The damning public opinion that the British generals - most notably Haig, French, Plumer, Gough and Byng - sent hundreds of thousands of young men to their deaths in the trenches of the Western front, is one that hasn't changed in over sixty years.Now, in this explosive new book, Robin Neillands challenges the popular myth about the incompetence and callousness of the Great War generals and examines the events that took place on the Western Front through the eyes of these same officers to explain the circumstances that led them to plan and fight as they did.The death toll on the Western Front provides the main evidence against the generals but Niellands examines many other factors and spreads responsibility far beyond the generals and their staff, asking the questions: