Battlefields of the First World War: A Traveller's Guide

Holt, Tonie; Holt, Valmai

ISBN 10: 1851453644 / ISBN 13: 9781851453641

Published by Pavilion, London, 1993

About this Item

Near fine first edition.

Seller Inventory # 003603

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Battlefields of the First World War: A Traveller's Guide
• Publisher: Pavilion, London
• Publication Date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1851453644
• ISBN 13: 9781851453641
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Military History and Second World War

About this title

Synopsis

Mons, Ypes, Passchendaele, Vimy Ridge, the Somme...The names are no less poignant three-quarters of a century on, and the emotional pull of the physical reminders of the First World is undiminished. This book covers all the major battlefields of the Western Front, including Mons, where the British Expeditionary Force under Sir John French went into action for the first time to halt the German advance through Belgium; Le Cateau, scene of the last of the old style one-day battles; Verdun, the fiercely defended stronghold which came to symbolize the fighting spirit of France; the Somme, where the British suffered a scarcely credible 60,000 casualties on the opening day of the five-month battle; St Mihiel, the first all-American action and a striking success for Pershing's Doughboys; as well as Cambrai, the Kaiser's Offensive and the British and American breakthrough on the Hindenburg Line. At each historic site the book describes the events leading up to the battle, the aims and tactics of the commanders and the action itself. They then provide detailed directions for a manageable tour of the battlefield, taking in all the significant landmarks and reminders of what took place, from key fortifications and trench lines to scenes of crucial turning-points and outstanding acts of courage. Among the most poignant reminders are the scores of cemeteries with which whole swathes of Flanders and Picardy are quilted, and the national memorials: to the Indian dead at Neuve Chapelle, the Americans in the Meuse-Argonne; the Welsh Dragon at Mametz Wood, the sublime Canadian memorial on Vimy Ridge, and the majestic Menin Gate in Ypres, where every evening the Last Post is sounded for the 55,000 British who died in the Salient in the first three years of the war and who have no known grave. This book is both a practical guide for visitors to the battlefields and a moving and sensitive response to all this harrowing evidence of the sadness and the sacrifice, the horror and the heroism of "the war to end all wars".

From the Publisher

A travellers Guide
Mons, Ypres, Passchendaele, Vimy Ridge, the Somme....The names are no less poignant three quarters of a century on, and the emotional pull of the physical reminders of the First World War is undiminished.

This fascinating book provides detailed accounts of the fifteen most significant battles of the First World War and the events that preceeded them. Aided by maps and quotations, it may be read at home as a continuous guide, dipped into at any time for informartion via the index or simply kept as a reminder of past visits to the sites described.

At each historic site the Holts describe the events leading up to the battle, the aims and tactics of the commanders and the action itself. They then provide detailed directions for a manageable tour of the battlefield, taking in all the significant landmarks and reminders of what took place, from key fortifications and trench lines to scenes of crucial turning points and outstanding acts of courage.

Tonie and Valmai Holt have produced a remarkable book, which is both a practical guide for visitors to the sites as well as a moving and sensitive response to the harrowing evidence of the sadness and sacrifice, the horror and the heroism of "the war to end all wars".