Swansea Pals

Swansea Pals PDF Author: Bernard Lewis
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1783037024
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 549

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Book Description
The Swansea Battalion was formed from local men by the Mayor of Swansea in the response to Lord Kitcheners famous appeal for volunteers. This, the first full history of the Battalion, covers early recruiting for the battalion in the Swansea area and its subsequent training in Swansea, Rhyl and Winchester, prior to departure, some 1,200 strong, in December 1915 for the Western Front. As part of the 38th Welsh Division it participated in the attack on Mametz Wood on the Somme where, in a single day, it suffered almost 100 men killed and 300 wounded out of an attacking contingent of less than 700. A further very successful raid on the German held High Command Redoubt was followed by front line service in the dreaded Ypres Salient. Here it took part in the bloody third Battle of Ypres, better known today as the Passchendaele Offensive. At Aveluy Wood it was accidentally shelled by its own artillery, suffering a number of fatalities. The Swansea Battalion then took an active part in the battles that finally broke the Hindenburg Line and the spirit of German resistance, one of its exploits being described as the high point of soldierly achievement by Douglas Haig. It was still advancing when the Armistice was signed in November 1918.

Swansea Pals

Swansea Pals PDF Author: Bernard Lewis
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1783037024
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 549

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Swansea Battalion was formed from local men by the Mayor of Swansea in the response to Lord Kitcheners famous appeal for volunteers. This, the first full history of the Battalion, covers early recruiting for the battalion in the Swansea area and its subsequent training in Swansea, Rhyl and Winchester, prior to departure, some 1,200 strong, in December 1915 for the Western Front. As part of the 38th Welsh Division it participated in the attack on Mametz Wood on the Somme where, in a single day, it suffered almost 100 men killed and 300 wounded out of an attacking contingent of less than 700. A further very successful raid on the German held High Command Redoubt was followed by front line service in the dreaded Ypres Salient. Here it took part in the bloody third Battle of Ypres, better known today as the Passchendaele Offensive. At Aveluy Wood it was accidentally shelled by its own artillery, suffering a number of fatalities. The Swansea Battalion then took an active part in the battles that finally broke the Hindenburg Line and the spirit of German resistance, one of its exploits being described as the high point of soldierly achievement by Douglas Haig. It was still advancing when the Armistice was signed in November 1918.

People, Places and Passions

People, Places and Passions PDF Author: Russell Davies
Publisher: University of Wales Press
ISBN: 1783162392
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 608

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Book Description
It takes a different view of the history of Wales, examining a panorama of different emotions and experiences – laughter, happiness, fear, anger, adventure, lust, loneliness, anxiety – to give an entertaining and exciting new history to Wales. a wide range of sources are used to present the ambitions and anxieties which drove and destroyed Welsh people The book’s literary style and the fact that it follows earlier successful studies by the author should ensure an audience.

Pals on the Somme 1916

Pals on the Somme 1916 PDF Author: Roni Wilkinson
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1783409460
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 437

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Book Description
Pals on the Somme covers the history of all the Pals Battalions who fought on the Somme during the First World War. The book looks at the events which led to the war and how the Pals phenomenon was born.It considers the attitude and social conditions in Britain at the time. It covers the training and equipping of the Battalions, the preparations for the Big Push, 1st July 1916, and going over the top, and how each battalion fared, failed or succeeded. It looks at how they Battalions had to undergo a change after the 1st July, due to the heavy casualties, and the final victory in 1918, and how the battalions were eventually amalgamated. The final chapter examines how each area coped in the aftermath of losing their men in the three year slaughter. It covers the organizations and visits to the Battlefields as they are today.

The Somme

The Somme PDF 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.

The British Army and the First World War

The British Army and the First World War PDF Author: Ian Beckett
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316824543
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 485

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Book Description
This is a major new history of the British army during the Great War written by three leading military historians. Ian Beckett, Timothy Bowman and Mark Connelly survey operations on the Western Front and throughout the rest of the world as well as the army's social history, pre-war and wartime planning and strategy, the maintenance of discipline and morale and the lasting legacy of the First World War on the army's development. They assess the strengths and weaknesses of the army between 1914 and 1918, engaging with key debates around the adequacy of British generalship and whether or not there was a significant 'learning curve' in terms of the development of operational art during the course of the war. Their findings show how, despite limitations of initiative and innovation amongst the high command, the British army did succeed in developing the effective combined arms warfare necessary for victory in 1918.

