Osprey's British Infantryman vs German Infantryman

This is the fifth volume of Osprey's new series 'Combat' This series looks at the combat capabilities of opposing forces at a specific time and place in world history. This volume pertains to the British and opposing German forces in WWI at the Somme during 1916.

At this point in time, both sides had realized that the war was not going to be over in a few months and had started a build up of their forces back home through recruitment and other measures. For the Germans, military service had been a part of life for every male growing up. It was required for him to partake in training and service to be ready for when he was called up to fight. Reserve units were everywhere with many cities having several available for use.

On the British side of things, initially everyone was either regular army or territorial units with some reserves. By the middle of 1916, a great deal of the men at the front were those who had been recruited earlier and were part of what was known at the time as the 'New Army'. These were men who had not seen battle and had not had the sort of rigorous and on-going training that the previous members of the army were used to. It was also a time that, due to the rapid expansion of the army, there were few really experienced officers and NCOs to go around.

For the German side of things, the situation wasn't quite a dire, though by no means perfect. They were basically in a defensive mode, feeling that it was more prudent to allow the Entente to suffer the greater losses that come with attack. The Germans also had a better feel for defense and did their defense in depth. This means that there were several layers of defenses with the very forward ones lightly attended, knowing that in need, it would be relatively easy to bring up the needed reinforcements. This kept the casualties from the intense Entente bombardment prior to attacks down to a minimum. It also allowed Germany guns to be keyed into the areas where the British or French would be attacking. The Germans were also experts at setting up cross fire from machine gun emplacements and often a major percentage of a unit would not make it across no-man's land.

However, the British, though not exactly well led, were very brave and during the Somme, many of them were able to reach their objectives. However, without a way to contact other units (field radios were too heavy and impractical for assaults and telephones often had their wires cut by shelling), they were often unable to take advantage of their gains.

Thus it was at Somme in 1916. Both sides experienced horrific casualties, objectives were reduced to meaningless rubble and no one gained a thing.

In this book, we look at the background, training and tactics of both sides at this time. We see the strengths and weaknesses of both sides and get a chance to read about the progress of the fight and how the soldiers on both side fought during the battles. It is this look into the make-up of the two armies and how they put their training to work that really is the heart of this series. We learn from their actions what worked well and what did not. We see what these men went through and how the battle affected them and their comrades.

The book is superbly written and has some very compelling period photos and superb art work that only enhance what is a pretty gruesome story that was so typical of the First World War. It is a book that draws in the reader and gives him a sense of what it was like. A book I fully enjoyed reading and can quite easily recommend to you.