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Vcs Of The First World War Arras And Messines 1917
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Book Synopsis VCs of the First World War: Cambrai 1917 by : Gerald Gliddon
Download or read book VCs of the First World War: Cambrai 1917 written by Gerald Gliddon and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2012-02-29 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Featuring the careers of forty-three men, this volume tells the story of the Battle of Cambrai, famous for being the first occasion when tanks were used en masse in battle. Its first day was so successful that church bells in Britain were rung in anticipation of a great victory. A tank crewman numbers among the recipients of the VC. Containing biographies of a broad cross-section of men from Britain and the Dominions including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and even the Ukraine. It includes a sapper, a former miner, who chose to stay with his seriously wounded colleague underground and die with him, rather than obey an order to leave him and save his own life; a maverick lieutenant-colonel who was relieved of his command and a padre who worked tirelessly over a period of three nights bringing at least twenty-five men to safety from No Man's Land, who otherwise would have been left to die.
Download or read book Messines 1917 written by Craig Deayton and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2018-06-30 with total page 453 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The enemy must not get the Messines Ridge at any price So read the orders to German troops defending the vital high ground south of Ypres. On 7 June 1917, the British Second Army launched its attack with an opening like no other. In the largest secret operation of the First World War, British and Commonwealth mining companies placed over a million pounds of explosive beneath the German front-line positions in 19 giant mines which erupted like a volcano. This was just the beginning. By the end of that brilliant summers day, one of the strongest positions on the Western Front had fallen in the greatest British victory in three long years of war. For the Anzacs, who comprised one third of the triumphant Second Army, it was their most significant achievement to that point; for the men of the New Zealand Division, it would be their finest hour.It is difficult to overstate the importance of Messines for the Australians, whose first two years of war had represented an almost unending catalogue of disaster. This was both the first real victory for the AIF and the first test in senior command for Major General John Monash, who commanded the newly formed 3rd Division. Messines was a baptism of fire for the 3rd Division which came into the line alongside the battle-scarred 4th Australian Division, badly mauled at Bullecourt just six weeks earlier. The fighting at Messines would descend into unimaginable savagery, a lethal and sometimes hand-to-hand affair of bayonets, clubs, bombs and incessant machine-gun fire, described by one Australian as 72 hours of Hell. After their string of bloody defeats over 1915 and 1916, Messines would prove the ultimate test for the Australians
Book Synopsis The Battle of Messines 1917 by : Craig Deayton
Download or read book The Battle of Messines 1917 written by Craig Deayton and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-06-05 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 7 June 1917, the British Second Army launched its attack on Messines Ridge, detonating 19 giant mines beneath the German front-line positions. By the end of the day, one of the strongest positions on the Western Front had fallen, a place of such importance that the Germans had pledged to hold it at any cost. It was the greatest British victory in three years of war. The first two years of the First World War had represented an almost unending catalogue of disaster for the Australians. Messines was not only their first real victory, it was also the first test in senior command for Major General John Monash who commanded the newly formed 3rd Division and would later be hailed as Australia’s greatest soldier. Messines was a baptism of fire for the 3rd Division which came into the line alongside the battle-scarred 4th Australian Division, badly mauled at Bullecourt just six weeks earlier in one of the worst defeats of the war. The fighting at Messines would descend into unimaginable savagery, a lethal and sometimes hand-to-hand affair of bayonets, clubs, bombs and incessant machine-gun fire, described by one Australian as ‘72 hours of Hell’. After their string of bloody defeats over 1915 and 1916, Messines would be the ultimate test for the Australians.
Book Synopsis Arras & Messines, 1917 by : Gerald Gliddon
Download or read book Arras & Messines, 1917 written by Gerald Gliddon and published by Alan Sutton Publishing. This book was released on 1998 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Covering the period January to July 1917, much of this book concentrates on the events of April - the month of the Battle of Arras. By the end of July, a total of 50 Victoria Crosses had been awarded. This text records the life and military career of each of the recipients.
