The Salient

Ypres today is an international 'Town of Peace', but in 1914 the town, and the Salient, the 35-mile bulge in the Western Front, of which it is part, saw a 1500-day military campaign of mud and blood at the heart of the First World War that turned it into the devil's nursery. Distinguished biographer and historian of modern Europe Alan Palmer tells the story of the war in Flanders as a conflict that has left a deep social and political mark on the history of Europe. Denying Germany possession of the historic town of Ypres and access to the Channel coast was crucial to Britain's victory in 1918. But though Flanders battlefields are the closest on the continent to English shores, this was always much more than a narrowly British conflict. Passchendaele, the Menin Road, Hill 60 and the Messines Ridge remain names etched in folk memory. Militarily and tactically the four-year long campaign was innovative and a grim testing ground with constantly changing ideas of strategy and disputes between politicians and generals. Alan Palmer details all its aspects in an illuminating history of the place as much as the fighting man's experience.

Following on from Walking on the Somme, Reed has produced this remarkable voyage around the Ypres Salien t, which saw some of the most memorable campaigns of WW1. Il lustrated throughout, this book gives an insight for visitor s & armchair travellers. '

A riveting lyrical constellation centered on the Battle of Passchendaele in Flanders Fields and tibetan protective magic In the foreword to her book-length poem, Salient, Elizabeth Gray writes, “This work began by juxtaposing two obsessions of mine that took root in the late 1960s: the Battle of Passchendaele, fought by the British Army in Flanders in late 1917, and the chöd ritual, the core ‘severance’ practice of a lineage founded by Machik Lapdrön, the great twelfth-century female Tibetan Buddhist saint.” Over the course of several decades, Gray tracked the contours and traces of the Ypres Salient, walking the haunted battlefield ground of the contemporary landscape with campaign maps in hand, reading “not only history, poetry, and fiction, but also unit diaries; contemporary reports and individual accounts; survey information and maps of all kinds; treatises on aerial photography and artillery tactics; and manuals on field engineering and tactical planning.” Out of this material, through a process of collage, convergence, and ritual chöd visualization, Gray has composed a spare, fascinating lyrical engagement with The Missing, in shell hole and curved trench, by way of amulets and obstacles. What is salient rises from the secret signs in song, like a blessing, protected from harm.

This is the most complete guide to the First World War Battlefield of Ypres that has ever been published. Tonie and Valmai Holt, have condensed the knowledge gained from almost a quarter of a century of researching, writing about, visiting and conducting groups around Ypres into this remarkable book. Here are concise descriptions of the military elements of the battles woven into a kaleidoscope of human, literary and travel information. There are recommended, timed itineraries, in each itinerary representing one day's travelling. Every stop on the routes has an accompanying description and often a tale of heroic or tragic action.Memorials large and small, private and official, sites of memorable conflict, the resting places of personalities of note - they are all here and joined together by a sympathetic and understanding commentary that gives the reader a sensitivity toward the events of 1914-1918 that can only be matched by visiting the battlefield itself. This is a guide book written by people who, because they have been directly involved in taking tours themselves, know the form and type of information that best serves the visitor to the battlefield. NEW, FULLY UPDATED EDITION PACKAGED WITH A FREE, FULL COLOUR FOLD-OUT MAP WORTH '3.99

Every evening since 1928, the Last Post is sounded in the town of Ypres in West Flanders, and the local fire brigade turn toward the Menin Gate as the local traffic stops. This Mark of respect to the Allied soldiers who fell defending the Ypres salient has been a tradition in the town for almost one hundred years. Tens of thousands of British, French, Canadian, Australian, Indian, New Zealand, South African and other Dominion troops came, fought and died to hold this little outpost of Belgium during the First World War. To comprehend and record the scale of the actions, battles and, most importantly, the human sacrifice of the four years of war, it is necessary to look at limited periods of the fighting. The author has picked one of the earliest baptisms of fire for the Canadian troops, the battle of Mount Sorrel in 1916. The Canadian Corps under Byng was holding the wooded ground south-east of Ypres town, including the important observation post Hill 62. Across the muddy front line, the German XIII Württemburg Corps was carefully planning an attack stiffened with much extra heavy artillery and trench mortars. On the 2nd of June, the German artillery shattered the morning’s peace, and heavy, savage fighting began only to cease on the 13th. The Battle was in the balance until the second and final counter attack by the Canadians on the 11th, as one Historian puts it: “A combination of excellent staff work and planning, brilliantly executed artillery work in poor weather and the formidable courage of the Canadian infantry, had saved the day.”—Chris Baker. Author — Willson, Beckles, 1869-1942. Text taken, whole and complete, from the edition published in London, Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & co. ltd., 1916. Original Page Count – 251 pages. Illustrations — 7 illustrations and maps.

This book focuses on the fundamentals and recent advances in RGB-D imaging as well as covering a range of RGB-D applications. The topics covered include: data acquisition, data quality assessment, filling holes, 3D reconstruction, SLAM, multiple depth camera systems, segmentation, object detection, salience detection, pose estimation, geometric modelling, fall detection, autonomous driving, motor rehabilitation therapy, people counting and cognitive service robots. The availability of cheap RGB-D sensors has led to an explosion over the last five years in the capture and application of colour plus depth data. The addition of depth data to regular RGB images vastly increases the range of applications, and has resulted in a demand for robust and real-time processing of RGB-D data. There remain many technical challenges, and RGB-D image processing is an ongoing research area. This book covers the full state of the art, and consists of a series of chapters by internationally renowned experts in the field. Each chapter is written so as to provide a detailed overview of that topic. RGB-D Image Analysis and Processing will enable both students and professional developers alike to quickly get up to speed with contemporary techniques, and apply RGB-D imaging in their own projects.