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Today a new major joined us, a Herculean giant of South African origin with a quite remarkable disregard for danger.'…
_The Regimental Diary of The Kings Own Scottish Borderers, July 1915_'Brave as a lion, stubborn as a mule and as quick tempered as his Irish forebears, Kelly VC spoke out about Churchill's support of the White Russians in 1919. This is a well researched and lively read and brings to our attention an early Churchill folly.' _Keith Simpson_John (Jack) Sherwood Kelly, VC CMG DSO (1880-1931) was a formidable soldier. He fought in British colonial campaigns in the early 1900s, distinguished himself during the First World War at Gallipoli, the Somme and Cambrai, and, after the war, was involved in the British campaign in northern Russia in support of the White Russians. During his military career he achieved fame and notoriety for his mixture of heroic exploits and explosive temperament. In this meticulously researched and vivid biography Jake B. Liphuip tells Sherwood Kellys story and gives a fascinating insight into one of the most remarkable and controversial military men of the period. Kelly had a combat record going back to the 1896 Matabele Revolt. He was awarded the DSO for his exploits in Gallipoli in 1916. During 1917 he commanded 1st Battalion, the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and was instrumental in the early success achieved during the Battle of Cambrai for which he was awarded the VC. His later service during the British intervention against the Bolsheviks in 1919 ended in court martial and a highly publicized clash with Winston Churchill.Special Forces Pilot: A Flying Memoir of the Falkland War
By Richard Hutchings. 1979
As a Commando helicopter pilot, the author served with 846 Naval Air Squadron in the Falklands War and was decorated…
for gallantry (DSC). The author relives his part in operations, in particular Special Forces intelligence gathering and direct action missions, including the Pebble Island raid. Events are described in detail including the development of pioneering night operating procedures and the conduct of covert and other operationally sensitive missions. The book includes hitherto undisclosed material relating to Operation MIKADO, the ill-fated Special Forces mission in Argentina with its disastrous consequences for the Task Force. Dick was Captain of the Sea King that carried the Special Forces team into Argentina. The operation is described in detail including events in the air and on the ground in Argentina and Chile. Dick recalls his encounter with the Chilean authorities, meetings with British Embassy officials in Santiago, the international press conference, his eventful repatriation to the UK, debriefings in the MoD and time spent in an MI-6 safe-house somewhere in England. The book concludes by describing a follow-up visit to Chile by the author in November 1982, at the behest of the Chilean Government.The Second World War upended many lives, disrupting patterns and routines and bringing an array of terrifying new dangers with…
it. For Jenny Nater, the war brought great sadness but also opportunity. Like many women left behind on the home front during the war, she found herself in an unforeseen scenario in which her talents could be put to an unexpected use. But her war was destined to play out almost entirely in secret.Jenny served as a bilingual wireless operator in the top-secret Special Duties service (Y) at Dover, intercepting traffic from German surface craft in the English Channel and reporting it back to Bletchley Park (X). In this post she carried out important work for the war effort and also struck up a series of life-changing relationships, most notably with a Coastal Force Command Lieutenant, who was subsequently lost off the coast of Dover in tragic circumstances. The story of how their careers interrelated, both on land and at sea, makes for thrilling and poignant reading. The memoirs also cover her time spent working for the American intelligence agency, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), in Germany. It was whilst serving in this post that she would meet her husband, a Mosquito pilot and member of the Caterpillar Club. His account of Mosquito missions over occupied Europe, tracing, identifying and communicating with special agents on the ground, is included here in full.These memoirs not only add an important layer to our understanding of allied intelligence practices conducted during this conflict, they also tell the story of one woman's very private war and the opportunities, sacrifices and victories it encompassed.Theodore Bayley Hardy VC DSO MC: A Reluctant Hero
By David Raw. 2014
In 1916, at the age of fifty four, a slight, short sighted, unassuming country vicar and local school master became…
