SOL031-C
Consignment
This is a Consignment sale item we are offering. It comes in bubble wrap.
Del Prado SOL031 Lieutenant Grenadier Guards, UK 1914
On 19 August 1914, Kaiser Wilhelm II ordered General von Kluck, commanding the German First Army, to exterminate the treacherous English and walk over General French's contemptible little Army. The adjective contemptible appealed to the sense of humor of French's soldiers, who cared little about the Kaiser and immediately adopted the aspersion like a treasured regimental title hence "The Old Contemptibles". A more considered evaluation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was that of Sir Basil Liddell-Hart, the universally respected military writer and critic, who called it the most highly trained striking force of any country a rapier among scythes.
While the British Navy ruled the waves, the British army consisted of a small force to keep order at home, garrisons to control the Empire and units which could contribute to coalitions in European wars.