Download or read book British Battalions on the Western Front written by Ray Westlake and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2000-11-12 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author's previous three books in this series—British Battalions on the Somme, 1916, British Regiments at Gallipoli andBritish Battalions in France and Belgium, 1914 have achieved all that they set out to do. On the historical side it is now agreed by a large number of grateful historians, researchers, museum curators, librarians etc. that for the first time they are able to establish quickly and conveniently what part each unit played in these important campaigns. It was also intended to provide family historians with a means of tracing the war service of their relatives. This again has been accomplished. British Battalions in France and Belgium, January- June, 1915 sets out with the same objectives in mind, on this occasion providing a unique account of the 291 infantry battalions of the British Army that served in France and Belgium from 1st January to the end of June, 1915. Over 500 volumes of war diaries and unit histories have been consulted, along with personal memoirs and diaries. Detailed records of movements, both in and out of battle areas and on a day-by-day basis, being covered in the same meticulous style as before.
Download or read book Battle Tactics of the Western Front written by Paddy Griffith and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1996-01-01 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historians have portrayed British participation in World War I as a series of tragic debacles, with lines of men mown down by machine guns, with untried new military technology, and incompetent generals who threw their troops into improvised and unsuccessful attacks. In this book a renowned military historian studies the evolution of British infantry tactics during the war and challenges this interpretation, showing that while the British army's plans and technologies failed persistently during the improvised first half of the war, the army gradually improved its technique, technology, and, eventually, its' self-assurance. By the time of its successful sustained offensive in the fall of 1918, says Paddy Griffith, the British army was demonstrating a battlefield skill and mobility that would rarely be surpassed even during World War II. Evaluating the great gap that exists between theory and practice, between textbook and bullet-swept mudfield, Griffith argues that many battles were carefully planned to exploit advanced tactics and to avoid casualties, but that breakthrough was simply impossible under the conditions of the time. According to Griffith, the British were already masters of "storm troop tactics" by the end of 1916, and in several important respects were further ahead than the Germans would be even in 1918. In fields such as the timing and orchestration of all-arms assaults, predicted artillery fire, "Commando-style" trench raiding, the use of light machine guns, or the barrage fire of heavy machine guns, the British led the world. Although British generals were not military geniuses, says Griffith, they should at least be credited for effectively inventing much of the twentieth-century's art of war.
Download or read book From the Somme to Victory written by Peter Simkins and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2014-10-30 with total page 487 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Peter Simkins has established a reputation over the last forty years as one of the most original and stimulating historians of the First World War. He has made a major contribution to the debate about the performance of the British Army on the Western Front. This collection of his most perceptive and challenging essays, which concentrates on British operations in France between 1916 and 1918, shows that this reputation is richly deserved. He focuses on key aspects of the army's performance in battle, from the first day of the Somme to the Hundred Days, and gives a fascinating insight into the developing theory and practice of the army as it struggled to find a way to break through the German line. His rigorous analysis undermines some of the common assumptions - and the myths - that still cling to the history of these British battles.
Download or read book Borrowed Soldiers written by Mitchell A. Yockelson and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2016-01-18 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The combined British Expeditionary Force and American II Corps successfully pierced the Hindenburg Line during the Hundred Days Campaign of World War I, an offensive that hastened the war’s end. Yet despite the importance of this effort, the training and operation of II Corps has received scant attention from historians. Mitchell A. Yockelson delivers a comprehensive study of the first time American and British soldiers fought together as a coalition force—more than twenty years before D-Day. He follows the two divisions that constituted II Corps, the 27th and 30th, from the training camps of South Carolina to the bloody battlefields of Europe. Despite cultural differences, General Pershing’s misgivings, and the contrast between American eagerness and British exhaustion, the untested Yanks benefited from the experience of battle-toughened Tommies. Their combined forces contributed much to the Allied victory. Yockelson plumbs new archival sources, including letters and diaries of American, Australian, and British soldiers to examine how two forces of differing organization and attitude merged command relationships and operations. Emphasizing tactical cooperation and training, he details II Corps’ performance in Flanders during the Ypres-Lys offensive, the assault on the Hindenburg Line, and the decisive battle of the Selle. Featuring thirty-nine evocative photographs and nine maps, this account shows how the British and American military relationship evolved both strategically and politically. A case study of coalition warfare, Borrowed Soldiers adds significantly to our understanding of the Great War.
