The Battle of Heligoland Bight

The Battle of Heligoland Bight PDF Author: Eric W. Osborne
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253111862
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 161

Get Book Here

Book Description
The battle of Heligoland Bight was the first major action between the British and German fleets during World War I. The British orchestrated the battle as a warning to the German high command that any attempt to operate their naval forces in the North Sea would be met by strong British resistance. Heligoland Island guarded the entrance to the main German naval anchorage at Kiel. Fought on August 28, 1914, the engagement was complicated by dense fog, the piecemeal engagement of German forces, and the unexpected appearance in the area of additional British ships, which were hard to distinguish from foe. Initial British damage was significant; however, fearing that the protracted battle would allow the bulk of the German fleet to join the battle, the British brought in their battle cruiser reinforcements and won the day, inflicting heavy losses on the Germans. The battle was significant for its political and strategic ramifications for the two sides. The Germans became reluctant to engage large forces in an attempt to gain a decisive maritime victory. After this defeat, any plans for large-scale fleet operations had to be approved by the Kaiser, which hampered the German fleet's effectiveness. This left the North Sea to Great Britain for much of the war.

The Battle of Heligoland Bight

The Battle of Heligoland Bight PDF Author: Eric W. Osborne
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253111862
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 161

Get Book Here

Book Description
The battle of Heligoland Bight was the first major action between the British and German fleets during World War I. The British orchestrated the battle as a warning to the German high command that any attempt to operate their naval forces in the North Sea would be met by strong British resistance. Heligoland Island guarded the entrance to the main German naval anchorage at Kiel. Fought on August 28, 1914, the engagement was complicated by dense fog, the piecemeal engagement of German forces, and the unexpected appearance in the area of additional British ships, which were hard to distinguish from foe. Initial British damage was significant; however, fearing that the protracted battle would allow the bulk of the German fleet to join the battle, the British brought in their battle cruiser reinforcements and won the day, inflicting heavy losses on the Germans. The battle was significant for its political and strategic ramifications for the two sides. The Germans became reluctant to engage large forces in an attempt to gain a decisive maritime victory. After this defeat, any plans for large-scale fleet operations had to be approved by the Kaiser, which hampered the German fleet's effectiveness. This left the North Sea to Great Britain for much of the war.

Battle on the Seven Seas: German Cruiser Battles 1914-1918

Battle on the Seven Seas: German Cruiser Battles 1914-1918 PDF Author: Gary Staff
Publisher: Pen & Sword Maritime
ISBN: 9781526743855
Category : Cruisers (Warships)
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Get Book Here

Book Description


Battle for the Baltic Islands 1917

Battle for the Baltic Islands 1917 PDF Author: Gary Staff
Publisher: Pen and Sword Maritime
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Get Book Here

Book Description
"In 1917, despite the revolution, the Russians were still willing to continue the war against Germany. This book reveals Operation Albion, the German seaborne operation that changed their minds. The Baltic Islands were pivotal for the defence of the Finnish Gulf and the Russian capital, St. Petersburg. This campaign therefore had great importance for the war in the East, and it was only soon after the fall of the Baltic Islands that the Russians began peace negotiations (freeing hundreds of thousands of German soldiers for the Kaiser's last gamble on the Western Front)." "Gary Staff's study of arguably the most successful combined operation (by any side) of the Great War, scuttles the myth that the Imperial German Navy's surface fleet achieved little after the Battle of Jutland."--BOOK JACKET.

British Battleships of World War One

British Battleships of World War One PDF Author: R.A. Burt
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612519555
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 359

Get Book Here

Book Description
This new edition of a classic work on British battleships is the most sought after book on the subject. Containing many new photographs from the author's exhaustive collection this superb reference book presents the complete technical history of British capital ship design and construction during the dreadnought era. Beginning with Dreadnought, all of the fifty dreadnoughts, 'super-dreadnoughts' and battlecruisers that served the Royal Navy during this era are described and superbly illustrated with photographs and line drawings.

