Twelve Days On The Somme

[George Armstrong Custer]

TWELVE DAYS ON THE SOMME: A Memoir of the Trenches, 1916

by Sidney Rogerson,

with an Introduction by Malcolm Brown and a Foreword by Jeremy Rogerson.

Greenhill Books, 2006, 172pp [iSBN: 13 978 1 85367 680 2].

Amongst the predictable plethora of books to mark the 90th anniversary of the start of the Somme battles, this reissue of a memoir of trench life on the Somme, originally published in 1933, is outstanding. I'd never read it before, but recommend it to other Pals here as highly as I can recommend anything.

Chris Baker has already done an excellent review of the book in the reviews section of The Long Long Trail.

I concur with everything Chris writes about the book. In particular, his commendation of Malcolm Brown's excellent introductory essay is right on the money. Brown makes it clear - as does Sidney Rogerson himself in his own original Introduction - that one of the purposes of the book is to protest. Not, as Brown notes, against the war, but "rather against the way the war had come to be interpreted when the surge of novels, memoirs and other writings which have become the iconic classics of that conflict caught the headlines from the late 1920's onwards."

The original publication year of 1933 is therefore of great significance in the context of the historiography of the Great War. Brown highlights the sea-change being wrought upon the folk-memory of the war by that date. Prior to the end of the 'twenties, the individual Britons who served during '14-'18 were recognised in many social venues as worthy (if not necessarily equal) participants in the war - whether as a soldier , a VAD, a munitions worker, or a bandage roller: "In the wake of the Armistice of November 1918 there had been a widespread acceptance that, despite the suffering and sacrifice it had entailed, the war had been necessary and it had been worthily and honourably won. By the time Rogerson took up his pen, however, it was obvious that this attitude had undergone a serious transformation." Brown identifies that transformation through a quote from Janet S. K. Watson: "By the twentieth anniversary of the beginning of the conflict, however, the popular definition of culturally legitimate war experience had narrowed to that of the soldier in the trenches: young junior officers or possibly men in the ranks, preferably serving in France or Belgium, and almost certainly disillusioned."

In his own Introduction, Rogerson cuts to the heart of the matter by noting that, at the time of his writing in 1933, it was becoming obscured (through the writings of the 'war poet' circle) that "the war [] was many wars. Recently there has been the war of the Sewers, in which no -one ever laughed, those who were not melancholy mad were alchoholically hysterical, and most of the action took place in or near the crude latrines of the period. .........The bemused survivor is slightly irritated to find his experiences exploited by marrow-freezing agents of peace for all time.........But this post-war propaganda, piling corpse upon corpse, heaping horror upon futility, seems bound to fail from every point of view. In its distortion the soldier looks in vain for the scenes he knew."

In fact, as he lived until 1968 Rogerson will have found that it was indeed the views of that select circle of writers from the late 'twenties, including Sassoon, Blunden, Remarque et al, who set the tone for how the Great War was absorbed into modern memory. Only within the past decade or so have we seen a serious re-examination of the war in the context of how it was viewed by a great many of its survivors - as a hard fought, horrendous, but necessary victory. Historians such as Gary Sheffield have gone some way towards restoring the sense of worthy achievement which was robbed from so many veterans for so long by the proponents of the futility of it all. In this context the reappearance of Sidney Rogerson's Twelve Days On The Somme is to be welcomed.

Rogerson himself sets out his book's purpose:

"The description in the following pages is entirely without propagandist urge or intention. It is a plain, unvarnished account of one short tour in the Somme trenches during the winter of 1916, written in the hope of recalling to the soldier the scenes with which he was familiar, and of presenting the younger generations with an accurate picture of life as we lived it in those days. And life in the trenches was not all ghastliness. It was a compound of many things: fright and boredom, humour, comradeship, tragedy, weariness, courage, and despair. Those who were lucky lived, and every six or nine months saw most of their friends die. Soon, the places were filled and the daily round went on. Any description of a long period must focus attention on the high lights, the whirl of battle, the shock of raid and mine. It must skip the lengthy, humdrum and frequently amusing intervals. A short tour, such as dealt with here, while not less terrible or more amusing than another, condenses into swifter drama the common experience, and leaves room for some background of detail. In the record here set down nothing has been consciously added or exaggerated and nothing material has been left out. Not to weary the reader, one eventless day on the way into the line and one coming out have been omitted, but otherwise every person and incident is real, and everything, including the conversations, is set down in its context."

Here, then, is an honest and beautifully written account of a soldier's experience of a stint in the line on the Somme in the winter of 1916.

Ciao,

GAC

[John(txic)]

I picked up a copy of this book from my local library (Wolverhampton, btw) last week - looks like I've got a treat to look forward to!

[George Armstrong Custer]

I hope you'll come back and give us your opinion when you've finished it, John.

Regards,

GAC

[spike10764]

I'll keep a look out for this book......

