Featuring the careers of forty-three men, this volume tells the story of the Battle of Cambrai, famous for being the first occasion when tanks were used en masse in battle. Its first day was so successful that church bells in Britain were rung in anticipation of a great victory. A tank crewman numbers among the recipients of the VC.Containing biographies of a broad cross-section of men from Britain and the Dominions including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and even the Ukraine. It includes a sapper, a former miner, who chose to stay with his seriously wounded colleague underground and die with him, rather than obey an order to leave him and save his own life; a maverick lieutenant-colonel who was relieved of his command and a padre who worked tirelessly over a period of three nights bringing at least twenty-five men to safety from No Man’s Land, who otherwise would have been left to die.

The 1917 Battle of Cambrai featured the first massed tank attack in military history and provoked the biggest German counter-attack against the British since 1914. The British aimed to break through the German Hindenburg Line, then threaten the rear of the German positions to the north. The battle is one of the most famous and controversial episodes of the First World War, and the battlefield is one of the most commonly visited on the Western Front. Jerry Murland’s clearly written, highly illustrated guide is the ideal introduction to it. Visitors can trace for themselves the course of the battle across the modern landscape and gain a fascinating insight into the nature of the fighting – and the wider conflict across the Western Front – throughout the war. Included are a series of routes that can be walked, cycled or driven. Among the key sites covered are Haverincourt, Flesquières, Mœuveres, Graincourt, Cantaign, Marcoing and Masnières, Bourlon, La Vacquerie and Villers-Plouich, Gouzeaucourt and Gonnelieu. In each place Jerry Murland describes the fighting that occurred there, recording what happened, exactly where it happened and why, and he points out the sights that remain for the visitor to see. His guidebook is essential reading for visitors who wish to enhance their understanding of the Battle of Cambrai and the war on the Western Front.

By August 1918 fortune was on the side of the Allies: America was increasing its contribution of troops and equipment substantially; the morale of the German Army was sinking as it failed to deliver the desired 'knock out blow'; and Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig found a new confidence, firmly believing that the Allies could at last push the Germans out of France and Belgium. This volume of the best-selling VCs of the First World War series covers the fifty days of the Allied advance from 8 August to 26 September 1918. Arranged chronologically, it tells the story of the sixty-four VC winners during this period. The recipients came from many countries, including Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand; some never lived to know that they had been awarded for their extraordinary bravery, while others returned home to face an uncertain future. This is their story.

Towards the end of September 1918 the Allied armies were poised to seize the Hindenburg Line – the end of the war on the Western Front was at last in sight. These final days became a series of battles to capture a number of river lines: as each one was captured by the Allies, the German Army fell back to the next. Despite stiff resistance from the enemy, the Allies slowly advanced. The Germans became increasingly demoralised, and about a quarter of their army surrendered. By the beginning of November the Allies had closed in until they were flanking the Forest of Mormal, surrounding the enemy. On 11 November the Canadian Corps retook Mons and, following the signing of the armistice, the guns finally fell silent at 11 a.m. Covering the six-week period from the Battle of Canal du Nord to Armistice Day, this volume tells the story of the fifty-six VC winners from France, Canada and Britain who fought in the victorious Allied advance.

Passchendaele 1917 is the story of one of the most pitiless and iconic battles of the First World War, known today as Third Ypres. Fought over three tortuous months in 1917, the fighting raged through some of the worst physical conditions of the entire war, across battlefields collapsing into endless mud and blood. Eventually, more than 500,000 casualties bought front-line changes measured only in hundreds of yards. If you truly want to understand what happened and why – read Battle Story.

The Naval VCs is a complete record of almost fifty men who won the Victoria Cross while serving in the Royal Navy during the First World War. They include the conflict's youngest and oldest winners in operations ranging from the Atlantic to the coast of Africa and from the Straits of Otranto to the rivers of Mesopotamia. These awards were won aboard all manner of fighting ships, from disguised schooner to light cruiser, from motor launch to submarine and from river steamer to battle cruiser. This book charts the lives and careers of the VC recipients and presents graphic accounts of their award-winning actions based on original material, much of it from eyewitness sources.

On the Western Front during the First World War, 490 men won the British Empire's highest award for gallantry, the Victoria Cross. A companion for any visitor to the First World War battlefields in France and Flanders, this reference book lists every VC recipient from 1914 to 1918 in alphabetical order.