In Flanders Fields

Of all the grim, gallant and inglorious battles of the Western Front, Passchendaele is the name evocative of the "mud and bl ood" that pervaded World War I. The total gain - a few thousand yards of indefensible slough - cost about a million Allied lives. In this account of the Flanders campaign, Leon Wolff describes the whole nightmare business: Haig's initial plan; his determination to carry it out despite constant opposition from the Cabinet and the muddle of doubts and disagreement among the military staff; the early stages of the "great offensive"; and the scene of battle itself - the Flanders fields which "will forever haunt Western civilization".