Jerry Murland

On 10 May 1940 the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), under the command of Lord Gort, moved forward from the Franco-Belgian border and took up positions along a 20-mile sector off the River Dyle, to await the arrival of the German Army Group B. Their expected stay was considerably shorter than planned as the German Army Group A pushed its way through the Ardennes and crossed the Meuse at Sedan, scattering the French before them. Little did the men...

The history of the Schneider Trophy is the history of aircraft development. When Jacques Schneider devised and inaugurated the Coupe d'Aviation Maritime race for seaplanes in 1913, no-one could have predicted the profound effect the Series would have on aircraft design and aeronautical development, not to mention world history. Howard Pixton's 1914 victory in a Sopwith Tabloid biplane surprisingly surpassed the performance of monoplanes and other...

The 1917 Battle of Cambrai featured the first massed tank attack in military history and provoked the biggest German counter-attack against the British since 1914. The British aimed to break through the German Hindenburg Line, then threaten the rear of the German positions to the north. The battle is one of the most famous and controversial episodes of the First World War, and the battlefield is one of the most commonly visited on the Western Front....

The book, the latest in a series of eight Battleground Europe books that deals with the BEF's campaign in France and Flanders in 1940, covers the fierce fighting around the Dunkirk Perimeter during May and June 1940 between the retreating British Expeditionary Force and its French allies and the advancing German army. It covers the area that most people in Britain associate with the fighting in France in 1940, a military disaster that could have been...

The British action at Mons on 23 August 1914 was the catalyst for what became a full blown retreat over 200 blood drenched miles. This book examines eighteen of the desperate rearguard actions that occurred during the twelve days of this near rout. While those at Le Cateau and Nery are well chronicled, others such as cavalry actions at Morsain and Taillefontaine, the Connaught Rangers at Le Grand Fayt and 13 Brigades fight at Crepy-en-Valois are virtually...

The 1914 Battle of the Aisne, officially from 12 15 September, came about as a result of the German retirement from the Battle of the Marne, which took place further south as the huge conscript armies of France and Germany jostled for position almost within sight of Paris. By the time the British arrived on the Aisne the battle line stretched some 150 miles from Noyon in the west to Verdun in the east and it was only along a tiny fifteen mile sector...

The dramatic story of how a quarter million men were evacuated from the coast of France-and how the British Expeditionary Force fought on. This book, part of the Retreat and Rearguard series, covers the actions of the BEF during the retreat from the Dyle Line to the evacuation points of Dunkirk, Boulogne, Calais, Saint-Valery-en-Caux, and finally the Cherbourg Peninsula. Some of the engagements are relatively well known (Cassell, the Arras counter-attack,...

Zillebekes small churchyard military cemetery provides the inspiration for this charming piece of military and social history. The author has researched into the exploits and backgrounds of 27 fallen soldiers, the majority being officers of the Guards and Cavalry, as well as other ranks and six Canadians. The outcome is a fascinating and moving book that emphasizes the indiscriminate nature of war. Privilege and wealth were no protection against...

The Retreat from Mons 1914: South is the second volume in Pen & Sword's Battle Lines series to cover the opening campaign of the Great War. It is the essential companion for every visitor who is keen to retrace the path taken by the British Expeditionary Force immediately after the outbreak of the conflict all the important battle sites of the second stage of the retreat are featured here. Expert guides Jon Cooksey and Jerry Murland take visitors...

Battle Lines Ypres, the first volume in Pen & Swords new series of walking, cycling and driving guides to the Western Front, is the essential companion for every visitor to the Ypres Salient and the battlefields of Belgium. Many of the most famous - and most memorable - Great War sites are featured here. Expert guides Jon Cooksey and Jerry Murland take visitors over a series of routes that can be walked, biked, or driven, explaining the fighting that...