Add this copy of Over My Shoulder; the Autobiography of Major-General to cart. $125.00, good condition, Sold by Ground Zero Books, Ltd. rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Silver Spring, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1951 by George Ronald.
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Seller's Description:
Good in Fair jacket. 282, [8] pages, Illustrations. Index. Frontis Illustration. DJ is price clipped with wear, tears, and some soiling. Taped over boards. Contents include: Early Recollections, India Revisited, South Africa, Home Again, Tanks, American Interlude: A. The Awakening of a Giant; and 2. "Spell-Binding", Betwixt and Between, Bowler Hat, A Revelation, From Dugout to Don; and Index. Major-General Sir Ernest Dunlop Swinton, KBE, CB, DSO (21 October 1868-15 January 1951) was a British Army officer who played a part in the development and adoption of the tank during the First World War. He was a war correspondent and author of several short stories on military themes. He is credited, along with fellow officer Lieutenant-Colonel Walter Dally Jones, with having initiated the use of the word "tank" as a code-name for the first tracked, armoured fighting vehicles. Swinton recounts in his book Eyewitness how he first got the sudden idea to build a tank on 19 October 1914, while driving a car in France. In July 1914 he received a letter from a friend, a mining engineer named Hugh F. Marriott whom he had met while in South Africa. Marriott described a machine he had seen in Antwerp, an American-made Holt Caterpillar Tractor. He suggested that the machine might be useful for transport, and Swinton passed the information on to several military and political figures who he thought might be interested. Swinton did not leave to see his autobiography published. This brilliant soldier--one of the most imaginative of all time--is widely known as the originator of the Tank: but those with longer memories will recall the publication before the Great War, under the pseudonym of Ole Luk-Oie, of the series of startlingly prophetic military stories, which were best sellers of the day. The Green curve has become a classic, and The Defence of Duffer's Drift which has been translated into many languages, is generally recognized by the Army as an official textbook. Over My Should covers a life of many facets. Starting with early days in India, it gives a vivid description of a period that has passed away, and brings out involuntarily the bond which existed between British and Indian--too often forgotten in political rivalries. An account of the South African War seen from the angle of an Irregular Regiment provides fascinating reading. the story of the diplomatic Mission in the United States, during the Great War, of a good mixer and keen observer will interest readers on both sides of the Atlantic, who will be able to compare their own experiences in the World War. General Swinton's first-hand description of the great French industrialist, Andre Citroen, and his connection with the gallant members of the Central Asian Expedition is absorbing. The chapter on the visit to Nuremberg at Hitler's personal invitation to the Reichsparteitag, and the meeting with the Fuhrer himself, loses in the telling by Ole Luk-Oie. Finally, there is the chapter on All souls College. the account of the impact on 'a simple soldier' of this exclusive and brilliant circle, and his gradual absorption into it, under the mellowing influence of Oxford, is delightful and original. Here he found his spiritual home.
