Download or read book British Battle Planning in 1916 and the Battle of Fromelles written by Roger Lee and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-03-09 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite the substantial output of revisionist scholarship over the last decade reappraising the performance of the British Army on the Western Front during the First World War, there still remains a stubborn perception that its commanders were incompetent, inflexible and unimaginative. Whilst much ink has been spilled vilifying or defending individual commanders, or looking for overarching trends and ’learning curves’, this is the first work to examine systematically the vertical nature of command - that is the transmission of plans from the high-command down through the rank structure to the front line. Through such an investigation, a much more rounded measure of the effectiveness of British commanders can be gained; one moves the argument beyond the overly simplistic ’casualties to ground gained’ equation that is usually offered. The Battle of Fromelles (19-20 July 1916) was selected as the case study as it was relatively small in scale, in the right period, and retains sufficient primary sources available to sustain the analysis. It also witnessed the first time Australian forces were used in offensive operations on the Western Front, and thus looms large in wider Commonwealth perceptions of ’Bumbling British Generals’. The book follows the progress of the battle plan from its inception in the strategic designs of the supreme commander down through the various intermediate level commands at operational and tactical headquarters until it became the orders that sent the infantry forward into the attack. In so doing it provides a unique insight into the strengths and weaknesses of British command structure, allowing a much more scholarly judgement of its overall effectiveness.
Download or read book The Lost Legions of Fromelles written by Peter Barton and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2014-07-17 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Intended as a diversion from the Somme, Fromelles was was the worst-ever military disaster in Australian history, and is recognised as one of the bloodiest and most useless battles of the First World War. With the recent discovery of a mass grave and the disinterment of many diggers, it has now entered national consciousness in the same way as Gallipoli. In one night, British and Australian soldiers suffered casualties equivalent to the total toll of the Boer War, Korean War and Vietnam War combined. Barton's research has revealed that the Australian frontline troops gave away critical Allied secrets to the Germans... which not only led directly to the Fromelles slaughter - but also contributed to the failure of the Somme offensive as a whole. The Lost Legions of Fromelles is the most authoritative book on this staggering disaster, combining new scholarship on the battle with an account of recent events to dispel many myths in a rich and compelling history.
Download or read book The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914 1918 written by and published by . This book was released on 1935 with total page 582 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Don t Forget Me Cobber written by Robin S. Corfield and published by Melbourne University Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the evening of 19 July 1916 on a strip of farmland north of Fromelles, the AIF fought its first battle in France. Outnumbered two to one, a well-organised German division faced two divisions, one Australian and the other British, and yet inflicted a costly defeat. By dusk the following day there were 2436 Allies dead and 4123 wounded, no territory gained and only 501 Germans killed and 943 injured. As far as the Australians were concerned, at the disastrous battle of Fromelles, their commander, Major General McCay, was obsessed with ambition and glory on the battlefield. At dawn on 20 July, McCay went to survey the aftermath and was heard to remark that 'they'll get used to it'. After the war McCay's powerful friends ensured that Fromelles was never examined in any depth, and when it was, all blame was put on the British. Don't forget me, cobber is the extraordinary story of the lead up to the battle, the battle itself, as well as the successful search for the 'missing of Fromelles'. Lost in mass grave pits since 1916, some 190 Australians and 328 British soldiers have been discovered after seven years of campaigning by Lambis Englezos, who also writes of his experience here. The book also includes a complete Roll of Honour of the British and Australians killed, as well as some of the Germans.
Download or read book Fromelles and Pozi res written by Peter FitzSimons and published by Random House Australia. This book was released on 2016-10-03 with total page 817 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Trenches of Hell On July 19, 1916, 7000 Australian soldiers - in the first major action of the AIF on the Western Front - attacked entrenched German positions at Fromelles in northern France. By the next day, there were over 5500 casualties, including nearly 2000 dead - a bloodbath that the Australian War Memorial describes as 'the worst 24 hours in Australia's entire history. Just days later, three Australian Divisions attacked German positions at nearby Pozières, and over the next six weeks they suffered another 23,000 casualties. Of that bitter battle, the great Australian war correspondent Charles Bean would write, "The field of Pozières is more consecrated by Australian fighting and more hallowed by Australian blood than any field which has ever existed . . ." Yet the sad truth is that, nearly a century on from those battles, Australians know only a fraction of what occurred. This book brings the battles back to life and puts the reader in the moment, illustrating both the heroism displayed and the insanity of the British plan. With his extraordinary vigour and commitment to research, Peter FitzSimons shows why this is a story about which all Australians can be proud. And angry.
