A joint operation between Britain and France in 1916, the Battle of the Somme was an attempt to gain territory and dent Germany's military strength. By the end of the action, very little ground had been won: the Allied Forces had made just 12km. For this slight gain, a more than a million lives were lost. There were more than 400,000 British, 200,000 French, and 500,000 German casualities during the fighting. Twelve Days on the Somme is a memoir of the last spell of front-line duty performed by the 2nd Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment. Written by Sidney Rogerson, a young officer in B Company, it gives an extraordinarily frank and often moving account of what it was really like to fight through one of most notorious battles of the First World War. Its special message, however, is that, contrary to received assumptions, men could face up to the terrible ordeal such a battle presented with resilience, good humour and without loss of morale. This is a classic work whose reprinting is long overdue.

About the Author
SIDNEY ROGERSON was born in Suffolk in 1894. He was commissioned straight from the Cambridge University OTC into The Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire) Regiment. After World War I, he worked in public relations, first with the Federation of British Industries, and later with ICI. He died in 1968. MALCOLM BROWN is the author of many books, including T. E. Lawrence in War and Peace (Greenhill), and The Letters of T. E. Lawrence.


Book Information
ISBN 9781853676802
Author Sidney Rogerson
Format Hardback
Page Count 208
Imprint Greenhill Books
Publisher Greenhill Books