Isle of Sheppey in the Great War PDF Download
Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download Isle of Sheppey in the Great War PDF full book. Access full book title Isle of Sheppey in the Great War by Stephen Wynn. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author: Stephen Wynn
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473865298
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 160
Get Book Here
Book Description
The Isle of Sheppey, although not a heavily populated area, played an extremely important part in Great Britains war effort on the home front throughout the four and a half years of the First World War. In doing so, Sheppey provided protection for the Thames Estuary, the River Medway and the naval shipyards at both Sheerness and Chatham. Its defensive emplacements largely responsible for acquiring the nickname locally of the 'Barbed Wire Island.' One of its main claims to fame in relation to the years of the First World War would have undoubtedly been in relation to aviation. The island had been a hive of activity in relation to flying since the beginning of the twentieth century, when the Royal Aero Club came to Leysdown, making it the first airfield in England. What became Eastchurch Aerodrome was where the first pilots of the Royal Naval Air Service were trained, making it the first military flying school in the country. The Short brothers also had an aircraft factory at Eastchurch where they designed and built their own aircraft, some of which would be used during the First World War. The Isle of Sheppey also boasted another aircraft factory, which was situated at Shellbeach on the east coast of the island, an emergency landing strip at Harty on the south east side of the island, and a balloon station at Sheerness. The First World War certainly saw the Isle of Sheppey rise to the occasion and add to its long and illustrious military history. The part it played went a long way in enhancing the islands reputation of having a dogged determination to do what needed to be done for the greater good in the nations time of need.
Author: Stephen Wynn
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473865298
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 160
Get Book Here
Book Description
The Isle of Sheppey, although not a heavily populated area, played an extremely important part in Great Britains war effort on the home front throughout the four and a half years of the First World War. In doing so, Sheppey provided protection for the Thames Estuary, the River Medway and the naval shipyards at both Sheerness and Chatham. Its defensive emplacements largely responsible for acquiring the nickname locally of the 'Barbed Wire Island.' One of its main claims to fame in relation to the years of the First World War would have undoubtedly been in relation to aviation. The island had been a hive of activity in relation to flying since the beginning of the twentieth century, when the Royal Aero Club came to Leysdown, making it the first airfield in England. What became Eastchurch Aerodrome was where the first pilots of the Royal Naval Air Service were trained, making it the first military flying school in the country. The Short brothers also had an aircraft factory at Eastchurch where they designed and built their own aircraft, some of which would be used during the First World War. The Isle of Sheppey also boasted another aircraft factory, which was situated at Shellbeach on the east coast of the island, an emergency landing strip at Harty on the south east side of the island, and a balloon station at Sheerness. The First World War certainly saw the Isle of Sheppey rise to the occasion and add to its long and illustrious military history. The part it played went a long way in enhancing the islands reputation of having a dogged determination to do what needed to be done for the greater good in the nations time of need.
Author: Stephen Wynn
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473865239
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 246
Get Book Here
Book Description
Because of the geographical location of the Isle of Thanet, it was always going to play a part in the First World War. For some wounded British and Commonwealth troops returning from the fighting in France and Belgium, it was their first sight of England in months. The Isle of Thanet just happened to be on one of the routes German Zeppelins and Gotha Bombers took on their way to try and bomb London, which meant that parts of the district were always going to be vulnerable from a sudden and unexpected attack from the air. The Isle of Thanet not only provided thousands of men for service in the armed forces, but hundreds of men and women to serve in the Voluntary Aid Detachments that were greatly needed, not just throughout the Isle of Thanet, but all over Kent, to help deal with the steady influx of returning wounded soldiers from across the English Channel. Members of local Territorial units, the 4th Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) and the 3rd (Kent) Battalion, Royal Field Artillery, were quickly mobilized for war time service, during the early days of the war, suddenly making everything so very real for those concerned. Many of the districts Police Constables, were ex-servicemen, some of whom were still on the Army Reserve, they too were called up to once again go and serve with the colors. There was a great clamor across the country with everybody wanting to do their bit in what ever way they could, the people of the Isle of Thanet were no different. By the end of the war, they had certainly played their part in ensuring that the outcome was a victorious one, making the sadness of the ones who had paid the ultimate price, slightly easier to accept.
