British Infantryman vs German Infantryman

Somme 1916

Author: Stephen Bull
Illustrator: Peter Dennis

This 80 page paperback book is number 5 in the Combat Series that is available from Osprey Publishing.

The mighty struggle for the Somme sector of the Western Front in the second half of 1916 has come to be remembered for the dreadful toll of casualties inflicted on Britain’s ‘New Armies’ by the German defenders on the first day of the offensive, 1 July. The battle continued, however, throughout the autumn and only came to a close in the bitter cold of mid-November. The British plan relied on the power of artillery to suppress and destroy the German defenses; the infantry were tasked with taking and holding the German trenches, but minimal resistance was anticipated. Both sides incurred major losses, however; German doctrine emphasized that the first line had to be held or retaken at all costs, a rigid defensive policy that led to very high casualties as the Germans threw survivors into ad hoc, piecemeal counterattacks all along the line.

Featuring specially commissioned full-color artwork and based on meticulous reassessment of the sources, this engaging study pits the volunteers of Kitchener’s ‘New Armies’ against the German veterans who defended the Somme sector in the bloody battles of July–November 1916.

The contents of this book are;

• Introduction
• The opposing sides
• Serre: 1 July 1916
• Guillemont: 30 July 1916
• Thiepval: 26-27 September 1916
• Analysis & conclusion
• Unit organizations
• Orders of battle
• Bibliography
• Index

This book is available in three different formats which are;