Fatal Avenue : A Traveller's History of the Battlefields of Northern France and Flanders, 1346-1945

De Gaulle called it a 'fatal avenue' - that broad sweep of low-lying country stretching north east of Paris. Over the centuries, invading armies have swept back and forth over this bloody terrain, and the names of battles fought here read like a dictionary of military history - from Agincourt, Calais and Crecy to Verdun, Vimy and Ypres.Fatal Avenueis both a history and a guide - a unique study of a region that has witnessed more bitter military conflict than any other area of its size on earth.