From the Somme to Victory

The British Army's Experience on the Western Front 1916–1918

Peter Simkins

• Publisher: Praetorian Press
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781473841048
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World War I
• Index: History

Peter Simkins has established a reputation over the last forty years as one of the most original and stimulating historians of the First World War. He has made a major contribution to the debate about the performance of the British Army on the Western Front. This collection of his most perceptive and challenging essays, which concentrates on British operations in France between 1916 and 1918, shows that this reputation is richly deserved. He focuses on key aspects of the army's performance in battle, from the first day of the Somme to the Hundred Days, and gives a fascinating insight into the developing theory and practice of the army as it struggled to find a way to break through the German line. His rigorous analysis undermines some of the common assumptions - and the myths - that still cling to the history of these British battles.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• List of Illustrations
• List of Maps
• Abbreviations
• Introduction and Acknowledgements
• Chapter 1 ‘Everyman at War’ Revisited
• Chapter 2 The Lessons and Legacy of the Somme: Changing Historical Perspectives
• Chapter 3 The Performance of New Army Divisions on the Somme, 1916
• Chapter 4 A Key Point in the Learning Process?: The 18th (Eastern) Division and the Capture of Thiepval, September 1916
• Chapter 5 Somme Footnote: The Battle of the Ancre and the Struggle for Frankfort Trench, November 1916
• Chapter 6 ‘The Absolute Limit’: British Divisions at Villers-Bretonneux, 1918
• Chapter 7 ‘Somewhat Ambitious’: V Corps and the Recapture of Thiepval and the Ancre Heights, August 1918
• Chapter 8 ‘Up the Sharp End’: The Experience of the 12th (Eastern) Division in the Hundred Days, August–November 1918
• Notes
• Sources and Bibliography