How I Won the Victoria Cross

How I Won the Victoria Cross PDF Author: Thomas Henry Kavanagh
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Delhi (India)
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Victoria Cross Heroes: Volume II

Victoria Cross Heroes: Volume II PDF Author: Michael Ashcroft
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
ISBN: 1785901400
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Foreword by Lance-Sergeant Johnson Beharry VC THE VICTORIA CROSS is Britain and the Commonwealth's most prestigious gallantry medal for courage in the face of the enemy. It has been bestowed upon 1,355 heroic individuals from all walks of life since its creation during the Crimean War. Lord Ashcroft, who has been fascinated with bravery since he was a young boy, now owns 200 VCs, by far the largest collection of its kind in the world. Following on from the bestselling Victoria Cross Heroes, first published in 2006 to mark the 150th anniversary of the award, Victoria Cross Heroes: Volume II gives extraordinary accounts of the bravery behind the newest additions to Lord Ashcroft's VC collection - those decorations purchased in the last decade. With nearly sixty action-packed stories of courageous soldiers, sailors and airmen from a range of global conflicts including the Indian Mutiny of 1857-58, the Second Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 and the First and Second World Wars, this book is a powerful testament to the strength of the human spirit and a worthy tribute to the servicemen who earned the Victoria Cross. Their inspirational deeds of valour and self-sacrifice should be championed and never forgotten.

For Valour; Or, How I Won the Victoria Cross

For Valour; Or, How I Won the Victoria Cross PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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How I Won the Victoria Cross

How I Won the Victoria Cross PDF Author: Thomas Henry Kavanagh
Publisher: Palala Press
ISBN: 9781356975501
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

How I Won the Victoria Cross

How I Won the Victoria Cross PDF Author: Thomas Henry Kavanagh
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Victoria Cross Heroes of World War One

Victoria Cross Heroes of World War One PDF Author: Robert Hamilton
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781909242425
Category : Great Britain
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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The Victoria Cross had been in existence over 60 years when Archduke Franz Ferdinand fell to an assassins bullet, the event that triggered a Europe-wide call to arms in August 1914. It was an award that democratised military honours, for it was open to all ranks, the sole qualification being a display of conspicuous bravery in the field. The sovereign whose name it bore was personally responsible for the Crosss simple legend: For Valour. Forged, it is said, from cannons captured during the Crimean War, the medals were rather too plain for some tastes. The Times derided the VC as a dull, heavy, tasteless prize when the first investiture ceremony took place in Hyde Park on 26 June 1857. But its virtue, quite deliberately, lay in its very simplicity. It was the action for which the medal was given that should dazzle, not the decoration itself. The Victoria Cross became pre-eminent: first in line when pinned to a uniform or appended to a recipients name. Over 500 VCs had been awarded by the outbreak of the First World War. That figure more than doubled during the four-year-long conflict. Trench warfare, when the rival camps might be dug in less than 100 yards apart, afforded endless opportunities to show courage and mettle in the face of the enemy. Many were honoured for attacking feats, often taking the fight to the foe when the odds were stacked against survival. But hurling oneself into the fray was but one of valours many faces. Stretcher-bearers, medical staff, pipers and chaplains also showed the same strength in adversity, the same disregard for personal safety, the same willingness to exceed the call of duty. And, in over 180 instances, a readiness to make the ultimate sacrifice for King and Country. The call to act could come at any moment. In William McFadzeans case it came when the safety pins slipped from two grenades in a crowded trench just before the Somme battle. He flung himself onto the bombs, saving his comrades at the cost of his own life. For Rex Warneford it came in the skies over Ghent on 7 June 1915, when he became the first man to down a German airship in flight. He was thrown from his plane during a flight ten days later. For Jack Cornwell it came during the Battle of Jutland, when, mortally wounded, he stuck doggedly to his post awaiting orders. He was 16 years old. This book chronicles the inspiring, thrilling, humbling and deeply moving stories behind the 628 Victoria Crosses awarded during the course of the Great War. Without inscription, those 628 medals, like all the others cast by London jewelers, Hancocks over the past century and a half, would have no intrinsic worth. Once earned, inscribed and conferred, they assume inestimable value.

The Blocking of Zeebrugge

The Blocking of Zeebrugge PDF Author: Captain A. F. B. Carpenter
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited
ISBN: 1781512132
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 347

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A full and exciting account of the Zeebrugge raid, on St. George's Day, April 23rd, 1918, in which the author won the VC - one of eight won in the raid. The raid, one of the Great War's most daring naval exploits, was designed to close off the German-occupied Belgian port of Zeebrugge, a principal base for the U-boat packs that were preying on British shipping. The brainchild of Admiral Sir Roger Keyes, the raid followed months of meticulous planning, which, together with two abortive early attempts, are detailed in the first part of Carpenter's book. The second part of the book deals with the raid itself and the famous fight for possession of the mole controlling Zeebrugge harbour by troops landed from the cruiser HMS Vindictive. The book details the disappointing results of the smokescreen laid down to campouflage the raid and the successful sinking of the three concrete-filled British blockships, Thetis, Intrepid and Iphignia in the Zeebrugge harbour channel, and makes high claims for both the material and morale results of the raid, which cost 500 British casualties, including around 200 dead. The morale lift to allied spirits of the bold attack, coming at the height of the German Spring offensives in 1918, were probably more important than in achieving its desired results. The book is accompanied by forewords from Admirals Beatty and Sims, and by Marshal Foch, supreme Allied Generalissimo in 1918. It is accompanied by five dramatic drawings of the raid by the artist Charles De Lacey, and by some forty photographs, including 'before and after' reconnaissance aerial shots of the damage done, and eight charts, maps and plans of Zeebrugge port and its environs. Also accompanied by an appendix listing the ships and forces involved in the raid, and by an index.

Victoria's Cross

Victoria's Cross PDF Author: Gary Mead
Publisher: Atlantic Books (UK)
ISBN: 9781843542704
Category : Victoria Cross
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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This controversial book, by one of the UK's finest military historians, reveals the squalid truth about Britain's highest military honor, exposing a shameful history of racism, misogyny, and political expediency. When 25-year old Private Johnson Beharry won the Victoria Cross in 2005 for bravery under fire in Iraq, he was the first person to win Britain's highest military honor since the Falklands war in 1982 and the first living recipient since 1969, when two Australians were given the award for action in Vietnam. Born out of the squalor of the Crimean War in 1856 and the fragility of the monarchy at that time, the VC's prestige is such that it takes precedence over all other orders and medals in Britain. But while many books have been written about specific aspects of the VC and its recipients, none have asked why so many brave men who deserved the medal were denied it, and why no women have ever been awarded the VC, even though they are entitled. Military historian Gary Mead's vivid and balanced account of the VC's life and times exposes the hypocrisy behind one of the UK's last sacred cows, and explores its role as a barometer for the shifting sands of political and social change during the last 150 years.

How I Won the Victoria Cross

How I Won the Victoria Cross PDF Author: Thomas Henry Kavanagh
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780461313383
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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This is a reproduction of the original artefact. Generally these books are created from careful scans of the original. This allows us to preserve the book accurately and present it in the way the author intended. Since the original versions are generally quite old, there may occasionally be certain imperfections within these reproductions. We're happy to make these classics available again for future generations to enjoy!

The Anzac Book

The Anzac Book PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : World War, 1914-1918
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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