Author: Stephen Wynn
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473850762
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 191
Get Book Here
Book Description
A historic profile of the London borough of Enfield during World War I and the conflict’s effect on the region and its people. The Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield was famous for producing the Lee Enfield .303 Rifle, the standard issued rifle provided to all infantry soldiers in the British Army during the First World War. The factory was so prestigious that King George V visited it in April, 1915. By the end of the war, its workforce of more than 9,000 had produced more than 2 million rifles. Their gun helped play a big part in winning the war. On July 7, 1917, the town was hit by a German air raid. Local anti-aircraft batteries did their best to thwart the enemy. Sadly, falling shrapnel from British anti-aircraft gunfire killed one woman, making her Enfield’s only resident to be killed in the town throughout the course of the war. A nearby young boy was also struck by some falling shrapnel but survived. After the incident, members of the Government Workers’ Union held a meeting to complain about the lack of a warning about the attack. Meanwhile, that month also saw a baker appear at Enfield Magistrates Court, charged under the Bread Order for selling loaves of bread that were over the permitted weight. For his heinous war time offence, he was fined the princely sum of ten shillings. Through researching local newspapers of the day, along with letters, diaries, photographs, parish magazines, trade journals, contemporary printed pamphlets, and more, author Stephen Wynn details the stories of Enfield during this dramatic era.
Author: Stephen Wynn
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1473865433
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 138
Get Book Here
Book Description
History has recorded that the first ever powered flight took place at Kitty Hawk in America, on 17 December 1903 and was carried out by the Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, who were aircraft designers and manufacturers. By the time of the outbreak of the First World War, aviation was only eleven years old. The daddy of battlefield warfare until that point in time had been the cavalry, a position it maintained even as war was declared on the Western Front. Aircraft were not initially seen as an offensive weapon and were instead used by both sides as observation platforms, or to take aerial photographs from. Even when they were eventually used in an offensive capacity, they did not have machine guns attached to them; if the crew wanted to open fire then they had to use a pistol or rifle. As the war progressed so the use of aircraft changed from being an observational tool, to that of a fighter and bomber aircraft - something that had never been foreseen at the outbreak of the war. The book then looks at the fighter aces from all sides. These were pilots who had been credited with shooting or forcing down a minimum of five enemy aircraft, of which their were hundreds. While some of these aces survived, many of them were killed. The most famous fighter ace of all is without doubt the German pilot known as the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen.
Author:
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 147283593X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 226
Get Book Here
Book Description
For over 40 years, Warship has been the leading annual resource on the design, development, and deployment of the world's combat ships. Featuring a broad range of articles from a select panel of distinguished international contributors, this latest volume combines original research, new book reviews, warship notes, an image gallery, and much more, maintaining the impressive standards of scholarship and research with which Warship has become synonymous. In the 2019 edition of this celebrated title, articles include Hans Lengerer's exploration of the genesis of the Six-Six Fleet, Michele Cosentino's look at Project 1030, Italy's attempt to create a torpedo-armed attack and ballistic missile submarines, and A D Baker III's drawing feature on the USS Lebanon. Detailed and accurate information is the keynote of all the articles, which are fully supported by plans, data tables and stunning photographs.
Author: Stephen Wynn
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1526708566
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 185
Get Book Here
Book Description
An examination of the political and military controversies that turned out to be missteps on the road to greatness for the British Prime Minister. Winston Churchill is undoubtedly one of the most respected and best-loved characters England has ever known. However, much of how people view him is based on his leadership during the bleak and dire times of the Second World War. If it wasn’t for him, Britain would almost definitely have lost the war: there were those in government who encouraged Churchill to strike a deal with Hitler at the time of the Dunkirk evacuations, which took place just three weeks after he had been made Prime Minister, but he stuck resolutely to his guns and said, “no.” However, Churchill was never the favorite to take over after Neville Chamberlain resigned. Indeed, everyone believed Lord Halifax would be the next Prime Minister, although even he thankfully recognized that Winston Churchill was the best man for the job, even though King George VI disagreed. Yet there was another side to Churchill that is not often spoken of, and one that led to him making some questionable decisions. Some of these, it could be argued, were for national security reasons, but others were not, proving that even the very best are not always as perfect as they first appear. This book looks at Churchill’s most questionable decisions throughout his career—from the Sidney Street Siege in London in January 1910 through the Bengal Famine of 1943 to the Mau Mau Uprising in British Kenya between 1952 and 1964.