Download or read book The Lost Legions of Fromelles written by Peter Barton and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Controversial and groundbreaking, this is the most authoritative book ever written on the battle of Fromelles - worst day in Australia's entire military history. With the recent discovery of a mass grave and the disinterment of many diggers, it has now entered Australian national consciousness in the same way as Gallipoli. Raging for 14 hours, this was the worst day in Australia's entire military history. Our soldiers suffered 5,533 casualties during this one night. The Australian toll at Fromelles was equivalent to the total Australian casualties in the Boer War, Korean War and Vietnam War put together. It was a staggering disaster. It has also left many mysteries. At the time of the battle, and for many decades after, the bodies of the dead lay undiscovered. Indeed, it was only through efforts in the last few years that the final resting place of so many has finally been located and the dead provided with a formal burial. With access to the German archives for the first time ever, Peter Barton has written the most authoritative book on Fromelles. Combining new scholarship on the battle itself with an account of recent events, he dispells many myths in a rich and compelling history.
Download or read book Fromelles 1916 written by Paul Cobb and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2011-09-30 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At Fromelles in July 1916 two divisions – one British and one Australian – within a few weeks of arriving in France – went into action for the first time. Their task was to prevent the Germans from moving troops to the Somme where a major British offensive was in progress, but the attack on 19/20 July was a disaster with nearly 7,000 casualties in a few hours. This account explores this battle which for many epitomises the futility of the Great War. In those few hours many heroic deeds were done but the battle caused a souring of Anglo-Australian relationships and truly was a baptism of fire for these British and Australian troops. This is their history. In a new section, Paul Cobb explores the recent discovery in 2008/09 of a mass war grave on the battlefield and includes details of the findings of the archaeological dig, the recovery of 250 bodies and the creation of a new military cemetery.
Download or read book The Lost Legions of Fromelles written by Peter Barton and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2014-07-01 with total page 773 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The action at Fromelles in July 1916 is Australia's most catastrophic military failure. The story has always appeared simple, but in truth history did not unfold in the way we have for so long been led to believe. Peter Barton has written an authoritative and revelatory book on Fromelles. He describes its long and surprising genesis, and offers an unexpected account of the fighting; he investigates the interrogation of Anglo-Australian prisoners, and the results of shrewd German propaganda techniques; and he explores the circumstances surrounding the 'missing' Pheasant Wood graves. He also brings a new perspective to the writings of Charles Bean. This compelling and illuminating history dispels many a myth surrounding one of the bloodiest battlefields of the Great War.
Download or read book The Battle of Fromelles 1916 written by Roger Lee and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-06-30 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Battle of Fromelles remains the single bloodiest day in terms of soldiers killed, wounded or missing, in Australia's military history. Remains of soldiers were recently discovered in mass graves in northern France and the final soldier will be laid to rest when a new cemetery officially opens on 19th July, 2010 - the 94th anniversary of the battle.
Download or read book The Lost Legions of Fromelles written by Peter Barton and published by Constable. This book was released on 2014-07-17 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Intended as a diversion from the Somme, Fromelles was was the worst-ever military disaster in Australian history, and is recognised as one of the bloodiest and most useless battles of the First World War. With the recent discovery of a mass grave and the disinterment of many diggers, it has now entered national consciousness in the same way as Gallipoli. In one night, British and Australian soldiers suffered casualties equivalent to the total toll of the Boer War, Korean War and Vietnam War combined. Barton's research has revealed that the Australian frontline troops gave away critical Allied secrets to the Germans? which not only led directly to the Fromelles slaughter - but also contributed to the failure of the Somme offensive as a whole. The Lost Legions of Fromelles is the most authoritative book on this staggering disaster, combining new scholarship on the battle with an account of recent events to dispel many myths in a rich and compelling history.
Download or read book Fromelles written by Carole Wilkinson and published by Walker Books Australia. This book was released on 2015-02-01 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part of the award-winning series, The Drum, and by the multi-award-winning author Carole Wilkinson. The first shots were fired at 11am, 19 July 1916. The Battle of Fromelles lasted less than 24 hours. When it was over, more than 5000 Australian soldiers were killed, wounded or taken prisoner. More soldiers died at Fromelles than in the Boer, Korean and Vietnam war combined. What was the point of this bloody loss of life? And why, almost a century later, did the attention of the world once again turn to Fromelles?
Download or read book Fromelles written by Tim Lycett and published by Penguin Books. This book was released on 2014 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For Honor. For Courage. For Remembrance. The Battle of Fromelles in France during World War I was Australia's worst 24 hours. Thousands of men were shot down amid the horror of that blundered attack. The whereabouts of hundreds of dead soldiers was unknown for almost a century until the discovery in 2008 of unmarked mass graves at Pheasant Wood. The remains of these 250 men sparked a mission to reclaim their identities. Tim Lycett and Sandra Playle became key players in the identification project, volunteering their time and working alongside other amateur advocates and international experts. Tim tells how they pieced together fragments of information from relics, military records, and family histories using genealogy data and DNA analysis. They fought to have authorities reopen investigations in their quest to find the untold stories of the diggers and reconnect them with their families. This is an inspiring, heart-rending account of war, its aftermath, and its effect on the lives of the lost diggers' descendants.
