In this second of Tim Saunders’ volumes on the opening stage of the 1945 Rhineland Campaign, the focus is to the north of the Reichswald, on the flood plain of the River Rhine and a narrow strip of slightly higher ground. Amidst the rapidly rising flood waters, 3rd Canadian Division earned the nickname ‘The Water Rats’ as they fought to clear villages and dykes, while on their right, the 15th Scottish Division fought through the Germans’ outer defenses with tanks becoming deeply bogged before facing the Siegfried Line defenses. Even though deceived by a faulty estimate of allied intent, German resistance to the Guards armored Brigade, the specialist assault vehicles of 79th armored Division and the Scottish infantry, was stiff as they broke through the anti-tank ditches and bunkers. Aiming to maintain momentum, General Horrocks, the commander of XXX Corps, released 43rd Wessex Division and 8 armored Brigade into the narrow corridor between the floods and the Reichswald, which resulted in a terrible traffic jam. Despite this, the West Country soldiers and tanks were soon in the badly bombed ruins of Kleve, the first substantial German city to be taken by the British. German reaction to the attack on the ‘Reichswald plug’ was to send their surviving panzer and panzergrenadier formations south into counter attacks to blunt the allied offensive that was poised to spill out into the Rhineland.
‘He who holds Hill 112 holds Normandy’ seemed an unlikely maxim when the hill is viewed from a distance, but on reaching its plateau, the vistas unfold in every direction across a huge swath of Normandy. For the Germans it was their vital defensive ground, but for the British it was an essential steppingstone en route to the River Orne and access to the open country south to Falaise. The Hitlerjugend SS Panzer Division lost Hill 112 to 4th armored Brigade when the Scots captured the Tourmauville Bridge intact, but the essence of Hill 112’s tactical problem soon became clear. It was impossible for armor to survive on its broad plateau, while the infantry could only hold the skeletal orchards and woods at the cost of crushing casualties. With II SS Panzer Corps preparing to attack the British, the toe hold was given up and 11th armored Division was left holding a bridgehead across the River Odon. Ten days later, 43rd Wessex Division was ordered to resume the advance to the Orne with Hill 112 its first objective. As the west countrymen and tanks rose to advance, they met withering fire from the stronghold that Hill 112 had become. The scene was set for one of the grimmest battles of the campaign. For six weeks from the end of June into August, when the Allied advances finally gained momentum, Hill 112 was far too important to let the opposition hold and exploit it. Consequently, it was regularly shelled and mortared, and shrouded with smoke and dust, while soldiers of both sides clung to their respective rims of the plateau. By the end, Hill 112 had developed a reputation as evil as that of any spot on the First World War’s Western Front.
Histories of the Light Division have tended to be incomplete, being based on memoirs of a few well known diarists, principally from the 95th Rifles. The authors of this book, the first volume of two, have sought memoirs from across the division, including the artillery, the King’s German Hussars and others to complete a broader history of Wellington’s elite division. Light infantry was not new a concept in 1803, but at Shorncliffe Camp Sir John Moore developed a progressive ethos, set of tactics and training for the newly converted light infantry regiments. With the 95th Rifles they were melded into a brigade that was to form the basis of the incomparable Light Division. From the outset of the Peninsular campaigns in 1808 they delivered results way beyond their scant numbers, but it was during the epic winter retreat to La Corunna that they showed their metal. Returning to the Peninsular months later, the irascible Brigadier Craufurd led the Light Brigade in terrible march to reach Wellington at Talavera; heavily laden and in the heat of summer. Over the winter of 1809/10, Craufurd,s battalions, now elevated to the status of a division, provided the army’s outposts. This was work that Craufurd excelled in and actions abounded, including the Combat on the Côa, where the division fought hard to escape Marshal Ney’s trap. In 1810, with Wellington withdrawing to the Lines of Torres Vedra, the Light Division played a significant part in the battle of Buçaco Ridge, while the following year they drove Marshal Masséna’s army back into Spain having fought almost daily actions en route. This history of the Light Division is not simply a series of set piece battles but provides a wider picture of campaigning and what it was to be a light infantry soldier.
The Naval and Military Club – or the 'In & Out' as it is affectionately known – is one of Britain's greatest and oldest service clubs and this book tells its rich and entertaining history for the first time. Lavishly illustrated, it captures the essence of British style inside one of London's grandest clubhouses – first with a famous home in Piccadilly and now in St James's Square. Over 150 years, its members have included numerous Victoria Cross winners, triumphant generals and admirals, even bold explorers. There are intimate tales of brave soldiers and sailors – alongside a few rogues and accounts of scandalous behaviour!
