1918 - The Decisive Year in Soldiers' own Words and Photographs

by Richard Van Emden

Overview

1918: The Decisive Year in Soldiers' own Words and Photographs is the next volume in the remarkable series of books from the best-selling First World War historian Richard van Emden. Revisiting the winning formula of diaries and memoirs, and above all original photographs taken on illegally held cameras by the soldiers themselves, Richard tells the story of 1918, of both the ferocious spring offensive that so nearly brought victory for the Germans in the West, and the tenacious British rearguard fight that thwarted them. The book also tells the vivid story of the Allied breakthrough and the return to open warfare that was to bring victory in November 1918. His previous books, The Road to Passchendaele and The Somme have sold over 30,000 copies in hardback and softback, proving that the public appetite is undiminished for new, original stories illustrated with over 150 rarely or never-before-seen battlefield images.

The author has an outstanding collection of over 5,000 privately-taken and overwhelmingly unpublished photographs, revealing the war as it was seen by the men involved, an existence that was sometimes exhilarating, too often terrifying, and occasionally even fun.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526752321
Publisher:	Pen and Sword
Publication date:	02/21/2019
Series:	The National Archives
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Richard van Emden interviewed 270 veterans of the Great War, has written extensively about the soldiers' lives, and has worked on many television documentaries, always concentrating on the human aspects of war, its challenge and its cost to the millions of men involved. Richard van Emden’s books have sold over 660,000 copies and have appeared in The Times’ bestseller chart on a number of occasions.

He has also worked on more than a dozen television programmes on the Great War, including the award-winning Roses of No Man’s Land, Britain’s Boy Soldiers, A Poem for Harry, War Horse: the Real Story, Teenage Tommies with Fergal Keane and most recently, Hidden Histories: WW1’s Forgotten Photographs. He lives in London.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 Watching and Waiting 8

Chapter 2 'Even the ruins are ruined' 62

Chapter 3 'Mein Gott! New troops!' 114

Chapter 4 Wrong Place, Wrong Time 154

Chapter 5 Turning the Tide 198

Chapter 6 Germany Defeated 246

Chapter 7 The Blessed 306

Acknowledgements 360

Sources and Permissions 362

Index 366

Editorial Reviews

"Van Emden has a keen eye for putting accounts into conversation with one another and letting them speak for themselves."

First World War Studies

The author takes the reader through the mundane, absurd, terrifying, and cynical viewpoints of these soldiers as they try and not only stay alive but come to terms with the death and destruction that stalks them every day.

New York Journal of Books