Rolls Royce Armoured Car

The first Rolls-Royce armoured car was a privately owned vehicle fitted with a machine-gun and a limited amount of armour plate, used by the Royal Naval Air Service in Flanders in 1914. By 1915, nearly 100 had been built and turned over to the Army. From then on, as Sir Albert Stern said 'They searched the world for war', operating as far apart as the northwest frontier of India, the Middle East and southern Africa. The cars were fast, quiet and reliable but above all powerful. 'A Rolls in the desert is above rubies,' said Lawrence of Arabia. After World War I, the War Office continued to produce the Rolls-Royce while tinkering with the design. These further cars served all across the Empire, including in Ireland and even later Shanghai, returning for a final brief appearance in the early stages of World War II.This book tells the complete story of the Rolls-Royce Armoured Car, following its design and development as it fought from theatre to theatre during World War I and the turbulent inter-war years.

The first Rolls-Royce armoured car was a privately owned vehicle fitted with a machine-gun and a limited amount of armour plate, used by the Royal Naval Air Service in Flanders in 1914. By 1915, nearly 100 had been built and turned over to the Army. From then on, as Sir Albert Stern said 'They searched the world for war', operating as far apart as the northwest frontier of India, the Middle East and southern Africa. The cars were fast, quiet and reliable but above all powerful. 'A Rolls in the desert is above rubies,' said Lawrence of Arabia. After World War I, the War Office continued to produce the Rolls-Royce while tinkering with the design. These further cars served all across the Empire, including in Ireland and even later Shanghai, returning for a final brief appearance in the early stages of World War II.This book tells the complete story of the Rolls-Royce Armoured Car, following its design and development as it fought from theatre to theatre during World War I and the turbulent inter-war years.

The Rolls-Royce Armoured Car is almost a legend: introduced by the Royal Naval Air Service in 1914 for shore patrols, modified versions were still in service with the British Army's 11th Hussars in the North African desert in 1940-41. Between the wars they were used for policing duties by the Royal Air Force in Iraq, Egypt and India.

Captain Claud WilliamsÕ memoir tells, firsthand, what it was like to be a Light Car Patrol commander during the First World War, while Russell McGuirkÕs commentary provides the historical background to the formation of the Patrols and follows their activities from the British raid on Siwa Oasis to desert exploration and survey work and the Kufra Reconnaissance Scheme. Lavishly illustrated with original photographs from Light Car officers, this combined memoir and history provides a fascinating and informative picture of an unsung hero of the desert Ð the Model T Ford.

'Exciting Episodes In Libya and Hejaz, and Especially Railway-raiding Exploits With Lawrence' yorkshire post 'Rolls, the driver, our strongest and most resourceful man, the ready mechanic, whose skill and advice largely kept our cars in running order, was nearly in tears over the mishap. The knot of us, officers and men, English, Arabs and Turks, crowded round him and watched his face anxiously. As he realised that he, a private, commanded in this emergency, even the stubble on his jaw seemed to harden in sullen determination.' T.E. LAWRENCE - THE SEVEN PILLARS OF WISDOM

“Written with great accuracy, detail, enthusiasm, and insight . . . a new perspective on the well-trodden story of the Arab Revolt” (Military History Matters on its Book of the Year, Silver Award–winner). Striking where the enemy is weakest and melting away into the darkness before he can react. Never confronting a stronger force directly, but using audacity and surprise to confound and demoralize an opponent. Operations driven by good intelligence, area knowledge, mobility, speed, firepower, and detailed planning, and executed by a few specialists with indigenous warriors—this is unconventional warfare. T. E. Lawrence was one of the earliest practitioners of modern unconventional warfare. His tactics and strategies were used by men like Mao and Giap in their wars of liberation. Both kept Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom close at hand. This book examines the creation of the “Hedgehog” force, looks at the formation of armored car sections and other units, and focuses on the Hejaz Operations Staff, the Allied officers and men who took Lawrence’s idea and prosecuted it against the Ottoman Turkish army, assisting Field Marshal Allenby to achieve victory in 1918. Stejskal concludes with an examination of how Hedgehog influenced special operations and unconventional warfare, including Field Marshal Wavell, the Long Range Desert Group, and David Stirling’s SAS. “Makes a convincing case that the roots of modern special operations, particularly effective guerrilla warfare, are to be found in British participation in the Arab Revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule during WWI.” —Publishers Weekly

An action-packed adventure set in 1930s Africa from global bestseller Wilbur Smith “They recognised in each other that same restlessness that was always driving them on to new adventure, never staying long enough in one place or at one job to grow roots, unfettered by offspring or possessions, by spouse or responsibilities, taking up each new adventure eagerly and discarding it again with our qualms or regrets. Always moving onwards — never looking backwards.” The wartime race to save a country… When Jake Barton, American engineer, teams up with English gentleman and hustler Gareth Swales to sell five battered old Bentleys in 1930s East Africa, neither of them could have imagined that they’d soon be attempting to smuggle the vehicles into Ethiopia to support the war effort, in return for a huge reward. But to do this, they’ll have to manoeuvre past several extremely hostile European forces, as well as managing their feelings for Vicky Camberwell, the beautiful journalist who has been sent with them to report on the brutal violence of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. The three adventurers are about to discover that some battles are more than they can handle…

This book covers Joan Newton Cuneo's life, and her roles (from 1905 to 1915) as the premier female racer in the United States and spokeswoman for women drivers and good roads. Beginning with her family history and marriage to Andrew Cuneo, it traces her life in New York society, the birth of her children, and Joan's growing interest in automobile touring and racing and partnership with Louis Disbrow, her racing mechanic. The book covers Joan's experiences in three Glidden Tours, including her notes on the 1907 tour, her first races, and her rivals. It also looks at the growth and change of automobile culture and the battles for control of racing among the American Automobile Association, the Automobile Club of America, and the American Automobile Manufacturers Association--which ended in banishing women racers shortly after Joan's greatest racing victories at New Orleans (in 1909). The book then follows Joan's attempts to continue racing, the end of her marriage, her move to the Upper Peninsula, and her remarriage and death. The book also includes a chapter on her female rivals in racing and touring.

'It was the most providential escape yet. It will probably have the effect of making them think that I am even more mysterious than they believe me to be, and that is saying a good deal.' Michael Collins knew the power of his persona, and capitalised on what people wanted to believe. The image we have of him comes filtered through a sensational lens, exaggerated out of all proportion. We see what we have come to expect: 'the man who won the war', the centre of a web of intelligence that 'brought the British Empire to its knees'. He comes to us as a mixture of truth and lies, propaganda and misunderstanding. The willingness to see him as the sum of the Irish revolution, and in turn reduce him to a caricature of his many parts, clouds our view of both the man and the revolution. Drawing on archives in Ireland, Britain and the United States, the authors question our traditional assumptions about Collins. Was he the man of his age, or was he just luckier, more brazen, more written about and more photographed than the rest? Despite the pictures of him in uniform during the last weeks of his life, Collins saw very little of the actual fight. He was chiefly an organiser and a strategist. Should we remember him as a master of the mundane rather than the romantic figure of the blockbuster film? The eight thematic, highly illustrated chapters scrutinise different aspects of Collins' life: origins, work, war, politics, celebrity, beliefs, death and afterlives. Approaching him through the eyes of contemporaries and historians, friends and enemies, this provocative book reveals new insights, challenging what we think we know about him and, in turn, what we think we know about the Irish revolution.