an Army Chaplain. Theodore Bayley Hardy was destined to become the most decorated noncombatant in the First World War. He was to be awarded the Victoria Cross, the D.S.O., and the M.C. By day he performed the usual priestly and chaplaincy tasks but by night he would work the trenches dropping in with his inimitable "It's only me!" to bring comfort and moral and spiritual support in the nightmare of wars.Sadly, he was to die of wounds only a few days before the Armistice.Menus, Munitions and Keeping the Peace: The Home Front Diaries of Gabrielle West 1914–1917
By Avalon Weston. 2016
When Gabrielle West wrote diaries about her war to send to her much missed favorite brother in India she had…
no idea that a hundred years later they would be of interest to anyone.Soon after the outbreak of the First World War, Vicars daughter Gabrielle joined the Red Cross and worked as a volunteer cook in two army convalescent hospitals. She then secured paid positions in the canteens of the Farnborough Royal Aircraft Factory and then the Woolwich Arsenal, where she watched Zeppelin raids over London during her night shifts. Having failed a mental arithmetic test to drive a horse-drawn bread van for J. Lyons, she was among the first women enrolled in the police and spent the rest of the war looking after the girls in various munitions factories.Gabrielle wrote about and drew what she saw. She had no interest in opinion or politics. She took her bicycle and her dog Rip everywhere and they appear in many of her stories. She had a sharp eye and sometimes a sharp pen.At the end of the war she was simply sent home. She spent the rest of her life caring for relatives. She lived to 100 and never married. The First World War was her big adventure.These days, the reader might feel MI5 should worry about those detailed line drawings of the processes in the factories being sent by Royal Mail across the world but a hundred years ago?Hitlers French Volunteers
By Christophe Leguérandais. 1941
From 1941 to 1945, a large number of foreign soldiers were incorporated into the ranks of the German army in…
order to compensate for the enormous losses suffered by the Wehrmacht, including thousands of French. Whether fighting against the Soviets on the Eastern Front, with the Afrika-Korps in Tunisia or fighting with the occupying army in France, these volunteers generally took the plunge to join the Germans with the authorization of their own government, even though there was never any 'formal link' to the Vichy regime.For the first time in the English language, this book provides details of the units' various insignias, along with rare and previously unpublished and personal photographs of the few surviving members interviewed by the author. As a result, a new vision of these collaborators emerges, allowing them to be regarded as adventurers or even nationalists. After all, despite being clothed in the enemy's uniform, the majority of these soldiers respected their oath of allegiance, often giving their lives in return.The Somme: The Epic Battle in the Soldiers' Own Words and Photographs
By Richard Van Emden. 2016
The offensive on the Somme took place between July and November 1916 and is perhaps the most iconic battle of…
the Great War. It was there that Kitcheners famous Pals Battalions were first sent into action en masse and it was a battlefield where many of the dreams and aspirations of a nation, hopeful of victory, were agonizingly dashed. Because of its legendary status, the Somme has been the subject of many books, and many more will come out next year. However, nothing has ever been published on the Battle in which the soldiers own photographs have been used to illustrate both the campaigns extraordinary comradeship and its carnage.Bomber Harris: Sir Arthur Harris' Despatches on War Operations 1942–1945
By John Grehan. 1943
The bombing campaign conducted against Germany and German-occupied Europe in the Second World War was, and remains, one of the…
most controversial operations of the entire war. Much of Bomber Command's effort was what was defined as 'area' bombing, in which whole cities or districts were targeted. The ultimate aim of an attack on a town area, Sir Arthur Harris wrote in one of his despatches, is to break the morale of the population which occupies it ... namely, to produce (i) destruction and (ii) fear of death.This strategy was so successful it almost brought Germany to the point of collapse until Churchill, worried about the devastation it was causing and the number of civilian deaths which resulted, ordered it to cease.Harris' despatches explain in great detail the success of his methods which, if given full reign, may have brought the war to a speedier conclusion but would have meant even more German casualties. Such was the controversy surrounding Bomber Command's operations, Harris' despatches were not published by the government, even though the despatches of every other branch of the armed services, and all of their operations, were made public. The full text of Harris' despatches is reproduced here along with an explanation why these documents were withheld for so many years.Broken Sword: The Tumultuous Life of General Frank Crozier, 1897–1937
