Somme cover art

Somme

Into the Breach

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Somme

By: Hugh Sebag-Montefiore
Narrated by: Roy McMillan
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About this listen

Penguin presents Somme by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore, read by Roy McMillan.

No conflict better encapsulates all that went wrong on the Western Front than the Battle of the Somme in 1916. The tragic loss of life and stoic endurance by troops who walked towards their death is an iconic image which will be hard to ignore during the centennial year.

Despite this, this book shows the extent to which the Allied armies were in fact able repeatedly to break through the German front lines. The author has uncovered some remarkable stories, as yet unknown, of action and heroism in the face of battle. He weaves in these first-hand experiences, creating a remarkable portrait of life at the Front.

Military World War

Critic Reviews

Magisterial, exemplary, heartbreaking. So original is the material, and so inventive is Sebag-Montefiore's approach . . . that this well-known tale is rendered strange again. Written with great style and sensitivity, superbly illustrated with many original plates and beautifully drawn maps, Sebag-Montefiore's brilliant new study will set the benchmark for a generation (Saul David)
Sebag-Montefiore tells it with gusto, a remarkable attention to detail . . . The sense of confusion, anxiety, uncertainty, and intrepid courage which characterized this disastrous campaign is captured more successfully than any other existing account (Richard Overy)
A beautifully crafted, blow-by-blow account with deep insight into the lives of these diverse young men
In his previous book, Dunkirk, one of Sebag-Montefiore's talents as a historian is never to lose sight of the variety of individual experience. It is impossible to read this book without being stuck afresh by the ripples of mourning and anxiety spreading out from the battlefield in France (Daniel Todman)
Hugh Sebag-Montefiore's heroes are the junior officers and the ordinary soldiers. Their voices emerge loud and clear in his pages . . . The best historians of the war have always made good use of the words written by the participants themselves, but few have done so as effectively as here (Nick Rennison)
The author's combination of thoughtful analysis with first-hand testimony from army soldiers, cameramen and diarists lends a gritty immediacy (Ian Thomson)
Comprehensive, authoritative and meticulously researched... [Of recent publications] it is the weightiest and best written (Simon Humphrey)
'A searing story. A meticulous military history and a deeply moving testimony to the extraordinary bravery of individual soldiers.' (About Dunkirk)
Sebag-Montefiore tells it with gusto, a remarkable attention to detail... The sense of confusion, anxiety, uncertainty, and intrepid courage which characterized this disastrous campaign is captured more successfully than any other existing account. (Richard Overy)
Several fine books have been written about "the miracle of Dunkirk", but none better than this. (About Dunkirk) (Andrew Roberts)
All stars
Most relevant
Put the sadness and loss of this conflict into a clear perspective.
A must listen.

A powerful listen

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Excellent book well researched, well wriitten and covering such a broad array of battles duri g the offensive. Narrator was first class

Take your time to listen

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followed the details from different perspectives.
great personal perspectives for many units and actions.
A bit pro English and negative to the commonwealth countries regarding.
seemed to try and counter "lions lead by donkeys".
while in truth reinforced the facts the British military leaders were far to often incompetent and sometimes negligent and cost many many lives pointlessly. while some who made small mistakes where removed others who butchered there men needlessly but get success stayed on.

Amazing and detailed

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Can’t recommend this book highly enough...even if you think you have no interest in military history books, you will not be disappointed.

Story and narration a cut above the rest

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Sebag has a bad habit of padding out his books with quotes several pages long and this one is no different. If I wanted to read that I’d look up the Imperial war archives in the London library.
Otherwise an adequate historian and writer.

A good read

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