This book describes the wartime experiences of Reverend David Railton, MC, who was a chaplain on the Western Front during WWI. As a chaplain, Railton supported soldiers in their worst moments, he buried the fallen, comforted the wounded, wrote to the families of the missing and killed, and helped the survivors to remember and mark the loss of their comrades so that they were able to move on and do their job. He was present at many battles, and received the Military Cross for rescuing an officer and two men under heavy fire on the Somme. It was Railton’s idea to bring home the body of a fallen comrade, whose identity was unknown, from the battlefields of Belgium and France to be buried in Westminster Abbey. Although suffering from what was obviously Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, after the war he carried out his duties as the vicar of Margate and took on many philanthropic works on behalf of the poor, especially supporting ex-servicemen who came home and had to deal with the aftermath of a terrible war and crippling unemployment.The story of the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior has been told several times, including the part played by the Reverend David Railton, M.C. However, this book – based on hundreds of Railton's original letters, notes, and writings – is the first book to tell the story of the man himself and his flag, which he used as an altar cloth and shroud throughout the war, was consecrated a year after the burial of the Unknown Warrior, and now hangs in Westminster Abbey.

Fighter aircraft were developed by during World War I at an unprecedented rate, as nascent air forces sought to achieve and maintain air supremacy. German manufacturers innovated at top speed, while constantly scrutinizing the development of new enemy aircraft. The Germans also utilized the concept of systematic production or modular engineering during the war—Fokker capitalized on this aspect with all his aircraft built in a similar fashion—wooden wings with welded steel fuselages. This meant that they could be disassembled or reassembled quickly in the field—unlike many Allied aircraft. Pfalz and Albatros were the first to realize the importance of a streamlined fuselage—the precursor to all that would follow. Both of these companies built semi-monocoque fuselages using plywood to develop semi-stressed skin—the Allies had nothing like this. The Germans also perfect powerful inline engines, as exemplified by the Albatros fighters. These engines did not have the gyroscopic effect of the rotary engines and as such were easier and more stable to fly. Fokker was slow to give up his rotary engines but once he did, the result was the iconic Fokker D VII—years ahead of its time and the only aircraft specifically mentioned in the Treaty of Versailles that Germany could not build after the war. German Fighter Aircraft in World War I explores how German fighter aircraft were developed during the war, the innovations and trials that made the Fokker D VII possible, and the different makes and types of aircraft. Using unpublished images including photographs of surviving aircraft, archive images, and models and replicas, it shows details of aircraft that were kept top secret during the war. Extensively illustrated with 140 photos and ten color profiles, this is will be essential reading for all WWI aviation enthusiasts and modellers.

This profusely illustrated photo album includes over 120 previously unseen pictures of the Kaiserliche Eisenbahn-Bau Kompanie unit, which operated during early stages of WW1 in the Western Galicia, now southern Poland.

This profusely illustrated photo album includes over 120 previously unseen pictures of the Kaiserliche Eisenbahn-Bau Kompanie unit, which operated during early stages of WW1 in the Western Galicia, now southern Poland.

For thousands of years, men have dragged animals onto the battlefield. The Great War was no exception to the rule. Even if, at the beginning of the twentieth century, modernity was on the move - trucks, airplanes, tanks - it was unable to free itself from the animal world. Animals of all kinds each participated in their own way in the war effort. Some accomplished their mission close to the fighters and shared with them fear, suffering and death. Others comforted and supported them. There are also those who fed them, and parasites who harassed them. The story of the millions of animals sacrificed in the war is indeed revealing of the reality of the conflict: its harshness, its brutality, but also its absurdity, dramatically illustrated by the ten million animals that lost their lives.

