Facebook X YouTube Instagram Pinterest NetGalley
Google Books previews are unavailable because you have chosen to turn off third party cookies for enhanced content. Visit our cookies page to review your cookie settings.

Messines 1917 (Paperback)

The ANZACS in the Battle of Messines

Military WWI > Battles & Campaigns > Ypres WWI > By Year > 1917

By Craig Deayton
Imprint: Pen & Sword Military
Pages: 332
Illustrations: 32
ISBN: 9781526740144
Published: 18th June 2018

in_stock

£11.89 was £16.99

You save £5.10 (30%)


You'll be £11.89 closer to your next £10.00 credit when you purchase Messines 1917. What's this?
+£4.50 UK Delivery or free UK delivery if order is over £40
(click here for international delivery rates)

Need a currency converter? Check XE.com for live rates

Other formats available Price
Messines 1917 ePub (29.1 MB) Add to Basket £4.99


The enemy must not get the Messines Ridge at any price …

So read the orders to German troops defending the vital high ground south of Ypres. On 7 June 1917, the British Second Army launched its attack with an opening like no other. In the largest secret operation of the First World War, British and Commonwealth mining companies placed over a million pounds of explosive beneath the German front-line positions in 19 giant mines which erupted like a volcano. This was just the beginning. By the end of that brilliant summer’s day, one of the strongest positions on the Western Front had fallen in the greatest British victory in three long years of war. For the Anzacs, who comprised one third of the triumphant Second Army, it was their most significant achievement to that point; for the men of the New Zealand Division, it would be their finest hour.

It is difficult to overstate the importance of Messines for the Australians, whose first two years of war had represented an almost unending catalogue of disaster. This was both the first real victory for the AIF and the first test in senior command for Major General John Monash, who commanded the newly formed 3rd Division. Messines was a baptism of fire for the 3rd Division which came into the line alongside the battle-scarred 4th Australian Division, badly mauled at Bullecourt just six weeks earlier. The fighting at Messines would descend into unimaginable savagery, a lethal and sometimes hand-to-hand affair of bayonets, clubs, bombs and incessant machine-gun fire, described by one Australian as ‘72 hours of Hell’. After their string of bloody defeats over 1915 and 1916, Messines would prove the ultimate test for the Australians.

Superb, outstanding account. 10/10

The Great War magazine, September 2018 – reviewed by Mark Marsay

This is a super read for anyone wanting to gain insight into the very essence of the First World war... the appendices, the end-notes, the bibliography and the index all of which are of great help to the reader and point to the massive amount of research which has gone into the writing of this book.

Clash-of-Steel thoroughly recommends this book.

Read the complete review online here.

Clash of Steel

The author has ably presented the story of the first real victory for the AIF. After two years of disasters, the ANZACs were placed in a position where their courage and determination could surmount the challenges to deliver a convincing triumph in a bloody battle. – Highly Recommended.

Read the complete review online here.

Firetrench

As featured 'ON THE SHELF'

Wargames Illustrated, June 2018

About Craig Deayton

Craig Deayton is a History teacher with a special interest in Australia’s military history. He has worked as a teacher and College Principal for over twenty-five years and is currently Principal of Sacred Heart College in Hobart, Australia. Craig holds a Bachelor’s degree in History and a Masters degree in Education.

Customers who bought this title also bought...

Other titles in Pen & Sword Military...