By Charles Messenger. 2013
Brigadier General Frank Crozier (1879- 1937) was a highly controversial figure in his day. As a young soldier he saw…
active service in the Boer War and West Africa before being forced to leave the British army because of financial irresponsibility. He tried to start a new life in Canada and then, on his return to Britain, joined the Ulster Volunteer Force.On the outbreak of the First World War he was appointed second-in-command of a battalion in 36th Ulster Division, becoming its commanding officer in autumn 1915 and leading it in action on 1 July 1916. He commanded a brigade with much success for the rest of the war.Forbidden to stay on in the British army after the war, he became inspector-general of the Lithuanian army in 1919, but resigned after six months. Made commandant of the Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary at the height of the Troubles, he resigned in highly controversial circumstances.After being declared bankrupt for a second time, he was involved in the League of Nations Union and then turned topacifism, becoming a founder member of the Peace Pledge Union. By now he had, through his best-selling writings, become a thorn in the side of the establishment. Charles Messenger's meticulously researched and highly readable biography of this maverick soldier is the first full account of his life and times.Haig's Medical Officer: The papers of Colonel Eugene 'Micky' Ryan CMG DSO RAMC
By Eugene Ryan. 1918
Despite countless conflicting assessments, Field Marshal Douglas Haig remains one of the most controversial and fascinating characters in British military…
history. To some he was a mindless butcher, to others a true patriot who masterminded Allied victory in the First World War under the most trying circumstances.The papers of Colonel Eugene 'Micky' Ryan, Haig's long serving doctor and confidant, are a significant find as they throw fresh and invaluable light on the life and character of this enigmatic man. Ryan studied medicine at Cork and Edinburgh. He was commissioned into the RAMC in 1901 and saw active service in South Africa. He first met Haig in 1912 and became Medical Officer to Haig's HQ 1st Corps in 1914 and moved with him to 1st Army that December. Ryan saw service commanding two Casualty Clearing Stations before being appointed Medical Officer to the C in C (Haig) in September 1916.Haig's and Ryan's relationship, while primarily professional, blossomed into a friendship of mutual respect and trust which lasted until Haig's death in 1928. Ryan delivered the Haigs' long awaited heir, Dawyck, in 1918 and advised during Dorothy Haig's illness in 1926.Fortunately Ryan kept meticulous diaries which, written from such a unique viewpoint and with constant reference to Haig and his family, are of historical importance: the Foreword, written by Professor Gary Sheffield a leading authority on Haig's life and work, attests to their significance.As seen in Britain at War Magazine, January 2014A Trenchard Brat at War: Stirling, Lancaster and Stalag IVB
By Stuart Burbridge, Thomas Lancashire. 2009
This is the story of Thomas Lancashire who joined the RAF in 1936 and became one of the famous 'Trenchard…
Brats' at RAF Halton to be educated and learn the trade of fitter. He was first posted to 7 Squadron in 1939, at that time flying Whitley bombers but decided to advance himself to become a flight engineer on the new Stirling heavy bomber. He was posted to 15 Squadron at Wyton and completed a full tour that included the famous Lbeck raid, the Thousand Bomber assault on Cologne and the follow up on Essen during which he was almost shot down over Antwerp. In July 1942 he was rested and became an instructor until being posted to 97 Squadron flying Lancasters. On his ninth raid of this tour, 11 August 1943, the aircraft was attacked by a night fighter over Belgium but he successfully baled out and was eventually picked up by the Resistance and handed to an escape line.Eventually the group of evaders was betrayed by a German agent and placed in captivity, ending up in Stalag Luft IV at Mhlberg. During this time he escaped but was eventually recaptured and he was forced to share the growing despair and hardships in late 1944, enduring overcrowding, hunger and cold, until the Russian Army liberated the camp and he was airlifted back to the UK.His post-war career took him to Canada where he was employed on the Avro Arrow project until it was abandoned and he was forced to seek work in the USA. He worked with Boeing until his retirement .3 Commando Brigade in the Falklands: No Picnic (Cassell Military Paperbacks Ser.)
