Download or read book Scots Guards 1919 1955 written by David Erskine and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 704 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a monumental regimental history with the bulk of it, nearly 440 pages, devoted to WWII and the Occupation. As in 1914 the regiment went to war in 1939 with two battalions which at one stage had increased to four of which only the 4th did not see active service as a battalion; two of its companies, however, did fight in Italy with 1st and 2nd Battalions, and in NW Europe with Irish and Welsh Guards battalions. The 3rd Battalion converted to armour and fought in NW Europe as a Guards tank battalion. A 5th Battalion had a brief existence as a Ski battalion, recruited from experienced volunteers, civilian and military, called for in telegrams despatched by the War Office all over the world. It was nicknamed The Snowballers. The life of this most odd unit spanned three months - January to March 1940 when it was disbanded. It had been intended for assisting the Finns but before it could be put to any use Finland had concluded an armistice with the USSR. The battalion did, however, get as far as Chamonix in the French Alps for training with a battalion of Chasseurs Alpins. This episode is most amusingly described. The history is arranged seven parts with a number of very informative appendices. Part I covers the period between the wars, which includes service in Egypt, Palestine, Hong Kong and Shanghai, and then follow: Scandinavia 1940 (1st Bn); At Home 39- 45 (1st Bn, Trg Bn, RHQ and Holding Bn); N Africa 39- 43 (1st and 2nd Bns); Italy 43- 47 (1st and 2nd Bns); NW Europe 44- 46 (2nd and 3rd Bns); and finally Post War 45- 55 which includes Malaya (2nd Bn). In each section the actions of each battalion involved are described. As the headings to the various parts indicate the regiment fought in all theatres of war in WWII apart from the Far East. The many maps and photographs are of a high standard. The appendices are a mine of information: Roll of Honour and Casualty Statistics; Honours and Awards (Decorations for gallantry are listed by battalions by theatres of war); list of Colonels, COs, Adjutants, QMs and RSMs; Orders of Battle by battalions at various dates (officers and warrant officers); Nominal Roll of Officers who served in the regiment between 1934 and 1955, showing period of service, highest rank reached in the regiment and war service; and Regimental Dress which, for WWII, shows the formations in which the battalions served and the formation sign. Finally there is a comprehensive index. This is a splendid history and a great tribute to the regiment.
Download or read book The Scots Guards 1919 1955 written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Scots Guards in the Great War 1914 1918 written by Francis Loraine Petre and published by . This book was released on 1925 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The History of the Scots Guards written by Sir Frederick Maurice and published by . This book was released on 1934 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Norway 1940 written by Harry Plevy and published by Fonthill Media. This book was released on 2017-06-23 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive, chronologically arranged account of the two-month campaignEmbraces viewpoints of all the combatants: British, French, German, Norwegian and PolishMany first-hand accounts, previously unpublished or not in general circulation Ostensibly fought for control of Swedish iron ore to Germany, the Norwegian campaign made an important but largely overlooked contribution to the conduct of the Second World War. It convincingly proved the supremacy of air power in modern warfare and, particularly, the vulnerability of land and sea forces to sustained undefended air assault. It was the first conflict in which one side, the Germans, used all three arms of their forces in integrated combined assault – Blitzkreig – and in which parachute and glider-borne troops were used to secure airfields and strategic targets. In contrast, the Allies tried to conduct the campaign on land, with an overreliance on infantrymen and inadequate air support. Norway 1940: Chronicle of a Chaotic Campaign deals with the strategic and political imperatives in an integrated and comprehensive manner, as well as operations, in a complex and rapidly changing two-month campaign. While other books on the campaign have tended to focus on a limited perspective, such as naval operations or the higher levels of political decision-making with no combatant or personal perspective, this book makes much use of many previously unpublished contemporary writings and eyewitness accounts of the people involved in the Norwegian campaign. 32 black-and-white photographs
