The Imperial War Museum Book of 1918: Year of Victory

by Malcolm Brown

Book Overview

A gripping account of the final year of the First World War by an acclaimed military historian.1918 was probably the most dramatic and decisive year in British military history. In the spring there... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0330376721
• ISBN13: 9780330376723
• Release Date: October 1999
• Publisher: Pan MacMillan
• Length: 392 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.1" x 7.6"

Customer Reviews

Tumultuous Change of Fortunes in the Great War's Final Year

This recent book by Malcolm Brown examines the volatile ups and downs on the Western Front in the war's final year. This is not purely a military history, however. There are other significant portions of the book devoted to civilian life, the Spanish flu, and the rarely discussed post-war demobilization process. Utilizing the Imperial War Museum's vast collection of wartime letters, diaries, and other personal narratives, Brown's descriptions come to life with the immediacy and imagery arising from these sources. 1918 is organized chronologically by chapter, starting with the forlorn 1918 New Year's Day. After 3 1/2 years of uninterrupted warfare and shocking attrition, many soldiers and civilians alike had come to the conclusion that the war might go on several more years - perhaps even forever! However, behind the front lines the situation was becoming increasingly fluid. Though Germany had finally knocked Russia out of the war, an even more ominous opponent was readying itself to join this 'war to end all wars'. Thus, Ludendorff planned to make 1918 the deciding year of the war. Germany would gamble all-out on either a decisive victory or an abject defeat. And so in March the Western Front again came alive. Only this time it really would be different. Ludendorff's stormtroopers had done the impossible! The tore a huge gap in the British lines, overrunning rearward positions, and broke out into the open. Frantically, the British and French rushed forward troops to hold back the massive gray tide. Then, just as Operation Michael came to a halt in front of Amiens, Ludendorff started a new offensive to cut off and destroy the British Army in Flanders. But it was not to be. Though Germany launched frighteningly effective offensives, it lacked the logistic and manpower strength to make their victories decisive. Again and again, Ludendorff launched ever smaller and less successful attacks. Until one day in August, the British struck back - a day Ludendorff called the 'black day of the German Army'. There would be no more German offensives. The Allies, after being on the defensive the first seven months of the year, launched a near continous set of offensive campaigns that bagged hundreds of thousands of prisoners and began recapturing long lost territory at an increasingly rapid pace. The last hundred days saw the British advance relentlessly in the face of staggering casualties. Likewise, the Americans, after their lightning success at St. Mihiel, pushed through heavily defended, multiple lines in the Argonne. Things then began to completely fall apart for Germany, and it sued for peace. After such sacrifice on all sides, the war's end was totally anti-climactic. Soldiers of all nations only wanted to return to their homeland - many of them to secure their own national independence. Allied soldiers, especially, found themselves stranded across Europe and the Middle East, where many often remained for a year or more. And

Great Account of the Final Year of the Great war

This latest book by Malcolm Brown covers the final year of the Great War in a similar style to Lyn MacDonald's great books on World War One. Once again the author uses first-hand accounts of the participants of this dreadful conflict to reveal to the reader the horror of this conflict as seen through the eyes and experiences of the soldiers. With access to the Imperial War Museums archives he utilises the reports, letters, diaries and interviews of the soldiers and civilians on both sides who fought during 1918. I am a prolific reader of history books and I tend to forget sometimes that besides history I am also reading about people. This book is one of those rare books where you fully realise that this is not only history but also flesh and blood. The accounts of some the people in this book are truly sad, they hit home and make you realise that these were real people, individuals caught up in a war of massive scale and destruction. I would like to present just a few accounts take from this magnificent book to demonstrate why I found this book such a great story of men and war.This first account is by a 20-year-old Second Lieutenant during an assault on some German positions; "We passed on and quickly reached the objective, a line of trenches along the crest of slightly elevated ground. I jumped down into the German trench followed by a NCO and about eight men. The trench was deserted except for some bodies of dead Germans. Later, I noticed the sad manner of the death of one of these. Evidently a piece of shell had carried away the whole calf of his leg, baring it to the bone. He had dragged half of his body into a `cubby-hole' at the bottom of the trench side, there to die quietly, in the dark, his face hidden from the world. He was respected and grieved for, in death, by at least one enemy soldier." This was after this officer had seen a number of his friends cut down by German defensive fire and having a team of three men operating a Lewis gun in a shell hole with him killed. He picked up the gun and wiped the butt clean of blood and brain and passed it onto other soldiers to continue their advance (Page 211-215).Another account is from Major F.J. Rice, 82nd Brigade, RFA. His account is about the death of a twenty-four year old Bombardier. He later received a package from the dead soldiers parents which he subsequently forwarded to his own mother with this covering letter; "Will you please put the enclosed away for me somewhere safe? I have always got nice letters back from parents whose sons have been killed in my battery but these seemed exceptionally grateful for my letter and sent me a photo of Bombardier Stone and a sort of memorial ribbon. He was badly wounded during the barrage we fired on Sept. 18th when we were shelled from 5-15 to 6-45 a.m. and we had to go on firing our guns all the time. We had ten casualties during that time (six killed). It was the worst hour and a half I have ever had." (Pa