Their sacrifices illuminate the dark corners of this war that history's lights rarely reach.
Author: John Flint
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 0748670386
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 241
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Book Description
A multidisciplinary analysis of sectarianism and bigotry in Scottish football Sectarianism and bigotry are among the most publicly debated issues in Scotland, often reported in the newspapers as the "e;shame"e; of Scotland's national game. The current crisis in Scottish football includes high profile controversies and disorder related to bigotry and sectarianism which resulted in new legislation to tackle offensive behaviour in and beyond football grounds. In this collection, contributors from a range of disciplinary positions present the latest empirical research evidence and social theory to examine and debate fundamental issues about bigotry in Scottish football and society. The topic has raised many questions. How should sectarianism and bigotry be defined and understood? What are the experiences and impacts of bigotry on different populations in Scotland? Are recent events unique or do they have historic precedents and contemporary comparisons beyond Scotland? What should be the response of government, football authorities, clubs, football supporters and other institutions and organisations in Scotland regarding legislation? What vision should we have for a future Scottish society and its diverse population? Bigotry, Football and Scotland will appeal to all those interested in Scotland's national game, the role of football in the 21st Century and how multicultural contemporary societies attempt to resolve prejudice and promote diversity.
Author: Martin Mace
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1783830417
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 604
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Book Description
At 07.30 hours on 1 July 1916, the devastating cacophony of the Allied artillery fell silent along the front on the Somme. The ear-splitting explosions were replaced by the shrill sound of hundreds of whistles being blown. At that moment, tens of thousands of British soldiers climbed out from the trenches on their part of the Western Front, and began to make their way steadily towards the German lines opposite. It was the first day of the Battle of the Somme.By the end of the day, a number of the regiments involved had met with some degree of success; others had suffered heavy losses for no gain, whilst a few quite literally ceased to exist. That day, the old infantry tactics of the British Army clashed head-on with the reality of modern warfare. On what is generally accepted as the worst day in the British Armys history, there were more than 60,000 casualties a third of them fatal.In this publication, the authors have drawn together, for the first time ever, all the War Diary entries for 171 British Regiments that went over the top that day a day that even now still touches so many families both in the United Kingdom and around the world. The result will be a vital work of reference to the events of 1 July 1916, a valuable information source for not only for those interested in military history, but genealogists and historians alike.
Author: Iain Gale
Publisher: Canelo + ORM
ISBN: 1788632281
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 422
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Book Description
The unforgettable story behind the most destructive day in British military history... June, 1916: The Great War is locked in stalemate, deep lines of trenches and barbed wire carved into the French countryside. Sitting in an occupied chateau, General von Soden knows that something cataclysmic is coming. The British have been shelling for days and he is badly under-resourced and outnumbered. A frontal assault is surely imminent, but he has spent two years building an extraordinary series of defences for just that day... Amidst the bombardment the British troops are preparing for the attack. Geoffrey Malins, with his cinematograph, Noel Hodgson writing poetry in his hut, Siegfried Sassoon observing the enemy, Sir Douglas Haig at HQ, waiting for the chance of glory... As the battle lines muster, the full ferocity of war will be unleashed. For those on the Front, as for those in the wider world, nothing will ever be the same again. Based on true stories, cinematic in scope and built around a huge cast, this is a blistering, unforgettable novel that brings home the brutality of war, perfect for fans of Rory Clements, Ben Macintyre and Robert Harris.
Author: Martin Gilbert
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780805083019
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 372
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Book Description
"Gilbert has unearthed fascinating details of the campaign . . . An unforgettable read."—The Philadelphia Inquirer At 7:30 a.m. on July 1, 1916, the first Allied soldiers climbed out of their trenches along the Somme River in France and charged into no-man's-land, toward the barbed wire and machine guns at the German front lines. In the months that followed, the fifteen-mile-long territory erupted into the epicenter of the Great War, marking a pivotal moment in both the war and military history as tanks first appeared on the battlefield and air war emerged as a devastating and decisive factor in battle. All told, there were more than one million casualties, with 310,000 men dead in just 138 days. In this vivid account of one of history's most destructive battles, distinguished historian Martin Gilbert tracks the experiences of foot soldiers, generals, and everyone in between. With new photographs, journal entries, original maps, and military planning documents, The Somme is the most authoritative and affecting account of this bloody turning point in the Great War.
Author: Walter Stephen
Publisher: Luath Press Ltd
ISBN: 1910324582
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 252
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Book Description
Walter Stephen provides an uninhibited look at the misery and toil of World War I through a collection of twelve stories. Providing a Scottish perspective, he takes a look at reports from home and abroad with scepticism, delving deeper to unveil the unencumbered truth. Recalling Siegfried Sassoon's words, Stephen reveals the failures of those in command as the Great War became known as A Dirty Swindle. The varied accounts chronicle the progress of troops from recruitment to training to the frontline, as well as revealing a side of Field Marshal Haig never seen before.
Author: Kevin Blackburn
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137487607
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 142
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Book Description
Commemoration of war is done through sport on Anzac Day to remember Australia's war dead. War, Sport and the Anzac Tradition traces the creation of this sporting tradition at Gallipoli in 1915, and how it has evolved from late Victorian and Edwardian ideas of masculinity extolling prowess on the sports field as fostering prowess on the battlefield.
Author: Tim Tate
Publisher: Metro Publishing
ISBN: 1784181463
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 160
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Book Description
Imagine Wayne Rooney, Andy Murray and Mo Farah exchanging the glamour of their careers for the brutality and bloodshed of war - and quietly giving their lives for their country. Today the news would be dominated by the sacrifice of Britain's most famous sporting icons.A century ago the brightest sporting stars of their generation did just that. Thousands of them rallied to their country's colours; many never returned from the mechanised carnage of the Great War, making the ultimate sacrifice in the hardest game of all.In this original and highly accessible book, Tim Tate reveals how sport itself was Britain's first and most vital recruiting sergeant in the fight against Germany and how sportsmen applied their unique talents on the battlefield, but also how a shared sporting spirit offered humane common ground amidst the horror of combat.Above all, For Team and Country tells the remarkable and inspiring stories of the sportsmen whose prowess on the field was matched only by their bravery in the King's uniform.
Author: Walter Reid
Publisher: Birlinn Ltd
ISBN: 1780274483
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 320
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Book Description
The war memorial in the Scottish village of Bridge of Weir lists 72 men who died during the First World War. Their deaths occurred in almost every theatre of the war. They were awarded very few medals and their military careers were not remarkable - except in the important respect that they, like countless other peaceful civilians, answered their country's call in its time of need. This book follows the lives of these sons of Bridge of Weir, not just as soldiers, sailors and airmen, but as husbands, fathers, sons, brothers and members of a small local community which felt their loss intensely. At the same time it also paints a larger picture of the war - of the politicians and generals and military campaigns which shaped it. The brave men of Bridge of Weir know little of the wider context - their experience was of the little histories in which they fought and died. Readers of this book will understand what the 72 never knew: why and how the war was fought that claimed their lives.