Download or read book Spearhead of the Fifth Army written by Frank van Lunteren and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2016-08-19 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An excellent read for anyone interested in men at war, as well as for students of the airborne operations, the Italian Campaign, and the war in Europe” (The NYMAS Review). Upon the completion of the Sicily and Salerno Campaigns in 1943, the paratroopers of Col. Reuben Tucker’s 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment were among the first Allied troops to enter Naples—a ghost town at first sight. The residents soon expressed their joy at being liberated. Four weeks later, the 504th—upon the special request of Gen. Mark Clark—spearheaded Fifth Army’s drive through the notorious Volturno Valley—the Germans’ next stand. January 1944 seemed to promise a period of rest, but the landing at Anzio meant deployment for the paratroopers again, this time by ship. A bombing raid during their beach landing was a forecast of eight weeks of bitter fighting. Holding the right flank of the beachhead along the Mussolini Canal, the paratroopers earned their nickname “Devils in Baggy Pants” for their frontline incursions into enemy lines, as well as their stubborn defense of the Allied salient. In this work, H Company’s attachment to the British 5th Grenadier Guards—and the Victoria Cross action of Maj. William Sidney—are painted in comprehensive light for the first time. The story of honorary member of the 504th PIR, Italian veteran Antonio Taurelli, is also included. Using war diaries, personal journals, letters, and interviews with nearly eighty veterans, an up-close view of the 504th PIR in the Fifth Army’s Italy Campaign is here in unsurpassed detail. From the author of two previous works on the 504th PIR, The Battle of the Bridges and Blocking Kampfgruppe Peiper, this book shows that the Italian theater was second to none in terms of grueling combat, courage against formidable odds, and an extremely expert enemy.
Download or read book Till the Trumpet Sounds Again the Scots Guards 1914 19 in Their Own Words written by Randall Nicol and published by Helion. This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a story of soldiers at war against the background the two battalions of the Scots Guards who served in Belgium and France from 1914 to 1918. The author's purpose is to display - by getting in amongst them - what they knew, saw, heard, felt and experienced around them and who they were as people. It is clear that the author has attempted to look and listen mostly through these men's eyes and ears - and sometimes through those of others who watched and listened nearby. In conveying how the war appeared to them, the author has not sought to achieve any wider view - nor to explain more than what is considered to be essential. What went on when the men were not in the trenches or fighting a battle holds just as much interest as when they were. The book is written in a chronological, narrative form - using as a basis the war diaries of the battalions, and supplemented from August 1915 by the two volumes of Cuthbert Headlam's History of the Guards Division in the Great War 1915-1918. The main content of the book stems from diaries, letters, notes, occasional pieces of verse, military documents and reports - as well as some press cuttings and any relevant published works. There are three key elements to the book: the first is that a great deal of the material used forms part of private collections and thus has never before; second is the intensive research which has been conducted into individual officers and soldiers; the third element is the blending together of all the research into a coherent whole so that there is a steady flow in an extraordinary story which is full of shocks and surprises, enjoyment and laughter - and (even in the most inauspicious situations) sorrow, joy and determination. These officers and men were ordinary human beings who experienced extraordinary events. In all other ways, they behaved as soldiers do, in that they did what they had to do - often misbehaving out of the line, but rarely in it; enjoying what there was to enjoy and grumbling about much else. Among themselves they had their personal likes and dislikes, but all had to depend on each other and work together. Because of the comradeship borne of the shared experience at close quarters, they got to know each other very well indeed. One cannot be but humbled and moved by their resilience amid dire adversity - not least in the winter conditions of 1916-17. It is extremely important when reading to remember that they had no idea how long the war would continue - and it is not surprising how unexpected and unreal the announcement of the Armistice was for many. The Scots Guardsmen's understanding of what others were doing at any time was limited to what they saw and heard - very rarely anywhere near the whole story and often inaccurate (and sometimes, however unintentionally, unfair). Those British soldiers who took part in the Retreat from Mons saw and were well aware of the plight of the refugees - and they could see behind them the fires as the advancing Germans burnt farms and villages. Those who landed at Ostend and Zeebrugge early in October 1914 were similarly well aware of the plight of refugees. Those in the area east of the Somme battlefields after the Germans withdrew to the Hindenburg Line in March 1917 saw the scale of calculated destruction. Those in the last weeks of the war who advanced across largely unfought-over Belgian and French territory (in the case of the Scots Guards, east of Cambrai) first met pathetically grateful civilians. Whatever else the war was about, it was also about liberation.
