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Formed in Southern India in August 1942 for defence of that area in case of Japanese invasion, the 'Ace of Spades' Division had its baptism of fire in Arakan in February 1944.

Raised in late 1941, the 19th was the first 'standard' Indian Division. Its troops were the first to breach the Japanese defence line in Burma and to raise the flag at Fort Dufferin.

One of Britain's major cities, and the cradle of the industrial revolution, Manchester's contribution to the nation's effort in the Great War was enormous. This huge reference volume, originally published in 1916, offers ample testimony to the 'City Battalions' (referred to elsewhere in Lancashire as 'Pals' Battalions). The units commemorated here are the 23 battalions of the Manchester Regiment itself comprising some 11,000 names. They are arranged in descending order by battalion, company and platoon - and each platoon is accompanied by a group photograph. The Roll of Honour of volunteers include the Manchester Corporation; the Ship Canal, and scores of Manchester firms. As the local magnate the Earl of Derby wrote in the book's foreword: "Manchester has every reason to be proud of its sons".

First raised in 1715 as Dromer's Dragoons to combat the Jacobite rebellion of that year, the 14th (King's) Hussars became one of the most distinguished regiments in the British cavalry. Decimated by disease while deployed in the Caribbean at the end of the 19th century, and left with just 25 survivors, the regiment re-recruited and was sent to Spain in 1808. It fought throughout the Peninsular War until 1814, returning to Britain for a respite after crossing the Pyrenees with Wellington in 1814. Within weeks, however, the regiment was in action again in America, taking part in the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812. Deployed in India in the 1840s, the regiment fought in the first Sikh War and the Indian Mutiny. For the rest of the 19th century, the regiment alternated between India and garrison duty in Ireland. This is a handsome reprint of the 14th (King's) Hussars Regimental History first published in 1901. This complete history, presented chronologically, details the commanders, operations and uniforms from 1715-1900 and is complemented with superb full colour plates of uniforms and standards, and photographs of the regimental commanders during this period. Detailed maps show operational campaign details

William Siborne, the author of this fascinating history of Waterloo, was himself a fascinating figure. The son of an officer who had fought at Waterloo, he grew up obsessed by the battle, and set himself the task of constructing an enormous model of the action. To this end, he interviewed scores of survivors and tirelessly toured the battlefield, measuring instruments in hand, and received generous cash support from both Waterloo veterans and a grateful government. But when Siborne - as a matter of strict historical accuracy, for which he was a stickler - insisted on including Blucher's Prussian army at the turning point of the action, and thus appeared to downgrade Wellington as the architect of victory, he lost the support of the Iron Duke - and of the entire Establishment with its cash. Siborne, a stubborn man, refused to back down and exhibited his famous model - complete with those pesky Prussians! This book is the literary equivalent of his model - an exhaustive and avowedly objective account of the battle and the campaign that led up to it, complete with an appendix giving the Order of Battle. However many books there may be on Waterloo - this one is absolutely indispensible.

As every schoolboy knows, the modern British Army owes its origins to the place and period covered by this book: Scotland from the Restoration of Charles II in 1660 to the Glorious Revolution. From the formation of the Coldstream Guards, many of the British army's proudest Scottish regiments were first founded during this turbulent time. The first part of the book consists of biographies of commanders of the Scottish army - most of them native Scots aristocrats, but including the ill-fated bastard son of Charles II, James, Duke of Monmouth - whilke the second half consists of facts and figures of the units themselves - including their personnel and officers - that made up the Royal forces north of the border. This book, handsomely reproduced from its first edition published almost a century ago, is a mine of information for all those interested in the origins of the British army and in Scottish military history.

Most of the casualties inflicted during the Great War were caused by artillery, yet the achievement of the Artillery in the conflict can often be overlooked. This history of the Army Ordnance Services is therefore, an important and welcome work. Written by the man who commanded the Royal Artillery Ordnance Corps in the conflict, Maj.Gen. A. Forbes, this history offers a full account of what the author rightly describes as 'Ultimately the decisive factor in the greatest struggle which mankind has known'. The Corps expanded from 30 officers and 1,360 men in 1914 to 800 officers and 15,000 men in 1918. Ordnance at its disposal was less than 1,000 tons in 1914, but in France alone totalled 336,450 tons at the war's end - delivering 9000 tons of shot and shell to the Army every day. Apart from ammunition, the Ordnance Corps was also responsible for providing the fighting man with virtually all he needed in the trenches apart from food: including sandbags, l barbed wire, gas masks and even the gum boots to withstand the Flanders mud. This fascinating book is the real story of the sinews of war without which the conflict could not have been fought.

