The Man Who Saved Paris offers a vivid account of the opening weeks of
World War I as told by a volunteer dispatch rider who may have prevented a
swift German victory. Of Anglo-German stock, Roger West was conflicted when
the war broke out but volunteered with the British out of a strong sense of
duty. He was eventually assigned as a dispatch rider to the 19th Brigade,
which bore the brunt of the fighting in the first few weeks in 1914. Though
West was crippled with a badly damaged foot, he still rode around the
clock, delivering dispatches and directing and assisting soldiers separated
from their units. Most importantly, when he discovered that the bridge at
Pontoise-lès-Noyon had been left open to the German advance, he volunteered
to ride back and blow it up, preventing the retreating Fifth French Army
from being taken in the flank, something that could have fulfilled the
Schlieffen Plan's aims and won the war for Germany. It's a story that has
been relegated to a footnote in the history of the war, but this book is
certain to change our understanding of West's hand in the resistance.