This WWII military history and battlefield guide examines a pivotal conflict of the Battle of Normandy—including detailed maps and illustrations. Over a month after the D-Day landings, the Allies were still confined to the Normandy peninsula. The German line was anchored by the medieval town of Caen, which the British were supposed to have occupied on D-Day. The key to capturing Caen was Hill 112, known to the Germans as Kalverienberg, or "Mount Calvary". Under pressure from Churchill, Montgomery launched a major offensive. Unfortunately, German reinforcements began arriving in the Caen area. The British now faced four SS divisions and the Tigers of the 502nd SS Heavy Panzer Regiment. An all-out Allied effort, including heavy bombers and naval bombardment, was required to secure the final victory. This volume details all the action around Hill 112, with numerous illustrations and maps complementing the lively text.
Noting that privileges granted to the aged generally took the form of exemptions from duties rather than positive benefits, Tim Parkin argues that the elderly were granted no privileged status or guaranteed social role. At the same time, they were permitted - and expected - to continue to participate actively in society for as long as they were able."--BOOK JACKET.
Tim Marshall's global bestseller Prisoners of Geography offered us a (Bfresh way of looking at maps (3y (B, showing how every nation's choices are limited by mountains, rivers, seas, and walls. Since then, the geography hasn't changed, but the world has. Now, in this wonderfully entertaining and lucid account, written with wit, pace, and clarity (3y (B, Marshall takes us into ten regions set to shape global politics. Find out why US interest in the Middle East will wane; why Australia is now beginning an epic contest with China; how Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the UK are cleverly positioning themselves for greater power; why Ethiopia can control Egypt; and why Europe's next refugee crisis looms closer than we think, as does a cutting-edge arms race to control space"--
When Napoleon overreached himself by usurping the Burbon throne of Spain in early 1808, the resulting Spanish resentment and the brutal suppression of the Dos di Mayo Rebellion in Madrid turned Spain, a long-term enemy of Britain, into an ally. Sir Arthur Wellesley’s expedition to South America was promptly cancelled and redirected to the Peninsular. Eventually landing in Portugal at the mouth of the Rio Mondego, the army found itself with little transport, but by keeping close to the coast and with logistical support from the Royal Navy, Wellesley set off south to confront Marshal Junot and liberate Lisbon. The first clash of arms was at Obidos and, days later, at the Combat of Roliça, Wellesley achieved his first victory in battle against the willey General Delaborde. With word that reinforcements were expected to arrive at Maceira Bay, the army was deployed at Vimiero to protect their landing. Meanwhile, Junot had assembled his army and decided to attack at Vimiero. In a short but hard-fought battle, Wellesley was victorious, however an opportunity for total defeat of the French was squandered in succession by generals Burrard and Dalrymple, who instead accepted an armistice. This eventually became the notorious Convention of Cintra.
After a gap of two years, the 1812 Salamanca Campaign saw Wellington taking the offensive in Spain against Marshal Marmont’s Army of Portugal. Marching from the border fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo which fell to the Allies in January, neither commander was willing to take the risk of a general action without a clear tactical advantage. The result were stand-offs as Wellington offered battle on the San Christóbal Heights, but once the small French-garrisoned forts left behind in Salamanca fell, Marmont withdrew to the Douro. For over a week the two armies shared cooling waters of the river before Marmont ‘humbugged’ Wellington and fell on the Allied left flank at Castrejón. Wellington rushed to the aid of the Light and 4th divisions with the heavy cavalry. Over the following days Marmont dexterously manoeuvred Wellington back towards Salamanca, with both armies within cannon shot still not risking battle. When it seemed Wellington would have to march back to the safety of Portugal, Marmont finally made a mistake on the plains south of Salamanca on 22 July 1812, by allowing his army to become over extended. Wellington saw what was happening and after weeks of marching and counter marching, the battle the soldiers earnestly hoped for was on. In the past it has been difficult to place the fighting on the ground in the centre of the Salamanca battlefield, where ‘vast clouds of smoke and dust that rolled along the basin’ obscured vision even for those fighting. Supplementing their letters, diaries and memoires with modern geographical aids, archaeology and a stout pair of boots, it is now possible to reconcile the sequence of the battle with locations, in a way in which it was not feasible even a few years ago.
