Before Endeavours Fade

Book excerpt: From the Belgian coast, across the fields of Flanders, over the valley of the Somme and down the line to the Argonne: all the major battlefields of the First World War — Ypres, Arras, Cambrai, Amiens, St?Quentin, Mons, Le Cateau, Reims, Verdun and St?Mihiel — are criss-crossed in this book over more than thirty different routes, each clearly shown on a Michelin map. Every significant feature is described in detail. Since her death in 1991,?After the Battle’s Editor, Karel Margry, has traveled every route, checking and revising the text where necessary, as?well as re-photographing every memorial. Many new ones are included, yet we have striven to keep true to the flavor of Rose’s original concept . . . before?endeavors fade. Indispensable for anyone contemplating a tour of the battlefields in Belgium and France, this book combines the years of knowledge, travel and research of its author, Rose?Coombs, who worked at the Imperial War Museum in London for nearly forty years.