hill conversions

infantry

milkmaid

guards

highlander

british line

hill italian

ive never seen this from hill before

hill ww1

bandsman

british line

unknown

hill hunters

THE FINEST LIGHT CAVALRY IN THE WORLD

running guards

is this hill?

tents but by hill?

hunting

repaioring a scot gone wrong

hill early 1914

hill first world war

hill wounded ww1

british volunteer regiments

the indian rifleman above could be made into the British volunteer regiments of the Victorian period

the last battle of 1918

Readers may be more familiar with the authors Twelve Days which dealt with his experiences during the Battle of the Somme and is rightly judged as one of the classics of the Great War . The Last of the Ebb I feel deserves to be placed in the same category. The, book deals this time with the second Battle of the Aisne 1918 in which the 1X Corps of the British Army was virtually destroyed. It is a little known battle which I have always felt needed wider recognition and this little book brings this chapter of the Great War brilliantly to life.
The 1X Corps now comprising of the 8th, 21st, 25th and 50th Divisions which had been badly mauled in the great German offensive of March 1918 and had been sent to the Aisne to rest, and train. It had been placed under French command, being transferred to the French 6th Army. The region came as a surprise to the weary British soldiers. Gone was the mud and battered region of the Somme. Instead they came upon lush meadowlands, great woods, streams and rivers in direct contrast to previous landscapes and it seemed the ideal place for them to recuperate. However they could not escape the aspects of war entirely as the area had been the place of a bloody and disastrous French offensive in 1917 and the ground was pitted with shell holes and old trench lines. Nature however was taking back the countryside and greenery was returning. The quietness however was an illusion and the French had made extensive counter preparations for an expected attack. They had however been lulled into a sense of security due to the quietness of the area and much more planning and preparation was needed if they were to resist any new German offensive. A great deal of their defences existed only on paper It was soon discovered that some of the French officers in the area had become complacent and had adopted a live and let live attitude with the Germans The French commander insisted on positioning the British Divisions in front of the German side of the Aisne in a narrow strip of ground, part of which was a salient which was to be held at all costs. This area was to form the battle zone and orders from the French Command stated that not a yard of ground was to be given up. The 1X Corps Commander, Sir Alexander Hamilton-Gordon protested strongly to no avail. The French 6th Army Commander, General Duchene over- ruled all protests. The British were to remain where they were sent. Captured German prisoners and deserters provided intelligence that a great German attack was imminent but was ignored by the French and on May 26th 1918 the last great German offensive of the war began. As with March offensive the British and French positions were very heavily bombarded by the German artillery and in spite of great acts of gallantry British and French positions were overrun. The resistance of the Devonshires at the strongpoint, the Bois des Buttes is one of the most gallant episodes of any British regiment of the war. The author does not attempt to cover every aspect of the offensive, only his observations at the time of the offensive on May 27th May 30th, describing the sufferings and great acts of gallantry carried out by handfuls of British soldiers during this period. As he writes they advanced and we fought, walked and ran twenty eight miles. Whole Divisions had virtually disappeared; such was the severity of the German onslaught.
The book contains concise maps and some superb photographs of the battle. There is also a short chapter from the German side by Major-General A D Von Unrah, Chief of the General Staff 4th Reserve Corps which makes very interesting reading. It ends with the paragraph Despite the great defeat of the English on the Aisne, we carried away the impression that they did their duty. They fought well and their sacrifices in blood and in the prisoners secured a place of honour in England�s history the Great War . The book remains a graphic testament to the courage of the officers and men of that gallant Corps It is however hard to find these days but dealers do come across it at times and it will be a worthy addition to your book case.

crockett fighting bear

Red indians at the station battle

THE BATTLE OF THE WABASH RIVER — aka St. CLAIR'S DEFEAT, 1791 — is infamous for being the most severe defeat ever suffered by the US Government at the hands of Native American Indian warriors. Of the 1,000 US troops General Arthur St. Clair led into the battle, only 48 US troops are known to have survived unharmed.
As a result of circumstances surrounding the battle, President George Washington forced General St. Clair to submit his immediate resignation.
The victorious Native American warriors were lead by Chief Little Turtle, Miami, Chief Blue Jacket, Shawnee, and Chief Buckongahelas, Delaware.

us marines?

unknown piece

home guard

hill blue jackets

first world war hill cavalry

cav

indians

indian chiefs

guards

hussars

landing party

The Raid on Griessie was a British attack on the Dutch port of Griessie (later renamed Gresik) on Java in the Dutch East Indies in December 1807 during the Napoleonic Wars. The raid was the final action in a series of engagements fought by the British squadron based in the Indian Ocean against the Dutch naval forces in Java, and it completed the destruction of the Dutch squadron with the scuttling of two old ships of the line, the last Dutch warships in the region. The British squadron—under the command of Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew—sought to eliminate the Dutch in an effort to safeguard the trade route with China, which ran through the Straits of Malacca and were in range of Dutch raiders operating from the principal Javan port of Batavia. In the summer of 1806, British frigates reconnoitred Javan waters and captured two Dutch frigates, encouraging Pellew to lead a major attack on Batavia that destroyed the last Dutch frigate and several smaller warships. Prior to the Batavia raid however, Dutch Rear-Admiral Hartsink had ordered his ships of the line to sail eastwards, where they took shelter at Griessie, near Sourabaya.
On the morning of 5 December 1807, a second raiding squadron under Pellew appeared off Griessie and demanded that the Dutch squadron in the harbour surrender. The Dutch commander—Captain Cowell—refused, and seized the boat party that had carried the message. Pellew responded by advancing up the river and exchanging fire with a gun battery on Madura Island, at which point the governor in Sourabaya overruled Captain Cowell, released the seized boat party and agreed to surrender the ships at anchor in Gresik harbour. By the time Pellew reached the anchorage, however, Cowell had scuttled all of the ships in shallow water, and Pellew was only able to set the wreckage on fire. Landing shore parties, the British destroyed all military supplies in the town and demolished the battery on Madura. With the destruction of the force in Griessie, the last of the Dutch naval forces in the Pacific were eliminated. British forces returned to the region in 1810 with a large scale expeditionary force that successfully invaded and captured Java in 1811, removing the last Dutch colony east of Africa.The Berlin radio, quoting a des patch from a German correspondent in Libya, admits that the British landing party at Bardia last week did a "really good piece of work."

