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The Great War campaigns of one of the Royal Naval division battalions The campaigns of the Royal Naval Brigades have always fascinated students of military history. During several notable campaigns of the Victorian era including the Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny, the Zulu War and the Boer War these 'sailors without ships' left their natural element (invariably dragging and pulling their guns with them) to do battle alongside their comrades of the British Army. The story of the naval brigades of the First World War was somewhat different for here were units, named for the great admirals of the age of sail, which had been specifically created to act and fight as infantry whilst maintaining the traditions of the 'senior service'. The requirements of this great conflict meant that the initial role of the naval brigades to defend port areas very quickly gave way to the pragmatic need for fighting battalions in the field. After the debacle at Antwerp, the Hawke Battalion was re-formed and took part in the ultimately disastrous Gallipoli Campaign before being transferred to the Western Front where it played its part in the Battle of the Somme. This is a riveting account that benefits from the authenticity of first-hand experience written by an officer who served with the Hawke Battalion. Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.
The Royal Naval Division, a fighting formation of naval ratings and Royal Marines, was formed at the instigation of Winston Churchill at the beginning of the First World War. At first under the control of the Admiralty, it fought at the defense of Antwerp in October 1914 and through the whole of the Gallipoli campaign. In 1916 the Admiralty handed the Division over to Army control. Re-named the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division, it fought with great distinction and success with the BEF in France and Belgium. The division was always an odd ball formation, fighting under the White Ensign, and its eight naval battalions were named after great admirals. The greatest of them all, Vice Admiral Horatio, Viscount Nelson, gave his name to Nelson Battalion. Like the other naval battalions, the Nelson had a complement of officers and ratings of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and Royal Fleet Reserve seamen and stokers. Nearly 800 would lose their lives in the three and half years of its fighting existence. The book traces the history of Nelson Battalion from August 1914 to February 1918 when it was disbanded. Against the background of the battalions movements and battles the fate of its sailor-soldiers is revealed, more than 300 individuals being mentioned in the text. A full roll of honor is also included.
The Hood Battalion saw some of the fiercest fighting of the First World war particularly at Antwerp, in the Gallipoli Campaign and then again on the West Front at the Ancre, Gavrelle and Passchendaele. The author lets the participants tell their own story, having expended prodigious labour in unearthing the many first-hand accounts of the Hood's exploits. It is indeed a tale told by heroes.
Set out topographically, it covers everything from the famous battle sites of High Wood and Mametz Wood to obscure villages on the outlying flanks. The British first began to take the Somme sector over from the French Army in June 1915. From this time onwards they built up a very close bond with the local population, many of whom continued to live in local villages close to the front line. The author draws on the latest research and analysis, as well as the testimony of those who took part, to present all aspects of a battle that was to become a symbol of the horrors of the Great War.
'YOU WANTED TO SEE SOME ACTION - WELL YOU'RE GOING TO GET IT NOW. YOU'RE GOING TO GET IT NOW ALL RIGHT.' Friday 24th May, 1940 Private Johnny Hawke, aged sixteen, awakens to artillery fire. Hours later, Stukas scream down from the sky. Messerschmit fighters roar towards his regiment. Trucks burst into flames. Now men and mules lay dead and dying, severed limbs twisted grotesquely as blood soaks the cobbled streets. Young Private Hawke just wants to do his duty and serve his country. But as he - and his fellow soldiers - prepare to stop the German advance, there's only one question on everyone's lips. HOW WILL THEY SURVIVE?
1ST BATTALION ROYAL NEW ZEALAND INFANTRY REGIMENT 1957-2007 commemorates the service of the Battalion both nationally and internationally and reflects upon the excellent leadership, training systems and innate soldiering abilities which have earned New Zealand's Army an international reputation for producing extraordinary light infantry personnel. This book should be widely read by not only those that have served or are serving, but by the New Zealand public who are interested in how 1RNZIR has served our nation.
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.