THE GERMANS IN FLANDERS 1914, the latest of historian David Bilton's works in the popular Images of War series, follows the presence and campaigns of the Kaiser's Army in Flanders during the traumatic period from its arrival in August 1914 through to the end of the year. It covers the battles with the French, Belgians and British, concentrating primarily on the latter, and particularly 1st Ypres. Many of the German divisions involved in this battle were formed of reservists and, in many cases, untrained student volunteers. Their high casualty rate gave rise to the inter-war myth of the 'Slaughter of Innocents'.Each phase and aspect of the period is described from the German point of view in photographs, captions and text from German and British primary and secondary sources. Using many images that have never been published before, activities at the front are complemented by life in the German rear areas and on the home front. Just how much the war changed the towns and villages also becomes clear. The book helpfully contains a chronology of events and a section on the German divisions that fought there.
Further volumes by the same author covering campaigns during the rest of The Great War will follow.