Helion Publishing

[paulgranger]

There's a current thread on ' Courage Without Glory', in which those who know have good things to say about Helion and its products. They have a lot of interesting forthcoming titles, according to Amazon, due out at various times over the next months. Hopefully they'll all see the light of day:

Glum Heroes - Hardship, fear and death - Resilience and Coping In the British Army on the Western
Front 1914-1918 (Wolverhampton Military Studies)
by Peter Hodgkinson

Attack on the Somme - lst Anzac Corps and the Battle of Pozières Ridge, 1916 (Wolverhampton Military
Studies)
by Meleah Hampton

Crossing No Mans Land - Experience and Learning with the Northumberland Fusiliers in the Great War
(WolverhamptonMilitary Studies)
by Tony Ball

Unfailing Gallantry - 8th (Regular) Division in the Great War 1914-1919 (Wolverhampton Military Studies)
by Alun Thomas

Pouring with Rain Troops Fed Up - British Second Army and the Liberation Offensive in Flanders 1918
(Wolverhampton Military Studies)
by Dennis Williams

The Tanks at Flers - An Account of the First Use of Tanks in War at the Battle of Flers-Courcellette, the
Somme,15th September 1916
by Trevor Pidgeon

A Taste of Success -The First Battle of the Scarpe April 9-14 1917 (Wolverhampton Military Studies)
by Jim Smithson

Friends are Good on the Day of Battle - The 51st (Highland) Division During the First World War
(Wolverhampton Military Studies)
by Craig French

Lost Opportunity - The Battle of the Ardennes 22 August 1914 (Wolverhampton Military Studies)
by Simon J House

Miners at War 1914-1919 - South Wales Miners in the Tunneling Companies on the Western Front
(Wolverhampton Military Studies)
by Ritchie Wood
.
Two Sides of the Same Bad Penny - Gallipoli and the Western Front, A Comparison
by Michael LoCicero

The War in the North Sea -The Royal Navy and the Imperial German Navy 1914-1918
by Quintin Barry

We Are All Flourishing - The Letters and Diary of Captain Walter .J J Coats MC 1914-1919
by Jan Chojecki, Michael Stephen LoCicero

The Reconographers - Intelligence and Reconnaissance in British Tank Operations on the Western
Front 1916-18 (Wolverhampton Military Studies)
by Cohn Hardy

Ulster will Fight - Volume 1: Home Rule and the Ulster Volunteer Force 1886-1922
by David R. Orr

Ulster Will Fight. Volume 2: The 36th (Ulster) Division in training and at war 1914-1918
by David Truesdale

[David Filsell]

I can hardly wait. Helion really has got its act together and terrific to see my old friend Trevor Pigeon's book back in print. Originally it was self published to a very high quality because he totally refused publication by companies who wanted to issue the books without the invaluable maps.

[joerookery]

Lost Opportunity - The Battle of the Ardennes 22 August 1914 (Wolverhampton Military Studies)

by Simon J House

I find this one particularly interesting!

[paulgranger]

Yes, a rare subject for an English-language book.

[SteveMarsdin]

Hi Joe,

I think it's based on his PhD thesis which can be downloaded here:

https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/the-battle-of-the-ardennes-22-august-1914(6fd3813a-abc4-4c90-8a45-3bc4998525b1).html

It is an excellent account: I would suggest the best from an Anglophone author, a view endorsed by Jean-Claude Delhez, the francophone Belgian author whose two volume work Le jour de deuil de l'armée française (out of print) is probably the best overall account. It is still available in a much compressed version La bataille des Frontières. Joffre attaque au centre. 22-26 août 1914, Éd. Economica, Paris, 2013. For more information on Jean-Claude's work: http://www.servicedulivre.be/sll/fiches_auteurs/d/delhez-jean-claude.html

Both authors, researching independently, came to remarkably similar conclusions which challenged the orthodox view of the battle(s).

In an ideal world it would have been superb if the two authors had collaborated in the Helion volume, as Simon only covers a couple of the engagements in great detail. The result would have been the seminal work on 22 August 1914, nonetheless I'm looking forward to buying the book.