The Inniskillings are one of the proudest names in the history of Irish regiments in the British Army. Originating from a local defence force raised in the town of its name in the time of King William III, the Inniskillings fought in Ireland and Flanders under that monarch. They were employed as marines under the ill-fated Admiral Byng in the Mediterranean; and in the War of Jenkins' Ear. Used to help quell Bonnie Prince Charlie's 1745 rebellion, the regiment played its part in winning Canada from the French in the Seven Years' War, and served in the American War of Independence. Expanded to two, then three battalions the Inniskillings covered themselves with glory in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, - fightiung the French in Egypt, and the Peninsular War, in which their battle honours include Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, NIvelle, Orthez and Toulouse. The first Battalion of the Regiment won laurels at Waterloo and was frequently deployed in India during the 19th century. (This history contains a chapter on the 108th [Madras Infantry] Regiment, and its forebear, the 3rd [Madras Infantry] Regiment which was raised to combat the Indian Mutiny. It was re-designated at the 2nd battalion of the Inniskillings in 1881). The Inniskillings subsequently saw service in the Boer War. This fine history takes the Regiment's story up to the outbreak of the Great War. It includes 30 b/w photos; 16 colour prints, 21 maps and a list of the Regiment's COs.

A regimental history of the gorgeously attired bodyguard of the Viceroys and Governor-Generals of British-ruled India in its heyday from 1773 to 1908, this well-illustrated book is a feast for anyone interested in India under the Raj. The minutes of 'secret consultations' describe the formation and recruitment of the Corps. Also included are the early quarrels between Governor Warren Hastings and Gen. Clavering which ultimately led to the former man's trial. The bodyguard were not strictly for ceremony only, and took part in many actions, including the campaigns in Mysore (1791-1792); Java (1811); the Mahratta Wars.

This account, penned by a noted British military historian of the late 19th century, remains one of the best narratives of a 19th-century battle yet published. The Battle of Spicheren was fought in early August 1870, and like many of the battles in the opening phase of the Franco-Prussian war, could be termed an encounter battle. Fighting over very difficult terrain, German forces dislodged the French II Corps after a heroic defence. Henderson not only drew on the General Staff works and other official sources available to military historians of the late 19th century - the value of his work is that he also utilised many other accounts, including regimental histories. He presents an extremely detailed narrative of the battle. Following a full discussion of the events of 6 August 1870, he also discusses the tactics of the battle, and training and other characteristics of the troops involved. A detailed text is accompanied by comprehensive maps showing the various stages of the battle.

Charles Ryan was an Irish surgeon from Tipperary who served with a horse-drawn Anglo-American ambulance unit in the latter stages of the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War. This vivid account of his experiences is a fascinating glimpse of the war and the siege of Paris which concluded it from a civilian whose work involved him at the sharp end. The book opens by describing the disastrous French debacle at Sedan where an army, commanded by the Emperor Napoleon III in person, was trapped and crushed by the artillery of surrounding Prussian forces, despite heroic charges by the French cavalry. Later in the war, Ryan's unit saw the war at close quarters on both sides of the lines - inside besieged Paris; and at the Prussian HQ at Versailles. Because this account, compiled from Ryan's own recollections and his letters home, was not originally written for publication, it has a freshness and an immediacy that make it a classic of 19th century humane war reportage.

Turkey was closely allied with Germany before and during the Great War. The Kaiser supplied some of his best military brains - led by Liman von Sanders - as advisers to the Turkish army. One of them, Major-General Hans Kannengeisser, is the author of this book. Gallipoli is a well-covered campaign, but accounts from 'the other side of the hill' are rare, making this book even more important. Kannengiesser was more than a mere liaison officer with the Turkish army - like Von Sanders, who commanded the Turkish Fifth Army, he actually commanded Turkish troops in action, holding the Turkish rank of Pasha - roughly equivalent to marshal - and leading the 9th Division of Sanders' army. Kannengiesser tells the story of the Gallipoli campaign from the Turkish side, paying tribute both to the courage of his own men and that of their British and Anzac enemies.

The author, Brisbane-born Captain Hector Dinning, was an officer in the "Light Horsemen" of the Australian Army in the Great War. He served with his unit in the Palestine campaign, journeying from Cairo in Egypt to Aleppo in Syria, and recounts his experiences in the Middle East. This book will especially interest anyone keen on T.E.. Lawrence 'of Arabia'. Dinning worked alongside the legendary Colonel and his portrait of him is especially valuable as it was written early (1920) before the legend of Lawrence had taken hold. Written in a direct, forceful and typically Australian style, this memoir will delight anyone interested in Lawrence, the Middle East and the Great War.

