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The German Army at Passchendaele Kindle Edition

by Jack Sheldon (Author), Peter Simkins (Foreword) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 53 ratings
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This WWI military history presents a detailed account of the third Battle of Ypres, in the Belgian village of Passchendaele, from the German perspective.
 
More than a century since the epic battle, the name Passchendaele has lost none of its power to shock and dismay. Reeling from the huge losses in earlier battles, the German army was in no shape to absorb the impact of the Battle of Messines and the subsequent attritional struggle.
 
Throughout the fighting on the Somme the German army had always felt that it had the ability to counter Allied thrusts, but following the shock reverses of April and May 1917, they introduced new tactics of flexible defense. When these tactics proved insufficient, the German defenders’ confidence was deeply shaken. Yet, despite being outnumbered, outgunned, and subjected to relentless, morale-sapping shelling and gas attacks, German soldiers in the trenches still fought extraordinarily hard.
 
The German army drew comfort from the realization that, although it had yielded ground and paid a huge price in casualties, its morale was essentially intact. The British were no closer to a breakthrough in Flanders at the end of the battle than they had been many weeks earlier.
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  1. Print length
    689 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Pen & Sword Military
  5. Publication date
    October 6, 2007
  6. File size
    5703 KB
  7. Page Flip
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  8. Word Wise
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"...A rare look at one of the war's most notable battles from the German side, and even better, an account that includes the perspective of the men in the trenches... an important read for anyone interested in the Great War."
The NYMAS Review Winter 2008

About the Author

Educated at Inverness Royal Academy, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and the Universities of Lancaster and Westminster, Jack Sheldon completed a thirty-five year career as a member of the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment.

In 1982 he graduated from the German General Staff course at the Führungsakademie, Hamburg and went on to fill international staff appointments and to command an infantry training battalion. His final post before retirement in 2003 was as Military Attaché Berlin.

He now lives in France and has rapidly established himself as an expert in German First World War history. He was an honorary researcher for the Thiepval Visitor Centre Project, is a member of the British Commission for Military History and is the author of the highly acclaimed The German Army on the Somme 1914 – 1916, The German Army at Passchendaele and a number of Battleground Europe titles.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00DN5U23Y
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pen & Sword Military; Illustrated edition (October 6, 2007)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 6, 2007
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 5703 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 689 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 53 ratings

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Jack Sheldon

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
53 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Jeremy
5.0 out of 5 stars You can feel the mud in your boots....
Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2019
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I ordered this book because I wanted a book that would tell the story of what it was like at the battle from the German perspective. It was excellent. I had already read the previous book in the series, The German Army on the Somme and found that one to be the same in its excellence. The author relies about 3/4 of the time on eyewitness firsthand translated accounts. The other 1/4 is his own bridging and setting the scenes and analysis. If you have a genuine desire to understand warfare life in World War I, this book is fantastic. Not really for a casual reader looking for an easy read. More for someone with an unquenchable thirst for information about what the life was like at the Battle of Passchendaele.
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SHIMAKO FERRARO
4.0 out of 5 stars A solid WW1 history
Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2016
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I have read all of Sheldon's "The German Army On...." Books. It is almost the Only way for an English speaking reader to get the German perspective on the major battles of the war. As such, in a sense, they are invaluable. Having said this, the books, including this one, are not scholarly narrative histories. Sheldon essentially adds brief historical commentaries on the battle in order to tie together memoirs of the German combatants. These books are designed to reproduce innumerable German reflections as experienced by the soldiers themselves. I enjoy them very much. But they are not true histories. Those wishing to read about these conflicts from the perspective of the military and political leaders who planned them and on a strategic and tactical level will be disappointed.
6 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer.
5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant book
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2021
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My relatives fought in this area during WWI, I thought this book would tell me a bit about the otherside of Passchendaele. It didn't disappoint me in the slightest way, I was very impressed with this book. I would classify this book a must read for anyone interested in WWI.
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Mike Higgins
5.0 out of 5 stars Always good
Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2019
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If you're interested on the German viewpoint of WW1 you would be hard pressed to find a better series of books.
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Kenn Hardt
5.0 out of 5 stars A great addition to my study of WW1
Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2019
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The book is straight forward and provides a very good description of the battle.
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Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting read
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2019
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I wanted to read what the typical German soldier went through during one of the bloodiest battle's in the first World War. I was not disappointed. The German soldier was very similar to his counter part on the other side of the trenches. Very detailed with many first hand accounts.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars ... for a book that tells you what Passchendaele was like for the individual German soldiers that fought it this ...
Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2014
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If you are looking for a book that tells you what Passchendaele was like for the individual German soldiers that fought it this is the book. Here you will find what war was like in the trenches from the side of those that fought it.
5 people found this helpful
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MR
5.0 out of 5 stars Good book for WW1 buffs
Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2019
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Arrived on time and met my expectations
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Top reviews from other countries