Author: Stephen Wynn
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1526735121
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 149
Get Book Here
Book Description
“An eye-opening exposé of the Pre-D-Day disaster and incident of friendly fire tragedy and cover up that was the Slapton Sands.” —WorldWars.com This is a book of two stories. The first is the sad tale of how at least 749 American servicemen lost their lives on a pre-D-Day landing exercise, code-named “Operation Tiger,” on the evening of 23/24 April 1943. The second, was the unanswerable question of whether the attacking E-Boats of the German Kriegsmarine had fully grasped the importance of what they had stumbled across. Because of the time scale between the operation and the actual D-Day landings, secrecy surrounding the tragedy had to be stringently adhered to, and even after the invasion of Normandy, only scant information about the incident and those who were killed was ever released. The other factor that was of major concern, was if the Germans had understood the significance of the vessels they had attacked, then the intended Allied invasion of Europe was in grave danger of having to be postponed for an indefinite period of time. In late 1943, as part of the buildup to the D-day landings at Normandy, the British government had set up a training ground at Slapton Sands in Devon, to be used by the American forces tasked with landing on Utah Beach in Normandy. Coordination and communication problems between British and American forces, resulted in friendly fire deaths during the exercise, making a bad situation even worse. The story was then lost to history until Devon resident, Ken Small, discovered evidence of the aftermath washed up on the shore at Slapton Sands in the early 1970s.
Author: Peter G. Cooksley
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0752493922
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 326
Get Book Here
Book Description
Of more than 600 Victoria Crosses awarded to British and Empire servicemen during the First World War, nineteen were awarded to airmen of the newly formed Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service. Of these, four were posthumous awards and all but one of the total were to officers. Some of these valorous airmen were from humble backgrounds and with limited education; others were collegiate men from wealthy families. But in the words of one senior officer they all had in common 'the guts of a lion'. Each VS winner's act of bravery is recorded here in intricate detail, along with their backgrounds and their lives after the war.
Author: Stephen Wynn
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473827930
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 185
Get Book Here
Book Description
Situated on the south coast of England, geographically and strategically, Dover more than played its part in the First World War. It was from its harbor that the many vessels of the Dover Patrol set about preventing German ships from using the English Channel. It was undoubtedly one of the most important Royal Naval units that Britain had during the First World War. Because of its important defensive roll, Dover was identified as a legitimate and relevant target by the German authorities. As a result, German Zeppelin's and Gotha aircraft subjected Dover to 113 aerial attacks, dropping 185 bombs in the process. The first of these raids took place on Christmas Eve, 1914; this was also the first time a German bomb had been dropped on British soil. The last raid was on 24 August 1918, in which twenty adults and three children were killed. The local residents who, for whatever reason, were unable to enlist in the military during the war, but who still felt the desire and obligation to serve their King and country, were able to do so in organizations such as the Dover Volunteer Training Corps. Most towns had similar units, and their members carried out some sterling work on the Home Front. By the end of the war, Dover and its people had sustained through testing and difficult times. Like every community throughout the nation, they had paid a heavy price. They had been as close to the war as it was possible to be, without actually being on the Front Line. Ships had sailed from its harbour to engage the enemy, and wounded soldiers had returned to the same harbour. Its men had gone of to fight in the war and, sadly, 721 of them never came back.
Author: Ken Porter
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1783463651
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 194
Get Book Here
Book Description
A brief history of how the people of Laindon and district coped with the problems of the First World War??´ Throughout the book are individual family memories, over 100 photographs and appropriate oems mostly written at the time.??´ Indication of why Britain went to war??´ Insight into the role of the local Explosive factories.??´ Individual stories of those who applied for exemption and the hysteria of suspected spies.??´ The role played by our Women Folk??´ Culminating in individual stories of our men folk who went to war on our behalf.
