Download or read book Silent General written by Don Farr and published by Helion & Company Limited. This book was released on 2007 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This biography assesses Henry Horne's relationship with Haig and the Canadian Corps. It also evaluates his contribution to the technical advances of the artillery during the war and describes the battles which he conducted. It attempts to accord to Henry Horne the recognition and credit that he deserves but which has been withheld. Whether or not Henry Sinclair Horne was the 'silent' General he might lay claim to being the 'forgotten' General of the Western Front. His self-effacement in a profession not renowned for shrinking violets undoubtedly made its contribution to his relative anonymity-- he wrote no memoirs nor kept anything more than sketchy diaries.

Download or read book The Silent General Horne of the First Army written by Don Farr and published by Helion and Company. This book was released on 2007-06-08 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether or not Henry Sinclair Horne was the ‘silent’ General he might certainly, if he were still alive, lay claim to being the ‘forgotten’ General of the Western Front. His self-effacement in a profession not renowned for shrinking violets undoubtedly made its contribution to his relative anonymity - he wrote no memoirs nor kept anything more than sketchy diaries - but it is still surprising that such an important contributor to the defeat of the German army in the Great War has not until now received the attentions of a biographer. After a customary slow start in the late Victorian army, Henry Horne first made an impact during the Boer War, fortuitously as it was to turn out, under the eyes of a Colonel Douglas Haig. By the outbreak of the Great War, Henry Horne was a Brigadier General. Two years later he was a full General in command of the BEF’s First Army. His was one of the most rapid elevations to top rank recorded in the war. In the two years he spent as an army commander he commanded the brilliant capture of Vimy Ridge, the desperate defensive Battle of the Lys, the successful assault on the Drocourt-Quéant Switch, the outstanding crossing of the Canal du Nord and the liberation of Douai, Cambrai, Lens, Valenciennes and Mons. Napoleon always sought to ensure that his generals were lucky. In that respect Henry Horne would have suited him. He was lucky in having a long-standing close professional relationship with the Commander-in-Chief, FM Haig; in having under his command at First Army the elite Canadian Corps and some distinguished British divisions; and in having as his Chief of Staff one of the outstanding staff officers of the war. But there was more to Henry Horne than just luck. This belated biography assesses Henry Horne’s relationship with Haig and the Canadian Corps. It also evaluates his contribution to the technical advances of the artillery during the war and describes the battles which he conducted. It attempts to accord to Henry Horne the recognition and credit that he deserves but which has for so long been withheld.

Download or read book Capturing Hill 70 written by Douglas E. Delaney and published by UBC Press. This book was released on 2016-11-07 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In August 1917, the Canadian Corps captured Hill 70, a vital piece of ground just north of the French industrial town of Lens. The Canadians suffered some 5,400 casualties and defeated three days of determined German counter attacks. This spectacularly successful but shockingly costly battle was as innovative as Vimy, yet only a handful of Canadians have heard of it or of subsequent attempts to capture Lens, which resulted in nearly 3,300 more casualties. In Capturing Hill 70, leading military historians mark the centenary of this triumph by dissecting different facets of the battle, from planning and the conduct of operations to long-term repercussions and commemoration. This richly illustrated and thought-provoking book reinstates Hill 70 to its rightful place among the pantheon of battles that helped forge the reputation of the famed Canadian Corps during the First World War, and it sheds new light on the key role played by Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Currie, who fought his first major action as commander of the Canadian Corps.

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 A Guide to British Military History written by Ian F. W. Beckett and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2016-06-30 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What exactly is military history? Forty years ago it meant battles, campaigns, great commanders, drums and trumpets. It was largely the preserve of military professionals and was used to support national history and nationalism. Now, though, the study of war has been transformed by the war and society approach, by the examination of identity, memory and gender, and a less Euro-centric and more global perspective. Generally it is recognised that war and conflict must be integrated into the wider narrative of historical development, and this is why Ian Becketts research guide is such a useful tool for anyone working in this growing field. It introduces students to all the key debates, issues and resources. While European and global perspectives are not neglected, there is an emphasis on the British experience of war since 1500. This survey of British military history will be essential reading and reference for anyone who has a professional or amateur interest in the subject, and it will be a valuable introduction for newcomers to it.

