INTRODUCTION
Hugh Sebag-Montefiore is the author of three best selling history books, two about the 2nd World War, and one about the 1st World War. He also wrote Kings On The Catwalk: The Louis Vuitton Moët-Hennessy Affair.
SOMME: INTO THE BREACH
Hugh's most recent book Somme: Into The Breach was published as a hardback in June 2016 to coincide with the Battle of the Somme centenary. It is now available in paperback. It describes one of the bloodiest battles on the Western Front during World War 1. It has been described as ‘brilliant’ (Daily Telegraph), ‘the best account yet’ (The Times), ‘the best new narrative of the battle’ (Sunday Times), ‘a moving record’ (Daily Mail), ‘meticulously researched’ (Mail On Sunday), ‘richly textured’ (New Statesman), and ‘beautifully crafted’ (Kirkus Reviews, America). Click here to read what other critics have said about this book. The paperback edition of this book is to be published in November.
Penguin has also issued an audiobook of Somme: Into The Breach click here to know more.
This book’s first words are: ‘At 7.19 a.m. on 1 July 1916, the tension in the British
trenches opposite the German stronghold of Beaumont Hamel, reached fever pitch.
Expectations of victory had never been higher. The ‘Big Push’ was about to begin.
For seven days, as part of the softening up process before the great advance, British, and
French, artillery had been pounding the German front line to the north and south of where
it was bisected by the River Somme. However, the point where the German line scaled
the heights that dominate Beaumont Hamel, a sleepy French village 11 miles north of the
river, was receiving some of the closest attention. It was one of several German
strongpoints where British miners, supported by the infantry, were hoping to administer
the coup de grâce. Click here to read more
DUNKIRK: FIGHT TO LAST MAN
Given that the Dunkirk evacuation is now the subject of a major motion picture, readers might be interested in the updated - 75th Anniversary - edition of his second history book, Dunkirk: Fight To The Last Man. The movie is Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk.
Dunkirk: Fight To The Last Man has been described as ‘masterly’ (The Times), ‘a narrative triumph’ (Sunday Telegraph), ‘a marvellous tribute’ (Sunday Times), ‘poignant’ (Daily Telegraph), ‘a tour de force’ (Daily Mail), and ‘definitive’ (Evening Standard and New York Sun). Click here to read what other critics have said about this book.
A special 75th Anniversary edition was published in May 2015. It contains unabridged personal accounts by some of the witnesses quoted in the original version.
Penguin has also recorded an audiobook of Dunkirk: Fight To The Last Man to tie in with the release of the Dunkirk film click here to know more.
This book’s first words are: ‘At 3 a.m. on 14 May 1940, events at Château des Bondons, headquarters of the French Commander-in-Chief of the North-East Front, were unfolding, which, if observed by a British general, would have made his blood run cold. Just four days after the German attack on France, Belgium and Holland had commenced, the French commander, General Alphonse Georges, who was supposed to be leading French, Belgian and British troops into battle, had broken down and was crying…’ Click here to read more
ENIGMA: BATTLE FOR THE CODE
Hugh's first history book, Enigma: The Battle For The Code, was Number 1 in The Sunday Times annual list of history book bestsellers during the year in which the paperback was published. A special 75th Anniversary edition, published in 2017, contains fascinating new material, not in the original version. Click here to read what the critics said about this book.
This book’s first words are: ‘I was standing in the middle of a clearing in a pine forest just outside Berlin when I realized I must have found what I had been seeking. For months I had been hunting for some concrete evidence about the Enigma spy, Hans Thilo Schmidt…Now I was almost sure that I had literally stumbled upon his last resting place…’ Click here to read more
