This terrifying alternative reality is actually based on historical facts. The book follows the real course of events up to1 September, including the planning in Britain and Germany, and the aerial war. The fictional story then supposes that the Germans halted their advance in France along the Seine and the Aisne after the fall of Paris and that Marshal Petain conceded an armistice at that point. The Panzer divisions are thus able to rest and re-equip in northern France…

A brilliant blend of meticulous research and imagination, this book is bound to appeal to anyone with an interest in the causes and effects of historical events, and indeed to anyone interested in world war history itself.

This terrifying alternative reality is actually based on historical facts. The book follows the real course of events up to1 September, including the planning in Britain and Germany, and the aerial war. The fictional story then supposes that the Germans halted their advance in France along the Seine and the Aisne after the fall of Paris and that Marshal Petain conceded an armistice at that point. The Panzer divisions are thus able to rest and re-equip in northern France…

A brilliant blend of meticulous research and imagination, this book is bound to appeal to anyone with an interest in the causes and effects of historical events, and indeed to anyone interested in world war history itself.

Presenting the Allied and German experience of war - both military and on a personal level - Victory on the Western Front is an immensely readable, visually striking account of the pivotal final stages of World War I, when two very different concepts went head-to-head on the battlefield.The Germans gambled on winning on the Western Front through the sophisticated use of artillery and new infantry tactics, whereas the Allies calculated that victory lay in the application of a balanced combination of infantry, artillery, AFVs and aircraft. The efforts of both sides were dogged by error, misunderstanding, uncertainty and mistrust.This fully illustrated book is the story of the search for victory - on both sides of the lines - and of the valour and steadfastness of the fighting men tasked with delivering it.

At the outset of 1918 Germany faced certain defeat as a result of Allied technical innovation in tanks and aircraft, and the American entry into the war. Victory could only be gained by the immediate application of overwhelming force in new tactical form; the ''fire-waltz'' artillery barrage and the storm-trooper infantry attack. 1918 examines both the Germans'' tactics and the Allies'' preferred solution to fighting this war, the combination of artillery, tanks, infantry and aircraft, and argues that this reached a level of sophistication in command and control never before achieved. The war of attrition was far from over, but as more Americans arrived in France the ghastly cost became affordable. For the Germans, it became a question of whether they could negotiate an armistice before their armies were utterly destroyed.

The early battles of the First World War were open, mobile affairs whose tactics had long been familiar to professional soldiers. By early 1915, however, a new type of military engagement had emerged - trench warfare.The combination of trench warfare with newly industrialized weaponry abruptly changed the logistics and psychology of warfare. The trenches of the Western Front became static theatres of war where soldiers were forced to slug it out in miserable conditions. The result was an unprecedented loss of life as military leaders continued to send their soldiers ''over the top''.Martin Marix Evans offers a fascinating insight into how soldiers and their commanders attempted to adapt to the unfamiliar and terrifying new landscape.

At the outset of 1918 Germany faced certain defeat as a result of Allied technical innovation in tanks and aircraft, and the American entry into the war. Victory could only be gained by the immediate application of overwhelming force in new tactical form; the ''fire-waltz'' artillery barrage and the storm-trooper infantry attack.

1918 examines both the Germans'' tactics and the Allies'' preferred solution to fighting this war, the combination of artillery, tanks, infantry and aircraft, and argues that this reached a level of sophistication in command and control never before achieved.

The war of attrition was far from over, but as more Americans arrived in France the ghastly cost became affordable. For the Germans, it became a question of whether they could negotiate an armistice before their armies were utterly destroyed.

The early battles of the First World War during the autumn and winter of 1914 were open, mobile affairs of the kind long familiar to professional soldiers. By early 1915, however, a new type of war had emerged - trench warfare.Modern artillery and machine-guns had been employed in the Boer War only a decade or so previously, but the perfection of their use led to the creation of a static front: the Western Front. Attempts to circumvent this Front, notably at Gallipoli in 1915, only succeeded in perpetuating the same form of warfare.Over the Top offers an innovative examination of trench warfare on the Western Front and Gallipoli during 1914-18 in the major battles that influenced the outcome of the First World War.

