In The Trenches 1914 1918

My Father Frank S. Iriam signed up the same day as Germany declared war in 1914. In Valcartier they announced that a sniper group was about to be formed. Frank signed up immediately and this book describes some of his experiences as a sniper. Do to some prior military service in Halifax he had been promoted to Sargent in Kenora and he maintained that rank through out the war. Frank describes the fact that he was able to mentally beat the shell shock he was starting to suffer all on his own. He spent three years seven months in the front lines being wounded by machine gun fire during the battle of Ameins where the allies chased the Germans out of their trenches never letting them dig another. After a lengthy recovery period he got back to Kenora, his job as a Railroad Engineer and canoeing his favorite pass time.

The shock and slaugter of the battlefields of the Somme, Verdun and Passchendale is well documented. However, during the smaller battles soldiers could, and often did, make personal decisions. From these evolved a culture of live and let live, which constrained that of kill and be killed.

"This is the first book to cover First World War trench weaponry in detail and as such will appeal to everyone with an interest in this landmark conflict of the twentieth century. It sheds new light on the war and shows that the development of these weapons had an impact on the conduct of the fighting."--BOOK JACKET.

Published by the Memorial Museum Passchendaele in 2016 in Dutch as Bouwen aan het front, this book examines how the German army developed field fortifications to hold what can loosely be described as the Ypres Front. With the decision by Falkenhayn in 1915 to concentrate Germanys offensive efforts largely in the east, the German defenders around Ypres set to developing their lines for semi-permanent occupation. The sub soil around the Salient generally made it difficult to construct and maintain mined (i.e. deep) dugouts—unlike on, for example the Somme, with easily worked chalk not far below the surface. The only practicable alternative was to use reinforced concrete.In this book the authors (both with many years of experience in researching and working on matters Great War, particularly the German army in Belgium) have examined in detail an impressive range of primary sources to provide a narrative of what the Germans built, how they built it (the logistical challenge was enormous) and how the designs and requirements of bunkers (for example, forward medical bunkers, artillery shelters, machine gun and observation bunkers) changed as the war progressed and as the military situation on the front dictated. There are many photographs, largely unseen by British readers, design diagrams and maps to supplement the text; whilst the activities of selected particular formations are examined in detail to provide an example of the effort that was put into the work.Additions to the Dutch edition will include a tours section, taking a visitor to accessible remaining structures in the Salient area; and a glossary of terms and their English equivalent. The book will be in full color throughout.

Saunders presents British weapons and equipment that were specifically designed for use in the trenches along the Western Front. These include body armor, helmets, sniper-scopes, periscopes, wire-cutters, muzzle and breach covers, close-fighting weapons, automatic rifles and sub-machine guns, and a selection of weird and not-so-wonderful devices that increased the infantryman's chances of survival in the trenches. Contains many previously unpublished photographs.

A detailed reconstruction of life and death in the trenches of World War I, describing the construction and physical and spiritual environment of the trenches and the soldiers' daily routine.

The regular armies which marched off to war in 1914 were composed of massed riflemen, screened by cavalry and supported by artillery; their leaders expected a quick and decisive outcome, achieved by sweeping manoeuvre, bold leadership and skill at arms. Eighteen months later the whole nature of field armies and their tactics had changed utterly. In sophisticated trench systems forming a battlefield a few miles wide and 400 miles long, conscript armies sheltered from massive long-range bombardment, wielding new weapons according to new tactical doctrines. This first of two richly illustrated studies explains in detail the specifics of that extraordinary transformation, complete with ten full colour plates of uniforms and equipment.