Germany's Western Front : translations from the German official history of the Great War / Mark Osborne Humphries and John Maker, editors

"This multi-volume series is the first English language translation of Der Weltkrieg, the German official history of the First World War ... Der Weltkrieg is the untold story of Germany's experience on the Western Front. Because it is related in the words of its official historians, this account is vital to the study of the war and official memory in Weimar and Nazi Germany. Although exciting new sources have recently been uncovered in former Soviet archives, Der Weltkrieg remains the basis of future scholarship"--Jacket.

"This volume [1] covers the outbreak of war in July--August 1914, the German invasion of Belgium, the Battles of the Frontiers, and the pursuit to the Marne in early September 1914. The first month of war was a critical period for the German army and, as the official history makes clear, the German war plan was a gamble that seemed to present the only solution to the riddle of the two-front war. But as the Moltke-Schlieffen Plan was gradually jettisoned through a combination of intentional command decisions and confused communications, Germany's hopes for a quick and victorious campaign evaporated."--Publisher's description.

"This volume [2] focuses on 1915, the first year of trench warfare. For the first time in the history of warfare, poison gas was used against French and Canadian troops at Ypres. Meanwhile, conflict raged in the German High Command over the political and military direction of the war. The year 1915 also set the stage for the bloodbath at Verdun and sealed the fate of the German Supreme Commander, Erich von Falkenhayn. This is the official version of that story."--Publisher's description.