By Julian Thompson. 2001
Major General Julian Thompson first wrote No Picnic when the momentous events of April - June 1982 were fresh in…
his mind. As Commander of 3 Commando Brigade, he was at the heart of the planning and conduct of the War. Under his direct command had been the Royal Marine Commandos and the two battalions of the Parachute Regiment who conducted the lion's share of the fighting.No-one therefore is better qualified to tell the extraordinary story of there-taking of the Falkland Islands from the Argentinians. The author, now a celebrated military historian, has revised his early book and added for this 25 Anniversary edition more of his own personal thoughts and impressions.It is all too easy to overlook just how perilous and risky a venture this expedition to the depths of the Southern Hemisphere was. Victory and defeat hung in the balance. Even those who feel they know about this most remarkable of wars will learn more from reading this classic account.Stilicho: The Vandal Who Saved Rome
By Ian Hughes. 2010
The period of history in which Stilicho lived was one of the most turbulent in European history. The Western Empire…
was finally giving way under pressure from external threats, especially from Germanic tribes crossing the Rhine and Danube, as well as from seemingly ever-present internal revolts and rebellions.Ian Hughes explains how a Vandal (actually Stilicho had a Vandal father and Roman mother) came to be given almost total control of the Western Empire and describes his attempts to save both the Western Empire and even Rome itself from the attacks of Alaric the Goth and other barbarian invaders.Stilicho is one of the major figures in the history of the Late Roman Empire and his actions following the death of the emperor Theodosius the Great in 395 may have helped to divide the Western and Eastern halves of the Roman Empire on a permanent basis. Yet he is also the individual who helped maintain the integrity of the West before the rebellion of Constantine III in Britain and the crossing of the Rhine by a major force of Vandals, Sueves and Alans - both in AD 406 - set the scene for both his downfall and execution in 408 and the later disintegration of the West. Despite his role in this fascinating and crucial period of history, there is no other full-length biography of him in print.Mithridates the Great: Rome's Indomitable Enemy
By Philip Matyszak. 2015
A military biography of Mithridates VI the Great of Pontus, Romes most persistent enemy. The Mithridiatic wars stretched over half…
a century and two continents, and have a fascinating cast of pirates, rebels, turncoats and poisoners (though an unfortunate lack of heroes with untarnished motives). There are pitched battles, epic sieges, double-crosses and world-class political conniving, assassinations and general treachery. Through it all, the story is built about the dominant character of Mithridates, connoisseur of poisons, arch-schemer and strategist; resilient in defeat, savage and vindictive in victory. Almost by definition, this book will break new ground, in that nothing has been written on Mithridates for the general public for almost half a century, though scholarly journals have been adding a steady trickle of new evidence, which is drawn upon here. Few enough leaders went to war with Rome and lived long to tell the tale, but in the first half of the first century BC, Mithridates did so three times. At the high point of his career his armies swept the Romans out of Asia Minor and Greece, reversing a century of Roman expansion in the region. Even once fortune had turned against him he would not submit. Upto the day he died, a fugitive drive to suicide by the treachery of his own son, he was still planning an overland invasion of Roman itself.The Jutland Scandal: The Truth About the First World War's Greatest Sea Battles
By John Harper. 2015
The Royal Navy had ruled the sea unchallenged for 100 years since Nelson triumphed at Trafalgar. Yet when the Grand…
Fleet faced the German High Seas Fleet across the grey waters of the North Sea near Jutland the British battleships and cruisers were battered into a draw, losing far more men and ships than the enemy. The Grand Fleet far outnumbered and outgunned the German fleet so something clearly had gone wrong. The public waited for the official histories of the battle to be released to learn the truth, but month after month went by with the Admiralty promising, but failing, to publish an account of Jutland. Questions were raised in Parliament (twenty-two times) yet still no official report was produced, due to objections from Admiral Beatty. This led to Admiral Bacon producing his own account of the battle, called The Jutland Scandal in 1925. Two years later the man instructed to write the official report, Rear-Admiral Harper, decided to publish his account independently, under the title The Truth About Jutland. Together, these two books lay bare the facts about Jutland and reveal the failings of senior officers and the distortions of the early historians. Produced as one volume for the first time, this book tells the truth about the scandal that developed following the largest battle ever fought at sea.With Winston Churchill at the Front: Winston on the Western Front, 1916
By Andrew Dewar Gibb. 2016
Following his resignation from the Government after the disastrous Gallipoli campaign, Winston Churchills political career stalled. Never one to give…
