Companion to the British Army
Companion to the British Army

Author: George Forty

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2009-10-01

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 0750951397

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To encapsulate the British Army in one book is no easy task, but here, George Forty presents it as it was during the Second World War. When war was declared in 1939, the British Army was very much the 'Cinderella' of the three armed services, with a total strength of around 865,000 men. However, just four years later when the Allies invaded north-west Europe, the British Army had grown into a powerful, well-organised and well-equipped fighting force of 3 million men and women. George Forty presents a comprehensive overview of the British Army during this important time. He includes full details of mobilisation and training, higher organisation and arms of the service; divisional organisations and non-divisional units; HQs and Staff; the combat arms and the services; the individual soldier, his weapons and equipment; tactics; vehicle markings and camouflage; the Auxiliary Territorial Service and other Women's Corps. Fully illustrated with an unusual collection of photographs and line illustrations, this is an indispensable reference guide for anyone interested in this fascinating period of British history.

Companion to the British Army 1939-45
Companion to the British Army 1939-45

Author: Lieutenant Colonel George Forty OBE

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2009-10-01

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 0750951397

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To encapsulate the British Army in one book is no easy task, but here, George Forty presents it as it was during the Second World War. When war was declared in 1939, the British Army was very much the 'Cinderella' of the three armed services, with a total strength of around 865,000 men. However, just four years later when the Allies invaded north-west Europe, the British Army had grown into a powerful, well-organised and well-equipped fighting force of 3 million men and women. George Forty presents a comprehensive overview of the British Army during this important time. He includes full details of mobilisation and training, higher organisation and arms of the service; divisional organisations and non-divisional units; HQs and Staff; the combat arms and the services; the individual soldier, his weapons and equipment; tactics; vehicle markings and camouflage; the Auxiliary Territorial Service and other Women's Corps. Fully illustrated with an unusual collection of photographs and line illustrations, this is an indispensable reference guide for anyone interested in this fascinating period of British history.

British Army Handbook 1939-1945
British Army Handbook 1939-1945

Author: George Forty

Publisher: Sutton Pub Limited

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 9780750931908

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To encapsulate the British Army in one book is no easy task, but here, George Forty presents it as it was during the Second World War. When war was declared in 1939, the British Army was very much the 'Cinderella' of the three armed services with a total strength of around 865,000 men. However, just four years later when the Allies invaded North West Europe, the British Army had grown into a powerful, well-organized and well-equipped fighting force of three million men and women. George Forty here presents a comprehensive overview of the British Army during this important time. It has full details of mobilization and training, higher organization and arms of the service; divisional organizations and non-divisional units; HQs and Staff; the combat arms and the services; the individual soldier, his weapons and equipment based on that used in 1944; tactics; weapons, vehicles and equipment; vehicle markings and camouflage; the ATS and other Women's Corps. Fully illustrated with an unusual collection of photographs and line illustrations, this is an indispensable reference guide for anyone interested in this fascinating period of British history.

The Second World War Through Soldiers' Eyes
The Second World War Through Soldiers' Eyes

Author: James Goulty

Publisher: Pen & Sword Military

Published: 2020-05-30

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 9781526781710

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What was it really like to serve in the British Army during the Second World War?Discover a soldier's view of life in the British Army from recruitment and training to the brutal realities of combat. Using first-hand sources, James Goulty reconstructs the experiences of the men and women who made up the 'citizen's army'. Find out about the weapons and equipment they used; the uniforms they wore; how they adjusted to army discipline and faced the challenges of active service overseas.What happened when things went wrong? What were your chances of survival if you were injured in combat or taken prisoner? While they didn't go into combat, thousands of women also served in the British Army with the ATS or as nurses. What were their wartime lives like? And, when the war had finally ended, how did newly demobilised soldiers and servicewomen cope with returning home?The British Army that emerged victorious in 1945 was vastly different from the poorly funded force of 865,000 men who heard Neville Chamberlain declare war in 1939. With an influx of civilian volunteers and conscripts, the army became a citizens force and its character and size were transformed. By D-Day Britain had a well-equipped, disciplined army of over three million men and women and during the war they served in a diverse range of places across the world. This book uncovers some of their stories and gives a fascinating insight into the realities of army life in wartime.

