The Germans on the Somme

The Germans on the Somme PDF Author: Philip Gibbs
Publisher: Legare Street Press
ISBN: 9781021408549
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
As a correspondent for the Daily Telegraph during World War I, Gibbs had a ringside seat to many of the most significant battles and events of the conflict. In this book, he provides a firsthand account of the German army's actions during the Somme offensive. A must-read for anyone interested in military history. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

The Germans on the Somme

The Germans on the Somme PDF Author: Philip Gibbs
Publisher: Legare Street Press
ISBN: 9781021408549
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
As a correspondent for the Daily Telegraph during World War I, Gibbs had a ringside seat to many of the most significant battles and events of the conflict. In this book, he provides a firsthand account of the German army's actions during the Somme offensive. A must-read for anyone interested in military history. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Scorched Earth

Scorched Earth PDF Author: Gerhard Hirschfeld
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
This book discusses in detail the experience of German warfare in the first World War, focusing specifically on the battle of the Somme. The Somme, together with other regions of northern France, had also lain under German domination. Its inhabitants had been rigorously suppressed and their possessions carted off as booty. Finally, during their 1917 withdrawal, the Germans had subjected the whole region to Operation Alberich, a retreat involving unparalleled brutality which left the population in occupation of a wilderness wrought by war (the "scorched earth policy"). A well-known, and well researched account, the authors have combined their research skills to produce a book which includes private testimonies. Amongst these are many unknown or previously unpublished letters and diaries as well as numerous photographs. AUTHOR: Gerhard Hirschfeld is Director of the Library of Contemporary History and Professor of Modern History at the University of Stuttgart; Gerd Krumeich is Professor of Modern History at the Heinrich-Heine- University of Duesseldorf; Irina Renz is chief curator of the archival collections of the Library of Contemporary History in Stuttgart. Gerd Krumeich and Gerhard Hirschfeld are closely involved with the Historial de la Grande Guerre in Péronne/France. Together with Irina Renz they have written and edited the first German Encyclopedia of the First World War. SELLING POINTS: * The battle of the Somme has been coined by The English philosopher and pacifist Bertrand Russell as "maximum slaughter at minimum expense" * The "scorched earth policy" first practised on the Somme is an oft forgotten, or easily denied, aspect of a World War. Probably the reason why for the Germans - contrary to the British - it never developed into a region of national remembrance. * The losses on both sides were correspondingly high: more than 1.1 million men, twice the number at Verdun, were either killed, wounded or taken prisoner. ILLUSTRATIONS: 166 b/w plates

The Germans on the Somme

The Germans on the Somme PDF Author: Philip Gibbs
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Somme, 1st Battle of the, France, 1916
Languages : en
Pages : 42

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Book Description


Scorched Earth

Scorched Earth PDF Author: Gerhard Hirschfeld
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1781598606
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
This book discusses in detail the experience of German warfare in the first World War, focusing specifically on the battle of the Somme. The Somme, together with other regions of northern France, had also lain under German domination. Its inhabitants had been rigorously suppressed and their possessions carted off as booty. Finally, during their 1917 withdrawal, the Germans had subjected the whole region to Operation Alberich, a retreat involving unparalleled brutality which left the population in occupation of a wilderness wrought by war (the "scorched earth policy"). A well-known, and well-researched account, the authors have combined their research skills to produce a book which includes private testimonies. Amongst these are many unknown or previously unpublished letters and diaries as well as numerous photographs.

The Somme

The Somme PDF Author: Peter Barton
Publisher: Constable
ISBN: 9781849017190
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Peter Barton's landmark volume presents over 50 original panoramas of the battlegrounds of the Somme. They show what no other photographs can: the view from the trench parapet, and a great deal more. This revised edition also includes stunning new details of the use and misuse of an extraordinary network of 'Russian Saps' installed during the two months prior to battle. These tunnels beneath no man's land often brought the British - unseen - to within 10 metres of the German trenches, yet over-secrecy and poor communication led to most being left unexploited. In the sectors where they were employed, success was dramatic. Plus a host of previously unpublished personal testimony, and a fresh look at several unseen and forgotten aspects of the battle such as the Royal Engineers' Push Pipes, Bored Mines and huge Livens Flame Projectors. Here is the Somme as you have never seen it before. Praise for The Battlefields of the First World War: 'An extraordinary set of panoramic photographs that reveal the battlefields of the Western Front as never before.' The Times 'Astonishing ... made my heart sigh.' Independent 'Without doubt the best publication on the Great War in many years ... a superb piece of work.' Western Front Association

Germany in the Great War

Germany in the Great War PDF Author: Joshua Bilton
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1473876923
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
For the Central Powers, 1916 was a year of trial and error, of successes and failures, of innovation and of drastic changes. Tactics developed, while war aims mutated to suit the inertia of trench warfare. Advances were effectively countered with the development of new weaponry, or indeed aided by their inclusion. Across all fronts, whether at home or in Poland, citizens and soldiers alike stood fast against Entente forces. On the Western Front, bitter fighting continued apace. To the east the armies of Austro-Hungary, Germany and Bulgaria battled Entente forces. Meanwhile at sea, the German High Seas Fleet ambushed the Royal Navy off the coast of Denmark. On the Home Front, the poor harvest of 1916, coupled with a lack of transport, led to a winter of stark deprivation. As a consequence, the German government introduced what was effectively a system of rationing entitled, ‘sharing scarcity.’ While to the south, Ottoman forces fought Allied soldiers for control of Kut and Erzurum, a fortified trading port in eastern Turkey. Germany in the Great War: Verdun & Somme is the third publication in a five-part series. In addition to the author’s introduction and a chronology of events, five hundred contemporary photographs, many of which have never before been published in this country, are included.

