Download or read book The BEF Campaign on the Aisne 1914 written by Jerry Murland and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2013-01-19 with total page 391 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The river Aisne featured prominently in August 1914 during the Retreat from Mons and in September was the scene of bitter fighting when the BEF re-crossed it in their unsuccessful attempt to dislodge the German Army entrenched along the Northern Crest.The fighting was hugely costly to the BEF, which had already fought three major engagements and marched over 200 miles in a month. The three British Corps lost over 700 officers and some 15,000 men. Little wonder one officer wrote that he felt he was in the company of ghosts.Historian Jerry Murland places the Aisne battles in their context, both from the BEF and German viewpoints. He highlights the early deficiencies and unpreparedness of the British Army staff and logistics organization as well as friction among the command structure, all of which hampered effective operations.
Download or read book Battle on the Aisne 1914 written by MURLAND JERRY and published by . This book was released on 2022-08-30 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The British Campaign in France and Flanders 1914 written by Arthur Conan Doyle and published by . This book was released on 1916 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Battle of the Aisne 13th 15th September 1914 Tour of the Battlefield written by Naval & Military Press, The and published by . This book was released on 2005-02-01 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The First Battle of the Aisne, between 12-15th September 1914, was essentially a follow-up to the Battle of the Marne (8-10th September) in which the German advance on Paris had been checked and then turned back. This pamphlet, maps and tour is the official War Office guide to the battlefield, which was the watershed between the war of movement and the beginnning of trench warfare, published in 1934. Acting in conjunction with the French Fifth army on its right, and the Sixth Army on its left, and under the orders of the French C-in-C Gen. Joffre, the BEF advanced on the 12th, gaining the heights south of the River Aisne, and on the left south of Venizel reached a bridge over the river itself, which was captured that night in heavy fighting. To the left of the BEF, the French had also reached the Aisne between Compeigne and Soissons, while on the right the French had reached the River Vesle between Beaumont and Fismes. By the night of the 12/13th the gap between Von Kluck s First and Von Bulow s second Armies had widened to 18 miles, making it difficult for the Germans to man a defensive line along the Aisne. On 13th September the BEF crossed the Aisne, despite heavy opposition from the Germans who had brought up reserves to strengthen their line. On the 14th, hampered by a heavy mist, the BEF made little progress in their advance; fighting was intense and losses heavy, with every battalion but one of the BEF engaged. On the 15th, the final day of the battle, GHQ ordered the BEF to entrench the positions they had reached. Determined German counter-attacks were all repulsed. The guide gives an account of the battle, notes from the 1914 Training Manuals; lessons learned from the fighting; a study of operations at night; and the order of battle for the British, French, and German forces engaged. The pack comes with three main battlefield maps illustrating the unfolding action and five sketch maps showing the stands to view the panorama of the battlefield.
Download or read book Aisne 1914 written by Paul Kendall and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2012-05-01 with total page 704 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Battle of the Aisne fought in September 1914 introduced a new and savage mode of warfare to the soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force, their French allies and to the German Army. Both officers and men were trained to fight mobile wars. When they reached the north bank of the Aisne, the ‘Old Contemptibles’ would be stopped by the Germans entrenched on high ground, armed with machine guns and supported by heavy artillery. The British commanders would naively send their troops on futile assaults up slopes devoid of cover to attack the German lines dug in on the ridges along the Chemin des Dames and concealed by woodland. The British did not even have grenades. The BEF suffered 12,000 casualties. Their commanders, who were not trained to fight a modern war, were lost for a solution or even a strategy. It was on the Chemin des Dames that the first trenches of the Western Front were dug and where the line that would stretch from the Swiss frontier to the North Sea began. The Battle of the Aisne saw the dawn of trench warfare and a stalemate that would last for the next four years. Wide-ranging archival research by author Paul Kendall makes this the first in-depth study of the battle in print. His correspondence with surviving relatives of those who fought brings a human face to the terrible casualty statistics that would come to define the trenches.
Download or read book Fire and Movement written by Peter Hart and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014-10-01 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, the campaign contains moments of sheer horror and nerve-shattering excitement; pathos and comic relief; occasional cowardice and much selfless courage--all culminating in the climax of the First Battle of Ypres. And yet, as Peter Hart shows in this gripping and revisionary 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 poor 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, but as Hart reveals, they also lacked practice in many of the required disciplines of modern warfare, and the inexperience of officers led to severe mistakes. Hart also provides 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, without whom the Marne never would have been won. Ultimately Fire and Movement shows the story of the 1914 campaigns to be an epic tale, and one which needs no embellishment. Through the voices and recollections of the soldiers who were there, Hart strips away the myth to offer a clear-eyed account of the remarkable early days of the Great War.
