From Chauffeur To Brigadier

Originally published in 1930, these are the remarkable memoirs of Brigadier General Christopher D'Arcy Bloomfield Saltern Baker-Carr (1878-1949), a British Army staff officer who went on to rise through the ranks to become an important military commander during World War I. His account begins in August 1914 with his departure for the front in France and concludes four years later with his experiences at his last headquarters, situated in a small town in northern France, Caudry. “It was my unique privilege during the Great War to be closely associated with the development and organisation of the most important defensive weapon, the machine gun, and of the most important offensive weapon, the tank. “Today, perhaps, it will seem incredible that the High Command failed to appreciate the true value of the machine gun and the tank in the early stages of their development. It will seem even more incredible that, at a later period, it was necessary to scheme and struggle against official lukewarmness, at times almost indistinguishable from hostility, in order to secure the increase in the numbers of these arms, which, as was evident to everybody else, had proved themselves to be the greatest preservers of life yet discovered. “In the following pages I have endeavoured to set down an account of the difficulties encountered, of failures and successes, of high hopes brought to the ground by lack of faith and vision, of the ultimate recognition at long last, of the superiority of machinery and metal over beef and brawn. “Much of what I have written, especially in the earlier portions of the book, is, of necessity, a personal narrative, and I have described events and occurrences as I, myself, saw them.”—Brig.-Gen. C. D. Baker-Carr

Of all the grim, gallant and inglorious battles of the Western Front, Passchendaele is the name evocative of the mud and bl ood that pervaded World War I. The total gain - a few thousand yards of indefensible slough - cost about a million Allied lives.

An outstanding pioneer of mechanised and armoured warfare While the story of a man who was a civilian driver in 1914, but who rose to become a Brigadier-General in consequence of his services during the four years duration of the First World War cannot be anything but incredible, readers will be astonished to learn that this was by no means the most remarkable aspect of Christopher Baker-Carr's military career. Recognised as the officer in the British Army who knew 'more about machine guns than anyone', Baker-Carr, often opposed, almost single-handedly, brought about the specialised training of machine gunners, the creation of the Machine Gun Training School, the increased manufacture and widespread adoption of the machine gun by the British Army and the creation of the Machine Gun Corps itself. Recognising the potential of a new weapon to break the stalemate of trench warfare, he then became a primary influence in the development of the battle tank becoming commander of the First Tank Brigade. There can be few other British soldiers, who have all but faded from military history, whose role has averted imminent disaster in times of great peril and of whom it can be said that he made a contribution to victory of such importance. Republished in this new edition in cooperation with the author's family, this book is highly recommended to all those interested in the development of modern warfare. Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.

This books explains why the British Army fought the way it did in the First World War. It integrates social and military history and the impact of ideas to tell the story of how the army, especially the senior officers, adapted to the new technological warfare and asks: Was the style of warfare on the Western Front inevitable? Using an extensive range of unpublished diaries, letters, memoirs and Cabinet and War Office files, Professor Travers explains how and why the ideas, tactics and strategies emerged. He emphasises the influence of pre-war social and military attitudes, and examines the early life and career of Sir Douglas Haig. The author's analysis of the preparations for the Battles of the Somme and Passchendaele provide new interpretations of the role of Haig and his GHQ, and he explains the reasons for the unexpected British withdrawal in March 1918. An appendix supplies short biographies of senior British officers. In general, historians of the First World War are in two hostile camps: those who see the futility of lions led by donkeys on the one hand and on the other the apologists for Haig and the conduct of the war. Professor Travers' immensely readable book provides a bridge between the two.

This book explores how British Army learnt from the pyrrhic victories of 1915-17 and developed the new tactics, leadership and doctrine of combined arms to overcome the tactical stalemate hitherto bedevilling Allied offensives to defeat the

What went wrong for British forces in 1917? Relive the key battles through first-hand accounts and little-known incidents of World War I. This book offers a fresh, critical history of the 1917 campaign in Flanders. Alan Warren traces the three major battles fought by the British Expeditionary Force in the final months of 1917, from the mines of Messines to the mud of Passchendaele and the tanks at Cambrai. Drawing on a rich array of sources, Warren provides a vivid account of two tragically mismanaged battles, showing that Cambrai further underlined what went wrong for British forces at Passchendaele and thus more fully explains the course of events on the Western front. His compelling narrative history features first-hand accounts, little-known dramatic incidents, and portraits and assessments of the main generals. All readers interested in World War I and the tragic mistakes that led, in the words of Winston Churchill, to “a forlorn expenditure of valour and life without equal in futility” will find this an invaluable military history.