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The Second World War saw heroic efforts made by the Allied forces
from its very outset, but in May 1940 disaster befell the British
Expeditionary Force in France. Isolated from the rest of their
allies, they faced insurmountable numbers of enemy troops. All was
so very nearly lost, until the German land forces were given the
surprise order by Adolf Hitler to halt briefly. Taking advantage of
this unexpected but welcome turn of events, the British troops fled
for the beaches of Dunkirk and fortified them while the Royal Navy
dispatched almost 900 ships and boats to rescue British and Allied
soldiers from the jaws of defeat. In all, over 300,000 men were
evacuated, while 40,000 brave rearguard troops lost their lives or
their freedom for the good of their allies. Operation Dynamo, and
its remarkable evacuations from the beaches of Dunkirk, was hailed
by Winston Churchill as a 'miracle of deliverance', but he also
warned that 'wars are not won by evacuations'. This was only the
beginning of a conflict that was to last five long years, but for
now the fight for freedom could continue. Here Tim Lynch presents
the true story of this miraculous event using stunning, rare images
from the Mirrorpix archive.
From cold war bunkers to Civil War sieges - Britain is littered
with sites of military significance. This book shows the amateur
enthusiast how to unlock the drama of a battlefield in his or her
own area. It explains how to read a military map and apply it to
the ground, how to interpret the clues in the landscape and where
to find the evidence.
The First World War claimed over 995,000 British lives, and its
legacy continues to be remembered today. Great War Britain:
Sheffield offers an intimate portrayal of the city and its people
living in the shadow of the Great War for five years. A beautifully
illustrated and highly accessible volume, it recounts the tale of a
Boy Scout leader's journey to Gallipoli, the terror of the first
air raids, and the university's best and brightest who formed their
own Pals battalion only to lose poets, writers and students on the
Somme. It contrasts the strikes and political unrest with
patriotism and sacrifice in the city they called 'the armourer to
the Empire'. The Great War story of Sheffield is told through the
voices of those who were there and is vividly illustrated with
evocative images.
In June 1918, 135 teenagers arrived in France as part of the
thousands sent to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force on the
Western Front. The German Spring offensive had failed, but it was
far from over. The coming months would see some of the fiercest,
bloodiest, yet least remembered fighting of the war as these young
men finally broke the trench stalemate and forced the enemy into
retreat. During this time, one in four of these teenaged soldiers
would be killed and over half of them wounded. Looking beyond the
war as portrayed by poets and playwrights, Tim Lynch tells the
story of Britain's true Unknown Soldiers - the teenage conscripts
who won the war only to be forgotten by history. These were not the
naive recruits of 1914 who believed it would all be over by
Christmas, but young men who had grown up in wartime - men who knew
about the trenches, the gas and the industrialised slaughter, but
who, when their time came, answered their country's call anyway.
For the first time, following the experiences of a typical
reinforcement draft, this book explores what turned men so often
dismissed as 'shirkers' into a motivated, efficient and
professional army, but it also reminds us that in the cemeteries of
France and Flanders, behind every headstone is a personal story.
The Great War saw thousands of Wakefield men enlist in the armed
forces, serving in every arm of the services. Wakefield in the
Great War tells the story of the men who fought and the families
they left behind. This was total war. Volunteers worked tirelessly
as nurses in local auxiliary hospitals, cared for Belgian refugees,
sent food parcels to prisoners of war, fed soldiers during their
long waits at railway stations and stitched sandbags to send to the
Front. At nearby country estates, the 'Gorgeous Wrecks' practised
manoeuvres at weekend camps. Wakefields engineering firms set the
model for war production from shells to backpacks. Children
gathered chestnuts and moss to help the war effort and stood
patiently for hours in long queues to feed their families. The
prison became home to conscientious objectors and the target for
running battles in the street outside so that men had to find ways
of sneaking over the walls to get back into jail. Wakefield in the
Great War is the untold story of a time that would change the city
forever.
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