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From Colonial Warrior to Western Front Flyer: The Five Wars of Sydney Herbert Bywater Harris
Par Carole McEntee-Taylor. 2015
Sydney Herbert Bywater Harris was an adventurer, a man possessed of great courage and charm, who fulfilled every schoolboy fantasy…
and really did 'live the dream'. The second youngest of seven children, the ordinary life held little appeal for Sydney so, in 1898, at the age of 17, he left home in Ilford for the Klondike gold rush. Arriving too late to make his fortune he decided to join the US Army.Two and a half years later, after seeing action in the Boxer Rebellion and the Philippines Insurrection, Sydney returned to England where he met and married Elsa de Verde Verder, a lady from an affluent Vermont family. A year later Sydney joined the Kings Colonials Imperial Yeomanry, later renamed the King Edward's Horse. Still seeking excitement, in August 1914 he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps and in 1916 went to France with 23 Squadron to fly the FE2b. Life expectancy for pilots on the front lines was very short and he was badly wounded while gun-spotting over enemy lines. After several months recovering he was posted to Turnberry as Chief Instructor and on the 13th August 1917, he was posted to Marske (by-the-Sea), with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, to form and command No.2 Fighting School. In 1919 he was awarded the Air Force Cross.But war was not quite finished with Sydney. In 1936, fleeing imminent bankruptcy, he became involved with the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. Returning back to England he joined the RAFVR (Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve) and when the Second World War broke out he was posted to Turnhouse as Section Controller. This really didn't suit him and, determined to see more action, at the age of 58, he arranged a transfer to France as Adjutant with No 1 Squadron where his duties included liaising with the French Air Force. He later transferred to 1 ATS near Perpignan and was one of the last to leave France with the German Blitzkrieg only a few hours away. Despite his ill health he continued to serve throughout the war and in 1947 became Commander at Marchwood Park where the members of the 'Guinea Pig' club went to recover.A remarkable life led in an era of endless possibilities.Royalties from this book will go to Help 4 Homeless Veterans who support Servicemen and women into suitable accommodation, and empower them to develop a civilian career through their links with employers and other organisations.Soon after the outbreak of the Great War, following many years of part-time soldiering as cavalry troops on home defense…
duties, the members of various British Yeomanry regiments were asked to volunteer for overseas service. In 1916, officered by well-known members of the landed gentry, two of the Welsh Yeomanry regiments, the Pembroke Yeomanry and the Glamorgan Yeomanry, were amongst many who embarked for foreign service for the first time ever in their history. Spending the next twelve months in Egypt during the campaign against the Senussi tribesmen, the two regiments merged to form the 24th (Pembroke and Glamorgan Yeomanry) Battalion, Welsh Regiment, which joined the 74th (Yeomanry) Division to take part in the historic offensive into Palestine that ultimately led to the liberation of the Holy City of Jerusalem after 400 years of Ottoman rule. In May 1918, after two years of hard campaigning in the Palestinian deserts, the 24th Welsh embarked for France with the rest of the 74th Division, joining the Allied forces in the victorious 100-day offensive against the Germans. Welsh Yeomanry at War sheds new light on the battalions almost forgotten campaign in Palestine, which saw many of its troops killed and buried in the Holy Land, and also tells the enthralling story of its short but arduous period in France.Salisbury in the Great War (Your Towns & Cities in the Great War)
Par Neil G. Hall. 2016
The war invisibly regulated our lives, commented a Salisbury resident when recalling the calamity, now known as the Great War.…
Much of life in the city with its ancient cathedral, the finest spire in England, medieval New Town built on chequers anCall To Arms Over By Christmas: Outbreak of War (The Great War Illustrated)
Par David Bilton. 2016
For many years the Home Front was the Cinderella of the Great War. However, in recent years it has been…
