They Called it Passchendaele: The Story of the Battle of Ypres and of the Men Who Fought in itThe third battle of Ypres, culminating in a desperate struggle for the ridge and little village of Passchendaele, was one of the most appalling campaigns in the First World War. In this masterly piece of oral history, Lyn Macdonald lets over 600 participants speak for themselves. A million Tommies, Canadians and Anzacs assembled at the Ypres Salient in the summer of 1917, mostly raw young troops keen to do their bit for King and Country. This book tells their tale of mounting disillusion amid mud, terror and desperate privation, yet it is also a story of immense courage, comradeship, songs, high spirits and bawdy humour. They Called It Passchendaele portrays the human realities behind one of the most disastrous events in the history of warfare. |
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They Called it Passchendaele: The Story of the Battle of Ypres and of the ... Lyn MacDonald No preview available - 1993 |
Common terms and phrases
able advance ammunition Army attack barrage Battalion battery battle bodies boys British called Canadian Captain carrying casualties coming commanders Company Corporal Corps course cover dead Division enemy Engineers Farm Field Field Artillery fighting fire forward four front Fusiliers German getting gone ground Gunner guns Haig half hands happened Headquarters heavy Hill infantry keep knew later Lieutenant light London looked lying Machine machine-gun managed marched Menin Road miles morning move never night objective officers party Passchendaele passed pillbox position Private rain rations Regiment rest Ridge Rifle Rifle Brigade road Royal salient seemed sent Sergeant shell-hole shells side signal soldiers soon started stopped tank thing thought took trench troops trying tunnels turned waiting whole Wood wounded yards Ypres