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Remembered Today:

Any good books on the Battle of Loos?


barrieduncan

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Hi,

Noticed lots of you seem to have acquired a fair few books over xmas and I'm wondering if anyone has encountered any good books on the battle of Loos? I'd especially like one with from a Scottish angle, if indeed there is such a thing. Even a general account would do for starters (i'v read the battle overview on the Long Long Trail, very good :) ).

Thanks,

Barrie

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Barrie - Forum Pal Nial Cherry came out with Most Unfavourable Ground this year and covers the battle in quite some detail. I would suggest you do a search on the title in the Book section as it was reviewed by a number of pals on the Forum. Although there is little else written recently on the 1915 battles I would also suggest searching the Forum on keywords - Loos, Neuve Chappell, Lens, Hohenzollern Redoubt. I am certain (through experience) there will be many hits on each one of these. Go luck.. Andy

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There is very, very little out there on Loos. Philip Warner's book of some years ago - little more than a decent compilation of soldier's statements from letters, memoirs etc - was really the only one other than the Official History. Niall's recent work as mentioned above would be worth reading.

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"Loos - Hohenzollern" by Andrew Rawson is a decent effort that concentrates on the struggle for the Hohenzollern Redoubt.

Andy

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The three books mentioned are the ones to look for.

Most Unfavourable Ground is excellent; Warner's book is good for the personal accounts but does contain some innacuracies and the Battleground Europe series Loos/Hohenzolleren is good for finding your way around the battlefield.

I would strongly suggest visiting the battlefield itself if you can.

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Hey everyone,

Thank you for all the suggestions.

Paul, i'v just spent the last couple of hours going over your web page on Loos, fantastic, wish I had seen it earlier. Particularly found the maps most helpful, finally found where my man was fighting :)

I'll be sure to check out the books, I had a look at the reviews and there a few I fancy getting.

I'd love to visit the battlefield, I'v been to Ypres and the Somme a couple of times, next year i'll try and get to Loos, pay my respects.

Thanks again everyone, brilliant as usual!

Barrie

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I wouldn`t suggest Most Unfavourable Ground as an introduction to Loos. I applaud the amount of work that`s gone into it, but I found it more of a reference book than a "good read". Mind you, I had just finished a Sharpe novel! Phil B

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Hi Phil,

I'm looking for something thats quite detailed so it'l most likely do me fine. I'll get a couple of thin, easy-readers in before I tackle it to keep me safe :)

The Sharpe books are highly entertaining, the tv series wern't half bad either.

Barrie

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Thank you for all the suggestions.

Paul, i'v just spent the last couple of hours going over your web page on Loos, fantastic, wish I had seen it earlier. Particularly found the maps most helpful, finally found where my man was fighting :)

Glad you found it of interest, Barrie. Thanks for your kind comments.

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  • 2 weeks later...
"Loos - Hohenzollern" by Andrew Rawson is a decent effort that concentrates on the struggle for the Hohenzollern Redoubt.

Not forgetting the "Sister" book.

Loos - Hill 70, Also Andrew Rawson (Battleground Europe, Pen & sword etc).

Which details the Southern part of the battle.

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Hi,

Noticed lots of you seem to have acquired a fair few books over xmas and I'm wondering if anyone has encountered any good books on the battle of Loos? I'd especially like one with from a Scottish angle, if indeed there is such a thing. Even a general account would do for starters (i'v read the battle overview on the Long Long Trail, very good :) ).

Thanks,

Barrie

As well as all those mentioned, Divisional histories, 9th,15th,51st etc. will all mention Loos. Patrick MacGill's " The Great Push" is a fictional account by a member of the London Scots.Tremendous book. There is a little book available from Naval & Military Press called "1915 Campaign in France". Lt Col Kearsey. Semi official resume of Aubers Ridge, Festubert and Loos. The Official History for 1915 is probably the daddy of them all.

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Guest nick_midson

What happened about the publication of Gordon Corrigan's "Loos 1915: The Unwanted Battle"? I have seen this on the Amazon website but I have never seen a copy in a shop. BTW I read Niall Cherry's book on Loos last year and had a very interesting trip to the area. I also used the Andrew Rawson books in the "Battleground Europe" series as a guide to getting about and found them most useful.

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It's probably not quite you're after, but the Holts's "My Son Jack", about Rudyard's son John Kipling, who was killed at Loos, is a great read (even if you don't care for Kipling).

Grey Squirrel

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I've just, this week, taken delivery of Niall's book myself.

I must just say it's a superb piece of work.

A must for anyone interested in this "forgotten" battle.

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Just to say that I spoke with the publisher of MuG the other day nad he tells me less thna 200 hardback copies left. Next version in paperback!.

Do have a few hardback copies for sale if anyone interested.

Thanks also for the nice comments, glad that my efforts were I hope worth it...

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Just to say that I spoke with the publisher of MuG the other day nad he tells me less thna 200 hardback copies left. Next version in paperback!.

A rare post indeed, by the man himself.

It's a good job the spelling in the book is better than here, Eh Niall. :D

Only joking mate. It's an excellent piece of work.

Personally I can't put it down, I'm not that much of a reader but I'm a good way through it already.

Mark.

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I also received my copy recently. I'm still ploughing through a couple of other books that I had started but I read the first chapter and it looks really good, cheers again Niall.

I'm tempted to get the 9th and the 15th Div histories but not sure of the detail they would go into concerning the regiments i'm studying. Anyone know if the Gordon Highlanders have a regimental history for WW1, haven't seen one for sale anywhere.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, i'll slowly but surely make my way through them :)

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I'm not a great spell checker when I'm posting....I'm still waiting for someone else to point out my error in the first 40 pages or so! That error by the way was not spelling but seemed to get ahead of myself when writing a sentence.....so far only one person has found my error!

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