Ypres 1914 - Messines (Battleground Europe) (Battleground Early

\n\nYPRES 1914: MESSINES\nBattleground Early Battles\n\nYPRES 1914: MESSINES\nBattleground Early Battles\n\nAuthors Nigel Cave and Jack Sheldon combine their respective expertise to tell the story of the men \u2013 British, French, Indian and German \u2013 who fought over the unremarkable undulating ground that was to become firmly placed in British national conscience ever afterwards. At the end of October 1914 an increasingly desperate Falkenhayn, aware that his offensive in Flanders had stalled, decided to make one final effort to break through the Allied lines south of Ypres. Pulling together a large strike force, the so-called Army Group Fabeck, he launched a violent offensive designed to capture the Messines Ridge and to use this dominating terrain as a springboard for a further advance. Inadequately resourced, assembled in a rush, this thrust was soon in trouble.Confused fighting in the wooded areas to the south of the Menin Road slowed the advance and initial attempts t;