Why read Cheerful Sacrifice?

Book cover of Cheerful Sacrifice: The Battle of Arras, 1917

Book description

In this book, Nicholls provides an account o f the 39-day long battle of Arras, which remains the most le thal and costly British offensive of WW1. He reveals the hor rors of trench warfare and the bravery of the soldiers who f ought in the war. '

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War
History

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Why read it?

1 author picked Cheerful Sacrifice as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Melvyn Fickling

Author

By the measure of its daily casualty rate, The Battle of Arras was the costliest British offensive of the First World War, far higher than either the Somme or Passchendaele. One survivor described it as 'the most savage infantry battle of the war.' The strength of this history derives from the fact that Nicholls interviewed so many (now deceased) veterans of both sides and uses their words to inject a visceral dynamism into his text. He takes us from early breakthroughs by the British forces to the, perhaps inevitable, final stalemate. Cuttingly, Nicholls lifts his title directly from a comment…

From Melvyn's list on the battles, corps and aftermath of WW1 for women.