Download or read book The Old Contemptibles written by Martha Grimes and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-06-11 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following a passionate and troubled love affair with a pretty widow named Jane Holdsworth, Jury finds himself, unaccountably, a suspect in a murder investigation. Detained in London, Jury sends his friend Melrose Plant, former Earl of Caverness, to the Holdsworth family’s Lake District home to pose as an eccentric librarian. Plant discovers that his catalogue cards contain less data on Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey than they do on tantalizing questions about the Holdsworths: What happened to Crabbe Holdsworth’s first wife? What happened to his son, Graham? What happened to the cook, Annie? And what might happen to the two children, favorites of rich old Adam Holdworth, who prefers the ambience of a swank retirement home, Castle Howe, where he and the elegant Lady Cray can drive the staff crazy? Jury and Sergeant Wiggins finally join Melrose at the Old Contemptibles pub, where they arrive at a solution that Jury detests, for no matter what he does, innocence will suffer.
Download or read book The Old Contemptibles written by Robin Neillands and published by John Murray Publishers. This book was released on 2004 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his robust re-examination of the onset of war, Robin Neillands reviews the exploits and character of the BEF, revealing how it came to be both the focus of British hopes and, in the tragedy of its defeat, the catalyst for a policy shift without which the war would surely have been lost.
Download or read book The Old Contemptibles written by Michael Barthorp and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 1989-05-25 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Osprey's study of British forces from the time of the Second Boer War (1899-1902) up to World War I (1914-1918). On 19 August 1914 Kaiser Wilhelm II ordered General von Kluck, commanding the German First Army, to 'exterminate the treacherous English and walk over General French's contemptible little Army'. The 'Old Contemptibles' adopted the aspersion like a treasured regimental title, their subsequent successes earning them a more accurate evaluation as 'the best trained, best organised and best equipped British Army that ever went forth to war'. This book examines the history, organization and uniforms of the British Expeditionary Force of the early 20th century. The text is accompanied by numerous illustrations, including maps, photographs, and colour plates.
Download or read book The Old Contemptibles written by Martha Grimes and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 531 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Old Contemptibles written by Keith Simpson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-10-05 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, originally published in 1981, tells the story of the regular soldiers and reservists of the British Expeditionary Force (B. E. F.) who fought in the first six months of the First World War on the Western Front. This photographic history of the B. E. F. is unique in that the photographs were taken not by official war photographers, but either by the few press photographers who were able to get near the Front or by members of the B. E. F themselves. Complementing the photographs are many first-hand accounts of their experiences by ‘Old Contemptibles’ and an authoritative text by Keith Simpson.
Download or read book Ypres written by Ian Beckett and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-12-16 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The battle for Ypres in October and November 1914 represented the last opportunity for open, mobile warfare on the Western Front. In the first study of First Ypres for almost 40 years, Ian Beckett draws on a wide range of sources never previously used to reappraise the conduct of the battle, its significance and its legacy.
Download or read book Building The Old Contemptibles British Military Transformation And Tactical Development From The Boer War To The Great War 1899 1914 written by Major Andrew J. Risio and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Impressed with the tactical lessons of the Boer War, the British Army reformed its doctrine and training from 1899 to 1914, deploying a combat ready force, the “Old Contemptibles” of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in 1914. Because of these changes, the BEF played a crucial role in Belgium and France in 1914. The lessons of the Boer War guided the British Army and its interwar reforms. The doctrine and training developed from 1902-1914 was a significant improvement over the pre-Boer War British colonial warfare tactics. With Haldane’s organizational reforms and Robert’s new doctrine, the British Army built the Old Contemptibles of the BEF. The battles of 1914 showed the BEF was the equal of any European contemporary in quality of its tactics and doctrine. The comparison of the BEF to the other combatants in 1914 does not stand in stark contrast. The BEF performed well but no better or worse than comparable German or French units did. What does stand in stark contrast is the BEF in 1914 when compared with the expedition to South Africa in 1899. The years of reform between these two expeditions were truly a crucible that built the Old Contemptibles.
