Passchendaele: The Bloody Battle That Nearly Lost The Allies The War

Soldier One hundred years on... provides a fresh perspective on the Battle of Passchendaele, challenging the notion that it was a breakthrough moment and arguing that it nearly lost the Allies the war. Paul Ham's examination of the culpability of governments and military commanders reveals new evidence of the battle's devastating impact.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 592 pages
Publication date: 17 June 2021
Publisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd

Soldier, one hundred years on, let us reflect on the Battle of Passchendaele, a harrowing chapter from the First World War. On July 18, 1917, the Allied forces launched a massive artillery barrage against an entrenched German army outside the town of Ypres. This was the opening salvo of one of the most ferociously fought and debilitating encounters of the war.

Few battles would encapsulate the utter futility of the war better than what became known as the Battle of Passchendaele. By the time the British and Canadian forces finally captured Passchendaele village on November 6, the Allies had suffered over 271,000 casualties, and the German army over 217,000.

Passchendaele: Requiem for Doomed Youth delves into the lives of ordinary men on both sides, who endured this constant state of siege with a real awareness that they were being gradually, deliberately felled. In this powerful documentary, Paul Ham tells the story of an army caught in the grip of an extraordinary power struggle—both global and national. As Prime Minister Lloyd George and Commander Haigs relationship deteriorated beyond repair, so a terrible battle of attrition was needlessly and painfully prolonged.

Ham lays down a powerful challenge to the ways in which we have previously seen this monumental battle. Through an examination of the culpability of governments and military commanders in a catastrophe that destroyed the best part of a generation, Paul Ham argues that Passchendaele, far from being a breakthrough moment, was the battle that nearly lost the Allies the war.

Paul Ham brings new tools to the job, unearthing fresh evidence of a deeply disturbing sort. He has a magpie eye for the telling detail. Ben Macintyre, The Times

Weight: 430g
Dimension: 128 x 198 x 42 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781784163099