November 1917. The American troops were poorly trained, deficient in military equipment and doctrine, not remotely ready for armed conflict on a large scale-and they'd arrived on the Western front to help the French push back the Germans. The story of what happened next-the American Expeditionary Force's trial by fire on the brutal battlefields of France-is told in full for the first time in Thunder and Flames. Where history has given us some perspective on the individual battles of the period-at Cantigny, Chateau Thierry, Belleau Wood, the Marne River, Soissons, and little-known Fismette-they appear here as part of a larger series of interconnected operations, all conducted by Americans new to the lethal killing fields of World War I and guided by the battle-tested French. Following the AEF from their initial landing to their emergence as an independent army in late September 1918, this book presents a complex picture of how, learning warfare on the fly, sometimes with devastating consequences, the American force played a critical role in blunting and then rolling back the German army's drive toward Paris. The picture that emerges is at once sweeping in scope and rich in detail, with firsthand testimony conjuring the real mud and blood of the combat that Edward Lengel so vividly describes. Official reports and documents provide the strategic and historical context for these ground-level accounts, from the perspective of the Germans as well as the Americans and French. Battle by battle, Thunder and Flames reveals the cost of the inadequacies in U.S. training, equipment, logistics, intelligence, and command, along with the rifts in the Franco-American military marriage. But it also shows how, by trial and error, through luck and ingenuity, the AEF swiftly became the independent fighting force of General John "Blackjack" Pershing's long-held dream-its divisions ultimately among the most combat-effective military forces to see the war through.

The extraordinary story of Captain Llewellyn Wynne Jones' 1918 service in East Africa told through his personal military campaign diary and photograph albums. Llewellyn's granddaughter, born some 36 years after his death, researches his military life and family history to uncover the fascinating, courageous and ultimately tragic story of his life. The book is beautifully illustrated with original photographs from Llewellyn's campaign albums and from a rich family photographic archive. It includes family artefacts, letters, newspaper reports and interviews which combine to bring this exceptional young man's few years to life once more 100 years on.

The First World War at sea by Americans who fought in it
It's easy to understand why this book was originally published under the jingoistic title of 'Over the Seas for Uncle Sam'-perhaps edited by rather than 'written' by Elaine Sterne-for when it was written the subject was nothing less than reportage. The passage of time provides new perspectives on works such as this, and for that reason we have changed the title to alert readers to the unique nature of the content. Sterne's book contains fifteen first hand accounts by those serving in the United States Navy in the first American conflict of the modern age on a global stage. The United States entry into the First World War in April, 1917, (particularly in terms of it's immediately engaged naval contribution) was pivotal, if not essential. The Allied war effort was being strangled for want of materials as a result of the German U-Boat successes against merchant shipping, especially in the Atlantic Ocean. These accounts by serving men and women in the U. S Navy-including contributions by marines-are mainly from the enlisted ranks, with a few from officers. They are told in 'their own words, ' and enable the modern student of the period to read of the experiences of those service men and women whose voices-in the absence of a work such as this-would have been forever lost to posterity.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.

The First World War (1914-1918) marked a turning point in modern history and culture and its literary legacy is vast: poetry, fiction and memoirs abound. But the drama of the period is rarely recognised, with only a handful of plays commonly associated with the war."First World War Plays" draws together canonical and lesser-known plays from the First World War to the end of the twentieth century, tracing the ways in which dramatists have engaged with and resisted World War I in their works. Spanning almost a century of conflict, this anthology explores the changing cultural attitudes to warfare, including the significance of the war over time, interwar pacifism, and historical revisionism. The collection includes writing by combatants, as well as playwrights addressing historical events and national memory, by both men and women, and by writers from Great Britain and the United States.Plays from the period, like "Night Watches" by Allan Monkhouse (1916), "Mine Eyes Have Seen" by Alice Dunbar-Nelson (1918) and "Tunnel Trench" by Hubert Griffith (1924), are joined with reflections on the war in "Post Mortem" by Noel Coward (1930, performed 1944) and "Oh What A Lovely War" by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop (1963) as well as later works "The Accrington Pals" by Peter Whelan (1982) and "Sea and Land and Sky "by Abigail Docherty (2010).Accompanied by a general introduction by editor, Dr Mark Rawlinson.

The conquest of the air-and beyond
This interesting book, which includes photographs and diagrams, describes the early years of man's attempts to gain mastery of the air. It chronicles the first, rudimentary attempts at flight in balloons to their ultimate development including their use during the Great War. Next came the age of the dirigible including, of course, the mighty Zeppelin. Allied dirigibles of the First World War are also considered. Most significant, however, was the development of powered, heavier than air, winged, machines and in this account they are described from their genesis with the Wright brothers to their use in the first great conflict which led to the creation of the air forces of the world. German and Allied aircraft are discussed, together with their various uses, applications and the deeds of the intrepid young men who flew them. There are not many accounts of the early days of aviation in peace and war so any addition to their number is welcome. This book was written before the potential of the aircraft had been fully realised and is an interesting perspective on how the first pilots, aircraft designers, manufacturers and visionaries saw them and their future in the opening decades of the twentieth century. An essential addition to any library of early aviation, this book is recommended.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.

The Women of the Great War
It has been a salient feature of twentieth century warfare that the industrial nature of conflict, combined with the huge number of men required and the numerous machines and armaments involved, has meant that industry has-of necessity-had to increase its capacity to keep the fighting forces constantly and consistently supplied. Yet each conflict has inevitably drained the places of industry of the very workforce it required to function effectively. The solution in both World Wars has been for women to step forward to fill the roles formally undertaken by men who were by then enlisted into the armed services. Of course, women invariably proved themselves to be equal to the tasks assigned to them and indeed without them wartime industrial production would inevitably have been compromised to the point of peril for the military outcome. The work was invariably hard and often dangerous, but women on the home front have long been regarded as the essential, if largely unsung, heroines of the war effort. The principal benefit of this book is that it not only describes the activities of women in the workplace, but that it includes many photographs of women at work, demonstrating the multitude of weapons, armaments, equipment and vehicles they manufactured during the First World War. This concise Leonaur edition includes two books-that were originally so short as to not have seen re-publication in modern times-for good value.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.

War in the East African bush
The First World War was inevitably a global conflict because the rush by the principal powers of Europe to establish trading bases and colonies, principally during the 19th century, guaranteed it would be so. In Africa, German and British settlers were close neighbours and at the outbreak of hostilities were ready for immediate confrontation. National and imperial forces were dispatched to augment local military operations. This book concerns the struggle for East Africa. It was written, drawing on memory and diary entries, by a British senior staff officer, a brigadier-general, who was central to the organisation of the British campaign and who has left posterity a concise, thorough and detailed historical overview of it from the British perspective. This book qualifies as a campaign history rather than a first hand account and is recommended to readers seeking that perspective on this interesting 'sideshow' theatre of the war.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.