The correspondent said: "Just before midnight on April 19 our headquarters received an SOS from a German mobile radio near the beach at Bardia: 'British landing; we are ercircled; send help.' "Headquarters sent shock battalions but the British had done their work magnificently. "Fog hid them and in their rubber-soled boots they moved through silently. Nothing betrayed their presence to the German troops. They searched vainly everywhere and found the radio station empty. Then suddenly heavy detonations and red flames leapt up. The British had reached their own munition dump and had blown it up. They

had done quickly and noiselessly a really good piece of work." The correspondent concluded that the Germans rounded up the British from caves and captured a major, two cap lains, three lieutenants and 65 men.

hill?

rare hill figure

hill bren guner

The attack on abbyssinia

The crisis in Abyssinia from 1935 to 1936 brought international tension nearer to Europe - it also drove Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy together for the first time. The affair once again highlighted the weakness of the League of Nations.
Like Britain and France, Italy had joined in the so-called "Scramble for Africa" in the C19. However, the prize territories had been conquered by others and Italy was left with unimportant areas such as Eritrea and Somaliland. The Italians had attempted to expand in eastern Africa by joining Abyssinia to her conquests, but in 1896, the Italians were heavily defeated by the Abyssinians at the Battle of Adowa.
 This defeat had an enormous impact on Italian pride. The loss of 6000 men against a backward army from Abyssinia was difficult for the Italian people to comprehend. However, this defeat did not stop politicians in Italy planning for a new attempt to take over Abyssinia.
The desire to show the world how powerful Italy was became the prime motivation of Mussolini. He saw himself as a modern day Julius Caesar who would one day be in charge of a vast Italian empire as had existed in the days of Caesar. In 1928, Italy signed a treaty of friendship with Haile Selassie, the leader of Abyssinia but an invasion of the country was already being planned.
In December 1934, Mussolini accused the Abyssinians of aggression at an oasis called Wal Wal. He ordered Italian troops stationed in Somaliland and Eritrea to attack Abyssinia. Large quantities of ammunition and supplies had been stockpiled there. 
In October 1935, the Italian army invaded Abyssinia. The Abyssinians could not hope to stand up to a modern army - they were equipped with pre-World War One rifles and little else. The Italians used armoured vehicles and even mustard gas in their attack. The capital, Addis Ababa, fell in May 1936 and Haile Selassie was removed from the throne and replaced by the king of Italy, Victor Emmanuel. Somaliland, Eritrea and Abyssinia were all united under the name Italian East Africa.
When the Italians had invaded in October 1935, the Abyssinians had appealed to the League of  Nations for help. The League did two things :
it condemned the attack all League members were ordered to impose economic sanctions on Italy.
It took six weeks for the sanctions to be organised and they did not include vital materials such as oil.
 Three League members did not carry out the sanctions. Italy could cover the sanctions imposed on gold and textiles but a ban on oil could have had a major impact on Italy’s war machine. The argument put forward for not banning oil, was that Italy would simply get her oil from America - a non-League country. Britain and France were also concerned about provoking Mussolini in the Mediterranean Sea where Britain had two large naval bases - Gibraltar and Malta. In fact, the Italian navy was vastly overestimated by both the British and French but it was this fear which also lead Britain to keeping open the Suez Canal. If this route had been cut, then Italy would have had extreme difficulties supplying her armed forces in the region during the conflict.
It is also possible that both Britain and France considered the war too far away to be of any importance to them. They were not prepared to risk their naval power in the Mediterranean for the sake of a country barely anybody had heard of in either France or Britain.
Britain and France also had another input into this affair. 
In an effort to end the war, the British Foreign Secretary - Samuel Hoare - and the French Prime Minister - Pierre Laval - met in December 1935. They came up with the Hoare-Laval Plan. This gave two large areas of Abyssinia to Italy and a gap in the middle of the country - the "corridor of camels" - to the Abyssinians. The south of the country would be reserved for Italian businesses. In return for this land, the Italians would have to stop the war.
Mussolini accepted the plan but in Britain there was a huge national outcry. It was believed that a British government minister had betrayed the people of Abyssinia. The protests caused Hoare to resign and the plan was dropped. Mussolini continued with the invasion. However, what this plan had indicated was that the two major European League members were prepared to negotiate with a nation that had used aggression to enforce its will on a weaker nation. Coupled with this, the sanctions also failed.
The League's involvement in this event was a disaster. It showed nations that its sanctions were half-hearted even when they were enforced and that member states were prepared to negotiate with aggressor nations to the extent of effectively giving in to them. Also, actions by the League - even if they were a failure - lead to Italy looking away from the League - an organisation it did belong to. 
Mussolini turned to the man he had considered a "silly little monkey" when they had first met. Hitler and Nazi Germany.