Second Hand To the Last Man

Lyn Macdonald’s detailed account of the dramatic German Spring Offensive of 1918, when the German Army launched its final major attempt to break the Allied armies on the Western Front before growing American strength could decisively influence the war.

Drawing extensively upon the letters, diaries, memoirs and testimony of the soldiers who experienced the fighting, Macdonald reconstructs the opening of Operation Michael on 21 March 1918 and the subsequent British retreat across the old Somme battlefield.

The narrative follows the fighting through the German breakthrough, the withdrawal of exhausted British formations, the defence of key positions and the desperate attempts to prevent the Allied front from collapsing. Particular attention is given to the experiences of ordinary soldiers, whose accounts provide an immediate picture of confusion, exhaustion, loss and survival during one of the most dangerous periods faced by the British Expeditionary Force.

The book also examines the wider military situation, the German advance towards Amiens, the actions of British, French and German commanders and the eventual slowing and containment of the offensive. Maps throughout the volume trace individual engagements and the changing front line from March into April 1918.

Illustrated with numerous black-and-white photographs, contemporary drawings and 16 maps, including mapped endpapers, To the Last Man combines operational history with the first-hand testimony for which Lyn Macdonald’s First World War histories are particularly noted.

This is the 1998 BCA hardback book-club edition. Bibliographic records describe this issue as 382 pages and a first edition thus.