The Fifty-Second (Lowland) Division, 1914-1918
The Fifty-Second (Lowland) Division, 1914-1918

Author: Ralph Reakes Thompson

Publisher:

Published: 2002*

Total Pages: 610

ISBN-13: 9781843429937

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The Lowland Division was a pre-war Territorial division which, in May 1915, was numbered 52nd with brigades 155th, 156th and 157th. In the same month the division embarked for service in Gallipoli, a move that was marked by what is still the greatest rail disaster in Britain s history. The troop train carrying the HQ and two companies of 1/7th R Scots collided with a stationary train near Gretna, a few seconds later the London express ran full speed into the wreckage of the troop train resulting in the deaths of three officers and 207 other ranks with another five officers and 219 other ranks injured. The division landed on Gallipoli at Cape Helles in June and subsequently was in action at Gully Ravine, Achi Baba and Krithia Nullah till evacuated in January 1916, moving to Egypt. The fighting on Gallipoli is described in detail as is the evacuation, and from time to time tables of casualties are given . During the Gallipoli campaign the division lost by battle casualties at least seventy percent of its officers and over fifty percent of its other ranks. The second part of the book deals with the two and a half years the division spent in the Middle East, in Sinai and Palestine. In the summer of 1916 the advance into the Sinai desert began, to Romani to El Arish and from there into Palestine where, under Allenby, the division fought in all three battles of Gaza and in operations through to the end of 1917. In April 1918 the 52nd Division was transferred to the Western Front, taking over a sector of the front at Vimy. During the remaining months of the war the division was in action on the Somme, the Scarpe, the Drocourt-Queant line, the Canal du Nord, ending the war not far from Mons. This is a very full record of the 52nd Division s part in the Great War with plenty of general interest in addition to active operations, from small patrols to major attacks, acts of bravery and initiative. There is a comprehensive 25-page index but no roll of honour or list of honours and awards and although there are numerous casualty lists in the text there is no final total. Five VCs are claimed but I can account only for four: D.R Lauder 1/4th RSF; S.H.P Boughey 1/4thRSF (wrongly shown in the index with initials J.H; D.L McIntyre 1/6th HLI; and D.F Hunter 1/5th HLI.

Allenby's Gunners
Allenby's Gunners

Author: Alan H. Smith

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

Published: 2017-11-30

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1526714671

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Alan Smith's Allenby's Gunners tells the story of artillery in the highly successful World War I Sinai and Palestine campaigns. Following Gallipoli and the reconstitution of the AIF, a shortage of Australian gunners saw British Territorial artillery allotted to the Australian Light Horse and New Zealand Mounted Rifle brigades. It was a relationship that would prove highly successful and Allenby's Gunners provides a detailed and colorful description of the artillery war, cavalry and infantry operations from the first battles of Romani and Rafa, through the tough actions of Gaza, the Palestine desert, Jordan Valley and Amman to the capture of Jerusalem. The story concludes with the superb victory of Megiddo and the taking of Damascus until the theater armistice of 1918.Smith Covers the trials and triumphs of the gunners as they honed their art in one of the most difficult battlefield environments of the war. The desert proved hostile and unrelenting, testing the gunners, their weapons and their animals in the harsh conditions. The gunners' adversary, the wily and skillful Ottoman artillerymen, endured the same horrendous conditions and proved a tough and courageous foe.The light horsemen and gunners also owed much to the intrepid airmen of the AFC and RFC whose tactical and offensive bombing and counter-battery work from mid-1917 would prove instrumental in securing victory. This is an aspect of the campaign that is seamlessly woven throughout as the action unfolds.The Sinai and Palestine campaigns generally followed a pattern of heavy losses and setbacks for an initial period before allied forces eventually prevailed. This is a highly descriptive volume that tells and oft-neglected story and fills the gap in the record of a campaign in which Australians played a significant role. It is a welcome addition to the story of the Australians in the Middle Eastern campaigns of World War I.

The Dardanelles Campaign, 1915
The Dardanelles Campaign, 1915

Author: Fred R. van Hartesveldt

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 1997-11-20

Total Pages: 174

ISBN-13: 0313370591

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The passage of time has not slowed the production of books and articles about World War I. This volume provides a guide to the historiography and bibliography of the Dardanelles Campaign, including the Gallipoli invasion. It focuses on military history but also provides information on political histories that give significant attention to the handling of the Dardanelles Campaign. The opening section of the book provides background information about the campaign, discusses the major sources of information, and lays out the major interpretative disputes. A comprehensive annotated bibliography follows. This book nicely complements the two earlier volumes on World War I battles—The Battle of Jutland by Eugene Rasor and The Battles of the Somme by Fred R. van Hartesveldt.