After Jutland

After Jutland PDF Author: James Goldrick
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1526742993
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 456

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is the story of the naval war in northern European waters following the critical if inconclusive battle of Jutland. There is a popular misconception that the battle marked the end of the operational career of the German High Sea Fleet. The reality is much more complex. The German battle fleet may have been quiescent in the North Sea, but it supported an ambitious amphibious campaign in the Baltic while an ever more bitter commerce war was waged by U-boats; and smaller warships of both sides fought a gruelling campaign in the waters of the English Channel and the Belgian Coast. While the book focuses primarily on the Royal Navy as the dominant maritime force, it also analyses the struggles of the beleaguered German Navy as it sought to find ways to break the tightening stranglehold of the Allied blockade. It includes an assessment of the small, but increasingly significant supporting role played by the French Navy from its bases in northern France, while the continuing conflict in the Baltic is explored as the Germans increased pressure on Russian territory and the Russian fleet, despite the descent into revolution, still managed to strike heavy blows at the Imperial German Navy. This period was one of great change. The Royal Navy improved the way that ships and their crews were organised for battle, and there were great leaps in communications and in command and control; aviation and undersea operations, including mine warfare, developed at breakneck pace. Both Germany and Russia undertook far more naval innovation and technological development in the final years of the War than is often realised, and by 1918 the protagonists were fighting what was, in every way, a multi-dimensional maritime war – the forerunner of the form of naval conflict of the remainder of the twentieth century. The author deals with the entry into the conflict of the United States and the increasing commitment of the US Navy to operations in Northern European waters. Many of the foundations of success in the next war were laid by the USN at this time, and there are strong links between the performance of all the navies and their experiences in 1939–45. Not only were doctrine and technology shaped by the events of the First War, so were the cultures of the various services and the characters of the individuals who would go on to serve in the highest ranks in the next. All of this makes the 1916-18 period so significant in naval history. In addition to his huge historical knowledge, the author brings his own extensive personal experience of naval operations and command at sea to this study, and this fusion of history with practical understanding sheds a unique and fascinating perspective on his analysis of the conflict.

Approach to Battle

Approach to Battle PDF Author: Alan Jeffreys
Publisher: Helion and Company
ISBN: 1913336913
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 252

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Indian Army was the largest volunteer army during the Second World War. Indian Army divisions fought in the Middle East, North Africa and Italy - and went to make up the overwhelming majority of the troops in South East Asia. Over two million personnel served in the Indian Army - and India provided the base for supplies for the Middle Eastern and South East Asian theatres. This monograph is a modern historical interpretation of the Indian Army as a holistic organisation during the Second World War. It will look at training in India - charting how the Indian Army developed a more comprehensive training structure than any other Commonwealth country. This was achieved through both the dissemination of doctrine and the professionalism of a small coterie of Indian Army officers who brought about a military culture within the Indian Army - starting in the 1930s - that came to fruition during the Second World War, which informed the formal learning process. Finally, it will show that the Indian Army was reorganised after experiences of the First World War. During the interwar period, the army developed training and belief for both fighting on the North West Frontier, and as an aid to civil power. With the outbreak of the Second World War, in addition to these roles, the army had to expand and adapt to fighting modern professional armies in the difficult terrains of desert, jungle and mountain warfare. A clear development of doctrine and training can be seen, with many pamphlets being produced by GHQ India that were, in turn, used to formulate training within formations and then used in divisional, brigade and unit training instructions - thus a clear line of process can be seen not only from GHQ India down to brigade and battalion level, but also upwards from battalion and brigade level based on experience in battle that was absorbed into new training instructions. Together with the added impetus for education in the army, by 1945 the Indian Army had become a modern, professional and national army.

The Battlecruiser New Zealand

The Battlecruiser New Zealand PDF Author: Matthew Wright
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
ISBN: 1526784041
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book tells the story of HMS New Zealand, a battlecruiser paid for by the government of New Zealand at the height of its pro-Imperial ‘jingo’ era in 1909, when Britain’s ally Japan was perceived as a threat in Australasia and the Pacific. Born of the collision between New Zealand’s patriotic dreams and European politics, the tale of HMS New Zealand is further wrapped in the turbulent power-plays at the Admiralty in the years leading up to the First World War. The ship went on to have a distinguished First World War career, when she was present in all three major naval battles – Heligoland, Dogger Bank and Jutland – in the North Sea. The book ‘busts’ many of the myths associated with the ship and her construction, including the intent of the gift, New Zealand’s ability to pay, deployment, and the story behind the piupiu (skirt) and tiki (pendant) that, the crew believed, bestowed special protection upon the vessel. All is inter-woven with the human and social context to create a ‘biography’ of the ship as an expression of human endeavour, in significantly more detail than any of the summaries available in prior accounts. Extensively illustrated, this is a book with appeal to a wide audience, from naval enthusiasts and historians to the general reader with a wider interest in the story of Empire. The use of archival material available only in New Zealand, including the Ship’s Book, adds a dimension and novelty not previously included in histories of this great battlecruiser.

