Basing his story on contemporary letters, diaries and reports and a comprehensive bibliography, John Mollo takes the reader into the heart of the Hussar Brigade in peace and war, depicting its many colourful characters with a sure hand and describing every facet of day-to-day life, in barracks and on the battlefield. This is a story based on the harsh realities of war in the early years of the nineteenth century. Written with great elegance, the touch of a natural story teller and the imprint of a true lover and student of military history, this is a book to treasure.
When Monty was given Allied command of the D Day landings he wasted no time gathering around him individuals and formations he could trust. Foremost among the latter were two armoured brigades: 4th (Black Desert Rats) and 8th (Red Fox's Mask). Both these brigades had unrivalled fighting records whether in North Africa, Sicily or Italy. They had proved themselves in bitter fighting against Rommel's Afrika Korps and the Italians. Once ashore in Normandy the two superb brigades went on to enhance their reputations on the journey to the heartland of Hitler's Third Reich and final victory. The author has written a fast moving and enthralling account of war at the sharp end.
World War I has long captured the macabre imagination for the seemingly willful manner in which nations sent their young men to die in droves while fighting over essentially the same patch of land for four long years. The vision of those senseless deaths becomes even harsher and more depraved when we consider how many soldiers were killed by poison gas. In May 1915 the long and bloody Second Battle of Ypres gained notoriety for the participants’ use of poison gas, the first time the weapon had been used in battle. With both sides realizing the importance of victory in Ypres, moral considerations were set aside. Although other, more costly battles of World War I have often overshadowed the Second Battle of Ypres despite the unprecedented use of gas in the latter, that battle now receives an examination commensurate with its significance. In Trial by Gas, George H. Cassar focuses on the conflict’s second half: the battles at Frezenberg Ridge and Bellewaarde Ridge, both of which were fought primarily by British units, taking the reader inside the trenches and behind the desks of those making the decisions. Cassar’s intimate account offers an accurate, clear, and complete chronicle of a battle with a remarkably enduring impact despite its indecisive outcome.
This is a very full history of one of the British Army's elite cavalry regiments over two centuries, written by a former CO of the regiment just before the cavalry galloped out of the annals of war, pursued by the 20th century's mechanisation of conflict. The 10th Royal Hussars were raised early in the 18th century, and saw their first action at the Battles of Falkirk and Culloden in putting down the 1745-46 Jacobite rebellion. In the Seven Years' War with France, the 10th fought at the Battles of Minden, Warburg, Campen and Grebenstein. In the reign of George IIi the 10th became particularly fashionable, and George IV, when Prince of Wales, though a very non-military monarch, became its commander. (One of George's favourites, the arbiter of fashion Beau Brummel, was briefly an officer of the regiment, though his career came to an inglorious end when he was thrown by his horse while parading at Brighton). In the Napoleonic Wars, the 10th faced the Emperor himself in Portugal, before taking part in the Corunna campaign under Sir John Moore. Returning to Iberia, the regiment fought in the battle of Vittoria under the Duke of Wellingortn, pursued the enemy into France, and took part in the battles of Orthez and Toulouse. In the battle of Waterloo, the 10th took a full part, charging the French Imperial Guard at the height of the battle. The 10th saw garrison duty in India before the outbreak fo the Crimean War in which it saw service during the siege of Sebastipol. The 10th Hussars took part in the Afghan Wars and the Suakim War in the Sudan, in which it saw action at the battle of El Teb. This history has many splendid illustrations, several in colour, and is accompanied by appendices listing the officers of the regiment and the sporting achievements of the 10th Hussars. This is a lively and colourful account of a British cavalry regiment at the height of its pomp
During the eighteenth century there was no love lost between Britain and her army. Edmund Burke had laid down that 'an armed and disciplined body is, in its essence, dangerous to liberty.' Admitting, without enthusiasm, that they had to have some kind of army, it was provided with a system of control ostensibly designed to ensure that it could not menace civil liberty -- a complex system which led to Wellington's victory over the French because he was able to manage the administrative hydra in England. His self-set task was 'to do the best I can with the instruments that have been sent to assist me.' Michael Glover unravels the web of complexity over which the commander and his forces won a notable victory -- as well as the French. He describes the recruiting of officers and other ranks, the achievement of advance by purchase, all the services, and how these component parts worked in together. He demonstrates how this machine operated in action and rounds off his account with a portrait of Wellington himself.
The German 10th Infantry Division, stationed in the area of the Poznań 5th Army Corps, was quite a unique formation. The author presents the origin and fighting traditions of the Division's specific regiments in 1866–1871, the organisational structure, the uniforms, the soldiers' equipment and weapons. However, the narration mainly focuses on the history of the 10th Infantry Division in August 1914 – the departure to the concentration area and the fighting in the first month of the war. Bartosz Kruszyński also provides the perspective of the opponent, the French (Paris) 7th Infantry Division. Of great value is the fact that the military operations have been presented from the perspectives of German and French soldiers. The text is supplemented by maps and unique iconography.