A Moonlight Massacre

The Third Battle of Ypres was officially terminated by Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig with the opening of the Battle of Cambrai on 20 November 1917. Nevertheless, a comparatively unknown set-piece attack – the only large-scale night operation carried out on the Flanders front during the campaign – was launched twelve days later on 2 December.

This volume is a necessary corrective to previously published campaign narratives of what has become popularly known as ‘Passchendaele’. It examines the course of events from the mid-November decision to sanction further offensive activity in the vicinity of Passchendaele village to the barren operational outcome that forced British GHQ to halt the attack within ten hours of Zero. A litany of unfortunate decisions and circumstances contributed to the profitless result. At the tactical level, a novel hybrid set-piece attack scheme was undermined by a fatal combination of snow-covered terrain and bright moonlight. At the operational level, the highly unsatisfactory local situation in the immediate aftermath of Third Ypres’ post-strategic phase (26 October-10 November) appeared to offer no other alternative to attacking from the confines of an extremely vulnerable salient. Perhaps the most tragic aspect of the affair occurred at the political and strategic level, where Haig’s earnest advocacy for resumption of the Flanders offensive in spring 1918 was maintained despite obvious signs that the initiative had now passed to the enemy and the crisis of the war was fast approaching. A Moonlight Massacre provides an important contribution and re-interpretation of the discussion surrounding Passchendaele, based firmly on an extensive array of sources, many unpublished, and supported by illustrations and maps.

 

"I recommend this book without hesitation, for even if you have little interest in the action itself, Michael has set a high standard and a benchmark for future works of this nature." ww1geek.com

"So many books on the subject of the Western Front in particular are coloured by myths, poor understanding, and often a complete lack of any detailed research. This second edition of what is already a highly acclaimed work is certainly worth investing in if you have a hankering to understand the realities ofnthe hard fought battles of winter 1917. The fact that the subject is a single night makes the narrative much easier to follow than some of the sweeping histories of the Western Front. It is extremely well written, and packed with photographs, maps and unit Operation Orders for the attack.....If you want to get beyond Blackadder, and really learn something about the war that the infantry knew…start here! Royal Anglian Regiment Journal

"In what is now a clear Helion ‘house style’ there are excellent biographical studies of all the key participants, and particular care is taken to describe the events from ‘the other side of the hill’ – the German army’s defence schemes and response to the attack are well documented. The maps are beautifully produced, the appendices really helpful. I have said in reviews before that Helion use the highest possible production values and, if they seem a little expensive, they are worth every penny!" Mars & Clio, The Bulletin of the British Commission for Military History

"Great War veteran and historian Cyril Falls observed in The Critic’s Armoury (1924), ‘in nothing in the world is the difference between plan and result, between the work on paper and the work on the ground, so glaring as in warfare.’ This vexing truth is thoroughly demonstrated in Michael LoCicero’s account of the 2 December 1917 British camisado on the Passchendaele Ridge." Stand To! No 127, Aug 2022

“The author achieves his goal of delivering a full appreciation of an operation, its execution and its consequences from the highest command levels down to individuals. It provides the reader with a comprehensive understanding of the British art of war on the Western Front circa December 1917. The work shows battle procedures, the execution of a plan, and the outcomes of a small operation that, while not noteworthy in the overall scale of the war, illustrates the British art of war and how it had evolved by December 1917.” Roads to the Great War

Reviews from previous edition:

“In this fine book, Michael LoCicero has painstakingly reconstructed a hitherto forgotten episode of First World War history. Thanks to him, we are able to look at the Passchendaele campaign through new eyes.” Gary Sheffield, Professor of War Studies, University of Wolverhampton

“A scholarly and highly detailed new operational study of a little-known action which was a postscript to the Third Battle of Ypres. With this book, Michael LoCicero has shed much fresh light on the BEF’s command, planning and tactics in late 1917.” Peter Simkins, Hon. Professor of Western Front Studies, University of  Wolverhampton  

“ … a mightily impressive book. It sets a standard for anyone wishing to describe and analyse a military operation …” Long Long Trail website

“…an excellent example of the possibilities opened by fastidious use of a wide spectrum of sources … Where this work is atypical is that it manages to be a rare thing – a genuinely operational study … Perhaps the greatest success of this book, notwithstanding its deft mastery of narrative and sources both well-known and obscure is that the author always maintains balance … It demands – and deserves - your close attention. At the risk of sounding evangelical or repetitive, again Helion bring the best modern research to market at an accessible price and beautifully produced. Wholeheartedly recommended.” Newsletter of the Society of Friends of the National Army Museum

“ … Michael LoCicero does not ignore the human side, whether it is the nervous breakdown of a battalion commander or the death of a lowly private soldier. The overall result is, therefore, not simply a dry academic account of a little-known tailpiece. This book is an in-depth, thoughtful, and, at times, moving study of the BEF and the German Army in action in late 1917. It certainly merits careful study.” Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research

“…a unique study which is exhaustively researched, lavishly illustrated, and extensively footnoted. It is a dense work that will appeal to academics and those interested in the mechanics of how the British planned and carried out operations. The author achieves his goal of delivering a full appreciation of an operation, its execution and its consequences from the highest command levels down to individuals.” Canadian Military History