Download or read book World War I 5 volumes written by Spencer C. Tucker and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2014-10-28 with total page 2532 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offering exhaustive coverage, detailed analyses, and the latest historical interpretations of events, this expansive, five-volume encyclopedia is the most comprehensive and detailed reference source on the First World War available today. One hundred years after the beginning of World War I in 1914, this conflict still stands as perhaps the most important event of the 20th century. World War I toppled all of the existing empires at the time, transformed the Middle East, and vaulted the United States to becoming the world's leading economic power. Its effects were profound and lasting—and included outcomes that led to World War II. This multivolume encyclopedia provides a wide-ranging examination of World War I that covers all of the important battles; key individuals, both civilian and military; weapons and technologies; and diplomatic, social, political, cultural, military, and economic developments. Suitable as a reference tool for high school and undergraduate students as well as faculty members and graduate-level researchers, World War I: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection offers accessible, in-depth information and up-to-date analyses in a format that lends itself to quick and easy use. The set comprises alphabetically arranged, cross-referenced entries accompanied by further reading selections as well as a comprehensive bibliography. A fifth volume provides chronologically arranged documents and an A–Z index.

Download or read book Handbook of WWII German Military Symbols Abbreviations 1943 45 written by Terrence Booth and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2008-03-05 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive reference guide to German military symbols used on documents, maps, orders of battle and elsewhere. To the uninitiated, German military symbols can appear indecipherable. Yet understanding their meaning is essential to any serious research of the WWII German Armed Forces. This book provides a clear and comprehensive reference to these symbols, as seen in photos, tables of organization and maps for the period May 1943 onwards. The first two parts of the book feature an overview of how the German Armed Forces used the symbols in the field. Parts III, IV and V deal with specific forms and categories of symbols used. The format provides an image of each symbol, accompanied by the relevant German term and its English translation, along with any pertinent information that will aid the reader’s understanding of the symbol and the unit that it represented. The final part of the book, containing a list of over 500 abbreviations and their German terms, supplemented by English translations, should prove invaluable to any reader who has more than a passing interest in the Second World War German Armed Forces.

Download or read book The War Diaries of General David Watson written by Geoffrey Jackson and published by Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. This book was released on 2021-11-11 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The diary of David Watson, who rose through the officer ranks to command one of the four divisions in the Great War, is an exceptional document that details with candid insight the responsibilities of senior command and shows the talent required to rise through the CEF to divisional command. The only published diary of a Canadian who held this rank in the last two (critical) years of the war, it focuses on the evolution of military leadership and associated challenges that Watson (and his peers) faced during the Great War. It recounts how he navigated not only the military battlefield in France and Belgium but also the political battlefield of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and larger British Expeditionary Force. The divisional commanders played a central role in the Corps’ transformation into a first-rate professional army, a transformation that coincided with Watson’s tenure at the 4th Division. Major-General David Watson’s personal accounts offer valuable insights into the innermost workings of the Canadian Corps at various stages during the war and in particular its emergence as an elite fighting force and the pride of a nation

Download or read book Godley written by TERRY KINLOCH and published by Exisle Publishing. This book was released on 2018-11-01 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive biography of General Sir Alexander Godley, presenting for the first time a fair and balanced look at his time as commander of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) and II ANZAC Corps during World War I. While Godley is generally remembered as being a poor field commander, Terry Kinloch argues that he was in fact a capable one who had little or no ability to influence the failed battles at Gallipoli and Passchendaele that he is often seen as responsible for. Kinloch also presents, for the first time, a detailed account of Godley’s long pre- and post-World War I career in the British Army. After the war Godley returned to the British Army, eventually reaching the rank of general before retiring in 1933. During his 48-year military career, he also served on operations in Rhodesia and South Africa, as a mounted infantry instructor, in the post-war British occupation force in Germany, and as the Governor of Gibraltar.

Download or read book British Generalship during the Great War written by Simon Robbins and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-15 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following the career of one relatively unknown First World War general, Lord Horne, this book adds to the growing literature that challenges long-held assumptions that the First World War was a senseless bloodbath conducted by unimaginative and incompetent generals. Instead it demonstrates that men like Horne developed new tactics and techniques to deal with the novel problems of trench warfare and in so doing seeks to re-establish the image of the British generals and explain the reasons for the failures of 1915-16 and the successes of 1917-18 and how this remarkable change in performance was achieved by a much maligned group of senior officers. Horne's important career and remarkable character sheds light not only on the major battles in which he was involved; the progress of the war; his relationships with his staff and other senior officers; the novel problems of trench warfare; the assimilation of new weapons, tactics and training methods; and the difficulties posed by the German defences, but also on the attitudes and professionalism of a senior British commander serving on the Western Front. Horne's career thus provides a vehicle for studying the performance of the British Army in the first quarter of the Twentieth Century. It also gives an important insight into the attitudes, ethos and professionalism of the officer corps which led that army to victory on the Western Front, exposing not only its flaws but also its many strengths. This study consequently provides a judgment not only on Horne as a personality, innovator and general of great importance but also on his contemporaries who served with the British Armies in South Africa and France during an era which saw a revolution in military affairs giving birth to a Modern Style of Warfare which still prevails to this day.

