British Regiments At Gallipoli

Following the success of British Battalions on the Somme, the author has produced a source book of the same quality on the Gallipoli Campaign. It has come about as a result of many years of enquiries from researchers and family historians.

"First published in Great Britain in 2011 by Profile Books"--T.p. verso.

While the main emphasis of the Great War was on the Western Front of France and Belgium, the British Army also took part in what was a lesser known conflict, but one of equal intensity and drama. This was at Gallipoli, on the shores of Turkey, between April 1915 and January 1916. By December 1914, the war on the Western Front had ground to a halt in a stalemate of trench warfare, and Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, proposed a strategy to take Turkey, a German ally, out of the war. This could force Germany to fight on two fronts and could free up the Dardanelles waterway at Gallipoli. While the concept was sound, its execution was not, as it was hastily planned, and inadequately resourced. The 2nd Battalion the South Wales Borderers was present throughout the whole campaign and was the only Welsh battalion to take part in the amphibious assault on 25 April 1915. Other historians give little credence to the success of the battalion on that day and this book sets out to redress the balance. The 4th Battalion landed at Gallipoli a few months later, to take part in the second main offensive, at Suvla Bay, in August 1915. This campaign took part amidst the most appalling conditions, such as the unrelenting heat of a mediterranean summer, a lack of water, poor food, inadequate equipment and without proper sanitation. Sickness and disease were rife, and at the height of the war there were up to 5,000 cases of dysentery a week. Both battalions of this famous Welsh regiment endured the privations of the campaign with great stoicism, courage and dignity and were amongst the last soldiers to leave the peninsula during the final evacuation in January 1916. By a clever weave of official records and personal anecdotes, most of which have never been published before, the reader is taken on a journey of highs and lows, depicting the reality of life on active service. Meticulously researched and written, this is a personal account of the South Wales Borderers during the Gallipoli campaign which adds an important social dimension to the traditional style of books already written on one of the most dramatic campaigns in British military history. Some of the best, toughest and most generous soldiers in the British army come from Wales. This book serves as a tribute to those magnificent soldiers.

One of the most used and most useful works of reference on the Great War ever published. In this marvellous volume is listed every cavalry and Yeomanry regiment, every battalion of every infantry regiment, Regular, Territorial or other - that existed during the Great War. In every case the location of the unit on 4 August 1914 is given, or the date and place of its formation if raised after the outbreak of war. Its initial disposition, subsequent moves, changes in subordination and final disposal or location on 11 November 1918 are all recorded. Thus, in a masterly and concise form, we have the war service record of 31 regular and 17 reserve cavalry regiments, 57 Yeomanry regiments and their second and third line counterparts and nearly 1,750 infantry battalions. Several appendices contain a mine of information; a table of the infantry regiments showing the number of the different types of battalions each had, regular, reserve, extra reserve, territorial, New Army, garrison etc.; how the New Army battalions were raised; the Training Reserve; list of infantry divisions; summary of battle honours, casualties and VCs of each infantry regiment. Finally, there is a good index.

The Royal Fusiliers (7th Foot) was one of five infantry of the line regiments to have four regular battalions (all the others had two each) and two Special Reserve, numbered 1 to 6. In addition the RF had an Extra Reserve battalion, the 7th. By the end of the war the number of battalions had risen to 44, and in the first half of 1919 a further two battalions (45 and 46 ) were raised for service in North Russia. The regiment did not have its own Territorial battalions but the first four battalions of the London Regiment were affiliated and included (Royal Fusiliers) as part of their full title. These in turn raised 2nd, 3rd and 4th line duplicate battalions. Leaving aside the London Regiment battalions this history quotes an estimated 195,000 as having served in the RF (more than the whole of the original BEF); if the Londons are included the total rises to 235,476. They fought in every theatre of war except Mesopotamia and 15,600 died. 80 Battle Honours and 12 VCs were awarded (James s British Regiments 1914-1918). The first two VCs of the Great War were awarded to Lieut M Dease (posthumous) and Pte S Godley, both of the 4th Battalion, both at Mons on 23 August 1914. To cover so many battalions in detail in a single volume is hardly practical, but the author has managed a fair compromise. He has set out to deal with every significant engagement as correctly and completely as possible, while singling out incidents he judges worthy of note. He does not devote separate chapters or sections to each battalion but lets the story unroll, bringing in the battalions as they appear on the scene. There are separate chapters on Gallipoli, Salonika and East Africa; the rest of the book is concerned with the Western Front. His sources are the battalion diaries, personal diaries of officers, special accounts of particular actions contributed by soldiers actually involved, letters and conversations. The opening chapter is of particular interest because here the author explains in some detail how the regiment expanded and how each wartime battalion came to be formed. The appendix gives the Roll of Honour of officers (1054 names); a table showing the numbers of Warrant Officers, NCOs and Men on the Roll of Honour, by battalions; a table summarising decorations awarded, including foreign awards; brief biographies or notes on a number of RF general ranking officers; and several accounts of soldiers who took part in the various operations. There is a good, 24-page index.

The author has painstakingly compiled a comprehensive compendium of the exact movements of every regiment involved on the various battlefields in France and Flanders during World War One.

Although seventy-eight years have passed since the Battle of the Somme was fought, interest in this, the bloodiest battle of the First World War, has never waned. Ray Westlake has collated all the information so painstakingly gathered, to produce a comprehensive compendium of the exact movements of every battalion involved in the battle. This book is invaluable not only to researchers but to all those visiting the battlefield and anxious to trace the movements of their forbears.

Fighting Irish is a meticulous and engaging account of World War I from the perspective of the men of the Irish Regiments of the British Army, revealing the extent of the Irish military commitment to the Great War effort from 1914-1918. Startling and sympathetic matters, from campaign strategy to the soldiers' intimate war experiences, are addressed with fascinating documentary evidence and poignant eye-witness accounts. Persisting humor, unexpected trials, mounting reputations, and the mundane drudgery of routine military life - all is touched upon in the lives of these men, and undercut by the pervasive loss of life. Whether fighting at Ypres, the Somme, Gallipoli, Kostorino, or Nablus, the story of the Irish Regiments is compelling and evocative, with reasons for enlistment as varied as the men themselves. Though entrenched in warfare, many minds were set on the increasing unrest at home, swaying their interests and shaping the communications they left to posterity. Fighting Irish defines the diverse backgrounds of all those who served with the Irish regiments in these years, recounting their deeds through exacting historical research within a gripping and affecting narrative. *** Librarians: ebook available on ProQuest and EBSCO [Subject: History, Irish Studies, Military Studies, World War I]