Salford was late in recruiting for its Pals battalions, with many of its men already joining Territorial units and a new Pals battalion in Manchester. Yet within a year it had raised four Pals battalions and a reserve battalion. Raised mainly from Lancashire’s most notorious slums, the men trained together in Wales, North East England and on Salisbury Plain, they had great expectations of success.

On the 1st of July 1916 the Somme offensive was launched and in the very epicenter of that cauldron the first three of Salford’s battalions were thrown at the massive defenses of Thiepval - the men were decimated, Salford was shattered.

Michael Stedman records the impact of the war from the start on Salford and follows the difficulties and triumphs. Whether the actions small or great the author writes graphically about them all.

Unusual photographs and a variety of sources make this both a readable and a scholarly account.

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Manchester Pals Unlike its near neighbour, working-class Salford, Manchester proved able to raise eight Pals battalions. Initially, these battalions were composed of middle-class men who experience before the war ye... (paperback)

Somme 1916 And Other Experiences of the Salford Pals Salford was late in recruiting for its Pals battalions, with many of its men already joining Territorial units and a new Pals battalion in Manchester. Yet within a year it had raised four Pals battal... (hardback)

Thiepval The Somme Offensive which opened on 7 July 1916 is the battle that symbolizes the horrors of the Great War, with its appalling carnage and waste in return for negligible tactical achievement. Thiepva... (paperback)