LBP Military Classics

Reprints and new translations of military books of historical importance, either as primary sources or reference books.

A British Attaché in the Russo-Japanese War: Volume I

By Sir Ian Hamilton.

332 pages

ISBN: ‎ 978-1927537-61-9

$25.95 Canada
$20.95 U.S.A.
£14.95 U.K.
€17.95 Europe
$27.95 Australia

An Eye-Witness’ Scrap-Book of the First Modern Trench War

In 1904 war erupted between Russia and Japan, fought with trenches, machine guns, barbed wire, and artillery. Military attachés from around the world flocked to the battlefield to observe and record what they saw. Leading the British military mission to the Japanese Army was Sir Ian Hamilton, whose diary provides an intimate portrait at the world of the military attaché and the world’s first look at the horrors of modern warfare.

In this first volume, Hamilton describes his arrival in Manchuria, his experiences with the Japanese First Army, and the battles of the Yalu, the Motien Pass, Yoshirei, and the retreat from Penlin.

Now available on Amazon.com.

French Military Doctrine 1913: The Decrees of October 28 and December 2

By Ministère de la Guerre

438 pages

ISBN: 978-1927537-55-8

$36.95 Canada
$29.95 U.S.A.
£21.95 U.K.
€24.95 Europe
$38.95 Australia

“The French army, having returned to its traditions, no longer admits any other law in the conduct of operations than the offensive.”

Facing the threat of a new war with Imperial Germany, the French army began crafting a new military doctrine. Drawing on the skills, theories, and experience of military officers such as Louis Loyzeau de Grandmaison and Joseph Joffre, it would have to be powerful yet flexible, embracing modern technology while not leaving behind fighting spirit, and above all else, aggressive.

Available in its entirety in English for the very first time, this is the French army’s doctrine of 1913 – an attempt to forge a modern doctrine for a modern battlefield, and with which France would face the crucible of the First World War.

Now available on Amazon.com.

Training of the Infantry for Offensive Combat

By Louis Loyzeau de Grandmaison

185 pages

ISBN: 978-1927537-51-0

$22.95 Canada
$17.95 U.S.A.
£13.95 U.K.
€15.95 Europe
$23.95 Australia

Available for the first time in English

Staff officer, author, reformer – Louis Loyzeau de Grandmaison was one of France’s foremost military thinkers prior to the Great War. Facing him was the ultimate challenge: how to win a war in the 20th Century.

A key text in what would become known as the Cult of the Offensive, this is Grandmaison’s attempt to implement the lessons of the Boer and Russo-Japanese wars – to find a way for infantry to survive on a battlefield governed not by rifles and bayonets, but by trenches, barbed wire, and machine guns.

Now available on Amazon.com.

Memoirs of the Great War - Complete and Unabridged: Volume I

By Joseph Joffre

Translated by Robert B. Marks

478 pages

ISBN: 978-1-927537-65-7

$38.95 Canada
$29.95 U.S.A.
£20.95 U.K.
€24.95 Europe
$44.95 Australia

Complete and Unabridged for the first time in English

Among France’s generals of the First World War, Marshal Joseph Joffre stands as one of the most accomplished and controversial. Starting his tenure as Generalissimo by modernizing the French Army, he presided over the dramatic victory at the Battle of the Marne that saved France…and the unrelenting slaughter in the trenches that followed.

In this first volume, Joffre takes command of the French Army and races to prepare it for the war to come. Then, as the German Army crosses the border and advances towards Paris, he rallies his forces and allies for one of the most dramatic moments in modern military history.

Available from Amazon.com.

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A British Attaché in the Russo-Japanese War: Volume II

By Sir Ian Hamilton

352 pages

ISBN: 978-1927537-63-3

$27.95 Canada
$21.95 U.S.A.
£15.95 U.K.
€18.95 Europe
$29.95 Australia

An Eye-Witness’ Scrap-Book of the First Modern Trench War

In 1904 war erupted between Russia and Japan, fought with trenches, machine guns, barbed wire, and artillery. Military attachés from around the world flocked to the battlefield to observe and record what they saw. Leading the British military mission to the Japanese Army was Sir Ian Hamilton, whose diary provides an intimate portrait at the world of the military attaché and the world’s first look at the horrors of modern warfare.

