Major and Mrs. Front's Definitive Battlefield Guide to Western Front-North


Book Description

Following in their best-selling series of Battlefield Guides this is a companion volume to the Holts Western Front South Guide. Between the two, they cover the main WW1 Western Front battlefields. This book covers 15 of the most significant battles of the northern area from Nieuwport to just north of The Somme.Whether travelling on the ground or in the mind, the reader is carefully guided through the battlefields with a mixture of succinct military history, cameo memories and stories of VCs and other personalities, interspersed with references to the literature and poetry of the war.This guidebook is based on Tonie and Valmai Holt's 30 years experience of researching, guiding tours and writing about the area, with their unique blend of male and female points of view. It is written to the high standards that have come to be expected of these highly respected authors who are credited with pioneering the modern battlefield tour and whose guide books are referred to as 'The Bibles' . This new edition contains: Brief Historical Background and Summary of each battle, Opening Moves and What Happened, with appropriate quotations Sketch Map for each battle showing battle lines, routes etc and all points of interest described on each timed itinerary Large Sketch Map putting the battlefields (north and south) into perspective Memorials, Museums, Sites of Interest (bunkers, craters etc) War Grave Cemeteries Allied and German GPS Location for every recommended stop War Graves and Commemorative Associations Cameos about individual personalities Useful Tourist Information Where to stay and eat




Major & Mrs. Holt's Concise Illustrated Battlefield Guide to the Western Front, North


Book Description

Mons; Le Cateau; 1st Ypres, Neuve Chapelle, 2nd Ypres; Loos; Aisne/Chemin des Dames; Verdun, The Somme, Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele; Cambrai; Kaiser's Offensive; St Mihiel/Meuse-Argonne; Hindenburg Line Following in the Holts' series of five best-selling Battlefield Guides comes this Guide to 15 of the First World War's most significant battles of the Western Front. Whether travelling on the ground or in the mind the reader is carefully and concisely guided through the Western Front with a mixture of succinct military history, cameo memories, poetry and informed opinion - as well as careful travel directions. Each battlefield has a brief Summary of the Battle, the Opening Moves, a description of What Happened and a Battlefield Tour of the most salient features, accompanied by a sketch map and photographs of the battlefield today. There are sections on Tourist Information and War Graves Organisations and a sketch map on the end papers puts the battlefields in Perspective. This book continues Major & Mrs Holt's the tradition of high quality historical research and familiarity with the battlefields and the regions of France and It consists of 256 pages, with each battle having 3 pages of Historical Introduction, 8 pages of Battlefield Touring, a Sketch Map with Spot colour and 2 pages of full colour pictures the whole is preceded by an introduction and followed by a comprehensive index.




Major and Mrs Holt's Pocket Battlefield Guide to the Somme 1916/1918


Book Description

The Somme is the epicentre for most people in the study of the First World War from a UK and Commonwealth perspective. Today the landscape and terrain are dedicated to the soldiers that fought and died there and Major and Mrs Holt's Pocket Guide to the Somme has been put together to take you around the area. This book, part of a new series of guides, is designed conveniently in a small size, for those who have only limited time to visit, or who are simply interested in as an introduction to the historic battlefields, whether on the ground or from an armchair. They contain selections from the Holts' more detailed guides of the most popular and accessible sites plus handy tourist information, capturing the essential features of the Battles. The book contains many full colour maps and photographs and detailed instructions on what to see and where to visit.




Major & Mrs Holt's Concise Illustrated Battlefield Guide to the Western Front, South