acknowledged for the essential part it played in the successful prosecution of the war for the Allies. The same factors were at play in each of the warring states, but each reacted in its own ways to the demands. This book builds upon The Home Front in the Great War, published in 2003, providing a fully illustrated account of every aspect of the civilian war. Much of it based around the experiences of two completely different places, Hull and Reading, showing that the experience of war was equally as hard and banal for both. The illustrations are usefully grouped into themes allowing the reader to compare life in different countries. A wealth of material is also included from across the United Kingdom, making this a book that will be of national interest. Much of the material included has not been seen since it was first published almost 100 years ago, and many of the photographs have never been in print in this country, and some anywhere before. Also included are a selection of short articles from local papers, that show exactly what the general population was feeling and experiencing during the troubled years of the Great War. What makes this book unique is that it is not only a home front history of Britain, but also a history of the warring nations and the neutral countries affected.The 6th Battalion, the Cheshire Regiment, was a prewar Territorial battalion that recruited in the North Cheshire towns of Stockport,…
Hyde and Stalybridge, together with the Derbyshire town of Glossop. The majority of its part-time soldiers worked in the areas cotton mills and hat making factories. One of the first Territorial battalions to see action in the Great War, it went overseas in November 1914, taking part in the famous Christmas truce a few weeks later.In 1916, it saw major action during the Battle of the Somme. The following year, it suffered heavy casualties during the action around the Belgian town of Ypres, which is often known as the Battle of Passchendaele. In 1918 the Battalion fought to hold off German advances in the spring but, along with the rest of the BEF, was forced to retreat many miles. By the summer of that year the tide had turned and the Cheshire's took part in the final advances that ended the war in November.The story is told from the Battalions formation in 1908 to its disbandment in the 1920s and beyond with details of the Old Comrades Association. Official accounts are supplemented by the mens own words, taken from diaries, letters and newspaper reports.The Nivelle Offensive and the Battle of the Aisne 1917: A Battlefield Guide to the Chemin des Dames
Par Andrew Uffindell. 2015
The notorious plateau of the Chemin des Dames saw some of the heaviest fighting of the First World War. Situated…
just 100 km north-east of Paris, it was the scene in 1917 of the bitterly-controversial Nivelle offensive, which is remembered today as one of the worst disasters in military history.For battlefield tourists, the Chemin des Dames is among the most fascinating sites on the entire Western Front, yet until now there has never been a detailed English guide to the actions that raged there in 1917. This new book by Andrew Uffindell fills that gap: as well as demolishing the many myths about the Nivelle offensive, it enables readers to explore the remarkable battlefield for themselves. Five tours supplemented by forty-six stops at individual places of interest provide an exceptional insight into the struggle for the Chemin des Dames. Illustrated with a wealth of maps and photographs, this book will be essential reading for anyone interested in the First World War.Hull in the Great War (Your Towns & Cities in the Great War)
Par David Bilton. 2015
The outbreak of war in 1914 aroused an enthusiasm in Hull and within the first six months 20,000 local men…
had enrolled. Hull was also attacked by Zeppelins and it raised its own Pals Battalions. This book looks at how the experience of war impacted on the City, from the initial enthusiasm for sorting out the German Kaiser in time for Christmas 1914, to the gradual realization of the enormity of human sacrifice the families of Hull were committed to as the war stretched out over the next four years. The Great War affected everyone. At home there were wounded soldiers in military hospitals, refugees from Belgium and later on German prisoners of war. There were food and fuel shortages and disruption to schooling. The role of women changed dramatically and they undertook a variety of work undreamed of in peacetime. Meanwhile, men serving in the armed forces were scattered far and wide. Extracts from contemporary letters reveal their heroism and give insights into what it was like under battle conditions.As featured in the Hull Daily Mail.Tynedale in the Great War (Your Towns & Cities in the Great War)
Par Brian Tilley. 2016
The remote moors and valleys around Hexham in Northumberland have been producing fighting men for countless millennia. From repelling invading…