Download or read book The Campaign of 1914 in France and Belgium written by George Herbert Perris and published by . This book was released on 1915 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Aisne Nineteen Hundred and Fourteen written by Jerry Murland and published by Pen & Sword Military. This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 1914 Battle of the Aisne, officially from 12 - 15 September, came about as a result of the German retirement from the Battle of the Marne, which took place further south as the huge conscript armies of France and Germany jostled for position almost within sight of Paris. By the time the British arrived on the Aisne, the battle line stretched some 150 miles from Noyon in the west to Verdun in the east and it was only along a tiny fifteen-mile sector in the middle that The British Expeditionary Force was engaged. However, it fought bitter engagements, which took place in difficult conditions and casualties were heavy. The Aisne fighting was the final attempt by the allies to follow through from the success of the Marne. It also marked the successful establishment by the Germans of a sound defensive line on this part of the front.
Download or read book The Campaign of the Marne 1914 written by Sewell Tappan Tyng and published by New York, Longmans. This book was released on 1935 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Marne 15 July 6 August 1918 written by Stephen C. McGeorge and Mason W. Watson and published by . This book was released on with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book 1914 written by H. W. Carless-Davis and published by Leonaur Limited. This book was released on 2011-03-11 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The counter attacks that saved the Allied cause This concise book contains two accounts, by H. W. Carless-Davis and A. Neville Hilditch, of the conflicts of the first year of the Great War, brought together in one value for money volume because the short length of each account means that it is improbable that either would be republished individually in modern times. Each account includes a campaign overview, illustrations and maps, dispatches and in some cases first hand accounts from those who fought. The Battle of the Marne essentially halted the advance of the invading German Army in early September 1914. It brought to an end a successful, month long offensive by the Germans and was considered by many to be 'the Miracle of the Marne, ' because at the point they were halted the Germans were all but at the outskirts of Paris. The massive Allied counter attack by six French and one British field armies rolled the Germans back to the north-east . Eventually the Germans turned at bay and were attacked by the pursuing allies on the Aisne. The principal outcome of these engagements was an end to fluidity of warfare in Europe until the final stages of the war. In its stead would be the gruelling stalemate of attrition which was the trench warfare of 'the Western Front.' The second piece concentrates on a particularly notable engagement around Troyon which will be of particular interest to those who are fascinated by the more detailed aspects of the campaign. Available in softcover and hardcover with dustjacket.
Download or read book Challenge of Battle written by Adrian Gilbert and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2014-02-20 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winston Churchill described the opening campaign of World War I as 'a drama never surpassed'. The titanic clash of Europe's armies in 1914 is one the great stories of 20th-century history, and one in which the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) played a notable part. Previous assessments of the BEF have held to an unshakeable belief in its exceptional performance during the battles of 1914. But closer examination of the historical record reveals a force possessing some key strengths yet undermined by other, significant failings. Within an authoritative and well-paced campaign narrative, Challenge of Battle re-evaluates the Army's leadership, organization and tactics. It describes the problems faced by commanders, grappling with the brutal realities of 20th-century warfare, and explains how the British infantry's famed marksmanship has to be set against the inexperience and tactical shortcomings of the BEF as a whole. However, it also demonstrates the progress made by the British during 1914, concluding with the successful defence of Ypres against superior enemy forces. The author examines the fateful decisions made by senior officers and how they affected the men under their command. Making full use of diaries, letters and other contemporary accounts, he builds a compelling picture of what it was like to fight in the battles of Mons, Le Cateau, the Aisne and Ypres. In this timely new book, Adrian Gilbert clears away the layers of sentiment that have obscured a true historical understanding of the 1914 campaign to provide a full, unvarnished picture of the BEF at war.
Download or read book Battle of the Aisne 13 15th September 1914 Tour of the battlefield With maps written by Great Britain. War Office. General Staff and published by . This book was released on 1935 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The British Campaign in France and Flanders 1914 written by Arthur Conan Doyle and published by . This book was released on 1917 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The 1914 Campaign August October 1914 written by Daniel David and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Battle of the Aisne 13th 15th September 1914 written by Great Britain. War Office and published by . This book was released on 1935 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Trial by Fire written by Nikolas Gardner and published by Praeger. This book was released on 2003-08-30 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While existing accounts of this period have elevated the exploits of the British soldiers on the battlefield to almost legendary status, the operations of the British Expeditionary Force in the dramatic opening campaign of the First World War remain poorly understood. Based on official unit war diaries, as well as personal papers and memoirs of numerous officers, this study sheds significant new light on the retreat from Mons in August 1914, the advance to the River Aisne in September, and the climactic First Battle of Ypres in October and November. In addition, Gardner provides important insights into the ideas and values of British officers in the initial stages of the war. Beyond explaining the conduct of the 1914 campaign, Gardner analyzes the initial stages of the learning curve experienced by British officers as they grappled with an unaccustomed type of warfare, including the unprecedented scale and intensity of the conflict as well as the advent of trench warfare. He also demonstrates the impact of rivalries among senior officers on the operations of the army. As a whole, the study adds depth to our understanding of command in European armies during the First World War.