The authors had extensive access to documents from the Imperial War Museum to research this book and it certainly shows. The First World War saw some of the bloodiest battles in history and hearing about it in the words of those who witnessed these harrowing events makes for compelling reading.
In the autumn of 1917, after years of stalemate at Ypres, the British and French armies launched a massive offensive to take Passchendaele Ridge. Following an intensive bombardment the Allies began their attack, but the low ground between the lines had been churned into a quagmire, and the attack was literally bogged down. All surprise had been lost, and the German defence in depth was well organised. For the first time the Germans used mustard gas, while German planes flew low to strafe the British infantry with machine guns. After two and a half months the British finally took the ridge they had been aiming for, but at the cost of over 300,000 Allied lives. German losses in the offensive were estimated at 260,000.
Based on the archival holdings at the Imperial War Museum, this book gathers together a wealth of previously unpublished material about this horrific offensive. A history to appeal to the scholar and the general reader alike.
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.
