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Bezig met laden... Band of Brigands: The First Men in Tanksdoor Christy Campbell
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 Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek.   d.r.halliwell | Jul 23, 2011 |   ) Vivaldi | Feb 4, 2009 | These accounts comprise first-hand reports from those in the tanks, through to commanders (infantry and tank) deploying them and all the way back to political masters and interested theorists in England. Official histories and post-war documentation are dipped into frequently to try to get the best picture of what happend and why. The war of words over the proper usage of tanks continued all the way to the Second World War, with the British keeping to their preferred role of 'infantry tanks'. The author avoids controversy (but does explore the issues) in debating Haig's legacy and the originator of Blitzkrieg. Some things really surprised me though - the very early stages that some kind of armoured trench-spanning vehicle was sought (by Churchill, who else!?) - the sheer vulnerability and unsuitability to extended operations the early tanks were. One shortcoming (though this may just be me) is the style of end-notes. Endnotes are primarily a publishing decision (I prefer footnotes, but I don't really mind). However the lack of an superscript numbering to show where endnotes exist damages the usefullness. That said, a worthy and interesting history, and not just one for those interested in the First World War. (  )3  Donogh | Jan 30, 2009 | geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
The dramatic story of the men who fought a new and terrifying kind of war amidst the carnage of the trenches in World War I: the British pioneer volunteers who were the first tank-men into battle. Inspired by a visit to northeast France to witness the excavation of a remarkably intact First World War tank from beneath a suburban vegetable plot near the town of Cambrai, Christy Campbell - then defence correspondent of the Sunday Telegraph - began to piece together the little-known story of the young men who formed the British Tank Corps. Very few of them had been professional soldiers; they were motoring enthusiasts and mechanics, plumbers, motorcyclists, circus performers and polar explorers. One officer declared: 'I have never seen such a band of brigands in my life.' They had trained in conditions of great secrecy in the grounds of a mock-oriental stately home in East Anglia and were originally known as the 'Heavy Branch, Machine Gun Corps'. The word 'tank' itself was deliberately chosen to mislead. Men in tanks saw the face of battle at its most brutal. Their task was to crush and burn the enemy out of his fortifications, and to carve a path for the infantry so they could finish the job with bayonet and grenade. Captured tank crews were beaten up or sometimes shot out of hand by the Germans. They fought in their stifling armoured boxes packed with petrol and explosives, aware that at any moment a shell-hit might incinerate them all. Christy Campbell has combed contemporary diaries and letters and later recollections to tell properly for the first time the robust yet harrowing story of how the first men in tanks went to war. The time frame is 1916-18, with a coda on how German blitzkrieg ideas developed from an English root. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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 Google Books — Bezig met laden...GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)940.41241History and Geography Europe Europe Military History Of World War I Operations And UnitsLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde: (3.86)
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