Victory, 1918' at the Canadian War Museum
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Commemorating the Overseas-Born Victoria Cross Heroes a First World War Centenary Event
Commemorating the overseas-born Victoria Cross heroes A First World War Centenary event National Memorial Arboretum 5 March 2015 Foreword Foreword The Prime Minister, David Cameron The First World War saw unprecedented sacrifice that changed – and claimed – the lives of millions of people. Even during the darkest of days, Britain was not alone. Our soldiers stood shoulder-to-shoulder with allies from around the Commonwealth and beyond. Today’s event marks the extraordinary sacrifices made by 145 soldiers from around the globe who received the Victoria Cross in recognition of their remarkable valour and devotion to duty fighting with the British forces. These soldiers came from every corner of the globe and all walks of life but were bound together by their courage and determination. The laying of these memorial stones at the National Memorial Arboretum will create a lasting, peaceful and moving monument to these men, who were united in their valiant fight for liberty and civilization. Their sacrifice shall never be forgotten. Foreword Foreword Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles The Centenary of the First World War allows us an opportunity to reflect on and remember a generation which sacrificed so much. Men and boys went off to war for Britain and in every town and village across our country cenotaphs are testimony to the heavy price that so many paid for the freedoms we enjoy today. And Britain did not stand alone, millions came forward to be counted and volunteered from countries around the globe, some of which now make up the Commonwealth. These men fought for a country and a society which spanned continents and places that in many ways could not have been more different. -
The Night Operation on the Passchendaele Ridge, 2Nd December 1917
Centre for First World War Studies A Moonlight Massacre: The Night Operation on the Passchendaele Ridge, 2nd December 1917 by Michael Stephen LoCicero Thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of History and Cultures College of Arts & Law June 2011 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract The Third Battle of Ypres was officially terminated by Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig with the opening of the Battle of Cambrai on 20 November 1917. Nevertheless, a comparatively unknown set-piece attack – the only large-scale night operation carried out on the Flanders front during the campaign – was launched twelve days later on 2 December. This thesis, a necessary corrective to published campaign narratives of what has become popularly known as „Passchendaele‟, examines the course of events from the mid-November decision to sanction further offensive activity in the vicinity of Passchendaele village to the barren operational outcome that forced British GHQ to halt the attack within ten hours of Zero. A litany of unfortunate decisions and circumstances contributed to the profitless result. -
Canada and the BATTLE of VIMY RIDGE 9-12 April 1917 Bataille De Vimy-E.Qxp 1/2/07 11:37 AM Page 4
BRERETON GREENHOUS STEPHEN J. HARRIS JEAN MARTIN Bataille de Vimy-E.qxp 1/2/07 11:37 AM Page 2 Bataille de Vimy-E.qxp 1/2/07 11:37 AM Page 1 Bataille de Vimy-E.qxp 1/2/07 11:37 AM Page 3 BRERETON GREENHOUS STEPHEN J. HARRIS JEAN MARTIN Canada and the BATTLE OF VIMY RIDGE 9-12 April 1917 Bataille de Vimy-E.qxp 1/2/07 11:37 AM Page 4 Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Greenhous, Brereton, 1929- Stephen J. Harris, 1948- Canada and the Battle of Vimy Ridge, 9-12 April 1917 Issued also in French under title: Le Canada et la Bataille de Vimy 9-12 avril 1917. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-660-16883-9 DSS cat. no. D2-90/1992E-1 2nd ed. 2007 1.Vimy Ridge, Battle of, 1917. 2.World War, 1914-1918 — Campaigns — France. 3. Canada. Canadian Army — History — World War, 1914-1918. 4.World War, 1914-1918 — Canada. I. Harris, Stephen John. II. Canada. Dept. of National Defence. Directorate of History. III. Title. IV.Title: Canada and the Battle of Vimy Ridge, 9-12 April 1917. D545.V5G73 1997 940.4’31 C97-980068-4 Cet ouvrage a été publié simultanément en français sous le titre de : Le Canada et la Bataille de Vimy, 9-12 avril 1917 ISBN 0-660-93654-2 Project Coordinator: Serge Bernier Reproduced by Directorate of History and Heritage, National Defence Headquarters Jacket: Drawing by Stéphane Geoffrion from a painting by Kenneth Forbes, 1892-1980 Canadian Artillery in Action Original Design and Production Art Global 384 Laurier Ave.West Montréal, Québec Canada H2V 2K7 Printed and bound in Canada All rights reserved. -
The Evolution of British Tactical and Operational Tank Doctrine and Training in the First World War
