About this item
The definitive account of one of the bloodiest battles in world history -- a military tragedy that would come to define a generation. On July 1, 1916, the British Army launched the "Big Push" that was supposed to bring an end to the horrific stalemate on the Western Front between British, French and German forces. What resulted was one of the greatest single human catastrophes in twentieth century warfare: scrambling out of trenches in the face of German machine guns and artillery fire, the British lost over twenty thousand soldiers during the first day. This "battle" would drag on for another four bloody months.Expertly weaving together letters, diaries, and other first-person accounts, Peter Hart gives us a compelling narrative tribute to this infamous tragedy that epitomized the futility of "the war to end all wars.
About the Author
Peter Hart is a British military historian. He grew up in Stanhope, 1955-1962; Barton under Needwood, 1962-1964 and Stone, 1964-1967. He moved to Chesterfield and attended School there from 1967-1973 and Liverpool University, from 1973-1976. He then did a post-graduate teaching course at Crewe & Alsager College, 1976-1977 and finally post-grad librarianship at Liverpool Polytechnic, 1979-1980. He has been an oral historian at Sound Archive of Imperial War Museum in London since 1981. He has written mainly on British participation in the First World War. His books include; The Somme, Jutland 1916, Bloody April on the air war in 1917, Passchendaele, Aces Falling (on the air war in 1918) , 1918 A Very British Victory and Gallipoli.
