A great battle whose memory has begin to fade

books:

	• The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War Martin Gilbert Holt Paperbacks, 2007 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 15 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The personal Somme

This book is excellent giving the over all battle stratagy and the individual soldger point of view. The brutal nature of trench warfare is brought to stunning reality in this book as well as the cost of families. It is amazing just how full of life, passion and smarts these men who gave their lives for their country were. The number of those who were never identified is mind bogeling. It will bring a tear to your eye and let you know just how special those who fought on the Somme were. My own grand mother lost here boy friend on the Somme.

Too many names

The history part isn't bad, but there are all too many "XXX is buried at YYY" references -- including some about soldiers that aren't referred to in the book otherwise; the only reference to them is their burial place!

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Great Work by a distinguished historian

I have read a number of Martin Gilbert's works including this fine book and his great biography of Winston Churchill. I am visiting the Somme battlefield over the Labor Day weekend and found this to be excellent reading in preparation for that visit. I also highly recommend Lynn MacDonald's book on the same subject with lots of first person accounts of the battle. The Somme is the greatest tragedy in all of British military history.

GREAT SERVICE

I got this item for my son-in-law for Christmas and it arrived fast and in excellent condition. He loved it! Thanks for the terrific transaction!
Marty Williams

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A great battle whose memory has begin to fade

Gilbert's history of the Battle of the Somme will draw those who already have an interest in World War I. If you know little, a better place to begin is Gilbert's general history of the war, "The First World War: A General History." As others have noted, Gilbert uses a particular technique: he writes about the details of the four month battle, but interwoven are details of the experiences of particular soldiers, including where they are buried. It is rather like the style that Ken Burns uses in his television histories of the Civil War and World War II. I like this emphasis on the particular, since the Great War, as it was called, is fading in modern memory. Recently my husband and I visited the grave of a great uncle killed in 1918 in the second Battle of the Marne. The grave site at Oise-Aisne is beautifully kept (Joyce Kilmer is buried here), but there were no tourists, as opposed to the World War II monuments in Normandy, with which most people are familiar. If you find yourself in northern France, make a little time for these World War I memorials. If not, Gilbert's history of the Somme will help you feel as if you were there.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

?Gilbert has unearthed fascinating details of the campaign . . . An unforgettable read.??The Philadelphia Inquirer At 7:30 a.m. on July 1, 1916, the first Allied soldiers climbed out of their trenches along the Somme River in France and charged into no-man?s-land, toward the barbed wire and machine guns at the German front lines. In the months that followed, the fifteen-mile-long territory erupted into the epicenter of the Great War, marking a pivotal moment in both the war and military history as tanks first appeared on the battlefield and air war emerged as a devastating and decisive factor in battle. All told, there were more than one million casualties, with 310,000 men dead in just 138 days.
In this vivid account of one of history?s most destructive battles, distinguished historian Martin Gilbert tracks the experiences of foot soldiers, generals, and everyone in between. With new photographs, journal entries, original maps, and military planning documents, The Somme is the most authoritative and affecting account of this bloody turning point in the Great War.

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