Between two assassination attempts—in 1800 and 1804—on Napoleon Bonaparte, the British government launched a propaganda campaign of unprecedented scope and intensity to persuade George III’s reluctant subjects to fight the Napoleonic War, a war to the death against one man: the Corsican usurper and tyrant. The Secret War Against Napoleon tells the story of the British government’s determination to destroy the French Emperor by any means possible. We have been taught to think of Napoleon as the aggressor—a man with an unquenchable thirst for war and glory— but what if this story masked the real truth: that the British refusal to make peace, either with revolutionary France or with the man who claimed to personify the revolution, was the reason this epic conflict continued for more than twenty years? At this pivotal moment when it wanted to consolidate its place as the premier world power, Britain was uncompromising. This dynamic historical narrative plunges the reader into the hidden underworld of Georgian politics where, faced with the terrifying prospect of revolution, the British government used bribery and coercion in an effort to kill the French leader.
The British Army started the development of flame throwers in 1938, but progress was slow and interest was side-lined after Dunkirk while the army reequipped. Investment in a flame-throwing tank only returned to the agenda thanks to interest by General Percy Hobart when he developed funnies for 79th armored Division and the concept gained the support of General Sir Alan Brooke. 141 (The Buffs) Regiment RAC had been converted to Churchill Tanks at the end of 1941 and in early 1944 they were earmarked for another change of role to the Crocodile conversion of the new Mk VII Churchill tank. This flame throwing system was secret and started to arrive with the regiment in April 1944. By D-Day only one squadron was equipped and trained, with space on the landing craft only available for two troops to land in support of 50th Division. The rest of the regiment arrived by the end of June and were in action with various formations across the front. There followed a period of misuse by those they supported and learning on the job by the regiments squadrons, but by the middle of the campaign a clear doctrine for the use of the Crocodile had emerged and they were in great demand.
...this is an excellent partner to the original volume, very well presented by experienced military men, with a clear tactical eye and it is extremely well illustrated. It comes highly recommended." — The Napoleon Series By the middle of 1811, Brigadier General Robert Craufurd’s Light Division was emerging as the elite of the Peninsular Army and Wellington was seeking opportunities to go over to the offensive, following the expulsion of Marshal Masséna from Portugal. After a period of outpost duty for the Light Division on the familiar ground of the Spanish borders, Wellington seized ‘the keys to Spain’ in the epic sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz. Still reeling from the loss of General Craufurd, ‘The Division’ led the army against Marshal Marmont and after a protracted period of marching and counter marching, the French were finally brought to battle at Salamanca. As a result of King Joseph being driven out of Madrid, the French marshals united and in the autumn of 1812, the British were driven back to Ciudad Rodrigo in another gruelling retreat. With news of Napoleon’s disaster in Russia and with reinforcements from Britain, Wellington prepared his army to drive the French from the Peninsular. A lightening march across Spain to cut the Great Road found King Joseph and Marshal Jourdan at Vitoria and the resulting battle, in which the Light Division fought their way into the heart of the French position, was a triumph of arms for Wellington’s light troops. The pursuit into the Pyrenees, had a sting in the tail when Marshal Soult mounted counter offensives in an attempt to relieve San Sebastian and Pamplona. Having thrown the French back and with the Sixth Coalition intact, the Light Division fought their way through the mountains and into Napoleon’s France. With the allies closing in on all sides, the French fought on into 1814 and the Light Bobs had further fighting before the spoils of peace in a war-weary France could be enjoyed.
Lieutenant General Sir Arthur Wellesley returned to the Peninsular in 1809 convinced that the country could be held against the French. His audacious crossing of the Duoro and speedy victory at Oporto in May, followed by the deceptively easy ejection of Marshal Soult’s corps, confirmed this view, giving him the confidence to plan a campaign with General Cuesta’s Army of Extremadura to advance on French-held Madrid via the Tagus Valley. From the outset relations between the two allied generals were poor, not to mention the divisions and enmity within the Spanish juntas and army. Matters only got worse once Wellesley’s army entered Spain, thanks to a failure to provide supplies and missed opportunities. Finally, the French army, with King Joseph at its head, marched to confront the allies at Talavera. The fighting did not start well for the British, who were taken by surprise and had to fight hard to extricate themselves from trouble, before inexperienced staff officers and commanders mis-deployed divisions and brigades, nearly resulting in disaster for the Allies when Marshal Victor launched a night attack. The Peninsular Army still had much to learn. The following day, the French attacked again with the full force of a Napoleonic army infantry, cavalry and artillery, but the two-deep British line held and with their confidence shattered, the French withdrew. It was a hard-fought victory for the British commander, who was soon to be ennobled as the Duke of Wellington.
