Download or read book A Battle Too Far written by Don Farr and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fought in support of a French offensive intended to win the war, the Battle of Arras resulted in heavy losses for little gain after a promising start.

Download or read book Bloody April written by Peter Hart and published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. This book was released on 2012-12-20 with total page 479 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of the decimation of the Royal Flying Corps over Arras in 1917 As the Allies embarked upon the Battle of Arras, they desperately needed accurate aerial reconnaissance photographs. But by this point the Royal Flying Club were flying obsolete planes. The new German Albatros scouts massively outclassed them in every respect: speed, armament, ability to withstand punishment and manoeuverability. Many of the RFC's pilots were straight out of flying school - as they took to the air they were sitting targets for the experienced German aces. Over the course of 'Bloody April' the RFC suffered casualties of over a third. The average life expectancy of a new subaltern on the front line dropped to just eleven days. And yet they carried on flying, day after day, in the knowledge that, in the eyes of their commanders at least, their own lives meant nothing compared to the photographs they brought back, which could save tens of thousands of soldiers on the ground. In this book Peter Hart tells the story of the air war over Arras, using the voices of the men who were actually there.

Download or read book The German Army in the Spring Offensives 1917 written by Jack Sheldon and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2015-09-21 with total page 459 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A detailed and vivid account of the battles on three deadly fronts. The research is breathtaking, the assembly of the story is masterful.”—The Long, Long Trail After the great battles of 1916, the Allied Armies planned to launch massive attacks North and South of the Somme. The German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line in March 1917 forced the new French CinC General Nivelle to rethink and the French embarked on a major attack in the Aisne area and along the Chemin des Dames, with the British conducting large-scale diversionary operations around Arras. The French suffered disastrously and, rendered incapable of further offensive operations, it fell to the British to step up the pressure, which they did albeit at a terrible price. This latest work by expert Jack Sheldon describes the event of Spring 1917 from the defenders’ perspective. In particular it reveals the methods the Germans used to smash the French attacks and Oberst Fritz von Lossberg’s transformation of the defenses in the Arras front. Actions described in detail are the bitter battles around Monchy Le Preun, the Roeux Chemical works and Bullecourt as well as the capture of Vimy Ridge. “This volume of Jack Sheldon’s highly detailed series of books on the German Army in the Great War follows his usual effective model—employing the clear writing and knowledge learned from dogged, detailed research . . . It would be impossible to offer other than the highest recommendation for this book.”—Stand To! The Western Front Association “Incredibly moving and powerful.”—Pennant

Download or read book Cheerful Sacrifice written by Jonathan Nicholls and published by Leo Cooper Books. This book was released on 1990 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cheerful Sacrifice tells the story of the spring offensive of April - May 1917, otherwise known as the Battle of Arras. Probably because the noise had hardly died down before it started up again with the explosions at Messines, shortly to be followed by the even more horrible Third Ypres - remembered as Passchendaele - the Battle of Arras has not received the attention it deserves. Yet, as the author points out, on the basis of the daily casualty rate it was the most lethal and costly British offensive battle of the First World War. In the thirty-nine days that the battle lasted the average casualty rate was far higher than at either the Somme or Passchendaele. Jonathan Nicholls, in this his first book, gives the Battle of Arras its proper place in the annals of military history, enhancing his text with a wealth of eye-witness accounts. One is left in no doubt that the survivor who described it as 'the most savage infantry battle of the war', did not exaggerate. Nor can there be much doubt that the author is destined to rise high in the firmament of military historians.

Download or read book France and Belgium 1917 Vol I the German Retreat to the Hindenburg Line and the Battle of Arras Official History of the Great War written by Capt Cyril Falls and published by . This book was released on 2013-05-07 with total page 676 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Held to be the best written of all the official histories of operations on the Western Front begins with a review of the allied prospects for 1917 as discussed at the Chantilly Conference and then covers the first five months of 1917: the operations on the Ancre in Jan/Feb, the German withdrawal and the British Arras Offensive April - May 1917 Vimy, the battles of the Scarpe (3), of Bullecourt (2), and of Arleux.

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.

Download or read book Arras 1917 written by Walter Reid and published by Birlinn. This book was released on 2011-07-01 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arras, 1917 is a biography of the author's uncle, Ernest Reid, who died in 1917, an officer in the Black Watch, of wounds sustained in the Battle of Arras. Born and raised in Paisley, educated at Paisley Grammar School, then Glasgow University, Ernest Reid intended to become a lawyer before he volunteered for war service. The author the climate in which he grew up, and the influences which formed him and his generation, the generation which supplied the subalterns of the Great War. As a result, although the book remains primarily a biography of its subject, it also explored the spirit in which Britain, still essentially Victorian, went to war in 1914. This is the true and poignant account of a young Scottish officer, pinned down and fatally wounded in No-man's land on the first day of the Battle of Arras, on Easter Monday 1917. The gripping narrative creates a mood of sombre inevitability. It does not simply set out the events of Captain Ernest Reid's life, but puts Ernest's life into its moral as well as its historical context and describes the cultural influences - the code of duty, an unquestioning patriotism - that moulded him and his contemporaries for service and sacrifice in the killing fields of France and Flanders. In retrospect, he and they seem almost programmed for the role they were required to play, and in this lies the pathos at the heart of this moving book.