The evolution of British tactical and operational tank doctrine and training in the First World War PHILIP RICHARD VENTHAM TD BA (Hons.) MA. Thesis submitted for the award of the degree of Master of Philosophy by the University of Wolverhampton October 2016 ©Copyright P R Ventham 1 ABSTRACT Tanks were first used in action in September 1916. There had been no previous combat experience on which to base tactical and operational doctrine for the employment of this novel weapon of war. Training of crews and commanders was hampered by lack of vehicles and weapons. Time was short in which to train novice crews. Training facilities were limited. Despite mechanical limitations of the early machines and their vulnerability to adverse ground conditions, the tanks achieved moderate success in their initial actions. Advocates of the tanks, such as Fuller and Elles, worked hard to convince the sceptical of the value of the tank. Two years later, tanks had gained the support of most senior commanders. Doctrine, based on practical combat experience, had evolved both within the Tank Corps and at GHQ and higher command. Despite dramatic improvements in the design, functionality and reliability of the later marks of heavy and medium tanks, they still remained slow and vulnerable to ground conditions and enemy counter-measures. Competing demands for materiel meant there were never enough tanks to replace casualties and meet the demands of formation commanders. This thesis will argue that the somewhat patchy performance of the armoured vehicles in the final months of the war was less a product of poor doctrinal guidance and inadequate training than of an insufficiency of tanks and the difficulties of providing enough tanks in the right locations at the right time to meet the requirements of the manoeuvre battles of the ‘Hundred Days’. -
The German Army, Vimy Ridge and the Elastic Defence in Depth in 1917
Journal of Military and Strategic VOLUME 18, ISSUE 2 Studies “Lessons learned” in WWI: The German Army, Vimy Ridge and the Elastic Defence in Depth in 1917 Christian Stachelbeck The Battle of Arras in the spring of 1917 marked the beginning of the major allied offensives on the western front. The attack by the British 1st Army (Horne) and 3rd Army (Allenby) was intended to divert attention from the French main offensive under General Robert Nivelle at the Chemin des Dames (Nivelle Offensive). 1 The French commander-in-chief wanted to force the decisive breakthrough in the west. Between 9 and 12 April, the British had succeeded in penetrating the front across a width of 18 kilometres and advancing around six kilometres, while the Canadian corps (Byng), deployed for the first time in closed formation, seized the ridge near Vimy, which had been fiercely contested since late 1914.2 The success was paid for with the bloody loss of 1 On the German side, the battles at Arras between 2 April and 20 May 1917 were officially referred to as Schlacht bei Arras (Battle of Arras). In Canada, the term Battle of Vimy Ridge is commonly used for the initial phase of the battle. The seizure of Vimy ridge was a central objective of the offensive and was intended to secure the protection of the northern flank of the 3rd Army. 2 For detailed information on this, see: Jack Sheldon, The German Army on Vimy Ridge 1914-1917 (Barnsley: Pen&Sword Military, 2008), p. 8. Sheldon's book, however, is basically a largely indiscriminate succession of extensive quotes from regimental histories, diaries and force files from the Bavarian War Archive (Kriegsarchiv) in Munich. -
The Birth of Airpower, 1916 the Character of the German Offensive
The Birth of Airpower, 1916 359 the character of the German offensive became clear, and losses reached staggering levels, Joffre urgently demanded as early a start as possible to the allied offensive. In May he and Haig agreed to mount an assault on I July 'athwart the Somme.' Long before the starting date of the offensive had been fixed the British had been preparing for it by building up, behind their lines, the communications and logistical support the 'big push' demanded. Masses of materiel were accumulated close to the trenches, including nearly three million rounds of artillery ammuni tion. War on this scale was a major industrial undertaking.• Military aviation, of necessity, made a proportionate leap as well. The RFC had to expand to meet the demands of the new mass armies, and during the first six months of 1916 Trenchard, with Haig's strong support, strove to create an air weapon that could meet the challenge of the offensive. Beginning in January the RFC had been reorganized into brigades, one to each army, a process completed on 1 April when IV Brigade was formed to support the Fourth Army. Each brigade consisted of a headquarters, an aircraft park, a balloon wing, an army wing of two to four squadrons, and a corps wing of three to five squadrons (one squadron for each corps). At RFC Headquarters there was an additional wing to provide reconnais sance for GHQ, and, as time went on, to carry out additional fighting and bombing duties.3 Artillery observation was now the chief function of the RFC , with subsidiary efforts concentrated on close reconnaissance and photography. -
Mg 34 and Mg 42 Machine Guns
