The Somme: Herosim and Horror in the First World WarFrom 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. |
From inside the book
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Contents
To break through and win victory II | 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 I July 1916 | 279 |
the attack on the German trench lines 1 July 1916 | 280 |
1 July 1916 | 281 |
1 July 1916 | 282 |
The eastern sector of the British line 1 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 II 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 |
Approximate size of army formations | 305 |
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Common terms and phrases
advance Albert assault attack August Australian Bapaume barrage battle Beaumont-Hamel Boisselle 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 German front line German lines German soldiers German trenches Gommecourt Graves Commission cemeteries Guillemont Haig noted Haig's headquarters heavy High Wood infantry Joffre July killed in action La Boisselle later Lesboeufs Lieutenant Colonel Longueval machine guns machine-gun fire Mametz Wood Martin Gilbert Martin Gilbert 2006 Méaulte miles Military Cemetery Montauban Newfoundland night No-Man's Land November October offensive officer Pals Pozières Private Querrieu Rawlinson Regiment Ridge rifle River Ancre River Somme road Royal Sausage Valley Schwaben Redoubt Second Lieutenant sector September Serre shell shellhole tanks Thiepval Memorial told Transloy Val Vion Verdun Victoria Cross victory village Western Front wire wounded wrote yards