We have taken the opportunity with our 2021 editions of the OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR – FRANCE AND BELGIUM series to redesign the covers and print on 140g silk paper. This official history was the grandest ever produced in Britain, and its purpose was to provide “within reasonable compass an authoritative account, suitable for general readers and for students at military schools”. Due to the number of full-colour maps bound in each volume, previous attempts to reprint this valuable reference either floundered, or were produced with the maps in monochrome. At last, the acclaimed work of the official cartographers who had 90,000 maps at their command can be examined as they intended – in full colour.
France and Belgium 1918. Vol III. May-July: The German Diversion Offensives and First Allied Counter-Attack. OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR.
This volume covers the period 1 May-6 August 1918 and is principally concerned with the German offensives in the French sector and the French counter-attack – Battle of the Aisne (27th May-6th June) involving the British IX Corps under French command; Battles of the Marne (20th July-2nd August) with XXII Corps and 15th and 34th Divisions under French command. In between were minor BEF operations in Flanders and round Villers Bretonneux. The volume ends on the eve of the Allied offensive at Amiens on 8th August. Appendices contain order of battle details and directives, operation orders (French and British), letters and instructions and other communications between the senior commanders.