The First World War was as much a ordeal for women as it was for men. They were mobilized en masse from the very beginning, at the invitation of René Viviani, President of the Council, and actively participated in the war effort for four long years. Those that La Guerre Documentée repeatedly refers to as "substitutes" in its columns made themselves indispensable by the support given to combatants (as nurses and as 'marraines de guerre'), but also by offsetting the deficit of male labour, ensuring the full performance of the country's economic activity. In addition to keeping the home and caring for children, women played a major role during the conflict. By proving that they were capable of supplying men with sectors of activity from which they had hitherto been excluded, they asserted themselves more in society, and legitimately aspired to take a decisive step towards their emancipation. The balance is nuanced, and the famous journalist Séverine did not hesitate to conclude bitterly that women were only the "servants of the war". However, it became clear that nothing would ever be the same again.

A 32-page monograph on the world’s first tanks, from the Infantry Tank Mark I used in September 1916 on the Somme and the famous Mark IV of the battle of Cambrai in November 1917, to the Mark V, the King of the battlefields during the summer and autumn 1918 (the Hundred Days). With colour profiles, maps and WW1 photographs.

The SMS Blücher was the last armored cruiser built by the German Empire. She was constructed to counter the new armored cruisers rumored as being built by the British. Blücher was larger than preceding armored cruisers and carried heavier guns but was unable to match the size and armament of the battlecruisers which replaced armored cruisers in the British Royal Navy and – later - the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine). When the Germans learned of the true details of these new British ships, called Invincible class, and that they were to be armoured with 12" battleship guns, they realized that the Invincible class was a completely new type of warship, soon to be known as battlecruisers. By the time the Germans learned of this it was too late to turn back and construction of the Blücher took place as scheduled. The ship was named after the Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard von Blücher, the commander of the Prussian forces at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

Second place in the Military History Monthly Book of the Year Award 2018 Striking where the enemy is weakest and melting away into the darkness before he can react. Never confronting a stronger force directly, but willing to use audacity and surprise to confound and demoralize an opponent. Operations driven by good intelligence, area knowledge, mobility, speed, firepower, and detailed planning and executed by a few specialists with indigenous warriors - this is unconventional warfare. T. E. Lawrence was one of the earliest practitioners of modern unconventional warfare. His tactics and strategies were used by men like Mao and Giap in their wars of liberation. Both kept Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom close at hand. This book looks at the creation of the HEDGEHOG force, the formation of armoured car sections and other units, and focuses the Hejaz Operations Staff, the Allied officers and men who took Lawrence’s idea and prosecuted it against the Ottoman Turkish army assisting Field Marshal Allenby to achieve victory in 1918. Stejskal concludes with an examination of how HEDGEHOG has influenced special operations and unconventional warfare, including Field Marshal Wavell, the Long Range Desert Group, and David Stirling's SAS.

When Germany invaded Belgium in 1914, Britain mobilised its army in addition to its navy, and declared war on Germany. The British Army that disembarked in France in August 1914 was a small but highly efficient force. Led by Sir John French, the army was highly aware of the lessons it had learnt from colonial wars, but couldn't avoid the settlement of the front line leading to the war of positions, more commonly referred to as the war of the trenches. The subject of this short book is a non-exhaustive study of the British soldier's equipment and his commitment within the British Expeditionary Force.

Almost a century has passed since the signing of the armistice on 11 November 1918. Of all the soldiers who went through that hell on earth, photographs, letters, stories and old uniforms kept in attics are all that is left. Thanks to a collection of more than ten thousand documents, the author allows us to follow these young men with previously unseen photographs. All these faces, sometimes smiling, sometimes serious, have a story to tell. Many collectors have also allowed us access to their most precious objects, the fruit of their relentless research that helps save these objects that went through four terrible years of oblivion and destruction. Finally, being in the era of Internet, many links allow you to retrace the history of your ancestors and their regiments. The Canadian Expeditionary Force arrived with its infantry division in France in February 1915. The Canadians underwent the first poison gas attack two months later. In 1918, they had such a reputation that they were used as shock troops and took part in all the battles of the year. The subject of this short book is a non-exhaustive study of the Canadian soldier’s equipment and his commitment within the Canadian Expeditionary Forces in France in 1915-18.

