There can hardly be anyone interested in the 1914-1918 war who has not seen at least one of the handy Battleground Europe series of guidebooks, ably edited by Nigel Cave.

For a good many years now they have provided in a concentrated form a telling of the story of a given area of the battlefields, advice for travelling to that area and providing a number of walking or driving guides to the battlefields and sites of memorials, cemetries and so on. I think it is fair to say that while none of them are bad, the series has suffered from rather variable quality of work. The best are excellent models of clarity, full of interest, well illustrated with good maps and clear touring instructions. They are also well researched in terms of historical facts and stories.

Up to now though even the best have always looked at the battles on the western front through purely allied - and let's face it, virtually all British - eyes. Finally, that is all changed.

Jack Sheldon is the author of the recently published The German Army on the Somme. His work, delving into German archives, places him in a super position to show us the battlefields from the other side. And what an eye opener it is.

Thiepval and Beaumont Hamel were developed by the German army into defensive positions of incredible strength: both resisted the British attack of 1 July 1916 with comparative ease, and they only fell into British hands after dogged effort and the cost of thousands of lives. Jack helps us understand how these places came to be such difficult spots to take. He illustrates both books profusely, with a collection of photographs and maps that will rarely have been seen outside Germany before, and probably not much inside it. He also brings the story alive by using examples of the stories of a selection of officers, NCOs and men of the feldgrau. These works are not only useful guides - they are enjoyable books to read.

The tours that are suggested also bring a refreshing and novel aspect to places that are familiar to many of us.

We are indebted to Jack Sheldon and those others who are seeking to put the Somme offensive into a more balanced context. These books are great pieces of work and well worth buying. Next time you go to the Somme, take time to consider how the mighty German army turned the rolling gentle farmland into a fortress and how they fought every bit as bravely in defence as did their allied counterparts in attack.

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