The British Home Front 1939–45
The British Home Front 1939–45

Author: Martin Brayley

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2012-07-20

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13: 1782001239

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The population of Britain was mobilized to support the war effort on a scale unseen in any other Western democracy – or in Nazi Germany. They endured long working shifts, shortages of food and all other goods, and complete government control of their daily lives. Most men and women were conscripted or volunteered for additional tasks outside their formal working hours. Under the air raids that destroyed the centres of many towns and made about 2 million homeless, more than 60,000 civilians were killed and 86,000 seriously injured. This fascinating illustrated summary of wartime life, and the organizations that served on the Home front, is a striking record of endurance and sacrifice.

Corps Commanders
Corps Commanders

Author: Douglas E. Delaney

Publisher: UBC Press

Published: 2012-01-01

Total Pages: 410

ISBN-13: 0774820926

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Corps Commanders examines how five strikingly dissimilar British and Canadian generals fought battles and fit into the British Empire armies of the Second World War. The three Canadians controlled British formations and served under British army commanders, and the two Britons worked for and led Canadians as well. Such inter-army adjustments were fairly simple because all Anglo-Canadian commanders and staffs spoke the military language of the Camberley and Quetta staff colleges. Gunners from Montreal understood guardsmen from London – no small advantage when coordinating coalition battles involving thousands of troops. Delaney’s book offers invaluable insight into interoperability and how men animate armies in war.

Eyewitness RAF
Eyewitness RAF

Author: James Goulty

Publisher: Pen and Sword Aviation

Published: 2020-12-14

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1526752409

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Much has been written about the Royal Air Force during the Second World War–memoirs, biographies, histories of Fighter and Bomber commands, technical studies of the aircraft, accounts of individual operations and exploits – but few books have attempted to take the reader on a journey through basic training and active service as air or ground crew and eventual demobilization at the end of the war. That is the aim of James Goulty’s Eyewitness RAF. Using a vivid selection of testimony from men and women, he offers a direct insight into every aspect of wartime life in the service. Throughout the book the emphasis is on the individual’s experience of the RAF – the preparations for flying, flying itself, the daily routines of an air base, time on leave, and the issues of discipline, morale and motivation. A particularly graphic section describes, in the words of the men themselves, what it felt like to go on operations and the impact of casualties – airmen who were killed, injured or taken prisoner. A fascinating varied inside view of the RAF emerges which is perhaps less heroic and glamorous than the image created by some postwar accounts, but it gives readers today a much more realistic appreciation of the whole gamut of life in the RAF seventy years ago.

The British Army 1939–45 (3)
The British Army 1939–45 (3)

Author: Martin Brayley

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2013-06-20

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 147280452X

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The lightning Japanese offensives in the Far East in 1941/42 inflicted a series of costly defeats on the ill-prepared and badly supported British Commonwealth forces in Malaya and Burma. The 'forgotten' 14th Army on the India-Burma border slowly built up its strength and its tactical expertise; and Wingate's 'Chindits' proved that units supplied from the air could operate deep behind enemy lines. In 1944 General Slim's troops decisively smashed Japan's last offensive at Imphal and Kohima; and over the next year they drove the enemy relentlessly back through Burma, reducing them to starving fugitives by the final victory in August 1945. This concise summary of Britain's Far East campaigns is illustrated with many rare photographs, and eight detailed colour plates.

Eyewitness RAF
Eyewitness RAF

Author: James Goulty

Publisher: Pen & Sword Aviation

Published: 2020-11-30

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 9781526752376

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Much has been written about the Royal Air Force during the Second World War-memoirs, biographies, histories of Fighter and Bomber commands, technical studies of the aircraft, accounts of individual operations and exploits - but few books have attempted to take the reader on a journey through basic training and active service as air or ground crew and eventual demobilization at the end of the war. That is the aim of James Goulty's Eyewitness RAF. Using a vivid selection of testimony from men and women, he offers a direct insight into every aspect of wartime life in the service.Throughout the book the emphasis is on the individual's experience of the RAF - the preparations for flying, flying itself, the daily routines of an air base, time on leave, and the issues of discipline, morale and motivation. A particularly graphic section describes, in the words of the men themselves, what it felt like to go on operations and the impact of casualties - airmen who were killed, injured or taken prisoner.A fascinating varied inside view of the RAF emerges which is perhaps less heroic and glamorous than the image created by some post-war accounts, but it gives readers today a much more realistic appreciation of the whole gamut of life in the RAF seventy years ago.