Download or read book The British Army and the First World War written by Ian Beckett and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-05-25 with total page 485 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive new history of the shaping and performance of the British army during the First World War.
Download or read book British Regiments at Gallipoli written by Ray Westlake and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 1996-06-01 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following the success of British Battalions on the Somme, the author has produced a source book of the same quality on the Gallipoli Campaign. It has come about as a result of many years of enquiries from researchers and family historians.
Download or read book British Battalions on the Western Front January June 1915 written by Ray Westlake and published by Leo Cooper Books. This book was released on 2001 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author's previous three books in this series - British Battalions on the Somme, 1916, British Regiments at Gallipoli andBritish Battalions in France and Belgium, 1914 have achieved all that they set out to do. On the historical side it is now agreed by a large number of grateful historians, researchers, museum curators, librarians etc. that for the first time they are able to establish quickly and conveniently what part each unit played in these important campaigns. It was also intended to provide family historians with a means of tracing the war service of their relatives. This again has been accomplished. British Battalions in France and Belgium, January- June, 1915 sets out with the same objectives in mind, on this occasion providing a unique account of the 291 infantry battalions of the British Army that served in France and Belgium from 1st January to the end of June, 1915. Over 500 volumes of war diaries and unit histories have been consulted, along with personal memoirs and diaries. Detailed records of movements, both in and out of battle areas and on a day-by-day basis, being covered in the same meticulous style as before.
Download or read book How the War Was Won written by T.H.E. Travers and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-11-01 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "How the War Was Won" describes the major role played by the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front in defeating the German army. In particular, the book explains the methods used in fighting the last year of the war, and raises questions as to whether mechanical warfare could have been more widely used. Using a wide range of unpublished material from archives in both Britain and Canada, Travers explores the two themes of command and technology as the style of warfare changed from late 1917 through 1918. He describes in detail the British army's defense against the German 1918 spring offensives, analyzes command problems during these offensives, and offers an overriding explanation for the March 1918 retreat. He also fully investigates the role of the tank from Cambrai to the end of the war, and concludes that, properly used, the tank could have made a greater contribution to victory. "How the War Was Won" explodes many myths and advances newand controversial arguments. It will be essential reading for military historians and strategists, and for those interested in the origins of mechanical warfare.
Download or read book Tracing British Battalions on the Somme written by Ray Westlake and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2009-01-15 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although seventy-eight years have passed since the Battle of the Somme was fought, interest in this, the bloodiest battle of the First World War, has never waned. Ray Westlake has collated all the information so painstakingly gathered, to produce a comprehensive compendium of the exact movements of every battalion involved in the battle. This book is invaluable not only to researchers but to all those visiting the battlefield and anxious to trace the movements of their forbears.
Download or read book British Battalions in France Belgium written by Ray Westlake and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 1997-09-05 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author has painstakingly compiled a comprehensive compendium of the exact movements of every regiment involved on the various battlefields in France and Flanders during World War One.
Download or read book Winning and Losing on the Western Front written by Jonathan Boff and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-07-05 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 'Hundred Days' campaign of 1918 remains a neglected aspect of the First World War. Why was the German army defeated on the Western Front? Did its morale collapse or was it beaten by the improved military effectiveness of a British army which had climbed a painful 'learning curve' towards modern combined arms warfare? This revealing insight into the crucial final months of the First World War uses state-of-the-art methodology to present a rounded case study of the ability of both armies to adapt to the changing realities they faced. Jonathan Boff draws on both British and German archival sources, some of them previously unseen, to examine how representative armies fought during the 'Hundred Days' campaign. Assessing how far the application of modern warfare underpinned the British army's part in the Allied victory, the book highlights the complexity of modern warfare and the role of organisational behaviour within it.
