TOP 5 MUST-READ BOOKS ON THE HUNDRED DAYS OFFENSIVE
TITLES ABOUT THE OUTBREAK OF WWI ARE COMMON, BUT THOSE DEALING WITH THE LAST DAYS OF THE CONFLICT ARE MUCH THINNER ON THE GROUND
“THIS IS A GENEROUSLY ILLUSTRATED BOOK – IN FACT THE EMPHASIS IS OFTEN ON THE PICTURES RATHER THAN THE WORDS (MANY OF THE PHOTOGRAPHS HAVE NEVER BEEN PUBLISHED BEFORE)”
Stumbling Towards Victory: The Final Year Of The Great War Martyn Lawrence
Published by the Royal Armouries, this book benefits from that institution’s immense collection of artefacts and photographs. This is a generously illustrated book – in fact the emphasis is often on the pictures rather than the words (many of the photographs have never been published before) – but there is authoritative writing here as well. In one telling paragraph, the book explains how Germany was crippled by the naval blockade, making it impossible to replace guns when they were captured by the Allies. The German war effort was thus being slowly strangled, rendering the country increasingly vulnerable to advances in arms technology made by the Allies.
Hundred Days: The End Of The Great War Nick Lloyd
The author’s great-uncle was killed in action just weeks before the end of hostilities in 1918. As well as this personal interest in the conflict, Lloyd noticed how few books had been written about the last days of the war, and he set about addressing this gap in the historiography with a well-written account of the Hundred Days Offensive. The book opens with the last German offensive of 1918, where Lloyd explains how the Germans’ faith in victory had been replaced by “disillusion and weariness”. The book is strengthened by a generous helping of basic maps.
1918: War And Peace Gregor Dallas
Considering the entirety of the last year of the war, Gregor Dallas places the Hundred Days Offensive in the context of preceding and subsequent events, allowing it to exist as more than an isolated phenomenon. The writing is distinctive and often lyrical, and Dallas paints a compelling picture with his words, but he remains aware of the complexity of his task. “There is, in fact, a multitude of memories about how the Great War ended,” he writes, “many of them contradictory”. The book includes a very useful chronology of the events of 1918 and the aftermath of the war.
With Their Bare Hands: General Pershing, The 79th Division, & The Battle For Montfaucon Gene Fax
Here the Hundred Days Offensive is told through the eyes of the new kids on the block. Gene Fax’s book is a masterpiece of narrative history, focusing on one of the first American divisions to join the war effort and giving an invaluable look into the formation of the American Expeditionary Forces. The training and experiences of the 79th Division make for compelling reading, and the book continually surprises (when it left for France, for instance, half the division had received no training). It’s a brilliant look inside the workings of a World War I division.
1918: The Last Act Barrie Pitt
Originally published in 1962, Pen & Sword deserves a big vote of thanks for reprinting this book in 2013. Its vintage gives it a particular flavour – that of the 1960s anti-establishment era – and Pitt is highly critical of the generals and their staffs. Modern authors have tended towards a more forgiving appreciation of the immense difficulties involved in running the war, but Pitt’s anger at the effects of Britain’s class structure burns fiercely (“the officers were separated from the ranks by an impassable social and mental barrier”, he writes). Nevertheless, he still crafts a powerful and insightful narrative of the last stages of the war.