Taking the Ridge: Anzacs and Germans at the Battle of Messines 1917

Taking the Ridge tells a fresh story of the iconic First World War Battle of Messines 1917 in which a fifth of all New Zealand's soldiers who served overseas would have somehow participated. Largely overlooked today, this was New Zealand's battle of the war. But victory was not as complete as claimed. Anzac losses were far from light and the afternoon's gains hung in the balance. Men and their generals were all tested. Taking the Ridge provides the definitive account of the New Zealand and Australian 3rd and 4th divisions' actions as well as those of the German divisions opposite in that battle and its aftermath at La Basse-Ville and Passchendaele in a year of grim trench warfare.