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The Somme:

Herosim and Horror in the First World War
Front Cover
12 Reviews
Macmillan, Jun 27, 2006 - History - 332 pages
From one of our most distinguished historians, an authoritative and vivid account of the devastating World War I battle that claimed more than 300,000 lives

At 7:30 am on July 1, 1916, the first Allied soldiers climbed out of their trenches along the Somme River in France and charged out into no-man's-land toward the barbed wire and machine guns at the German front lines.

By the end of this first day of the Allied attack, the British army alone would lose 20,000 men; in the coming months, the fifteen-mile-long territory along the river would erupt into the epicenter of the Great War. The Somme would mark a turning point in both the war and military history, as soldiers saw the first appearance of tanks on the battlefield, the emergence of the air war as a devastating and decisive factor in battle, and more than one million casualties (among them a young Adolf Hitler, who took a fragment in the leg). In just 138 days, 310,000 men died.

In this vivid, deeply researched account of one history's most destructive battles, historian Martin Gilbert tracks the Battle of the Somme through the experiences of footsoldiers (known to the British as the PBI, for Poor Bloody Infantry), generals, and everyone in between. Interwoven with photographs, journal entries, original maps, and documents from every stage and level of planning, The Somme is the most authoritative and affecting account of this bloody turning point in the Great War.

  

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Review: The Somme: Herosim and Horror in the First World War

User Review  - Adam DeVille, Ph.D. - Goodreads

The depressing and gratuitous slaughter of the Somme is recounted here by a premiere historian. Sad and infuriating to read. Read full review

Review: The Somme: Herosim and Horror in the First World War

User Review  - Matt - Goodreads

Excellent. Very heart wrenching in the juxtapostion of the individual experience of the battle carnage with larger battle experience Read full review

All 12 reviews »

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Contents

To break through and win victory
11
There is much in the wind
31
Dead men
50
It looked like
91
Boys of the Bull
105
A bloody holocaust
121
A little uneasy in regard
134
This fantasy of woe
157
firstday objectives and the plan for a breakthrough
278
The first day of battle 1 July 1916
279
the attack on the German trench lines i July 1916
280
i July 1916
281
i July 1916
282
The eastern sector of the British line i July 1916
283
The fighting from 2 to 31 July 1916
284
The fighting in August 1916
285

I am in Gods keeping
172
Death
192
The Grand Design begins
205
The
225
November 1916
243
Europe on the eve of war June 1914
272
The Western Front line of trenches from the North Sea to the Swiss border
273
The British Expeditionary Force sector of the front under Haigs command
274
The Somme region before the battle
275
NewfoundlandBritain Gallipolithe Somme
276
Preparing for battle AprilJune 1916
277
The fighting in September 1916
286
The October Plan 1916
287
The fighting in October and from i to 11 November 1916
288
The fighting on the Ancre 1218 November 1916
289
The Somme battlefield March 1918
290
The Somme battlefield August 1918
291
British counties whose regiments fought on the Somme
292
Places in Britain mentioned in the text
293
Appendix Approximate size of army formations
305
Copyright

Common terms and phrases

advance Albert Allied Ancre artillery bombardment assault attack August Australian Bapaume barrage Battalion battle Beaumont-Hamel billets bombs Brigade British artillery British troops buried Canadian Captain captured casualty clearing station cavalry Churchill commander Commonwealth War Graves Contalmaison Corps dead death Delville Wood diary Division dugouts enemy fighting forces forward France Fricourt front-line trenches Fusiliers Gallipoli German front line German lines German soldiers German trenches Gommecourt Gough Graves Commission cemeteries Guillemont Haig noted Haig's headquarters heavy High Wood infantry July killed in action later Lieutenant Colonel machine guns machine-gun fire Mametz Wood Martin Gilbert Mash Valley miles Military Cemetery Newfoundland night No-Man's Land November October offensive officer Pals Pozieres prisoners Private Querrieu Rawlinson Regiment rifle road Royal Royal Flying Corps Sausage Valley Schwaben Redoubt Second Lieutenant sector September Serre shell shellhole tanks Thiepval Memorial told Val Vion Verdun Victoria Cross victory village Western Front wire wounded wrote yards

References from web pages

Notre Dame '55 Book Club: The Somme : Heroism and Horror in the ...
The Somme : Heroism and Horror in the First World War by Martin Gilbert New York : H. Holt (2006) ISBN 9780805081275 A sobering review of the grim 4 month ...
nd55bookclub.blogspot.com/ 2007/ 07/ somme-heroism-and-horror-in-first-world.html

Martin Gilbert - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
... (2002); D-Day, (2004); Kristallnacht: Prelude to Destruction, (2006); The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War, (2006) ...
en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Martin_Gilbert

The battlefields
Martin Gilbert, The Somme, Heroism and Horror in the First World War, London, 2006. Gillian Hawkes, Greater Love Hath No Man: St George’s Memorial Church, ...
www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/ battlefields/ bibliography.html

Unknown Soldiers - Book Review
As with the other recent book I have read on the subject, simply titled The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War, by Martin Gilbert, ...
www.juntosociety.com/ bookreview/ mr_us_072706.html

The American Spectator
... Martin Gilbert's new history of this terrible battle, The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War. The book should be out in America shortly. ...
www.americanprowler.org/ dsp_article.asp?art_id=10046

【楽天市場】The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War ...
The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War（The Somme: Heroism and ... タイトル：The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War：SOMME ...
item.rakuten.co.jp/ book/ 5025808/

Martin Gilbert - Wikipedia
... (2002); The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust, (2002); D-Day, (2004); The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War, (2006) ...
it.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Martin_Gilbert

Martin Gilbert - Wikipedie, otevřená encyklopedie
... Fori: The 5000-Year History of the Jewish People and their Faith, (2002); D-Day, (2004); The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War, (2006) ...
cs.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Martin_Gilbert

Barnes & Noble.com - Books: The Somme, by Martin Gilbert, Hardcover
The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War, Gilbert, Martin Gilbert, Hardcover, Book, ISBN: 0805081275, Military History, Barnes & Noble.com.
search.barnesandnoble.com/ The-Somme/ Martin-Gilbert/ e/ 9780805081275

Goodreads | Martin Gilbert
The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War (Hardcover) by Martin Gilbert avg rating 3.67 — 6 ratings — published 2006 ...
www.goodreads.com/ author/ show/ 5792.Martin_Gilbert

About the author (2006)

Sir Martin Gilbert was knighted in 1995 "for services to British history and international relations." Among his many books are The First World War (0-8050-7617-4), The Second World War, (0-8050-7623-9) The Day the War Ended (1945) (0-8050-7527-5), and Churchill: A Life (0-8050-2396-8).

Bibliographic information

QR code for The Somme
TitleThe Somme: Herosim and Horror in the First World War
AuthorMartin Gilbert
Editionillustrated
PublisherMacmillan, 2006
ISBN0805081275, 9780805081275
Length332 pages
Subjects ›  › 

History / Europe / Western
History / Military / Other
History / Military / World War I
  
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