In April, 1917 the village of Gavrelle sat astride the road between British-held Arras and German-occupied Douai, in the northern sector of the Western Front. The battle for this strategic village became one of the most tragic episodes in the larger battle of Arras. The attack of April 10 by the 51st Highland Division was highly successful, and British cavalry was brought forward on one of the few occasions of the war. A late-season snow squall allowed the cavalry to retreat with only light casualties when the main German artillery and machine-gun positions proved to be unbroken. The village was carried by the assault on April 23rd of the Royal Naval Division, an infantry unit made up of Naval reservists and Royal Marines. Within days, indecision by the British high command threw away the advantage, and the deadlock on the Western Front continued for another year. This unusual battlefield of World War I is covered in all the detail of previous Battleground Europe books, with numerous maps and illustrations, and a guide to the sector as it is today.