Download or read book On the Precipice written by Peter Mezhiritsky and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2012-09-13 with total page 558 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nominated for the 2013 PushkinHouse/Waterstone's Russian Book Prize. Like some astronomers, who discover cosmic objects not by direct observation, but by watching the deviations of known heavenly bodies from their calculated trajectories, Peter Mezhiritsky makes his findings in history through thoughtful reading and the comparison of historical sources. This book, a unique blend of prosaic literature and shrewd historic analysis, is dedicated to events in Soviet history in light of Marshal Zhukov's memoirs. Exhaustive knowledge of Soviet life, politics and censorship, including the phraseology in which Communist statesmen were allowed to narrate their biographical events, gave Peter Mezhiritsky sharp tools for the analysis of the Marshal's memoirs. The reader will learn about the abundance of awkward events that strangely and fortuitously occurred in good time for Stalin's rise to power, about the hidden connection between the purges, the Munich appeasement and the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, and about the real reason why it took so long to liquidate Paulus' Sixth Army at Stalingrad. The author presents a clear picture of the purges which promoted incompetent and poorly educated commanders (whose most prominent feature was their personal dedication to Stalin) to higher levels of command, leaving the Soviet Union poorly prepared for a war against the Wehrmacht military machine. The author offers alternative explanations for many prewar and wartime events. He was the first in Russia to acknowledge a German component to Zhukov's military education. The second part of the book is dedicated to the course of the Great Patriotic War, much of which is still little known to the vast majority of Western readers. While not fully justifying Zhukov's actions, the author also reveals the main reason for the bloody strategy chosen by Zhukov and the General Staff in the defensive period of the War. In general, the author shares and argues Marshal Vasilevsky's conviction - if there had been no purges, the war would not have occurred. The book became widely known to the Russian-reading public on both sides of the Atlantic, and in the last ten years its quotations have been used as an essential argument in almost all the debates about the WWII. The book is equally intended for scholars and regular readers, who are interested in Twentieth Century history.

Download or read book Sir They re Taking the Kids Indoors written by Ken Wharton and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2012-09-19 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The British Army veteran and oral historian presents vivid firsthand accounts of soldiers on the frontlines of the Troubles in the early 1970s. This volume in Ken Wharton’s series of oral histories chronicling the conflict in Northern Ireland looks at the bloody period of 1973/4. As with all of Wharton’s books, it combines painstaking research with numerous contributions from British soldiers who were. The title refers to an IRA tactic of warning fellow Republicans when one of their gunmen was about to cause havoc. When British soldiers hear the words “Sir, they're taking the kids indoors”, they understood that violence was imminent. On the streets of Belfast or Londonberry, British soldiers had to be ready to face a deadly threat at any moment. By focusing exclusively on the 1973–74 period, This volume provides greater detail than hitherto possible about the British Army and their experience during this bloody and important period of the Troubles.

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 Congo Unravelled written by Andrew Hudson and published by Helion and Company. This book was released on 2012-07-19 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A concise, gripping history of the resource-rich yet poverty-wracked nation’s instability and military conflict in the 1960s. Includes maps and photos. Post-independence events in the Republic of the Congo are a veritable Gordian knot. The ambitions of Congolese political leaders, Cold War rivalry, Pan-Africanism, Belgium’s continued economic interests in the country’s mineral wealth, and the strategic perceptions of other southern African states all conspired to wrack Africa’s second largest country with uprisings, rebellions, and military interventions for almost a decade. Congo Unravelled solves the intractable complexity of this violent period by dispassionately outlining the sequence of political and military events in the troubled country. It systematically reviews the first military attempts to stabilize Congo after independence, and the two distinguishing campaigns of the decade—the United Nations military operations to end the secession of the Katanga Province, and the Dragon Operations led by Belgian paratroopers, supported by the US Air Force, launched to end the insurgency in the east—are chronicled in detail. Finally, the mercenary revolt—which tainted the reputation of the modern mercenary in Africa—is described. Lesser known military events—Irish UN forces cut off from the outside world by Katangese gendarmes and mercenaries, and a combined operation in which Belgian paratroopers were dropped from US Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft and supported by a mercenary ground force to achieve humanitarian ends—go far toward resolving the enigma surrounding post-independence Congo. Praise for the Africa@War books: “A groundbreaking series concept . . . They are recommended as professional military education references.” —Charles D. Melson, Chief Historian, U.S. Marine Corps “Splendid . . . admirably balanced, handy histories.” —Cybermodeler

