Great Britain. Army. British Expeditionary Force. - Somme Offensive: March 1918

Somme Offensive

March 1918

Andrew Rawson

First published in Great Britain in 2018 by

PEN & SWORD MILITARY

an imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

47 Church Street

Barnsley

South Yorkshire S70 2AS

Copyright Andrew Rawson 2018

ISBN 978 1 52672 332 1

eISBN 978 1 52672 333 8

Mobi ISBN 9978 1 52672 334 5

The right of Andrew Rawson to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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This book focuses on the British armys traumatic experience during the German offensive on the Somme between 21 March and 5 April 1918 and many sources have been used to create it. The backbone of the story comes from the two military operations in France and Belgium which belong to the twenty-eight volume series of Official Histories on the Great War. The compiler, Brigadier General James Edmonds, found that record-keeping during the battle was often less than satisfactory and many documents were missing. This is hardly surprising, considering how fast battalions were moving and how often units were surrounded or overrun. Lieutenant General Launcelot Kiggell interviewed many officers to try and fill in the gaps but the end result is an uninspiring and bland record of what were very exciting and dangerous times.

A lot of information comes from the divisional and regimental histories published in the years after the Great War. The quality of information these published histories give varies tremendously. Some are taken from the unit war diaries while others give the bare details. But they all add something to the Official History account. They always explain the successes and disasters although they do tend to blame the actions of others rather than their own unit. But they are all good at describing the heroic exploits of brave men in their regiment or division.