Download or read book 1917 written by Arthur Conan Doyle and published by . This book was released on 1919 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

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.

Download or read book Narrow Gauge in the Arras Sector written by Joan S. Farebrother and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2015-11-30 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Arras sector of the Western Front in World War I (WW1) was held partly by the British and Dominions 1st Army from September 1915, and almost wholly by the 1st and 3rd Armies from March 1916. No less than in the Ypres sector to the north and the Somme sector to the south, the struggles of the French and then British troops in this sector were pivotal to the outcome of the War. The sector included countryside in the south, but in the north a major part of the industrial and coal-mining area of northern France, around Lens and Bthune. In this book the contribution of metre and 60 cm gauge railways to the Allied war effort in this sector is examined in the context of the history of the metre gauge lines already established. The build up of light (60 cm gauge) lines from 1916 is examined in detail area by area, and the contribution of the related metre gauge lines is reassessed, from British and French sources. After the War the role of these railways in the reconstruction and recovery of this devastated region of France is described. Later the surviving part of the 60 cm gauge network served the sugar beet industry east of Arras. The history is followed through another World War to the closure of the last of these railways in 1957.The book refers to previous works on British War Department light railways in WW1, but contains sufficient general information for readers new to the subject. It also describes how to find key locations now, and how and where rolling stock can be seen. Six walks and an urban tour are included for those who wish to explore the territory in greater depth.

Download or read book The 1917 Spring Offensives written by Yves Buffetaut and published by . This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is devoted to the crucial World War I battles of the spring of 1917. It covers the successful defence of Verdun, and the complete failure of the French offensives of April 1917 which resulted in plummeting morale founded on the hopes of a quick victory.

Download or read book The German Army in the Spring Offensives 1917 written by Jack Sheldon and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2015-09-21 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After the great battles of 1916, the Allied Armies planned to launch massive attacks North and South of the Somme. The German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line in March 1917 forced the new French CinC General Nivelle to rethink and the French embarked on a major attack in the Aisne area and along the Chemin des Dames, with the British conducting large scale diversionary operations around Arras. The French suffered disastrously and, rendered incapable of further offensive operations, it fell to the British to step up the pressure, which they did albeit at a terrible price. This latest work by expert Jack Sheldon describes the event of Spring 1917 from the defenders' perspective. In particular it reveals the methods the Germans used to smash the French attacks and Oberst Fritz von Lossberg's transformation of the defences in the Arras front. Actions described in detail are the bitter battles around Monchy Le Preun, the Roeux Chemical works and Bullecourt as well as the capture of Vimy Ridge.

Download or read book The Battle of the Ridges Arras to Messines March to June 1917 1918 written by Frank Fox and published by . This book was released on 2009-05 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Download or read book The Battles of the Ridges written by Frank Fox and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2017-06-20 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Battles of the Ridges: Arras Messines, March June 1917 The German military leaders read the writing on the wall. They might, at home, whistle to keep their courage up and circulate confident men dacities in neutral countries; but they knew. One ingeniously reassuring German statement (which found publication In an American mag azine that under a renegade Englishman played up for the Hun by attempting to deceive the United States people) proved by\maps that the Germans had lost less territory on the Somme In three months than the French had lost at Verdun in three weeks. But the German knew. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Download or read book VCs Arras Messines 1917 written by Gerald Gliddon and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2011-11-30 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For much of the First World War, the opposing armies on the Western Front were at a stalemate, with an unbroken line of fortified trenches stretching from the Belgian coast to the Swiss border. The Allied objective after the bloody Battle of the Somme drew to a close in November 1916 was to decisively break through the German ‘Hindenburg Line’ and engage the numerically inferior German forces in a war of movement. The Arras offensive was conceived to achieve this breakthrough and was planned for early 1917 after considerable pressure from the French High Command. Commonwealth Forces advanced on a broad front between Vimy in the northwest and Bullecourt in the southeast, with the French Army attacking 80km further south in the Aisne area. Initial successes, albeit costly, were followed by a reversion to the previous stalemate and lead to a change of focus, with an assault on the Messines Ridge, near Ypres, beginning in June 1917.By the end of July, on the eve of the Third Battle of Ypres, a total of fifty Victoria Crosses had been awarded, including many troops from the Australian, Canadian and New Zealand Forces. This includes Captain Robert Greive, who single-handedly silenced two enemy machine-gun nests at Messines, and L/Cpl James Welch, who captured four prisoners with an empty revolver. The courage, determination and sacrifice of their generation should never be forgotten.

Download or read book A History of the Great War The British campaign in France and Flanders 1917 written by Arthur Conan Doyle and published by . This book was released on 1919 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Bloody April written by Alan Morris and published by . This book was released on 1967 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: