FORGED BY FIRE - The Battle Tactics and Soldiers of a World War One Battalion - The 7th Somerset Light Infantry.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.FINE/FINE.No owner inscrptn, and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp,clean,glossy laminated,red+black (upper),b/w (rear) photographic illustrated dw/dj with red+white lettering; with negligible shelf-wear and creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.Miniscule,barely discenible,scoring/indents to both wraps of dw/dj,boards unaffected beneath.Top+fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight and pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners - an unread book.Publisher's bright,clean,sharp-cornered, original red cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt letters to spine/backstrip,red+white striped headband; plus immaculate,plain white ndpapers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj, 1st edn,v-xvpp+3-286pp [paginated] includes contents list/table,dedication,acknowledgements, list of b/w maps, author preface,poem,Pts 1-4 comprising 19 chapters,8pp of contemporary b/w photographs in one block between pp112/3,appendices (3),a select bibliography,an index; plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages,and 2pp blanks at rear.
A unique and long overdue account of the changing battle tactics of the British Army during the First World War from the perspective of an 'average' infantry battalion raised from volunteers in 1914.It is not a unit history but takes one battalion as an example of how such a unit was deployed throughout the war to end all wars.
Using much previously unpublished material,it challenges many established views of the war, showing the British Army's significant development of infantry battle tactics; the generally effective introduction of new weapons and fighting methods and the resulting discovery of the embryo of modern infantry tactics.
The 7th Somersets arrived at the frontline on the periphery of the Batlle of Loos.The men fought through the Somme offensive,Passchendaele and were in the forefront of the Cambrai tank attack.
They fought fierce defensive actions at Cambrai and during the German March 1918 offensive.The reader is taken through the reasons and planning behind each battle and then,using the words of the men themselves, shown what actually happened when the plans were implemented.The book also deals with many 'taboo' subjects,like self-inflicted wounds,indiscipline and officers threatening to shoot retreating men.
Following years of research,this historically honest and detailed account shows the remarkable progress of an average British infantry battalion that,like most British units,had to learn its combat skills under enemy fire.
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