The French On The Somme

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The Somme 1916

Author : David O'Mara
Publisher : Pen and Sword
ISBN 13 : 1473897726
Total Pages : 238 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (738 download)

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Book Synopsis The Somme 1916 by : David O'Mara

Download or read book The Somme 1916 written by David O'Mara and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2017-11-30 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With a few notable exceptions, the French efforts on the Somme have been largely missing or minimized in British accounts of the Battle of the Somme. And yet they held this sector of the Front from the outbreak of the war until well into 1915 and, indeed, in parts into 1916. It does not hurt to be reminded that the French army suffered some 200,000 casualties in the 1916 offensive.David OMaras book provides an outline narrative describing the arrival of the war on the Somme and some of the notable and quite fierce actions that took place that autumn and, indeed, into December of 1914. Extensive mine warfare was a feature of 1915 and beyond on the Somme; for example under Redan Ridge and before Dompierre and Fay. The French limited offensive at Serre in June 1915 is reasonably well known, but there was fighting elsewhere for example the Germans launched a short, sharp, limited attack at Frise in January 1916, part of the diversionary action before the Germans launched their ill-fated offensive at Verdun.The book covers the Somme front from Gommecourt, north of the Somme, to Chaulnes, at the southern end of the battle zone of 1916. The reader is taken around key points in various tours. For many British visitors the battlefields south of the Somme will be a revelation; there is much to see, both of cemeteries and memorials, but also substantial traces of the fighting remain on the ground, some of which is accessible to the public.It has always been something of a disgrace that there is so little available, even in French, to educate the public in an accessible written form about the substantial effort made by Frances army on the Somme; this book and subsequent, more detailed volumes to be published in the coming years will go some way to rectify this. British visitors should be fascinated by the story of these forgotten men of France and the largely unknown part of the Somme battlefield.

The French on the Somme 1914 - 30 June 1916

Author : David O'Mara
Publisher : Pen & Sword Military
ISBN 13 : 9781526722409
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (224 download)

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Book Synopsis The French on the Somme 1914 - 30 June 1916 by : David O'Mara

Download or read book The French on the Somme 1914 - 30 June 1916 written by David O'Mara and published by Pen & Sword Military. This book was released on 2018-05-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For many British visitors, the fighting in the Somme starts on 1 July 1916 and few consider what happened in the area before the British took over the line, part in later 1915 and some in 1916. In fact there was extensive fighting during the opening phase of he war, as both the French and Germans tried to outflank each other. Through the autumn and winter there was a struggle to hold the best tactical ground, with small scale but ferocious skirmishes from Beaumont Hamel to the Somme. The conflict in what became known as the Glory Hole, close to the well known Lochnagar Crater, was particularly prolonged. Evidence of the fighting, mainly in the form of a large mine crater field, is visible today. The underground war was not confined to la Boisselle, with a similar crater field developing on Redan Ridge; whilst south of the Somme, to be covered in a future volume, great lengths of No Man's Land were dominated by mine craters. Serre, best known to British readers for its association with the Pals Battalions on 1 July 1916, witnessed a significant, if local, French offensive in June 1915, with casualties running into the several thousands. It is a battle that has left its mark on the landscape today, with a French national cemetery and a commemorative chapel acting as memorials to the battle. The book is introduced by a chapter describing the role of the area in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, a war which arguably provided the seed bed for the outbreak of war in 1914. Several battles were fought in Somme villages that were to become the victims of war all over again forty plus years later.

