Onslaught

A renewed offensive drives the fighting across trenches, villages and open country, giving the soldiers little chance to recover. Units that once measured progress in yards now march and counter-march across a shifting front, meeting machine-gun posts, field artillery and enemy troops exploiting every gap. The men must decide when to obey, when to fall back and when a local counterattack is the only way to prevent collapse.

Onslaught presents the final campaigns as mobile but no less destructive than the earlier trench battles. Its soldiers confront the practical consequences of a broken front: lost headquarters, separated companies and supply lines unable to keep pace. The novel bridges the defensive opening of the series and the moment when the strategic initiative begins to change hands.