Turner Donovan Military Books - The world’s finest selection of rare and out-of-print books on British military history from 1800 to 1945
  Stock last updated on 26 July 2024
 
   

Latest Books The most recently added books   30 Books
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SPONG (L.E.) My Life in France, 1915-1916. 1st Ed., orig. printed wraps., 15pp., portraut frontis. E. Barton, Printer, Hounslow. nd (c.1916)  #67492
[HLMainPic] Slim but scarce privately circulated memoirs of service of No. 7778 L/Cpl. Lancelot E. Spong with the 17th Middlesex (1st Footballers' Battalion): landed with unit in France Nov. 1915, includes details of wiring & patrol work in No-Man's-Land, &c., until wounded near Waterlot Farm by a British 'short' on 8th August 1916. The final line has been heavily obliterated in ink: presumably Spong came to disagree with his original words! See illustration on our website.   £45
TRENCH MAP: Nieuwe Kruiseecke. Edition 1. Part of Sheet 28. 1:10,000. Fldg. paper map, 63x51cm approx., area of Menin Road &c. at Gheluvelt, south to Zandvoorde & east to Kruiseecke, showing outline British Front Line & detailed German trench systems correceted to 10/9/1917. See illustrations on our website.  #67491
[HLMainPic]   £100
TAYLOR (William) & DIACK (Peter) Student & Sniper-Sergeant: A Memoir of J.K. Forbes, MA, 4th Gordon Highlanders, Who Died for his Country, 25 September 1915. 1st Ed., viii+182pp., portrait frontis. H&S. 1916  #67490
[HLMainPic] John Keith Forbes was born in Aberdeen in 1883, was indentured as a pupil teacher aged fourteen & later a student at Aberdeen University. Graduating M.A. in 1905 he became a schoolteacher until 1912 when he entered the Theological College of the United Free Church. In 1914 he enlisted in the 4th Battalion Gordon Highlanders (TF), posted to "U" (University) Company, which was affiliated to the Aberdeen University. KiA 25th Sept. 1915, aged thirty-two, and commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial. Includes extracts from his letters & diary during training at Bedford including a kit inspection ("another of the marvels of military life"). In Feb. 1915 the Battalion left Bedford for the Front & the remaining ninety pages consist of a detailed & interesting account of Forbes's active service experiences. These reveal a natural talent for soldiering & an aptitude for finding his way around the trenches without getting lost, even in the dark, consequently he was "always in demand for guiding parties to or from the trenches, &… spent very little of his time indoors." Observing the domination of the front line by German snipers (& their "merciless and ceaseless watch"), "Forbes saw that the only way to stop this was to have British snipers equally well hidden & equally well trained, and to this problem he quietly gave his mind." In June 1915 he was appointed Sergeant of the Snipers, "a section which he organized & trained to utterly confound the German crack shots" & there is a good account of this work on the line around Ypres etc. He lost his life in a diversionary attack near Sanctuary Wood, when, in the thick of the action on the German third line, and already wounded in the leg, he was struck by a shell and killed instantly. Orig. red cloth, gilt, rare but poor copy as frontis. has previously been fixed in with Selotape, the tape now removed but leaving heavy unpleasant staining. Inexpensive copy. See illustration on our website.   £75
James Lusk, BA (Cantab).; Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur; Captain & Adjutant 6th Battalion The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). Letters & Memories. 1st Ed., [vii]+151pp., portrait frontis., col. plate (of Legion d'Honneur). Oxford: Printed for B.H. Blackwell. 1916  #67488
[HLMainPic] James Lusk was commissioned in the 6th Cameronians in 1908, mobilised & served in France March-Dec. 1915. Memoir followed by extensive & interesting letters from training and the Front: wounded by a trench mortar on Christmas Day 1915 whilst going round his trenches & DoW 28/12/15. He was awarded the Legion d'Honneur at Festubert in June when he was Bn. Transport Officer & the bn. having lost heavily in officers he made his way up the line & helped reorganise. He was appointed adjutant after this battle. Orig. grey paper covd. boards with purple cloth backstrip, little rubbed & worn, VG. See illustrations on our website.   £120
CROUCH (Capt. L.W.) Duty & Service: Letters from the Front. 1st Ed., 158pp., portrait frontis., 6 plates. For Private Circulation. 1917  #67487
[HLMainPic] Lionel William Crouch was born in 1886, educated at Marlborough and qualified as a solicitor. He was a pre-war Territorial officer with the 1st/1st Bucks. Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, and was killed in action on 21st July 1916 in an attack on the Somme (his body was found a month later and identified by his Coronation Medal ribbon); his grave lies in Pozières British Cemetery, Ovillers-la-Boisselle. Contains his letters written during the mobilization period and throughout his active service, March 1915-July 1916 with much of interest on the experiences of, and some individuals of, the Bucks Battalion. Orig. blue cloth, gilt, some staining to boards o/w generally VG. See illustration on our website.   £95
MONTGOMERY (Ina) John Hugh Allen of the Gallant Company: A Memoir by His Sister. 1st Ed., vii+236pp., portrait frontis. VG in dw. Arnold. 1919  #67486
[HLMainPic] John Hugh Allen, son of Colonel the Hon. Sir James Allen, K.C.B. (a New Zealand politician and sometime High Commissioner in London for NZ) & Lady Allen, was Ed. at Wanganui College & Jesus College, Cambridge (where he was President of the Union). He was studying for the Bar in London on the outbreak of war & joined the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps on 25th Aug. 1914; a few weeks later he was commissioned in the 13th (S) Bn. Worcestershire Regiment. Then attached to the 1st Bn. Essex Regiment at Gallipoli, he was killed in action there on 6th June 1915 & is buried in Twelve Tree Copse Cemetery. Includes informative letters written in training, with some interesting accounts of the type of exercises etc. undertaken by his New Army battalion (stationed at Looe in Cornwall), & during the twelve days he spent at the front. Orig. blue cloth, gilt, VG in dw. See illustration on our website.   £50
Christian Creswell Carver. 1st Ed., 376pp., real photo. portrait frontis. Birmingham: Printed for Private Circulation by Cornish Bros. 1920  #67485
[HLMainPic] Christian Carver was born in 1897, Ed. Rugby & the RMA Woolwich: he was commissioned in April 1915 & served with D Batt., 84 Bde., 18th Div. Artillery, proceeding to France with the unit at the end of July 1915. On reorganisation in May 1916 his battery was renamed C Batt., 85th Bde., & in Dec. 1916 his entire section was sent to A Batt., 83rd Bde. Lt. Carver was wounded by a shell 23/7/17 near Ypres & Died of Wounds at 10.50 p.m. the same day at 17th CCS, Remy Siding, Lijssenthoek. His grave is in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery. Contains interesting & touching letters full of domestic detail, notes on life in the trenches (where he was often placed as a FOO) & his work in the Battery. On 1st July 1916 he was Liaison Officer with the 8th East Surreys during their attack on Montauban & was commended for this work. Concludes with extracts from letters of condolence from brother officers. Orig. grey paper covered boards with wheat cloth spine with paper label. VG & rare, inscribed "To May Green from Annie J.H. Carver, January 1931." See illustrations on our website.   £245
FRENCH TRENCH MAP: [Sheet] 26 Combles. 1:10,000. Large fldg. paper map, 106x75cm approx., area of Morval & Sailly-Sailisel south via Combles to Bouchavesnes, Clery-dur-Somme, [just to the north of Peronne] &c. Eastern part of the 1916 Somme battlefield, this edition dated 14 November 1916 & marked SECRET, shows very detailed French & German trench systems throughout the area of the map, this region being heavily contested (the Battle of Morval)following the capture of Combles by units of the French Army & the British 56th (London) Div. on 26th Sept. 1916. See illustrations on our website.  #67483
[HLMainPic]   £165
GERMAN TRENCH MAP: Auchy. 1:5,000. August 1917. Highly detailed 1:5,000 scale fldg. paper map, 60x50cm approx., area of Cuinchy eastwards to Auchy-les-La Bassee, showing detailed British trenches, the brickstacks, &c., but even more so in the German lines, with their communication trenches & other details all named. Printed Geheim! [Secret] & "Das Mitnehmen der Karten in die vorderen Linien ist strengstens verboten!" [Taking this map into the front line is strictly prohibited]. Escellent & rare scale map with much interesting detail corrected to 13/8/1917. See illustrations on our website.  #67481
[HLMainPic]   £225
TRENCH MAP: German Message Map, 1186 Favreuil [Somme] 1:25,000. Fldg. paper coloured map, 28x23cm, area of Behagnies, Sapignies, Favreuil &c. (east of the Achiets, Somme region), showings various buildings, some trench lines & wire, with an unused field message form on reverse. Undated & as this area was fought over in both 1916 & 1918 it could date from either period or in between. Nice clean example of a German 'message map' & the first I have seen. See illustrations on our website.  #67479
[HLMainPic]   £75

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