Defiance!: withstanding the Kaiserschlacht

George Nichols was an artillery officer serving with the 82nd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. He was wounded in 1917, and returned to the guns in March 1918, just in time to experience the fury of the Kaiserschlacht, the great German offensive designed to knock the British army out of the war.

Nichols wrote a powerful account of the Kaiser’s last great offensive battle from inside the eye of the storm, and it is one of the few primary source accounts which are told from the often overlooked perspective of the British artillery men. Nichols, with wonderful British reserve, records how the men of the Royal Field Artillery steadfastly manned their guns. Nichols survived the onslaught and in 1919, was able to produce a full account of both the retreat and the British counterattack which won back the lost ground.

First published in 1919, while censorship was still in force, this wonderful primary source has long been out of print and its welcome return makes for essential reading for anyone with an interest in the Great War.