Download or read book British Battle Planning in 1916 and the Battle of Fromelles written by Roger Lee and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-03-09 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite the substantial output of revisionist scholarship over the last decade reappraising the performance of the British Army on the Western Front during the First World War, there still remains a stubborn perception that its commanders were incompetent, inflexible and unimaginative. Whilst much ink has been spilled vilifying or defending individual commanders, or looking for overarching trends and ’learning curves’, this is the first work to examine systematically the vertical nature of command - that is the transmission of plans from the high-command down through the rank structure to the front line. Through such an investigation, a much more rounded measure of the effectiveness of British commanders can be gained; one moves the argument beyond the overly simplistic ’casualties to ground gained’ equation that is usually offered. The Battle of Fromelles (19-20 July 1916) was selected as the case study as it was relatively small in scale, in the right period, and retains sufficient primary sources available to sustain the analysis. It also witnessed the first time Australian forces were used in offensive operations on the Western Front, and thus looms large in wider Commonwealth perceptions of ’Bumbling British Generals’. The book follows the progress of the battle plan from its inception in the strategic designs of the supreme commander down through the various intermediate level commands at operational and tactical headquarters until it became the orders that sent the infantry forward into the attack. In so doing it provides a unique insight into the strengths and weaknesses of British command structure, allowing a much more scholarly judgement of its overall effectiveness.
Download or read book Battle of Fromelles written by Roger Lee and published by . This book was released on 2016-04-21 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Fromelles The Final Chapters written by Tim Lycett and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2013-06-26 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For Honour. For Courage. For Remembrance. The Battle of Fromelles in France during the First World War was Australia's worst 24 hours. Thousands of men were shot down amid the horror of that blundered attack. The whereabouts of hundreds of dead soldiers was unknown for almost a century until the discovery in 2008 of unmarked mass graves at Pheasant Wood. The remains of these 250 men sparked a mission to reclaim their identities. Tim Lycett and Sandra Playle became key players in the identification project, volunteering their time and working alongside other amateur advocates and international experts. Tim tells how they pieced together fragments of information from relics, military records and family histories using genealogy data and DNA analysis. They fought to have authorities reopen investigations in their quest to find the untold stories of the diggers and reconnect them with their families. This is an inspiring, heart-rending account of war, its aftermath and its effect on the lives of the lost diggers' descendants.
Download or read book The Battle of Milne Bay 1942 written by Nicholas Anderson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2018-08-05 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By 1942 the formidable Japanese military had conquered swathes of territory across south-east Asia and the Pacific Ocean. Despite its defeat at the Battle of Midway, Japan remained a potent enemy committed to the creation of a defensive arc to shield its captured possessions in the Pacific. The capture of Port Moresby would cement the southern border of this defensive arc and sever the vital lines of communication between Australia and the United States. It was the Japanese plan to seize Moresby that would set the course for the Battle of Milne Bay. Situated on the eastern tip of New Guinea, Milne Bay was a wretched hell-hole: swamp-riddled, a haven for malaria and cursed with torrential rain. It was here that General Douglas MacArthur ordered the secret construction of an Allied base with airfields to protect the maritime approach to Port Moresby. But the Japanese soon discovered the base at Milne Bay and despatched a task force to destroy its garrison and occupy the base. All that stood between the Japanese and their prize was a brigade of regular Australian soldiers untrained in tropical warfare and a brigade of Australian militia with no combat experience whatsoever. While the Kokoda campaign is etched in public memory, its sister battle at Milne Bay has long been neglected. However the bitter fighting over this isolated harbour played an equally important role in protecting Port Moresby and made a valuable contribution to shifting Allied fortunes in the Pacific War.
Download or read book The Battle of the Bellicourt Tunnel written by Dale Blair and published by Frontline Books. This book was released on 2011-04-21 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In November 1918 the BEF under Field Marshal Haig fought a series of victorious battles on the Western Front that contributed mightily to the German armys defeat. They did so as part of a coalition and the role of Australian diggers and US doughboys is often forgotten. The Bellicourt Tunnel attack, fought in the fading autumn light, was very much an inter-Allied affair and marked a unique moment in the Allied armies endeavours. It was the first time that such a large cohort of Americans had fought in a British army. Additionally, untried American II Corps and experienced Australian Corps were to spearhead the attack under the command of Lieutenant General Sir John Monash with British divisions adopting supporting roles on the flanks. Blair forensically details the fighting and the largely forgotten desperate German defence. Although celebrated as a marvellous feat of breaking the Hindenburg Line, the American attack failed generally to achieve its set objectives and it took the Australians three days of bitter fighting to reach theirs. Blair rejects the conventional explanation of the US mop up failure and points the finger of blame at Rawlinson, Haig and Monash for expecting too much of the raw US troops, singling out the Australian Corps commander for particular criticism. Overall, Blair judges the fighting g a draw. At the end, like two boxers, the Australian-American force was gasping for breath and the Germans, badly battered, back-pedalling to remain on balance. Overall the day was calamitous for the German army, even if the clean break-through that Haig had hoped for did not occur. Forced out of the Hindenburg Line, the prognosis for the German army on the Western Front and hence Imperial Germany itself was bleak indeed.
