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This detailed account of the German attack on the British Fifth Army on 21st March 1918 is sympathetic to its commander, General Gough, and sets out to defend the Fifth Army and demonstrate the extent of its achievement. The author has collected a great deal of information from senior officers to support his closely argued opinion. He arranges the book in four parts: before the battle, difficulties and preparations both British and German; the battle in its main aspects; some chosen incidents and episodes; and finally the aftermath, including controversies, side issues and political effects. He expresses his contempt for Lloyd George, who sought to lay the blame without regard to his own part, holding back reserves, and he praises Gough for his conduct of the battle, fought on a forty-two mile front (compared with Third Army''s twenty-seven miles) with a similar number of divisions.
The British Yeomanry - a forerunner of today''s Territorial Army - provided a sort of volunteer reserve militia to the regular Army. The object of this volume of abridged regulations for the formation and movements of the Yeomanry Corps, published in 1844, was to make the part-time Yeomanry officer corps conversant with the latest movements and manoevres as executed by their regular Army cousins. The book covers such subjects as foot drill, duties of sentries, conduct of funerals, miIitary horsemanship, Carbine exercises (on horseback and on foot); pistol and sword exercises; saluting. This book will delight anyone keen on the Victorian Army and its volunteer reserve.
Archibald Forbes was a great war correspondent who inherited the mantle of the famous William Russell in the Crimea. After a brief career as a Private in the Royal Dragoons, he was invalided out of his regiment and became a journalist. He reported from both sides of the 1870 Franco-Prussian War, at first observing the French preparations for the defence of Paris, then accredited to the besieging Prussians as a correspondent for the ''Daily News'' where he witnessed the horrors of the siege and Commune of Paris. He subsequently reported from India, the Carlist wars in Spain and the 1877 Russo-Turkish war. He witnessed the British victory over the Zulus at Ulundi and after his retirement from the field lectured and wrote many accounts of his experiences. This book is one such, being a varied collection of essays and recollections of his travels - including a portrait of General Wolseley, observations of 19th century America and Australia and an account of Christmas on the Khyber Pass.
Regarded by many as Cromwell''s military masterpiece, his campaign in Scotland in 1650-51, came perilously close to disaster, but was turned around by his famous victory against the odds at Dunbar on September 3rd 1650 - a year to the day before his last great triumph at Worcester. The Scots were Parliament''s allies in the English Civil War, but the two sides fell out over the victorious Cromwell''s refusal to install a Scots-style Presbyterian system as England''s national Church, and after the execution of Charles I in 1649, the Scots swung their support behind his son Charles II. Cromwell invaded Scotland, but found his small army, decimated by disease and wildly outnumbered, pinned with their backs to the sea at the town of Dunbar. He spotted and exploited the weak point in David Leslie''s Scottish host, and achieved victory with a daring uphill attack. ButDunbar did not end the campaign - which continued for another year. This book, published in 1899 is the first full and exhaustive history of the campaign which concluded with the battle of Inverkeithing. A must for all Cromwellian enthusiasts and anyone keen on Scots military history.
The first of four volumes covering the campaign in 'Mesop' (today's Iraq) that was fought mainly by Indian Army troops - only one British division was there, the 13th (Western) which arrived from Gallipoli in February 1916. This volume opens with background on the geography of the country, the pre-war political scene, the Turks, the Indian Army and the inception of the operations. The history of the campaign opens with the landing of Force 'D' in Mesopotamia in November 1914, the occupation of Basra and capture of Qurna. It covers the defeat of the Turkish counter-offensive, the capture of Amara in June 1915 and on to the Battle of Kut in September, concluding with the situation at the beginning of October 1915.
This volume, the second of four on the Mesoptamia (Iraq) campaign, covers October 1915 to April 1916 and begins immediately after the capture of Kut-al-Amara at the end of September by Gen. Townshend's British/Indian force, the main element of which was the 6th Indian Division. It describes the discussions that followed regarding the advisability of exploiting the capture of Kut by advancing on Baghdad. Among the doubters was Kitchener, but eventually the Cabinet decided to authorise the advance. There follows the account of operations in which the Turks halted the advance at Ctesiphon, causing Townshend to retreat to Kut where his force was besieged over the period of the next four months. The narrative describes the unsuccessful efforts of relief columns to get through (three attempts in all) and in the end Townshend was directed to open negotiations with the Turks, leading to the starving garrison's surrender on 29 April 1916. Nearly all the official records of the force in Kut dealing with the operations at Ctesiphon, the subsequent retreat and the siege were destroyed, so the author has had to rely to a great extent on private accounts which have also included the bad treatment of the garrison by the Turks. Numerous appendices give extracts from official documents, correspondence and details on order of battle and casualty figures. As the author says in his introduction: "This volume is mainly a recital of a series of British misfortunes".
This third volume in the official four-volume history of the Mesopotamia (Iraq) campaign takes the story from May 1916 up to 30 April 1917, covering the battle of Kut-Al-Amara, the pursuit of the Turks, the occupation of Baghdad and the subsequent operations around Baghdad. During this period, command of the British forces had passed to General Maude, whose papers were made available to the author by the General's widow, Lady Maude. The Turkish troops proved to be tough opponents, especially on the River Tigris where their XVIII Corps made an heroic stand. Operations here are described in detail, since this phase in the Mesopotamian campaign is the only instance of continuous, close-trench fighting. Appendices provide detailed British and Indian Army order of battle information.
More than any other family, the Verney's - a dynasty of Buckinghamshire squires - embody the tragic conflicts and divided loyalties of the English Civil War. The family patriarch, Sir Edmund Verney, was a courtier and former close friend of King Charles I, even accompanying Charles on his fruitless marriage mission to Madrid when he attempted to woo the Spanish Infanta. However, as MP for Wycombe, Verney often found himself in opposition to Royal policy - and as a staunch Protestant particularly deplored Charles' devotion to High Anglicanism and Bishops. However, when the push of Parliamentary politics came to the shove of Civil War, Verney reluctantly placed his loyalty to the Crown above his conscience, telling a friend: 'For my part I do not like the quarrel and do heartily wish that the King would yield and consent to what they [Parliament] desire... [but] I have eaten his bread and served him near thirty years, and will not do so base a thing as to forsake him; and choose rather to lose my Life (which I am sure I shall do) to preserve and defend those things, which are against my conscience to preserve and defend'. Sure enough, in accordance with his own prophecy Verney did die in the Civil War's first battle, Edgehill. According to legend, he defended the Royal Standard so stoutly that his severed hand was found still clutching it after the battle. Verney's eldest son and heir, Sir Ralph, also an MP, was a stout Parliamentarian; but his younger brother, Edmund junior. was a passionate Royalist who died at the hands of Cromwell's troops in the massacre that followed the storming of Drogheda in Ireland. This two-volume family history, published in 1892, and much drawn upon by Civil War historians, tells the story of the conflicted family's fortunes - and the tragic wounds inflicted on close families who find themselves 'by the sword divided'.
A SHAEF report which asks a number of questions about the conduct of the war on the Allied side. This report describes the concentration camps that existed inside German controlled Europe from the beginning of the Nazi regime right to the end. It contains details of the camps themselves (and discusses the various types of camp), the camp guards and the Totenkopf Regiments. The main body gives exact details of what was known about the multitude of camps and detention centres towards the end of the war in Europe, and begs the question: if this was known, why was no one made aware of these camps other than the politicians and intelligence agencies? Auschwitz, Dachau, Belsen, Treblinka are, with the other camps, all described. There were thirty camps in Holland, twenty-nine in Norway, and the list for Poland is extremely long and very chilling. This book has information which gives the lie to the reconstructionist historian, and points to the clear fact that holocaust denial is a non-starter. Although not a comforting read, the information is so vital to any study of the Third Reich that it must be on the bookshelf for reference.
Volume I (1st April to 15th August 1780) begins with Cornwallis's involvement in the siege of Charlestown and his consolidation of British authority in South Carolina. It ends as British ascendancy there begins so soon to unravel in the face of internal uprisings and an external threat.Volume II (16th August to 31st October 1780) covers the Battle of Camden and the autumn campaign, including Ferguson's advance into North Carolina, his defeat at King's Mountain, and the ensuing abandonment of the campaign. Also covered are the assault on Augusta and Wemyss' and Moncrief's expeditions to the east of the Wateree and Santee.Volume III (1st November 1780 to 31st January 1781) deals with Cornwallis's refitment at Winnsborough, his uphill and largely unrewarding struggle to put South Carolina into a better state of defence, and the commencement of the winter campaign. Events taking place were Tarleton's foray east of the Wateree, the actions at Fishdam and Blackstocks, and the Battle of Cowpens.Volume IV (1st February to 19th May 1781) outlines the disastrous winter campaign, the pyrrhic victory at Guilford, and Cornwallis's refitment at Wilmington. It ends with his march to Virginia, the absurdity of which is addressed.Volume V (20th May to 22nd July 1781) recounts the short Virginia campaign and continues with Clinton's countermanded requisition of troops for the defence of New York or a raid on Philadelphia. It concludes with his request that a post protecting ships of the line be occupied on Williamsburg Neck even if it required all the force present in Virginia. Further evidence comes to light that it would have been perfectly feasible for Cornwallis to return overland from Wilmington to South Carolina.Volume VI (23rd July 1781 to 17th January 1782) describes in part the evacuation of Portsmouth and the occupation, siege and capitulation of Yorktown and Gloucester. It goes on to disclose the beginning of the Clinton-Cornwallis controversy before detailing Cornwallis's fraught passage to England. The papers end as they begin - with South Carolina and Georgia.