The French on the Somme

Author : David O'Mara
Publisher : Pen and Sword
ISBN 13 : 1526722410
Total Pages : 239 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (267 download)

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Book Synopsis The French on the Somme by : David O'Mara

Download or read book The French on the Somme written by David O'Mara and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2018-05-30 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For many British visitors, the fighting in the Somme starts on 1 July 1916 and few consider what happened in the area before the British took over the line, part in later 1915 and some in 1916.In fact there was extensive fighting during the opening phase of he war, as both the French and Germans tried to outflank each other. Through the autumn and winter there was a struggle to hold the best tactical ground, with small scale but ferocious skirmishes from Beaumont Hamel to the Somme.The conflict in what became known as the Glory Hole, close to the well known Lochnagar Crater, was particularly prolonged. Evidence of the fighting, mainly in the form of a large mine crater field, is visible today. The underground war was not confined to la Boisselle, with a similar crater field developing on Redan Ridge; whilst south of the Somme, to be covered in a future volume, great lengths of No Man's Land were dominated by mine craters.Serre, best known to British readers for its association with the Pals Battalions on 1 July 1916, witnessed a significant, if local, French offensive in June 1915, with casualties running into the several thousands. It is a battle that has left its mark on the landscape today, with a French national cemetery and a commemorative chapel acting as memorials to the battle.The book is introduced by a chapter describing the role of the area in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, a war which arguably provided the seed bed for the outbreak of war in 1914. Several battles were fought in Somme villages that were to become the victims of war all over again forty plus years later.

The French Army on the Somme 1916

Author : Ian Sumner
Publisher : Casemate Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1526725495
Total Pages : 236 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (267 download)

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Book Synopsis The French Army on the Somme 1916 by : Ian Sumner

Download or read book The French Army on the Somme 1916 written by Ian Sumner and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2018-11-30 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: So much has been written about the 1916 Battle of the Somme that it might appear that every aspect of the four-month struggle has been described and analyzed in exhaustive detail. Yet perhaps one aspect has not received the attention it deserves the French sector in the south of the battlefield which is often overshadowed by events in the British sector further north. That is why Ian Sumner's photographic history of the French army on the Somme is so interesting and valuable.Using a selection of over 200 wartime photographs, many of which have not been published before, he follows the entire course of the battle from the French point of view. The photographs show the build-up to the Somme offensive, the logistics involved, the key commanders, the soldiers as they prepared to go into action and the landscape over which the battle took place. Equally close coverage is given to the fighting during each phase of the offensive the initial French advances, the mounting German resistance and the terrible casualties the French incurred.The photographs are especially important in that they record the equipment and weapons that were used, the clothing the men wore and the conditions in which they fought, and they provide us with a visual insight into the realities of battle over a hundred years ago. They also document some of the most famous sites on the battlefield before they were destroyed in the course of the fighting, including villages like Gommecourt, Pozires, La Boiselle and Thiepval.

The French on the Somme 1914 - 30 June 1916

Author : David O'Mara
Publisher : Pen & Sword Military
ISBN 13 : 9781526722447
Total Pages : 176 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (224 download)

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Book Synopsis The French on the Somme 1914 - 30 June 1916 by : David O'Mara

Download or read book The French on the Somme 1914 - 30 June 1916 written by David O'Mara and published by Pen & Sword Military. This book was released on 2019-03-30 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 'twin' volume to that covering the French army north of the Somme before 1 July 1916, this book covers an almost unknown period to the average British visitor to the Somme. It also aims to serve as a 'prequel' to the events of the 1916 Battle of the Somme, though the ground covered in this volume is, perhaps, less familiar - but just as interesting and historic - territory. Beginning with the events of an earlier German invasion in the area, the book will also take a brief look at the period immediately prior to the outbreak of the Great War and includes a short study of the local territorial infantry regiment (who would see its first action near Amiens at the end of August 1914 - just days after many men of the regiment had seen their homes overrun by the German invaders), before moving on to the outbreak of war in August 1914. As was the case for the area north of the river, no set-piece 'battles' were to take place here following the costly engagements of August and September 1914; but localized actions of varying size were commonplace, such as the large scale actions at Lihons at Christmas 1914 (putting paid to the 'guns ceased firing along the Western Front' myth!) and at Frise in January and February 1916 to name just two. An intense underground war also raged south of the Somme, with three separate locations within five miles of each other being turned into moonscapes of mine craters between the end of 1914 into the summer of 1915 (and, in one case, beyond) The book includes a description of the brief British occupation (from the river to just below the Amiens - St. Quentin Roman road) during the autumn of 1915, a barely known part of the history of the BEF. A study of this part of the Somme, complementing that of the north, is necessary if a person is to gain a more complete understanding of the battlefield itself and of the great offensive of the summer and autumn of 1916. As is the case with the northern volume, each chapter - detailing events in specific sectors down to regimental, battalion and even company or individual level from information gleaned from war diaries, regimental histories and personal diaries, accompanied by period and modern mapping and imagery - is followed by a tour of the sector containing a number of 'stops' in which it is possible to appreciate specific actions and/or a general overview of events in and around the particular location. The majority of these tours are accessible by vehicle but, for a more in depth look, proceeding on foot will be necessary. A feature of this series of books on the French army on the Somme are sections to educate the reader about aspects of the French Army that have been somewhat neglected or misunderstood for many years in English histories. In this volume the focus lies upon one of the more structurally confusing elements of the French Army - the Légion étrangère and its organization and actions on the Western Front from the outbreak of war until its near destruction during the Second Battle of Champagne in 1915. There will also be a brief explanation of the developing organization and structure of the French Army of 1915.