The Frontier Force Rifles - largely composed of Sikh soldiers - was one of the most distinguished regiments of the old Indian Army. Originating in the Punjab Corps of Guides in the 1840s, the regiment saw continuous service during the 19th century on the always troubled North West Frontier. The outbreak of the First World War saw a massive expansion in the regiment's size to six battalions, and more than half of this detailed history is composed of the unit's exploits in that conflict, in which it saw action in theatres as diverse as France, Iraq, East Africa, Palestine and Syria. The Rifles returned to Syria in the Second World War. Between the world wars, the Regiment saw action in today's trouble spots of Afghanistan and Waziristan. Disbanded in 1946 on Indian Independence, many of the Regiment's ranks were absorbed into the new Pakistani Army. This comprehensive history will appeal to anyone interested in the history of the British Raj and the Indian Army.

Britain had been tightening a grip on Uganda ever since explorers had reached the country in the mid-19th century searching for the source of the Nile. Formally made a British Protectorate in 1894, the British still feared the encroachment of its colonial rivals France and Italy. In 1897 London sent an officer, Colonel J.R.L. Macdonald, with a force of Nubian mercenaries to strengthen Britain's hold on the region. Macdonald was not wholly successful as the Nubians mutinied, but after the suppression of the mutiny, Uganda's place in the British Empire was firmly cemented by an Alliance with the Uganda - the majority tribe. Macdonald's expedition is seen as one of the last incidents in the 'Scramble for Africa' which brought almost the whole continent under European rule.

The author of this memoir of the Salonika front - a neglected theatre of the Great War - was himself an Oxford-educated scholar of ancient Greek. Stanley Casson (1889-1944) had a spell in the Flanders trenches - where he wrote war poetry - before being sent to the more congenial climate of Greece. As an expert on the country he joined the General Staff and was present when the Bulgarian front broke, and the British, French, Greek and Serb Allies pushed up into a defeated Austria. After the war, Casson became director of the British School in Athens and died during the second World War in a plane crash while again serving as a liaison officer with the Greeks. This book is an erudite and informative account of a campaign often overlooked but which he convincingly argues was no side-show, but made a vital contribution to the final Allied victory.

A brief but clear account of the lightning six-week war between Austria and Prussia that led to the decisive Prussian victory a Koniggraz (Sadowa) and the en of Austria's domination of Germany by a Prussian hegemony.

The name of Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer is still execrated in India as the author of the infamous 1919 'Amritsar Massacre' in which troops under his command opened fire on a crowd who, unaware of Dyer's declaration of martial law, had gathered in a park. Reports indicate that more than a thousand people may have died. Though an official report exonerated Dyer, an Indian Army officer who had served in the subcontinent all his life, his career was finished and he returned from India to England to be greeted in some quarters as hero and in others as a butcher. In his retirement he wrote this account of a campaign he had led into Persia (modern Iran) during the Great War. The campaign was aimed at curbing the Islamic tribesmen of the Sarhad who had been incited by German agents to rise against the British Raj in India. Dyer's book, illustrated by photographs taken on his expedition will interest anyone studying the British Raj, the Amritsar Massacre or the subcontinent during the Great War - the background to John Buchan's novel 'Greenmantle'.

Inspired by Sir Henry Lawrence, the legendary defender of Lucknow in the Indian Mutiny, the Corps of Guides, a combined infantry and light cavalry unit composed of local Pathans was formed in 1846 specifically for service on the wild and mountainous Northwest frontier. Commanded in its heyday by Gen. Sir Harry Lumsden, the Guides fought in almost every campaign on the Afghan border, and performed heroically in the suppression of the Mutiny. During the Great War, two more infantry battalions were added to its strength. This full and readable history has a clear narrative supported by maps and fine quality illustrations. It is an exemplary history of a unit that was in 'at the sharp end' from its formation.

Unusually for a British service Battalion, the Fifth battalion of the Essex Regiment spent its entire Great War service in action against the Turks. The battalion had a bloody baptism of fire when it was thrown into the inferno of Gallipoli in 1915, fighting in the trenches near Anzac Cove. The rest of its war was spent in Egypt, guarding the Suez Canal, and then in Gaza and Palestine, where the battalion formed part of Allenby's successful advance to capture Jerusalem and Damascus in 1918. Illustrated by photographs, maps and accompanied by a Roll of Honour, this is an unusually fine history of a unit that, though not on the western front, still saw savage fighting.

