From Bapaume to Passchendaele, 1917

The author chronicles infantry and artillery operations across the Western Front in 1917, moving from the Somme region through Arras and Messines to the grinding battles in Flanders. The narrative combines day-by-day reportage, descriptions of specific engagements and tactical features—mines, trenches, artillery barrages, pill-boxes—and human sketches of soldiers, civilians, and devastated villages. Sections trace advances, retreats, subsidiary actions by British, Canadian and Australian formations, and the impact of weather and terrain on offensives such as the drive toward Passchendaele. Interspersed are reflections on courage, suffering, and the industrial scale of modern warfare.