Book Synopsis VCs of the North by : Alan Whitworth
Download or read book VCs of the North written by Alan Whitworth and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2015-10-30 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today the Victoria Cross remains the supreme British award for bravery. It takes precedence over all other awards and decorations. During its 160-year history, since the first medals were given for gallantry during the Crimean War in the 1850s, 1,357 of these medals have been won, and almost fifty of them have gone to the soldiers of Cumbria, Durham and Northumberland . Alan Whitworth, in this carefully researched and revealing account, describes in graphic detail the exploits and the lives of this elite band of heroes. Within this group of Northern VC recipients are a number of outstanding names, including Richard Annand who gained the first VC of the Second World War and Roland Bradford who was one of only four sets of brothers to have secured the VC. He also had the distinction of becoming the youngest general in the British army. But among the roll of the brave whose gallantry and self-sacrifice are celebrated in these pages the reader will find the names and extraordinary deeds of many other men who were either born or bred or lived and died in the North. They will also find the story of the youngest Victoria Cross recipient who won his award aged just nineteen.The stories of these ordinary individuals who have 'performed some signal act of valour or devotion to their country' will be fascinating reading for anyone who is interested in military history in general and in the long military tradition of the North of England.
Book Synopsis Victoria Crosses on the Western Front, 31st July 1917–6th November 1917, Second Edition by : Paul Oldfield
Download or read book Victoria Crosses on the Western Front, 31st July 1917–6th November 1917, Second Edition written by Paul Oldfield and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2016-09-30 with total page 742 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the past, while visiting the First World War battlefields, the author often wondered where the various Victoria Cross actions took place. He resolved to find out. In 1988, in the midst of his army career, research for this book commenced and over the years numerous sources have been consulted. Victoria Crosses on the Western Front 1917 to Third Ypres is designed for the battlefield visitor as much as the armchair reader. A thorough account of each VC action is set within the wider strategic and tactical context. Detailed sketch maps show the area today, together with the battle-lines and movements of the combatants. It will allow visitors to stand upon the spot, or very close to, where each VC was won. Photographs of the battle sites richly illustrate the accounts. There is also a comprehensive biography for each recipient, covering every aspect of their lives warts and all parents and siblings, education, civilian employment, military career, wife and children, death and burial/commemoration. A host of other information, much of it published for the first time, reveals some fascinating characters, with numerous links to many famous people and events.
Download or read book Yorkshire VCs written by Alan Whitworth and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2012-10-24 with total page 503 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today the Victoria Cross remains the supreme British award for bravery. It takes precedence over all other awards and decorations. During its 160-year history, since the first of these medals were given for gallantry during the Crimean War in the 1850's, 1,357 have been won, and no less than 69 of them have gone to Yorkshiremen. Alan Whitworth, in this carefully researched and revealing account, describes in graphic detail the exploits and the lives of this elite group of heroes.
