THE BIG PUSH: A PORTRAIT OF THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME.

London: Cassell, 1961. 177 pp, 8vo (8 3/4" H). B&w photographs, maps. "At half past seven on the morning of the first of July 1916, along a front extending for eighteen miles in the valley of the Somme, an intensive bombardment which had continued since dawn lifted, and fourteen divisions of British troops stumbled out of their trenches to attack the enemy. This was the climax of Sir Douglas Haig's carefully conceived plan to break the interminable deadlock of trench warfare on the Western Front, and score a resounding and dramatic victory over the German forces. Haig's design foundered within a few hours among the defences of Fricourt, La Boisells, and Thiepval, at the appalling cost of twenty thousand British soldiers killed and thirty-five thousand wounded. But the official dates for The Battle of the Somme are from 1st July to 18th, November 1916. The 'Big Push' went on, the preliminary bombardments, the attacks, the horrifying slaughter - every single casualty being measured in terms of individual pain, misery, and sacrifice. Belief in the High Command that prolonged shelling must reduce an entrenched enemy to inertia and impotence, easy prey for advancing infantry, died hard. It persisted throughout the autumn and into the following year, when the same ghastly pattern was repeated at Passchendaele. It was not fully discredited till the full potential of armoured vehicles was realized and military concepts, bred in minor theatres of war before the turn of the century, were rejected. (This book) provides a critical, and immensely readable analysis of the policy, planning, and action of the British and French armies at the Battle of the Somme, a battle in which the casualties of the British army alone exceeded those suffered by it during the whole of the Second World War. An important historical account of a great military blunder, it is also a vivid portrait of the tragedy, the unspeakable horror, and the courage, which are common to any war at any time, but which were peculiarly intensified in France and Flanders from 1914 to 1918." Book is lightly cocked, has light edge wear at top/bottom of spine and at corners, light wrinkling at top/bottom of spine, light browning on edges of text block. Dust jacket has been price clipped, has moderate edge wear, tiny chips/tears at top/bottom of spine and flap-folds, light soiling at top/bottom edges, two scuffs on rear panel, old tape on inside of top/bottom of spine.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good-/Good+.