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 Loyal to Empire written by Patrick Crowley and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2016-05-02 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winston Churchill did not describe General Sir Charles Monro in the most glowing terms. Referring to Monro’s brave decision to recommend a withdrawal from the Gallipoli disaster, Churchill said: ‘He came, he saw, he capitulated.’Monro was one of a handful of senior officers selected to command a division with the British Expeditionary Force in 1914 and also led a corps on the Western Front as the war progressed.After Gallipoli he was instrumental in supporting the war effort from India as commander-in-chief and was directly involved in the aftermath of the Amritsar massacre by Brigadier General Dyer. His earlier life included distinguished service on the North West Frontier and in South Africa, and he was responsible for dramatically improving tactics within the army.Loyal to Empire brings to life the interesting character of General Monro, perhaps the least well known of all the British First World War commanders, and reassesses the legacy of his important military contributions.

Download or read book Barbarossa Derailed The Battle for Smolensk 10 July 10 September 1941 written by David Glantz and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2012-04-10 with total page 553 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The second half of a two-part study on Operation Barbarossa, Hitler’s plan to invade Soviet Russia during World War II, and what went wrong. At dawn on 10 July 1941, massed tanks and motorized infantry of German Army Group Center’s Second and Third Panzer Groups crossed the Dnepr and Western Dvina Rivers, beginning what Hitler and most German officers and soldiers believed would be a triumphal march on Moscow, the Soviet capital. Less than three weeks before, on 22 June Hitler had unleashed his Wehrmacht’s massive invasion of the Soviet Union, code-named Operation Barbarossa, which sought to defeat the Soviet Red Army, conquer the country, and unseat its Communist ruler, Josef Stalin. Between 22 June and 10 July, the Wehrmacht advanced up to 500 kilometers into Soviet territory, killed or captured up to one million Red Army soldiers, and reached the western banks of the Western Dvina and Dnepr Rivers, by doing so satisfying the premier assumption of Plan Barbarossa that the Third Reich would emerge victorious if it could defeat and destroy the bulk of the Red Army before it withdrew to safely behind those two rivers. With the Red Army now shattered, Hitler and most Germans expected total victory in a matter of weeks. The ensuing battles in the Smolensk region frustrated German hopes for quick victory. Once across the Dvina and Dnepr Rivers, a surprised Wehrmacht encountered five fresh Soviet armies. Quick victory eluded the Germans. Instead, Soviet forces encircled in Mogilev and Smolensk stubbornly refused to surrender, and while they fought on, during July, August, and into early September, first five and then a total of seven newly mobilized Soviet armies struck back viciously at the advancing Germans, conducting multiple counterattacks and counterstrokes, capped by two major counteroffensives that sapped German strength and will. Despite immense losses in men and materiel, these desperate Soviet actions derailed Operation Barbarossa. Smarting from countless wounds inflicted on his vaunted Wehrmacht, even before the fighting ended in the Smolensk region, Hitler postponed his march on Moscow and instead turned his forces southward to engage “softer targets” in the Kiev region. The “derailment” of the Wehrmacht at Smolensk ultimately became the crucial turning point in Operation Barbarossa. This groundbreaking study, now significantly expanded, exploits a wealth of Soviet and German archival materials, including the combat orders and operational of the German OKW, OKH, army groups, and armies and of the Soviet Stavka, the Red Army General Staff, the Western Main Direction Command, the Western, Central, Reserve, and Briansk Fronts, and their subordinate armies to present a detailed mosaic and definitive account of what took place, why, and how during the prolonged and complex battles in the Smolensk region from 10 July through 10 September 1941. The structure of the study is designed specifically to appeal to both general readers and specialists by a detailed two-volume chronological narrative of the course of operations, accompanied by a third volume and a fourth, containing archival maps and an extensive collection of specific orders and reports translated verbatim from Russian. The maps, archival and archival-based, detail every stage of the battle.