Download or read book The History of the Scots Guards written by Sir Frederick Maurice and published by . This book was released on 1934 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Britain s Pacification of Palestine written by Matthew Hughes and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-01-03 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this complete military history of Britain's pacification of the Arab revolt in Palestine, Matthew Hughes shows how the British Army was so devastatingly effective against colonial rebellion. The Army had a long tradition of pacification to draw upon to support operations, underpinned by the creation of an emergency colonial state in Palestine. After conquering Palestine in 1917, the British established a civil Government that ruled by proclamation and, without any local legislature, the colonial authorities codified in law norms of collective punishment that the Army used in 1936. The Army used 'lawfare', emergency legislation enabled by the colonial state, to grind out the rebellion. Soldiers with support from the RAF launched kinetic operations to search and destroy rebel bands, alongside which the villagers on whom the rebels depended were subjected to curfews, fines, detention, punitive searches, demolitions and reprisals. Rebels were disorganised and unable to withstand the power of such pacification measures.
Download or read book Victory in Italy written by Neil D. Orpen and published by . This book was released on 1975 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book British Archives written by J. Foster and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-30 with total page 847 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: British Archives is the foremost reference guide to archive resources in the UK. Since publication of the first edition more than ten years ago, it has established itself as an indispensable reference source for everyone who needs rapid access on archives and archive repositories in this country. Over 1200 entries provide detailed information on the nature and extent of the collection as well as the organization holding it. A typical entry includes: name of repositiony; parent organization ; address, telephone, fax, email and website; number for enquiries; days and hours of opening; access restrictions; acquisitions policy; archives of organization; major collections; non-manuscript material; finding aids; facilities; conservation; publications New to this edition: email and web address; expanded bibliography; consolidated repository and collections index
Download or read book A Bibliography of British History 1914 1989 written by Keith Robbins and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 962 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Containing over 25,000 entries, this unique volume will be absolutely indispensable for all those with an interest in Britain in the twentieth century. Accessibly arranged by theme, with helpful introductions to each chapter, a huge range of topics is covered. There is a comprehensiveindex.
Download or read book Combat and Morale in the North African Campaign written by Jonathan Fennell and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-02-17 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Military professionals and theorists have long understood the relevance of morale in war. Montgomery, the victor at El Alamein, said, following the battle, that 'the more fighting I see, the more I am convinced that the big thing in war is morale'. Jonathan Fennell, in examining the North African campaign through the lens of morale, challenges conventional explanations for Allied success in one of the most important and controversial campaigns in British and Commonwealth history. He introduces new sources, notably censorship summaries of soldiers' mail, and an innovative methodology that assesses troop morale not only on the evidence of personal observations and official reports but also on contemporaneously recorded rates of psychological breakdown, sickness, desertion and surrender. He shows for the first time that a major morale crisis and stunning recovery decisively affected Eighth Army's performance during the critical battles on the Gazala and El Alamein lines in 1942.
