The Great War and the Twentieth Century
The Great War and the Twentieth Century

Author: J. M. Winter

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2000-01-01

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 9780300081541

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World War I, the first 'total war' in history, set in motion profound changes in the economies, demographics, and philosophies of the warring states. In this book, leading experts on the Great War discuss its causes, character, and legacy. Their writings show that to study World War I is to encounter not only the dissolution of the four defeated empires-Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey-but also the collapse of the optimistic assumption of progress that had defined the nineteenth century.

Poor Bloody Infantry
Poor Bloody Infantry

Author: Charles Whiting

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 1987

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13:

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"The six year nightmare of World War II was nowhere more hellish than in the slit trenches -- living graves where distressingly callow infantrymen did their best to be heroes. Raked and pounded in the fields of Northern France, burned and bombarded in the Western Desert, steaming and rotting in the jungles of South East Asia, the P.B.I -- Poor Bloody Infantry -- saw the sharp end of war, far from home and often far from hope ... From the half-mad dream of training camps where they polished their insteps and scrubbed floors with toothbrushes, these young men in their field grey, olive drab and khaki ... had been sent packing into the teeth of the German war machine, waking up to the terrifying reality of the front, and sometimes the beyond of human endurance. They came face to face with their enemies as drawing room generals can never do, fought and died, rejoiced in their mates, sang songs, told black jokes and looked forward to the 'dixies' of stew, the postcards from home and the breathers between bombardments"--Jacket.

Bloody Bullecourt
Bloody Bullecourt

Author: David Coombes

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

Published: 2017-10-30

Total Pages: 455

ISBN-13: 1526713454

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In April-May 1917 the sleepy hamlet of Bullecourt in Northern France became the focus of two battles involving British and Australian troops. Given the unique place in Australia's military history that both battles occupy, surprisingly little has been written on the AIF's achievements at Bullecourt. Bloody Bullecourt seeks to remedy this gasping omission.The First Battle of Bullecourt marked the Australians' introduction to the latest battlefield weapon—the tank. This much-lauded weapon failed dismally amid enormous casualties. Despite this, two infantry brigades from the 4th Australian Division captured parts of the formidable Hindenberg Line with minimal artillery and tank support, repulsing German counterattacks until forced to withdraw.In the second battle, launched with a preliminary artillery barrage, more Australian divisions were forced into the Bullecourt 'meat-grinder' and casualties scored over 7,000. Once more, soldiers fought hard to capture parts of the enemy line and hold them against savage counterattacks.Bullecourt became a charnel-house for the AIF. Many who had endured he nightmare of Pozires considered Bullecourt far worse. And for what? While Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig considered its capture 'among the great achievements of the war', the village that cost so many lives held no strategic value whatsoever.

World War Bloody Timor
World War Bloody Timor

Author: Peter O’Hanlon

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2022-03-30

Total Pages: 373

ISBN-13: 1922615706

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World War Bloody Timor gives a revealing insight into the extraordinary life of the everyday digger and service in a conflict that was far from ordinary. My name is Peter O’Hanlon, but everyone in the military, from the lowest digger to the highest officer, has always called me ‘Irish’. You won't see me, or the service men and women like me, featured in the latest blockbuster, but our service lives include drama, laughs and accounts of deep turmoil that are worth telling. I was a member of the Australian Army for 11 years and during my deployment as part of the INTERFET force, serviced three very impacting tours of East Timor. What was it like, as a 19 year to land at the Dilli Airport in Australia’s largest deployment since Vietnam? What are the little-known battles and obstacles that cause unseen scars through a deployment? What are the impacts on re-integrating into the civilian community? This is my story, an ordinary soldier; the juicy yarns, the laughs, the battles, the devastating lows, the soaring highs, the blood, sweat and tears we give in service every day. It will make you laugh and may make you cry. It's the cold hard truth about the impact of a different type of war fought by many who deployed to Timor.

Poor Bloody Infantry, 1939-1945
Poor Bloody Infantry, 1939-1945

Author: Charles Whiting

Publisher: Spellmount, Limited Publishers

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 9781862273771

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Nobody in the Second World War paid a higher price for the failure of politicians and generals than the infantry, whatever their nationality. Most battalions had a 100 per cent turn over due to casualties, some as high as 200 per cent. The majority of histories of the Second World War focus on what are perceived to be the more glamorous aspects of the conflict: flying aces, new technologies, politics. However, Charles Whiting's classic book, now reprinted in paperback is in the author's own words not a history. Poor Bloody Infantry is the story of the brave men whose efforts were so central to Allied victory but which has been gravely neglected by many writers on the Second World War. Whiting's vivid account of their experiences puts the reader in the thick of their struggles: firing useless Boyes rifles at oncoming SS tanks; crouching low in foxholes beneath a yellow incandescence as the surrounding dessert rocks and roars. Detailed and personal in scope, Poor Bloody Infantry deals with all aspects of the uncomfortable day-to-day life of infantrymen in the Second World War ranging from experiences in combat to such matters as foul tinned rations and VD.

Sheer Misery
Sheer Misery

Author: Mary Louise Roberts

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2021-04-20

Total Pages: 211

ISBN-13: 022675314X

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The senses -- The dirty body -- The foot -- The wound -- The corpse.