The Imperial War Museum Book of the Western Front

World War I has long been acknowledged as one of the great traumas of modern history. In this conflict the Western Front - for the British, the French, the Americans and the principal enemy, the Germans - was the central stage. Basically it was there that the war was lost and won. But the nature of the warfare that took place there was so horrific, and in human terms so costly, that it has left a permanent scar on the imagination and attitudes of later generations. This book produces evidence which in virtually every case is in public print for the first time; new material from the enormous archives of the Imperial War Museum, from first hand contemporary accounts, letters, etc, in fact a complete and previously unpublished account of this stupendous and horrific campaign. And throughout it is illustrated with rare black and white photos and colour illustrations. All aspects are dealt with: the great battles such as the Somme, Passchendaele, Ludendorf's final offensive, and the experiences of subalterns, privates, gunners, nurses, Australians, war artists and officers.