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Rating: 
Summary: THE account of the 1917 campaign
Review: I read this book in 1965 and it easily won the award for "best book read this year" even though I read 41 other books that year. And I have never forgotten the searing way Wolff brings the awfulness of Flanders in 1917 home to the reader.
Rating:
Summary: Take you back to a war now almost forgotton
Review: I've read this book twice the last time being over ten years ago and its haunting images of slaughter on the battle are still vivid in my mind. Although I had read All Is Quiet On The Western Front previously, I was not prepared for what I read here- the senselessness of the killing was unimaginable. How in the world could General Haig (the British commander) and Field Marshall Foch (the French commander) send hundreds of thousands of men to their death? If my memory serves me correctly, up to 20,000 allied soldiers died in one month alone. This is a highly readable history of the battle, one that will captivate your interest and keep you reading until the end. Simply put, this book is hard to put down. Time after time, you ask yourself, how could they keep up this senseless slaughter, asking yourself what compelled these men to obey orders that meant certain death for no gain whatsoever? Certainly the First World War was one of the most senseless and unless wars ever fought, laying the groundwork for even the more destructive Second World War. When the United States entered the war, it was to General Pershing's credit that he refused to dole out American troops under the command of Haig and Foch. Pershing knew that they too would be used for cannon fodder under European command. Since the Civil War, Americans have been reluctant to give their sons over to such slaughter.
This is a gripping book. Well written and hard to put down, it will take you back to a time and a war now almost forgotten.
Rating:
Summary: Take you back to a war now almost forgotton
Review: I've read this book twice the last time being over ten years ago and its haunting images of slaughter on the battle are still vivid in my mind. Although I had read All Is Quiet On The Western Front previously, I was not prepared for what I read here- the senselessness of the killing was unimaginable. How in the world could General Haig (the British commander) and Field Marshall Foch (the French commander) send hundreds of thousands of men to their death? If my memory serves me correctly, up to 20,000 allied soldiers died in one month alone. This is a highly readable history of the battle, one that will captivate your interest and keep you reading until the end. Simply put, this book is hard to put down. Time after time, you ask yourself, how could they keep up this senseless slaughter, asking yourself what compelled these men to obey orders that meant certain death for no gain whatsoever? Certainly the First World War was one of the most senseless and unless wars ever fought, laying the groundwork for even the more destructive Second World War. When the United States entered the war, it was to General Pershing's credit that he refused to dole out American troops under the command of Haig and Foch. Pershing knew that they too would be used for cannon fodder under European command. Since the Civil War, Americans have been reluctant to give their sons over to such slaughter.
This is a gripping book. Well written and hard to put down, it will take you back to a time and a war now almost forgotten.
Rating: 
Summary: Truly a modern read
Review: If you enjoy the style of Stephen Ambrose, you will like In Flanders Fields. As a story about a war little understood now, the book illuminates and chills the reader. I picked up this book in a tiny used bookstore on a whim, but immediately started turning the pages. I read it cover to cover immediately. I also recommend Lyn Macdonald also for coverage of WW1.
Rating:
Summary: Superb WW1 book.
Review: In Flanders Fields is the most readable World War One book I have yet come across; infinitely more so than Ian Ousby's Road to Verdun which, although starting promisingly soon gets bogged down in academic pontificating. The Road to Flanders, as the title suggests deals with the conflagration that took place there in the autumn of 1917 - also known as he Third Battle of Ypres - when the British Army tried once again to break the stalemate on the western front and push the Germans out of Belgium and away from strategic ports.
In Flanders Fields focuses on three key players - British Army Commander-in-Chief, Douglas Haig; his nemesis British Prime Minister David Lloyd George and mud.
The October offensive against the German lines was an unmitigated disaster and many historians have attempted to put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Field Marshal Haig. This is understandable - Haig pressed ahead with his scheme despite the warnings from generals both French and British and the disapproval of the British government. Bur as you read this book you will see that there were other factors that played their part: internal bickering, vanity, bad weather, indecision, false promises, lax security (the British plans were published in advance the newspapers), and No Man's Land where the mud was so deep soldiers and mules drowned by the dozens.
In Flanders Fields is really well written - as well as depicting the whole event clearly, Wolff actually manages to bring the whole event to life and takes us into the meeting rooms and the pages of secret diaries. Entertaining but not for the easily depressed. I recommend this as a first-class introduction to anyone interested in finding out more about World War 1
Rating:
Summary: The Horror, the Horror
Review: In these times of compassionate battlefield practices and high tech, the loss of several hundred men would be a great disaster and bring the general under closest scrutiny. It is hard for us to imagine a time when men lived in a sea of mud beneath fortified heights, drowned in shell holes, never saw a tank, and had negligible air support, while the enemy artillery turned over every square inch of ground. The loss of several hundred thousand in one battle was deemed tolerable and was to be encouraged if the general could gain several hundred yards of ground, nor was there any hope of it ever ending. If you read this book, you will understand the ideology, art and literature of the entire 20th century much better.
Rating:
Summary: The classic book on Passchendaele
Review: Mr Wolff has captured the complex details and produced a compelling and interesting account of the bitter fighting in Flanders. This book is one of the very best and ranks beside Middlebrook's classic 'First Day on the Somme'. A must read for any World War One buff.
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