Download or read book Sword of Scotland written by Anthony Leask and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2006-06-15 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Sword of Scotland is the story of Scotland's military heritage. Scotland's fighting men have played a part in shaping the history of our world, and many of the individual countries in it. Its contribution and its sacrifices have been out of all proportion to the size of the Country. The skirl of the pipes and the cry of 'here come the Jocks' have weakened the resolve of many a foe. The Jocks of every Scottish regiment conjure up an image of fierce determination and indomitable courage. To them defeat is unthinkable. The various reasons for this are key themes of this book. The geography of Scotland and its numerous wars with England have played their part. But for over 300 years Scottish regiments have fought with distinction and selfless sacrifice alongside their old foes and played a key role in preserving Britain's freedom. The clan structure and the tremendous pride in family that this has produced over the centuries are the foundations of the regiments of Scotland and their greatest strength in adversity. Everyone with a Scottish connection will understand and be able to relate to this book, which is the story of an unrivalled military heritage
Download or read book Churchill s Army written by Stephen Bull and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-09-22 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winston Churchill, Britain's iconic war time Prime Minister, is inextricably linked with the victorious British Army of 1939 to 1945. Yet hindsight, propaganda, and the imperative of the defeat of Hitler and Imperial Japan, have led to a tendency to oversimplify the image of Churchill the war leader, and 'his' Army. For whilst Churchill was undeniably a towering statesman, his relations with both the Army and War Office were ambiguous and altered considerably not only with the progress of the Second World War, but over decades. In this comprehensive book, Stephen Bull examines every aspect of the British Army during the Second World War, and considers in detail the strengths and weaknesses of an organisation that was tested to its limits on many fronts but made an immense contribution to the successful Allied outcome. The book explores the structure of military power from the men who ran it, the Generals to the detail of the regiments they commanded. It looks at the uniforms the soldiers wore and the badges and insignia they bore on their uniforms. The weaponry Churchill's army used is discussed in detail, from small arms including rifles, bayonets, grenades, carbines and machine guns to the massed firepower of the artillery along with the increasing sophistication of tanks and other military vehicles during the period. Finally the role of auxiliary and special forces and their contribution to the campaign is considered. The comprehensive text is enhanced by more than 200 contemporary photographs.
Download or read book The Barbed Wire University written by Midge Gillies and published by Quarto Publishing Group USA. This book was released on 2011-05-25 with total page 586 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A moving and eye-opening account of the lives of second world war PoWs by the daughter of a man who was captured . . . a riveting collection of stories.” —The Guardian Feature films like The Bridge on the River Kwai and The Great Escape have created the stereotype of the Second World War prisoner of war. But, as Midge Gillies shows in this groundbreaking work of social history, the true experiences of nearly half a million Allied servicemen held captive during the Second World War were nothing like the Hollywood myth—and infinitely more extraordinary. The real lives of POWs saw them respond to the tedium of a German stalag or the brutality of a Japanese camp with the most amazing ingenuity and creativity. They staged glittering shows, concerts and elaborate sporting fixtures, made exquisite ornaments—even, amid the terrible privations of the Thailand-Burma railway, improvised daring surgical techniques to save their fellow men’s lives. Whatever skills or hobbies they took with them to captivity they managed to continue and adapt—to the extent of laying out a 9-hole golf course between the huts of one German camp. They took up crafts and pastimes using materials they found around them: even the string from a Red Cross food parcel was used to make cricket balls, football nets and wigs for theatrical performances. Men studied, attended lectures, learned languages, sat for qualifications and exams, on such a scale that one camp was nicknamed “The Barbed-Wire University.” Drawing on letters home, diaries and interviews with redoubtable survivors now into their nineties, Midge Gillies recreates the daily lives of a truly remarkable group of men. “Astonishing tales of improvisation, ingenuity and courage.” —The Spectator
Download or read book Military Interventions War Crimes and Protecting Civilians written by Christi Siver and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-04-10 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: War crimes have devastating effects on victims and perpetrators and endanger broader political and military goals. The protection of civilians, one of the most fundamental norms in the laws of war, appears to have weakened despite almost universal international agreement. Using insights from organizational theory, this book seeks to understand the process between military socialization and unit participation in war crimes. How do militaries train their soldiers in the laws of war? How do they enforce compliance with these laws? Drawing on evidence from the Korean War, the Malayan Emergency, and the Canadian peacekeeping mission in Somalia, the author discovers that military efforts to train soldiers about the laws of war are poor and leadership often sent mixed signals about the importance of compliance. However, units that developed subcultures that embraced these laws and had strong leadership were more likely to comply than those with weak discipline or countercultural norms.
