Through German Eyes: The British and the Somme 1916

Christopher Duffy

mar 2020 · Distribuido por Weidenfeld & Nicolson

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The key battle of the First World War from the German point of view

The Battle of the Somme has an enduring legacy, the image established by Alan Clark of 'lions led by donkeys': brave British soldiers sent to their deaths by incompetent generals. However, from the German point of view the battle was a disaster. Their own casualties were horrendous. The Germans did not hold the (modern) view that the British Army was useless. As Christopher Duffy reveals, they had great respect for the British forces and German reports shed a fascinating light on the volunteer army recruited by General Kitchener.

The German view of the British Army has never been made public until now. Their typically diligent reports have lain undisturbed in obscure archives until unearthed by Christopher Duffy. The picture that emerges is a far cry from 'Blackadder': the Germans developed an increasing respect for the professionalism of the British Army. And the fact that every British soldier taken prisoner still believed Britain would win the war gave German intelligence teams their first indication that their Empire would go down to defeat.

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After obtaining his doctorate at Oxford, Christopher Duffy divided his time between researching history and teaching officer cadets and student officers at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and the Army Staff College. From 1996 to 2001 he was Research Professor in the History of War at De Montfort University. Since 2002 he has devoted himself to writing, combating development on the field of Culloden (1746), and work in support of witnesses as a volunteer in the Court Witness Service. He is the author of some twenty books, including The Army of Frederick the Great and The '45. Fluent in six languages, he is an acknowledged expert on the Austrian and German armies from the eighteenth century to 1945, and his work on European military history of the eighteenth century has won him international renown.