This volume in the Official History of The Great War covers the early stages of the Middle East theatre - from the outbreak of war to June 1917. After a brief background to the situation in Egypt in August 1914, and the opening of hostilities with Turkey at the end of October, this volume concerns itself with the defence of Egypt against invasion by the Turks from the east and their allied Arab tribesman of the western desert; the role of Egypt in the concentration of forces for, and subsequent evacuation of, Gallipoli; the expulsion of the Turks from the Sinai Peninsula; and concludes with the First and Second Battles of Gaza. It also includes the early stages of the Arab campaign against the Turks in the Hejaz - immortalised by Col. T.E. Lawrence 'of Arabia'.
Part II of the Official History of The Great War in the Middle East takes the story from May 1918 to the armistice. It begins with a summary of the Arab revolt against the Turks, which involved the exploits of Col. T.E. Lawrence 'of Arabia', and consisted of harassing attacks and sabotage of railways which drew off great numbers of the Turks to the benefit of the EEF. This was important because Allenby was being required to despatch British infantry battalions and Yeomanry regiments to France where the great German spring offensives had been launched in March. Indian battalions were set to replace the British ones, and the ensuing reorganisation of the EEF is described in some detail. The narrative continues with the final offensives - the battles of Megiddo, the operations of the Desert Mounted Corps, Chaytor's Force, the pursuit through Syria and the capture of Damascus. An epilogue discusses the policy of the campaign, the strategy and the tactics. There are numerous appendices which apply to both Parts I and II, beginning with a tabular record of operations from June 1917 and containing orders of battle of the EEF in October 1917 and in September 1918 as well as that of the Turkish forces. There are examples of Force Orders, of corps operation orders and instructions, and finally there is a good index to both parts.
This is the first of two volumes which, after a brief background review of Macedonia and its neighbours, and the conflict between Austria and Serbia which triggered The Great War, picks up the story from the landing of British and French troops at Salonika in northern Greece and takes it up to the abdication of the pro-German King Constantine of Greece and the entry of Greece into the war on the side of the Allies. The last of the military operations covered in this volume is the April/May 1917 allied offensive known as the Battle of Dojran; British divisions in the theatre consisted of 10th (Irish), 22nd, 26th, 27th (reg), 38th (reg) and 60th (2/2nd London, TF); the latter was transferred to the EEF in June 1917 and fought in the Palestine campaign
Persia (modern Iran) was a key strategic piece on the global chessboard of The Great War, placed as it was between Afghanistan and the warring Ottoman Turkish, Russian and British Empires. In 1914 Britain sent an Anglo-Indian force to Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) to deny the Turks access to the Persian oil fields. Germany retaliated by attempting to stir up an Islamic Jihad against the Allied incursion in Persia and India. This was foiled by the capture of German agents, as was a German attempt to kidnap the young Shah of Persia. Fighting between Russia and Turkey spilt over into Persia, and in the wake of the Russian collapse into revolution in 1918, Britain sent a small force - Dunsterforce - under Gen. Dunsterville into the Caucasus to encourage local resistance against the Turks and Germans. Although eventually withdrawing into Persia, Dunsterforce did succeed in denying the Turks access to the Baku oil fields until the armistice.
It was originally planned to complete the Official History of the Egypt and Palestine campaign in two volumes, with this second volume taking the story from the appointment of Allenby to the command of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) in June 1917, to the conclusion of the armistice with Turkey. But it was only after Allenby's arrival that the campaign really took off, with all the major offensives and battles taking place during his period of command. It thus became clear that Volume II would need to be in two parts. This part covers the offensive at Gaza and Beersheba and the subsequent battles in the Judaean Hills for the capture and defence of Jerusalem, which lasted from the end of October to the end of December 1917 without a break. It continues into 1918 with the operations in the Jordan Valley in February 1918; first the capture of Jericho, then the two raids into Trans-Jordan with the important engagements between them, lasting until 4 May. At this point there was a real break in the campaign for the first time and it is here that Part I ends. The contents list includes Parts I and II and all the appendices are at the end of Part II.