The French on the Somme - North of the River: The Battle of the Somme 1916

Author : David O'Mara
Publisher : Pen & Sword Military
ISBN 13 : 9781526722485
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (224 download)

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Book Synopsis The French on the Somme - North of the River: The Battle of the Somme 1916 by : David O'Mara

Download or read book The French on the Somme - North of the River: The Battle of the Somme 1916 written by David O'Mara and published by Pen & Sword Military. This book was released on 2019-11-19 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With a few notable exceptions, the French efforts on the Somme have been largely missing or minimised in British accounts of the Battle of the Somme. And yet when a Franco-British Offensive was originally planned int he winter of 1915 it was to be one dominated by the French, who were to provide at least twice as many divisions as Haig's BEF. The Battle of Verdun, which commenced in February 1916, soon changed the situation and by late spring it was clear that this would be a smaller offensive and one that would make the British by far the bigger contributor of manpower, though French influence over the direction of the battle remained high. Despite the fact that far fewer French divisions were deployed than had been anticipated, the role of her army was considerable. The French attack on 1 July was relatively very successful and great advances were made, notably south of the river. However, the sharp bend to the south that the Somme makes near Peronne made progress there extremely difficult and so the French effort was soon largely transferred to the north and the right of the British. It was, therefore, here that cooperation with the BEF was closest and most crucial. Thus many of the names which are well known to British visitors to the area, such as Curlu, Maurepas, Hardecourt, Gommecourt and Combles feature in this book. Whilst the BEF struggled to reach Transloy Ridge in the dying days of the battle in the ghastly conditions of late October and November 1916, the French battled it out with the Germans in the tattered remnants of Sailly Saillisel and amongst the stumps of St Pierre-Vaast Wood and came very close to a notable success. It has always been something of a disgrace that there is so little available, even in French, to educate the public in an accessible written form about the substantial effort made by France's army on the Somme. This book builds on Dave O'Mara's _The Somme 1916: Touring the French Sector_ in the Battleground series and will go some way to rectify the lack of knowledge amongst most British visitors of these 'forgotten' men of France and the development of the battle to the immediate right of Rawlinson's Fourth Army..

The Battle of the Somme

Author : Matthias Strohn
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1472815580
Total Pages : 372 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (728 download)

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Book Synopsis The Battle of the Somme by : Matthias Strohn

Download or read book The Battle of the Somme written by Matthias Strohn and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-04-21 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Battle of the Somme is the most famous battle of World War I in the English-speaking world. Published to coincide with the centenary commemoration of the battle of the Somme, this study comprises 12 separate articles written by some of the foremost military historians, each of whom looks at a specific aspect of the battle. The terrors of the Somme have largely come to embody trench warfare on the Western Front in the modern imagination, but this book looks beyond the horrendous conditions and staggering casualty rates to provide new, insightful research on one of the most pivotal battles of the war. Focusing on key aspects of the British, French and German forces, overall strategic and tactical impacts of the battle and with an introduction by renowned World War I scholar Professor Sir Hew Strachan, The Battle of the Somme is a timely collection of the latest research and analysis of the battle.