Romans and Vikings, to locking swords with William Wallaces rampaging Scots, and the lawless days of the Border Reivers, the men of Tynedale have always rallied to the cause. So when Kitcheners call went out in 1914, Tynedales farmers, estate workers, pitmen and the gentry flocked to the colours in their thousands.Pitched straight into the front line against battle-hardened German troops just a week after landing in France in 1915, the Tynedale-based Territorials, the 4th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, acquitted themselves so well they received a personal commendation from the Allied Commander in Chief, Sir John French. And what of those who were left behind to face the constant threat of the sinister Zeppelins, escaped German prisoners lurking in the heather and the outraged accusations of shirking and cowardice?Extensive and painstaking research into the impact of the conflict on Hexham and the wider Tynedale district, both on the front line and on the home front, has produced this fascinating and absorbing account of a district at war.Letters back home from the trenches, soldiers diaries and reports in the local press paint a vivid picture of what it was like to face the withering fire of German machine guns, the choking clouds of poisonous gas and to suffer the devastating loss of fathers, sons, husbands and sweethearts, as tales of unbelievable heroism and Northumbrian humour abound.Eyewitness on the Somme 1916
Par Matthew Richardson. 2016
What was the soldiers experience of the Battle of the Somme? How did the men who were there record their…
part in the fighting or remember it afterwards? How can we, 100 years later, gain an insight into one of the most famous and contentious - episodes of the Great War? Matthew Richardsons graphic account, which is based on the vivid personal testimony of those who took part, offers us a direct impression of the reality of the battle from the perspective of the ordinary soldiers and junior officers on the front line. He draws heavily on previously unpublished personal accounts letters, diaries, and memoirs, some never before translated into English to build up a multifaceted picture of the Somme offensive from the first disastrous day of the attack, through the subsequent operations between July and November 1916. In their own words, the soldiers who were caught up in the conflict recall in unflinching detail the fighting across the entire Somme battlefield. The narrative features the recollections of British, Commonwealth, French and American soldiers, and interweaves their testimony with descriptions left by their German adversaries. For the first time in a single volume, the reader has the opportunity to explore all facets of this momentous five-month-long struggle. Over 100 black-and-white contemporary photographs, many previously unpublished, accompany the text, whilst a selection of artifacts recovered from the battlefield is illustrated in colour. These striking objects bear silent witness to the ferocity of the battle, and often reflect some moment of personal tragedy.Letters from the Trenches: The First World War by Those Who Were There
Par Jacqueline Wadsworth. 2014
A history of World War I—told through the letters exchanged by ordinary soldiers and their families. Letters from the Trenches…
reveals how people really thought and felt during the Great War, and covers all social classes and groups from officers to conscripts to women at home to conscientious objectors. Voices within the book include Sgt. John Adams, 9th Royal Irish Fusiliers, who wrote in May 1917: &“For the day we get our letter from home is a red letter day in the history of the soldier out here. It is the only way we can hear what is going on. The slender thread between us and the homeland.&” Pvt. Stanley Goodhead, who served with one of the Manchester Pals battalion, wrote home in 1916: &“I came out of the trenches last night after being in four days. You have no idea what four days in the trenches means . . . The whole time I was in I had only about two hours sleep and that was in snatches on the firing step. What dugouts there are, are flooded with mud and water up to the knees and the rats hold swimming galas in them . . . We are literally caked with brown mud and it is in all our food, tea etc.&” Jacqueline Wadsworth skillfully uses these letters to tell the human story of the First World War: what mattered to Britain&’s servicemen and their feelings about the war; how the conflict changed people; and how life continued on the home front.Narrow Gauge in the Somme Sector: Before, During & After the First World War (Allied Railways of the Western Front)
Par Joan Farebrother, Martin Farebrother. 2018
The Somme sector of the Western Front was held by French forces until early 1916, when the British and Dominions…