Hell in the Holy Land
Hell in the Holy Land

Author: David R. Woodward

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky

Published: 2014-04-23

Total Pages: 446

ISBN-13: 0813146747

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This compelling WWI history reveals the harsh realities of the British Army’s Middle East campaign through the firsthand accounts of soldiers. The massive flow of British troops and equipment to Egypt made that country host to the largest British military base outside of Britain and France. Though many soldiers found the atmosphere in Cairo exotic, the desert countryside made operations extremely difficult. The intense heat frequently sickened soldiers, and unruly camels were the only practical means of transport across the soft sands of the Sinai. The constant shortage of potable water was a persistent problem for the troops. Drawing on the diaries, letters, and memoirs of British soldiers who fought in Egypt and Palestine, David R. Woodward paints a vivid picture of the mayhem, terror, boredom, filth, and sacrifice they endured. The voices of these soldiers offer a forgotten perspective of the Great War, describing not only the physical and psychological toll of combat but the daily struggles of soldiers who were stationed in an unfamiliar environment that often proved just as antagonistic as the enemy.

The Ottoman Army and the First World War
The Ottoman Army and the First World War

Author: Mesut Uyar

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-12-30

Total Pages: 453

ISBN-13: 1000295184

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This is a comprehensive new operational military history of the Ottoman army during the First World War. Drawing from archives, official military histories, personal war narratives and sizable Turkish secondary literature, it tells the incredible story of the Ottoman army’s struggle from the mountains of the Caucasus to the deserts of Arabia and the bloody shores of Gallipoli. The Ottoman army, by opening new fronts, diverted and kept sizeable units of British, Russian and French forces away from the main theatres and even sent reinforcements to Austro-Hungary and Bulgaria. Against all odds the Ottoman army ultimately achieved some striking successes, not only on the battlefield, but in their total mobilization of the empire’s meagre human and economic resources. However, even by the terrible standards of the First World War, these achievements came at a terrible price in casualties and, ultimately, loss of territory. Thus, instead of improving the integrity and security of the empire, the war effectively dismantled it and created situations and problems hitherto undreamed of by a besieged Ottoman leadership. In a unique account, Uyar revises our understanding of the war in the Middle East.

Tracing Your Great War Ancestors: The Egypt & Palestine Campaigns
Tracing Your Great War Ancestors: The Egypt & Palestine Campaigns

Author: Stuart Hadaway

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

Published: 2017-06-30

Total Pages: 179

ISBN-13: 1473897270

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Tracing Your Great War Ancestors: The Egypt and Palestine Campaigns is the first book explicitly aimed at helping the descendants of those who fought in this part of the Middle East find out more about their ancestors actions, experiences and achievements. Their wartime lives were very different to those who served on the Western Front, and yet have never before been explored from this angle.Hundreds of thousands of British and Imperial troops fought in the Western Desert, Sinai Desert, Palestine, the Jordan Valley and Syria. They served in conditions quite unlike those more familiarly faced in France and Flanders, with everyday challenges to survival including the heat, lack of water, hostile wildlife and rampant disease. The fighting too was of a different character, with more open, sweeping campaigns across desert and mountains, and comparatively little systematic trench warfare.As well as giving the reader a vivid impression of the experience of wartime service in the region, Stuart Hadaways handbook provides a guide to the main sources, archives and websites that researchers can consult to get an insight into their ancestors role and their contribution to the war effort.

Haig's Tower of Strength
Haig's Tower of Strength

Author: John Powell

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2018-09-30

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 1526722615

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This is the first biography of General Sir Edward Bulfin, who rose to high rank despite his Catholic Irish republican background, at a time when sensitivities were pronounced. Not only that but by the outbreak of the Great War, Bulfin was a brigade commander despite having not attended Sandhurst or Staff College and never commanding his battalion.In his early career he was a protg of Bullers and he made his name in the Boer War. In 1914 Haig credited him with saving the day at First Ypres despite being wounded and gave him 28th Division. Unable to get on with Gough, he was sent home. He raised the 60th London Division and took it to France, Salonika and Egypt where Allenby chose him to command a corps. His success against the Turks at Gaza, Jerusalem and Megiddo justified Allenbys confidence.Despite ruthlessly crushing disturbances in post-war Egypt, Bulfins beliefs and background led him to refuse Churchills order to command the police and army in Ireland.A private man, Bulfin left few letters and no papers and the author is to be congratulated on piecing together this fascinating biography of an enigmatic military figure.