Leo Cooper Consignment (36 results)

Condition: new.

Paperback. Condition: New. This book describes in some detail the actions just prior and after the landings on the beaches around Helles by the British 29 Division on those fateful days of the 25 and 26 April 1915. It is dedicated to the memory of all those who fought there, many of whom did not survive. It describes some of the necessary preparations, and the courageous story of the men who landed on the five beaches on the tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula designated W, V, X, Y and S by the British High Command in their plan to force a passage through the Dardanelles to Constantinople. By using graphic eye witness accounts, contemporary sketches, maps and photographs, the book brings alive the courage and self-sacrifice of the battalions involved, including the story of the S5 River Clyde at V Beach and the actions of those 15 men who were awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry during the two days of 25 and 26 April which epitomize the bravery of the entire landing forces. A full day Car Tour is included, together with battlefield walks relating to each of the five beaches, useful practical advice, and descriptions of Memorials and Cemeteries which should enable visitors to appreciate the significance and relevance of what happened during that particular time.…

Paperback. Condition: New.

Paperback. Condition: New. After the First World War, how many thousands of British families would have proud or bitter reason to remember the name St Quentin? At least eight Divisions, 23 Brigades, 74 Battalions an enormous number of fighting men, a weight of experience, courage, defeat and victory, all to be traced through these fields and villages round the city. There is much to honour here: exhausted British troops marching south in the Retreat from Mons in August 1914, resistance attacks on the Hindenburg Line in 1917, desperate feats of arms in the final German onslaught in the Spring of 1918. Many impressive individual and collective achievements, captured guns, Victoria Crosses richly earned. The ancient city itself suffered too - bombardment by French and British artillery, its citizens subjected and exploited by the occupying German forces, then evacuated ahead of the withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line - before its final liberation in October 1918. The book gives details of positions, redoubts, attacks, lines of advance and retreat, with many illustrations provided from local sources. Most of the positions described can still be traced and the sites of some epic events located.…

Paperback. Condition: New. Mametz Wood and the nearby village of Fricourt represented a second phase of the British offensive on the Somme in 1916. British troops were assigned to attack a heavily fortified quadrangle just to the west of the Wood. The attack was a costly failure but, for once the commanding generals of the divisions involved were relieved. Today the site contains much of interest, both to the visitor and the general reader. Markers and preserved emplacements illustrate the many attacks launched in the area, as well as the long periods of trench warfare. Men from the industrial North of England fought here with the 17th (Northern) Division and their monuments are particularly evocative of the era. Among the most dramatic reminders of the past are the sites associated with the 38th (Welsh) Division. Siegfried Bassoon and Robert Graves both served with the division and actions in this sector are particularly well-recorded in English literature. A section of the field is dominated by the division's Red Dragon statue, a recent addition but already popular with tourists. The French regarded the Welsh ("Galois" in French) as long-lost relatives, and the division's moments have been particularly well kept-up.…

Paperback. Condition: New. Neuve Chappelle and the La Bassee Canal first became famous in early 1915, as World went into its second year. Fighting had bogged down in the winter of 1914 as the battered armies of both sides built the first trench systems. The French wanted to use the new year to recover the rich agricultural area of northeastern France, which also contained the Champagne region. Britain's regular army, sadly depleted in the fighting of 1914, had been replenished over the winter by the Territorial Army, pre-war reservists from the commercial classes known for strong self-discipline and initiative. A well-planned British offensive on March 10 in aid of the French made some initial gains before being contained and driven back by the Germans, a dreary pattern to be repeated endlessly over the next four years. This new volume in the Battleground Europe series covers an interesting region of France that was fought over by some of the best troops of both sides. Full details of the 1915 and later fighting are given, backed up by numerous illustrations and maps, and a guide to the battlefield as it is today.…

Paperback. Condition: New. By the autumn of 1944 it was clear to all who wished to see that Germany was facing inevitable defeat. Many there were, however, who did not wish to see. One of these was Adolf Hitler himself, who decided that the tide of war could be turned by one massive thrust through the Ardennes to retake the channel ports on which the Allied supply line depended. Others equally blind to reality were to be found in prisoner-of-war camps scattered throughout the British Isles. These hardcore fanatics, or 'blacks' as they were labelled in the current jargon, dismissed the truth as crude allied propaganda and chose rather to believe Hitler's boast that the Ardennes offensive would indeed drive the allies out of Europe once more. What could they, pent up as they were, do to help their comrades fighting to the death in the snow-clad forests above Bastogne? To start with they could stage a mass escape and create thereby a security scare of unprecedented magnitude. If enough escaped they would then march on London, with who knows what results. Naturally enough there are few written records of this extraordinary story and Charles Whiting has pieced it together largely through interviews with the few survivors from those dramatic days. It is indeed a most remarkable tale, but one which, as the author himself admits, leaves quite a number of intriguing questions unanswered.…

Paperback. Condition: New.

Paperback. Condition: New.

Paperback. Condition: New.

Paperback. Condition: New.

