Victory at Villers-Bretonneux : why a French town will never forget the Anzacs / Peter FitzSimons
- Bib ID:
- 7419082
- Format:
- Book
- Author:
- FitzSimons, Peter, author
- Description:
-
- North Sydney, NSW : Penguin Random House Australia, 2017
- ©2016
- xx, 764 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits, maps ; 24 cm.
- ISBN:
- 9781925324679 (paperback)
- Summary:
-
"It’s early 1918, and after four brutal years, the fate of the Great War hangs in the balance. On the morning of 21 March 1918, the Kaiserschlacht (the Kaiser’s battle) is launched – the biggest set-piece battle the world has ever seen. Across a 45-mile front, no fewer than two million German soldiers hurl themselves at the Allied lines, with the specific intention of driving all the way through to the town of Villers-Bretonneux, where their artillery can rain down shells on the key train hub of Amiens, thus throttling the Allied supply lines. For nigh on two weeks, the plan works brilliantly.The Germans are able to advance without check, as the exhausted British troops flee before them, together with tens of thousands of French refugees. In desperation, the British commander, General Douglas Haig, calls upon the Australian soldiers to stop the German onslaught and save Villers-Bretonneux. If the Australians can hold the line, the very gate to Amiens, then the Germans will not win the war. Arriving at Villers-Bretonneux just in time, the Australians launch a vicious counter-attack that hurls the enemy back the first time. And then, on Anzac Day 1918, when the town falls after all to the British defenders, it is again the Australians who are called on to save the day, the town, and the entire battle - even the war."--Back cover.
- Notes:
-
- A William Heinemann book.
- First published by William Heinemann in 2016. This edition published in 2017.--Title page verso.
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Subject:
-
- Australians -- France -- Villers-Bretonneux
- World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- France -- Villers-Bretonneux
- World War, 1914-1918 -- Participation, Australian
- World War, 1914-1918 -- Australia
- Villers-Bretonneux (France) -- Relations -- Australia
- Villers-Bretonneux (France) -- History, Military
- Villers-Bretonneux (France) -- History
- Australian
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary Dramatic Musical
- Published status:
- Published
- Publication date:
- 2016
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
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