The biography of Brigadier-General Frank Percy Crozier, during his time in the Great War.

1914. War had been declared, the armies mustered; battle would soon be joined. Whilst hoping that he'd soon be in the thick of it, F. P. Crozier, then a Major in the Royal Irish Rifles, spent much of 1914-15 readying his battalion for the task that lay ahead of them. Part of the 107th (Belfast) Brigade, they crossed the Channel in November 1915; in July the following year they entered the Battle of the Somme, at Thiepval. Promoted a year later, Crozier proceeded to command the 119th Brigade until the war's end, where he continued to display his defining trait: that he was no ordinary brass hat. A hands-on commander, he carried out personal reconnaissance in close contact with the enemy for, he reasoned, how else could he make plans unless he could see for himself? Crozier was also unflinching in his acceptance of the ruthlessness required in their profession, and does not shy away from describing the suffering that soldiers inflicted upon each other. A Brass Hat in No Man's Land is his uncompromising memoir of the First World War. Brigadier General Frank Percy Crozier C.B. C.M.G. D.S.O. (1879-1937) was a British Army officer. He served in the Boer War, the First World War, the Lithuanian Wars of Independence and finally in Ireland. During this last posting he became disillusioned with the British regime and subsequently became a pacifist, writing a number of controversial books. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.

“Classic memoir of the Great War by a General who was not afraid to show his face in the front line - or even in No Man’s Land. One of the best-known memoirs of the First World War written by a senior officer. The author served with the 9th Royal Irish (36th Ulster Div.) 1915-17 including the Somme Battles. And he commanded the 119th Inf. Bde. 1917-18. Crozier had the reputation of a hard-driving but hands-on CO who resorted to personally patrolling no-man’s-land to obtain information. This book reflects his colourful personality.”-N&M Print Edit.

Numbering over five million men, Britain's army in the First World War was the biggest in the country's history. Remarkably, nearly half those men who served in it were volunteers. 2,466,719 men enlisted between August 1914 and December 1915, many in response to the appeals of the Field-Marshal Lord Kitchener. How did Britain succeed in creating a mass army, almost from scratch, in the middle of a major war ? What compelled so many men to volunteer ' and what happened to them once they had taken the King's shilling ? Peter Simkins describes how Kitchener's New Armies were raised and reviews the main political, economic and social effects of the recruiting campaign. He examines the experiences and impressions of the officers and men who made up the New Armies. As well as analysing their motives for enlisting, he explores how they were fed, housed, equipped and trained before they set off for active service abroad. Drawing upon a wide variety of sources, ranging from government papers to the diaries and letters of individual soldiers, he questions long-held assumptions about the 'rush to the colours' and the nature of patriotism in 1914. The book will be of interest not only to those studying social, political and economic history, but also to general readers who wish to know more about the story of Britain's citizen soldiers in the Great War.

An unrivalled and readable introduction to the years of Trench Warfare' TESThe First World War was won and lost on the Western Front. Covering the whole war, from the guns of August 1914 to the sudden silence of the November 1918 Armistice, the IWM Book of the Western Front reveals what life was really like for the men and women involved. With first-hand accounts of off-duty entertainments, trench fatalism, and going over the top, this is an extremely important contribution to the continuing debate on the First World War. Malcolm Brown has updated this edition, introducing new evidence on sex and homosexuality, executions, the treatment or mistreatment of prisoners and shell shock.'A blockbuster . . . as near as anyone is likely to get to the authentic life of the trenches' Yorkshire Post