[George Armstrong Custer]

I'm certain you won't regret tracking down a copy of this title, Spike. A recommendation for it from a very well respected authority is given in Malcolm Brown's Introduction. This is the late Rose E. B. Coombs, former Special Collections Officer at the Imperial War Museum, and author of the still essential (and recently updated) Before Endeavours Fade. Brown writes:

"In one of my numerous conversations with her about the Somme I asked her if she could name one book above any other which would allow me to come to grips with the campaign's final phase. Without hesitation she answered 'Twelve Days'. I accepted her advice, read the book, and, it could almost be said, never looked back."

A high recommendation indeed!

Regards,

GAC

[Guest Rory]

Top book! Read it about 2 months ago and reckon its one of the best personal accounts i have read. Would include it in my top 5 probably alongside classics like The Weary Road by Charles Douie and Nothing of Importance by Bernard Adams.

Rory

[John(txic)]

I hope you'll come back and give us your opinion when you've finished it, John.

Regards,

GAC

George,

Thoroughly enjoyed it! The author comes across as an efficient and compassionate officer. However - it is too short, and left me wanting to read more.

I have tried to find his other Great War book "The Last of the Ebb" on ABE - but can only find it in its German translation!

[Michelle Young]

Hi John

I got Last of the Ebb for my dads birthday this year, wasn't cheap! Tom Morgan put me onto a friend of his. May be worth Pm ing Tom?

Cheers, Michelle

[Dave Phillips]

Just finished reading 'Twelve Days on the Somme'.

I thoroughly recommend the book to anybody who has not yet read it - I've added it to my top 5 book list!

I wonder if anybody has the Trench Map co-ordinates for 'Citadel Camp', 'Camp 34' - between Bernafay and Trones Woods,'Dewdrop Trench' and 'Fall Trench' in front of Le Transloy. All these places are where the "Twelve Days" were spent by the 2nd West Yorks. I have N&P's Trench Map CDRom.

Dave

[Steven Broomfield]

Just realised (d'oh!) that Rogerson wrote a Forward to "General Jack's Diary", having been Jack's adjutant whilst Jack was CO of 2nd West Yorks.

Must try and find 12 days.....

[paul guthrie]

Agree, a terrific little book, presiously unavailable as practical matter - cost - but now reprinted, need same for Last of the Ebb by him

[David_Blanchard]

This maybe a long shot, given the fact that 'The Last of the Ebb' was published in 1937, but if anyone has a copy with a dustcover I would appreciate a scan of the cover. I have a poor quality scan see below:

[Dust Jacket Collector]

Probably a bit late to tell you this - I only joined yesterday - but you can see the jacklets for both 'Twelve Days' & 'The Last of the Ebb' as well as 100's of others on my website - www.greatwardustjackets.co.uk

I've also put them both in a reply to another message regarding Rogerson elsewhere on this site. Not sure how you find it again though!!

[George Armstrong Custer]

Here's the link to the images you posted on the other GWF thread, DJC:

TwelveDaysImages

I note on your website you have a first edition DJ for Ludwig Renn's War (1929), which I have. I also have Renn's sequel, After War, first English edition of 1931. Let me know if you'd like a picture of this for your site.

ciao,

GAC

[trenchtrotter]

I have a first edition for which I paid £25 for 11 years ago. I note the art work is by Stanley Cursiter. I also have a 2nd edition of A Subaltern On The Somme. In this book is an inscription and letter by Stanley Cursiter detailing the circumstances of how he met the recipient of the book in the trenches in front of Le Transloy and describing the broken airplane. Must have been in the same area as Rodgerson in 1916.

A good read, recommended (both books)

TT

[Peter Beckett]

George,

thanks for the heads up. I have just purchased a copy through the Forum link and looking forward to reading it

Peter

[George Armstrong Custer]

I don't think you'll regret the decision to buy this one Peter. It's a refreshing account written by a man aiming to recapture on paper as authentically as possible what his own experiences of an active service tour on the Western Front in 1916 was really like - as opposed to the way folk-memory, even at the time of its first publication in 1933, was being shaped by the British war poet school and their milieu which viewed the war in terms of disillusionment and futility.

Best,

George

[keithchristmas]

I managed to find a copy of this excellent book from my local library.

Best book that I have read in a long time.

Recommended to all.

Keith

[Jim Clay]

I note that my local library has a 1988-issued facsimile of the 1933 edition, from Gliddon Books.

All authors Rogerson, Sidney.

Title Twelve days / by Sidney Rogerson ; with a foreword by Basil Liddell Hart and a new introduction by John Terraine.

Publisher / Date Gliddon, 1988.

Physical Description xxxi,172p. plan ; 23cm.

Series statement Great War classics ;

Notes xxxi,172p plan 23cm facsim of ed. published: london : barker : 1933.

Original version Facsim of ed. published: London : Barker : 1933.

Corporate subject Great Britain. Army. West Yorkshire Regiment. Battalion, 2nd.

ISBN 0947893105

Jim

[rendellers]

Just ordered my copy. Both this book and The Last of the Ebb (reissued 2007) are now currently available through Amazon. Obviously someone ,somewhere paid attention to the original posters!

[Jonathan_NW]

A nice, affordable copy of the book is here:

http://www.thebookpe...roductId=214973

It's a quite superb memoir.