Steady The Buffs

This book fully revises standard regimental history by establishing the framework and background to the regiment's role in the Great War. It tests the current theories about the British army in the war and some of the conclusions of modern military historians. In recent years a fascinating reassessment of the combat performance of the British Army in the Great War has stressed the fact that the British Army ascended a 'learning curve' during the conflict resulting in a modernmilitary machine of awesome power. Research carried out thus far has been on a grand scale with very few examinations of smaller units. This study of the battalion of the Buffs has tested these theoretical ideas. The central questions addressed in this study are:• The factors that dominated the officer-man relationship during the war.• How identity and combat efficiency was maintained in the light of heavy casualties.• The relative importance of individual characters to the efficiency of a battalion as opposed to the 'managerial structures' of the BEF.• The importance of brigade and division to the performance of a battalion.• The effective understanding and deployment of new weapons.• The reactions of individual men to the trials of war.• The personal and private reactions of the soldiers' communities in Kent.Using previously uncovered material, this book adds a significant new chapter to our understanding of the British army on the Western Front, and the way its home community in East Kent reacted to experience. It reveals the way in which the regiment adjusted to the shock of modern warfare, and the bloody learning curve the Buffs ascended as they shared the British Expeditionary Force's march towards final victory.

A catch phrase is a well-known, frequently-used phrase or saying that has `caught on' or become popular over along period of time. It is often witty or philosophical and this Dictionary gathers together over 7,000 such phrases.

The history of the British Army is really the story of its regiments and the men who served in them. From the very beginning they formed the backbone of a singular institution that is itself a reflection of the way the people of Britain view themselves and their collective past. Beginning with the Glorious "revolution" of 1660 and the return to the throne of King Charles II, it was a time when Cromwell's Commonwealth and his military institutions were not popular. But the new king had to be protected and the country had to be defended. Through a process of slow growth and frequent tardiness an army eventually came into being and from the outset it was based solidly on a regimental system which needed steady supplies of recruits to keep it in being. Since then, men have joined up for many valid reasons such as adventure, patriotism or a sense of duty; but not all motives were commendable. For every young man attracted by the chance to wear a uniform there would be many more who had fallen foul of the law, been poverty-stricken or fallen into debt, or had committed a sexual indiscretion. Others were simply coerced. With the exception of the two great world wars of the twentieth century the Army rarely numbered more than 250,000 and in 2020 its numbers will have fallen to 82,000, a poor reward, one would have thought, for all past endeavours. Over the years periods of warfare have always been followed by times of peace when expenditure on the armed forces dropped, soldiers were made redundant and regiments, mainly infantry, were either disbanded or amalgamated, often with painful consequences. However, there is a case for saying that no regiment is ever entirely lost and that it will always live on in men?s minds as a mystical entity. The British Army certainly makes a great deal of the ?golden thread? which still links, say, the Middlesex ?Die-Hards? to the modern Princess of Wales?s Royal Regiment, but the harsh reality is that those ties are only as strong as the men who made them. Like it or not, the old and bold soldiers are a dwindling band and once they have fallen out for the last time the regiments will be truly lost. For this reason Trevor Royle now explores the histories of the many regiments that have disappeared; to celebrate their existence as well as the men and officers who served with distinction within them.

On a rainy afternoon on Killiney Hill a young man walking, without his overcoat, happens upon a woman gazing out over Dublin bay, standing perilously close to the edge. From their testy encounter develops a remarkable friendship which will enable each to face afresh their very different, damaged pasts, and to look, however tentatively, towards the future.

Taking the politics of Field Marshal Lord Kitchener's appointment as War Minister as his starting point, the author describes in his lively and authoritative style the dramatic events and dynamic personalities key to the ever-deepening British commitment. The reader is skilfully guided through the early mobilisation, dispatch of the British Expedition Force, withdrawal of overseas garrisons and the response from the Territorial Army. At the same time, Kitchener's now legendary appeal to the civilian population produced 'The New Army'.

Since Roman times, the French department of the Somme has witnessed many wars, including Grecy (1346), Agincourt (1415), the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and, of course, the two World Wars. It is the Great War that has the dubious distinction of being the most notorious and 1 July 1916, the opening day of the Battle of the Somme, was the costliest in our nation's long history with some 60,000 British casualties. Thirty-five years ago Martin Middlebrook opened his literary career by writing The First Day on the Somme and, seven years later, The Kaiser's Battle, his description of the first day of the German 1918 Spring Offensive over much the same area. Having also taken numerous tours and given many lectures he knows the ground intimately. This superb guide book sets out to describe every place on the Somme where there is a military cemetery, memorial, preserved trench or crater not just from the First World War but throughout the ages until the Allies swept away the Nazi armies during their 1944 advance. Aided by his wife Mary, Martin has used his encyclopaedic knowledge to make this a truly formidable work. It is more than just a guide book as readers will benefit from the descriptive powers and sound research that are the hallmarks of this highly respected historian.

What is it to 'cock a snook', where is the land of Nod, and who was first to go the extra mile? Find the answers to these questions (and many more!) in the new edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Idioms. This dictionary uncovers the meanings of myriad phrases and sayings that are used daily in the English language, encompassing more than 10,000 figurative expressions, similes, sayings, and proverbs. More than 400 idioms have been added to this new edition, and comprise recently coined and common sayings alike. New additions include 'back of the net', 'drag and drop', 'go it alone', 'how come?', 'if you ask me', 'make your skin crawl', and 'woe betide'. Illustrative quotations sourced from the Oxford corpora give contextual examples of the idioms and their standard usage, and many entries include background information on the origins of the idiom in question. An updated thematic index makes for easy navigation, and anyone who is interested in the origins and diversity of English vernacular will have hours of fun browsing this fascinating dictionary.

Recent studies of the British Army during the First World War have fundamentally overturned historical understandings of its strategy and tactics, yet the chain of command that linked the upper echelons of GHQ to the soldiers in the trenches remains poorly understood. In order to reconnect the lines of communication between the General Staff and the front line, and to challenge lingering popular conceptions of callous incompetence, this book analyses a database of more than 4,000 officers who commanded infantry battalions during the war.