Tanks on the Somme

Tanks on the Somme PDF Author: Trevor Pidgeon
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1844687902
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 175

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Book Description
On 15 September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme, tanks - one of the decisive weapons of twentieth-century warfare - were sent into action for the first time. In his previous books Trevor Pidgeon, one of the leading authorities on the early tanks, has told the story of that memorable day, but only now has his account of later tank operations during the Somme battle become available. In this, his last work which was completed shortly before he died, he reconstructs the tank actions that took place between late September and November when the Somme offensive was closed down. His account gives a vivid insight into the actions and experiences of the tank crews, and it shows the appalling dangers they faced as they maneuvered their crude, vulnerable and unreliable machines towards the enemy. His book will be essential reading for anyone who is familiar with his previous studies of the subject and for anyone who wants to follow in the tracks of the tanks as they lumbered across the battlefield nearly 100 years ago.

Tanks on the Somme

Tanks on the Somme PDF Author: Trevor Pidgeon
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1844687902
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 175

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Book Description
On 15 September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme, tanks - one of the decisive weapons of twentieth-century warfare - were sent into action for the first time. In his previous books Trevor Pidgeon, one of the leading authorities on the early tanks, has told the story of that memorable day, but only now has his account of later tank operations during the Somme battle become available. In this, his last work which was completed shortly before he died, he reconstructs the tank actions that took place between late September and November when the Somme offensive was closed down. His account gives a vivid insight into the actions and experiences of the tank crews, and it shows the appalling dangers they faced as they maneuvered their crude, vulnerable and unreliable machines towards the enemy. His book will be essential reading for anyone who is familiar with his previous studies of the subject and for anyone who wants to follow in the tracks of the tanks as they lumbered across the battlefield nearly 100 years ago.

Verdun

Verdun PDF Author: Paul Jankowski
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199316910
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 976

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Book Description
At seven o'clock in the morning on February 21, 1916, the ground in northern France began to shake. For the next ten hours, twelve hundred German guns showered shells on a salient in French lines. The massive weight of explosives collapsed dugouts, obliterated trenches, severed communication wires, and drove men mad. As the barrage lifted, German troops moved forward, darting from shell crater to shell crater. The battle of Verdun had begun. In Verdun, historian Paul Jankowski provides the definitive account of the iconic battle of World War I. A leading expert on the French past, Jankowski combines the best of traditional military history-its emphasis on leaders, plans, technology, and the contingency of combat-with the newer social and cultural approach, stressing the soldier's experience, the institutional structures of the military, and the impact of war on national memory. Unusually, this book draws on deep research in French and German archives; this mastery of sources in both languages gives Verdun unprecedented authority and scope. In many ways, Jankowski writes, the battle represents a conundrum. It has an almost unique status among the battles of the Great War; and yet, he argues, it was not decisive, sparked no political changes, and was not even the bloodiest episode of the conflict. It is said that Verdun made France, he writes; but the question should be, What did France make of Verdun? Over time, it proved to be the last great victory of French arms, standing on their own. And, for France and Germany, the battle would symbolize the terror of industrialized warfare, "a technocratic Moloch devouring its children," where no advance or retreat was possible, yet national resources poured in ceaselessly, perpetuating slaughter indefinitely.

The Tanks at Flers

The Tanks at Flers PDF Author: Trevor Pidgeon
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781911096665
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Long out of print, Trevor Pidgeon s seminal and comprehensive work - The Tank at Flers - is here reproduced in its entirety. To coincide with the 100th anniversary of the event, the Tank Museum is re-publishing the book in conjunction with Helion & Company. The original edition - privately printed in 1995 in two volumes - is now hard to find and often commands a three-figure sum. The account of the very first tank attack on 15 September at what became known as the 'Battle of Flers Courcellete' has never been bettered. The book takes the reader through the invention of the tank, the early recruiting and training of the first crews at Bisley (then Elveden) and their transfer to France, and their preparation to attack in September at what was to be the last part of the Somme offensive. Chapters then show in detail the planning, routes taken and the actions and outcomes of each of the attacks - starting on the right of the British attack with the 56th, 6th and Guards Division; the left of the attack with the 47th, 50th, 15th and 2nd Canadian Divisions; and in the centre with the 14th, 41st and New Zealand Division. There are extensive appendices, as well as a Bibliography and Index. Each chapter ends with a field guide for those who wish to retrace the tank attacks and the area mentioned on the ground. Trevor Pidgeon's book is copiously illustrated with black and white and colour photographs, maps and is punctuated by personal accounts and original documents. The book is full of telling detail and a wealth of information on the men, the technology and the locations. As he says in his Preface, he aimed to write a comprehensive and detailed history of the day: If we know that a distance is 343m rather than 350m, should we not say so? - and yet this attention to detail in no way gets fussy or in the way of the story. Throughout the book, the respect and sympathy of the author for the men who had to take the first tanks into action is so apparent."

