Download or read book The Defence of St Valery en Caux 1940 written by Jerry Murland and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2024-06-30 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Supported by eleven maps and over 150 photographs, this is the story of Scottish Troops fighting for survival in Normandy. The story of the 51st (Highland) Division during 1939 and 1940 is a short and largely tragic one and although it firmly burnt itself into the minds of Scotsmen it has never been granted the recognition it deserves. Even in Scotland it is often forgotten that the men, and attached troops, of the 51st Division, were fighting for survival in Normandy for some ten days after the evacuation from Dunkerque had been completed. Most present-day accounts of the Second World War in 1939/40 deal with the ‘Phoney War’ and the evacuation from Dunkerque but few mention the rearguard action at St Valery-en-Caux, other than a giving it a passing mention. Nevertheless, the action of the 51st Division against the might of German forces won the admiration of General Erwin Rommel and Charles De Gaulle, who fought against and alongside them. One of the enduring beliefs is that Churchill deliberately sacrificed the 51st Division in an attempt to keep France in the war; this, apart from being palpably incorrect, fails miserably to address the intricacy of the circumstances that overtook the 51st Division after they returned from the Saar. In a situation where units were repeatedly changing affiliation, communication between the French Supreme Command and British forces suffered language difficulties and the inclination to blame each other for the debacle that inevitably ensued. Nevertheless, for all the criticism that is thrown at the French Army, it is clear that a number of French units fought hard and with great courage, the main fault with the French command lying with poor leadership and lack of tactical planning. As far as the Highlanders were concerned it was bad luck that their term of duty on the Saar coincided with the beginning of Fall Rot. The speed and extent of the German advance from Abbeville took their own High Command and the French by surprise and it was with little wonder that Allied military thinking failed to keep up with actions on the battlefield. The theory that Churchill sacrificed the division to keep the French in the war owes a great deal to the Scottish need to attribute all the misery of the world to one scoundrel, a trait that exists to this day! Supported by eleven maps and over 150 photographs, the book traces the history of the 51st Division from its inception until its final surrender at St Valery-en-Caux and deals with the fighting on the Saar and the often ragged skirmishing though Normandy. The book also touches on the actions of the 1st armored Division and the Battle of Abbeville. There are three walks and a car tour included in this volume which allows the battlefield visitor to base themselves firstly in Abbeville and, secondly, further into Normandy.
Download or read book DEFENCE OF ST VALERY EN CAUX 1940 written by JERRY. MURLAND and published by . This book was released on 2024 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Sheffield s Military Legacy written by Gerry van Tonder and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2017-11-30 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the century following the Norman invasion, a castle was built at the confluence of the rivers Sheaf and Don, an early recognition of Sheffields strategic importance. Destroyed in the thirteenth century during the Second Barons War, a second castle was built on the site, but in 1647, it was ordered to be demolished immediately after the cessation of the Civil War, thereby negating any future tactical use by either Parliamentarian or Royalist.Steel production and downstream manufacturing would, however, be perpetually embedded in the military legacy of this seat of industrial innovation and production. The Vickers steel foundry was established in Sheffield in 1828. Following the manufacture of the factorys first artillery in 1890, Sheffield expanded to find itself a leading supplier in the First World War, feeding the military with shells, artillery, naval guns, armor plating, aircraft parts, torpedoes, helmets and bayonets. Sheffields contribution to the British war machine in the Second World War quickly attracted the attention of Nazi Germany. In December 1940, in an operation appropriately code-named Schmelztiegel, or Crucible, Sheffield suffered two major raids aimed primarily at steel and munitions factories.A proud tradition of answering a call to the colors spawned the 84th Regiment of Foot, the Loyal Independent Sheffield Volunteers of the 1700s, the Hallamshire Rifle Volunteers raised in 1859, and the Sheffield Squadron, Yeomanry Cavalry. The 18991902 Anglo-Boer War would also have an enduring legacy: the Sheffield Wednesday football stadium was named Spioen Kop, while local road names include Ladysmith Avenue and Mafeking Place. On 1 July 1916, the Sheffield City Battalion fought in an heroic and costly, but hopeless, action on the Somme to capture the village of Serre. Through the Second World War right up to Afghanistan, Sheffields men and women in uniform have not been found wanting.Sheffields rich military legacy portrayed in this publication is drawn from a cross section of representative units, home and foreign actions, uniformed personalities, barracks at the hub of musters, the caliber of gallantry including six Victoria Crosses as well as the immortality of names on memorials, such as the Sheffield Memorial Park in France.
