peter bartons panoramic books

[ypriana]

does any body have further information on the companion volumes to Peter Barton's "The Battelfields of the First World War" ?

I have looked at the Constable & Robinson (Publishers) website and it only states Oct '06 as the publication date for thte Somme edition and little else

Will it be similar to Peter's exisiting book with Panoramic photos accompanied by the excellent text/personal recollections ?

thanks in advance for any information/news.

[Andrew Hesketh]

I can only add that the Somme edition is expected for October and that there will be text and personal recollections.

[stiletto_33853]

I look forward to that Andrew, Hopefully it will be yet another must, yikes another one.

Andy

[SiegeGunner]

I can only add that the Somme edition is expected for October and that there will be text and personal recollections.

But no CDs this time ?

[ypriana]

that is fantastic news - hope there are cd's as well - it is a shame it could not be published to coincide with the 90th anniversary !

on another note there seems to be a lack of books on the 1916 Battle of Verdun - I know of the Alistair Horne/ Malcolm Brown and David Mason books but other than that not a lot ! I have visited the battlefield of Verdun several times and all seem to be in German or French

i know that interest is probably curtailed by the fact that it was not an English fought battle but that argument falls flat when you consider the amount of English books on the subject of Stalingrad/Eastern Front for example ?

Anyone know the reason - after all it is one of the major battles in history ? Does anyone know of any future books due to be published ??

Many thanks in advance.

[Andrew Hesketh]

Certainly there are panoramas, but I'm not sure about CD's. I presume so, but I don't know for certain.

[ypriana]

Constable & Robinson have just given me the following information on the forthcoming The Somme - The Untold Story -:

"Never seen before panoramas reveal new truths about the Battle of The Somme, in association with the IWM.

The unseen and untold story of the Somme, showing in newly released panoramas how the Allied high command miscalculated the opening move, and the extraordinary untold story of the unused saps.

The Battle of the Somme began with men striding across hundreds of metres of no-mans-land into a hail of machine gun fire. The unseen panoramas in this book record the full extent of machine gun emplacements in the German lines - guns optimistically meant to have been taken out by an earlier creeping barrage of artillery fire. Taken at huge personal risk by specialist photographers, each panorama reveals remarkable views of up to 160 degrees.

Plus, told here in full for the first time, the extraordinary story of the unused saps - over 10,000 feet of tunnels all leading up to just 25m from the German front lines. A combination of excessive secrecy and overconfidence led to their never being used despite years spent in their construction. They would have changed the initial course of the battle.

Also : unpublished testimony from all the different battalions who served on the Somme : eye opening German panoramas from German archives : stunning mapping throughout, with equivalent aerial photographs set alongside : and special feature spreads interpreting single panoramas with leader lines and thumbnail pics"

Publication date - October 26th 2006

ISBN - 1 84529 399 1

Price - £20

192 pages

Size - 210 x 260mm

200 illustrations with 4 gatefolds

This seems like it is going to be the perfect companion to Martin Middlebrooks "The First Day on the Somme"

Other volumes to follow - Vimy & Arras in Spring '07 + Passchendaele in Autumn '07

[Jonathan Saunders]

The Battle of the Somme began with men striding across hundreds of metres of no-mans-land into a hail of machine gun fire. The unseen panoramas in this book record the full extent of machine gun emplacements in the German lines - guns optimistically meant to have been taken out by an earlier creeping barrage of artillery fire. Taken at huge personal risk by specialist photographers, each panorama reveals remarkable views of up to 160 degrees.

Plus, told here in full for the first time, the extraordinary story of the unused saps - over 10,000 feet of tunnels all leading up to just 25m from the German front lines. A combination of excessive secrecy and overconfidence led to their never being used despite years spent in their construction. They would have changed the initial course of the battle.

Dependant on when the photos were taken this might put an interesting and new perspective on how we should deal with High Command and the Battle of the Somme.