The Fairey Battle

The Fairey Battle PDF Author: Greg Baughen
Publisher: Fonthill Media
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 259

Get Book Here

Book Description
New insights into the early development of the Fairey BattleThe truth behind the decision to declare the plane obsoleteBased on original documentationThe story of what might have been had the Air Ministry used the plane correctly The Fairey Battle is best known for being one of the worst aircraft to serve in the Royal Air Force. On operations, it suffered the highest loss rate of any plane in the RAF’s history. The missions flown by its brave crews became a byword for hopelessness and futility. Born out of muddled thinking, condemned before it even reached the squadrons and abandoned after the briefest of operational careers, the plane seems to thoroughly deserve its reputation. But was the Battle so useless? Why did it suffer such terrible loses? Was there nothing that could have been done to prevent the disasters of 1940? A fresh look at the documents of the time suggest there was. They reveal a very different story of ignored recommendations and missed opportunities. It was the way it was used rather than fundamental flaws in the design that ensured its operational career was such a dismal failure. It might even be argued that in the desperate days of the summer of 1940, the Fairey Battle was exactly what Britain needed. Illustrations: 61 black-and-white photographs

Heligoland

Heligoland PDF Author: Jan Rüger
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199672466
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 383

Get Book Here

Book Description
On 18 April 1947, British forces set off the largest non-nuclear explosion in history. The target was a small island in the North Sea, fifty miles off the German coast, which for generations had stood as a symbol of Anglo-German conflict: Heligoland. A long tradition of rivalry was to come to an end here, in the ruins of Hitler's island fortress. Pressed as to why it was not prepared to give Heligoland back, the British government declared that the island represented everything that was wrong with the Germans: 'If any tradition was worth breaking, and if any sentiment was worth changing, then the German sentiment about Heligoland was such a one'. Drawing on a wide range of archival material, Jan Ruger explores how Britain and Germany have collided and collaborated in this North Sea enclave. For much of the nineteenth century, this was Britain's smallest colony, an inconvenient and notoriously discontented outpost at the edge of Europe. Situated at the fault line between imperial and national histories, the island became a metaphor for Anglo-German rivalry once Germany had acquired it in 1890. Turned into a naval stronghold under the Kaiser and again under Hitler, it was fought over in both world wars. Heavy bombardment by the Allies reduced it to ruins, until the Royal Navy re-took it in May 1945. Returned to West Germany in 1952, it became a showpiece of reconciliation, but one that continues to wear the scars of the twentieth century. Tracing this rich history of contact and conflict from the Napoleonic Wars to the Cold War, Heligoland brings to life a fascinating microcosm of the Anglo-German relationship. For generations this cliff-bound island expressed a German will to bully and battle Britain; and it mirrored a British determination to prevent Germany from establishing hegemony on the Continent. Caught in between were the Heligolanders and those involved with them: spies and smugglers, poets and painters, sailors and soldiers. Far more than just the history of a small island in the North Sea, this is the compelling story of a relationship which has defined modern Europe.

Germany's High Sea Fleet in the World War

Germany's High Sea Fleet in the World War PDF Author: Admiral Reinhard Scheer
Publisher: Frontline Books
ISBN: 1848322097
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 388

Get Book Here

Book Description
Anglo-German naval rivalry before 1914 had been expected to culminate in a cataclysmic fleet action in the North Sea once war was declared, a battle upon which the outcome of the war would depend: yet the two fleets met only once, at Jutland in 1916, and the battle was far from conclusive. ??In his own account of the war in the North Sea, first published in 1920, Admiral Scheer, the German commander at Jutland, gives his own explanation for the failure of either fleet to achieve the decisive victory expected of it, particularly the failure of his own operation plans that resulted in the battle of Jutland. ??This book is an invaluable account of one of the most important theatres of the First World War, written by one of its most senior commanders.