Steel, mud, blood and courage on the Western Front
This is a fine book because it is a superb first hand eye-witness account of British Tanks in action throughout the First World War. Without much preamble Watson launches the reader, in company with the author's brother officers, men and machines into the heart of the field of conflict on the 11th Corps forward line on the Western Front in the Autumn and Winter of 1916. From that point to the end of the book and the war itself the narrative takes us inexorably into the dark heart of war the tankers knew. Battles and battlefield experiences in their various phases (sometimes the book includes descriptions as expansive as three chapters each) are covered in engrossing detail. We join the author and the men we come to know as personalities, at First and Second Bullecourt, in much detail at Third Ypres and Cambrai before Amiens, the breaking of the Hindenburg Line and Second Le Cateau. This is a primary source work within a finite resource and as such is beyond value. Nevertheless, it is also a highly absorbing read to be relished by students of the period-professional and amateur alike. Available in soft cover and hard back with dust jacket for collectors.

A young British soldier who went to war on two wheels
When the Great War broke out, the author of this book decided to leave his university studies and join the struggle. What attracted him immediately was the potential to combine his military service with his love of motorcycles and so it was that he found himself one of a select group of motorcycle despatch riders within the 5th Division of the 'Contemptible Little Army' that went to France and Belgium to halt the overwhelming numerical superiority of the advancing German Army. This book, an account of his experiences in the early months of the war, tells the story of a conflict of fluid manoeuvre and dogged retreat. Together with congested roads filled with military traffic and refugees, the ever present threat of artillery barrage and changing front lines the author had to constantly be aware of the presence of the deadly Uhlans-mounted German Lancers-who were always ready to pitch horseflesh against horsepower.

William Watson was a young Oxford post-graduate at the outbreak of the First World War in 1914\. Along with several friends from Oxford he enlisted in the army expecting the war to last six weeks. Watson began his service in the Great War as a British Army motorcycle despatch rider. He saw active service during the key battles of 1914 and early 1915\. Watson was then commissioned and became a tank commander and saw active service with the tanks most notably at Cambrai in 1917. This well written and evocative memaoir was originally published under the tile A Company Of Tanks it constitutes a wonderful primary source and is an invaluable addition to the library of anyone with an interest in the evolution of the tank as a decisive weapon on the battlefield. Highly detailed, but nonetheless accessible this superb new illustrated edition, edited by Emmy AwardTM winning historian Bob Carruthers is greatly recommended for serious enthusiasts and casual readers alike.

""All letters are censored. This book contains nothing but the truth, but not the whole truth. When I described things that were actually happening round me, I had to be exceedingly careful-and when, as in the first two or three chapters, my letters were written several weeks after the events, something was sure to crop up in the meantime that unconsciously but definitely altered the memory of experiences.... I have dwelt at length upon little personal matters. It may not interest you to know when I had a pork-chop-though, as you now realise, on active service a pork-chop is extremely important-but it interested my mother. She liked to know whether I was having good and sufficient food, and warm things on my chest and feet, because, after all, there was a time when I wanted nothing else."" This book is part of the World War One Centenary series; creating, collating and reprinting new and old works of poetry, fiction, autobiography and analysis. The series forms a commemorative tribute to mark the passing of one of the world's bloodiest wars, offering new perspectives on this tragic yet fascinating period of human history. Each publication also includes brand new introductory essays and a timeline to help the reader place the work in its historical context.

Steel, mud, blood and courage on the Western Front
This is a fine book because it is a superb first hand eye-witness account of British Tanks in action throughout the First World War. Without much preamble Watson launches the reader, in company with the author's brother officers, men and machines into the heart of the field of conflict on the 11th Corps forward line on the Western Front in the Autumn and Winter of 1916. From that point to the end of the book and the war itself the narrative takes us inexorably into the dark heart of war the tankers knew. Battles and battlefield experiences in their various phases (sometimes the book includes descriptions as expansive as three chapters each) are covered in engrossing detail. We join the author and the men we come to know as personalities, at First and Second Bullecourt, in much detail at Third Ypres and Cambrai before Amiens, the breaking of the Hindenburg Line and Second Le Cateau. This is a primary source work within a finite resource and as such is beyond value. Nevertheless, it is also a highly absorbing read to be relished by students of the period-professional and amateur alike. Available in soft cover and hard back with dust jacket for collectors.

A young British soldier who went to war on two wheels
When the Great War broke out, the author of this book decided to leave his university studies and join the struggle. What attracted him immediately was the potential to combine his military service with his love of motorcycles and so it was that he found himself one of a select group of motorcycle despatch riders within the 5th Division of the 'Contemptible Little Army' that went to France and Belgium to halt the overwhelming numerical superiority of the advancing German Army. This book, an account of his experiences in the early months of the war, tells the story of a conflict of fluid manoeuvre and dogged retreat. Together with congested roads filled with military traffic and refugees, the ever present threat of artillery barrage and changing front lines the author had to constantly be aware of the presence of the deadly Uhlans-mounted German Lancers-who were always ready to pitch horseflesh against horsepower.

The author of this classic account of early tank warfare, Major W. H. L. Watson, was already an experienced veteran whose early Great War exploits in the Cycle Corps he had recorded in his 'Adventures of a Despatch-Rider'. Early in 1917, as this book records, damp, disillusioned and feeling that the tank might inject a touch of romance into the war, he volunteered and was accepted into the Heavy Branch of the Machine Gun Corps - which later became the Tank Corps. After a brief period of training Watson's X company was flung into action in April 1917 in the 'blood-tub' battle of Bullecourt. Thereafter, he also fought at Third Ypres (Passchendaele). But the core of the book is the author's description of the battle of Cambrai in November 1917, when tanks were used en masse for the first time. He describes the initially successful breakthrough, and the subsequent German counterattack which won back almost a much ground as had been lost in the initial tank thrust. A vivid writer, Watson well records he extreme discomfort - heat, fumes, noise, splinters and general disorientation - suffered by the early tank crews. The remainder of the book describes the part played by the tanks in the final Allied counter offensive in 1918 from the battle of Amiens to the breaching of the Hindenburg Line. This is a hitherto rare but extremely valuable and well written account of the early days of the tank which must not be missed by any student of armoured warfare.