Author: H. Hudson Stoddard
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bantam chickens
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Author: Stephen McGreal
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1844155242
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Raised in Birkenhead in 1914 the Bantams were unique as the average height of the volunteers was a mere five foot! Previously denied the opportunity to serve, these men seized this chance to join up. As a result the battalions comprised working class men from all over Britain - Welsh miners, sturdy London dockers, Lancashire mill workers and Merseyside laborers. As part of 35th (Bantam) Division, the Bantams fought on the Somme. The Bantams' casualties were so severe that by early 1917 the Division effectively ceased to exist. Thereafter reinforcements came from the General Pool. They suffered heavily again at Houlthust Forest. The 35th Division played a key part in stopping the German 1918 offensive. Some 900 members of these Battalions lost their lives in The Great War.

Author: Sidney Allinson
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 9781413444469
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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"The citizens of LeHavre weren't prepared for the bizarre sight that greeted them after a British troopship arrived in the harbour in January, 1916, with a fresh contingent of reinforcements for the Western Front... the troops marched down the gangplanks and along the quay as though they were mocking the traditional image of the stalwart soldier. They were about five feet tall, miniature Guardsmen, more like mascots than fighting men... And so the first battalion of the Bantams, as they were officially called, prepared for battle. They soon proved they were equal in stamina and greater in valor than standard-sized soldiers. By 1918, more than 50,000 Bantams, including 2,000 from Canada, had been in the trenches and their casualties were enormous. Yet the story of the Bantams and their outstanding contribution to the war has been forgotten, overlooked, or deliberately concealed by army historians, who were perhaps embarrassed by the episode and mistakenly feared that such little men, and the army's need to use them somehow revealed weaknesses in the British character But thanks to a Toronto military historian, their story is now told for the first time, and it's enough to make short men stand tall. Sidney Allinson deserves credit for ferreting out the fascinating tale and for preserving it in the face of official indifference and even hostility. He was able to track down 300 surviving Bantams and make good use of unpublished journals and letters. His experience documents again the widespread illogical prejudice against people who happen to be short." William French, The Globe & Mail. INTRODUCTION The little men in khaki seemed unbelievably small to be British soldiers. Barely over five feet in height, they swarmed over the decks of the Channel steamer Caesarea, moving briskly to shouted orders of sergeants, to sling rifles, packs, and kitbags, then file quickly down the ribbed gangplank to the Le Havre quay. Short legs bowed under their heavy loads of equipment, they tramped ashore loudly and cheerfully baahing. The tiny soldiers of the Cheshire Regiment amazed the French onlookers. After two years of war, the local civilians thought themselves blasé to the variety of types of soldiers the British Empire brought through the port. They had seen black Nigerians, giant Australians, bronzed New Zealanders and Maoris, colourful Rajputs and Sikhs, confident Canadians, splendid Grenadiers, and even blue-uniformed Chinese labourers, but never anything like these almost Lilliputian newcomers. Certainly, no unit ever arrived with such an irreverent display. Boots polished to a black sheen, buttons and brasses glinting in the grey early morning, trousers pressed and puttees tight, soft peaked caps set square on heads, the men were like miniature Guardsmen in their smart military turnout, but the noises they made were like nothing ever heard at Caterham Barracks. "Baaaah! Baaaah! Baaaah !" After being shunted across southern England in crowded trains for over twenty-four hours, packed into a wallowing tub of a ship through a night of miserable Channel weather, denied breakfast, and kept standing on deck in full marching order for two more weary hours, the short sturdy men saluted their orders to be finally herded ashore by giving tongue to a chorus of prolonged sheeplike noises. "Baaaah !" They swung down the gangway onto the docks. Seeing these uniformly small soldiers loaded with the kit of war, struggling gamely under the weight, yet cheerfully voicing their opinion of all set in authority over them, convulsed many French onlookers. The laughter grew as furious sergeants and Provost Corpsmen barked orders for silence and chivvied the troops into more orderly groups. The mirth spread infectiously to the soldiers themselves, until the docks were a chaos of hilarity. A red-faced Rail Transport Officer clattered up on a horse, to take a horrified look at the scene of hundreds of British soldiers

Author: Joseph Shakespeare
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bantam chickens
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Author: Caroline Scott
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1473884470
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 618

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In May 1916 Major Eustace Lockhart Maxwell, a former Indian cavalry officer, was given command of an infantry battalion in France. After 48 hours with his new unit, Maxwell wrote to his family: The outstanding characteristic of those who belong to it seems to be their extraordinary self-complacency! Esprit de corps is a fine thing, but the satisfaction with which they regard themselves, their battalion, its internal economy, its gallantry, its discipline, its everything else, is almost indecent! If at the end of a month my opinion of them is half as good as their own, I shall think myself uncommonly lucky. This was the 23rd Manchester Bantam Battalion, a unit entirely composed of men of a height between 5ft and 5ft 3, and its esprit de corps was about to be severely tested. The Bantams left colorful, characterful, moving and often amusing records of their experiences. Using a wealth of previously unpublished sources, this book follows the Manchester men through their training, their experiences of the Somme and the Third Ypres Campaign, to Houthulst Forest where, in October 1917, the Battalion was practically annihilated.

Author: Helga Fritzsche
Publisher: B.E.S. Publishing
ISBN: 9780812036879
Category : Bantam chickens
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Tells how to select, house, feed, and care for bantams, describes different varieties, and discusses breeding, nutrition, and common ailments.

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Poultry
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 574

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Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 638

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Author: Joseph Cook
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Social problems
Languages : en
Pages : 634

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