Product Description

Of all the grim, gallant and inglorious battles of the Western Front, this is the name uniquely evocative of the "mud and blood" that pervaded the First World War. The total gain - a few thousand yards of indefensible slough - cost about a million Allied lives. In this now classic account of the Flanders campaign, Leon Wolff graphically describes the whole terrible business: from Haig's initial plan; his determination to carry it out despite constant opposition from the Cabinet and the muddle of doubts and disagreement among the military staff; through the early stages of the "great offensive"; and to the scene of the battle itself - the Flanders fields which will "forever haunt Western civilization".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #589661 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 310 pages

Review
"An outstanding book...much more than a military history, rather an invocation which summons from out of the depths of the past the catastrophe of Passchendaele 1917...Here is brought to light again all its many facets, its antagonisms, its blunders, its horror, and its heroism."

About the Author
Leon Wolff is American and served in the US Air Force during the Second World War, and his first book, LOW LEVEL MISSION, describes his wartime experiences. Leon Wolff was awarded the Francis Parkman Prize from the Society of American Historians for his third book, LITTLE BROWN BROTHER.

Customer Reviews

horror of trench warfare
This book was first publised in 1958 some 40 yers after the terror..it memories are much fresher and reads so...leon Wolf rightly highlights the inept and criminal actions of General Haig, Gough and Charteris ..it leaves the reader staggered and heart-broken that these men sent thousands of allied troops to fight in conditions that could only result in slaughter.

This is the best account of the 3rd battle of Ypres I have read