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Passchendaele: 103 Days in Hell
2017 marks the 100th anniversary of the 3rd Battle of Ypres. In 'Passchendaele: 103 Days in Hell, ' Alexandra Churchill, with Andrew Holmes and Jonathan Dyer, explains this pivotal engagement using 103 personal stories of men who fought in it. Using a unique method that draws extensively on both official military records and work with the descendants and families of their chosen subjects, the authors paint a vivid and engaging picture of a battle that has become synonymous with the wasteful suffering and horror of the Western Front and how it effected men who took part in it. The book is beautifully presented with portraits, original and modern photography of the battlefield and of Commonwealth War Graves sites. This, combined with an imaginative, balanced selection of voices from on, behind, above and below the battlefields, and taken from both sides of no man's land, combine to make a lasting and worthy tribute to own for the centenary of Passchendaele.
200 pages, Hardcover
Published August 23, 2017
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About the author
Alexandra Churchill
18 books43 followersBritish historian Alexandra Churchill has been researching the air war for a number of years in addition to compiling a detailed roll of honor for Eton College. She has a book due out next year, telling the story of the war through the eyes of the school’s old boys and will feature the Harvey brothers who appear in episode one of The Big Dig in more detail. Other projects in the pipeline include a biography of a pilot and something that will incorporate a personal passion of hers and tell the story of football in the Great War.
Alex has previously worked with John Hayes-Fisher on an episode of Timewatch about the air war in 1918, and on "Fighting the Red Baron" and "Titanic with Len Goodman" as a researcher / contributor.
Alex has previously worked with John Hayes-Fisher on an episode of Timewatch about the air war in 1918, and on "Fighting the Red Baron" and "Titanic with Len Goodman" as a researcher / contributor.
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October 4, 2017
The heart sinks with the onset of each Great War anniversary. The countless reams of paper sacrificed to pretty picture books, battlefield guides, endless dull re-treads by academics who bring little more than shame to their august profession and then - hidden away - we find a couple of real gems. The book has the appearance of another ‘coffee table’ affair, but please do persevere! Inside we find a decent concept that has been worked up into a beautifully illustrated and enjoyable book which follows the course of the 1917 Flanders campaign through the fate of individual soldiers caught up in that Armageddon.
This is not an analysis of the battle – that the authors make clear – but the linking commentary eschews the type of ‘Lions led by Donkeys’ rubbish which so often appears. Instead we get a sober outline of the origins of the battle and a concise review of the background to each stage of the battle that is sufficiently detailed to allow this book to serve as an excellent introduction to Third Ypres.
Each of the men commemorated – or remembered – in the book has as much as possible on their pre-war background, a photo if possible, an outline of their wartime service and what happened to them at Ypres. In some cases, the impact on their grieving families has also been covered. Throughout, a commendable effort has also been made to represent the various ranks, classes, regiments, services, ethnic origins and nationalities. My only mild criticism is that not everyone who served at Ypres died, or was terribly maimed - and thus I would have preferred a far higher proportion of soldiers who survived the experience.
The selected individuals include fire-eaters, like the redoubtable Captain Henry Gallagher killed on 7 June at Messines, or 2nd Lieutenant Denis Hewitt, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for his heroism leading his company forward to attain all their objectives during the first day of the battle on 31 July 1917. We also have many ordinary working-class lads, such as Private Harold Mann, who was badly wounded, but received successful pioneering treatment for his terrible facial injuries and lived a full life before dying in Sheffield in 1968. One poignant account is of Gunner Norman Manley who survived to become Prime Minister of Jamaica, while Roy, his equally interesting brother, died with any potential he had unfulfilled on 26 July 1917. Muriel Thompson of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry is also remembered. A pre-war female racing driver active at Brooklands, she had become an ambulance driver working non-stop in helping evacuate the wounded. She would survive the war. Lieutenant Arthur Rhys Davids had gained some fame for shooting down the brilliant German ace Leutnant Werner Voss in a dogfight over Ypres on 23 September 1917. An Eton lad, a classical scholar and now a hero, he seemed to have the world at his feet. Yet, just a month later, on 27 October, he disappeared in combat during a patrol over Ypres. So much promise unfulfilled – as is the case in so many of the men. We are reminded that not all generals spent the fighting safe behind the lines, a point underlined by the fate of Brigadier General Cecil Rawling commanding the 62nd Brigade who was killed by German shell fire on 28 October. Then again, no-one could read, without a shudder, the awful fate of Private William Drane whose face and throat were riddled leaving him in agony – a hopeless case - until death provided a merciful release in 1919. There are far worse things than death.
As you read each individual entry you cannot help but hope against hope that they will survive, an irrational desire, far too often dashed by the brutal reality of a grave or memorial reference. The book is balanced – and indeed sensitive - in the manner with which it deals with the juxtaposition of deep wells of personal tragedy and the details of the military operations that would decide their fate. Well-illustrated, with a selection of personal photographs and evocative pictures of the battle. Recommended.
This is not an analysis of the battle – that the authors make clear – but the linking commentary eschews the type of ‘Lions led by Donkeys’ rubbish which so often appears. Instead we get a sober outline of the origins of the battle and a concise review of the background to each stage of the battle that is sufficiently detailed to allow this book to serve as an excellent introduction to Third Ypres.
Each of the men commemorated – or remembered – in the book has as much as possible on their pre-war background, a photo if possible, an outline of their wartime service and what happened to them at Ypres. In some cases, the impact on their grieving families has also been covered. Throughout, a commendable effort has also been made to represent the various ranks, classes, regiments, services, ethnic origins and nationalities. My only mild criticism is that not everyone who served at Ypres died, or was terribly maimed - and thus I would have preferred a far higher proportion of soldiers who survived the experience.
The selected individuals include fire-eaters, like the redoubtable Captain Henry Gallagher killed on 7 June at Messines, or 2nd Lieutenant Denis Hewitt, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for his heroism leading his company forward to attain all their objectives during the first day of the battle on 31 July 1917. We also have many ordinary working-class lads, such as Private Harold Mann, who was badly wounded, but received successful pioneering treatment for his terrible facial injuries and lived a full life before dying in Sheffield in 1968. One poignant account is of Gunner Norman Manley who survived to become Prime Minister of Jamaica, while Roy, his equally interesting brother, died with any potential he had unfulfilled on 26 July 1917. Muriel Thompson of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry is also remembered. A pre-war female racing driver active at Brooklands, she had become an ambulance driver working non-stop in helping evacuate the wounded. She would survive the war. Lieutenant Arthur Rhys Davids had gained some fame for shooting down the brilliant German ace Leutnant Werner Voss in a dogfight over Ypres on 23 September 1917. An Eton lad, a classical scholar and now a hero, he seemed to have the world at his feet. Yet, just a month later, on 27 October, he disappeared in combat during a patrol over Ypres. So much promise unfulfilled – as is the case in so many of the men. We are reminded that not all generals spent the fighting safe behind the lines, a point underlined by the fate of Brigadier General Cecil Rawling commanding the 62nd Brigade who was killed by German shell fire on 28 October. Then again, no-one could read, without a shudder, the awful fate of Private William Drane whose face and throat were riddled leaving him in agony – a hopeless case - until death provided a merciful release in 1919. There are far worse things than death.
As you read each individual entry you cannot help but hope against hope that they will survive, an irrational desire, far too often dashed by the brutal reality of a grave or memorial reference. The book is balanced – and indeed sensitive - in the manner with which it deals with the juxtaposition of deep wells of personal tragedy and the details of the military operations that would decide their fate. Well-illustrated, with a selection of personal photographs and evocative pictures of the battle. Recommended.
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