The Battle of the Wastelands

The Battle of the Wastelands is an account and analysis of the offensive and defensive actions fought by British and German forces from the spring of 1917 to the late summer of 1918 in the areas between the eastern-most boundaries of the Somme campaign and the Hindenburg Line.

The battles waged in the area roughly between Bapaume in the south and Croisilles in the north, and Achiet-le-Petit in the west to Hermies in the east, are often neglected by British visitors to the battlefields of the Great War. Within this zone, several British and one Dominion corps fought their way across terrain laid waste as the Germans withdrew to the Siegfried Stellung in March and April 1917.

It was also the area of the at times chaotic retreat of IV, V, and VI Corps a year later, and of the open warfare experienced by the same three corps during the summer months of 1918. The important offensive and defensive tactical encounters by which the British and Dominion corps captured, lost, and recaptured villages such as Achiet-le-Petit, Gomiécourt, Ervillers, Mory, Croisilles, Frémicourt, Ytres, Lebucquière, Beaumetz, and Hermies are described and explained within the context of the BEF’s learning process.

Many of these operations fought in the spring of 1917 and in the summer of 1918 are not well known to British students of the war. Although generally not large set-piece battles the engagements were heavily contested and incurred substantial casualties. In addition to those lesser-known battles, the book also examines the defense of its front by the British Third Army as it staged its fighting withdrawal during Operation Michael.

The area is one of undulating open fields, country roads, scattered copses, small villages, and the Canal du Nord. There are few physical remains of fortifications but there are dozens of CWGC cemeteries, many of which appear to receive no visitors for months at a time. The land is ideal for exploring either by car, bike, or on foot, and is within very easy and short traveling distance from the towns where most British visitors to the Somme and Arras stay.

The Battle of the Wastelands offers both a practical touring guide as well as a reference volume for these little-appreciated but important engagements. It will inform those visitors who drive through these areas as they pass to and from the coast of their importance and significance to the eventual Allied victory on the Western Front.