Sir Douglas Haig’s Despatches
British History Military History World War I Memoir & Autobiography Primary Source Documents Collectors' Reference
Collectors of First World War history prize this 1979 Dent hardback because it gathers, for the first time in one volume, every official despatch Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig sent from the Western Front, from the Somme to the Armistice. Editor J. H. Boraston, Haig’s own Deputy Assistant Military Secretary, pairs each communiqué with rare battlefield maps and contemporary photographs, turning what could have been dry staff papers into a vivid, step-by-step narrative of Britain’s largest-ever army. The result is a primary-source biography-in-real-time, letting readers watch Haig’s strategic thinking evolve while battles such as Passchendaele and the 1918 “Hundred Days” unfold.
Unlike later critiques, these are the words Haig wrote when victory—and lives—hung in the balance, making the book essential for anyone who wants to understand the man beyond the legends. Young-adult and adult readers alike appreciate the crisp 1970s typesetting and the sturdy sewn binding that lies flat for easy reference to the fold-out trench maps. The 371-page volume remains the most comprehensive single-source collection of Haig’s despatches, so researchers, wargamers and family historians hunting for an ancestor’s unit regularly search for this exact edition.
This copy is in good, collector-friendly condition: clean pages, no inscriptions, a tight square block, and the original illustrated dust-jacket protected by a clear archival sleeve. A small bookseller sticker on the front pastedown and a minor mark on the bottom edge of the front endpapers are the only flaws—minor details that keep the price accessible while still offering a vintage 1970s book that looks handsome on any Great-War shelf.
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