As well as his fame as creator of Sherlock Holmes, and the author of historical novels and fantasy fiction, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was intensely interested in military matters and wrote multi-volume histories of the Boer War and the Great War in which his only son Kingsley served and died - of the Spanish 'flu. This volume covers 1915, a year of disappointment and setbacks for Britain, which saw the first use of gas by the Germans at 2nd Ypres; and a series of unsuccessful offensives - hampered by shell shortages - at Neuve Chapelle, Festubert, Aubers Ridge and finally the bloodbath at Loos. Doyle concentrates on the front line fighting, with frequent mentions of the formations and units engaged; useful maps and casualty figures.