Hopes and Fears How Vain

Description

The war of movement continues in September and October 1914, the BEF still undersize and unable to cope with the demands upon it. French forces have taken massive losses in Alsace and Lorraine, and in an unfortunate excursion into the Ardennes, and have no bodies spare to bolster the British contingent. General Griffin’s division is central to the fight for Ypres, his four surviving sons all in the front lines. German forces have failed to meet the timetable demanded by the Schlieffen Plan and are desperate to drive the French to surrender before Russia can mobilise its millions to invade Prussia in a two-front war. Nothing is going to any plan and all sides are desperate. The small, highly professional British army is dying, its trained riflemen taking inexorable casualties, and inflicting massive losses in each successive encounter. It is Tommy Atkins’ finest, and last, hour…