Ian Hay

Gebundenes Buch

Doing Our 'Bit'

Two Classic Accounts of the Men of Kitchener's 'New Army' During the Great War Including the First 100,000 & All in It

Beschreibung

The British regular army in the form of the 'Old Contemptibles' of the B.E.F have proved no match in numbers-if not in spirit-to the challenges of a Great War in Europe. More men were needed and Lord Kitchener's finger, pointing out from the recruiting poster, made that appeal directly and simply. A 'New Army' had to be quickly formed. It would not be a professional army ,but one formed of citizens who would rally to the cause-ready to do their 'bit'-because their country needed them. Ian Hay Beith has written two of the classic accounts of the first of these volunteer amateur soldiers and they are brought together in this Leonaur book. They provide an invaluable insight into the training and battlefield field experiences of a 'new' Highland regiment from its early encounters of trench warfare to the 'Big Push' at Loos and on to the Somme. What makes them most memorable is the author's skill in bringing to life its cast of characters from Captain Wagstaffe and Lt. Bobby Little to a company of irrepressible 'Jocks' including Mucklewame, Tosh, Cosh, Buncle, Nigg and others. Created in the midst of the tragedies of the Western Front here is a well executed and readable account filled with wry humour. Those familiar with the fictitious 'MacAuslin' will find much to satisfy them in its pages.

Autor

Major General John Hay Beith, CBE MC, was a British schoolteacher and soldier, but he is best known as a novelist, playwright, essayist, and historian who worked under the pen name Ian Hay. After studying Classics at Cambridge University, Beith became a schoolteacher. His novel Pip was published in 1907, and its popularity, together with the success of numerous other novels, enabled him to retire from teaching in 1912 to pursue a full-time writing career. During World War I, Beith was a French army officer. His humorous description of army life, The First Hundred Thousand, released in 1915, was a best-seller. As a result of this, he was assigned to work in the information section of the British War Mission in Washington, DC. After the war, Beith's books did not gain the popularity of his earlier work, but he established a successful career as a dramatist, producing light comedies in cooperation with other authors such as P. G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton. During WWII, Beith was the War Office's Director of Public Relations, retiring in 1941 just before his 65th birthday.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Oakpast
• Seitenzahl: 348
• Erscheinungstermin: 15. Oktober 2007
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 222mm x 145mm x 24mm
• Gewicht: 635g
• ISBN-13: 9781846773167
• ISBN-10: 1846773164
• Artikelnr.: 23257620