Kategoria BISAC: History >> Wars & Conflicts - World War I

Osprey's examination of the Irish Regiments and their involvement in World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945).

The tens of thousands of Irish soldiers who fought in the British Army in World War I gained a fierce fighting reputation, distinguishing themselves at Ypres, Gallipoli, the Somme, and Palestine. On the first day of the Somme, only three divisions succeeded in achieving their objectives: the seizure of the Schwaben Redoubt by the Ulster brigade, against all the odds, vividly demonstrated how this reputation was won.

Despite the establishment of the Irish...

In March 1918 of World War I (1914-1918), the Germans had successfully pushed the frontline to within 120km of Paris; the town of Chateau Thierry marking the tip of German advance. Nevertheless, in a daring counter-offensive on June 3, the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) reinforced the French and threw the Germans back across the Marne River.

Exhilarated by this success, the 2d Marine Division was tasked with taking the strategically significant Belleau Wood. On the Marines arrival the French were retreating in the face of the German onslaught, but the Marines defiantly declared...

Amongst the first ever mass-produced tanks in history, the British Mk IV has been classified as one of the most successful heavy tanks to have fought in World War I.

Mechanically similar to its predecessors, the Mark IV embodied various improvements, suggested by experience with earlier variants, including better armour, improved weapons and easier transportation.

It proved its worth at the landmark battle of Cambrai in November 1917, when 460 Mark IVs were deployed for the first time against the enemy with great effect. Arguably changing the nature of war on the Western...

Bruce Gudmundsson guides us expertly through the history of the successes and failures of the British Expeditionary Force in 1916 as it struggled to form into a modern army and turn the tide of the First World War, providing an in-depth analysis of how and why the BEF was converted from an antiquated unprofessional force into the army as we know it.

Examining the tactical innovations that accompanied this change, and the conflicting strategies and tactics that it was expected to pursue, Gudmundsson examines the difficulties facing the British Army, including the integration of the...

On October 29, 1891, the new forts built around the cities of Li_ge and Namur, known as the "Forts of the Meuse," were turned over to the Belgian Army.

The huge project, which had begun in 1888 and cost 71.6 million Belgian Francs, required over 9,000 workers to complete. It produced 21 modern forts that could defend the strategic rail, river, and road arteries passing through narrow gaps to the flat, open plains of Flanders.

The Forts of the Meuse were the creation of General Brialmont, one of the foremost military engineers of his time. The development of new and more...

Osprey's study of gas warfare tactics that were employed during World War I (1914-1918). Battlefield Gas was first employed in April 1915 at the village of Langemarck near Ypres. At 1700 hours the Germans released a five mile-wide cloud of 168 tons of chlorine gas from 520 cylinders, causing panic and death in the French and Algerian trenches. Despite initial widespread condemnation and disgust, its use rapidly spread with all the armies entering into the race to produce gases, new ways to use them, and protective measures including masks and warning systems.

For the first time in...

Nearly every German ace who flew before the summer of 1918 scored victories in Albatros fighters, whose introduction coincided with the development of the famous and highly successful Jagdstaffeln, the first true German fighter formations, which became a critical German air tactic and helped to wrest back air superiority from the Allies. After wreaking havoc in the skies over Arras the Albatros was eventually outclassed by succeeding generations of Allied aircraft, but still remained the most numerous and ubiquitous of all German fighters in World War I, with Albatros biplanes contributing...

The SE 5/5a British single-seat aircraft was one of the major fighting scouts of the last 18 months of the war in France during World War I and was a true workhorse of the Royal Flying Corps, handling fighter-versus-fighter actions, combating the high-flying German photo-reconnaissance planes as well as balloons. A total of five SE 5/5a pilots, including the legendary Albert Ball, received the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest award for gallantry.

A detailed account of the SE 5/5a, this title covers the development of the machine and its first tentative initiation into combat on the...

In 1914 with a regular army of only 3,110 men Canada was ill-prepared to enter World War I (1914-1918). Yet, in a display of incredible unanimity thousands of young Canadians volunteered to fight for the Allied cause. Ultimately the Canadian contribution was the most important non-British contingent within the vast Allied armies with a total of nearly 700,000 Canadians in uniform. For a nation of only 8 million people this was a remarkable war effort and nearly one of every ten who fought in the war did not return. The Canadians served in all the major conflicts on the Western Front; they...

By August 1916, the German Air Service was fighting a losing struggle in the skies over the Battle of the Somme. Royal Flying Corps aircraft reigned almost supreme over the battlefront, and the vaunted Fokker monoplanes had been hounded from the air. In response, an entirely new type of fighting formation came into being - the Jagdstaffel, which was a unit designed solely as a fighting squadron. One of the first, and undoubtedly the most famous, was Jasta 2, formed and led by Germany's premiere fighter ace Oswald Boelcke. Renamed Jasta "Boelcke" by Imperial Decree, the unit would carry its...