Download or read book The Army List written by Great Britain. Army and published by . This book was released on 1960 with total page 1100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Handbook of British Regiments Routledge Revivals written by Christopher Chant and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-18 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the creation of the standing army in 1661, when each regiment was known by the name of its current colonel, there have been many reforms and rationalizations of the British army. From 31 cavalry regiments and 113 infantry regiments in 1881, at the time of this title’s first publication in 1988, the army had reduced to just 16 regiments of armour and 39 regiments of infantry through processes of absorption and amalgamation. The Handbook of British Regiments provides insight into the lineage and history of the approximately 85 regiments and corps which formed the British army towards the end of the 1980s. Comprehensive in coverage, each has a separate entry giving factual details in a layout standardized for easy comparison, including current title, colonel-in-chief, uniform and history, amongst others. A key title amongst Routledge reference reissues, this handbook provides an accessible guide to specialists as well as lay enthusiasts, and illustrates a sense of the continuity and inherited tradition of each regiment and corps.
Download or read book York s Military Legacy written by Ian D. Rotherham and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2017-11-30 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the oldest settlements in Western Europe, York grew up on dry land with protective rivers and associated wetlands giving security and mobility. Early, prehistoric settlement was on nearby drier, raised areas along the flood plain. Here the Romans built a great, northern, fortified city and military settlement from which they could foray overland into northern England or by ship and the coastal route to Scotland and the Picts. Yorks significance was emphasized when Constantine was made Emperor whilst residing there.Lean times followed after Roman abandonment and Saxon neglect before the Vikings swept into northern England, with Jorvic, reborn as their capital, York, much to their liking. Once subsumed into Anglo-Saxon Northumbria, York continued its huge strategic and military significance through late Saxon times, during the Norman Conquest, and into medieval England. Indeed, two of the most far-reaching battles in English history were fought at nearby Fulford and Stamford Bridge. Yorks military significance grew again during the Wars of the Roses, with the Battle of Towton in 1461 described as the most barbaric ever fought on British soil.Following oscillating and vicious disputes over religion during the reigns of the later Tudors, divisive and punitive civil war played out again under the Stuart kings and Parliamentary Commonwealth. Through all this, York was a major strategic location in northern England; an important base for those commanding it, a significant prize for those who did not. This military importance declined into modern times but the city retains garrison and regimental ties. The last direct conflict occurred when York was targeted for retaliatory Baedeker raids by German bombers during April 1942. Yorks remarkable history and longevity, and its significance in English and sometimes international politics and economics, have left a unique, unparalleled military history.
Download or read book St Valery written by Bill Innes and published by Birlinn. This book was released on 2012-11-01 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The gallant rearguard action which led to the capture of the 51st Highland Division at St Valéry-en-Caux (two weeks after the famous evacuation of the main British army from Dunkirk) may have burned itself into the consciousness of an older generation of Scots but has never been given the wider recognition it deserves. This new book re-examines that fateful chain of events in 1940 and reassesses some of the myths that have grown up in the intervening years. Two of the main contributors to this collection of soldiers' reminiscences, Angus Campbell from Lewis and Donald John MacDonald from South Uist, were both traditional Gaelic bards. Their work has been translated from their native language and reflects both the richness of the vocabulary they had acquired through the Gaelic oral tradition and their individual gifts as natural story-tellers born out of that tradition. These vivid accounts bring alive the chaos and horror of war and the grim deprivation of the camps and forced marches which so many endured. Yet the personal stories also resound with the spirit, humour and sense of comradeship which enabled men to fight on in desperate situations and refuse to be cowed by their captors.
