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GallipoliOne of the most famous campaigns in history, Gallipoli forced Churchill from office, established the reputation of Turkey’s iconic leader Kemal Ataturk and marked Australia’s emergence as a nation in her own right. The attempt to seize the Dardanelles, capture Constantinople and knock Turkey out of the war has been portrayed as the one imaginative strategy of the war. But it proved catastrophic for the Allies right from the first landings when the seas ran red with blood. Peter Hart believes that our perception of Gallipoli has been mistaken for too long. The campaign was not a brilliant idea betrayed by bad luck and incompetent local commanders. It was a lunacy that could never succeed, an idiocy generated by muddled thinking. By attacking the Turks, the Allies merely diverted huge numbers of troops and munitions which should have been fighting the main enemy - the Germans - on the Western Front. When it came to the crunch Gallipoli was a sideshow. link to a review on the Bookbag website link to a review in the Financial Times link to a review in the Irish Times Click on this link to buy from Amazon: Gallipoli |
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1918: A Very British VictoryIn the spring of 1918 the German army launched a series of devastating offensives against the French and British lines on the Western Front. For four months they threw literally everything they had at the Allies, sending them reeling all the way back to the Marne. But despite the most appalling losses, the British did not break, and when the German advance ran out of steam in the summer, the Allies finally turned the tables on them and began the astonishing advance that would bring an end to the war. In a conflict known for its static battles, 1918 provided some of the most dramatic, mobile battles of the century. This book captures the desperation of the ordinary British soldiers, fighting with their backs to the wall as they clung on to their fragile lines. Drawing on the dramatic personal accounts of men who were there - both commanders and ordinary soldiers - Peter Hart brings to life the sheer suspense of waiting for the German attack, the desperate turmoil of the retreat, and the nail-biting turning of the tide which brought an end to the war. Click on this link to buy from Amazon: |
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The SommeOn July 1916, Douglas Haig's army launched the 'Big Push' that was supposed finally to bring an end to the stalemate on the Western Front. What happened next was a human catasrophe: scrambling over the top into the face of the German machine guns and artillery first, almost 20,000 British soldiers were killed that day alone, and twice as many wounded. The battle did not stop there, however. It dragged on for another four months, leaving the battlefield strewn with literally hundreds of thousands of bodies. read the reviews to the UK edition link to review of US edition in The New York Times. link to review of US edition in The Boston Globe link to review of US edition in The Washington Post Click on this link to buy from Amazon: |
JutlandThe Battle of Jutland was every bit as dramatic and agonising as the great land battles of the Western Front. In this ground-breaking book Nigel Steel and Peter Hart draw out the compelling human story of Jutland in an attempt to return it to its rightful place alongside the Somme and Passchendaele as one of the key episodes of the Great War. Click on this link to buy from Amazon: Jutland, 1916: Death in the Grey Wastes (Cassell Military Paperbacks) |
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Bloody AprilWhen the British and Canadian infantry went over the top in April 1917 they faced some of the most impregnable defensive postions on the whole Western Front. Within just a few hours they had smashed their way into the complex warren of German trenches facing Arras. Their extraordinary achievement was made possible through the heroic efforts and sacrifices of the Royal Flying Corps. Click on this link to buy from Amazon: Bloody April: Slaughter in the Skies Over Arras, 1917 (Cassell) |
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The Somme - Audio Book5 CD set with a running time of 6 hours 30 minutes. Narrated by Tim Pigott-Smith and featuring interviews recorded with the soldiers who fought in the battle. Preface read by Peter Hart. Click on this link to buy from Amazon: |
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PasschendaeleOn 31 July 1917 British troops began their attempt to break out of the Ypres Salient. The ensuing battle encompassed some of the most wretched conditions endured by any of the belligerent armies, and came to epitomise the futility and pathos of the whole of the First World War. Click on this link to buy from Amazon: Passchendaele: The Sacrificial Ground (Cassell Military Paperbacks) |
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Aces FallingBy 1918 the great First World War 'aces' had become the stuff of legend, and names like Manfred von Richthofen, James McCudden and Edward Mannock were powerful symbols to the warring nations. As the war changed around them the aces were pushed to their physical and mental limits. The effects of constant high altitude flying without oxygen in open cockpits slowly eroded their health. Increasingly they were tortured by inner fears that they might share the fate of the men they had killed, and as the year wore on the aces began to fall, one by one. Click on this link to buy from Amazon: |
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