The First World War

The First World War PDF Author: Stuart Robson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317865820
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
This is a compelling account of the First World War. It offers clear analysis of the war on land, sea, and air, and considers the impact of the war on Europe's civilian population. Issues addressed include the relationship between war and industrialisation, trench warfare, the long term effects of the war on changing social structures, and economic and demographic consequences. The main text is supplemented by a rich selection of primary source material (from songs, soldiers' slang, to diary accounts).

Landscapes of the Western Front

Landscapes of the Western Front PDF Author: Ross Wilson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136500073
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
This book examines the British soldiers on the Western Front and how they responded to the war landscape they encountered behind the lines and at the front. Using a multidisciplinary perspective, this study investigates the relationship between soldiers and the spaces and materials of the warzone, analyzing how soldiers constructed a ‘sense of place’ in the hostile, unpredictable environment. Drawing upon recent developments within First World War Studies and the anthropological examination of the fields of conflict, an ethnohistorical perspective of the soldiers is built which details the various ways soldiers responded to the physical and material world of the Western Front. This study is also grounded in the wider debates on how the First World War is remembered within Britain and offers an alternative perspective on the individuals who fought in the world’s first global conflagration nearly a century ago.

Contested Objects

Contested Objects PDF Author: Nicholas J. Saunders
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135256705
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
Contested Objects breaks new ground in the interdisciplinary study of material culture. Its focus is on the rich and varied legacy of objects from the First World War as the global conflict that defined the twentieth century. From the iconic German steel helmet to practice trenches on Salisbury Plain, and from the ‘Dazzle Ship’ phenomenon through medal-wearing, diary-writing, trophy collecting, the market in war souvenirs and the evocative reworking of European objects by African soldiers, this book presents a dazzling array of hitherto unseen worlds of the Great War. The innovative and multidisciplinary approach adopted here follows the lead established by Nicholas J. Saunders’ Matters of Conflict (Routledge 2004), and extends its geographical coverage to embrace a truly international perspective. Australia, Africa, Italy, Germany, France, Belgium and Britain are all represented by a cross-disciplinary group of scholars working in archaeology, anthropology, cultural history, art history, museology, and cultural heritage. The result is a volume that resonates with richly documented and theoretically informed case studies that illustrate how the experiences of war can be embodied in and represented by an endless variety of artefacts, whose ‘social lives’ have endured for almost a century and that continue to shape our perceptions of an increasingly dangerous world.

The British Home Front and the First World War

The British Home Front and the First World War PDF Author: Hew Strachan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316515494
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 707

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Book Description
The fullest account yet of the British home front in the First World War and how war changed Britain forever.

Cultural Heritage of the Great War in Britain

Cultural Heritage of the Great War in Britain PDF Author: Dr Ross J Wilson
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN: 1472403096
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 355

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Book Description
As the hundredth anniversary approaches, it is timely to reflect not only upon the Great War itself and on the memorials which were erected to ensure it did not slip from national consciousness, but also to reflect upon its rich and substantial cultural legacy. This book examines the heritage of the Great War in contemporary Britain. It addresses how the war maintains a place and value within British society through the usage of phrases, references, metaphors and imagery within popular, media, heritage and political discourse. Whilst the representation of the war within historiography, literature, art, television and film has been examined by scholars seeking to understand the origins of the 'popular memory' of the conflict, these analyses have neglected how and why wider popular debate draws upon a war fought nearly a century ago to express ideas about identity, place and politics. By examining the history, usage and meanings of references to the Great War within local and national newspapers, historical societies, political publications and manifestos, the heritage sector, popular expressions, blogs and internet chat rooms, an analysis of the discourses which structure the remembrance of the war can be created. The book acknowledges the diversity within Britain as different regional and national identities draw upon the war as a means of expression. Whilst utilising the substantial field of heritage studies, this book puts forward a new methodology for assessing cultural heritage and creates an original perspective on the place of the Great War across contemporary British society.