Download or read book The Highland Division written by Eric Linklater and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2014-07-15 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Highland Territorials were made up of the 51st Division, who had fought bravely in the Great War, and entered WWII with a fearsome and loyal reputation. Here Erik Linklater draws from letters and War diaries alongside the official table of movements to construct a vivid picture of the battles, triumphs, and ultimately defeat, of the Highland Division in France. Not only do we see the tactical movements, but we get a closer look from the individual's point of view: Men so tired that the shells became a bothersome back-ground noise, and a ditch the perfect place to sleep; what it was like to hide in trees and pick off your enemy, or to be at the mercy of an invisible sniper. From communicating in Gaelic to scupper the German spies, to holding the line beyond the realms of endurance, we see that although the division was finally lost, it fought valiantly to the very end. First published in 1942 as part of The Army at War Series, The Highland Division is a record of ingenuity, fortitude, and brotherhood.
Download or read book The Highland Furies written by Victoria Schofield and published by Quercus. This book was released on 2014-12-09 with total page 660 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the oldest of the Highland Regiments, The Black Watch has an enviable roster of Battle Honors and a mystique born of repeated service on behalf of King, Queen and country. On the strength of her acclaimed biography of Field Marshal Earl Wavell, the regimental trustees commissioned Victoria Schofield to write this, the first volume of her magisterial history of The Black Watch, and have fully cooperated with her as she traces the story of the Regiment from its early 18th-century beginnings through to the eve of the South African War at the end of the 19th-century. Originating as companies of highland men raised to keep a watch over the Highlands of Scotland, they were formed into a regiment in 1739. Its soldiers would go on to fight with extraordinary bravery and elan in almost every major engagement fought by the British Army during this period, from the American War of Independence, the Peninsular Wars, Waterloo, the Crimea, Indian Mutiny to Egypt and the Sudan. Drawing on diaries, letters and memoirs, Victoria Schofield skillfully weaves the multiple strands of this story into an epic narrative of a valiant body of officers and men over one-and-a-half centuries. In her sure hands, the story of The Black Watch is no arid recitation of campaigns, dates and battle honors, but is instead a rich and compelling record of the soldier's experience under fire and on campaign. It is also a celebration of the deeds of a regiment that has played a unique role in British history and a vivid insight into the lives of the many remarkable figures who have marched and fought so proudly under its Colors. It is supported by more than 170 pages of appendices, bibliography, maps, and notes, as well as a brilliant array of illustrations' Military History Monthly.
Download or read book St Val ry and Its Aftermath written by Stewart Mitchell and published by Pen & Sword Military. This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the German May 1940 offensive, the 51st (Highland) Division, including the 1st and 5th Battalions Gordon Highlanders, became separated from the British Expeditionary Force. After a heroic stand at St Valery-en-Caux the Division surrendered when fog thwarted efforts to evacuate them. Within days, scores of Gordons had escaped and were on the run through Nazi-occupied France. Many reached Britain after feats of great courage and tenacity, including recapture and imprisonment often in atrocious conditions in France, Spain or North Africa. Those imprisoned in Eastern Europe were forced to work in coal and salt mines, quarries, factories and farms. Some died through unsafe conditions or the brutality of their captors. Others escaped, on occasion fighting with distinction alongside Resistance forces. Many had to endure the brutal 1945 winter march away from the advancing Allies before their eventual liberation. This superbly researched book contains many inspiring stories that deserve and merit reading.
Download or read book The Black Watch written by Victoria Schofield and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-07-13 with total page 876 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The heroic and inspiring story of the fortunes of the Black Watch, whose soldiers have distinguished themselves in theatres of war across the world. Formed into a regiment in 1739 and named for the dark tartan of its soldiers' kilts, The Black Watch has fought in almost every major conflict of nation and empire between 1745 and the present, and has a reputation second to none. Following on from The Highland Furies, in which she traced the regiment's history to 1899, Victoria Schofield tells the story of The Black Watch in the 20th and 21st centuries. She tracks its fortunes through the 2nd South African War, two World Wars, the 'troubles' in N Ireland and the war in Iraq – up to The Black Watch's merger with five other regiments to form the Royal Regiment of Scotland in 2006. Drawing on diaries, letters and interviews, Victoria Schofield weaves the many strands of the story into an epic narrative of a heroic body of officers and men. In her sure hands, the story of The Black Watch is no arid recitation of campaigns and battle honours, but a rewarding account of the fortunes of war of a regiment that has played a distinguished role in British, and world, history.
