Using a unique approach of weaving anthology with a continuous commentary, Hot Blood & Cold Steel describes what it was really like to live and fight in the trenches during the Great War. Domestic life on the line--accommodations, food and drink, wiring and carrying, the whole day and night routine--is investigated along with the operational aspects of trench life, such as raiding and patrolling in no-man's-land and the German lines. But as well as the blood and gore of battle, the book examines the attitudes of front line soldiers, officers, and their men. This all-encompassing portrayal of the front line grips the reader and refuses to let go, communicating a genuine understanding of what it was really like to have fought in the trenches of the Western Front.