Understanding the Somme 1916; An Illuminating Battlefield Guide

Scotland, Thomas & Steven Heys

ISBN 10: 1909384429 / ISBN 13: 9781909384422

Published by Helion and Company, 2014

About this Item

Light crease to front bottom corner - otherwise light wear. Internally Very Good - pages clean and unmarked. ** 630g ** All orders are sent with a tracking /signature service for your peace of mind, so that you can keep tabs on your parcel. For overseas customers - on some sites we use, parcels weighing over the standard rate may incur an additional charge and we will then contact you with the additional shipping fee required. This is for the postage only we do not charge you for our time or our excellent packaging, which we are noted for. Dispatched in cardboard mailers within 24/48 Hours Mon - Friday 2pm, except bank holidays, otherwise next business day - excellent service guaranteed.

Seller Inventory # 3149

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Understanding the Somme 1916; An Illuminating Battlefield Guide
• Publisher: Helion and Company
• Publication Date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1909384429
• ISBN 13: 9781909384422
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

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 colour photographs, taken by the authors in the course of many visits to the Somme, which will illustrate, illuminate and allow the reader to understand important points made in the text. It doesn`t matter whether you are in your armchair, on foot, on a bicycle, or in a car, this book will effortlessly transport you to the battlefield and will sweep you round the front line of 1 July 1916.

From Montauban in the south, to Serre in the north, it will lead you to the night attack of 14 July and to the first use of tanks on 15 September. It will take you to the Pozières Ridge and to Mouquet Farm, and to the heights above the Ancre. You will visit the famous Sunken Lane near Beaumont Hamel, where the text will transport you in time to stand with men from the 1st Lancashire Fusiliers waiting to go over the top on 1 July 1916. You will look towards Hawthorn Mine Crater and almost feel the earth tremble beneath your feet as though you were there at 07.20 hrs on 1 July 1916. You will go into Beaumont Hamel with the 51st (Highland) Division and climb up Wagon Road. You will look across to where Frankfurt Trench once was, and where men from the 16th Highland Light Infantry from Glasgow fought a last ditch battle, having become marooned in the trench, in what was the last action to take place before the Somme finally petered out in the mud in late November 1916.

With its focus on informing and illuminating the events of 1916 on the Somme, and illustrated throughout by carefully annotated colour photographs showing the sites today, this book will prove equally essential to the battlefield visitor or the 'virtual visitor' in their armchair.

About the Author

Tom Scotland - Born in St. Andrews and brought up in the East Neuk of Fife, Tom was educated at Waid Academy in Anstruther. He graduated in Medicine from the University of Edinburgh 1971, becoming a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1975. He developed his interest in the Great War whilst a student, when there were still many veterans alive. He trained in orthopaedic surgery in Aberdeen, and after spending a year as a fellow in the University of Toronto, returned to take up the position of Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon with Grampian Health Board and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Aberdeen. His particular interests were knee surgery, paediatric orthopaedics and tumour surgery, and for three years was lead clinician for the Scottish Sarcoma Managed Clinical network. Over the years he has been a frequent visitor to the Western Front, and has found cycling the best way to visit different places. He has explored many areas of the Western Front with family and friends and since retiring from the National Health Service in 2007 has kept in touch with former colleagues by leading cycling expeditions to the Western Front. He has pursued his interest in the Great War by making a particular study of Aberdeen surgeon, Sir Henry Gray, who played a pivotal role in the development of surgery on the Western Front, and has given various lectures on the development of surgical services during the Great War. In retirement he has completely re-invented himself as a cycling orthopaedic historian.

Steve graduated in Medicine from the University of Aberdeen and is a Fellow of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons in England, Edinburgh and Glasgow and currently Dean of the School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition at the University of Aberdeen. His surgical specialty is breast cancer surgery and he has research interests in the role of nutrition in the causation of cancer, and has responsibilities for medical education both locally and nationally. He has published more than 200 scientific papers and written many book chapters on different aspects of surgery and played many national and international roles in surgery and the provision of surgical services. His interest in the Great War was sparked by the stories of the Accrington pals and the Lancashire Fusiliers, by his time as a member of the RAMC (V), serving for six years in the 51st Highland Brigade, and by Tom’s famous cycling tours around the Western Front where he has the dual role of bicycle mechanic, and because he is a keen bagpipe player, has been appointed as Piper to the tours! He is co-author of three books “War Surgery 1914-1918”, “Wars, Pestilence and the Surgeon`s Blade” and “Understanding the Somme 1916-An Illuminating Battlefield Guide.”