Book Synopsis Underground Warfare 1914-1918 by : Simon Jones
Download or read book Underground Warfare 1914-1918 written by Simon Jones and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Simon Jones's graphic history of underground warfare during the Great War uses personal reminiscences to convey the danger and suspense of this unconventional form of conflict. He describes how the underground soldiers of the opposing armies engaged in a ruthless fight for supremacy, covers the tunneling methods they employed, and shows the increasingly lethal tactics they developed during the war in which military mining reached its apotheosis. He concentrates on the struggle for ascendancy by the British tunneling companies on the Western Front. But his wide ranging study also tells the story of the little known but fascinating subterranean battles fought in the French sectors of the Western Front and between the Austrians and the Italians in the Alps which have never been described before in English. Vivid personal testimony is combined with a lucid account of the technical challenges - and ever-present perils - of tunneling in order to give an all-round insight into the extraordinary experience of this underground war. AUTHOR: Simon Jones is a military historian and battlefield tour guide who specializes in the First World War. He has made a particular study of gas warfare and tunneling. Previously he was exhibitions officer at the Royal Engineers Museum and curator of the King's Regiment Museum. His publications include World War I Gas Warfare Tactics and Equipment as well as articles in Military Illustrated, the Imperial War Museum Review and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. He is currently working on a book on tunneling on the Somme. SELLING POINTS: * Reassesses the impact of underground warfare on the course of the Great War * Uses vivid eyewitness accounts to recreate the experience of underground warfare * Traces the development of tunneling and mining techniques * Looks at the subterranean tactics practiced by the British, Germans, French, Austrians, Italians * Sets Great War tunneling in the longer context of military history ILLUSTRATIONS 15/20 photogrpahs *
Book Synopsis The Complete Victoria Cross by : Kevin Brazier
Download or read book The Complete Victoria Cross written by Kevin Brazier and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2015-09-30 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fully revised paperback edition of the complete chronological record of VC holders is an essential work of reference for every student of military history. All the British and Commonwealth servicemen who have been awarded the highest honour for exceptional acts of bravery and self-sacrifice are commemorated here. The first VCs awarded for the Crimean War and in the nineteenth-century colonial wars are described, as are the VCs awarded in the world wars of the twentieth century and the most recent VCs awarded during present-day conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The extraordinary exploits recounted in this fascinating book make unforgettable reading.
Book Synopsis Visiting the Fallen: Arras North by : Peter Hughes
Download or read book Visiting the Fallen: Arras North written by Peter Hughes and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2015-05-30 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Like Ypres, Arras was a front line town throughout the Great War. From March 1916 it became home to the British Army and it remained so until the Advance to Victory was well under way. In 1917 the Battle of Arras came and went. It occupied barely half a season, but was then largely forgotten; the periods before and after it have been virtually ignored, and yet the Arras sector was always important and holding it was never easy or without incident; death, of course, was never far away. The area around Arras is as rich in Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries as anywhere else on the Western Front, including the Somme and Ypres, and yet these quiet redoubts with their headstones proudly on parade still remain largely unvisited. This book is the story of the men who fell and who are now buried in those cemeteries; and the telling of their story is the telling of what it was like to be a soldier on the Western Front. 'Arras-North' is the first of three books by the same author. This volume contains in depth coverage of almost sixty Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries and is a veritable 'Who's Who' of officers and other ranks who fell on this part of the Western Front. It provides comprehensive details of gallantry awards and citations and describes many minor operations, raids and other actions, as well as the events that took place in April and May 1917. It is the story of warfare on the Western Front as illustrated through the lives of those who fought and died on the battlefields of Arras.There are many unsung heroes and personal tragedies, including a young man who went out into no man's land to rescue his brother, an uncle and nephew killed by the same shell, a suicide in the trenches and a young soldier killed by a random shell whilst celebrating his birthday with his comrades. There is an unexpected connection to Ulster dating back to the days of Oliver Cromwell and William of Orange, a link to Sinn Fein and an assassination, a descendant of Sir Isaac Newton, as well as a conjuror, a friend of P.G. Wodehouse, a young officer said to have been 'thrilled' to lead his platoon into the trenches for the first time, only to be killed three hours later, and a man whose headstone still awaits the addition of his Military Medal after almost a century, despite having been involved in one of the most daring rescues of the war. This is a superb reference guide for anyone visiting Arras and its battlefields.
