"A Lack of Offensive Spirit?": The 46th (North Midland) Division at Gommecourt 1st July 1916Alan MacDonald, 2008 - 682 pàgines 'A Lack of Offensive Spirit?' is a companion volume to Alan MacDonald's recently revised book 'Pro Patria Mori - the 56th (1st London) Division at Gommecourt, 1st July 1916'. The attack of the 46th (North Midland) Division at Gommecourt on the first day of the Battle of the Somme is one of the most controversial incidents of the Great War. The men were effectively accused of cowardice ("A lack of offensive spirit") and of being drunk and the Division was the only one subject to a Court of Inquiry into its conduct. Their commander, Maj. Gen. Eddie Stuart Wortley, was the only General sacked as a result of the catastrophe of the 1st July 1916, a day when the British Army suffered its worst casualties in a single day in its entire history. `A Lack of Offensive Spirit?' tells the story of Stuart Wortley and the 46th Division from the opening of the war, through the tragedy of the Hohenzollern Redoubt and then, day by day, through the preparations for the attack on Gommecourt. The attack itself is described using the dozens of eyewitness reports collected after the battle as well as official documents and post-war recollections and memoirs. The German perspective on the battle is also extensively covered with information drawn from numerous German unit histories. The conduct of the Court of Inquiry and of Stuart Wortley's desperate efforts to clear his name are covered in detail as well as the tragic fate of the hundreds of officers and men missing, dead and wounded. `A Lack of Offensive Spirit?' is fully indexed, contains over 20 maps and plans, 45 photographs and contains extensive appendices (including a Roll of Honour of both British and German dead). |
Continguts
Eddies | 1 |
The Hohenzollern Redoubt | 39 |
The Genesis of a Diversion | 56 |
May 6 June 7 The Bombardment 8 The Attack of the 137th Brigade 9 The Attack of the 139th Brigade 10 Renewing the Attack 11 Afternoon and E... | 83 |
The Taking | 555 |
Redemption | 562 |
German Order | 601 |
659 | |
Frases i termes més freqüents
1/5th North 137th Brigade 1st July 2nd Lt 46th Division 46th Division’s 5th Leicestershires 5th Lincolnshires 6th North Staffordshires 6th South 7th Sherwood Foresters advanced trench Allenby Anon arrived attack battalion bombardment bombs Brig British Cemetery buried in Foncquevillers Burton-on-Trent Capt casualties command communication trenches Company Derby Derbyshire Doullens dugouts enemy Foncquevillers Military Cemetery front line trench German German lines German trenches Gommecourt Wood grave gunners Haig headquarters Hohenzollern Redoubt howitzers infantry June killed L/Cpl Le Treport Leicestershires Lewis gun Man’s Land Military Cemetery I. L. North Midland Field North Staffordshire Regt Nottingham observation officers parties platoon Pte George Pte John Pte William Regiment Reserve rifle road sent shell hole shrapnel Siege Battery smoke South Staffordshire Regiment Staffs started Stuart Wortley Thiepval Memorial trench fever Trench Mortar troops VII Corps village wave wire Wood New Cemetery yards