Amiens 1918

On 8 August 1918, the Allied forces launched the surprise attack that heralded the end of the First World War. With skill and daring, 21 divisions of men breached the German lines, supported by 500 tanks (the largest number to have been active in any one battle of the war) and 1,000 aircraft. In their wake they left 50,000 dead or wounded German soldiers along a stretch of 11 miles. On this 'black day' for the Germans the Allied forces began to see a glimmer of hope and the dawn of victory that was to come only 100 days later with the Armistice on 11 November 1918. "Amiens 1918" not only considers the successes and failures of both sides in this conflict but also brings the slaughter and chaos of the Western Front to life, through the startling and emotive eyewitness accounts of battle survivors.

James McWilliams and R. James Steel are both avid military historians. Over a thirty-year period the authors interviewed many survivors from the battle, whose accounts are reproduced in vivid detail in the book. They have also collaborated on two previous books on the First World War, The Suicide Battalion and Gas! The Battle for Ypres, 1915.