Book Description

First Battle of the Marne; The Aisne 1914; Verdun; The Somme 1916; Chemin des Dames 1917-1918; Cambrai; The Kaiser's Offensive; Second Battle of the Marne (The Ourcq, Chateau Thierry, Belleau Wood); St Mihiel: Champagne 1918; The Meuse-Argonne and Breaking the Hindenberg Line. Major and Mrs. Holt's Concise Illustrated Battlefield Guide to the Western Front - South contains many fascinating but little-visited areas by travelers and is hoped that they will be tempted further afield than the 'showcase' and sophisticatedly presented battlefields like the Somme to discover some marvelous sites. Many of them have lain virtually 'dormant' for many years (such as areas of the Meuse-Argonne and Champagne) but have recently been renovated and opened up by dedicated local enthusiasts. There are many 'gems' in store in this book. Each battlefield starts with some pertinent quotations by participants, has a succinct Summary of the Battle, Opening Moves and What Happened sections then a Battlefield Tour which follows the same tried and tested formula as the rest of the series of a timed and measured itinerary with historic and anecdotal information at each stop. A detailed Sketch Map showing battle lines and each stop on the route accompanies every battle using the same color code (of yellow for memorials, purple for cemeteries, blue for museums) as the larger Holts' Battle Maps. Together the two books Major and Mrs. Holt's Concise, Illustrated Concise Illustrated Battlefield Guide to the Western Front - South and North will form the most comprehensive and detailed English-language guides to the World War I Western Front ever produced.




Major and Mrs Holt's Battlefield Guide to Operation Market Garden


Book Description

Like the other books in the Holts' acclaimed Battlefield Guide Series (see inside front cover for details) this is much more than just a guidebook. It charts in fascinating detail what happened at each recommended stop and brings alive, with cameos and personal recollections, the dramatic events of September 1944.??It is the very first detailed guide to chart the entire MARKET-GARDEN Corridor - from Leopoldsburg in Belgium and over the important bridges at the Scheldt-Maas Canal, the Wilhelmina Canal, the Zuid Willemsvaart Canal, the Maas and the Waal to the Bridge at Arnhem over the Lower Rhine - the 'Bridge Too Far'.??There are stories of gallantry, despair, humour, fear and dogged persistence??- here was a hidden execution ground and cemetery in Belgium?- here Pfc Joe Mann threw himself onto a grenade to save his buddies?- here the 504th PIR made the daring crossing over the Waal?- here was Diogenes, the Germans' menacing secret bunker?- here twin brothers of the British Airborne were killed together?- here Colonel Johnny Frost clung on for 4 desperate days??This third edition includes:??• An UPDATE Section with GPS locations, new/changed Memorials, Museums and Tourist Information?• An Approach Route and five recommended timed Itineraries?• Sketch maps in all the Itineraries?• Memorials to the liberating Allies and the suffering Civilians?• Museums, sites of DZs and LZs?• Allied and German Cemeteries and Information on their War Graves Associations?• Historical background to and summary of the Operation?• Holland after the battles to the present day?• Information on Veterans' and Commemorative Associations and Events?• Useful tourist information?• Full colour illustrations throughout




My Boy Jack?


Book Description

A full account of the tragic life of John “Jack” Kipling, son of Rudyard Kipling, lost in battle during World War I. On September 27, 1915, John Kipling, the only son of Britain’s best loved poet, disappeared during the Battle of Loos. His body lay undiscovered for 77 years. Then, in a most unusual move, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) re-marked the grave of an unknown Lieutenant of the Irish Guards, as that of John Kipling. There is considerable evidence that John’s grave has been wrongly identified and for the first time in this book, the authors’ name the soldier they believe is buried in “John’s grave.” This is the first biography of John’s short life, analyzing the devastating effect it had on his famous father’s work.




D-Day Normandy Landing Beaches


Book Description

An extensive traveler’s guide to the French region’s World War II historical sites and everything else you need to know about the area. Already the best-selling English-language guide to the area, universally known as “the Bible,” this is the sixth, completely revised, up-to-date, much expanded edition of the Definitive Guide to the D-Day Normandy Landing Beaches. The third in the Holts’ important series of Battlefield Guides (following the Somme and the Ypres Salient), it employs the same, highly acclaimed formula. Once again, the cold facts are interlaced with anecdotes of bravery, humor, sadness, and humanity. This new edition now contains all the landing beaches: Juno, Sword, Gold, Omaha, Utah; all the airborne operations: British and American two approach routes; six timed and measured itineraries; 21 in-text itinerary maps, battle maps & diagrams; and approximately 400 recommended sites within the D-Day planned area of advance, all with photos, each with latitude & longitude references (New for this Edition). It features over 400 colored pictures and 352 pages of memorials, museums, batteries, bunkers, landing fields, historical background to the landings, the plans and what actually happened, information about Allied and German war graves, veterans’ associations, and other commemorative associations. It also has Normandy tourist information about where to stay and to eat, and information about historical figures such as recipients of the Victoria Cross and the Medal of Honor, poets, photographers, and more.