MG 34 AND MG 42 MACHINE GUNS CHRIS MC NAB © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com MG 34 AND MG 42 MACHINE GUNS CHRIS McNAB Series Editor Martin Pegler © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 4 DEVELOPMENT 8 The ‘universal’ machine gun USE 27 Flexible firepower IMPACT 62 ‘Hitler’s buzzsaw’ CONCLUSION 74 GLOSSARY 77 BIBLIOGRAPHY & FURTHER READING 78 INDEX 80 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com INTRODUCTION Although in war all enemy weapons are potential sources of fear, some seem to have a deeper grip on the imagination than others. The AK-47, for example, is actually no more lethal than most other small arms in its class, but popular notoriety and Hollywood representations tend to credit it with superior power and lethality. Similarly, the bayonet actually killed relatively few men in World War I, but the sheer thought of an enraged foe bearing down on you with more than 30cm of sharpened steel was the stuff of nightmares to both sides. In some cases, however, fear has been perfectly justified. During both world wars, for example, artillery caused between 59 and 80 per cent of all casualties (depending on your source), and hence took a justifiable top slot in surveys of most feared tools of violence. The subjects of this book – the MG 34 and MG 42, plus derivatives – are interesting case studies within the scale of soldiers’ fears. Regarding the latter weapon, a US wartime information movie once declared that the gun’s ‘bark was worse than its bite’, no doubt a well-intentioned comment intended to reduce mounting concern among US troops about the firepower of this astonishing gun. -
Foreign Military Weapons and Equipment
DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY PAMPHLET NO. 30-7-4 FOREIGN MILITARY WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT Vol. III INFANTRY WEAPONS DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY DT WASHINGTON 25, D. C. FOREWORD The object in publishing the essential recognition features of weapons of Austrian, German, and Japanese origin as advance sections of DA Pam 30-7-4 is to present technical information on these weapons as they are used or held in significant quantities by the Soviet satellite nations (see DA Pam 30-7-2). The publication is in looseleaf form to facilitate inclusion of additional material when the remaining sections of DA Pam 30-7-4 are published. Items are presented according to country of manufacture. It should be noted that, although they may be in use or held in reserve by a satellite country, they may be regarded as obsolete in the country of manufacture. DA Pam 30-7-4 PAMPHLET DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY No. 30-7-4 WASHINGTON 25, D. C., 24 November 1954 FOREIGN MILITARY WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT VOL. III INFANTRY WEAPONS SECTION IV. OTHER COUNTRIES AUSTRIA: Page Glossary of Austrian terms--------------------------------------------------------- 4 A. Pistols: 9-mm Pistol M12 (Steyr) ---------------------------------------------------- 5 B. Submachine Guns: 9-mm Submachine Gun MP 34 (Steyr-Solothurn) ------------------------------- .7 C. Rifles and Carbines: 8-mm M1895 Mannlicher Rifle- - ____________________________________- - - - - - -- 9 GERMANY: Glossary of German terms___________________________________---------------------------------------------------------11 A. Pistols: 9-mm Walther Pistol M1938-- _______________________-- - --- -- -- 13 9-mm Luger Pistol M1908--------------------------------------------------15 7.65-mm Sauer Pistol M1938---------------------------------_ 17 7.65-mm Walther Pistol Model PP and PPK ---------------------------------- 19 7.63-mm Mauser Pistol M1932----------------------------------------------21 7.65-mm Mauser Pistol Model HSc ------------------------------------------ 23 B. -
Fallen 1914 - 1918
THE FALLEN 1914 - 1918 part two shenington THE FALLEN 1914-1918 About “The Fallen” – Part Two The author of The Fallen, a tribute to the men from Alkerton and Shenington who fell in the two world wars, is Alistair Cook of Tysoe Hill Cottage in Shenington. When former Shenington Green editor Carole Young appealed for information on the six men named on the Alkerton war memorial, Alistair, a confirmed ‘non-historian,’ decided to pursue a fascination cultivated over long dog walks: namely, the lost stories behind the many names engraved on the large chunks of stone that take pride of place in our local villages. The Fallen, Part Two follows the publishing of Part One in the December 2015 issue of the Shenington Green. Part one covered the stories of the men remembered on the Alkerton war memorial; part two honours the men whose names are listed on a plaque in Shenington church and Richard Coles, a young Shenington soldier whose name is honoured on a small wooden plaque hanging just below it. The Fallen was inspired by the stories of Epwell’s soldiers killed in the wars, compiled by local historian Eric Kaye, who also wrote the story of the Edgehill airfield. Alistair spent weeks finding the soldiers’ respective regimental details, where they are buried, what they had done, where they lived and the actions that took place on or around the dates they fell. This was all achieved with the help of the internet and a visit to the National Archives in Kew where Alistair was allowed access to all records, free of charge. -