Third and Fourth Armies moved into the northern part, before the joint First Battle of the Somme from July to November 1916. In 1917, with the German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line, British responsibility moved further south. By early 1918 the British Third and Fifth Armies were responsible as far south as east of Noyon. In Spring 1918 the German attack and advance from the Hindenburg Line came west almost to Amiens. However the British and French Armies finally stopped the advance, and from August 1918 drove the German Army back eastwards until the Armistice on 11 November 1918.In this book the meter gauge networks established before the First World War are examined. Then the build up of light (60cm gauge) railways, initially mainly French but later British, in 1915 and 1916, is considered, with an assessment of the contribution of these and the meter gauge lines to the war effort. With the major movements of the front line in this sector in 1917 and 1918, the response of the narrow gauge railways is considered chronologically as well as by area, in the context of overall railway policy and development. After the war the light railways contributed to the reconstruction of the devastated areas, and then in some places served the sugar beet industry. The meter gauge railways were rebuilt or repaired. The story is followed to the closure of the last of these railways in the 1960s.This book is a companion volume to Narrow Gauge in the Arras Sector (Pen & Sword Transport, 2015) by the same authors. It refers also to other previous works on British and French railways in the First World War, but contains sufficient information to stand alone. It describes how to find key locations now, and where rolling stock can be seen. Some walks are included for those who wish to explore the territory.The Angel: The Egyptian Spy Who Saved Israel
Par Uri Bar-Joseph. 2016
A NETFLIX ORIGINAL MOVIETHE BEST INTELLIGENCE BOOK for 2017 by The American Association of Former Intelligence OfficersA gripping feat of…
reportage that exposes—for the first time in English—the sensational life and mysterious death of Ashraf Marwan, an Egyptian senior official who spied for Israel, offering new insight into the turbulent modern history of the Middle East.As the son-in-law of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and a close advisor to his successor, Anwar Sadat, Ashraf Marwan had access to the deepest secrets of the country’s government. But Marwan himself had a secret: He was a spy for the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service. Under the codename “The Angel,” Marwan turned Egypt into an open book for the Israeli intelligence services—and, by alerting the Mossad in advance of the joint Egyptian-Syrian attack on Yom Kippur, saved Israel from a devastating defeat.Drawing on meticulous research and interviews with many key participants, Uri Bar Joseph pieces together Marwan’s story. In the process, he sheds new light on this volatile time in modern Egyptian and Middle Eastern history, culminating in 2011’s Arab Spring. The Angel also chronicles the discord within the Israeli government that brought down Prime Minister Golda Meir.However, this nail-biting narrative doesn’t end with Israel’s victory in the Yom Kippur War. Marwan eluded Egypt’s ruthless secret services for many years, but then somebody talked. Five years later, in 2007, his body was found in the garden of his London apartment building. Police suspected he had been thrown from his fifth-floor balcony, and thanks to explosive new evidence, Bar-Joseph can finally reveal who, how, and why.The Long Way Home: An American Journey from Ellis Island to the Great War
Par David Laskin. 2010
“Moving, revealing, and lovingly researched, this book is a must read, and a great read, for any of us whose…
forebears came from overseas—meaning just about all of us.” — Erik LarsonThe author of the award-winning The Children’s Blizzard, David Laskin, returns with a remarkable true story of the immigrants who risked their lives fighting for America during the Great War.In The Long Way Home, award-winning writer David Laskin traces the lives of a dozen men who left their childhood homes in Europe, journeyed through Ellis Island, and started over in a strange land—only to cross the Atlantic again in uniform when their adopted country entered the Great War.Though they had known little of America outside of tight-knit ghettos and backbreaking labor, these foreign-born conscripts were rapidly transformed into soldiers, American soldiers, in the ordeal of war. Two of the men in this book won the Medal of Honor. Three died in combat. Those who survived were profoundly altered–and their heroic service reshaped their families and ultimately the nation itself.Epic, inspiring, and masterfully written, this book is an unforgettable true story of the Great War, the world it remade, and the humble, loyal men who became Americans by fighting for America.This &“fast-paced account&” of WWI airmen who escaped Germany&’s most notorious POW camp is &“expertly narrated&” by the New York…
