Amies to the Armistice

Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM

This book is about the final campaign in World War One, the Hundred Days campaign in August to November. It shows how the art of the new warfare, learnt as so high a cost, was deployed finally to achieve victory and how the German army was finally defeated. It proves that the nazi claim that the German army was stabbed in the back to be nonsense, as the BEF, which French and American help, crushed the Germans in open combat.

The book does not discuss the behind-the-lines situation too much, but it does cover how futile Germany’s position was and how desperate it was at the end of the conflict. Even had they continued fighting, the next campaign would have been fought on German soil. Other interesting facts include the Germans using captured British tanks as they were never able to mass-produce their own.

The book does downplay the American contribution to victory in Europe. It notes that the Americans were green compared to those who had been fighting, but it credits the Canadians despite the division mentioned having barely seen any fighting before the campaign began.

I enjoyed reading it the first couple of times, although it did tend to concentrate on small actions at times, rather than an overall look at the campaign. Overall, a good read and a great source of research.

AH Potential – Limited. A German victory at this point is very difficult, unless the allies fall out at one point.