In 1809 French armies controlled almost every province of Spain and only Wellington’s small force in Portugal stood between Napoleon and the conquest of Iberia. The French invaded Portugal in the summer of 1810 but found their way blocked by the most extensive field fortifications the world had ever seen
the Lines of Torres Vedras. Unable to penetrate the Lines, the French were driven back into Spain having suffered the heaviest defeat yet experienced by Napoleon’s armies. The retreat from Portugal marked the turning point in the Peninsular War and, from the security of the Lines, Wellington was able to mount the offensive ‘These intolerably nameless names’, as Siegfried Sassoon referred to them, should never be forgotten or ignored. The four memorials covered in the book are the Arras Memorial, the Canadian National Memorial on Vimy Ridge, the Vis-en-Artois Memorial and the Royal Flying Services Memorial. The author takes the reader through the officers and men in the order in which they appear on the memorials in this ‘Who’s Who’ guide that also provides detailed coverage of gallantry awards and citations and is a superb point of reference for anyone visiting Arras and its battlefields.
Among the many characters and personalities are two brothers with a choice over whether to fight for Britain or Germany, a man who played a key part in deciding which aircraft to commission for the RAF in the run up to the Second World War, a man who gave Winston Churchill a flying lesson, a footballer who played for both Manchester City and Manchester United and who was never far from controversy, a man whose conscience was finally swayed by the sinking of the Lusitania, the man who created ‘Winnipeg’ Crater, a man who crossed the snow-bound Andes in order to enlist and many, many others. AUTHOR: Peter Hughes has been a member of the Western Front Association since 1981 and has been visiting the battlefields of France and Belgium for over thirty years. He now spends his time researching many aspects of the Great War and guiding others around its battlefields and cemeteries. 8 page plate section
