A noted biography of this celebrated author who wrote thrillers. xii, 240 pages. paper-covered boards, dust jacket.. 8vo..

Dornford Yates: A biography

Smithers, A.J.

Literature & Fiction

Hodder&Stoughton

The story of the inventors, engineers, soldiers, and politicians behind the emergence of the armored fighting vehicle.The birth and infancy of the tank had an enormous number of technical problems to be solved--but the issues with its construction paled in comparison to the endless squabbles among the people involved. This fascinating study of the vehicle which was born out of the stalemate of the Western Front in the First World War looks at all the obstacles that had to be overcome.As is inevitable in almost any work of history set in the first half of the century, the figure of Winston Churchill looms large--but the role that he played in this instance is remarkable even by his standard, when it is remembered that at the crucial time he was First Lord of the Admiralty and theoretically had nothing to do with warfare on land. Foremost among the leading actors in the drama are Sir Eustace Tennyson-d'Eyncourt, Sir Ernest Swinton, Bertie Stern, Sir William Tritton, and Walter Gordon Wilson.This is the first exhaustive study of the men behind the earliest tanks. The story of their furious quarrels and the machines they produced combine to make a remarkable and compelling study.

A New Excalibur: The Development of the Tank 1909-1939

Science & Math

Technology

Hippocrene Books

'The idea of a mobile strong-point, out of which the tank developed, probably occurred to most minds after our first experience of attacking strongly entrenched positions; I first heard it suggested by an Intelligence Corps officer as early as the Battle of the Aisne....the suggestion of using the 'Caterpillar tractor, which has been experimented with at Aldershot in 1914, immediately arose....but it was so obvious a development that it must have occurred simultaneously in many regiments and staff messes.' Thus stated John Charteris, Sir Douglas Haig's Director of Military Intelligence Obvious development it may have been, but the birth and infancy of the tank were nevertheless weighed down by the by a truly remarkable burden of handicaps in which the endeavour to solve the enormous number of technical problems which the construction of such a vehicle presented at times to pale into insignificance compared with the endless squabbles between the headstrong band of 'midwives' and 'monthly nurses' who gathered in it's nursery. It is essentially upon this ill-associated bunch of inventers, engineers, soldiers and politicians which Jack Smithers concentrates on this fascinating study of the vehicle which was born out of the stalemate of the Western Front in the First World War. As is inevitable in almost any work of history set in the first half of the century , the figure of Winston Churchill looms large in the foreground, but the role that he played in this instance is remarkable even by his standard when it is remembered that at the crucial time he was First Lord of the Admiralty and theoretically had nothing to do with warfare on land. Foremost amongst the leading actors in the drama come Sir Eustance Tennyson-d'Eyncourt, Sor Earnest Swinton, Bertie Stern, Sir William Tritton and Walter Gordon Wilson. Of the last- few named will have heard, but as the author says, 'but for him there would have been no tank.

Contemporary

GRAFTON

Rude Mechanicals

Engineering & Transportation

Engineering

HarperCollins, Publishers

This is an account of the British Army’s first major expedition abroad under Charles II in 1662, as he disastrously attempted to create a corner of the British Empire in North Africa.

The Tangier Campaign: The Birth of the British Army

History

Europe

Tempus

Taken from the dust jacket: "Rightly described as the greatest Jewish soldier since Massena, Sir John Monash reached higher rank in the British Army, not only than any previous Jewish soldier, but also than any other non-professional soldier. The story of the most remarkable general to be produced by the First World War is told by A. J. Smithers with all the wit and wisdom which those who enjoyed his life of Sir Horace Smith Dorrien will recognize and relish once again. Though he was trained as an engineer, Monash was a man of wide and varied accomplishments who came late in life to the business of war. But his wide experience and his outstanding genius for organization and communication earned him rapid promotion until, by the end of the war, he was in command of the Australian Corps. This book is a fitting tribute to a brilliant soldier and to the men who fought under him. If, in describing Monash as 'the only soldier who possessed the necessary qualities for the chief command', Mr Lloyd George's prime motive was to denigrate Sir Douglas Haig, it does not make his judgement any the less valid."

Sir John Monash,

Leo Cooper

The Kaffir wars, 1779-1877, (19th century military campaigns)

Africa

Cambrai: The First Great Tank Battle 1917

In 1940 the Italian navy posed a threat to the British Army's ability to hold Egypt. However, the intervention of the Fleet Air Arm allowed Wavell to plan his offensive and move towards victory in the desert war.

Taranto, 1940: 'a glorious episode'

Military

Rude Mechanicals: An Account of Tank Maturity During the Second World War

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