This is the Second Volume of the regimental history, which begins at the start of the South African War, the end of which is where the First Volume finishes; thus there is an overlap. The reason for this is that the war was still being fought when the Regiment's record in it was written, and by the time this present volume was written many facts and details had come to light which could not be obtained for inclusion in the earlier volume. This account ends with the amalgamation of the Regiment with the 20th Hussars in 1922, a year that saw the disappearance of a number of cavalry regiments in a series of amalgamations; 1922 was to the cavalry what 1870 and Cardwell had been to the infantry. I like the dedication which is not only to the 14th Hussars who gave their lives during the Great War but also "to the Horses which carried the Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and Men of the Regiment so gallantly."This is a superb history, full of detail, not just about battles and engagements (plenty of them) but also about life in a cavalry regiment in peacetime in those years so long ago. Much of it has been contributed by officers and warrant officers who are introduced in the preface with details of their contributions. Most of the book is concerned with the S African War (227pp) and the Great War (225pp) but there is plenty about peacetime soldiering at home and in India where the Regiment was in 1914 and from where they went to Mesopotamia in November 1915 joining the 6th (Indian) Cavalry Brigade. In January 1918 the Regiment was detached from the brigade and sent to Persia where they stayed for the rest of the war, returning to Mesopotamia at the end of the year. The Regiment arrived back in England in April 1919 nearly thirteen years after sailing for India. There are twenty-five appendices containing a wealth of information about the 14th Hussars: changes in establishment; Roll of Honour of officers for S African and Great Wars and of NCOs and Men for the Great War; Honours and Awards for both wars; succession of Colonels of the Regiment, COs, Adjutants and WOs since 1900; service records of Colonels and Lt Cols 1900-1922; extracts from the Army List 1900-1922 showing officers who served - and much else besides. Unusually the contents are shown not as a series of chapters but as a chronology, year by year with headings for every significant event. And finally there is a good index.

The period covered by this account extends from the beginning of October 1918 and the Battle of the Beaurevoir Line to the Armistice, during which time the 38th Division was in V Corps (Lt Gen Shute) along with 17th, 21st and 33rd Divisions, in Gen Byng's Third Army. As the final advance proceeded the formation of the Corps for battle, movement and reliefs of divisions became almost a routine, apart for some special operation, and the divisions fought in pairs, the 33rd and 38th on the right and 17th and 21st on the left. Thus this very much the story of the 33rd Division as well as the 38th. The latter was commanded by Maj-Gen T.A.Cubitt, the former by Maj-Gen R.J.Pinney. The author, a Gunner, commanded the 115th Brigade of the 38th Division throughout the period covered in this account and after the war became the Commandant of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, before retiring in 1931.The account is made up of a series of articles from the RA Journal (as the original pagination indicates), arranged in chapters, each dealing with one or more major battles - Beaurevoir, Cambrai, Selle, Sambre etc. The narrative is compiled from the war diaries and operation orders of the various formations concerned, and from the history of the 38th and 33rd Divisions and 33rd Divisional Artillery, supplemented by notes and experiences of officers who took part in the operations. Unfortunately there is no contents list nor index to help the reader find his way around the narrative, though events are arranged in chronological order and chapters are headed so as to indicate the operations they describe. It is a very thorough and business-like account and makes a welcome expansion to the two divisional histories of which that of the 38th is a very short one while that of the 33rd consists in a large part of correspondence between commanders and of extracts from the Times and Daily Mail. This book has tha added attraction in that it includes extracts from German regimental histories giving the enemy view of operations.

This volume's main theme is the 9th Australian Division's contribution in 1941-42 to the defeat in North Africa of the German and Italian Army commanded by Field Marshal Rommel.In March 1941, soon after its formation, the division was sent untrained and without its artillery to Cyrenaica as part of a garrison force which, within a few weeks, took the brunt of a surprise advance by Rommel's newly-arrived armoured force. Retreaing to Tobruk the division withstood, with the support of British armoured, artillery and machine-gun units, several assaults and a long siege, and maintained a threat on the flank of Rommel's long line of communications to the Egyptian frontier.Before the siege ended the division was withdrawn by sea but in the succeeding year it was recalled to the front as Rommel's forces were approaching the El Alamein defences, only 70 miles from Alexandria. In General Auchinleck's counter-offensive in July 1942 it captured the Tel el Eisa ridges and other important positions near the coast and later under General Montgomery took a leading part in Rommel's defeat in the battle of El Alamein.As well as recording the exploits of Australian soldiers, the book examines the actions of the generals who successively commanded the Middle East Forces and the Eighth Army - Wavell, Auchinleck, Cunningham, Ritchie, Alexander and Montgomery. The inter-governmental differences concerning the 9th Division's withdrawal from Tobruk and its later return to Australia are also related.An appendix recounts the experiences of Australian prisoners of war in Europe.

