They are prophetic, recognis- became known after the war - was to the British ing before the first Christmas of the war that the what Verdun was to become for the French confrontation was to be a long and bitter nation - a symbol of freedom, and the most struggle; a struggle that would leave a lasting symbolic battlefield of the Western Front. [...] It has often been the soldiers left it at the beginning of the Advance surmised that had Edmonds not been engaged to Victory in late 1918, and in such a state of on the mammoth task of writing the official preservation as to allow the reconstruction of the history - a sign outside his office in Whitehall 'social history' of the war beneath the surface in stated 'Visitors are warned that any time w [...] The part they were to play ground now lay between the French town of in the First Battle of Ypres - and indeed the Armentieres fourteen kilometres to the south of whole of the war - was crucial. [...] Of tools and stores, THE FIRST WINTER - THE SLIDE we had practically none, and the majority of INTO STAGNATION the few tools that could be collected were of The British Expeditionary Force, with the help of the 'local' pattern and not suited to either the French and Belgian Allies, could indeed be British infantry or the task in hand. [...] In one of the many ironies of the war, these same sodden, overlooked positions would give British engineers a critical advantage when the war beneath the trenches began - but for the moment - and not for the last time - the weather was as much the enemy as the Germans.
Authors
- Bibliography, etc. Note
- Includes bibliographical references and index
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- 940.4/144
- Dewey Decimal Edition Number
- 22
- General Note
- Co-published by Spellmount Publishers Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- Geographic Area Code
- e-be---
- ISBN
- 9780773573116 9780773529496
- LCCN
- D607.3
- LCCN Item number
- B38 2005eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- CaOONL
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (304 p.)
- Published in
- Canada
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)slc00215116 (OCoLC)719733615 (CaOOCEL)420137
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Transcribing agency
- CaOONL
Table of Contents
- CONTENTS 4
- FOREWORD 6
- PREFACE 8
- AUTHORS' NOTE 10
- ABBREVIATIONS 10
- INTRODUCTION 11
- I: FLANDERS FIELDS: THE YPRES SALIENT 14
- II: FROM SIEGE WAR TO WORLD WAR 28
- III: SAPPERS AND MINERS 41
- IV: MINE WARFARE, TUNNELLERS AND PIONIERE, 1915 54
- V: KRIEGSGEOLOGIE: GOING UNDERGROUND 72
- VI: THE SILENT WAR 98
- VII: ENEMIES BELOW 126
- VIII: THE MINE WAR DEEPENS, 1915-1917 143
- IX: 'EARTHQUAKING' THE RIDGE: MESSINES, JUNE 1917 163
- X: MOUNTAINS IN THE SKY: MESSINES AND AFTER 185
- XI: 'A HOLE IN THE GROUND WITH A LID ON' 203
- XII: DEGREES OF PROTECTION, 1917-1918 225
- XIII: BACK TO THE FRONT: THE LEGACY 265
- EPILOGUE 290
- SOURCES 295
- BIBLIOGRAPHY 298
- PICTURE AND ILLUSTRATION REFERENCES 301
- INDEX 302
- A 302
- B 302
- C 302
- D 302
- E 303
- F 303
- G 303
- H 303
- I 303
- J 303
- K 303
- L 303
- M 303
- N 304
- O 304
- P 304
- R 304
- S 304
- T 305
- U 305
- V 305
- W 305
- Y 305
- Z 305