Three Armies on the Somme

Author : William Philpott
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 030759372X
Total Pages : 657 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (75 download)

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Book Synopsis Three Armies on the Somme by : William Philpott

Download or read book Three Armies on the Somme written by William Philpott and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2010-10-05 with total page 657 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For decades, the Battle of the Somme has exemplified the horrors and futility of trench warfare. Yet in Three Armies on the Somme, William Philpott makes a convincing argument that the battle ultimately gave the British and French forces on the Western Front the knowledge and experience to bring World War I to a victorious end. It was the most brutal fight in a war that scarred generations. Infantrymen lined up opposite massed artillery and machine guns. Chlorine gas filled the air. The dead and dying littered the shattered earth of no man’s land. Survivors were rattled with shell-shock. We remember the shedding of so much young blood and condemn the generals who sent their men to their deaths. Ever since, the Somme has been seen as a waste: even as the war continued, respected leaders—Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George among them—judged the battle a pointless one. While previous histories have documented the missteps of British command, no account has fully recognized the fact that allied generals were witnessing the spontaneous evolution of warfare even as they sent their troops “over the top.” With his keen insight and vast knowledge of military strategy, Philpott shows that twentieth-century war as we know it simply didn’t exist before the Battle of the Somme: new technologies like the armored tank made their battlefield debut, while developments in communications lagged behind commanders’ needs. Attrition emerged as the only means of defeating industrialized belligerents that were mobilizing all their resources for war. At the Somme, the allied armies acquired the necessary lessons of modern warfare, without which they could never have prevailed. An exciting, indispensable work of military history that challenges our received ideas about the Battle of the Somme, and about the very nature of war.

The Battle of the Somme

Author : Alan Axelrod
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1493022091
Total Pages : 292 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (93 download)

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Book Synopsis The Battle of the Somme by : Alan Axelrod

Download or read book The Battle of the Somme written by Alan Axelrod and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2016-10-03 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fought during 1916, the Battle of the Somme was conceived by the French and British as a great offensive to be waged against Germany even as France poured incredible numbers of men into the slaughterhouse that was the desperate defense of Verdun. The French general-in-chief, Joseph “Papa” Joffre, was especially anxious to go on the offensive. For the French high command cherished the belief, born in the era of Napoleon, that the success of French arms depended on attack and that defense was anathema to what the nationalistic philosopher Henri Bergson called the “élan vital” of the French people, a quality, he argued, that set the Gallic race apart from the rest of the world. After more than five months, the British eked out a penetration of some six miles into German territory. The cost had been 420,000 Britons killed or wounded (70,000 men per mile gained)—and most of these were from “Kitchener’s Army,” so-called Pals Battalions, working- and middle-class volunteers promised that they could fight alongside their friends, co-workers, and neighbors. This meant that the Somme, more than any other battle before or since, devastated the young male population of entire British towns, villages, and neighborhoods. French losses were just under 200,000. The Germans lost at least 650,000. Just as the French refused to give up ground at Verdun, the Germans held on stubbornly at the Somme—so stubbornly that General Ludendorff actually complained that his men “fought too doggedly, clinging too resolutely to the mere holding of ground, with the result that the losses were heavy.” The only thing “conclusive” about the Somme was the ineluctable fact of death. No battle ever fought in any conflict provided a stronger incentive for all sides to reach a negotiated peace—the “peace without victory” that Woodrow Wilson, still standing on the sidelines, urged the combatants to agree upon. Instead, the Kaiser, appalled both by Verdun and the Somme, relieved Falkenhayn and replaced him with Hindenburg and Ludendorff, who had achieved great success on the Eastern Front. The new commanders created two new defensive lines, both well behind the Somme front. On the one hand, it was a retreat. On the other, it was a commitment to draw the French and British farther east and invite them to sacrifice more of their soldiery. The modest advance the British made was but the prelude to additional slaughter.