Twenty appendices essential to understanding the campaign . 1. Instructions and Orders issued by the 29th Division for Battle of Gully Ravine, 28th June, 19151.A. Turkish Counter-Battery Work at Helles2. First Instructions from G.H.Q. to IX Corps for Suvla Operations3. Final Instructions from G.H.Q. to IX Corps for Suvla Operations 4. IX Corps Orders for the Suvla Landing5. IIth Division Order for the Suvla Landing6. Composition and Principal Armaments of Naval Squadrons for August Operations7. Orders for the Night Advance from Anzac and Capture of Sari Bair8. Orders for Attack on Sari Bair , 8th August9. Epitome of Orders issued by Vice-Admiral for Suvla Landing10. IX Corps Order to 31st Brigade,7th August11. First Report of General Stopford to G.H.Q., 7th August12. 32nd Brigade Order for the Morning Advance, 8th August13. IIth Division Orders for Attack on 9th August14. Final Order for IIth Division Orders for Attack on 9th August15. 32nd Brigade Orders for Attack on 9th August16. G.H.Q. Instructions to Major General de Lisle17. Lord Kitchener's Instructions for GeneralSir C.C. Monro18. Army Orders for Helles Evacuation19. Naval Embarkation Orders, Helles Evacuation20. VIII Corps Order for Helles Evacuation
Long out of print, this is the account of what many regard as the decisive military campaign of the Great War - and, indeed, of the whole 20th century. - by the German general who fought and lost it.Alexander von Kluck was a fire-eating commander of great ability and dash. He was given the crucial role in 1914 of commanding the German First Army, the 'fist' of the famous Schlieffen Plan to knock out France in a lightning six-week campaign. Kluck's mission was to march through Belgium ( bringing Britain into the war), drive through north-east France and scoop up Paris, thus trapping the main French armies between their capital and the Franco-German frontier where the German left-wing was waiting. Kluck did all that was asked of him, but when Schlieffen's plan left the drawing board and was tested on the battlefield, it began to unravel. Firstly, the British Expeditionary Force arrived in France much faster than the Germans had expected, fighting delaying actions against Kluck at Mons and Le Cateau. Secondly, as he approached Paris, Kluck's exhausted army began to lose touch with the Second Army of von Bulow to their left. Crucially, Kluck sidestepped westwards to keep in touch with Bulow, thus giving France's General Joffre the chance to launch the counterstroke attack on his flank that became the Battle of the Marne; a series of engagements which first checked, then reversed, the hitherto victorious German onslaught. Cyril Falls, doyen of Britain's Great War historians, called Kluck's book "One of the most interesting and important of German war books'. Written with all the headstrong fierceness which made Kluck famous, this book is one which no student of the Great War will want to miss. It comes complete with maps, an appendix giving the First Army's Order of Battle, and a frontispiece photograph of the author.
Twenty nine appendices1. Lord Kitcheners's Instructions to Sir Ian Hamilton2. Order of Battle, Mediterranean Expeditionary Force3. Sir I. Hamilton's Order for Landing, 25th of April 19154. Instructions for Helles Covering Force5. Instructions for G.O.C.A. & N.Z.A.C6. Instructions for Kum Kale Landing7. Epitome of Orders issued by Vice-Admiral de Robeck8. Composition of Naval Squadrons9. Epitome of Orders issued by Rear-Admiral Wemiss10. General Orders to Masters of Transport11. Medical Arrangements for the Landings12. Epitome of Orders issued by Rear-Admiral Thursby13. Suggested Action in Event of Failure14. Gen. Birdwood's Orders for Anzac Landing15. Gen. Birdwood's Instructions to 1st Australian Division16. 1st Australian Division Order for Landing17. 29th Division Order for Landing18. 29th Division Instructions for Covering Force19. 86th Brigade Operation Order No. 120. Instructions to G.O.C C.E.O.21. Extracts from Signal Log, H.M.S Euryalus22. 29th Division Order, First Battle of Krithia23. 87th Brigade Order, First Battle of Krithia24. G.H.Q Order, Second Battle of Krithia25. 29th Division Order, Second Battle of Krithia26. 29th Division Order, Second Battle of Krithia, (2nd Day)27. G.H.Q Order, Second Battle of Krithia, (3rd Day)28. 29th Division Order, Second Battle of Krithia, (Final Phase)29. Notes on Signal Arrangements
This is a history of Irish military valour as employed against the old enemy, England, from the wars of Elizabeth down to the War of the Spanish Succession. The Earl of Tyrone led a guerilla resistance to attempted English colonisation at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries; from then on Irish soldiers were much sought after by the Catholic powers of Spain and France who often employed them as mercenaries against the Protestant Dutch and English. Occasionally, the Irish found themselves battling their fellow countrymen who had taken service in the British Army. At the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 Irishmen found themselves fighting on both sides - for William of Orange and James II. Irishmen also distinguished themselves fighting on the French side in the War of the Spanish Succession. Published in Dublin in 1845, this is a splendid record of Irish arms.
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