Times bestselling author (Kirkus, starred review). During World War I, Allied soldiers might avoid death only to find themselves in the abominable conditions of Germany&’s many prison camps. The most infamous was Holzminden, a land-locked Alcatraz that housed the most escape-prone officers. Its commandant was a boorish tyrant named Karl Niemeyer, who swore that none should ever leave. Desperate to break out of &“Hellminden&”, a group of Allied prisoners hatch an audacious escape plan that requires a risky feat of engineering as well as a bevy of disguises, forged documents, and fake walls—not to mention steely resolve and total secrecy. Once beyond the watchtowers and round-the-clock patrols, they are then faced with a 150-mile dash through enemy-occupied territory toward free Holland. Drawing on never-before-seen memoirs and letters, historian Neal Bascomb &“has unearthed a remarkable piece of hidden history, and told it perfectly. The story brims with adventure, suspense, daring, and heroism&” (David Grann, New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon).The Last of the Doughboys: The Forgotten Generation and Their Forgotten World War
Par Richard Rubin. 2013
&“Before the Greatest Generation, there was the Forgotten Generation of World War I . . . wonderfully engaging&” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). &“Richard…
Rubin has done something that will never be possible for anyone to do again. His interviews with the last American World War I veterans—who have all since died—bring to vivid life a cataclysm that changed our world forever but that remains curiously forgotten here.&” —Adam Hochschild, author of To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914–1918 In 2003, eighty-five years after the end of World War I, Richard Rubin set out to see if he could still find and talk to someone who had actually served in the American Expeditionary Forces during that colossal conflict. Ultimately he found dozens, aged 101 to 113, from Cape Cod to Carson City, who shared with him at the last possible moment their stories of America&’s Great War. Nineteenth-century men and women living in the twenty-first century, they were self-reliant, humble, and stoic, never complaining, but still marveling at the immensity of the war they helped win, and the complexity of the world they helped create. Though America has largely forgotten their war, you will never forget them, or their stories. A decade in the making, The Last of the Doughboys is the most sweeping look at America&’s First World War in a generation, a glorious reminder of the tremendously important role America played in the &“war to end all wars,&” as well as a moving meditation on character, grace, aging, and memory. &“An outstanding and fascinating book. By tracking down the last surviving veterans of the First World War and interviewing them with sympathy and skill, Richard Rubin has produced a first-rate work of reporting.&” —Ian Frazier, author of Travels in Siberia &“I cannot remember a book about that huge and terrible war that I have enjoyed reading more in many years.&” —Michael Korda, The Daily BeastEcstatic Nation: Confidence, Crisis, and Compromise, 1848–1877
Par Brenda Wineapple. 2013
A New York Times Notable Book of 2013A Kirkus Best Book of 2013A Bookpage Best Book of 2013Dazzling in scope,…
Ecstatic Nation illuminates one of the most dramatic and momentous chapters in America's past, when the country dreamed big, craved new lands and new freedom, and was bitterly divided over its great moral wrong: slavery. With a canvas of extraordinary characters, such as P. T. Barnum, Walt Whitman, Frederick Douglass, and L. C. Q. Lamar, Ecstatic Nation brilliantly balances cultural and political history: It's a riveting account of the sectional conflict that preceded the Civil War, and it astutely chronicles the complex aftermath of that war and Reconstruction, including the promise that women would share in a new definition of American citizenship. It takes us from photographic surveys of the Sierra Nevadas to the discovery of gold in the South Dakota hills, and it signals the painful, thrilling birth of modern America.An epic tale by award-winning author Brenda Wineapple, Ecstatic Nation lyrically and with true originality captures the optimism, the failures, and the tragic exuberance of a renewed Republic.Thetis Down: The Slow Death of a Submarine
Par Tony Booth. 2019
On 1 June 1939 His Majestys Submarine Thetis sank in Liverpool Bay while on her diving trials. Her loss is…
