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An account of the 1st Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, at the Battle of Imjin River during the Korean War and the survivors’ captivity in a POW camp. In April 1951, at the height of the Korean War, Chinese troops advanced south of the 38th parallel towards a strategic crossing-point of the Imjin River on the invasion route to the South Korean capital of Seoul. The stand of the 1st Battalion, the Gloucestershire Regiment, against the overwhelming numbers of invading troops has since passed into British military history. In The Edge of the Sword General, Sir Anthony Farrar-Hockley, then Adjutant of the Glosters, has painted a vivid and accurate picture of the battle as seen by the officers and soldiers caught up in the middle of it. The book does not, however, end there. Like the majority of those who survived, the author became a prisoner-of-war, and the book continues with a remarkable account of his experiences in and out of Chinese prison camps. This book is not an attempt at a personal hero-story, and it is certainly not a piece of political propaganda. It is, above all, an amazing story of human fortitude and high adventure.
This is the biography of the most distinguished field commander of modern times, who turned to scholarship and writing at an early stage of his career and pursued both professional military life and historical study in parallel. Understanding Farrar-Hockley the soldier is impossible without also understanding Farrar-Hockley the scholar; the reverse
How the United Kingdom became involved in the conflict in Korea in 1950, and its efforts to unite a country torn apart, is discussed in this two-volume set. Volume I describes Britain's reluctant partnership with the United States, while Volume 2 details the battles and England's eventual withdrawal.
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Originally published in 1964, this is a critically acclaimed classic history of the military engagements of the Somme that raged from July to November 1916. It tells of bloody battles interspersed with trench actions of dreadful intensity. In addition to the key confrontations, Farrar-Hockley provides a detailed background to the Somme planning and why it failed with dreadful casualties. In its entirety, the conflict along the Somme scarred the minds of a whole generation, becoming recorded by historians as the graveyard of the 'flower of British manhood'. With a new introduction by Charles Messenger, and a touching foreword by the author's son, Dair Farrar-Hockley, this new edition of The Somme is a testament to those who gave their lives on this famous battlefield.
"This first volume is concerned with the decision of Mr. Attlee's government to commit land as well as sea and limited air forces to the Korean War, and the British part, in association with members of the Commonwealth, in operations and in political initiatives to bring the war rapidly to an end. It concludes at the point of failure in both endeavors. The second volume will open with an evaluation of that unsuccessful strategy which will serve also as a means of continuity between the two parts. The extent to which the British contribution, within the United Nations extended effort between 1951-1953, was successful will thereafter be recounted"--P. ix., v. 1.
From longbow, pike, and musket to Challenger tanks, from the Napoleonic Wars to the Gulf Campaign, from the Duke of Marlborough to Field Marshal Montgomery, this stimulating and informative book recounts the history of the British army from its medieval antecedents to the present day. Commanders, campaigns, battles, organization, and weaponry are all covered in detail within the wider context of the social, economic, and political environment in which armies exist and fight, making this the definitive one-volume history of the British army for specialists and non-specialists alike. Book jacket.
The story of 60 of the most astonishing stories of human endurance and endeavour. Now available as a small paperback the short stories make it perfect for the work commute or summer holiday.
"What men will fight for seems to be worth looking into," H. L. Mencken noted shortly after the close of the First World War. Prior to that war, although many military commanders and theorists had throughout history shown an aptitude for devising maxims concerning esprit de corps, fighting spirit, morale, and the like, military organizations had rarely sought either to understand or to promote combat motivation. For example, an officer who graduated from the Royal Military College (Sandhurst) at the end of the nineteenth century later commented that the art of leadership was utterly neglected (Charlton 1931, p. 48), while General Wavell recalled that during his course at the British Staff Co...