In the summer of 1914, Britain felt secure that the old order was firmly in place. Britain, through its navy, ruled the waves, and a fair part of the world through its Empire. Yet this security was an illusion; a war of unimaginable scale was just days away. The war would affect every level of British society; first through the urgent need for a massive expansion of the armed forces, drawing in ever-more men from civilian life. This in turn denuded the factories, shops and farms of labour, at a time when industry needed to expand to clothe and supply the armed services, and agriculture needed to fill the shortages of food created by the U-boat assault on our merchant fleet. The armed forces had first call on men, food, and material, so shortages hit the civilian population hardest; replacement labour was found in women, who began to take on work previously the reserve of men; in the factories, transport, commerce, and agriculture. Food remained a problem; shortages led to food queues, leading to increasing Government control and eventually rationing. Civilians were also hit by shortages of petrol and clothing, leading to petrol rationing, gas-cars, and ‘standard’ cloth.There were also more immediate dangers; raids by German ships on coastal towns, and air raids throughout the country by Zeppelins, and later, aeroplanes. In ‘Dear Old Blighty’, Mike Brown looks in depth at the experience of the civilians, men, women and children, of Britain throughout those four momentous years.

1914..

Aviation was still in its infancy when World War I broke out. The first men to take to the skies above the battlefield undertook reconnaissance. Pilots and observers soon branched out into primitive bombing attempts, and attacking enemy aircraft when they came into contact. Nascent air forces produced manuals to help these pioneers as they took warfare into a new dimension.Pulling together information from British manuals such as A Few Hints for the Flying Officer and Practical Flying, as well as American, German and French training guides, this pocket manual shows what type of information the pilots were given. From the basics of how to care for, start, and fly an aircraft, through tactics and strategy in the air, identifying whether vehicles below were friend or foe, interacting with mechanics, and coordinating with army or naval forces, this fascinating time capsule opens up the world of the Great War aviator. With introductions to the manuals by Chris McNab, setting them in context and providing background.

The combined forces invasion of the Belgian port of Zeebrugge on 23 April 1918 remains one of Britain’s most glorious military undertakings; not quite as epic a failure as the charge of the Light Brigade, or as well publicised as the Dam Busters raid, but with many of the same basic ingredients.A force drawn from the Royal Navy and Royal Marines set out on ships and submarines to try to block the key strategic port, in a bold attempt to stem the catastrophic losses being inflicted on British shipping by German submarines. It meant attacking a heavily fortified German naval base. The tide, calm weather and the right wind direction for a smoke screen were crucial to the plan.Judged purely on results, it can only be considered a partial strategic success. Casualties were high and the base only partially blocked. Nonetheless, it came to represent the embodiment of the bulldog spirit, the peculiarly British fighting élan, the belief that anything was possible with enough dash and daring.The essential story of the Zeebrugge mission has been told before, but never through the direct, first-hand accounts of its survivors – including that of Lieutenant Richard Sandford, VC, the acknowledged hero of the day, and the author’s great uncle. The fire and bloodshed of the occasion is the book’s centrepiece, but there is also room for the family and private lives of the men who volunteered in their hundreds for what they knew effectively to be a suicide mission. Zeebrugge gives a very real sense of the existence of the ordinary British men and women of 100 years ago – made extraordinary by their role in what Winston Churchill called the ‘most intrepid and heroic single armed adventure of the Great War.’

The battle of Vimy Ridge in April 1917 saw Canadian troops storm a 14-kilometre long escarpment that was believed to be impregnable. This was the first time in Canada's history that a corps-sized formation fought together as a unit under its own leadership. Canadian troops persevered under heavy fire to take the ridge. The battle has since been much celebrated in Canada, as historians and descendants seek to explain the huge losses that military and political leaders accepted in a war that produced few gains for any nation. Tom Douglas recounts the events of this battle, and his narrative is accompanied by over 50 photos, drawings, and paintings by Canadian war artists.