IanA Posted 22 January , 2019 Share Posted 22 January , 2019 Over two years ago, my wife ordered a book as a Christmas present. A couple of days ago it arrived. I thought of wishing the snail well as it sped back to Barnsley but then I saw the publication date is 2019. I've only flicked through (give me a year or two) but it's on the big side for a 'Battleground' guide and, given the status of the authors (Nigel Cave and Jack Sheldon) I wouldn't be surprised if it was worth waiting for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigelcave Posted 22 January , 2019 Share Posted 22 January , 2019 Blame me, all my fault (the delay, that is). Actually it is only a matter of ten or less pages longer than the other two in the Ypres 1914 trilogy (Langemarck and Messines), and looks slim compared to other recent BG titles, such as Marten Otte's books on the Meuse-Argonne 1918 and Montfaucon or Dave O'Mara's ones on the French on the Somme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassenach Posted 22 January , 2019 Share Posted 22 January , 2019 Didn't know about that one, but I will certainly be getting it. Thanks for the heads-up, Ian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanA Posted 22 January , 2019 Author Share Posted 22 January , 2019 Consider yourself blamed. I look forward to reading it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len Trim Posted 23 January , 2019 Share Posted 23 January , 2019 Great timing. I'm off to Ypres in May. Already have Langemarck and Messines. Menin to be bought immediately. Fingers crossed for a Brexit hassle free trip to the Somme and Ypres. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigelcave Posted 23 January , 2019 Share Posted 23 January , 2019 The Menin Road was by far the most difficult of the three to write, certainly from the BEF perspective. By the time that the battle came to an end (perhaps better to say by the time the BEF withdrew from the Salient for a few months) the theoretical ORBAT was a work of imagination, with tens of battalions, some split up, all considerably to severely depleted, crammed into a small area. It was an extraordinary example, IMHO, of command and control, particularly of capable and robust low level command at battalion and below, and of adaptability at higher command levels. It was a shattering battle for the BEF but one that the men who fought there could look back to with no little satisfaction. Not least amongst the features of the battle was effective Anglo-French cooperation. In working on this engagement the OH maps have been essential and I take my hat off to the cartographers who produced them and those who provided the necessary information. Very difficult to give a comprehensive account of the fighting in the area, even given the generous pagination (and in any case is not what Battleground books are about, at least as a primary aim). There is room yet for a full length narrative and academic study of the battle - Ian Beckett's Ypres: The First Battle 1914 Pearson Education 2004 - is the most recent and very good, but it is quite slim; and it does not make use of German sources, certainly unpublished or archival ones. What I would urge people to do is to get out and look at the ground. Unusual for the Ypres Salient area, it is a battlefield where post war development has not impinged to such a degree that a fertile imagination can often become a necessity. As a study of the 1914 BEF actions, particularly from a topographical viewpoint, I rate First Ypres' 'readability' today highly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len Trim Posted 3 February , 2019 Share Posted 3 February , 2019 Just finished first read through. Excellent attempt at describing a moving series of battles with units and sub units being patched in here there and every where. Now to get down to a second serious read with maps old and new including any Linesman maps that may be appropriate to plan our forthcoming trip in May. That will be at least four Battleground books in the packing. Dave O' Mara's new one on the French armies area of the Somme battle for use while staying at Avril's on the Somme and the three new Ypres 14 ones for use while staying at The Dugout in Ypres. Len Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIFFO Posted 3 February , 2019 Share Posted 3 February , 2019 Worth the wait thank you Nigel -Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASA1 Posted 13 February , 2019 Share Posted 13 February , 2019 I've been waiting eagerly for this title for some time; my particular interest is in the 1st Queen's and I thought the write up of the part the battalion played at Gheluvelt was very good. My only criticism is about the very last sentence of the book, where it states Lieutenant Colonel Pell was killed on 4th November whilst commanding 2nd Queen's; he was actually wounded whilst in command of 1st Queen's on 31st October and placed in the cellar of the farm being used as battalion HQ, where he was subsequently captured along with the battalion MO. He died in German hands on 4th November, was buried at Wervicq, and moved to Zantvoorde British Cemetery after the war. However this is only a minor quibble, I thought the trilogy of books was excellent and I too will be taking them on my next trip to the salient in May. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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