Download or read book Old Contemptibles written by Martha Grimes and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 1992-01-22 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The author keeps us enthralled with the rich interior and exterior lives of her characters in this emotionally stormy family saga." THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW When Scotland Yard superintendent Richard Jury is drawn into a brief affair with a troubled widow named Jane Holdsworth, her subsequent death makes him a suspect in her murder. Unable to leave London, Jury sends Melrose Plant, eighth Earl of Caverness to the Lake District to pry open the Holdsworth family's locked box of secrets. Plant does what he is bidden, in his own particular style, and what he uncovers is a shocking sheaf of surprises about the death-prone Holdsworth clan and its growing number of orphans.... "As always, Grimes' characters are gems, and her writting is as witty as ever." USA TODAY Selected by the Literary Guild and the Mystery Guild
Download or read book Old Soldiers Never Die written by Frank Richards and published by Rare Treasure Editions. This book was released on 2021-11-06T19:58:00Z with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author had enlisted in 1901 in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and was a reservist when the First World War broke out. He rejoined his old, 2nd Battalion and landed in France with them on 11 August 1914. He went right through the war with the battalion, never missing a battle, winning the D.C.M. and M.M. Here is a typical soldier of the pre-1914 regular army, and this book is a delight, written in his own unpolished manner. Fighting, scrounging, gambling, drinking, dodging fatigues, stolidly enduring bombardment and the hardships of trench warfare, always getting his job done. This is one of the finest of all published memoirs of the Great War, truly a classic of its kind. A tribute to the army that died on the Western Front.
Download or read book The Old Contemptibles written by Keith Simpson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-10-05 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, originally published in 1981, tells the story of the regular soldiers and reservists of the British Expeditionary Force (B. E. F.) who fought in the first six months of the First World War on the Western Front. This photographic history of the B. E. F. is unique in that the photographs were taken not by official war photographers, but either by the few press photographers who were able to get near the Front or by members of the B. E. F themselves. Complementing the photographs are many first-hand accounts of their experiences by ‘Old Contemptibles’ and an authoritative text by Keith Simpson.
Download or read book Mons 1914 written by David Lomas and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-09-20 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the First World War broke out in August 1914 the Imperial German Army mistakenly assumed that the BEF – 'that contemptible little army' – would be easily defeated. They were stopped in their tracks by the numerically inferior British force, whose excellent marksmanship cost the closed packed German ranks dear. Eventually forced to fall back by overwhelming German numbers, the British carried out a masterful fighting retreat across Belgium and northern France. At Mons, nine and a half British battalions held four German divisions at bay for an entire day. This book examines not just the battle of Mons itself but also the ensuing British retreat including the actions at Le Cateau and Villers-Cotterêts.
Download or read book Fire and Movement written by Peter Hart and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 537 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The dramatic opening weeks of the Great War passed into legend long before the conflict ended. The British Expeditionary Force fought a mesmerizing campaign, outnumbered and outflanked but courageous and skillful, holding the line against impossible odds, sacrificing themselves to stop the last great German offensive of 1914. A remarkable story of high hopes and crushing disappointment culminates in the climax of the First Battle of Ypres. And yet, as Peter Hart shows in this look at the war's first year, for too long the British part in the 1914 campaigns has been veiled in layers of self-congratulatory myth: a tale of unprepared Britain, reliant on the peerless class of her regular soldiers to bolster the rabble of the unreliable French Army and defeat the teeming hordes of German troops. But the reality of those early months is in fact far more complex-and ultimately, Hart argues, far more powerful than the standard triumphalist narrative. Fire and Movement places the British role in 1914 into a proper historical context, incorporating the personal experiences of the men who were present on the front lines. The British regulars were indeed skillful soldiers, Hart writes, courageous and adaptable in the near-impossible circumstances in which they found themselves. But they also lacked practice in many of the required disciplines of modern warfare. Hart also offers a more accurate portrait of the German Army they faced--not the caricature of hordes of automatons, but the reality of a well-trained and superlatively equipped force that outfought the BEF in the early battles--and allows readers to come to a full appreciation of the role of the French Army, which has often been marginalized"--Provided by publisher.
