First published 2016
The morning of July 1, 1916 arrives with the thunder of artillery falling silent after five days of bombardment. British and French soldiers prepare for their assault on German positions above the Ancre and Somme rivers. The Big Push begins as 16 divisions advance across no man's land, expecting to find the enemy destroyed. Instead, German machine gunners emerge from their deep shelters and open fire. Within hours, the British Fourth Army counts 57,470 casualties while the French Sixth Army loses 1,590 men. The Germans suffer 10,000 losses of their own. This first day becomes the opening chapter of 141 days of continuous fighting that will claim between 750,000 and one million lives. Roberts captures this catastrophe through the testimonies of those who lived it: wounded soldiers, survivors who watched friends die, and families who received the dreaded telegrams. Modern weapons technology transforms a summer day into devastation on an industrial scale.
Genres: history, 20th-century, military-history, world-war-i
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-drama, war-story
Setting: Ancre, France, Germany, Somme
Period: 1916
304 pages · Paperback · Head of Zeus
Content warnings: death, graphic-violence, war