Harrogate Terriers by John Sheehan

Harrogate Terriers by John Sheehan

Using original personal and military diaries, with hundreds of carefully selected newspaper extracts, letters and photographs, this book traces individual stories of tragedy and heroism, involving tradesmen, apprentices, lawyers, musicians, sportsmen, brothers, husbands and fathers from Harrogate and the West Riding. As such, it characterises the experience of the British Infantryman in the Great War. The Territorials of the 1/5th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment were the unsung heroes of the Great War. These 'Saturday Night Soldiers' from York and the northern West Riding of Yorkshire went out to face the might of the German Army in April 1915. Through the hot summer and dark winter that followed, they stopped bullets at the Battle of Aubers Ridge and choked on Phosgene gas at Ypres. Caught in the carnage of the notorious first day on the Somme, the West Yorkshire Territorials were held up by General Haig as convenient scapegoats for his tactical failure, only for the 1/5th Battalion to prove him wrong and redeem itself as an attacking force at the Battle of Thiepval Ridge, and then again at Passchendaele in 1917.In the last year of the war, the battalion helped fight a rear-guard action on the Menin Road, and was effectively wiped out at the Second Battle of Kemmel Ridge, only to be re-constituted in time to take part in the bloody advances at Cambrai and Valenciennes, which helped bring the conflict to an end.

John Sheehan studied military history at King's College, London, before qualifying as a lawyer. Later moving to North Yorkshire, he became interested in the history of Harrogate. He has spent thousands of hours burrowing in local archives, and has written numerous articles on the First World War for the Harrogate Advertiser and other papers. John plays village cricket for Burnt Yates CC, and enjoys the magnificent view of Nidderdale from square leg. He is married and has a son.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781473868120
ISBN 10	1473868122
Title	Harrogate Terriers
Author	John Sheehan
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Pen & Sword Books Ltd
Year published	2017-05-01
Number of pages	351
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable