33rd DIVISION IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS 1915-1919

The 33rd Division moved to France in November 1915 and spent the first six months on the La Bassee front, a period of mining, counter-mining and trench raids, before moving down to the Somme where it was engaged in heavy fighting on Bazentin Ridge, at High Wood and Delville Wood. In March 1917 the division moved north to the Arras front, taking part in the First and Second Scarpe in May. After a short spell on the coast at Nieuport in August 1917, where it encountered mustard gas for the first time, the division moved down to Ypres in time to take part in the Battle of Polygon Wood, suffering 2,905 casualties on one day. The division was still in Flanders when the Germans launched their Spring offensive, 1918, and was heavily engaged in the battles of the Lys. In the advance to victory the division took part in the battles of Epehy, Saint Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir Line, Cambrai and finally the Selle. In all, it suffered 37,404 casualties and was awarded four Victoria Crosses. The author was the commanding officer of the divisional machine gun battalion. The book begins with the arrival in France and the first eight of the nine chapters each deal with a specific period and the operations involving the division during that period; most chapters begin with the divisional Order of Battle at the time. Casualty figures are given from time to time in the text as well as nominal rolls of officer casualties by unit. A great deal of the narrative is taken up with extracts from newspapers - nineteen in all, mainly from "The Times", describing operations based on GHQ communiqués and occasionally quoting German communiqués. There are no appendices and no index. Reprint of the 1921 original edition.