In this second volume, Hamilton witnesses the battles of Liaoyang and Shaho, journeys through the carnage at Port Arthur, and receives an offer he can’t refuse.

Now available on Amazon.com.

The Memories, Letters, and Documents of Moltke the Younger

By Helmuth Johannes Ludwig von Moltke
Edited by Eliza von Moltke

378 pages

ISBN: 978-1927537-57-2

$32.95 Canada
$26.95 U.S.A.
£18.95 U.K.
€22.95 Europe
$34.95 Australia

A close, intimate look at Europe’s long peace and the dawn of the war that ended it.

Leading the German Army at the beginning of the First World War was Moltke the Younger – an officer who had risen through the ranks to become Chief of the German General Staff during the Europe’s long peace of 1871-1914. As his career developed, he spent time as a surveyor, climbing mountain trails with his uncle, Moltke the Elder, and became a close friend of Kaiser Wilhelm II. When he died in 1916, his wife was left with years of letters and documents.

Originally edited and published in 1922 by Moltke’s wife Eliza to redeem her husband’s reputation, this is far more than a defence of German strategy. It is an intimate and personal look at the world of the European military officer during the long peace, seen through the eyes of the man who would be tasked with ending it.

Now available on Amazon.com.

The Life and Diaries of Field-Marshal Sir Henry Wilson: Volume I

By C.E. Callwell, with a Preface by Marshal Foch

438 pages

ISBN: 978-1927537-59-6

$36.95 Canada
$29.95 U.S.A.
£21.95 U.K.
€24.95 Europe
$38.95 Australia

The Biography and Diary of One of the British Empire’s Most Accomplished – and Controversial – Generals

Sir Henry Wilson (1864-1922) was a key figure in the preparation of the British Empire for the First World War. A Protestant Irishman who was as comfortable dealing with politicians as he was soldiers, he was a key figure in the creation of the British Expeditionary Force and its preparations to fight alongside the French in a European conflict. He was also mistrusted by his peers as being more politician than soldier, and the first Field-Marshal – and the last political leader – to be assassinated in Great Britain.

Covering his youth to mid-1917, this first volume looks at Wilson’s early years in the British Army, his preparations as the Director of Military Operations, and his work with the General Staff on the Western Front.

Now available on Amazon.com.

Gallipoli 1915 - A Personal Diary

By Sir Ian Hamilton

576 pages

ISBN: 978-1-927537-88-6

$49.95 Canada
$36.95 U.S.A.
£27.95 U.K.
€32.95 Europe
$70.95 Australia

A Bird’s Eye View of a Military Disaster

In October 1914, the Ottoman Empire allied with Germany and Austria in the Great War, cutting off the supply route to Russia through the Dardanelles. In response, Great Britain and France undertook a daring operation: the largest amphibious landing ever attempted to force open the Dardanelles, threaten Constantinople, and force the Ottomans to surrender. Commanding the campaign was Sir Ian Hamilton, who had witnessed the dawn of modern trench warfare in Manchuria only ten years earlier. The battle would be played out in the Gallipoli Peninsula, and become known as Gallipoli.

This is Sir Ian Hamilton’s personal diary of the Dardanelles campaign, and the disaster that followed – a catastrophe that caused over half a million casualties across both sides, ended his military career, and helped forge the identities of Australia and New Zealand.

 

Now available on Amazon.com.

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Cannae: Studies of Envelopment

By Alfred von Schlieffen

With a new foreword by Robert B. Marks

516 pages

ISBN: 978-1-927537-89-3

$67.95 Canada
$49.95 U.S.A.
£31.95 U.K.
€44.95 Europe
$89.95 Australia

The controversial classic of German military theory

In 1891 Count Alfred von Schlieffen (1833-1913) was thrust into the position of Chief of Germany’s Great General Staff. He was given an impossible task: figure out how to win a war on two fronts in which Germany would be outnumbered and outgunned. Long after his retirement in 1905, his efforts would define the German strategy used at the onset of the First World War and bear his name: The Schlieffen Plan.