Download or read book Churchill s Sacrifice of the Highland Division France 1940 written by Saul David and published by Brasseys Uk Limited. This book was released on 2004 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than a week after the last British troops had been evacuated from Dunkirk, the 51st (Highland) Division was forced to surrender. More than 10,000 men were driven into five years of captivity in prison camps. The author traces the story of the Highland Division, from its arrival in France to its final desperate stand.
Download or read book None Bolder written by Richard Doherty and published by Spellmount, Limited Publishers. This book was released on 2006 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "One of the most famous infantry divisions of the Second World War was the 51st (Highland) Division, a Scottish Territorial Army formation that first saw service in the Great War. Composed of battalions of Highland infantry regiments - Black Watch, Seaforth Highlanders, Gordon Highlanders, Cameron Highlanders and Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders - the Division deployed to France with the British Expeditionary Force in 1939, later serving in Egypt, North Africa, France and on the Rhine." "At all times the Division was known for its esprit de corps which touched not only its Highland soldiers but the many non-Scots who serviced in its ranks; its machine-gun battalion was from The Middlesex Regiment while its reconnaissance regiment, after 1942, was 2nd Derby Yeomanry. All who served in its ranks wore the HD flash with pride, a pride that was justified by the Division's outstanding record during the war. This book will tell the story of the Division through official records, personal accounts and memories and previously published material."--BOOK JACKET.
Download or read book Journal of the Royal United Service Institution Whitehall Yard written by and published by . This book was released on 1959 with total page 690 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Black Watch written by Trevor Royle and published by Random House. This book was released on 2011-07-15 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Black Watch was formed at Aberfeldy in Perthshire in the early eighteenth century as an independent security force, or 'watch', to guard the approaches to the lawless areas of the Scottish Highlands. Instantly recognisable due to the famous red hackle cap badge and the traditional dark blue and green government tartan kilt from which it got its name, The Black Watch was renowned as one of the great fighting regiments of the British Army and served with distinction in all major conflicts from the War of Austrian Succession onwards. In a highly controversial move, the regiment served under the operational control of the US Army during the counter-insurgency war in Iraq in December 2004. The Black Watch prided itself on being a 'family regiment', with sons following fathers into its ranks, and this new concise history reflects the strong sense of identity which was created over the centuries. In 2006, as part of a radical review of the country's defence policy, The Black Watch was amalgamated into the new Royal Regiment of Scotland. This new account of the famous regiment is therefore a timely memorial to its long and distinguished history.
Download or read book The D Day Landing on Gold Beach written by Andrew Holborn and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-09-24 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Normandy landings of 6 June 1944, across five sectors of the French coast - Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword - constituted the largest amphibious invasion in history. This study analyses in depth the preparations and implementation of the D-Day landing on Gold Beach by XXX Corps. Historians have tended to dismiss the landing on Gold Beach as straightforward but the evidence points to a different reality. Armour supported the infantry landing and prior bombing was intended to weaken German defences; however, the bulk of the bombing landed too far inland, and many craft foundered in difficult conditions at sea. It was the tenacity of the assault units and the flexibility of the follow up units which enabled the Gold landing to secure the right flank of the British Army in Normandy. Using detailed primary evidence from The National Archives and the Imperial War Museum, this volume provides a substantial assessment of the background to the landing on Gold, and analyses the events of D-Day in the wider context of the Normandy Campaign.
Download or read book British Concentration Camps written by Simon Webb and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2016-01-31 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This revealing history explores Britain’s use of concentration camps from the Boer War to WWII and the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The term concentration camp will forever be associated with the horrors of Nazi Germany. But the British were the true driving force behind the development of these notorious facilities. During the Boer War, British concentration camps caused the deaths of tens of thousands of children from starvation and disease. In the years after World War II, hundreds of thousands of enslaved agricultural workers were held in a national network of camps. Not only did the British government run its own camps, they allowed other countries to set up similar facilities within the United Kingdom. During and after the Second World War, the Polish government-in-exile maintained a number of camps in Scotland where Jews, communists and homosexuals were imprisoned and sometimes killed. This book tells the terrible story of Britain’s involvement in the use of concentration camps, which did not finally end until the last political prisoners being held behind barbed wire in the United Kingdom were released in 1975. From England to Cyprus, Scotland to Malaya, Kenya to Northern Ireland, British Concentration Camps: A Brief History from 1900 to 1975 details some of the most shocking and least known events in British history.
