THE SOMME THEN AND NOW

John Giles

This book is a magnificent salute to the infantrymen of World War I.
EAST KENT MERCURY

In this revised edition of The Somme Then and Now, published on the 70th anniversary of the start of the 'Big Push', John Giles has succeeded in recapturing the atmosphere of an era when men fought savage battles in and around water-filled trenches amongst the stinking litter of war.Eye-witness accounts of the bitter fighting are blended with contemporary photographs and comparison pictures taken by the author of the same spots today. The result is a salute to all those men who marched along the roads of Picardy, from Amiens and the surrounding camps, through the ruined town of Albert and onwards to the trenches of the Somme battleground. Sadly for so many of them, there was no return.

ISBN 0 900913 41 X
SIZE 8½"×10½"
154 PAGES
300 ILLUSTRATIONS
£22.95
CODE F011

COMPLETE CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

INTRODUCTION TO REVISED EDITION

THE PLAN AND PREPARATIONS
A TOWN CALLED ALBERT
'IN THE EVENT OF MY DEATH'

PART 1

THE ATTACK IS LAUNCHED
Fonquevillers and Gommecourt
Serre (including 'A Day to Remember')
Beaumont Hamel
Newfoundland Memorial Park
Beaucourt Hamel and The Ancre
Thiepval, Schwaben Redoubt and Leipzig Redoubt
Ovillers-la-Boisselle and La Boisselle
Fricourt
Mametz
Carnoy and Montauban
Casualties of 1st July

PART 2

THE FOLLOWING DAYS
Mametz Wood
Contalmaison
Trones Wood

THE BREAKING OF THE GERMAN SECOND LINE POSITION
(The Battle of Bazentin Ridge)
Longueval and Delville Wood
High Wood
'A Last Letter'
Waterlot Farm
Pozières
Guillemont
Ginchy

THE DEBUT OF THE TANKS

THE BATTLE OF FLERS-COURCELETTE
Flers
Martinpuich
Courcelette

THE BATTLE OF MORVAL (including Combles)

THIEPVAL FALLS AT LAST (including Mouquet Farm)

THE CONCLUDING WEEKS

THE BATTLE OF THE ANCRE

TO SUM UP

TOTAL CASUALTIES OF THE SOMME OFFENSIVE