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by Andrew Lucas & Jorgen Schmieschek. S
oftcover (7.5×9.7 inches). 256 pages. 2025 reprint of 2015 book.
Year by year and corps by corps and division by division, the history of WWI Saxon units on the Western Front unfolds in trenchline detail.
Each chapter contains the OOB of a corp or division and traces its location and major operations. Plenty of report excerpts and first-person accounts pepper the text.
One interesting point: extensive use of mining and mines. Most WWI histories talk about a few mines that were exploded, usually big ones, but in several parts of the book, smaller shallower mines are mentioned. For example, 12 British and 28 German mines were exploded in the Saxon 53rd Rifle Division sector in June 1916 (p105).
One typo: “Calvary” instead of “Cavalry” (p25).
The book contains 265 black and white photos, 17 black and white illustrations, and 39 black and white mostly period maps. I would have liked more of the maps to have a scale on them, but if you’re in the Saxon command bunker. you probably already know the scale.
You’ll need Allied sources to set up a tabletop scenario, but here’s the Saxon resource for various Flanders scenarios.
Enjoyed it.
— Reviewed by Russ Lockwood
