{"product_id":"the-first-day-on-the-somme-1-july-191","title":"The First Day on the Somme  1 July 191","description":"\u003cp\u003eOn 1 July  1916  a continous line of British soldiers climbed out from the trenches of the Somme into No Mans Land and began to walk slowly towards dug-in German troops armed with machine-guns and defended by thick barbed wire. By the end of that day  as old tactics were met by the reality of modern warfare  there had been more than 60 000 British casualties - a third of them fatalities. Martin Middlebrooks classic account of the blackest day in the history of the British army draws on official sources  local newspapers  autobiographies  novels and poems from the time. Most importantly  it also takes in the accounts of hundreds of survivors: normal men  many of them volunteers  who found themselves thrown into a scene of unparalleled tragedy and horror. Compelling and intensely moving  it describes the true events behind the sacrifice of a generation of young men - killed as much by the folly of their commanders as by the bullets of their enemies.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44974452178997,"sku":"ByrdShop_039305442X","price":92.97,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780393054422.jpg?v=1770659287","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-first-day-on-the-somme-1-july-191","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}