Published to coincide with the centenary commemoration of the battle of the Somme, this new study comprises 12 separate articles written by some of the foremost military historians, each of whom looks at a specific aspect of the battle. Focusing on key aspects of the British, French and German forces, overall strategic and tactical impacts of the battle and with an introduction by renowned World War I scholar Professor Sir Hew Strachan, The Battle of the Somme is a timely collection of the latest research and analysis of the battle. The terrors of the Somme have largely come to embody trench warfare on the Western Front in the modern imagination, but this new book looks beyond the horrendous conditions and staggering casualty rates to provide new, insightful research on one of the most pivotal battles of the war. -- From the publisher.

Foreword /Sir Hew Strachan -- The context of the Somme / Lothar Höbelt -- Attrition or annihilation? / Oberst Dr Gerhard Groß -- French strategy in 1916 and the battle of the Somme / Georges-Henri Soutou -- Air war over the Somme / James S. Corum -- The British Army's Operations on the Somme / Stuart Mitchell -- Trial and Error / Lieutenant Colonel (Ret'd) Christopher Pugsley ONZM -- French generalship on the Somme / Michael S. Neiberg -- The road to modern combined arms warfare / Oberstleutnant Dr Christian Stachelbeck -- British tactical practice during the Somme campaign / Bill Mitchinson -- The German Army at war / Matthias Strohn -- The evolution of French tactics 1914-16 / Jonathan Krause -- The long shadows of the Somme / Major General (Ret'd) Mungo Melvin CB OBE.