"The Silent General" by Don Farr

[Greenwoodman]

I was alerted to the release of "The Silent General" by Don Farr by an offer from Military & Aviation Book Society to buy this at £19.99. It may be a book club edition, but appears to have the same dust cover as the Helion issue.

Here is a link to the Helion site The Silent General where it is on offer for £22-50.

And of course if you purchase through "The Long, Long Trail Bookstore", the forum will benefit.

I'll be sending for this soon, and would hope to write a review. Looking forward to the views of other pals.

[Take on me]

Yes that one is certainly on my reading list, thanks for posting it. Although I think that I will wait until the price drops a little!

So does that mean we have biographies of all the British 1918 Western Front Army Generals? I can think of books on

Haig (take your pick), Rawlinson (Command on the Western Front by Prior and Wilson) and Plumer (Plumer, The Soldiers General by Geoffrey Powell). On the other hand I do not know of any books on Byng, Birdwood or Gough, can anyone recommend any?

Jon

[IanA]

Gough wrote a good autobiography called 'Soldiering On' (Arthur Barker, 1954). I got my second hand copy for £15.

[charlesmessenger]

Goughie by the late Gen Sir Anthony Farrar-Hockley (Hart-Davis, McGibbon, 1975) is an excellent biography of Gough.

Charles M

[Greenwoodman]

"Byng of Vimy" by Jeffery Williams.

Birdwood wrote his autobiography "Khaki and Gown".

Gough also wrote his autobiography "Soldiering On" as well as "The Fifth Army" and "The March Retreat".

His biography is "Goughie: The Life of General Sir Hubert Gough" by Anthony Farrar-Hockley, while COMMAND AND CONTROL ON THE WESTERN FRONT - The British Army's Experience 1914-18 (ISBN: 186227083X) by Gary Sheffield & Dan Todman examines Hubert Gough's style of command at Fifth Army in a chapter written by Sheffield. And any book on the Curragh Incident will feature Gough.

It may be quite a while before the price drops on "The Silent General". My impression has been that Helion tend to keep their books at a high price.

[Robert Dunlop]

Rawlinson (Command on the Western Front by Prior and Wilson)

Jon, this book is not really a biography of Rawlinson. There is Major-General Sir Frederick Maurice's book "The Life of General Lord Rawlinson of Trent", which was first published in 1928. The book features many extracts from Rawlinson's diaries, as well as details of his army career before and during the Great War.

Robert

[Take on me]

Thanks for the biography suggestions. I will have to see if the price of the above book drops, if it does not then I will read what other Pals have to say before ordering it myself.

Jon

[Robert Dunlop]

I have mixed feelings about this book. It is very well written. Don Farr has an excellent style that makes the book very easy to read. He has incorporated information about Horne's early life and details about his military career before the Great War, particularly as an artillery officer in the Boer War. The vast majority of the book deals with Horne's involvement in the Great War, from his role as BGRA in Haig's 1st Corps, rising to divisional, corps and then commander of First Army. Farr provides details on the major engagements that Horne was involved with. Mostly, this material is drawn from standard sources on the various battles, interspersed with a few quotes from Horne's letters and diary. Farr has also devoted a chapter to the assertion that Horne invented the creeping barrage.

I enjoyed reading about the various battles from the perspective of Horne's involvement. This gave a very clear understanding of his career, and a better insight into the role of First Army, especially during the last phase of the war. The various deceptions practised by Horne prior to major attacks was especially interesting. The book is well worth reading if you are interested in these perspectives. I was somewhat disappointed that there wasn't more detail about how Horne operated as an Army commander for example, versus how his Army operated. There is quite good coverage around Horne's involvement as XV Corps commander during the Battle of the Somme, but I found myself comparing this coverage with Andy Simpson's approach in 'Directing Operations' and feeling, rightly or wrongly, that it would have been good to have had more information about the planning meetings, for example (or a positive acknowledgement that such information does not exist). I was almost going to say 'and less information about what happened in the battles' but no, this is an important part of the book.

