Walking Arras marks the final volume in a trilogy of walking books
about the British sector of the Western Front. Paul Reed once more takes
us over paths trodden by men who were asked to make a huge - and, for
all too many, the ultimate - sacrifice.
The Battle of Arras falls between the Somme and Third Ypres; it marked
the first British attempt to storm the Hindenburg Line defenses, and the
first use of lessons learned from the events of 1916. But it remains a
forgotten part of the Western Front. It also remains one of the great
killing battles of the Great War, with such a high fatal casualty rate
that a soldier's chances of surviving Arras were much slimmer than even
the Somme or Passchendaele. Most soldiers who served in the Great War
served at Arras at some point; it was a name very much in the
consciousness of the survivors of the Great War. Ninety years later,
while there has been development at Arras, it is still an impressive
battlefield and one worthy of the attention of any Great War
enthusiast.
This book will give a lead in seeing the ground connected with the
fighting in 1917. Making a slight departure from the style of the
previous two walking books, the chapters look at the historical
background of an area and then separately describe a walk; with
supplementary notes about the associated cemeteries in that region.
