World War I is often depicted as a slugfest that went nowhere and for most of the conflict that was true. Once both sides started digging in, there began nearly four years of trench warfare in which neither side was able to make any meaningful gains. However, it was in the mid summer of 1918 that all of that changed and it was at the French town of Amiens along the Somme River that Germany saw that the end was near.

Much of the success of the plan goes to British General Rawlingson, who devised an operation that used the Australian and Canadian troops under his command to provide a surprise attack. This was done by providing spoof radio traffic and other signs of activity that led the Germans to believe that these troops would be attacking in another sector of the front lines. The surprise that Rawlingson achieved was complete and allowed the Allied forces to overwhelm the defending German forces. Such was the loss of German troops, both in terms of casualties and in terms of prisoners during this short, but intense fighting, that it effectively put the Germans on the defensive. It also had a shattering effect on the morale of the German Army on all levels and provided much of the impetus towards the German desire to see the war brought to an end.

 The author covers the usual sections of a book in Osprey's Campaign series. It has a build up to the battle, a look at opposing commanders and their armies. Then it covers both the Allied and German plans at the time before going into the battle itself. This part consumes the four days of the battle and goes into significant detail of each day of the fighting. Such was the ferocity of things, that the Allies were pretty well spent after just four days and unable to continue with the advance that they had made for lack of support, mainly artillery and tanks.

This is all followed by the results of the battle and how it affected future actions. Finally, there is a nice section on the battlefiled today and how it looks. Apparently this area of France has not been overrun by housing developments and so is very much the same as it was nearly 90 years ago.

All of this is further enhanced by a superb selection of period photographs as well as the use of traditional and 3D bird's eye maps. In all, it adds another outstanding volume to the Campaign series and is a book that I am sure you will enjoy.

July 2008

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