This volume, the first of seven in the army series of the official history of Australia in the war of 1939-45, carries the story of the Second AIF up to the end of the operations in Cyrenaica in the first quarter of 1941. It tells briefly the story of the Australian Army from 1919 to 1939 and describes the raising of an expeditionary force for service in Hitler's war. It discusses some of the problems encountered by the commanders of that force in the Middle East in 1940 - often problems of enduring interest in that they have been met and will be met again by other leaders of the forces of minor partners in a coalition war. The defeat of the Italian army in Cyrenaica by the 7th Armoured and 6th Australian Divisions is narrated in a degree of detail made possible by reliance not only on contemporary reports and war diaries but on private papers and interviews and correspondence with a large number of participants. Finally the question whether the British political leaders in February 1941 missed a golden opportunity of marching on to Tripoli and securing great strategical gains is examined in the light of hitherto unpublished documents from both the Allied and the Axis side.

The second of the two Macedonia campaign volumes completes the narrative of British military operations in that Balkan theatre. The four months from late May to early September 1917 were relatively uneventful apart from raids, the most dramatic occurrence being a major fire in Salonika which destroyed between a third and a half of the Greek city, rendering 80,000 people homeless. Towards the end of 1917 things livened up, with operations in the Struma Valley, and at the end of the year the Allied C-in-C, the French General Sarrail, was recalled and replaced by Gen. Guillaumat. In May/June 1918 there were Franco-Greek operations, a testing rehearsal for the planned final offensive which was launched in September. The battles of Dobropolje and Dojran caused the Bulgarians to retreat. The narrative takes the story through the Allied pursuit to the armistice with Bulgaria on 30 September 1918. Total battle casualties among British and Indian troops amounted to 23,762; total non-battle casualties numbered 481,262, of whom just over 198,000 were malaria cases.

This volume in the Official History of The Great War covers the first half of the campaign in East Africa (the planned second volume was never published). The fighting in 'German East' - the German colony comprising the modern state of Tanzania - became one of the most famous guerilla wars in history, and the tenacious and cunning German commander, Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, won the respect of his enemies for the clever way he resisted all attempts to subdue his tiny force of European officers and highly trained native 'Askaris'. But, despite Lettow-Vorbeck's fame, the Allied side of the war - involving international forces from South Africa and India as well as Britain, is virtually unknown. Of all the subsidiary enterprises undertaken during The Great War, the operations described in this volume are probably the least known. The only regular British battalion involved was the 2nd Loyal N. Lancs. The early stages were disastrous for the British, beginning with the unsuccessful attack from the sea on the port of Tanga, described as "one of the most notable failures in British military history." The British commander was replaced and ordered home, while on the German side Tanga proved the first of many victories for the commander who would earn the admiration of friend and foe alike and remain undefeated right through the war: von Lettow-Vorbeck.

This volume of the Official History of The Great War in subsidiary theatres contains a well-written account of a little-known campaign, overshadowed by the Western Front, Gallipoli and other theatres, including the war in German East Africa. The conquest of Togoland took just under three weeks, beginning on 7 August 1914 when troops of the Gold Coast Regiment crossed the border while French colonial troops moved in from Dahomey and Upper Senegal. It was all over on 26 August. On 12 August RSM Alhaji Grunshi, DCM, MM, of the Gold Coast Regiment, fired the first shot of the Togoland campaign and probably the first rifle shot fired by any soldier of the British Army in The Great War. The Cameroons campaign was a particularly arduous one; the troops had to contend with thick bush, wide rivers, swamps and rugged and hilly country, and the enemy resistance was stiffer. It began on 24 August when troops of the Nigeria Regiment crossed the border at various points, followed a month later by a Franco-British expedition under Brig (later Maj) General Dobell. A Belgian detachment from the Congo joined in October. The operation ended on 18 February 1916 with the German surrender, by which time an area the size of Germany had been conquered. No British troops were involved other than officers and NCOs serving with African units. Casualties were very light.