Sir Douglas Haig's Despatches

War & Combat British History Biography & Memoir Military History World War I Military Biography Primary Source Documents

Collectors and serious students of the First World War prize this 1979 J.M. Dent hardback because it gathers every official dispatch Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig sent from the Western Front, material that is otherwise scattered through out-of-print government gazettes. In 371 crisp pages the book charts the entire arc of Haig’s command—from the cautious learning curve of 1915, through the titanic offensives on the Somme and at Passchendaele, to the lightning hundred-day campaign that finally broke the German army in 1918. The 1979 edition is especially desirable: it is the first trade printing to pair the original 1919 War Office text with John Terraine’s masterly contextual notes and maps, turning raw communiqués into a coherent narrative that modern readers can follow without specialist knowledge.

What makes this copy a stand-out is condition that is increasingly hard to find four decades on. The protected dust-jacket still shows the vivid scarlet-and-gold Western Front map wrap-around, while the sewn signatures remain tight and square—no sun-fading, no previous-owner scribbles, no musty odour. Illustrated with fold-out trench maps and period photographs, the book doubles as both reference tool and shelf-showpiece for anyone fascinated by British military history or the evolution of modern command. For researchers, wargamers, or descendants seeking the unfiltered voice of Britain’s most controversial Great War commander, this vintage 1979 volume delivers the complete, authoritative record in one elegant, ready-to-archive package.

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