Another fine work by Jack Sheldon. 'Vimy Ridge' follows his usual format of giving an overall summary of a local portion of the battle including units and dispositions. He then introduces first-hand accounts from German troops of their experiences and views of the action. The vast majority of the first-hand accounts come from ordinary soldiers and NCOs; most officer accounts are from battalion level or below. Very few are from upper command. In this manner Sheldon keeps the perspective for the most part at the trench level.

I have also read his other works relating to the Somme, Cambrai and Ypres (what I call the "German Army" books). They are all fine reads. Am currently reading the book on Passchendaele. Jack Sheldon has written other books, too. Such as "The Germans at Beaumont Hamel" and "The Germans at Thiepval", among others. These are from the ''Battleground Europe' series. This group is a different style than the 'German Army' books. The Battleground Europe books include a large sections presenting information on touring the battlefields. If you are interested in that aspect, these books may be OK for you. I have no interest in that, so I returned those books unread. Does not make them poor, just not in my area of interest.

I recommend all five of his 'German Army" works to anyone interested in WWI in general or in the Imperial German Army on the Western Front. ( )