The third volume covers the battles in Flanders against the Belgians, French and British over a twenty-three month period. Written using primary and secondary sources, it covers all the engagements. The major part of the book covers the FlandernSchlachtof July to November 1917; a battle viewed by the Germans as harder fought and more costly than the Somme, Arras and Verdun. Each phase and aspect of the period is detailed from the German point of view.The book is arranged in four sections: detailed and informative text; some 250 photos (that are interspersed into the text with captions); a chronological order of events in Flanders and a section on the German divisions that fought there. Where relevant material from the German home front is included and the illustrations, many of which have not been published before, also show how the towns and villages of the area have changed.

The book covers the actions of the German Army in the Low Countries during 1915 and 1916. In its broad compass it looks at the battles with the French, Belgians and British, concentrating mostly on the latter. Both 1915 and 1916 were very active years for the Central Powers and the Allies. After a quiet start with minor fighting April 1915 saw gas attacks against Hill 60, followed by 2nd Ypres and intermittent attacks throughout the remainder of the year. There was also considerable naval and air activity through the year. 1916 was arguably the most dramatic year of the War, not least for the Allied Somme offensive.This work, which follows on from the authors German Army in Flanders 1914 in the same series, includes notes on the divisions that fought there and a chronological order of events as they unfolded. Where relevant, material from the German home front is included.Each phase and aspect of the period is detailed from the German point of view using primary and secondary sources from both Germany and Britain. The illustrations provide a pictorial background in both a specific and general form, highlighting life in the front-line as well as rear areas and show how the War affected the towns and villages of the region.

With the aid of over 300 photographs, complemented by full-colour maps, The Western Front 1917–1918 provides a detailed guide to the background and conduct of the conflict on the Western Front in the final years of World War I.

The 'Die-Hards' is the nickname of the Middlesex Regiment, earned at the battle of Albuera in the Peninsular War in May 1811. The Regiment was one of five that had four regular battalions before the outbreak of war, it also had two Special Reserve battalions (5th and 6th) and four Territorial battalions, 7th to 10th. During the course of the war another thirty-nine battalions were formed making the Regiment the second largest along with the King's (Liverpool), though not all battalions survived to the end of the war; twenty-four of them went abroad, serving on the Western Front, Gallipoli, Italy, Macedonia, Mesopotamia, India, Egypt, Palestine, Gibraltar and Siberia. Losses amounted to 12,720, 81 Battle Honours and 5 VCs were awarded. The Middlesex were in it right from the start, the first soldier of the BEF to be killed was L/Cpl Parr, 4th Middlesex, on 21 August 1914, and the first officer to be killed was from the same battalion - Major W.H Abell, at Mons on 23 August. This is not a history that deals with each battalion independently, there are too many of them. The narrative describes the fortunes of the twenty-four active service battalions (with very good maps) in the various theatres of war, though mainly on the Western Front, and on every page there is, in the margin the date of the action or event being described and the battalion or battalions involved. The first volume covers 1914 to the end of 1916, and the second takes up the story from the beginning of 1917 to the armistice, including a chapter on operations in Siberia and Murmansk involving the 25th Battalion which didn't get home till September 1919. Speaking of his battalion [25th] the CO said: "One and all behaved like Englishmen - the highest eulogy that can be passed upon the conduct of men." Sentiments like that expressed today would almost get you clapped in irons! There is no Roll of Honour nor list of Honours and Awards. There is a very useful appendix listing all the active service battalions with the brigades and divisions to which they were allocated with any subsequent changes, and the theatres in which they served.

From its origins to its terrible legacy, the tortuous course of the Great War is vividly set out in a series of 196 fascinating maps. Together the maps form a comprehensive and compelling picture of the war that shattered Europe, and illustrate its military, social, political and economic aspects. Beginning with the tensions that already existed, the atlas covers: The early months of the war – from the German attack on Belgium and France, to the fierce fighting on the Western and Eastern Fronts The developing war in Europe and beyond – from the Somme and Verdun to Gallipoli and Mesopotamia, in the Near East and Africa, and in the Pacific The war at sea and in the air – from the Zeppelin and air raids to the naval battles, shipping losses and Atlantic convoys Life at the front – the trench system, living underground, the mud of Passchendaele, the French and Russian mutinies Technology and the intensifying war – from phosgene gas to submarines, tanks and aerial bombardment The home front – war supplies, munitions factories, the air defence of Britain, German food riots, the entry of the United States into the war, the Russian Revolution, and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian and the Ottoman Empires The aftermath – the peace treaties and territorial changes, war debts, war deaths, and the new map of Europe along with the visual remembrance of the war, memorials that commemorate the tragedy. This new edition now includes an additional 23 of Martin Gilbert’s maps, across the whole period of the war, originally published across a range of publications, now gathered in this one volume for the first time.

The First World War was a conflict of unprecedented ferocity. After the last shot was fired and the troops marched home, approximately three million soldiers remained unaccounted for. An unassuming English chaplain first proposed a symbolic burial in memory of all the missing dead; subsequently the idea was picked up by almost every combatant country. Acclaimed author Neil Hanson focuses on the lives of three soldiers — an Englishman, a German, and an American — using their diaries and letters to offer an unflinching yet compassionate account of the front lines. He describes how each man endured nearly unbearable conditions, skillfully showing how the Western world arrived at the now time-honored way of mourning and paying tribute to all those who die in war. From the Trade Paperback edition.