in, Churchill was determined to continue fighting the enemy.He was already a Major in the Territorial Reserve and he was offered promotion to Lieutenant Colonel and with it command of a battalion on the Western Front. On 5 January 1916, Churchill took up his new post with the 6th (Service) Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers. The battalions adjutant was Captain Alexander Dewar Gibb who formed a close relationship with Churchill that lasted far beyond their few weeks together in the war.Dewar Gibb subsequently wrote an account of his and Churchills time together in the trenches. Packed with amusing anecdotes and fascinating detail, Gibbs story shows an entirely different side to Churchills character from the forceful public figure normally presented to the world. Churchill proved to be a caring and compassionate commander and utterly fearless. Despised on his arrival, by the time he departed he was adored by his men.Supplemented with many of Churchills letters, the observations of other officers and additional narrative this is the most unusual and absorbing account of this part of Churchill's life that has ever been told.A Passion for Flying: 8,000 hours of RAF Flying
By Tom Eeles. 2008
The story of Group Captain Tom Eeles who served in the RAF for 44 years and totaled over 8000 hours…
of flying in twenty-eight different aircraft types. Tom entered RAF College Cranwell in 1961, he gained his RAF wings in 1963.Victoria's Generals
By Steven J Corvi, Ian F.W Beckett. 2009
The senior British generals of the Victorian era - men like Wolseley, Roberts, Gordon and Kitchener - were heroes of…
their time. As soldiers, administrators and battlefield commanders they represented the empire at the height of its power. But they were a disparate, sometimes fractious group of men. They exhibited many of the failings as well as the strengths of the British army of the late nineteenth-century. And now, when the Victorian period is being looked at more critically than before, the moment is right to reassess them as individuals and as soldiers. This balanced and perceptive study of these eminent military men gives a fascinating insight into their careers, into the British army of their day and into a now-remote period when Britain was a world power.Private Beatson's War: Life, Death and Hope on the Western Front
By Edited by Shaun Springer. 1916
Until recently James Beatson was one of the millions of forgotten soldiers of the Great War. But after 90 years…
his diary has been rediscovered, perfectly preserved, and his story can now be told. It is a moving, intensely personal and beautifully written narrative by an extraordinary young man who witnessed one of the darkest episodes in European history. His experience gives us a telling insight into the thoughts and reactions of a self- educated, patriotic and religious individual confronted by the horrors of warfare on the Western Front. Indeed, after reading the diary of a dead German soldier, Beatson begins to identify more with the thoughts and fears of his enemy than he does with those he loves at home. Reminiscent of some of the greatest of the First World War authors, the diary is also the record of a gifted writer whose potential was tragically curtailed. For, shortly after marrying his childhood sweet heart, he was killed in action at the Battle of the Somme in one of the many failed attacks on High Wood. For this, the first publication of Beatsons diary, Shaun Springer and Stuart Humphreys have edited and illustrated the text and provided an introduction, describing Beatsons family background and the campaign on the Western Front in which he took part. James Beatson was the eldest of nine children. He was raised in Scotland by working-class parents. He was a civil engineer until, as with so many, the declaration of war offered him the chance of adventure. He enlisted in the first days of the war in the Royal Scots and was an eyewitness to the first poison gas attack by the Germans in 1915. Despite the horrors he experienced, Private Beatson never lost his love of humanity nor his faith. He now lies buried, lost somewhere on the Somme when in July 1916 he breathed his last in that infamous battle.Wings over the Waves: The Biography and Letters of Lieut. Com. Roy Baker-Falkner DSO DSC RN
By Graham Drucker. 2010
This is the biography of one of the Royal Navys legendary pilots. BF or Daddy as he was known, started…
his career at Dartmouth and then spent his early seagoing years in Hong Kong, Nagasaki and Hiroshima. His wartime experiences as a Fleet Air pilot aboard HMS Glorious included the historic air strike at Taranto and the search for the Graf Spee. In May 1940 he was loaned to Coastal Command and attacked German Panzer tanks in a biplane, defended Allied troops over Dunkirk and was one of only a few naval officers to fight in the Battle of Britain. After a period as a test pilot at Boscombe Down he became one of only four Wing Leaders in the Royal Navy. His successful leadership lead to many more successes, not least the crippling of Tirpitz as part of a diversionary plan in the lead up to D-Day.He was a superb pilot, loved by all the air and ground crew under his command. His reputation as a fearless and dynamic leader remains a legend today. The book contains detailed and graphic accounts of aerial sorties and strikes throughout the dark days over Nazi Europe. Tragically he was killed in action in July 1944, one week prior to promotion and a job ashore. The book includes many of his letters and extracts from his diary.