Download or read book The Old Contemptibles written by Robin Neillands and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The British entered World War I convinced of victory. Many even predicted an end to hostilities by Christmas. For the British Expeditionary Force, which was instead obliterated by 1915, this proved a costly assumption. In his robust re-examination of the onset of war, Robin Neillands reviews the exploits and character of the BEF, revealing how it came to be both the focus of hasty British hopes and, in the tragedy of its defeat, the catalyst for a policy shift without which the war would surely have been lost. Affectionately known as 'the Old Contemptibles' (a subversion of criticism from the Kaiser), the BEF was, although small, so highly trained and motivated that enemy lines mistook the unremitting accuracy of its rifles for machine gun fire. However, at Ypres, it was nonetheless conclusively defeated, proving that no amount of patriotism, skill or valour could match superior numbers and equipment. This forced the government to re-evaluate conscription and military funding. Using the testimony of both commanders and infantrymen, Robin Neillands' definitive account offers new insight into still highly, and justly, emotive issues: why such appalling numbers perished and to what extent the course of events would have been altered had the initial reaction from Britain been different.
Download or read book An Old Contemptible and An Irish Pasha written by Reg Fitzpatrick and published by Austin Macauley Publishers. This book was released on 2022-04-29 with total page 539 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a true story of the adventurous times and heroism of Lt Colonel T W Fitzpatrick, a latter-day hero of the 19th and 20th centuries. It is a mixture of Lawrence of Arabia, Sharpe and Hornblower but with much, much more! There are numerous different facets to his adventures, including his army experiences, police exploits, handling of riots, assassinations, terrorism and murder, along with his interactions with kings, popes, prime ministers and parliaments. This biography takes the reader on a thrilling journey, packed with adventure, from rural Ireland to India, back to Ireland, to England, to France during World War I, and then onto the Middle East: Palestine, Transjordan and Egypt in World War II. He has blood-curdling adventures in Alexandria, Cairo and Eritrea. Finally it's back to Britain and ministerial shenanigans in the corridors of power.
Download or read book Gallipoli 1915 written by Philip Haythornthwaite and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-02-20 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A highly illustrated description of the battles, hardships and eventual evacuation that these men had to go through, in this comprehensive guide to the Gallipoli landings. The Gallipoli expedition of 1915, the brainchild of Winston Churchill, was designed to knock the Turkish Empire out of the First World War and open a supply route to Russia. The campaign is characterised by the military incompetence of the higher commands, particularly the Allies. However, in spite of this, Gallipoli deserves to be, and is, also remembered for the heroism and resourcefulness of both the British army and the men of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.
Download or read book Irish Voices from the Great War written by Myles Dungan and published by Merrion Press. This book was released on 2014-07-07 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This pioneering study, first published in 1995, retains its rank as one of the most powerful histories ever written about Irish involvement in World War 1. This year, the centenary of the war, sees its timely re-publication as the Irishmen who fought in that war re-enter the national memory after decades of indifference and hostility. The gradual softening of attitudes over the last twenty years amid great historic change on the island of Ireland, is due in no small part to the efforts of historians, such as Myles Dungan, to tell thousands of forgotten stories. Drawing on the diaries, letters, literary works and oral accounts of soldiers, Myles Dungan tells some of the personal stories of what Irishmen, unionist and nationalist, went through during the Great War and how many of them drew closer together during that horror than at any time since. This volume deals with a selection of the most important battles and campaigns in which the three Irish Divisions participated.
Download or read book The Dirty Duck written by Martha Grimes and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-03-26 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A killer targets Shakespeare-loving tourists in the New York Times–bestselling mystery series full of “vivacity, charm, and wit” (Kirkus Reviews). The Dirty Duck is a pub in Shakespeare’s beloved Stratford-on-Avon, and it’s here that Miss Gwendolyn Bracegirdle of Sarasota, Florida—fresh from a performance of As You Like It—takes her last drink. Mere minutes later she is slashed ear to ear. The only clue to this baffling and brutal murder is a pair of lines from an unknown poem printed across a theater program. It seems that a razor-happy killer is stalking a group of rich American tourists. And Scotland Yard Superintendent Richard Jury, just passing through Stratford for a glimpse of the intriguing Lady Kennington, finds himself taking a crash course in the bloodier side of Elizabethan verse.
