The mist of poisonous gas that drifted across no man's land from the German trenches opposite the Ypres salient on 22 April 1915 caused ghastly casualties and suffering among the unprepared defenders, and it opened up a huge seven-mile gap in the defensive line. It also signalled the beginning of a new and frightful era of industrialized warfare. John Lee's graphic and perceptive reassessment of this milestone in the history of the Great War - and of the gruelling full-scale battle that followed - is one of the few full-length studies of the event to have been published in recent times. AUTHOR: John Lee has an established reputation in the study of the First World War as a writer, lecturer and battlefield tour guide. He is an Honorary Research Fellow of the Centre for the First World War at Birmingham University, a National Council Member of the Army Records Society, a member of the British Commission for Military History, the Western Front Association and the Gallipoli Association. He is the author of A Soldier's Life: General Sir Ian Hamilton 1853-194 and The Warlords: The Campaigns of Hindenburg and Ludendorff . SELLING POINTS: * Reconstruction of the poison gas attack at Ypres in 1915 * Full description of the month-long battle that followed * Analysis of the German tactics and the Allied response * Eyewitness accounts of the front-line fighting * Insight into the controversy surrounding the British commanders * Assesses the impact of new weapons on the Western Front ILLUSTRATIONS 30 b/w photos
