Jack Sheldon & Nigel Cave
Pen & Sword, 2014
Pen & Sword’s ‘Battleground’ series is well-established, currently numbering over 140 titles. This volumes covers the fighting around Langemarck in 1914, as the British and French desperately fought to defend the salient around Ypres.
The book covers the period from 20th October – 11th November 1914; at a shade over 200 pages it is able to do so in depth. Whilst British involvement in the fighting ended on 24th October, the book covers the subsequent fighting between the French and German troops in order to provide a fully-rounded account of the action.
With Jack Sheldon and Nigel Cave as authors, you know that you are in reliable hands, and the book does not disappoint. Jack Sheldon is well-known as a British authority on the German Army of the First World War, and this experience and expertise is evident throughout the book. The action is presented from both sides, handily highlighted by a German pickelhaube or Tommy’s cap to provide a visual distinction between the two!
Nearly 50 pages are devoted to tours of the area (some crossover with Pen & Sword’s ‘Battle Lines’ series here perhaps). The tours direct the reader to many of the points of interest referred to in the body of the book, as well as the usual array of memorials and Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries.
Maps are plentiful; in addition Pen & Sword certainly haven’t scrimped on the images and a wide variety, both British and German, are reproduced.
This is another valuable addition to the Battleground series and will provide the reader with an excellent introduction to the fighting in this area in 1914.
Buy this book from Amazon here:
Ypres 1914 – Langemarck (Battleground)
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