In 1917 the soldiers of the Canadian Corps would prove themselves the equal of any fighting on the Western Front, while on the other side of the wire, the men of the Royal Bavarian Army won a distinguished reputation in combat. Employing the latest weapons and pioneering tactics, these two forces would clash in three notable encounters: the Canadian storming of Vimy Ridge, the back-and-forth engagement at Fresnoy and at the sodden, bloody battle of Passchendaele.

Featuring carefully chosen archive photographs and specially commissioned artwork, this study assesses these three hard-fought battles in 1917 on the Western Front, and offers a new take on the evolving nature of infantry combat in World War I.

Museum curator and university external examiner Dr Stephen Bull studied at the University of Wales, and worked at the BBC and National Army Museum in London. Now Curator of Military History and Archaeology for Lancashire County Museums he has completed an MBA, and been elected Member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists. Published in a variety of languages on both sides of the Atlantic he was listed for the Portico Prize for Literature. His latest book 'The Old Front Line' is published in the UK and US, and now translated into Dutch.

Stephen has made many TV and radio appearances including the series 'Battlefield Detectives' and 'Instruments of Death', both shown internationally, and the BBC 'One Show'. His book of the Channel 4 series 'Last War Heroes', is available in North American, UK and Norwegian editions. The series took Canadian Screen Award for 'best history' under its US title 'D-Day to Victory' in 2013. A consultant to the University of Oxford, Stephen has assisted in the creation of a European database to document the individual experience of the First World War through archives, photographs, and objects. The photograph shows Stephen (right) with Lorenz Andraes at the German National Library, 'DNB', Frankfurt.