The Civil Service Rifles in the Great War

The Civil Service Rifles in the Great War
Author: Jill Knight
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
Total Pages: 532
Release: 2005-02-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 1783036036

Made up entirely of volunteer civil servants and their friends and despite the Government's reluctance to release them, the Prince of Wales' Own Civil Service Rifles fought with distinction at Loos, the Somme, Messines, Cambrai, Salonika and Palestine. As casualties mounted, the Rifles' spirit and loyalties strengthened. The Author draws on numerous personal accounts, graphically written, as well as official records.

Civil Service Rifles in the Great War

Civil Service Rifles in the Great War
Author: Jill Knight
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2005-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1844152537

Civil servants are not generally known for their soldierly qualities. Yet in the Great War a volunteer regiment of 'civil servants and their friends' served with distinction in the front line, fighting in many of the major battles. This new study, the first since the 1920s, draws on previously unpublished material personal memoirs, diaries and interviews to tell their extraordinary story, and is supported by a wealth of marvellous photographs."

The History of the Prince of Wales' Civil Service Rifles

The History of the Prince of Wales' Civil Service Rifles
Author: Anonymous
Publisher: Good Press
Total Pages: 576
Release: 2023-10-27
Genre: History
ISBN:

The History of the Prince of Wales' Civil Service Rifles is a meticulously researched and detailed account of the regiment's role in various conflicts throughout history. Written in a straightforward and factual style, the book delves into the origins of the unit, its engagements in World War I and World War II, as well as its post-war activities. The author provides insight into the training, camaraderie, and challenges faced by the soldiers, offering a comprehensive view of the regiment's contributions to military history. The book is a valuable resource for those interested in British military history and the development of infantry units during wartime. Anonymous' thorough examination of the Prince of Wales' Civil Service Rifles is a testament to his dedication to preserving the memory of this esteemed regiment. His attention to detail and historical accuracy make this book a must-read for military history enthusiasts and scholars alike. Through its thorough documentation and compelling narrative, The History of the Prince of Wales' Civil Service Rifles is a captivating read that sheds light on a lesser-known aspect of British military history.

Tracing Your Great War Ancestors: The Egypt & Palestine Campaigns

Tracing Your Great War Ancestors: The Egypt & Palestine Campaigns
Author: Stuart Hadaway
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
Total Pages: 179
Release: 2017-06-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1473897270

Tracing Your Great War Ancestors: The Egypt and Palestine Campaigns is the first book explicitly aimed at helping the descendants of those who fought in this part of the Middle East find out more about their ancestors actions, experiences and achievements. Their wartime lives were very different to those who served on the Western Front, and yet have never before been explored from this angle.Hundreds of thousands of British and Imperial troops fought in the Western Desert, Sinai Desert, Palestine, the Jordan Valley and Syria. They served in conditions quite unlike those more familiarly faced in France and Flanders, with everyday challenges to survival including the heat, lack of water, hostile wildlife and rampant disease. The fighting too was of a different character, with more open, sweeping campaigns across desert and mountains, and comparatively little systematic trench warfare.As well as giving the reader a vivid impression of the experience of wartime service in the region, Stuart Hadaways handbook provides a guide to the main sources, archives and websites that researchers can consult to get an insight into their ancestors role and their contribution to the war effort.

British Infantry Battalion Commanders in the First World War

British Infantry Battalion Commanders in the First World War
Author: Peter E. Hodgkinson
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2016-04-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 131717190X

Recent studies of the British Army during the First World War have fundamentally overturned historical understandings of its strategy and tactics, yet the chain of command that linked the upper echelons of GHQ to the soldiers in the trenches remains poorly understood. In order to reconnect the lines of communication between the General Staff and the front line, this book examines the British army’s commanders at battalion level, via four key questions: (i) How and where resources were found from the small officer corps of 1914 to cope with the requirement for commanding officers (COs) in the expanding army; (ii) What was the quality of the men who rose to command; (iii) Beyond simple overall quality, exactly what qualities were perceived as making an effective CO; and (iv) To what extent a meritocracy developed in the British army by the Armistice. Based upon a prosopographical analysis of a database over 4,000 officers who commanded infantry battalions during the war, the book tackles one of the central historiographical issues pertaining to the war: the qualities of the senior British officer. In so doing it challenges lingering popular conceptions of callous incompetence, as well more scholarly criticism that has derided the senior British officer, but has done so without a data-driven perspective. Through his thorough statistical analysis Dr Peter Hodgkinson adds a valuable new perspective to the historical debate underway regarding the nature of British officers during the extraordinary expansion of the Army between 1914 and 1918, and the remarkable, yet often forgotten, British victories of The Hundred Days.