Small Caliber Ammo ID Vol 1
-. t, DST-1160G-514-78-VOL I " O DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY EELECTE , J.44LL-CALIbER AMMUNITION IDENTIFICATION GUIDE Jill VOLUME 1 SMALL-ARMS CARTRIDGES UP ki 15 MM (UJ ,.-... tI., .: lAP. , UVý7J) FCl u•r~UBk'L'' 4UL.:I- DIkralUUTIG UNLIMITED "PREPARED BY US ARMY "Y,..i.,fERIEL [)EA'F!•M) ,aT AN, RLADIN"SS OMMAt,!D .'.'R'-GN SCIENCE AND TECH.NIOLOGY CENiIF~ ,. __ . .. .. ._.--. .,----..-. ... --.-... , .... R. T. Hutngo Vc111ma 197 Smell-Armsartidges Uptuf Datme(U Novernlwr 1977 ThiiS PUbliC.itiuii SUPC-(&pcsd SCC -68 i.i a I )cpartniin nE )iD fe ns~[it IlCI~g1ciic C CL .11unn C pr ,in.r, d 1,% Ii UILX11',11 S WIIALC anjild1CIIoIlog CA-tter, tJS Arwy Maicricl DevdqI[1cnt .n I~ch~~n:Cinnaid.~dapprowe b% tho )cpiucv D;ri t~ir furA. S(it'ittitil and TcdIiiical I.tehgllgeicof dthe I)cfciisc Ingclligncir Ageiilcx )ViA I\'I([ P1UBLIC: KIFLASI.: IDISTIIBltt ION (INLIMI'IIUIA) (IRce:%.c ISI.111K) -Z PREFACE This guide outlin&:s a systematic procedure fur identifying milt..rv c~rtgidgL :. e c.. rtridge designiation, country of nianufactuve. and--to a large cxtent-functionial 'bullet cyc~c kVcs'-;ncd Cor usc by persons who may not be familiar with small-arms ammunition, it pirovides L'.wsa inioniation on car-tridge types, construction, and terminology as well as more detailed identification dALa. This guide covers military cartridges in calbrs of 15 mim and below-as well as sevcra! rLllt.cd patamilitary cr target cartridges- that have been mwizufacturcd or used since 1930. Although sm if thec cartridges ini this guide arc obsolete in the country of manufacture, they are included because they were madk: in such large quantities that c . -
It's Time for Another Analysis Video, This Time on Purported Concept Art For
It’s time for another analysis video, this time on purported concept art for Battlefield 1. Basically, I’m going to look at these images that leaked on imgur and offer insight on what I noticed, which hopefully falls under Fair Use as criticism. Also keep in mind, this is concept art, and things shown here don’t always make it into the game. I’m also only looking at the concept art we haven’t seen before. That said, let’s get started. What we’re looking at here is a Rolls Royce armored car, used by British forces . Armed with a .303 Vickers machine gun, these vehicles were used in the middle east, which is where this shot appears to be. T.E. Lawrence used a squadron of them against Turkish forces. This German airplane is probably a Halberstadt biplane. In this image of what is presumably a French Chateau, German Fokker Dr.I Triplanes appear to be attacking a Entente soldier on the ground, who is manning a QF 1-Pounder anti-aircraft gun. If you’re wondering why it looks like a Maxim machine gun, it’s because it basically is – except it fires much larger 1 lb rounds. These weren’t particularly mobile, so expect to see them as emplacements in Battlefield 1. I’m not going to hazard a guess on these trucks because I don’t have enough to go on, but based on the image, there’s a good chance we’ll see some chase gameplay in Battlefield 1. This shot appears very Mediterranean, based on the architecture. -
American and German Machine Guns Used in WWI
John Frederick Andrews Novels of the Great War American and German Machine Guns Used in WWI The machine gun changed the face of warfare in WWI. The devastating effects of well-emplaced machine guns against infantry and cavalry became brutally evident in the 1st World War. It changed infantry tactics forever. The US Marines and Army had several machine guns available during the war. This brief will discuss crew-served machine guns only. Man-portable automatic rifles are discussed in another article. The Lewis gun is mentioned here for completeness. The Marine 1st Machine Gun Battalion, commanded by Maj. Edward Cole trained with the Lewis gun before shipping overseas. The gun had been used by the British with good effect. Cole’s men trained with at the Lewis facility in New York. At that point, the plan was for each company to have an eight-gun machine gun platoon. A critical shortage in the aviation community stripped the Marines of their Lewis guns before they shipped to France. The Lewis Gun weighed 28 pounds and was chambered in the .303 British, .30.06 Springfield, and 7.92x57 mm Mauser. They were fed by a top-mounted magazine that could hold 47 or 96 rounds. Rate of fire was 500-600 rounds per minute with a muzzle velocity of 2,440 feet per second and an effective range of 880 yards and a maximum of 3,500 yards. The infantry model is shown below. John Frederick Andrews Novels of the Great War When the Lewis guns were taken away, the Hotchkiss Model 1914 was issued in its place.