Battleground Europe

16 total works

Flesquieres-Hindenburg Line

by Nigel Cave and Jack Horsfall

Published 5 March 2008

Bazentin Ridge

by Nigel Cave

Published 13 September 2000

The book covers in detail the attacks of 14-17 July 1916 against the Bazentin Woods and villages and beyond, by the 3rd 7th and 21st Divisions - 9 Brigade (12/West Yorks and 13/Kings Liverpools), 20 Brigade (2/Borders and 8 & 9/Devons), 22 Brigade (2/R. Warwicks and 2/Royal Irish Regt), with Gordon Highlanders, Royal Welsh Fusiliers

Beaumont Hamel

by Nigel Cave

Published 1 January 2010

Bourlon Wood

by Nigel Cave

Published 1 August 2001

Bourlon Wood is situated some three miles to the west of Cambrai, and formed part of the left of the attack by the British which started on 20th November 1917 - most notable for the first mass use of tanks. The wood itself is the prominent feature in the area, and after the attack died down to the south, became the centre for fierce fighting. By the end of the battle the wood was firmly in German hands. Bourlon again came into prominence in September 1918 as the Canadian Corps continued its onslaught on the Germans. The Corps Commander (Currie) rated the performance of his men in crossing the Canal du Nord and taking the wooded prominence so highly that he expressed the view that the main Canadian memorial should be placed at Bourlon rather than at Vimy. The countryside is rolling and open, little changed over the decades, and provides excellent battlefield touring conditions.

Cambrai

by Nigel Cave

Published 22 October 2012

Gommecourt

by Nigel Cave

Published 14 February 1997

Le Cateau

by Nigel Cave

Published 26 March 2008

Aubers Ridge

by Nigel Cave

Published 19 September 2005

Vimy Ridge

by Nigel Cave

Published 20 October 1995

This volume covers the battlefields of Arras around Vimy Ridge dealing with the activities of the French and the British and the start of the Battle of Arras. Vimy Ridge gives a balanced view of the fighting by detailed descriptions of various units and individuals.

Sanctuary Wood & Hooge

by Nigel Cave

Published 31 December 1990

Delville Wood

by Nigel Cave

Published 1 January 1998

Hill 60

by Nigel Cave

Published 5 September 1997

The Battle for Vimy Ridge, 1917

by Nigel Cave

Published 6 October 2007

Ypres 1914: Messines

by Jack Sheldon and Nigel Cave

Published 1 November 2014

These three Battleground Europe books on Ypres 1914 mark the centenary of the final major battle of the 1914 campaign on the Western Front. Although fought over a relatively small area and short time span, the fighting was even more than usually chaotic and the stakes were extremely high. Authors Nigel Cave and Jack Sheldon combine their respective expertise to tell the story of the men - British, French, Indian and German - who fought over the unremarkable undulating ground that was to become firmly placed in British national conscience ever afterwards. At the end of October 1914 an increasingly desperate Falkenhayn, aware that his offensive in Flanders had stalled, decided to make one final effort to break through the Allied lines south of Ypres. Pulling together a large strike force, the so-called Army Group Fabeck, he launched a violent offensive designed to capture the Messines Ridge and to use this dominating terrain as a springboard for a further advance. Inadequately resourced, assembled in a rush, this thrust was soon in trouble.Confused fighting in the wooded areas to the south of the Menin Road slowed the advance and initial attempts to gain a foothold on the ridge failed.
A supreme effort by the men of the 26th Infantry Division ultimately brought about the capture of the town of Messines and similar heroics by the Bavarian 6th Reserve Division led to the fall of Wytschaete, but it was all in vain. Yet again a valiant Allied defence had buckled, but not broken.

Mons 1914

by Jack Horsfall

Published 1 April 1999

Flesquieres - Cambrai

by Jack Horsfall and Nigel Cave

Published 22 January 2002

The third in a trilogy of books, the others being Cambrai, and Bourlon Wood by the same authors covering the battle for Cambrai in November 1917. It covers the defence against the German counter strike, the defence of the Flesquieres Salient against the Kaiserschlact in March 1918 and its recapture in Sept/Oct 1918; all key elements in the great Allied advance to victory.