The Germans on the Somme (Classic Reprint)

The Germans on the Somme (Classic Reprint) PDF Author: Philip Gibbs
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781331101635
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 42

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Book Description
Excerpt from The Germans on the Somme From January to May of this year the German Command on the Western front was concentrating all its energy and all its available strength in man power and gun power upon the attack of Verdun. The Crown Prince had staked all his reputation upon this adventure, which he believed would end in the capture of the strongest French fortress and the destruction of the French armies. He demanded men and more men until every unit that could be spared from other fronts of the line had been thrown into this furnace. Divisions were called in from other theatres of war, and increased the strength on the Western front to a total of about 130 divisions. Fear Of Our Offensive. But the months passed, and Verdun still held out above piles of German corpses on its slopes, and in June Germany looked East and saw a great menace. The Russian offensive was becoming violent. German generals on the Russian fronts sent desperate messages for help. "Send us more men" they said and from the Western front four divisions containing 39 battalions were sent to them. They must have been sent grudgingly, for now another menace threatened the enemy, and it was on the Western side. The British Armies were getting ready to strike. In spite of Verdun, France still had men enough - withdrawn from a part of the line in which they had been relieved by the British - to co-operate in a new attack. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Somme

Somme PDF Author: Hugh Sebag-Montefiore
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674970039
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 680

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Book Description
The notion of battles as the irreducible building blocks of war demands a single verdict of each campaign—victory, defeat, stalemate. But this kind of accounting leaves no room to record the nuances and twists of actual conflict. In Somme: Into the Breach, the noted military historian Hugh Sebag-Montefiore shows that by turning our focus to stories of the front line—to acts of heroism and moments of both terror and triumph—we can counter, and even change, familiar narratives. Planned as a decisive strike but fought as a bloody battle of attrition, the Battle of the Somme claimed over a million dead or wounded in months of fighting that have long epitomized the tragedy and folly of World War I. Yet by focusing on the first-hand experiences and personal stories of both Allied and enemy soldiers, Hugh Sebag-Montefiore defies the customary framing of incompetent generals and senseless slaughter. In its place, eyewitness accounts relive scenes of extraordinary courage and sacrifice, as soldiers ordered “over the top” ventured into No Man’s Land and enemy trenches, where they met a hail of machine-gun fire, thickets of barbed wire, and exploding shells. Rescuing from history the many forgotten heroes whose bravery has been overlooked, and giving voice to their bereaved relatives at home, Hugh Sebag-Montefiore reveals the Somme campaign in all its glory as well as its misery, helping us to realize that there are many meaningful ways to define a battle when seen through the eyes of those who lived it.

The Somme

The Somme PDF Author: Robin Prior
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300220294
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 399

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Book Description
Published in a new edition on the centenary of the seismic battle, this book provides the definitive account of the Somme and assigns responsibility to military and political leaders for its catastrophic outcome. “A magisterial piece of scholarship. . . . It is a model of historical research and should do much to further our understanding of the Great War and how it was fought.”—Contemporary Review “Revisionist history at its best.”—Library Journal (starred review) “A major addition to the literature on the military history of the Great War.”—Jay Winter

The Battle of the Somme

The Battle of the Somme PDF Author: Alan Axelrod
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1493022091
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Fought during 1916, the Battle of the Somme was conceived by the French and British as a great offensive to be waged against Germany even as France poured incredible numbers of men into the slaughterhouse that was the desperate defense of Verdun. The French general-in-chief, Joseph “Papa” Joffre, was especially anxious to go on the offensive. For the French high command cherished the belief, born in the era of Napoleon, that the success of French arms depended on attack and that defense was anathema to what the nationalistic philosopher Henri Bergson called the “élan vital” of the French people, a quality, he argued, that set the Gallic race apart from the rest of the world. After more than five months, the British eked out a penetration of some six miles into German territory. The cost had been 420,000 Britons killed or wounded (70,000 men per mile gained)—and most of these were from “Kitchener’s Army,” so-called Pals Battalions, working- and middle-class volunteers promised that they could fight alongside their friends, co-workers, and neighbors. This meant that the Somme, more than any other battle before or since, devastated the young male population of entire British towns, villages, and neighborhoods. French losses were just under 200,000. The Germans lost at least 650,000. Just as the French refused to give up ground at Verdun, the Germans held on stubbornly at the Somme—so stubbornly that General Ludendorff actually complained that his men “fought too doggedly, clinging too resolutely to the mere holding of ground, with the result that the losses were heavy.” The only thing “conclusive” about the Somme was the ineluctable fact of death. No battle ever fought in any conflict provided a stronger incentive for all sides to reach a negotiated peace—the “peace without victory” that Woodrow Wilson, still standing on the sidelines, urged the combatants to agree upon. Instead, the Kaiser, appalled both by Verdun and the Somme, relieved Falkenhayn and replaced him with Hindenburg and Ludendorff, who had achieved great success on the Eastern Front. The new commanders created two new defensive lines, both well behind the Somme front. On the one hand, it was a retreat. On the other, it was a commitment to draw the French and British farther east and invite them to sacrifice more of their soldiery. The modest advance the British made was but the prelude to additional slaughter.