Always highly readable, gives a succinct and cohesive overview of the day, and is hearteningly even-handed

Spectator

Let's be honest about Somme historiography; it either comes drenched in pitying tears or in posturing outrage, but both occlude. Roberts has played it straight with a clean and lucid overview so that one can actually see and understand what happened on that day

The Times

The book's opening chapters on the strategy and tactics of the battle provide an excellent, succinct summary of the constraints within which it was planned. Roberts rightly stresses the subordination of British planning to that of the French, and sensibly eschews the British desire to say it was undertaken to save their allies at Verdun

Evening Standard

The shattering story of the blackest day in the history of the British Army, the first day of the Somme Offensive, through the words of casualties, survivors, and the bereaved

Military History Monthly

A well-written, clear, moving introduction to the slaughter on the Somme and its place in wider conflict

Sunday Times

Blending deep scholarly skill with a real literary talent

Dan Jones, Evening Standard