The French on the Somme: August 1914 – 30 June 1916: From Serre to the River Somme
By David O'Mara
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
In fact there was extensive fighting during the opening phase of he war, as both the French and Germans tried to outflank each other. Through the autumn and winter there was a struggle to hold the best tactical ground, with small scale but ferocious skirmishes from Beaumont Hamel to the Somme.
The conflict in what became known as the Glory Hole, close to the well known Lochnagar Crater, was particularly prolonged. Evidence of the fighting, mainly in the form of a large mine crater field, is visible today. The underground war was not confined to la Boisselle, with a similar crater field developing on Redan Ridge; whilst south of the Somme, to be covered in a future volume, great lengths of No Man's Land were dominated by mine craters.
Serre, best known to British readers for its association with the Pals Battalions on 1 July 1916, witnessed a significant, if local, French offensive in June 1915, with casualties running into the several thousands. It is a battle that has left its mark on the landscape today, with a French national cemetery and a commemorative chapel acting as memorials to the battle.
The book is introduced by a chapter describing the role of the area in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, a war which arguably provided the seed bed for the outbreak of war in 1914. Several battles were fought in Somme villages that were to become the victims of war all over again forty plus years later.
David O'Mara
Dave O'Mara has been visiting the battlefields for many years. For more than twenty years his interest has moved to the French army and their areas of operations and he has built up a considerable resource of histories and illustrations on it. He has explored and walked miles of the French front, from the North Sea to the Swiss border. With extensive knowledge of both the major allied armies, combined with his knowledge of the ground and ability to work with German sources, he is the ideal person to write about the French Somme, a part of the story of that terrible battlefield that has been largely neglected until now.
Related to The French on the Somme
Related ebooks
The French on the Somme: From Serre to the River Somme: August 1914 – 30 June 1916: Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Somme 1916: Touring the French Sector Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrankforce and the Defence of Arras 1940 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Battle of the Lys, 1918: South: Objective Ypres Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFort Douaumont: Revised Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Battle of the Lys, 1918: South: Objective Hazebrouck Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGold Beach: Inland from King, June 1944 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vimy Ridge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAisne 1914 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Somme 1916—The Butte de Warlencourt: Martinpuich & Le Sars Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe American Expeditionary Forces in the Great War: Meuse Argonne 1918: Breaking the Line Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ypres 1914: Langemarck Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fort Vaux Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The American Expeditionary Forces in WWI, Meuse-Argonne: Montfaucon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ypres 1914: Messines Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Villers-Bretonneux: Somme Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The St. Mihiel Offensive: 12 to 16 September 1918 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Canal Line: France and Flanders Campaign 1940 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dunkirk Perimeter and Evacuation 1940: France and Flanders Campaign Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWalking In the Footsteps of the Fallen: Verdun 1916 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWilfred Owen: On the Trail of the Poets of the Great War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Operation Goodwood: Attack by Three British Armoured Divisions - July 1944 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Merville Battery & the Dives Bridges Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOperation Varsity: The British & Canadian Airborne Assault Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYpres 1914: The Menin Road Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSuvla: August Offensive Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anzac: Sari Bair Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pegasus Bridge & Horsa Bridge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBruneval Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBattle for the Escaut, 1940: The France and Flanders Campaign Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Wars & Military For You
How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Resistance: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War & Other Classics of Eastern Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Art of War: The Definitive Interpretation of Sun Tzu's Classic Book of Strategy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Making of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Forgotten Highlander: An Incredible WWII Story of Survival in the Pacific Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Wager Disaster: Mayem, Mutiny and Murder in the South Seas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Operator: Firing the Shots that Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unacknowledged: An Expose of the World's Greatest Secret Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The God Delusion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Daily Creativity Journal Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The French on the Somme
0 ratings0 reviews