still the worst peacetime submarine disaster the Royal Navy has yet faced when ninety-nine men drowned or slowly suffocated during their last fifty hours of life.The disaster became an international media event, mainly because the trapped souls aboard were so near to being saved after they managed to raise her stern about 18 ft above sea level. Still the Royal Navy-led rescue operation failed to find the submarine for many hours, only to rescue four of all those trapped. Very little is known about what actually happened, as the only comprehensive book written on the subject was published in 1958.Many years have now passed since the Thetis and her men died, for which no one was held to be ultimately accountable. However, a great deal of unpublished information has come to light in archives throughout the United Kingdom and beyond. After four years of painstaking research Thetis; The Slow Death of a Submarine explores in minute detail a more rounded picture of what really happened before, during and after her tragic loss. In doing so Tony Booths book also takes a fresh look at culpability and explores some of the alleged conspiracy theories that surrounded her demise.The result is the first definitive account what happened to HMS Thetis and her men a fitting tribute, as the seventieth anniversary of her loss will be on 1 June 2009.Rise of the Tank: Armoured Vehicles and Their Use in the First World War
Par Michael Foley. 2014
Rise of the Tank will be concentrated on the period of the development of the tank and its use in…
the First World War. This will appeal to those interested in new developments in war and those interested in the First World War generally. The book will be especially relevant due to the forthcoming centenary of the beginning of the war and for this reason it will be easy to promote the book as there will be a lot of media interest.Using the resources of the Imperial War Museum, The National Archives and the Tank Museum, Rise of the Tank will have lots of information available on the development and use of the early tanks as well as personal reminiscences of those who fought in them.The author, Michael Foley, has also collected a great deal of material from the period such as the First World War field service pocket book of a 2nd lieutenant of the 10th Tank Battalion and copies of various magazines of the period. He will have also be accessing First World War newspapers to find original and rare archive sources.An in-depth reference to the naval weapons used by Britain, Germany, the US, and the other combatants in the Great…
War, with photos: &“Superb…invaluable.&”—History of War Although the Great War might be regarded as the heyday of the big-gun at sea, it also saw the maturing of underwater weapons, the mine and torpedo, as well as the first signs of the future potency of air power. Between 1914 and 1918 weapons development was both rapid and complex, so this book has two functions: on the one hand it details all the guns, torpedoes, mines, aerial bombs and anti-submarine systems employed during that period; but it also seeks to explain the background to their evolution: how the weapons were perceived at the time and how they were actually used. This involves a discussion of tactics and emphasizes the key enabling technology of fire control and gun mountings. In this respect, the book treats the war as a transition from naval weapons which were essentially experimental at its outbreak to a state where they pointed directly to what would be used in World War II. Based largely on original research, this sophisticated book is more than a catalogue of the weapons, offering insight into some of the most important technical and operational factors influencing the war at sea.Tunbridge Wells in the Great War (Your Towns & Cities in the Great War)
Par Stephen Wynn. 2016
Using original material and letters from the First World War, this captivating and eye-opening account uncovers the unnerving realities of…
the First World War and the impact it had on the town of Tunbridge Wells. It looks at world events, which ultimately determined the outbreak of the war, and how these same events affected the small town in Kent and the people who made up the community.From an early stage the hostilities of the war became very real for the people of Tunbridge Wells. Because of its geographical location, close proximity to major ports and rail links, the town became the headquarters of the nations Territorial Army, which brought with it 5,000 troops from all over the country.Out of nearly 3,000 people from Tunbridge Wells who enlisted in the military between 1914–1918, a staggering 801 did not return, and out of those who did, many suffered terrible wounds and injuries, both physically and mentally. Many moving stories are illustrated throughout, such as that of Private William Starks Vidler of the Royal Marines Light Infantry who became the town's first casualty of the war when his ship, HMS Amphion struck a mine and sunk. Ironically, eighteen others who died in the disaster were German sailors who had been rescued by the Amphion when their ship was sunk by the British Royal Navy.The book looks at letters sent from husbands and sons, who had seen action in the war, and how they were received by families on the Home Front, who were anxiously waiting for new of their loved ones. It documents the triumphs and tragedies of Tunbridge Wells' people as they sought to find normality amongst a reality far removed from anything they had ever known before