Major & Mrs HoltÍs Battlefield Guide to Ypres Salient and Passchendaele


Book Description

This is the most complete guide to the First World War Battlefield of Ypres that has ever been published. Tonie and Valmai Holt, have condensed the knowledge gained from almost a quarter of a century of researching, writing about, visiting and conducting groups around Ypres into this remarkable book. Here are concise descriptions of the military elements of the battles woven into a kaleidoscope of human, literary and travel information. There are recommended, timed itineraries, in each itinerary representing one day's travelling. Every stop on the routes has an accompanying description and often a tale of heroic or tragic action.Memorials large and small, private and official, sites of memorable conflict, the resting places of personalities of note - they are all here and joined together by a sympathetic and understanding commentary that gives the reader a sensitivity toward the events of 1914-1918 that can only be matched by visiting the battlefield itself. This is a guide book written by people who, because they have been directly involved in taking tours themselves, know the form and type of information that best serves the visitor to the battlefield. NEW, FULLY UPDATED EDITION PACKAGED WITH A FREE, FULL COLOUR FOLD-OUT MAP WORTH '3.99




The United States in World War I


Book Description

With the centennial of the First World War rapidly approaching, historian and bibliographer James T. Controvich offers in The United States in World War I: A Bibliographic Guide the most comprehensive, up-to-date reference bibliography yet published. Organized by subject, this bibliography includes the full range of sources: vintage publications of the time, books, pamphlets, periodical titles, theses, dissertations, and archival sources held by federal and state organizations, as well as those in public and private hands, including historical societies and museums. As Controvich’s bibliographic accounting makes clear, there were many facets of World War I that remain virtually unknown to this day. Throughout, Controvich’s bibliography tracks the primary sources that tell each of these stories—and many others besides—during this tense period in American history. Each entry lists the author, title, place of publication, publisher, date of publication, and page count as well as descriptive information concerning illustrations, plates, ports, maps, diagrams, and plans. The armed forces section carries additional information on rosters, awards, citations, and killed and wounded in action lists. The United States in World War I: A Bibliographic Guide is an ideal research tool for students and scholars of World War I and American history.




The Welsh at War: From Mons to Loos & the Gallipoli Tragedy


Book Description

Welsh at War From Mons to Loos and the Gallipoli Tragedy is the culmination of twelve years of painstaking research by the author into the the Welsh men and infantry units who fought in the Great War.These units included the four regular regiments the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, South Wales Borderers Welsh Regiment and Welsh Guards as well as the Territorial Monmouthshire Regiment, the Yeomanry regiments, the Denbighshire Hussars, Pembroke Yeomanry, Montgomeryshire Yeomanry, Glamorgan Yeomanry and Welsh Horse Yeomanry and their amalgamation into service battalions for the regular regiments during 1917.Welsh troops fought with great courage in every theater of the war the Western Front, Aden, China, Gallipoli, Egypt, India, Italy, Salonika and in Palestine and as well as the casualties who were suffered during these campaigns, many men gained recognition for acts of gallantry.The book covers all of the major actions and incidents in which each of the Welsh infantry regiments took part from the opening of the war in 1914 until the end of 1915, as well as stories of Welsh airmen, Welshmen shot at dawn, Welsh rugby players who fell, Welsh gallantry winners and the Welshmen who died in non-Welsh units, such as the Dominion forces and other units of the British Armed Forces.While chronicling a history of the war through the events and battles that Welshmen took part in, the stories of individual casualties are included throughout, together with many compelling photographs of the men and their last resting places.