British Battle Tanks

British Battle Tanks PDF Author: David Fletcher
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472817567
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
A highly illustrated history of the development and operation of the first British tanks, published to coincide with the 100th anniversary of their introduction in World War I. When British soldiers charged across the Somme in September 1916 they were accompanied by a new and astonishing weapon – the tank. After a stuttering start armoured behemoths such as the Mark IV, Mark V and Whippet played a crucial role in bringing World War I to an end. Marking the centenary of their battlefield debut, this comprehensive volume traces the design and development of the famous British invention during World War I and the increasingly tense years of the 1920s and 30s, from the first crude but revolutionary prototype to the ever-more sophisticated designs of later years. Bolstered by historic photographs and stunning illustrations, author David Fletcher brings us the thrilling history behind the early British battle tanks.

Flers & Gueudecourt

Flers & Gueudecourt PDF Author: Trevor Pidgeon
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473814332
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
Flers is of course best remembered for the first use of tanks in modern war. But the battles at Flers and Gueudecourt were also memorable as forming part of the last great advance of the British Army in this slogging match that was the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

Somme

Somme PDF Author: Hugh Sebag-Montefiore
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674970039
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 680

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Book Description
The notion of battles as the irreducible building blocks of war demands a single verdict of each campaign—victory, defeat, stalemate. But this kind of accounting leaves no room to record the nuances and twists of actual conflict. In Somme: Into the Breach, the noted military historian Hugh Sebag-Montefiore shows that by turning our focus to stories of the front line—to acts of heroism and moments of both terror and triumph—we can counter, and even change, familiar narratives. Planned as a decisive strike but fought as a bloody battle of attrition, the Battle of the Somme claimed over a million dead or wounded in months of fighting that have long epitomized the tragedy and folly of World War I. Yet by focusing on the first-hand experiences and personal stories of both Allied and enemy soldiers, Hugh Sebag-Montefiore defies the customary framing of incompetent generals and senseless slaughter. In its place, eyewitness accounts relive scenes of extraordinary courage and sacrifice, as soldiers ordered “over the top” ventured into No Man’s Land and enemy trenches, where they met a hail of machine-gun fire, thickets of barbed wire, and exploding shells. Rescuing from history the many forgotten heroes whose bravery has been overlooked, and giving voice to their bereaved relatives at home, Hugh Sebag-Montefiore reveals the Somme campaign in all its glory as well as its misery, helping us to realize that there are many meaningful ways to define a battle when seen through the eyes of those who lived it.

Tanks In The Great War, 1914-1918 [Illustrated Edition]

Tanks In The Great War, 1914-1918 [Illustrated Edition] PDF Author: Major-General J.F.C. Fuller DSO
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1782899162
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 441

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Book Description
Includes more than 30 maps, plans and diagrams The world-renowned military expert Major-General J.F.C. Fuller DSO, noted for his many works on military strategy, tactics and history, turns his attention to the famed Royal Tank Corps of World War I. He was in a particularly good position to write such a work as he served from 1916 as part of the Tanks Corps and planned the famous tank attack at Cambrai in 1917, he also took a leading role in the planning of the 1918 autumn offensives that broke the back of German resistance and ended the War. He covers in comprehensively the development of the tank, mechanical characteristics of early British tanks, particularly the Mark I, as well as the early battles at the Somme and Ancre. He also describes the growth of the Tank Corps itself, tank tactics, tank engineering plus the tank battles in 1917-1918. There are also appreciations of German, French and American tank activities.

Tanks in the Great War, 1914-1918

Tanks in the Great War, 1914-1918 PDF Author: John Frederick Charles Fuller
Publisher: London : J. Murray
ISBN:
Category : Armored vehicles, Military
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
This book presents the history of the British Tank Corps and the history of Great Britain's tanks. The author summarizes the campaigns of World War I emphasizing the role of the tanks during each of the battles.

Tank Battles of World War I

Tank Battles of World War I PDF Author: Bryan Cooper
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473855101
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 159

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Book Description
Failure to exploit the potential of an original idea is a recurring phenomenon in our national history. Few failures, however, can have been so costly in human life as that of our military commanders early in 1916 to appreciate that the tank was a war winning weapon. The slaughter of the Somme, Passchendaele and Ypres salient had to be endured before accepted 'conventional' methods were abandoned and the tank given a chance. Bryan Cooper describes the early tank actions in vivid detail, with many eye-witness accounts. He tells of the courage and endurance of the crews not just in battle but in the appalling conditions in which they had to drive and fight their primitive vehicles. Scalded, scorched and poisoned with exhaust fumes, constantly threatened with being burned to death, these crews eventually laid the foundation for the Allied Victory in World War I. The book is well illustrated with many original photographs which give the present day reader a glimpse of the infancy of a dominant weapon of modern war.

Tank Warfare

Tank Warfare PDF Author: Francis Mitchell
Publisher: SPA Books, Limited (UK)
ISBN:
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 346

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Book Description
Bog om udviklingen og brugen af kampvognen i den 1. Verdensrig 1914-18. Bogen er et optryk af den originale tekst fra 1930'erne, og flere af kapitlerne fortæller om en autentisk episode et sted på Vestfronten og som samtidig belyser kampvognen.