Mud and Khaki
Mud and Khaki

Author: H. S. Claphm

Publisher:

Published: 2004-01-01

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 9781843427414

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The period covered in this memoir is from 13 January to 23 October 1915 when the author was with the 1st Battalion the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) then part of 7th Brigade, 3rd Division. The whole nine months were spent in the Salient - Kemmel, Hooge, Sanctuary Wood, St Eloi- and if you want to get the feeling of what trench warfare was really like in that bloody (in more senses than one) Salient then you can do no better than read this book. Most vivid is Clapham s description of the attack on Bellewaerde Ridge, just north of Hooge, on 16 June. In fact the HAC history gives two accounts of this action, one is by the CO and the other, giving the rank and file view, is Clapham s story, extracted in full from his book. The action cost the battalion over 200 casualties, almost half the trench strength at the time. The narrative ends with the battalion being withdrawn from the line and transferred to GHQ Troops, and Clapham a corporal. A superb book.

Unknown Soldiers
Unknown Soldiers

Author: Neil Hanson

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2007-12-18

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 030742989X

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The First World War was a conflict of unprecedented ferocity. After the last shot was fired and the troops marched home, approximately three million soldiers remained unaccounted for. An unassuming English chaplain first proposed a symbolic burial in memory of all the missing dead; subsequently the idea was picked up by almost every combatant country. Acclaimed author Neil Hanson focuses on the lives of three soldiers — an Englishman, a German, and an American — using their diaries and letters to offer an unflinching yet compassionate account of the front lines. He describes how each man endured nearly unbearable conditions, skillfully showing how the Western world arrived at the now time-honored way of mourning and paying tribute to all those who die in war. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Call to Arms
Call to Arms

Author: Charles Messenger

Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Published: 2015-04-30

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 1780227590

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This is a comprehensive account of how the British Army coped with and adapted to the enormous challenges and pressures of the First World War -- the first major continental war that the army had had to fight for almost a hundred years. Following the course of the War, both on the Western Front and in other theatres, Charles Messenger tells how the British Army managed the challenges of command, training, technology and new weapons of war. He examines officer selection, medicine, discipline, the manpower crisis of 1918, the integration of women into the forces and many other topics. Based on years of original research, this will become the standard work of reference on the organization and administration of the biggest army Britain has ever put into the field.

The Mammoth Book of How it Happened: World War I
The Mammoth Book of How it Happened: World War I

Author: Jon E. Lewis

Publisher: Robinson

Published: 2012-03-01

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1780337299

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The spectre of the Great War still haunts us. No other conflict so dramatically illustrates the waste of life, and the slaughter of innocents, as that of 1914-18. And none has so dramatically shaped the modern world: the Russian Revolution, the rise of Hitler, the break-up of Empire, the supremacy of America and World War II all stem from the four years of the 'war to end all wars'. Here is the eye-witness chronicle of that war, from the trenches of Flanders to the staff rooms of the Imperial Germany Army, from T. E. Lawrence in the desert to the 'Red Baron' in the air, from Land Girls in England to German U-boat crews in the Atlantic, it leaves nothing out. And if all the horror of the war fought by the Tommies in the trenches is captured, so too are the machinations of the 'top brass' and politicians.

The Battles of the British Expeditionary Forces, 1914-1915
The Battles of the British Expeditionary Forces, 1914-1915

Author: Fred R. van Hartesveldt

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2005-04-30

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 0313068437

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In this valuable resource, over 1,000 annotated sources from Great Britain, France, and Germany offer a historiographical reference for study of the British army at the beginning and in the first battles of World War I. Unique to this bibliography is the comprehensive coverage of sources, resulting in a more complete picture of the circumstances of activities of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). Sources include coverage of the BEF's military role, as well as background information about domestic military considerations and Allied and enemy efforts. This volume will support researchers and students in their efforts to find out what the Expeditionary Force's contributions were in World War I, and for expanding their knowledge of the Great War and British military history. In this valuable resource, over 1,000 annotated sources from Great Britain, France, and Germany offer a historiographical reference for study of the British army at the beginning and in the first battles of World War I. Unique to this bibliography is the comprehensive coverage of sources, and it results in a more complete picture of the circumstances of activities of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). Sources include coverage of the BEF's military role, as well as background information about domestic military considerations and Allied and enemy efforts. This volume will support researchers and students in their efforts to find out what the Expeditionary Force's contributions were in World War I, and for expanding their knowledge of the Great War and British military history. The volume includes four chapters of historiographical essays discussings the interpretations and controversies that surround the performance and leadership of the BEF in 1914-1915. The essays direct readers to the major sources that support various ideas and indicate gaps in the historiography of the subject. Following the historiographical essays is an annotated bibliography of more than 1,000 sources that are relevant to the study of the BEF.

The Battle Book of Ypres
The Battle Book of Ypres

Author: Beatrix Brice

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2014-09-22

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 1473843022

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Of the many hard-fought battles on the Western Front, Ypres stands out as an example of almost inhuman endeavour. For four long years it was the focal point of desperate fighting. Officially there were four main battles in 1914, 1915, 1917 and 1918; these were more accurately peaks in a continuing struggle, for Ypres symbolised Belgian defiance, and the British continued to expend disproportionate resources on defending it. It never fell, although the Germans came close to its gates, and indeed its loss would have been a severe blow to morale.The Battle Book of Ypres, originally published in 1927 and now presented again as a special Centenary Edition, comprises a chronological account of the fighting in the Ypres Salient during the First World War, followed by a useful and unique alphabetical reference to the events in and around each hamlet, village or wood names familiar to those who fought or followed the course of war all those years ago, names now once again lost in insignificance. The names given to each stage of the struggle by the Battle Nomenclature Committee are listed in the appendix. Also included is an index of formations and units, an annotated bibliography and a new Foreword by military historian Nigel Cave.

A Brief History of the First World War
A Brief History of the First World War

Author: Jon E. Lewis

Publisher: Robinson

Published: 2014-05-15

Total Pages: 398

ISBN-13: 1472111745

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Even 100 years on from the First World War it haunts us still. No other conflict has revealed so dramatically the senselessness of war, and none has shaped the modern world to the same extent, from its impact on the Russian Revolution and the rise of Hitler to the final break-up of the British Empire and the supremacy of America. These compelling eyewitness accounts - over 180 of them - of the War to End All Wars cover every facet of the war, from the Flanders trenches to the staffrooms of the Imperial German Army, from T. E. Lawrence ('Lawrence of Arabia') in the desert to German figher ace the Red Baron in the air, and from English Land Girls to German U-boat crews in the North Atlantic. There are contributions from all combatant nations, including the UK, USA, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Australia, Russia, Serbia, and India and the book includes a detailed timeline and maps.