I really wanted to like this book and give it 5 stars. I just can't though. I like the aim of the book, which was to provide a military history of the Somme campaign mostly free of the pathos of endless first person and diary accounts of how horrible it all was as there are many such books available for that. That is what the author stated as his aim. I also very much like the numerous maps that are in the book; basically one per battle segment, over 50 in the book altogether. And, they are annotated and very readable. Each chapter is concentrated on the specific battle within the campaign; July 1st is of course the largest chapter, but like the Battle of the Somme, it does not end there. Mametz Wood, Delville Wood, Ginchy, Poziers, etc. etc. at corps and division level. Very good approach!
What is less than stellar is the authors initial admission that "due to space requirements" it was felt that a much shorter book was necessary as the reading public would really not be interested in a truly comprehensive treatment of the battle. Thats the warning that all is not as it should be. The author is up front that he put in almost no politics, in fact, there is absolutely no discussion as to why the Somme was chosen as the point of attack, or why the French asked that the British move up the date (Verdun), nor, for that matter, any discussion on the tactics that the New Armies were using. Why go for a breakthrough when you did not have the guns to achieve it? What options, if any, were there? How effective was the artillery and why wasn't it more effective? Not in the book.
Also, a now all to familiar lack of editing caused numerous typos and misspellings throughout the work. I guess the rush to put it out in '14 was the driver!
The author packs a lot in the 293 allocated pages; I really wish he was given the green light to write the book he wanted to.
Not a bad book, not the best; it is still hard to beat Peter Hart's Somme, or Chris McCarthy's Somme Day by Day, but, it is concise and a noble effort by an experienced author. I just wish Pen & Sword would allow more room for the author to write the book and put some effort into editing the books they do print.
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- graham stevensReviewed in the United Kingdom on January 21, 2015
I have visited the Somme, on a pilgrimage to ...
