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The year 1916 was one of the great turning-points in British history: as
the youthful hopes of a generation were crushed in a desperate
struggle to survive, and traditional attitudes to authority were
destroyed for ever. On paper, few battles have ever been so
meticulously planned. Yet while there were good political reasons to
launch a joint offensive with a French Army demoralized by huge
casualties at Verdun, the raw troops on the ground knew nothing of
that. A hundred and fifty thousand were killed in the punishing
shellfire, the endless ordeal of attack and counter-attack, twice that
number were left maimed or wounded. Here, almost for the first time,
Lyn Macdonald lets the men who were there give their own testimony.
Their stories are vivid, harrOwing, sometimes terrifying - yet shot
through with humour, immense courage and an astonishing spirit of
resilience.
What the reader will longest remember are the words - heartbroken,
blunt, angry - of the men who lived through the bloodbath ... a
worthy addition to the literature of the Great War - Daily Mail