Defending the Ypres Front 1914 - 1918

Book excerpt: "[This] book examines how trhe German army developed field fortifications to hold what can loosely be described as the Ypres Friont. With the decision by Falkenhayn in 1915 to concentrate Germany's offensive effoets largely in the east, the German defenders around Ypres set to developing their lines for semi-permanent occupation. The subsoil around the Salient generally made it difficult to construct and maintain mined (i.e. deep) dugouts - unlike, for example on the Somme, with easily worked chalk not far below the surface. The only practicable alternative was to use reinforced concrete. The authors... have used [a] ... range of primary sources to provide a narrative of what the Germans built, how they built it (the logistical challenge was enormous) and how the designs and requirements of types of bunkers, such as forward medical bunkers, artillery shelters, machine gun and observation bunkers, changed as the war progressed and as the military situation on the front dictated. "--Back cover.