This terrifying alternative reality is actually based on historical facts. The book follows the real course of events up to1 September, including the planning in Britain and Germany, and the aerial war. The fictional story then supposes that the Germans halted their advance in France along the Seine and the Aisne after the fall of Paris and that Marshal Petain conceded an armistice at that point. The Panzer divisions are thus able to rest and re-equip in northern France…

A brilliant blend of meticulous research and imagination, this book is bound to appeal to anyone with an interest in the causes and effects of historical events, and indeed to anyone interested in world war history itself.

This terrifying alternative reality is actually based on historical facts. The book follows the real course of events up to1 September, including the planning in Britain and Germany, and the aerial war. The fictional story then supposes that the Germans halted their advance in France along the Seine and the Aisne after the fall of Paris and that Marshal Petain conceded an armistice at that point. The Panzer divisions are thus able to rest and re-equip in northern France…

A brilliant blend of meticulous research and imagination, this book is bound to appeal to anyone with an interest in the causes and effects of historical events, and indeed to anyone interested in world war history itself.

Presenting the Allied and German experience of war - both military and on a personal level - Victory on the Western Front is an immensely readable, visually striking account of the pivotal final stages of World War I, when two very different concepts went head-to-head on the battlefield.The Germans gambled on winning on the Western Front through the sophisticated use of artillery and new infantry tactics, whereas the Allies calculated that victory lay in the application of a balanced combination of infantry, artillery, AFVs and aircraft. The efforts of both sides were dogged by error, misunderstanding, uncertainty and mistrust.This fully illustrated book is the story of the search for victory - on both sides of the lines - and of the valour and steadfastness of the fighting men tasked with delivering it.

At the outset of 1918 Germany faced certain defeat as a result of Allied technical innovation in tanks and aircraft, and the American entry into the war. Victory could only be gained by the immediate application of overwhelming force in new tactical form; the ''fire-waltz'' artillery barrage and the storm-trooper infantry attack. 1918 examines both the Germans'' tactics and the Allies'' preferred solution to fighting this war, the combination of artillery, tanks, infantry and aircraft, and argues that this reached a level of sophistication in command and control never before achieved. The war of attrition was far from over, but as more Americans arrived in France the ghastly cost became affordable. For the Germans, it became a question of whether they could negotiate an armistice before their armies were utterly destroyed.

The early battles of the First World War were open, mobile affairs whose tactics had long been familiar to professional soldiers. By early 1915, however, a new type of military engagement had emerged - trench warfare.The combination of trench warfare with newly industrialized weaponry abruptly changed the logistics and psychology of warfare. The trenches of the Western Front became static theatres of war where soldiers were forced to slug it out in miserable conditions. The result was an unprecedented loss of life as military leaders continued to send their soldiers ''over the top''.Martin Marix Evans offers a fascinating insight into how soldiers and their commanders attempted to adapt to the unfamiliar and terrifying new landscape.

At the outset of 1918 Germany faced certain defeat as a result of Allied technical innovation in tanks and aircraft, and the American entry into the war. Victory could only be gained by the immediate application of overwhelming force in new tactical form; the ''fire-waltz'' artillery barrage and the storm-trooper infantry attack.

1918 examines both the Germans'' tactics and the Allies'' preferred solution to fighting this war, the combination of artillery, tanks, infantry and aircraft, and argues that this reached a level of sophistication in command and control never before achieved.

The war of attrition was far from over, but as more Americans arrived in France the ghastly cost became affordable. For the Germans, it became a question of whether they could negotiate an armistice before their armies were utterly destroyed.

The early battles of the First World War during the autumn and winter of 1914 were open, mobile affairs of the kind long familiar to professional soldiers. By early 1915, however, a new type of war had emerged - trench warfare.Modern artillery and machine-guns had been employed in the Boer War only a decade or so previously, but the perfection of their use led to the creation of a static front: the Western Front. Attempts to circumvent this Front, notably at Gallipoli in 1915, only succeeded in perpetuating the same form of warfare.Over the Top offers an innovative examination of trench warfare on the Western Front and Gallipoli during 1914-18 in the major battles that influenced the outcome of the First World War.