The Somme

by Anthony Farrar-Hockley

Originally published in 1964 by Batsford, this is the story of the military engagements and trench actions of the Somme, from July to November 1916. In the PAN GRAND STRATEGY series.

Genres: World War I, Military History

269 pages, Paperback

First published March 6, 1964

About the author

General Sir Anthony Heritage Farrar-Hockley GBE, KCB, DSO & Bar, MC, nicknamed Farrar the Para, was a British Army officer and a military historian who fought in a number of British conflicts. He held a number of senior commands, ending his career as Commander-in-Chief of NATO's Allied Forces Northern Europe.

Reviews

[Roy Szweda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have read quite a few books on the subject of the 1916 landmark campaign that scars the psyche of Britain and its allied armies and their descendants. Though it is likely to be a vain plea it would be worth this book seeing a wider more general readership to help us all gain a better perspective.
Other books I have read fit the category of doorstops, even one that claims to cover that momentous first day. This one fits in your pocket which is what I did and spent a few weeks to take it in. Never easy reads not least for the wealth of details any such coverage must have. Maps help and this book at least has some of the better ones around but I still struggle to comprehend what faced with who where and how.
As usual there is a build-up but this is not too protracted and yet the ending is perhaps a bit too quickly wrapped up. If we are to make some kind of sense and perspective of the months of slog it is in my mind essential to do more than rush through the veracity of casualties or acres captured. This series of battles involved much in terms of military thinking, technology and tactics that cast a long shadow but this book omits any such discussion.
One of my personal perspectives is to place this episode in the greater context of warfare though perhaps this was not the author's remit. For example, he discusses briefly why Haig was compelled to batter away until the weather was even clear to him that General Mud had won. All the gains made only for the dastardly Hun to pull one of the cleverest, most devious schemes of the entire war, Operation Albericht, shortening their line and retiring to it under the noses of the Allies. I would like to have heard AFH's perspective of that...
To conclude I should like to add that I read this as a cheap paperback rather than on my Kindle or tablet etc. So far I think a real book is helpful mostly because you can turn to the maps when needed. I look forward to the day when someone creates a multimedia thing that takes us by the hand and shows us where it all happened and unfolded - it would not be a book nor TV programme, all of those have limitations when dealing with a 3D real-time experience. It would still fall short but the 2D effect of books which rely so much on just three things, words, photos and maps etc simply is not enough, at least for me anyway.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brutal. Sobering. A must-read to honour the sacrifice of a generation.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid short book about the Somme campaign of July to November 1916. It is neither of the 'Lions led by donkeys' school nor is it entirely revisionist; Farrar-Hockley is rather supportive of Rawlinson and gently chides Haig on occasion. However, it is difficult to cover a campaign of this size in a book of this length and the narrative is occasionally muddled by sudden switches from battalion level description to the wider picture and back again.

[Adam Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

worth a read as it was written when the amount of active first hand accounts were high, the author is a well educated military historian and soldier and gives a factual history that does not rely on sentimentalism.

[Nathan White · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed, factual account of one of the worst battles of all-time. Tragic. Expertly illustrates the reality of ‘the fog of war’. Although, the book would’ve been better with more analysis.