Paperback. Condition: New. For two centuries Martello Towers have stood sentry along the shores of England and former British possessions worldwide. In excess of 200 of these formidable towers were built at a staggering cost principally to counter the Napoleonic threat; some as far afield as Australia, the West Indies and the Mediterranean.This lavishly illustrated book, authoritative yet wholly readable, is recommended to both the visitor (43 Martellos remain in the UK) and armchair reader.…

Hardcover. Condition: New. This is the story of an early pioneer aviator who took to the air just a few years after the Wright Brothers proved that man was capable of controlled powered flight. Corbett Wilson (CW) was the only son of a wealthy family and was educated at Eaton from 1896 to 1899. He was commissioned into the Dorset Regiment and served in the South African War, by the end of which he had transferred to the Royal Artillery and became a Lieutenant in 1908. CW enrolled at the Bleriot Flying School at Pau in southern France and upon gaining his wings purchased a Bleriot XI airplane. Later he flew from Hendon Aerodrome and from there he made the first flight across the Irish Sea. When World War I loomed CW joined the military division of the newly formed Royal Flying Corps and in August 1914 he took off from Dover for France with No. 3 Squadron. It is this point that the vividly written letters sent to his mother give an enthralling insight into the developing war and the early military use of aircraft in battle. He lasted just ten months before being shot down by enemy flack on 15 May 1915.…

Hardcover. Condition: New.

Hardcover. Condition: New.

Hardcover. Condition: New.

Hardcover. Condition: New. Memoirs of SOE agents have always been rare ETH so many were either killed in action or executed ETH and today they are almost unheard of. But Sydney Hudson's story, which he has waited nearly sixty years to tell, is just about as dramatic and thrilling as any to have appeared. The Author was captured and escaped into Spain, to return to fight with the Maquis. Undercover Operator is a fascinating mix of true drama, rich excitement and refereshing good humour.…

Hardcover. Condition: New.

Hardcover. Condition: New. This, the follow-up to Naval Atrocities in World War 2, is an anthology of shameful incidents at sea, causing outrage on both sides. The sinking of the Lusitania was the trigger of these events, which were played out, at least initially, while an anguished and undecided America looked on. Later in the War, the Hospital Ships, carrying wounded troops home from the theatres of war, became controversial targets for U-Boats. The treatment of U-Boat crews by Allied navies was itself at times hugely controversial. At the end of it all, the world's first ever War Crimes Trials were held at Leipzig in farcical conditions. Illustrated With Photographs (illustrator).…

Hardcover. Condition: New.

Hardcover. Condition: New.

Hardcover. Condition: New.

Hardcover. Condition: New. Their experiences in World War II had a profound effect on many British artists and writers. This heavily illustrated volume draws together numerous accounts of wartime experiences by many Britons who went on to fame in art, literature, fashion, and architecture. A wide variety of wartime incidents are described by unusually articulate and perceptive observers, and many examples are illustrated of art, writing and design inspired by the war.…

Paperback. Condition: New. Following on from the highly acclaimed Facing Armageddon and Passchendaele in Perspective, At the Eleventh Hour recognises that a world was ending in November 1918, and by international collaboration on the 80th Anniversary we learn through this book, what it was like to experience the transition from war to peace. Distinguished historians brilliantly convey a sense of immediacy as the Armistice is recreated and analysed.The reader will not just acquire new areas of information, he will have some of the existing knowledge which he thought was soundly held, strikingly challenged in the pages of this superbly illustrated book.…

Hardcover. Condition: New. The 80th anniversary of the end of World War I is fast approaching, and the event will be commemorated by a special documentary on the BBC and Discovery Channel. We Shall Remember Them is the official tie-in to the series. The book and series will be a social history rather than a military account, concentrating on the British experience of the war. Great Britain during the years 1914-1918 was still a society of rigid classes, and a nation whose people still maintained many distinct regional variations in speech and personality. All the classic "types" of wartime Britain, both civil and military, are examined in detail. Men from different classes and regions served in the trenches, and most individual regiments had their own distinct character. The Great War was also the first in modern times to affect the home front. Women left the home to work in factories and the Land Army, and the English Channel proved to be no defense against German Zeppelins and the world's first aerial bombardment.…

Hardcover. Condition: New.

Hardcover. Condition: New.

Hardcover. Condition: New.

Hardcover. Condition: New.

Hardcover. Condition: New. On 15 March 1945 three crew members of a Bomber Command Lancaster baled from their crippled aircraft over the eastern Rhur. The author of this book was the navigator and one of those men. All three found themselves in quiet countryside but were soon captured and imprisoned in a village jail. After a short time they were moved and now unfolds the tale of how two German guards led them over 120 miles to their eventual PoW destination. Since they were close to the advancing Allied forces the transportation system was in chaos and they traveled sometimes by one of the few remaining trains or by hitchhiking. The nights were bitterly cold and precious little heating was available. The two guards were sympathetic and the small party was amazed by the civility of the local people, since the RAF was rife with tales of horrific violence when downed RAF crew fell into civilian hands, one of the results of the blanket bombing offence that was then underway. At one stage their guards fell asleep and escape was considered, but eventually rejected and they were delivered into a transfer PoW camp. Before they were rescued by Allied forces, 22 days after baling out, the three had only spent 15 days as prisoners and only 36 hours behind barbed wire.…