The Western Front Diaries

Discussion in 'World War 1' started by spidge, Dec 25, 2008.

  1. spidge

    spidge Active Member

    The Western Front Diaries by Jonathon King.

    My niece gave me "The Western Front Diaries" by Jonathon King (624 pages) for Christmas.
    (She must have known something)

    Will be a very good read I am sure.

    Check this out!

    http://www.gould.com.au/The-Western-Front-Diaries-p/sim005.htm


    Hidden under the shadow of Gallipoli for decades, the breathtaking story of what really happened on the Western Front has finally been brought into the bright light of day.

    And here is what the story is ... The Anzac's Western Front campaign has a greater impact than Gallipoli in almost every respect:

    * five times more soldiers (250,000 rather than 50,000)
    * more than five times the amount of men killed (46,000 compared to 8,709)
    * more than five times as many battles, with troops serving there for four times longer, and
    * five times the sum of Victoria Crosses were awarded to Australians (a total of 52).

    The Diggers serving on the Western Front also helped win the war, but it was at an almost unfathomable cost.

    Using hundreds of brutally honest and extraordinary eyewitness accounts of the diggers in the muddy and bloody trenches, 'Western Front Diaries' reproduces their private diaries, letters, postcards and photographs to tell of their heart-rending experiences, battle by bloody battle. With its gallery of unpublished photographs, 'Western Front Diaries' is straight from the mouths of men who fought there ... it doesn't get more honest, raw or breathtaking that this ...

    Contents:
    Foreword
    - Steve Gower, AO, AO (Mil)
    - Australian War Memorial
    - In Flanders Fields and the Menin Gate Reply
    Preface
    - Five tmes greater than Gallipoli
    Introduction
    - All too quiet on the Western Front

    Part 1: 1914-1915
    The stage is set for the Anzacs' arrival
    - A seemingly inexorable buildup
    - 1914: The first year of war
    - 1915: The second year of war

    Part 2: 1916
    Out of the frying pan into the fire
    - Battle of Verdun
    - The first Anzacs start leaving Egypt
    - First frontline experience
    - First Australian raid
    - The Battle of the Somme, history's worst battlefield toll
    First big battle
    - Fromelles, the worst one-day death toll
    Second big battle
    - Pozieres, the worst killing field of all
    - Pozieres, Percy Smythe's account
    Third big battle
    - Mouquet Farm, dying in the mud

    Part 3: 1917
    The year of neck-and-neck struggle
    - January 1917, winter report
    - Germany's strategic retreat
    - Battle for Lagnicourt
    - Battle of Arras
    - America joins the fray
    - Battle of Vimy Ridge
    Fourth big battle series: Bullecourt (1) and (2)
    - Bullecourt (1), abandoned by tanks in no-man's land
    - Lagniciourt, losing and regaining a village on the same day
    - Bullecourt (2), no thanks to the tanks
    Fifth big battle series, Ypres in Flanders
    - Messines
    - (i) Menin Road
    - (ii) Polygon Wood
    - (iii) Broodseinde
    - (iv) Poelcapelle
    - (v) Passchendaele
    - Battle of Cambrai

    Part 4: 1918
    Year of victory on the Western Front
    - The German Spring Offensive
    Sixth big battle series: Battles that halted the German offensive
    - Halting battle (i), Hebuterne village
    - Halting battle (ii), first Dernancourt
    - Halting battle (iii), first battle for Morlamcourt
    - Halting battle (iv), first Villers-Bretonneux
    - Halting battle (v), second Dernancourt
    - Halting battle (vi), Hangard Wood
    - Halting battle (vii), Hazebrouck (aka Battle of the Lys)
    Seventh big battle series: Villers-Bretonneux and beyond the Somme
    - Turning point battle (i), second Villers-Bretonneux
    - Turning point battle (ii), second Morlancourt
    - Turning point battle (iii), Ville-sur-Ancre
    - Battle of Ainse
    - Battle of Cantigny
    - Battle of Belleau Wood
    - Battle of Noyon-Montdidier
    - Turning point battle (iv), third Morlancourt
    Eighth big battle: the long-awaited breakthrough Hamel
    Ninth big battle: Amiens, Germany's 'black day'
    Tenth big battle series: post Amiens mop-ups
    - Mop-up battle (i), Lihons
    - Mop-up battle (ii), Etinehem
    - Mop-up battle (iii), Proyart
    - Mop-up battle (iv), Transloy-Loupert system
    - Mop-up battle (v), Chuignes
    Eleventh big battle series: final victory roll
    - Victory roll (i) & (ii), Mont St Quentin and Peronne
    - Victory roll (iii), Hindenburg outpost line (aka Hagicourt)
    - Victory roll (iv), St Quentin Canal
    - Victory roll (v), Montbrehain, the Australians' last battle

    Part 5: Post War
    The high prices of peace
    - Combatants killed
    - Total killed
    - Civilian deaths
    - Apres la guerre
    - Farewell to old France
    - Returning to Australia
    - Tragedy and triumph
    - Success stories
    - He sent his son
    Appendix
    Timeline of World War I
    Who was who
    Territorial recruitments of the AIF in WWI
    Allied formations in WWI
    Contributors
    Acknowledgements
    Picture Credits
    Bibliography
    Index
     

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