Product Description

Jack Sheldon's latest book in his acclaimed `German Army' series concentrates on German aspects of the bitter battle of Cambrai November/December 1917. Making full use of primary source material he first covers the defensive battle 20 - 29 November followed by the counter-attack which saw the German Army regain not only most of the ground lost and more besides. Flesquières Ridge and other battles for key terrain, including Bourlon Wood, are described in detail as are the controversial interventions of Ludendorf, criticised by Crown Prince Rupprecht. But the experiences of the fighting man will be of most interest to many.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #65841 in Books
• Published on: 2009-07-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

Customer Reviews

Gets better and better
Jack Sheldon's quest to plug our tremendous gaps when it comes to knowledge of the 'other side of the hill' in the Great War moves to Cambrai and especially the 'first tank battle' in the autumn of 1917. It is a battle which has captivated English historians almost since the guns fell silent - and invariably it's been seen through English eyes, until now.

As with the author's previous works the author mixes first-hand accounts from the men with accounts from generals - and not just the same old quotations from Ludendorff and Hindenburg - with what contemporary documents survived WW2. The result of a rare blend of erudition and readability; one is often saken for the other in military history.

For me, it's the first-hand accounts which are a gem. The author's picked out some vivid - brutally vivid - account. The chapter on the fighting for Bourlon Wood is both enthralling and, at times, harrowing; the stories of Gefreiter Skorna, struggling to deal with the "black monsters" and Leutnant Neuendorf who found the situation "ticklish" (!) yet "one hundred times better than Flanders" are particularly good. Neuendorf's description of combined tank and aircraft is a presage of Blitzkrieg a generation later.

In the final chapter, the author shows that the Germans were severely shaken by the battle. The command was unnerved by the surprise nature of the attack. They sought to fundamentally re-organise the forces on the Western Front which, as Crown Prince Rupprecht conceded, was not up to the demands of mobile warfare. Yet German commanders had mixed feelings about the tank which has come to define this battle. General von Marwitz was appalled by the fate of crews killed in knocked-out tanks and felt that the armour of 1917 was not up to the tasks demanded of it. "I cannot help it - I do not regard these things in their current form as battleworthy." Perhaps, he mused, "they can be improved..."

Coupled with Bryn Hammond's recent book on the same battle, The German Army at Cambrai provides the definitive account from the defenders' viewpoint - and a seminal work on WW1, both for the lay reader and the serious military historian.

A vivid detailed account
This is an extremely interesting book for anyone who wants to know what was happening on the German side during the Battle of Cambrai. Once again basing his story on detailed personal accounts by Germans soldiers at all levels, Jack Sheldon makes clear not only the chaos and confusion caused by the offensive but the astonishing effort made by all ranks and arms, including the frequently overlooked logistics corps, to mount the counter offensive in such a short time. His extracts from the private papers of the top commanders bring into sharp relief the problems that they were wrestling with, their rivalries and the interplay between them - indeed, the likes and dislikes that emerge from the extracts made me wonder sometimes how the Germans managed to continue the war for so long.

My only problems were with the maps and the use of long German titles, which for me break up the smooth flow of the text. I wish the maps could have been interspersed throughout the book rather than placed in a single section at the end. I also wish they could show some colour and an indication of north. But those are minor quibbles and all in all it's a very valuable addition to the bookshelf

The German Army at Cambrai
The other reviewers have covered many of the standout parts of this book, some of which will be familiar to readers of Jack Sheldon's previous work. The depth of research; the eye for a telling ancedote; the grasp of military tactics and so on. But I found the most interesting areas to be the discussion on the workings of the German General staff and the effects the British tempo of operations was begining to have on limiting German options.

The best volume so far I believe.