Mons

Mons PDF Author: John Terraine
Publisher: Wordsworth Editions
ISBN: 9781840222432
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
Twice in the 20th century, a British Expeditionary Force has taken the field in Northern France to fight beside the French Army. Twice, the Expeditionary Force has survived threat of complete destruction. But the differences between the Retreat to Dunkirk in 1940 and the first encounter with the enemy at Mons in 1914 are significant.

Mons

Mons PDF Author: John Terraine
Publisher: Wordsworth Editions
ISBN: 9781840222432
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
Twice in the 20th century, a British Expeditionary Force has taken the field in Northern France to fight beside the French Army. Twice, the Expeditionary Force has survived threat of complete destruction. But the differences between the Retreat to Dunkirk in 1940 and the first encounter with the enemy at Mons in 1914 are significant.

Breaking the Fortress Line, 1914

Breaking the Fortress Line, 1914 PDF Author: Clayton Donnell
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473830125
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
Breaking the Fortress Line 1914 offers a fascinating new perspective on the German offensive against France and Belgium in 1914. In graphic detail it describes the intense fighting that took place around the forts and fortified cities that stood in the path of the German invasion. The ordeal began with the German assault on the mighty fortress of Lige. They took twelve days to batter their way through the 'Gateway to Belgium', losing thousands of men in repeated frontal assaults, and they had to bring up the heaviest siege artillery ever used to destroy the defences.This is the epic struggle that Clayton Donnell depicts in this compelling account of a neglected aspect of the battles that followed the outbreak of the Great War. Not only does he reconstruct the German attack on the strongpoints they encountered along the entire invasion line, but he traces the history and design of these fixed defences and analyses the massive military building programmes undertaken by the French, the Germans and the Belgians between 1871 and 1914. Thousands of huge forts, infantry strongpoints, bunkers, casemates and shelters were dug out along the French and German borders. The German Moselstellung and Steinbruch-stellung were born. These massive concrete fortress systems with steel gun turrets and diesel motors to generate electricity were a completely new concept of fortress design.As war approached, France and Germany devised plans to overcome each other's powerful armies and these border defences. The French plan avoided contact with the German fortress system. But the Kaiser's army faced twelve forts at Lige, nine more at Namur, and then the strongpoints of the first and second Sr de Rivires lines. Clayton Donnell provides a gripping narrative of the violent confrontation that followed.

The Defence of St Valery-en-Caux 1940

The Defence of St Valery-en-Caux 1940 PDF Author: Jerry Murland
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1473852285
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
Supported by eleven maps and over 150 photographs, this is the story of Scottish Troops fighting for survival in Normandy. The story of the 51st (Highland) Division during 1939 and 1940 is a short and largely tragic one and although it firmly burnt itself into the minds of Scotsmen it has never been granted the recognition it deserves. Even in Scotland it is often forgotten that the men, and attached troops, of the 51st Division, were fighting for survival in Normandy for some ten days after the evacuation from Dunkerque had been completed. Most present-day accounts of the Second World War in 1939/40 deal with the ‘Phoney War’ and the evacuation from Dunkerque but few mention the rearguard action at St Valery-en-Caux, other than a giving it a passing mention. Nevertheless, the action of the 51st Division against the might of German forces won the admiration of General Erwin Rommel and Charles De Gaulle, who fought against and alongside them. One of the enduring beliefs is that Churchill deliberately sacrificed the 51st Division in an attempt to keep France in the war; this, apart from being palpably incorrect, fails miserably to address the intricacy of the circumstances that overtook the 51st Division after they returned from the Saar. In a situation where units were repeatedly changing affiliation, communication between the French Supreme Command and British forces suffered language difficulties and the inclination to blame each other for the debacle that inevitably ensued. Nevertheless, for all the criticism that is thrown at the French Army, it is clear that a number of French units fought hard and with great courage, the main fault with the French command lying with poor leadership and lack of tactical planning. As far as the Highlanders were concerned it was bad luck that their term of duty on the Saar coincided with the beginning of Fall Rot. The speed and extent of the German advance from Abbeville took their own High Command and the French by surprise and it was with little wonder that Allied military thinking failed to keep up with actions on the battlefield. The theory that Churchill sacrificed the division to keep the French in the war owes a great deal to the Scottish need to attribute all the misery of the world to one scoundrel, a trait that exists to this day! Supported by eleven maps and over 150 photographs, the book traces the history of the 51st Division from its inception until its final surrender at St Valery-en-Caux and deals with the fighting on the Saar and the often ragged skirmishing though Normandy. The book also touches on the actions of the 1st armored Division and the Battle of Abbeville. There are three walks and a car tour included in this volume which allows the battlefield visitor to base themselves firstly in Abbeville and, secondly, further into Normandy.