Steve.

(Edited for clarity)

[Guest]

Go LoCicero

[Steven Broomfield]

The books by Orr and Truesdale (whom I met about 40 years ago, assuming it's the same chap) look good.

[joerookery]

Thank you Steve! I was not aware of the dissertation. I am particularly keen to read the chapter on doctrine. I will put it on my stack which is unfortunately too big all the time. I am eyeball deep in Liège making my way across Belgium looking for the BEF.

[fellop]

I have to second Martin G, having read and enjoyed A Moonlight Massacre by Michael LoCicero I look forward this next book.

Regards

Peter

[Steven Broomfield]

I am eyeball deep in Liège making my way across Belgium looking for the BEF.

I hate to mention it, but I think they came home.

[Gareth Davies]

I wonder when the 5 volume 'Tanks in the Great War' will join their list. Delta is writing Vol 1, I'm writing Vol 2, Dr Tim Gale is writing Vol 3, and VOls 4 & 5 are being written by Geoffrey Vesey Holt.

[joerookery]

I hate to mention it, but I think they came home.

LOL!

[paulgranger]

I wonder when the 5 volume 'Tanks in the Great War' will join their list. Delta is writing Vol 1, I'm writing Vol 2, Dr Tim Gale is writing Vol 3, and VOls 4 & 5 are being written by Geoffrey Vesey Holt.

Delta's book on the first tank crews is already out, another Helion product, but is that part of the set?

[Gareth Davies]

Nope, that's a stand alone.

[joerookery]

Ouch!

Hi Joe,

I think it's based on his PhD thesis.

Posen has described almost exactly the state of French doctrine in August 1914, with the three new regulations of October and December 1913 and April 1914 in place but not fully implemented nor practiced. No such confusion is evident on the German side, where continuity and gradual evolution of doctrine seems to have prevailed, and where continuous and more or less seamless teaching and practice had been the norm for decades. The powerful link between the Kriegsakademie and the Great General Staff, and between the army inspectorates and the trainers on the ground, meant that the confusion and dislocation experienced by the French during the vital pre– war period was largely avoided in the German army.

I finally got to reading some of this. Fundamentally false. I fear what else I am going to find! Shades of Zuber....

[delta]

I can hardly wait. Helion really has got its act together and terrific to see my old friend Trevor Pigeon's book back in print. Originally it was self published to a very high quality because he totally refused publication by companies who wanted to issue the books without the invaluable maps.

Helion will reproducing the maps from original copies of Trevor's

[SteveMarsdin]

I finally got to reading some of this. Fundamentally false. I fear what else I am going to find! Shades of Zuber....

Joe,

Simon doesn't seek to portray the German Army as an infallible military machine and does identify weaknesses but the key point he (and Jean-Claude) make is that relative to the French, their training was superior and as a result the combat efficacity of German 4th and 5th Armies was superior to that of French 3rd and 4th Armies.

For example:

"By 1911, when Joffre renewed the French programme of building training camps, the Germans possessed twenty–eight large camps, twenty–six of at least 5625 hectares each. There was one camp per corps region and three artillery camps, one being an extra–large range at Grafenwöhr. At this same moment in time France had only two large (corps) camps and two smaller (divisional) camps, one of which was still being completed. These four camps – Châlons, Coëtquidan, Courtine and Mailly – ranged from 2000 to 3000 hectares, but Châlons was badly organised and in need of renovation and Mailly was considered virtually unusable. There were in addition three small, brigade–sized camps, but their scope for combat exercises was severely limited". In the French Army in August 1914, the cavalry was under Corps control as was 40% of 75mm artillery and all the heavy artillery (where delegated from Army control); the limited ability to train at corps level therefore was a great hindrance in future combined operations.

Steve

[David Filsell]

Delta,

Excellent. Thanks.

David

[joerookery]

Steve,

I just love this subject! I do not want to hijack the thread so I will start another one In the – Other – sub forum.