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Cheltenham in the Great War is the first book to portray the town, its people and the impact of the 'war to end all wars' from the declaration of war in 1914 to Armistice Day in 1918. Almost 1,000 Cheltenham women left by train every day for munitions work, hundreds made airplanes in the Winter Gardens, many were nurses and most former suffragettes joined the WVR. Why did two schools do double shifts and for what did the townspeople raise £186,000 in one week in 1918? How did Cheltenham cope with 7,250 soldiers billeted in the town and 'khaki fever'? This book gives an insight into the lives of different social classes in Cheltenham – including stories of remarkable women – and how their war was fought on the Home Front. The Great War story of Cheltenham is told through considerable new research and is vividly illustrated throughout with evocative, informative images, many of which have not been published previously.
The lives, deaths, poetry, diaries and extracts from letters of sixty-six soldier-poets are brought together in this limited edition of Anne Powell's unique anthology; a fitting commemoration for the centenary of the First World War. These poems are not simply the works of well-known names such as Wilfred Owen – though they are represented – they have been painstakingly collected from a multitude of sources, and the relative obscurity of some of the voices makes the message all the more moving. Moreover, all but five of these soldiers lie within forty-five miles of Arras. Their deaths are described here in chronological order, with an account of each man's last battle. This in itself provides a revealing gradual change in the poetry from early naïve patriotism to despair about the human race and the bitterness of 'Dulce et Decorum Est'.
When war broke out in 1914 there was a widespread sense of optimism among the British public. Fired by patriotic fervour and pride in their nation, many were convinced that 'it would all be over by Christmas' and young men rushed to join the army and share in the 'honour and glory' of war. These illusions were swiftly lost as a war of attrition developed; advances on both sides were small and casualties high. Even with this background, the slaughter on 1 July 1916 of thousands of British soldiers, who went over the top to their deaths on the Somme, shocked a world increasingly conditioned to the realities of armed conflict. Nick Thornicroft delves into the heart of the British Army on the blackest day in its history and gives a vivid portrayal of Gloucestershire soldiers in the heat of battle; these ordinary men in extraordinary circumstances, fighting with incredible bravery for their country's future. Through assiduous research and compassion for his subject, Nick Thornicroft has woven the experiences of Gloucestershire and North Bristol's soldiers into the wider military story, and in doing so brings a human aspect to one of the most inhuman battles in history.
This book describes the campaigns fought by the Gloucestershire Regiments sixteen infantry battalions and the 1/1st RGH which saw action on all the Allied fronts. During The Great War the Gloucesters who already had more battle honors than any other regiment won another eighty-two.Over 46,000 men served in the Gloucesters and the RGH during the First World War without any member of either regiment being charged with either desertion or cowardice. Twenty-five Military Medals were won by 1st Gloucesters at Festubert on one day in April 1918, a record for a single battalion.A Gallant County captures the contrast between the fighting in the mud of the Western Front, the heat and dust of the Middle East and the horrors of Gallipoli. The author skilfully paints the picture of infantry and cavalry actions in the different theatres. 1/1st RGH were one of only two yeomanry regiments to fight from Egypt to Aleppo.The use of personal accounts and descriptions of acts of individual and collective gallantry make this a superb record of a Countys outstanding contribution to victory.
This book, following a weekend on the Somme with Mary Freeman as she visits the old front line and back areas, is about the soldiers who wrote poetry and those with whom they lived, fought and, in many cases died. It takes the reader to to the places where they saw action and to the cemeteries and memorials where those who did not survive, rest or are commemorated. Her uncanny knowledge of the battlefields and her deep understanding of poetry, brings to life the men who shared hardship and horror together, men who experience comradeship forged in conditions that are beyond comprehension today, men with normal desires and aspirations who happened to be wearing uniform and some who chose to express themselves through the medium of poetry.
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An account of a group of poets who gathered in the small village of Dymock in rural Gloucestershire shortly before the First World War. Black-and-white photographs. First published in 1994.