Retreat from Mons 1914: North

Retreat from Mons 1914: North PDF Author: Jon Cooksey
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


The Writings in Prose and Verse of Rudyard Kipling: The Irish guards in the great war; edited and compiled from their diaries and papers

The Writings in Prose and Verse of Rudyard Kipling: The Irish guards in the great war; edited and compiled from their diaries and papers PDF Author: Rudyard Kipling
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : English poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 546

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Book Description


Great War Railwaymen

Great War Railwaymen PDF Author: Jeremy Higgins
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited
ISBN: 1910500097
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 339

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Book Description
The railways were intrinsic to fighting the First World War, whether at home or abroad. On the Western Front and beyond trains ferried men and supplies to and from the front on a staggering scale, ensuring that the war machine functioned without pause. Back in Britain, the railway network shipped millions of tonnes of war material from the factories to the ports, becoming the lifeblood of the war effort. Great War Railwaymen details this incredible achievement, exploring not only the vast infrastructure, but also those who operated it. Despite the importance of the railways, many of those involved in the industry went off to fight in the mud and trenches, on the world's oceans, or in the skies above war torn Europe. Between them, they were awarded 2500 Military medals, 44 Distinguished Conduct Medals, 27 Military Crosses and 6 Victoria Crosses. This is their story. Meticulously researched and lovingly produced, Jeremy Higgins narrates the fascinating stories of over a thousand of these men, vividly capturing their wartime experiences and pressing home the vital importance of the railways, and those that ran them, to the Allied victory in the First World War.

The Writings in Prose and Verse: The Irish Guards in the great war. pt. 1. The first battalion

The Writings in Prose and Verse: The Irish Guards in the great war. pt. 1. The first battalion PDF Author: Rudyard Kipling
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : World War, 1914-1918
Languages : en
Pages : 546

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Book Description


Books on the Great War

Books on the Great War PDF Author: Frederick William Theodor Lange
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : World War, 1914-1918
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description


Underground Warfare 1914-1918

Underground Warfare 1914-1918 PDF Author: Simon Jones
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781844159628
Category : World War, 1914-1918
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Simon Jones's graphic history of underground warfare during the Great War uses personal reminiscences to convey the danger and suspense of this unconventional form of conflict. He describes how the underground soldiers of the opposing armies engaged in a ruthless fight for supremacy, covers the tunneling methods they employed, and shows the increasingly lethal tactics they developed during the war in which military mining reached its apotheosis. He concentrates on the struggle for ascendancy by the British tunneling companies on the Western Front. But his wide ranging study also tells the story of the little known but fascinating subterranean battles fought in the French sectors of the Western Front and between the Austrians and the Italians in the Alps which have never been described before in English. Vivid personal testimony is combined with a lucid account of the technical challenges - and ever-present perils - of tunneling in order to give an all-round insight into the extraordinary experience of this underground war. AUTHOR: Simon Jones is a military historian and battlefield tour guide who specializes in the First World War. He has made a particular study of gas warfare and tunneling. Previously he was exhibitions officer at the Royal Engineers Museum and curator of the King's Regiment Museum. His publications include World War I Gas Warfare Tactics and Equipment as well as articles in Military Illustrated, the Imperial War Museum Review and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. He is currently working on a book on tunneling on the Somme. SELLING POINTS: * Reassesses the impact of underground warfare on the course of the Great War * Uses vivid eyewitness accounts to recreate the experience of underground warfare * Traces the development of tunneling and mining techniques * Looks at the subterranean tactics practiced by the British, Germans, French, Austrians, Italians * Sets Great War tunneling in the longer context of military history ILLUSTRATIONS 15/20 photogrpahs *

British Cavalryman vs German Cavalryman

British Cavalryman vs German Cavalryman PDF Author: Alan Steele
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472848810
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 81

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Book Description
Fully illustrated, this book casts light on the utility and role of the German and British cavalry in the early stages of World War I on the Western Front. In the early months of World War I, before the fighting degenerated into static trench warfare, there was a brief period of mobile combat as the German Army advanced through Belgium and northern France, forcing the French and British forces facing them to retreat. Both sides in the escalating conflict deployed substantial numbers of cavalry units to screen their infantry forces, conduct reconnaissance and harness their superior mobility to undertake aggressive combat operations. In the summer of 1914, the British cavalry had the difficult task of covering the withdrawal of the British Expeditionary Force and the German cavalry, the equally demanding task, after weeks of combat and forced marches, of maintaining contact with a rapidly retiring enemy. In this book a comparative assessment is made of each side's doctrine, organization, equipment and training, followed by a detailed analysis of their actual performance in three key encounter actions: Casteau/Soignies (22 August), Cérizy/Moÿ (28 August) and Le Montcel/Frétoy (7 September). This analysis is supported by carefully chosen photographs and specially commissioned full-colour artwork and maps.