Elegy: The First Day on the Somme

By Andrew Roberts

Book Overview

In the rolling countryside by the river Somme, British troops rose from their front-line trenches at 7.30am on a beautiful summer's day. They prepared for an offensive on German lines, after a week-long bombardment was supposed to have destroyed the enemy's barbed-wire and trenches. Yet before the sun went down, 57,471 of these men were casualties. The wire had not been cut; the German machine gunners had been waiting. It was the worst day in the history of the British Army. Andrew Roberts evokes the pity and horror of that terrible morning with a masterly grasp of the military realities that led to such a disaster. His moving book is above all the story of how tens of thousands of ordinary men trudged stoically to their deaths. Book jacket.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1784080020
• ISBN13: 9781784080020
• Release Date: June 2016
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.1" x 7.7"