Don't leave home without it! - Rated 
Put quite simply, if you're visiting The Somme, please take this book with you. My visit was made all the better thanks to this little gem. It won't allow you to miss a thing and gives teriffic background on the places you'll visit.
While standing in Cemeteries containing over 5,000 graves you'll certainly shed a tear or two so take plenty of tissues! The whole Somme region is a huge burial ground and cemeteries and memorials appear from nowhere everywhere you look. When you come across one simply stop your car, take out this book, and you'll be able to read all about the memorial that stands before you.
My wife and I will certainly visit this very moving area of France again and this superb book will accompany us again as we tour The Somme's 'Silent Cities'.
The Somme - Rated 
An exceedingly good book, apart from a glaring error in that one of thefinest VC's to be won during the battle is not mentioned. That of PrivateTheodore Veale of the Devonshire Regiment won at High Wood on the 20thJuly 1916.
An excellent purchase! - Rated
I have just returned from the Somme - this book is 'the Bible', an absolute must for visitng the region (you'll find most visitors and B&Bs have them!). It is well laid out and easy to follow, and covers everything you want to know. I would advise having a brief read before visting the area, as it is worth planning your trips in advance. I also like the way it gives a brief story behind the memorials (or important people mentioned). I have one small criticism, there are some errors in the text or the map, but you can sort them out between the text, the map and the pictures in the book!
I found the map very useful (it was the only map of the area I had with me) and from it I found everything I wanted to!!
A Good Guide For First Time Visitors - Rated
Having researched the Somme, 1916 for more than 30 years, I was interested in this guide book for obvious reasons. Overall, its a good effort for first time visitors. Good maps and pictures. It doesnt decribe the battle actions in great detail, it is not meant to. The routes are easy to follow, even some remote areas around the Ancre region are well covered. There is an abundance of material for those students who wish to know a lot more about the great battles of 1916, but you cannot go far wrong by beginning with this.
An marvellously informative guide to the Somme. - Rated
Major and Mrs Holt's Battlefield Guide to the Somme was indispensable on our recent visit. The colour map made navigating from site to site very precise indeed and ensured that no point of interest was missed. The many colour photographs of the major monuments made the finding and identification of locations easy and the brief history provided in the guide ensured that all the main points of the battle could be appreciated. The guide was wonderfully detailed, giving locations of car parks, gift shops and a wonderful local tea room!.
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