Product Description

Based upon the archival holdings at the Imperial War Museum, London, this volume gathers together a wealth of material about the horrific World War I offensive at Passchendaele Ridge. Nearly 600,000 lives were lost in the offensive which lasted for two and a half months.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #889985 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

Review
'Lions led by donkeys' has long been the received view of General Haig and the loss of his troops in the Great War. This book is another work which supports the more contemporary view that the generals have been unfairly maligned. The horror of Passchendale of the 'Third Battle of Ypres' is geographically described, but wonderfully humanized by the extensive use of soldiers' accounts who were at the Front. Insights into how men could knowingly walk into almost certain death fill the pages. A paean to the unextinguishable spirit of humanity. (Kirkus UK)

About the Author
Nigel Steel is head of the Imperial War Museum's Research and Information Department. He and Peter Hart have collaborated on several titles, including works on Gallipoli, Passchendaele and the First World War in the air. Peter Hart was born in 1955. He went to Liverpool University before joining the Sound Archive at the Imperial War Museum in 1981. He is now Oral Historian at the Archive.

Customer Reviews

Decent Account of the Fighting at Passchendaele
Nigel Steel and Peter Hart's third book covering the Great War deals with the Third Battle of Ypres, better known as Passchendaele. This book joins a long list of other titles covering this most horrendous battle of World War One. As in their previous books the authors utilize the accounts of many of the participants in this great struggle. From gunners and footsloggers to the men in the air trying to gain mastery of the airspace above the salient. Using first-hand accounts, interviews, letters and after action reports they put together a fairly comprehensive story of the fighting as experienced by British and Commonwealth soldiers. It must be said that there are very few similar accounts used in this book from the German side.

Overall they do reasonable well in presenting the story of the fighting in the Ypres salient from 1917-1918. However I feel that they may not have done as well as some previous books. At times I found that the narrative appeared to drag or lose its continuity. The authors have attempted to be very fair in their assessment of the British High Command and the involvement or lack of involvement of the politician's back home. The book does not appear to have an axe to grind in regards to any one person's culpability in regards to the tremendous casualties suffered for so little tangible gain. The authors simply present the facts and allow you, the reader, to determine who may be at fault for the loss of so many innocent lives.

I found that the authors offered a very good overview of the circumstances leading to this battle, the tactics used and the decisions of the Commanding Generals. Overall it's a very easy to read account of this battle and a good starting point for someone wishing to learn more about what the poor bloody 'Tommy', 'Aussie', 'Kiwi' and 'Canuck' suffered. I would also recommend for further reading Lyn MacDonald's 'They Called it Passchendaele', Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson's 'Passchendaele; The Untold Story', and books by Philip Warner, Winston Groom and Leon Wolff.

I would like to finish up with an account from the book where a young British soldier was about to go 'over the top' during the offensive to take Pilckem Ridge on the 31st July 1917: "It was still dark but then suddenly it was illuminated by a line of bursting shells, but what was astonishing still was that we must all have been deafened by the noise. I looked at Herbert, I could see his lips move - I shouted but I couldn't hear myself at all. I wanted to tell him that we would keep together so I grabbed his hand and we went over together as we had gone to Sunday School - hand in hand." - Private Alfred Warsop, 1st Battalion, Sherwood Foresters.