Our Corner of the Somme

Author : Romain Fathi
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108650597
Total Pages : 291 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (86 download)

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Download or read book Our Corner of the Somme written by Romain Fathi and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-02-28 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By the time of the Armistice, Villers-Bretonneux - once a lively and flourishing French town - had been largely destroyed, and half its population had fled or died. From March to August 1918, Villers-Bretonneux formed part of an active front line, at which Australian troops were heavily involved. As a result, it holds a significant place in Australian history. Villers-Bretonneux has since become an open-air memorial to Australia's participation in the First World War. Successive Australian governments have valourised the Australian engagement, contributing to an evolving Anzac narrative that has become entrenched in Australia's national identity. Our Corner of the Somme provides an eye-opening analysis of the memorialisation of Australia's role on the Western Front and the Anzac mythology that so heavily contributes to Australians' understanding of themselves. In this rigorous and richly detailed study, Romain Fathi challenges accepted historiography by examining the assembly, projection and performance of Australia's national identity in northern France.

Somme

Author : Hugh Sebag-Montefiore
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674970039
Total Pages : 680 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (749 download)

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Download or read book Somme written by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2016-08-15 with total page 680 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The notion of battles as the irreducible building blocks of war demands a single verdict of each campaign—victory, defeat, stalemate. But this kind of accounting leaves no room to record the nuances and twists of actual conflict. In Somme: Into the Breach, the noted military historian Hugh Sebag-Montefiore shows that by turning our focus to stories of the front line—to acts of heroism and moments of both terror and triumph—we can counter, and even change, familiar narratives. Planned as a decisive strike but fought as a bloody battle of attrition, the Battle of the Somme claimed over a million dead or wounded in months of fighting that have long epitomized the tragedy and folly of World War I. Yet by focusing on the first-hand experiences and personal stories of both Allied and enemy soldiers, Hugh Sebag-Montefiore defies the customary framing of incompetent generals and senseless slaughter. In its place, eyewitness accounts relive scenes of extraordinary courage and sacrifice, as soldiers ordered “over the top” ventured into No Man’s Land and enemy trenches, where they met a hail of machine-gun fire, thickets of barbed wire, and exploding shells. Rescuing from history the many forgotten heroes whose bravery has been overlooked, and giving voice to their bereaved relatives at home, Hugh Sebag-Montefiore reveals the Somme campaign in all its glory as well as its misery, helping us to realize that there are many meaningful ways to define a battle when seen through the eyes of those who lived it.

The Somme

Author : A.H. Farrar-Hockley
Publisher : The History Press
ISBN 13 : 0750968974
Total Pages : 287 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (59 download)

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Download or read book The Somme written by A.H. Farrar-Hockley and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2016-06-09 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1964, this is a critically acclaimed classic history of the military engagements of the Somme that raged from July to November 1916. It tells of bloody battles interspersed with trench actions of dreadful intensity. In addition to the key confrontations, Farrar-Hockley provides a detailed background to the Somme planning and why it failed with dreadful casualties. In its entirety, the conflict along the Somme scarred the minds of a whole generation, becoming recorded by historians as the graveyard of the 'flower of British manhood'. With a new introduction by Charles Messenger, and a touching foreword by the author's son, Dair Farrar-Hockley, this new edition of The Somme is a testament to those who gave their lives on this famous battlefield.

Verdun and the Somme

Author : Harro Grabolle
Publisher : Akademiai Kiado
ISBN 13 : 9789630581929
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (819 download)

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Book Synopsis Verdun and the Somme by : Harro Grabolle

Download or read book Verdun and the Somme written by Harro Grabolle and published by Akademiai Kiado. This book was released on 2004 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Analysis of British and German prose fiction written between 1916 and 1937, with different ideological points of view. Authors represented include, from Germany, Fritz von Unruh, Josef M. Wehner, Werner Beumelburg, Arnold Zweig, and from Britain, Alec J. Dawson, Alan P. Herbert, Arthur D. Gristwood, Frederic Manning and David Jones.

