One of the bloodiest battles fought in military history - this Battle Story will make you understand what happened and why. The Battle of the Somme raged from July 1 to November 18, 1916, and was one of the bloodiest fought in military history. It has come to signify for many the waste and bloodshed of the First World War, as hundreds of thousands of men on all sides lost their lives fighting over small gains in land. Yet this battle was also to mark...

Pals on the Somme covers the history of all the Pals Battalions who fought on the Somme during the First World War. The book looks at the events which led to the war and how the Pals phenomenon was born. It considers the attitude and social conditions in Britain at the time. It covers the training and equipping of the Battalions, the preparations for the Big Push, 1st July 1916, and going over the top, and how each battalion fared, failed or succeeded....

Gerald Gliddon's classic survey of the Somme battlefield in 1916, first published in 1987 to great acclaim, has been greatly expanded and updated to include the latest research and analysis. Supported by a wide selection of archive photographs and drawing on the testimony of those who took part, this new edition covers both the famous battle sites, such as High Wood and Mametz Wood and lesser known villages on the outlying flanks. It includes a day-by-day...

This novel by John Wilson is set during World War One, when a teenaged boy faces the unexpected realities of violent conflict.

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...

This is a guidebook with a difference. It is not a list of memorials and cemeteries. Its aim is to provide the reader with an understanding of the Battle of the Somme. There were some partial successes, there were many disastrous failures. In 17 concise chapters dealing with different areas of the battlefield and various aspects of strategy, this book explains what happened in each location and why. Each chapter is accompanied by color photographs,...

The Somme was surely one of the bloodiest rendezvous for battle of all time. High Wood, dominating the Bazentin Ridge, was the fiercely contested focal point of the battle. The Germans showed great determination and sacrifice defending the feature and it was not until September that it finally fell to the attackers. ironically the successful divisional commander was rewarded with dismissal for "wanton waste of men". This exceptional book not only...

Much of the popular attention on the Battle of the Somme 1916 is focussed on the first day of the infantry assault, 1st July, when such high hopes were dashed and British casualties ran into the tens of thousands. However, the Somme was a battle that lasted over twenty weeks, running well into the autumn. This book is concerned with fighting south of the famous Albert-Bapaume road from mid September to the official end of the battle. The coverage...

What really happened on the first day of the Somme? Much controversy has surrounded the Somme offensive relating to its justification and its impact upon the course of the war. General Sir Douglas Haig's policies have been the subject of considerable debate about whether the heavy losses sustained were worth the small gains that were achieved which appeared to have little strategic value.That was certainly the case on many sectors on 1 July 1916,...

Découvrez enfin tout ce qu'il faut savoir sur la bataille de la Somme en moins d'une heure ! Le 1er juillet 1916, Joseph Joffre lance à 7 h 30 la grande offensive dans la Somme. Son objectif est simple : soulager le secteur de Verdun en attaquant les Allemands là o ils ne s'attendent pas et relancer la guerre de mouvement. C'est le début d'une longue bataille. L'une des plus meurtrières de la Première Guerre mondiale. Ce livre vous permettra...