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Frank Müller
5.0 out of 5 stars Augenzeugenberichte - eyewitness accounts
Reviewed in Germany on February 19, 2017
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Schade, dass es für solche Bücher fremdsprachiger Autoren bedarf...
Hätte gerne die Original Zitate gelesen.
Gute Arbeit!

Sad that no German Autor was found to write this book.
Would love to read the original quotes
Great work!
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Cindy Ford
5.0 out of 5 stars Gift
Reviewed in Canada on January 7, 2014
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It was a gift and the person said it was great. My friend is looking forward to the next book I buy him.
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Pj Andrade
5.0 out of 5 stars The German Army at Passchendaele
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 3, 2007
Verified Purchase
For generations, the story of the Flanders fighting in the summer and autumn of 1917 has been the province of "anglocentric" historians. Jack Sheldon has redressed the balance, and provided us with a meticulously researched and superbly written chronicle of the Third Ypres Campaign, as experienced by German soldiers. Any suggestion that German sources are too scarce to allow for such an assessment are refuted by this superb book. Here we can appreciate how the ordeal of Flanders impinged on the warriors of the Fatherland, from the man in the shellhole to the reflections of The Crown Prince Rupprecht. The narrative is in the best chronological tradition, from the dramatic British success at Messines to the dismal culmination at Passchendaele. This was a war of material, in which the German soldiers and high command had to face an overwhelming British preponderance in a prolonged and intense artillery battle. As well as the ordeal of enduring relentless shellfire, the German troops engaged British and Commonwealth soldiers in vicious close quarters fighting, and, like their foes, lived and died in unspeakable conditions, all the while exhibiting amazing steadfastness. This is a history that engages our emotions as well as our intellect. The style of writing is first rate, and the maps provide timely and clear understanding of the significance of location in this dreadful struggle. Let's hope that in the years ahead, as we approach the centennial of the Great War, we might enjoy more such writing from Jack Sheldon. It is rare to see such a high standard of scholarship presented in such a readable and captivating manner.

Phil Andrade, a member of the Western Front Association
25 people found this helpful
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Warren Hardman
5.0 out of 5 stars Balancing the picture
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 16, 2013
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This book fills in a huge gap in the understanding of the Passchendaele battles. Accounts from the German perspective written in English are rare which is a pity as there is just as much of a story to tell from the German side as there was from the Allied side. This book shows that the hardships were equally as bad on the German side and discounts the common image of German soldiers sitting in dry and cosy pillboxes while the Allied soldiers languished in the mud. Far from it, German soldiers spent plenty of time defending their line from slime filled shellholes, frequently counter attacking across the mud to regain lost ground and being cut to pieces by the much more ferocious Allied artillery fire. Allied aircraft are also shown to be far more active strafing the German trenches and rear areas than I was led to believe from reading Allied War Diaries which only infrequently mentioned Allied aircraft strafing German trenches. This book is an essential read and reference for anyone who has an interest in the Passchendaele battles.
One person found this helpful
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MR W
5.0 out of 5 stars German point of view and experience.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 12, 2017
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I've not read anything from a German perspective before regarding the Great War. Jack Sheldon lays out in meticulous and informative fashion, letters and War reports, various documents, written by German soldiers from all ranks. It provides a detailed, minute by minute,day to day account of the months of the slaughterhouse of Passchendaele. Some of the accounts are graphic and always gripping to read but the overal images that will stick in my mind are constant artillery fire and the shell holes they created. You can see from the photos in book, the devastation the shelling caused, completely destroying the landscape, turning it into a mud quagmire. I wil seek out other Jack Sheldon books in the future. They offer an almost documentary type of focus on the exploits of the German Army.
2 people found this helpful
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