The Defeat of Austria As Seen by the 7th Division

As promised, here is one of the titles picked up at auction last week

Crosse, E C, The Defeat of Austria As Seen by the 7th Division: Being a Narrative of the Fortunes of the 7th Division from the Time it Left the Asiago Plateau in August 1918 Till Conclusion of the Armistice With Austria on November 4 1918,  H F W Deane & Sons (1919), Maps and sketches by Sgt E Luton, RGA, hb, 115pp; plates; fold-out maps and maps in pouch. Some marks to the cover. Ownership inscription, £18.00

This is an unusual divisional history, covering a campaign that doesn't often get the attention it deserves - that up through Italy into Austria in the closing months of the War.

The Revd EC Croose, DSO, MC, CF

The author was the Revd (later Revd Canon) Ernest Courtenay Crosse, senior chaplain to the Division.  He was born on 18 March 1887 and educated at Clifton College and Balliol College, Oxford.  He was ordained in 1912 and served as assistant chaplain at Marlborough College before volunteering as a Chaplain to the Forces.  He was attached to the Devonshire Regt and arrived in France in 1915, serving on the Somme.  After the War he taught in New Zealand but later returned to England, becoming headmaster of Ardingly College in Sussex,  He died in 1955.

The book itself has seen some wear, but despite staining to the covers is still in Very Good condition.  The large ownership inscription, with its change of address might put some off, but to me it is added history - after all A T Knight was almost certainly a veteran of the 7th Division.

For other World War I titles, click here.