Introduction by the Author; About this book; The Commonwealth War Graves Commission; Demarcation Stones; The Poppy Legend; Battlefield Debris; CALAIS-YPRES Route I via Bergues; CALAIS-YPRES Route II via Cassel; CALAIS-YPRES Route III via St Omer; ZEEBRUGGE-YPRES The Yser Battlefield - Battles of the Ypres Salient 1914-1918. Summary; YPRES; YPRES YPRES SALIENT BATTLEFIELD TOUR; Route I The Northern Sector; Route II The North-eastern Sector; Route III The Eastern Sector; Route IV The South-eastern Sector; Route V The Rear Areas; THE ROAD SOUTH; ARRAS THE BATTLES OF THE SOMME ARRAS-CAMBRAI; Route I via Monchy-le-Preux ARRAS-CAMBRAI; Route II via Bullecourt; FIVE ROUTES TO MONS; MONS; MONS MONS BATTLEFIELD TOUR; MONS TO LE CATEAU; LE CATEAU LE CATEAU TO AMIENS; AMIENS TO CALAIS; Route I via Abbeville; AMIENS TO CALAIS; Route II via St Pol-sur-Ternoise; ST QUENTIN TO REIMS; The Chemin des Dames and the Champagne Battlefields; REIMS TO VERDUN; The Argonne Battlefield; VERDUN; VERDUN BATTLEFIELD TOUR; THE ST MIHIEL SALIENT; REIMS TO COMPIEGNE; THE BATTLE OF FROMELLES; INDEX.
'You haven't talked to THE expert on the Great War until you have
talked to Miss Coombs.' So ran one letter received at the Imperial
War Museum, London, where for 36 years, from 1946 until 1982, Rose
Coombs worked -- in later years as Special Collections Officer.
Her interest in battlefields began at an early age, influenced
largely by her father who served in the RAOC, but it was not until
after the Second World War (in which she served as a Radar Operator
with Nos. 10 and 11 Groups, RAF), that she was able to realise her
ambition, through her position at the Imperial War Museum, to visit
the battlefields of Europe.
During the years that followed, she had the opportunity to make
hundreds of visits to the Western Front of 1914-18, on many
occasions acting as guide to ex-Servicemen's groups returning to
the battlefields. She accompanied authors writing on the period and
lectured to groups of all ages, giving freely of her detailed
knowledge of the terrain, its history, and the units and
personalities involved.
In 1976, Miss Coombs combined years of study, travel and research
into the production, with After the Battle, of the first edition of
Before Endeavours Fade -- a name specially chosen by her to match
the initial letters of the BEF -- the acronym for the British
Expeditionary Force which had set out for France in 1914. She
constantly revised and updated 'BEF' through five editions until
her death on January 7, 1991. After the Battle's Editor Karel
Margry then took over the task of keeping the guide up to date.
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