Field Marshal Douglas Haigh, the British commander in chief, saw the fighting on the Western Front not as a series of separate battles but as one long, continuous offensive. Although he repeatedly hoped that each ‘big push’ would be the decisive one that would deliver the elusive breakthrough, he maintained that ultimately victory would only be achieved by a long war of attrition. His belief was that by continuous attacks, he would wear down the German’s will and ability to resist. In the end he was proved to be correct, but his strategy cost the lives of many Allied troops – not that this seemed to deter Haigh in any way. As he saw it his job was to win the war on the Western Front and casualties were an inevitable consequence of this. In this collection of Haigh’s official despatches covering the last two years of the conflict, he details every battle, both large and small, and he also explains his philosophy and justifies his policies. This new title, part of the ‘Despatches from the Front’ series, includes reports from the battles of Arras, Messines, Third Ypres, Passchendaele, Cambrai, Bourlon Wood, an account of the 1918 German Spring Offensive, the Lys, Amiens, Bapaume, the Scarpe, breaking the Hindenburg Line, Second Le Cateau, the Selle River and the Sambre, Also included is Haigh’s despatch of March 1919 summarising the war on the Western Front. The compilers have not modified, edited or interpreted Field Marshal Haigh’s despatches in any way and they are therefore the original, unique words as he saw the conflict – even grammatical and spelling errors have been left uncorrected. In all some 26 monochrome photographs are included and there is an index.

Stuart Asquith, Author