The true nature and functions of a pioneer battalion were never fully understood during the war either by military or laymen. Pioneers pioneers, mused a red-hatted Staff Captain to me the other day. Sort of labor battalion, arent you? We sure are! I agreed. These words, written by Captain R. Ede England, who served with 12th King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry during the whole of the Great War, are as true today as they were when he wrote the original history of the battalion in the early ...

The day after the Battle of Balaklava, the Russians attempted an armed reconnaissance of the Allied right flank aimed at the exposed Inkermann position, but the remnants of the British 2nd Division bloodily repulsed them.This book describes the Battle of Inkermann - an engagement which lasted for less than twelve hours, but was one of the bloodiest single engagements in Europe between 1815 and 1914.

The Somme. With over a million casualties, it was the most brutal battle of World War I.It is a clash that even now, over 90 years later, remains seared into the national consciousness, conjuring up images of muddy trenches and young lives tragically wasted. Its first day, July 1st 1916 - on which the British suffered 57,470 casualties, including 19,240 dead - is the bloodiest day in the history of the British armed forces to date. On the German side, an o...

At 11.00 hours on 11 November 1918, the guns fell silent across the battlefields of Europe. After the deadliest conflict the world had ever seen, peace had finally arrived. Since the withdrawal from the Somme and the repulse at Verdun, the Germans knew they could not win the war and had sought a negotiated end to the fighting. This was rejected by the Allies and the fighting continued until, almost two years later, with its economy on the verge of collapse, Germany had no choice but to acc...

Lyn Macdonald's 1915: The Death of Innocence is a uniquely compelling blend of military history and poignant memories of the fighters who survived the ordeal.By Christmas 1915, the wild wave of enthusiasm that had sent men flocking to join up a few months earlier had begun to tail off, and though the Regulars of the original Expeditionary Force had suffered 90 percent casualties, most, particularly the soldiers themselves, still believed that 1915 would se...

A major new history of the most infamous battle of the First World War, as described by the men who fought it.On 1 July 1916, Douglas Haig's army launched the 'Big Push' that was supposed finally to bring an end to the stalemate on the Western Front. What happened next was a human catastrophe: scrambling over the top into the face of the German machine guns and artillery fire, almost 20,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers were killed that day alone, and twice as ...

The spectre of the Great War still haunts us. No other conflict so dramatically illustrates the waste of life, and the slaughter of innocents, as that of 1914-18. And none has so dramatically shaped the modern world: the Russian Revolution, the rise of Hitler, the break-up of Empire, the supremacy of America and World War II all stem from the four years of the 'war to end all wars'.Here is the eye-witness chronicle of that war, from the trenches of Flanders to the staff rooms of the...

One of the bloodiest battles in world history—a military tragedy that would come to define a generation.On July 1, 1916, the British Army launched the “Big Push” that was supposed to bring an end to the horrific stalemate on the Western Front between British, French, and German forces. What resulted was one of the greatest single human catastrophes in twentieth century warfare. Scrambling out of trenches in the face of German machine guns and artillery fire, the Al...

An unrivalled and readable introduction to the years of Trench Warfare' TESThe First World War was won and lost on the Western Front. Covering the whole war, from the guns of August 1914 to the sudden silence of the November 1918 Armistice, the IWM Book of the Western Front reveals what life was really like for the men and women involved. With first-hand accounts of off-duty entertainments, trench fatalism, and going over the top, this is an extremely important contribution to the continui...

This WWI military history presents a close examination of the costly but victorious Attack on High Wood during the Battle of the Somme.From July 1st to November 18th of 1916, British and French allies fought against the German Empire in the Battle of the Somme, one of the bloodiest military engagements of all time. Its fiercely contested focal point was a 75-acre patch of forest known as High Wood. The Germans showed great determination and sacrifice defending the f...

The British action at Mons on 23 August 1914 was the catalyst for what became a full blown retreat over 200 blood drenched miles. This book examines eighteen of the desperate rearguard actions that occurred during the twelve days of this near rout. While those at Le Cateau and Nery are well chronicled, others such as cavalry actions at Morsain and Taillefontaine, the Connaught Rangers at Le Grand Fayt and 13 Brigades fight at Crepy-en-Valois are virtually unknown even to expert historians....

The British Army that faced Napoleon in the Peninsula was small by continental standards, but it consistently out-fought larger French armies, never losing a major open-field action.Its cavalry and artillery were standard; but its infantry achieved unique results, as their tactics were brought to a peak of professional perfection by Wellington. Using contemporary instruction manuals, first-hand accounts and in-depth analysis of individual actions, this book examine...