Books with author Leon Wolff

Originally published in 1958, In Flanders Fields is a classic of World War I literature. Leon Wolff offers a brilliantly compact fictional narrative of the Third Battle of Ypres, also known as Passchendaele. The battle, which lasted from July to November of 1917, had a staggering cost: it is estimated that 475,000 troops were killed, wounded, or went missing. Through Wolff’s carefully accurate novelization of the strategy, tactics, and events of the battle, we begin to get glimmers of insight into how slaughter on such a scale was possible—how the battle was allowed to continue, month after month, at such a terrible cost. No other book takes readers so close to the mud and danger of the Ypres battlefield; on the centennial of World War I, a new generation of readers now has a chance to discover it.

In this account of the Flanders campaign, Leon Wolff graphically describes the whole terrible business: from Haig's initial plan; his determination to carry it out despite constant opposition from the Cabinet and the muddle of doubts and disagreement among the military staff; through the early stages of the 'great offensive'; and to the scene of the battle itself - the Flanders fields which will 'forever haunt Western civilization'.

Of all the grim, gallant, and inglorious battles of the Western Front, Passchendaele is the name uniquely evocative of the "mud and blood" that pervaded the First World War. The total gain--a few thousand yards of indefensible slough--cost many tens of thousands of Allied lives. In this now-classic account of the Flanders campaign, first published in 1959, Leon Wolff graphically describes the whole terrible business: from Haig's initial plan; his determination to carry it out despite constant opposition from the Cabinet and the muddle of doubts and disagreement among the military staff; through the early stages of the "great offensive"; and to the scene of the battle itself--the Flanders fields that will "forever haunt Western civilization."

Of all the grim, gallant and inglorious battles of the Western Front, Passchendaele is the name evocative of the "mud and blood" that pervaded World War I. The total gain - a few thousand yards of indefensible slough - cost about a million Allied lives. In this account of the Flanders campaign, Leon Wolff describes the whole nightmare business: Haig's initial plan; his determination to carry it out despite constant opposition from the Cabinet and the muddle of doubts and disagreement among the military staff; the early stages of the "great offensive"; and the scene of battle itself - the Flanders fields which "will forever haunt Western civilization".

Of all the grim, gallant and inglorious battles of the Western Front, Passchendaele is the name evocative of the "mud and bl ood" that pervaded World War I. The total gain - a few thousand yards of indefensible slough - cost about a million Allied lives. In this account of the Flanders campaign, Leon Wolff describes the whole nightmare business: Haig's initial plan; his determination to carry it out despite constant opposition from the Cabinet and the muddle of doubts and disagreement among the military staff; the early stages of the "great offensive"; and the scene of battle itself - the Flanders fields which "will forever haunt Western civilization".