Pillars of Fire
The Battle of Messines Ridge, June 1917
Ian Passingham(Author)
Sutton Publishing Ltd
Published on 19. November 1998
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-0-7509-1704-9 (ISBN)
Description
On June 7the 1917, General Sir Herbert Plumer's Second Army smashed the "impregnable" German defences along the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge in an assault where technology and innovative thinking were combined to produce an extraordinary success. Until 1918, Messines was the only clear-cut Allied victory on the Western Front. The victory came at a time when Britain and her allies needed it most; it boosted Allied morale and shattered that of the Germans. It was also a battle which brought together a commonwealth of nations, including Irishmen and Ulstermen, fighting alongside each other to defeat a common enemy. Plumer planned the battle as a composer might write the score of a symphony and assembled an "orchestra of war", with each "instrument" - artillery, engineers, infantry, tanks, aircraft and administrative units - playing its part at the right time to overwhelm the enemy. Messines became the first true all-arms modern battle. This detailed account of the battle for the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge examines it from the British/ANZAC and German perspectives.
It explores why the name of Messines is not as familiar as The Somme, Passchendaele or Verdun, and why General Sir Herbert Plumer is not as widely known as Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig or even General Sir Hubert Gough. The author reassesses the reasons for General Plumer's success on the day, the implications of Haig's failure to exploit the success, and finally the legacy of the battle for the maturing of the BEF in 1918.
It explores why the name of Messines is not as familiar as The Somme, Passchendaele or Verdun, and why General Sir Herbert Plumer is not as widely known as Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig or even General Sir Hubert Gough. The author reassesses the reasons for General Plumer's success on the day, the implications of Haig's failure to exploit the success, and finally the legacy of the battle for the maturing of the BEF in 1918.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Stroud
United Kingdom
Publishing group
The History Press Ltd
Illustrations
Illustrations, maps, ports.
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Weight
600 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7509-1704-9 (9780750917049)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Content
Prelude; an orchestra of war; instruments of war; across the wire - towards "soldatendammerung"; overture - 1-6 June; "The Messines Symphony" - first movement and phase one - "soldatendammerung" am 7 June; second movement and phase two - "strike the chord" - pm 7 June; third movement - "not a retreat, merely a withdrawal" - 8-14 June; fourth movement - "opportunity gained... and lost"; finale - repercussions - third Ypres, Cambrai and crisis; coda - the legacy of Messines; postscript - "to my chum".