This WWII military study examines the combat experiences of three Allied divisions charged with spearheading the invasion of Normandy. To lead the charge into France after the Normandy landings, General Montgomery brought three veteran desert formations back from the Mediterranean. They were the 50th Infantry and 7th Armored divisions, plus 4th Armored Brigade. Their task beyond the beaches was to push south to Villers Bocage with armor on the evening of D-Day in order to disrupt German counter-attacks on the beachhead. Difficulties on 50th Division’s beaches allowed time for German reinforcements to arrive in Normandy. As a result, 4th Armored Brigade was firmly blocked just south of Point 103 after an advance of less than five miles. A major counter-attack by Panzer Lehr failed, as did a renewed British attempt, this time by the vaunted 7th Armored Division, which was halted at Tilly sur Seulles. From here the fighting became a progressively attritional struggle in the hedgerows of the Bocage country south of Bayeux. More units were drawn into the fighting, which steadily extended west. Finally, an opportunity to outflank the German defenses via the Caumont Gap allowed 7th Armored Division to reach Villers Bocage. There then followed what the battalions of 50th Division describe as their ‘most unpleasant period of the war’, in bitter fighting, at often very close quarters, for the ‘next hedgerow’.
What role does a school play in a community and society? This book examines the need for educational establishments to review their position in the local community and to develop strategies to deal with the management of their image. Increasing parental choice means that schools must begin to adopt marketing concepts and tell people what is happening both inside and outside the classroom. Techniques to generate, revisit and challenge a school's ethos are discussed together with ways of getting this message across to the wider community. Effective management of a school's image through judicious handling of the media can lead to better results, higher self-esteem for staff and pupils and a greater recognition of a school's contribution to a local community. This book gives practical guidance on how to identify potential news items and how to convince local newspapers, television and radio organisations to use the story. The book contains many examples of how schools have put comprehensive framework to effective media communication and how to avoid potential pitfalls.
The 1810 French invasion of Portugal, commanded by the veteran marshal André Masséna, who was known to Napoleon as the ‘Spoilt Child of Victory’ has been well covered by historians. Conversely, the shock revelation of the presence of the Lines of Torres Vedras baring the French Army of Portugal’s way to their objective of Lisbon, and numerous combats through to the Battle of Funtes de Oñoro, has been frequently and unjustifiably glossed over. This book, starting with the occupation of the Lines of Torres Vedras, which were at the heart of Wellington’s Peninsular strategy from October 1809-1812, is the story of Wellington’s pursuit of Masséna back to Spain. This was a time when the Peninsular Army was still being forged and Wellington was refining his own art of war. In addition, 1810-1811 was a period when the outcome of the struggle in Iberia was still far from certain, and Wellington could not manoeuvre with the same confidence in the outcome as he could in future years. The series of combats fought at Pombal, Redhina, Foz da Arounce and Sabugal while Masséna was at bay, though not categorised as ‘general actions’, were of the same scale and significance as those of 1808; Roliça and Vimiero. The general action at Funtes de Oñoro was one of the most significant of Wellington’s victories, but he confessed that ‘If Bony had been here we would have been beat’.
Surfing WA: celebrating 50 years commemorates Surfing WA as the sport's representative body and all those who have contributed to its success during that time.The publication takes you on a historical journey through profiles of surfers, surfing families, events, locations and key industry and community leaders. Each section is supplemented by stunning photographs by award winning surf photographer Russell Ord and other West Australian photographers, Chris Gurney, Mick Burnside and Nick Woolacott and archival photographs courtesy of Ric Chan, Jim King, Mick Marlin, Loz Smith and many others. The book pays tribute to indiviudal surfers such as Taj Burrow, Ian Cairns and Jodie Cooper; surfing families that include the Macaulay and Jakovich families; key players Bob Monkman, Ron Naylor, Keith"Jock" Campbell; shapers King Cole Surfboards, Cordingley's and Hawke and industry leaders Creatures of Leisure, Gath Sports and Surfboard Room. Find out how Surfing WA went from humble, backyard beginnings to a highly professional organization that reaches over 250,000 Western Australians and millions of people interstate and overseas each year. "This book is as much about the leadership provided by surfers over the past five decades as it is about the facts and anecdotes that make up the history of Surfing WA", Bob Welch OAM Chairman, Surfing WA
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