Peter Barton

Whilst the war raged across Flanders fields, an equally horrifying and sometimes more dangerous battle took place underground. Beneath Flanders Fields tells the story of the tunnellers’ war, which still remains one of the most misunderstood, misrepresented and mystifying conflicts of the Great War. A wealth of personal testimonies reveal the engineering, technology and science behind how this most intense of battles was fought – and won. They speak of how the tunnellers lived a relentless existence in the depths of the battlefield for almost two and a half years, enduring physical and mental stresses that were often more extreme than their infantry counterparts. Their lives were reduced to a complex war of silence, tension and claustrophobia, leading up to the most dramatic mine offensive in history launched on 7 June 1917 at Messines Ridge. Yet, Messines was not the end of their story, which continued with the crafting of a whole underground world of headquarters, cookhouses and hospitals, housing the innumerable troops who passed through this part of the Western Front. Here, this extraordinary, hidden world is revealed and the fragile legacy it has left behind on Flanders fields is brought to light.

Intended as a diversion from the Somme, Fromelles was was the worst-ever military disaster in Australian history, and is recognised as one of the bloodiest and most useless battles of the First World War. With the recent discovery of a mass grave and the disinterment of many diggers, it has now entered national consciousness in the same way as Gallipoli. In one night, British and Australian soldiers suffered casualties equivalent to the total toll of the Boer War, Korean War and Vietnam War combined.Barton's research has revealed that the Australian frontline troops gave away critical Allied secrets to the Germans… which not only led directly to the Fromelles slaughter - but also contributed to the failure of the Somme offensive as a whole.The Lost Legions of Fromelles is the most authoritative book on this staggering disaster, combining new scholarship on the battle with an account of recent events to dispel many myths in a rich and compelling history.

The result of over twenty-five years of research, Beneath Flanders Fields reveals how this intense underground battle was fought and won. The authors give the first full account of mine warfare in World War I through the words of the tunnellers themselves as well as plans, drawings, and previously unpublished archive photographs, many in colour. Beneath Flanders Fields also shows how military mining evolved. The tunnellers constructed hundreds of deep dugouts that housed tens of thousands of troops. Often electrically lit and ventilated, these tunnels incorporated headquarters, cookhouses, soup kitchens, hospitals, drying rooms, and workshops. A few dugouts survive today, a final physical legacy of the Great War, and are presented for the first time in photographs in Beneath Flanders Fields.

The complete panoramas of Passchendaele from the author of The Battlefields of the First World War.Today, concertina'd into a single sombre entity known as Passchendaele, the British 1917 offensives in Belgian Flanders have entered the English language as the epitome of all that was both wretched and noble about the Great War. Collectively known as the Third Battle of Ypres, the fighting raged from early June until mid-November, and revealed new depths of tragedy, heights of gallantry, astonishing stoicism, humour, loss, grief, and terrible human suffering. The remains of no less than 200,000 soldiers still lie unfound within the narrow boundaries of the battlefield of Passchendaele. The German panoramas - many of which have not seen the light of day since the end of the war - match and often surpass the Imperial War Museum for both scale and quality. Like their British equivalents, they were taken at huge personal risk by specialist photographers. All the panoramas reveal what no other photographs can - the view beyond the trench parapet - and a great deal more. Also included are unpublished testimony, letters and memoirs from all the different regiments who served on the Somme, sourced from the regimental archives across the United Kingdom, Ireland and elsewhere; stunning mapping, plans and diagrams throughout; and equivalent aerial photographs.

Whilst the war raged across Flanders fields, an equally horrifying and sometimes more dangerous battle took place underground. Beneath Flanders Fields tells the story of the tunnellers’ war, which still remains one of the most misunderstood, misrepresented and mystifying conflicts of the Great War.A wealth of personal testimonies reveal the engineering, technology and science behind how this most intense of battles was fought – and won. They speak of how the tunnellers lived a relentless existence in the depths of the battlefield for almost two and a half years, enduring physical and mental stresses that were often more extreme than their infantry counterparts. Their lives were reduced to a complex war of silence, tension and claustrophobia, leading up to the most dramatic mine offensive in history launched on 7 June 1917 at Messines Ridge. Yet, Messines was not the end of their story, which continued with the crafting of a whole underground world of headquarters, cookhouses and hospitals, housing the innumerable troops who passed through this part of the Western Front.Here, this extraordinary, hidden world is revealed and the fragile legacy it has left behind on Flanders fields is brought to light.Peter Barton, like so many others, derived his passion for the Great War from his grandfather, who served in a veterinary unit near Ypres, and from veteran friends like Bert Fearns, to whom this book is dedicated. He is a filmmaker and writer, and secretary of the All Party Parliamentary War Graves and Battlefields Heritage Group.Peter Doyle is a geologist – and latterly an archaeologist – with a special interest in the role of geology and terrain in the outcome of battles. Amongst others, he has made studies of the Great War battlefields of the Western Front, Gallipoli and Salonika. With Peter Barton, he is co-secretary of the All Parliamentary War Graves and Battlefields Heritage Group.Johan Vandewalle was born and bred in Zonnebeke. He grew up surrounded by the legacy of the Great War, and many childhood adventures involved things subterranean. Although today a skilled carpenter, his working life began as a professional civil engineer tunneller, and the combined knowledge of both disciplines has created a passion and technical understanding of the underground war which has made him the foremost explorer of the tunnels and dugouts in Flanders. Johan can be found on most evenings at his other business, the Café De Dreve on the corner of Polygon Wood, the home of the underground war in the Ypres Salient.

The late founder of Liberty Media chronicles his life as a baby boomer, from his protests against the Vietnam War and his jam sessions with Sha Na Na through his work as a political consultant and businessman to his battle with cancer. Reader's Guide available. Reprint. 40,000 first printing.

This highly illustrated, definitive, important, book is the first full account of the British and German mine warfare of the Ypres Salient combining personal testimonies of the tunnellers themselves with details of the workings, giving the reader a new insight into this most secret of all Great War battles and incorporating a host of previously unpublished archive photographs.