In Flanders Fields: Passchendaele 1917

Of all the grim, gallant and inglorious battles of the Western Front, this is the name uniquely evocative of the "mud and blood" that pervaded the First World War. The total gain - a few thousand yards of indefensible slough - cost about a million Allied lives. In this now classic account of the Flanders campaign, Leon Wolff graphically describes the whole terrible business: from Haig's initial plan; his determination to carry it out despite constant opposition from the Cabinet and the muddle of doubts and disagreement among the military staff; through the early stages of the "great offensive"; and to the scene of the battle itself - the Flanders fields which will "forever haunt Western civilization".