Book Synopsis Visiting the Fallen: Arras South by : Peter Hughes
Download or read book Visiting the Fallen: Arras South written by Peter Hughes and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2015-10-30 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This companion volume to Visiting the Fallen: Arras North provides in-depth information of the WWI battlefield, its significance, and its cemeteries. Arras, France, was a frontline town throughout the Great War. In 1916, it became home to the British Army and it remained so until the Advance to Victory. The area around Arras is as rich in Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries as anywhere on the Western Front, yet they remain largely unvisited. This book explores those cemeteries, and tells the story of the men who are buried there. Visiting the Front: Arras-South contains comprehensive coverage of over 60 Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries to be found in Arras and to the south of the town. It has a wealth of gallantry awards, including their citations, and features hundreds of officers and other ranks who fell during the war. Many small actions, raids and operations are described in a book that tells the story of warfare on the Western Front through the lives of those who fought and died on the battlefields of Arras. This is an essential reference guide for anyone visiting Arras and its battlefields.
Download or read book Oppy Wood written by David Bilton and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2006-03-19 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This latest book in the Battleground Europe series describes the battles over several years, and in particular 1917 and 1918, for a wood and small village. The Germans stubbornly refused to retreat as the area held a key position in their defense of Arras.In the bitter fighting, thousands of young men mainly from East Yorkshire (Hull) and East Lancashire were sacrificed.
Book Synopsis VCs of the First World War by : Gerald Gliddon
Download or read book VCs of the First World War written by Gerald Gliddon and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Somme 1916 written by Gerald Gliddon and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2009-11-20 with total page 644 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Set out topographically, it covers everything from the famous battle sites of High Wood and Mametz Wood to obscure villages on the outlying flanks. The British first began to take the Somme sector over from the French Army in June 1915. From this time onwards they built up a very close bond with the local population, many of whom continued to live in local villages close to the front line. The author draws on the latest research and analysis, as well as the testimony of those who took part, to present all aspects of a battle that was to become a symbol of the horrors of the Great War.
Download or read book 1918 written by Barrie Pitt and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2014-03-10 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This vividly detailed history examines the battles and politics in the final year of WWI—includes trench diagrams, photographs, and maps of battles. Three years into the Great War, Europe found itself in a stalemate on the Western Front. The Russian Front had collapsed and the United States had abandoned neutrality, joining the Allied cause. These developments set the stage for the climactic events of 1918, the year that would finally see an end to the war. In 1918: The Last Act, acclaimed military historian Barrie Pitt “analyses with great lucidity the broad outlines of German and Allied Strategy” (The Sunday Telegraph). With an expert eye, Pitt looks into the policies of the warring powers, the men who led them, and the resulting battles along the Western Front. From the German onslaught of March 21, 1918, to the struggles in Champagne and the Second Battle of the Marne, to the turning point in August and the final, hard-won victory, 1918 The Last Act traces “the blunders at the top and the filth and stench and misery of the trenches” in order to deliver “a compelling narrative” of World War I (Daily Mail).
Download or read book The Battle Book of Ypres written by and published by . This book was released on 1927 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Walking Arras written by Paul Reed and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2007-07-19 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The historic background and present-day battleground of a great—but often overlooked—battle fought by the British Expeditionary Force in World War I. Walking Arras marks the final volume in a trilogy of walking books about the British sector of the Western Front, following Walking the Somme and Walking the Salient. Paul Reed once more takes us over paths trodden by men who were asked to make a huge and, for all too many, the ultimate sacrifice. The Battle of Arras falls between the Somme and Third Ypres; it marked the first British attempt to storm the Hindenburg Line defenses, and the first use of lessons learned from the events of 1916. But it remains a forgotten part of the Western Front. It also remains one of the great killing battles of the Great War, with such a high fatal casualty rate that a soldier’s chances of surviving Arras were much slimmer than even the Somme or Passchendaele. Most soldiers who served in the Great War served at Arras at some point; it was a name very much in the consciousness of the survivors of the Great War. Ninety years later, while there has been development at Arras, it is still an impressive battlefield and one worthy of the attention of any Great War enthusiast. This book will give a lead in seeing the ground connected with the fighting in 1917. Making a slight departure from the style of the previous two walking books, the chapters look at the historical background of an area and then separately describe a walk; with supplementary notes about the associated cemeteries in that region.
