Passchendaele: Uncovering the Forgotten Tragedy of WWI

SB: Verdun was horrible for its fire and fury, the Somme for its death and devastation, and Passchendaele for its mud. This is obviously reductive, but to hear that even by conservative estimates 30 to 40% of deaths (at least on the attacking side) came from drowning, we can understand the mark this battle made on all those who participated.

Nick Lloyd has captured this horror while still maintaining a historian's eye for narrative, evidence, and analysis. Having read his Hundred Days, Western Front, and Passchendaele books (and plenty of other authors' works), I would say he is the most dependable contemporary WW1 historian.
Regarding Passchendaele, he has moved past (or perhaps synthesized) John Terraine's admiration for Haig, Robin Prior's complete disgust, and Alan Clark's fancies to provide a complex, fair illustration of the unimaginative planning, the tactical fluctuation, and the ultimate implications for the war, its participants, and each country's historical memory.

The Great War's tragedy did not stem from mere snobbery and muddle. It was not just a bloody transition from the Old World to the New, but a far more iterative process of learning by destroying,...

United States on Jul 17, 2023

Kindle Customer: This is a well balanced view on a battle that even the most hardened revisionist must still view as tragedy. How the men stuck it out amazes me.

United Kingdom on Mar 05, 2023

HMS Warspite: In this well-written book, historian Nick Lloyd takes a considered look at the infamous battle of Passchendaele in 1917. Fought under often horrific conditions of weather and terrain, it inflicted huge casualties on the British and Commonwealth armies, and on their German opponents. Yet what was going on behind the scenes may have been nearly as important to its outcome.

A key moment in the story of the battle comes prior to its start, as British Prime Minister Lloyd George casts about for a way to inflict a decisive blow on the Germans yet quails at the prospect of another bloody campaign on the Western Front. U.S. President Lincoln, in an analogous situation in 1864 in the American Civil War, authorized General U.S. Grant to find and destroy Confederate General Lee's famously tough Army of Northern Virginia. Lincoln and Grant understand that Lee's army would have to be cornered and beaten to death. There was no other way to win the war. Lloyd failed to impose his own will on the British Army, or to develop a militarily significant alternative. Thus, Passchendaele.

The narrative is detailed and heartbreaking. The author is evenhanded in his assessment. Passchendaele...

United States on Dec 12, 2022

gary welsby: I have read dozens of works on all aspects of WW1 and have spent time driving around the Battlefields of the Somme and Flanders. Nick Lloyd has a way of digging down into the deeper levels of decision making leading up to battles that isn't covered always covered by other authors on the subject.
Quite honestly if his name was on the phone the book it would be guaranteed a good read.

United States on Nov 02, 2022

Fred Plotnikoff: The book was done in a very imaginative but realistic style. Plenty of detail combined with true life grit, blood and guts. The mix of sordid facts and numbers with pain death and destruction, truly brought the horror of war into a real perspective. Again a superb read!

Canada on Mar 14, 2020

Gopi Karunakaran: It's tell you the story of ambitious and idiotic generals who sent young British, Canadian and ANZAC lads to their deaths by their ill-timed, badly planned war. Field Marshall Haig and Gen. Gough led the boys to their deaths in a battle that ultimately served no purpose. The only Generals who come out unscathed are Currie and Plumer. The Third Battle of the Ypres was a "lost victory"!

India on Aug 29, 2019

Carl Friedrich: Well written & researched

India on Oct 03, 2018

Mr. Roscoe M. Goodman MD: Definitely included in my WW1 library

United States on Feb 05, 2018

Patrick Neimeyer: Amazing historical work and research done by Nick Lloyd. I have always been a World War One enthusiast, memorized by the conflict, aghast by the horror and amazed by the sheer courage of these men. In this book, you will be transported to the front lines with Sir Douglas Haig's BEF or The German 4th Army as they desperate struggle over a pock-marked, sodden wasteland known as Ypres. Gritty, realistic and unrelenting, Passchendaele strikes home for any military enthusiast as a must-have book within this genre.

United States on Dec 26, 2017

Alan Robinson: An excellent account of the Third Battle of Ypres. It provides a fascinating analysis of the gestation of this battle, including the simmering tensions between the prime minister, who was not fully convinced about the strategy of making another major assault on the Western Front after the huge losses suffered in the Somme offensive of the previous year, and the British high command which had long held ambitions to mount an attack in Flanders. The book also provides a clear narrative of the fighting. It does this by breaking the battle down into its component phases. The narrative on the course of the battle is greatly aided by the excellent maps - so often too small or of poor quality in many books. The story on the course of the battle is also enhanced by the use of German sources of information. The injection of the German account of the battle gives the narrative of the battle balance - too often military histories do not look at what the enemy is doing.

The book offers some well thought through assessments of why the offensive did not fully meet the expectations of the British high command. It is good to see a sensible and balanced appraisal of Haig's performance in the...

United Kingdom on Aug 11, 2017