Purnell's History of the World Wars Special: The Big Guns Artillery 1914-1918

In good condition - has markings from use - due to differing weights in books, postage maybe adjusted at checkout.

As the armies of 1914 became bogged down in the trenches they were to occupy for the next four years, the Generals turned increasingly to the artillery in an attempt to break the deadlock. The infantry charge, in the face of concentrated rifle and machine-gun fire, had become no more than mass suicide, and so vast quantities of shells were fired in the hope of destroying the enemy's defences. But the heavier the bombardment became, the more the ground was churned up the deeper the trenches were dug and the stalemate was only increased.
In this book we present an account of the part played by the big gun in the First World War, a war in which the steady rumble of bombardment was virtually uninterrupted for four years and in which up to 2,000,000 shells were hurled at a single front in one week. The text deals with various aspects of the use of artillery in the First World War and the many illustrations, both action photographs and detailed colour drawings by John Batchelor, show a comprehensive cross section of the guns used by the major powers - from the 1746 vintage Cohorn mortar to the incredible Big Bertha.