Robert

[armourersergeant]

Jon,

'Goughie' by Farrar-Hockley is one of those books that fundementally changed my opinion of army commanders of the first world war. If someone could make me question Hubert Gough's perception, then I figured there had to be more about this butchers and bunglers thing. A must read, though I believe FH goes a little too far with some of his conclusions and Neil Malcolm becomes the vilian not Gougfh, which can not be as simple as that. I do not have a copy and they are rare and pricey!

Do not expect any of the earlier bios to be critical in anyway, treat them as a narrative of a life, whilst I admire Frederick Maurice he was a close friend of Rwlinson as were many of the earlier 'authors' of their topic, so they are not going to be critical. There are other books around about other commanders. Smith-Dorrien, Robertson, Monro, Hamilton.

regards

Arm

Farr has also devoted a chapter to the assertion that Horne invented the creeping barrage.

So what was the conclusion then Robert. I think he did not!

regards

Arm

[Robert Dunlop]

So what was the conclusion then Robert. I think he did not!

Arm, Farr agrees.

Robert

[keithmroberts]

Hampshire Libraries also have a copy currently of "Tim Harington looks back" at £9. Its been rebound for the library, and must be collected from one of their branches. Here's a link. It has only a modest section on Plumer, compared to his original work on that general, and more time on his later career.

http://www3.hants.gov.uk/library/antiquarian-booksale.htm

[Staffsyeoman]

I was glad to see the Farr biography of Horne, and it read well. I was slightly disappointed that primary source material was relatively thin on the ground (a common feeling with Helion's output). Nonetheless, it took on a tough subject with original personal papers destroyed. Read it alongside Keith Jeffries' recent biography of Henry Wilson, which I enjoyed hugely. Both are streets ahead of Sir John Baynes' biographies of Maxse (who I thought was very poorly served by it), and O'Connor and Urquhart from WW2.

Farr is recommended, albeit with faint reservations - but if you want it, buy it quick as Helion's print runs seem to be on the short side.

[Robert Dunlop]

Both are streets ahead of Sir John Baynes' biographies of Maxse (who I thought was very poorly served by it)

Phil, agreed. Robert

[Greenwoodman]

Book club finally got round to sending me my copy, and I note that it seems to be a standard Helion edition and not a book club edition. Having just finished Fraser-Tytler's "Field Guns in France", this has just pole-vaulted itself to the top of my 'to read' pile. "The Paris Gun" will just have to wait!

[Charles Fair]

Read it alongside Keith Jeffries' recent biography of Henry Wilson, which I enjoyed hugely.

I thought that was extremely good -esp the chapter on Wilson as GOC IV Corps.

[themonsstar]

I was in one of my local charity shops today and got this book for £2.00.

[PhilB]

I enjoyed Farr`s book and thought he tried hard to be even handed. I did find a couple of things surprising. Horne`s daily letters to his wife were extremely revealing as to plans and events - no censorship for generals! I didn`t expect Horne`s excessive concern for promotions and awards at a time when men were fighting horrendous battles, but he`s by no means alone among generals in that. His similarity to Haig in many respects was pointed out by the author and put forward as a reason why the two got on so well together to their mutual advantage.

[armourersergeant]

QUOTE (Phil_B @ Sep 15 2007, 02:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I didn`t expect Horne`s excessive concern for promotions and awards at a time when men were fighting horrendous battles, but he`s by no means alone among generals in that.

Is this any different to Corporal Smith hoping to get his third stripe? He was a professional soldier.

Regards

Arm

[George Armstrong Custer]

A well made point, Arm. An ambition to advance in one's profession ought not to be automatically regarded pejoratively; and it is something which naturally occurs at all levels. I'm even led to believe that some, but not all, of the clergy aspire to climb the promotional ladder as they go about God's work.

[keithfazzani]

Surely if one has God given "talents" then it is one's duty to use them for the good of humanity. I do not of course speak here in a personal capacity but rather in general. To recognise peoples talents and promote the best people to positions of responsibility in any profession is surely part of what good management is all about. If one is in a crisis situation then it is all the more important to ensure that the best people are in place who can ensure the best outcome.

[paul guthrie]

Richard Paris Gun is really good! Remember the rule of the codger, eat your dessert first because....

[matthew lucas]

looks fairly common to me, i can see 40 for sale at prsent, loads on amazon, around £20 mark, some a bit less, so not much point putting it on e bay at present!