Sniping Rifles in World War I

Sniping Rifles in World War I
Author: Martin Pegler
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 81
Release: 2022-05-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 1472850793

While Germany and Austria-Hungary were well-equipped with sniping rifles in 1914, their Allied opponents were not. This highly illustrated volume tells the inside story of the rifles carried by snipers of all the major powers during World War I. Although military sharpshooting had existed since the 18th century, in 1914 only the German and Austro-Hungarian armies fielded trained snipers armed with scoped rifles. Thus upon the outbreak of World War I, the Allied armies found themselves on the receiving end of a shooting war to which they had no means of response. Only the Canadians brought a dedicated sniping rifle into the trenches, but in small numbers. For the British, although production of a suitable rifle and scope were settled on quickly, the establishment of sniper training was difficult and its success was mostly due to the efforts of a handful of dedicated officers. The French eventually introduced a competent scoped rifle and a sniper training system, as did the Italians. Entering the war in 1917, the Americans experienced rifle shortages but were able to build on their pre-1914 efforts to find a suitable sniping weapon. The country that suffered most grievously was Russia; Russian troops fielded no snipers at all and suffered accordingly. Featuring full-colour artwork, carefully chosen archive images and photographs of the sniping rifles and accessories used in the trenches, this is the inside story of the rifles carried by snipers of all the major powers during World War I.

The Unknown Warrior

The Unknown Warrior
Author: John Nichol
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 293
Release: 2024-09-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 1398509469

'It is rare to find a tale so strange, intimate and human yet at the same time so enormous, so global in its importance. Yet again John Nichol impresses us with his ability to weave together the little details and the grand narrative' Dan Snow *** Over one million British Empire soldiers were killed during the First World War. More than a century later, more than half a million still have no known grave. The scale of the fighting, the destructive power of high explosive, and the combination of relentless military engagement and glutinous mud meant that many of the dead were never recovered or identified. Names were left without bodies, and bodies, or fragments of bodies, without names. In an emotional personal journey, Sunday Times bestselling author John Nichol uncovers the dramatic story of the Unknown Warrior who lies in Westminster Abbey, and our nation’s deep-seated need to honour and mourn the fallen. ‘A Soldier of the Great War Known Unto God.’ Rudyard Kipling In the aftermath of the First World War, an idea was born for a single ‘Unknown Warrior’ to commemorate every one of the missing, and help staunch the tidal flow of national grief. Echoed most recently by the funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, each phase of his burial ceremony was choreographed with military precision, love, and respect. Former RAF Tornado Navigator and Gulf War prisoner-of-war John Nichol, retraces the Warrior’s journey home from the battlefields of Northern France to Westminster Abbey, talking to relatives of those involved and researching long-forgotten archives. How did the plan take shape? Who was this ‘unknown’ man? How was he chosen, and from where? What were the logistical challenges of repatriating a single body, whilst retaining its total anonymity? To help shine light on the 100-year-old story, John seeks out modern experts in battlefield trauma, the recovery of the slain, and the complexities of ceremonial interment on a grand scale. And speaking to those who have lost loved ones in more recent conflicts, he meditates upon our continuing need of a tangible resting place at which to truly grieve the fallen. Drawing on his own experience of military service and combat, Nichol explores the way individuals and nations have marked the sacrifice of their dead across the ages. Above all, The Unknown Warrior is a search for the true meaning of camaraderie, service and remembrance.

The Territorial Force at War, 1914-16

The Territorial Force at War, 1914-16
Author: W. Mitchinson
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 291
Release: 2014-10-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 1137451610

William Mitchinson analyses the role and performance of the Territorial Force during the first two years of World War I. The study looks at the way the force was staffed and commanded, its relationship with the Regular Army and the War Office, and how most of its 1st Line divisions managed to retain and promote their local identities.

Britain Goes to War

Britain Goes to War
Author: Peter Liddle
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Total Pages: 442
Release: 2015-11-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1473878365

The First World War had a profound impact on British society and on British relations with continental Europe, the Dominions, the United States and the emerging Soviet Union. The pre-war world was transformed, and the world that we recognize today began to take shape. That is why, 100 years after the outbreak, the time is right for this collection of thought-provoking chapters that reassesses why Britain went to war and the preparations made by the armed forces, the government and the nation at large for the unprecedented conflict that ensued.A group of distinguished historians looks back, with the clarity of a modern perspective, at the issues that were critical to Britain's war effort as the nation embarked on the most intense and damaging struggle in its history. In a series of penetrating chapters they explore the reasons for Britain going to war, the official preparations, the public reaction, the readiness of the armed forces, internment, the impact of the opening campaign, the experience of the soldiers, recruitment, training, weaponry, the political implications, and the care of the wounded.

Filling the Ranks

Filling the Ranks
Author: Richard Holt
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Total Pages: 379
Release: 2017-04-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0773549102

Manpower is the lifeblood of armies regardless of time or place. In the First World War, much of Canada’s military effort went toward sustaining the Canadian Expeditionary Force, especially in France and Belgium. The job was not easy. The government and Department of Militia and Defence were tasked with recruiting and training hundreds of thousands of men, shipping them to England, and creating organizations on the continent meant to forward these men to their units. The first book to explore the issue of manpower in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, Filling the Ranks examines the administrative and organizational changes that fostered efficiency and sustained the army. Richard Holt describes national civilian and military recruitment policies and criteria both inside and outside of Canada; efforts to recruit women, convicts, and members of First Nations, African Canadian, Asian, and Slavic communities; the conduct of entry-level training; and the development of a coherent reinforcement structure. Canada’s ability to fill the ranks with trained soldiers ultimately helped make the Corps an elite formation within the British Expeditionary Force. Based on extensive research in British and Canadian archives, Filling the Ranks provides a wealth of new information on Canada"s role in the Great War.