Download or read book Victory on the Western Front written by Michael Senior and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2016-10-30 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Marshal Foch, the Generalissimo of the Allied Armies during the last stages of the First World War, commenting on the victories won during the Hundred Days when the Germans were driven back on the Western Front, said Never at any time in history has the British army achieved greater results in attack than in this unbroken offensive. The scale, speed and success of this offensive have provided historians with fertile ground for interpretation and debate. How did the British Expeditionary Force, having endured the bitter disappointments and heavy losses at Aubers Ridge, Loos, the Somme, Passchendaele, Cambrai and during the German spring offensives of 1918 turn the tide of the war and comprehensively defeat the enemy in the field? This is the fascinating question that Michael Senior tackles in this lucid and thought-provoking study. He considers the reasons for the stunning British victories and examines the factors that underpinned the eventual success of the BEF. In particular he shows how tactical and technical developments evolved during the course of the war and merged in a way that gave the British a decisive advantage during the final months of the fighting. Innovations in guns and gunnery, in shells, aircraft and tanks, and a massive increase in industrial output, played key parts, as did the continuous process of adaptation, experimentation and invention that went on throughout the war years. The result was an army that could take advantage of the unprecedented opportunity presented by the failure of the German spring offensive of 1918. Michael Senior provides a challenging and controversial analysis of the underlying reasons for the success of the BEF. It is essential reading for anyone who is keen to learn about the extraordinary development of the British army throughout the war and to understand why, and how, the Germans were beaten.
Download or read book The Empire on the Western Front written by Geoffrey Jackson and published by UBC Press. This book was released on 2019-04-01 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Great Britain and its dominions declared war on Germany in August 1914, they were faced with the formidable challenge of transforming masses of untrained citizen-soldiers at home and abroad into competent, coordinated fighting divisions. The Empire on the Western Front focuses on the development of two units, Britain’s 62nd (2nd West Riding) Division and the Canadian 4th Division, to show how the British Expeditionary Force rose to this challenge. By turning the spotlight on army formation and operations at the divisional level, Jackson calls into question existing accounts that emphasize the differences between the imperial and dominion armies.
Download or read book The Killing Ground written by Tim Travers and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2009-02-19 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This books explains why the British Army fought the way it did in the First World War. It integrates social and military history and the impact of ideas to tell the story of how the army, especially the senior officers, adapted to the new technological warfare and asks: Was the style of warfare on the Western Front inevitable?Using an extensive range of unpublished diaries, letters, memoirs and Cabinet and War Office files, Professor Travers explains how and why the ideas, tactics and strategies emerged. He emphasises the influence of pre-war social and military attitudes, and examines the early life and career of Sir Douglas Haig. The author's analysis of the preparations for the Battles of the Somme and Passchendaele provide new interpretations of the role of Haig and his GHQ, and he explains the reasons for the unexpected British withdrawal in March 1918. An appendix supplies short biographies of senior British officers. In general, historians of the First World War are in two hostile camps: those who see the futility of lions led by donkeys on the one hand and on the other the apologists for Haig and the conduct of the war. Professor Travers' immensely readable book provides a bridge between the two.
Download or read book The Indian Army on the Western Front South Asia Edition written by George Morton-Jack and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-02-24 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recasts the role of the Indian Army on the Western Front, questioning why its performance was traditionally deemed a failure.
Download or read book The Great War Generals on the Western Front 1914 18 written by Robin Neillands and published by Constable. This book was released on 1999 with total page 578 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many Great War histories tell the reader what happened on the Western front but few spell out why. In this book, the author looks at the battles through the eyes of the generals who were charged with winning them and examines the accusations that have surrounded them for over 70 years. The tragedy of the death toll on the Western Front gives weight to the argument against them, but what were the near unsurmountable problems that stood between the generals and final victory? How much of what the general public believes about the First World War is really true? This book aims to illuminate the bitter controversy.
Download or read book The Hawke Battalion of the Royal Naval Division During the First World War at Gallipoli and on the Western Front written by Douglas Jerrold and published by Leonaur Limited. This book was released on 2014-11-01 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Great War campaigns of one of the Royal Naval division battalions The campaigns of the Royal Naval Brigades have always fascinated students of military history. During several notable campaigns of the Victorian era including the Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny, the Zulu War and the Boer War these 'sailors without ships' left their natural element (invariably dragging and pulling their guns with them) to do battle alongside their comrades of the British Army. The story of the naval brigades of the First World War was somewhat different for here were units, named for the great admirals of the age of sail, which had been specifically created to act and fight as infantry whilst maintaining the traditions of the 'senior service'. The requirements of this great conflict meant that the initial role of the naval brigades to defend port areas very quickly gave way to the pragmatic need for fighting battalions in the field. After the debacle at Antwerp, the Hawke Battalion was re-formed and took part in the ultimately disastrous Gallipoli Campaign before being transferred to the Western Front where it played its part in the Battle of the Somme. This is a riveting account that benefits from the authenticity of first-hand experience written by an officer who served with the Hawke Battalion. Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.