But Schlieffen’s problem remained: how does an army win against a numerically superior foe? After his retirement, he thought he might have found the answer – Cannae, the 216 BCE battle in which Hannibal won an improbable victory against the Romans. The result was Schlieffen’s Cannae studies, in which he looks at the Battle of Cannae, and then explores how efforts at creating a new “Cannae” fared across modern history, from the wars of Frederick the Great to Napoleon to the German Wars of Unification and the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War.

This new edition is presented with over a hundred restored maps reproduced in colour and integrated into the text, and a new foreword by independent military historian Robert B. Marks taking a fresh look at Schlieffen and Cannae’s place in military history.

 

Coming soon to Amazon.com.

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At British Headquarters During the Great War

By John Charteris

407 pages

ISBN: 978-1927537-50-3

$31.95 Canada
$24.95 U.S.A.
£18.95 U.K.
€20.95 Europe
$32.95 Australia

A Front-Row Seat to the Strategy of the Western Front

From the beginning of the First World War, John Charteris was Sir Douglas Haig’s Intelligence officer. His duties ranged from predicting German intentions to dealing with visiting VIPs to meeting with journalists – making him a vital part of Haig’s strategic planning on the Western Front.

In this new edition of the 1931 classic memoir, Charteris provides one of the most personal accounts of British command on the Western Front. Witty, funny, insightful, heartbreaking, and chilling, this is a close look at a war in which success was measured less by the capture of ground than by the taking of enemy lives.

Now available on Amazon.com.

The Marne Campaign of 1914

By Hermann von Kuhl

349 pages

ISBN: 978-1927537-49-7

$28.95 Canada
$22.95 U.S.A.

The History of the Most Dramatic Campaign of the Great War

In August 1914 the German army invaded France via Belgium. The invasion was a desperate gamble – if Germany could not defeat France within a few weeks, there would be no hope of victory. Marching with the German army’s spearhead was Hermann von Kuhl, Chief of Staff for the First Army and a devotee of the creator of the original invasion plan.

More than just a history, this is a vigorous defence of the Schlieffen Plan and German army by one of its leaders – and a damning condemnation of the High Command that led it to defeat.

Now available on Amazon.com.

The Life and Diaries of Field-Marshal Sir Henry Wilson - Volume II

By C.E. Callwell

442 pages

ISBN: 978-1-927537-81-7

$39.95 Canada
$29.95 U.S.A.
£22.95 U.K.
€25.95 Europe
$45.95 Australia

The Biography and Diary of One of the British Empire’s Most Accomplished – and Controversial – Generals

Sir Henry Wilson (1864-1922) was a key figure in the preparation of the British Empire for the First World War. A Protestant Irishman who was as comfortable dealing with politicians as he was soldiers, he was a key figure in the creation of the British Expeditionary Force and its preparations to fight alongside the French in a European conflict. He was also mistrusted by his peers as being more politician than soldier, and the first Field-Marshal – and the last political leader – to be assassinated in Great Britain.

Covering mid-1917 to his death in 1922, this second volume looks at Wilson’s appointment as Chief of the Imperial General Staff, the end of the Great War, the Irish War for Independence, the Treaty of Versailles and the choas that followed it.

Now available on Amazon.com.

 

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Battle Tactics of the German Army 1914-1918

By William Balck

300 pages

ISBN: 978-1-927537-69-5

$32.95 Canada
$20.95 U.S.A.
£14.95 U.K.
€17.95 Europe
$31.95 Australia

The German Army’s Art of War

Contrary to popular belief, the Western Front of the First World War was far from static. As both sides struggled to get the upper hand, they developed new tactics and technologies, pushing warfare to ever more terrifying and lethal heights.

Written by an internationally renowned expert on tactics and one of its generals, this is a definitive exploration of the Imperial German Army’s art of war, from the trenches of France to the expanse of Eastern Europe to the Italian Alps.

Now available on Amazon.com.

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