The Battle of the Somme, First Phase (Classic Reprint)

Author : John Buchan
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9781332601776
Total Pages : 152 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (17 download)

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Book Synopsis The Battle of the Somme, First Phase (Classic Reprint) by : John Buchan

Download or read book The Battle of the Somme, First Phase (Classic Reprint) written by John Buchan and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2016-06-14 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Battle of the Somme, First Phase Roye Railway, the chief German line of lateral communication, held by the French army. The author thus explains the object of the great drive, about which there exists a considerable amount of misconception: It was not to recover so many square miles of France; it was not to take Bapaume or Peronne or St. Quentin; it was not even in the strict sense to carry this or that position. All these things were subsidiary, and would follow in due course, provided the main purpose succeeded. That purpose was simply to exercise a steady and continued pressure in a certain section of the en emy's front. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The Somme

Author : Chris McNab
Publisher : Pitkin Unichrome, Limited
ISBN 13 : 9781841653129
Total Pages : 32 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (531 download)

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Download or read book The Somme written by Chris McNab and published by Pitkin Unichrome, Limited. This book was released on 2010-06-01 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Somme

The Somme

Author : Peter Barton
Publisher : Constable
ISBN 13 : 9781849017190
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (171 download)

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Download or read book The Somme written by Peter Barton and published by Constable. This book was released on 2011-02-24 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Peter Barton's landmark volume presents over 50 original panoramas of the battlegrounds of the Somme. They show what no other photographs can: the view from the trench parapet, and a great deal more. This revised edition also includes stunning new details of the use and misuse of an extraordinary network of 'Russian Saps' installed during the two months prior to battle. These tunnels beneath no man's land often brought the British - unseen - to within 10 metres of the German trenches, yet over-secrecy and poor communication led to most being left unexploited. In the sectors where they were employed, success was dramatic. Plus a host of previously unpublished personal testimony, and a fresh look at several unseen and forgotten aspects of the battle such as the Royal Engineers' Push Pipes, Bored Mines and huge Livens Flame Projectors. Here is the Somme as you have never seen it before. Praise for The Battlefields of the First World War: 'An extraordinary set of panoramic photographs that reveal the battlefields of the Western Front as never before.' The Times 'Astonishing ... made my heart sigh.' Independent 'Without doubt the best publication on the Great War in many years ... a superb piece of work.' Western Front Association

The First Day on the Somme

Author : Martin Middlebrook
Publisher : Pen and Sword
ISBN 13 : 1473814243
Total Pages : 344 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (738 download)

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Download or read book The First Day on the Somme written by Martin Middlebrook and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2006-05-25 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of the British Army’s experience at the Battle of the Somme in France during World War I. After an immense but useless bombardment, at 7:30 AM on July 1, 1916, the British Army went over the top and attacked the German trenches. It was the first day of the battle of the Somme, and on that day, the British suffered nearly 60,000 casualties, two for every yard of their front. With more than fifty times the daily losses at El Alamein and fifteen times the British casualties on D-day, July 1, 1916, was the blackest day in the history of the British Army. But, more than that, as Lloyd George recognized, it was a watershed in the history of the First World War. The Army that attacked on that day was the volunteer Army that had answered Kitchener’s call. It had gone into action confident of a decisive victory. But by sunset on the first day on the Somme, no one could any longer think of a war that might be won. Martin Middlebrook’s research has covered not just official and regimental histories and tours of the battlefields, but interviews with hundreds of survivors, both British and German. As to the action itself, he conveys the overall strategic view and the terrifying reality that it was for front-line soldiers. Praise for The First Day on the Somme “The soldiers receive the best service a historian can provide: their story is told in their own words.” —The Guardian (UK)