In this revised edition of The Somme Then and Now, published on the 70th anniversary of the start of the 'Big Push', John Giles has succeeded in recapturing the atmosphere of an era when men fought savage battles in and around water-filled trenches amongst the stinking litter of war.Eye-witness accounts of the bitter fighting are blended with contemporary photographs and comparison pictures taken by the author of the same spots today. The result is a salute to all those men who marched along the roads of Picardy, from Amiens and the surrounding camps, through the ruined town of Albert and onwards to the trenches of the Somme battleground. Sadly for so many of them, there was no return.

COMPLETE CONTENTS

• PROLOGUE
• INTRODUCTION TO REVISED EDITION
• THE PLAN AND PREPARATIONSA TOWN CALLED ALBERT'IN THE EVENT OF MY DEATH'
  
  PART 1
• THE ATTACK IS LAUNCHEDFonquevillers and GommecourtSerre (including 'A Day to Remember')Beaumont HamelNewfoundland Memorial ParkBeaucourt Hamel and The AncreThiepval, Schwaben Redoubt and Leipzig RedoubtOvillers-la-Boisselle and La BoisselleFricourtMametzCarnoy and MontaubanCasualties of 1st July
  
  PART 2
• THE FOLLOWING DAYSMametz WoodContalmaisonTrones Wood
• THE BREAKING OF THE GERMAN SECOND LINE POSITION(The Battle of Bazentin Ridge)Longueval and Delville WoodHigh Wood'A Last Letter'Waterlot FarmPozièresGuillemontGinchy
• THE DEBUT OF THE TANKS
• THE BATTLE OF FLERS-COURCELETTE
• Flers
• Martinpuich
• Courcelette
• THE BATTLE OF MORVAL (including Combles)
• THIEPVAL FALLS AT LAST (including Mouquet Farm)
• THE CONCLUDING WEEKS
• THE BATTLE OF THE ANCRE
• TO SUM UP
• TOTAL CASUALTIES OF THE SOMME OFFENSIVE
  
  PART 3
• WINTER OF DISCONTENT
• THE GERMAN RETREAT TO THE HINDENBURG LINE(including Bapaume and Peronne)
• THE INTERLUDE
• 1918 — THE GERMAN 'PUSH' (OPERATION MICHAEL)
• AMIENS 1918 — THE BEGINNING OF THE END
  
  PART 4
• THE SOMME TODAY