First Ypres 1914: The Graveyard of the Old Contemptibles

Osprey Campaign #58

by David Lomas

Osprey's overview of the First Battle of Ypres of World War I (1914-1918). In the autumn of 1914 the original British Expeditionary Force faced a heavily reinforced German drive. Field Marshal Sir John French, the British Commander-in-Chief, had sent his men north in an attempt to take the fight into Flanders, so they could fight across open ground. History tells us that this was not to be the case. David Lomas chronicles the first of the trench-warfare battles, where lines that would remain almost static for the rest of the war were established. Although the Germans failed to reach the channel ports, the death knell had rung for the BEF, which was virtually wiped out in this brave defence.

Genres: Military History, History, World War I, Nonfiction

96 pages, Paperback

First published November 27, 1998

Reviews

[Dimitri · Rating 3 out of 5]

The customary introduction elements (origins of the campaign, opposing commanders and armies) are awfully inadequate, but there is a tòn of tactical discourse within this slim spine: Lomas picks up the story right after Le Cateau until the leaves have fallen in November, which means most of the fighting retreat by the BEF precedes the actual stand around Ypres, a Salient shaping that can fill four volumes (ca. 500 pages) in the Battleground Europe series in itself.

Like a well-stuffed meat pie or a good mead : to enjoy slowly.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

The troop movement details are hard to follow and lacking in strategical analysis. But otherwise the details are awesome, plenty of interesting pictures. I didn't know that the Belgian army used dogs to pull their machine gun batteries to the front. It's a depressing story of massacres, where human lives are reduced to statistics, where it is common for thousands of young and healthy men lost in a single attack to gain a couple of kilometres of territory. No wonder that the old European empires all lost their power after the first world war. Imagine how long their empires will survive if they didn't kill each other like that.

[James Levy · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK, it's a little too pro-British and by the nature of the series short, but it does the job it sets out to do, describing how the pre-war professional British Army (with plenty of help from the Belgians and French, who are mentioned by underplayed) sacrificed itself to hold the line against the last big German push to decide the war while they still had a chance to win it. Notable is the rate of attrition of the line battalions as they are simply ground to powder yet refuse to break and run. I'd rate the book a strong introduction to the battle from the British perspective.

[Станислав · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ещё одна неинтересная битва. Лучше всего заглянуть в википедию.

[Frederick Coxen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well laid out and clearly written without using to many military unit designations. I always thought that the First Battle of Ypres was a single battle. The author's logical breakdown of the four battles that occurred approximately at the same time, and somewhat interconnected, but different locations helped me understand the complexity of the over all battle.