Books on weapons

[TonyJoe]

Can anyone recommend any books on the weapons and equipment of the Great War (both sides)?

Cheers

Tony

[Max Poilu]

Tony, some suggestions.

For general militaria there is "The Collectors and researchers guide to the Great War" by H. Williamson - a good book for reference but a bit ambitious and lacking in serious detail on many subjects. "Military Collectables" by Joe Lyndhurst - a good general guide to 20th century militaria. "Brasseys WW1 German Army" and "...British Army" - superb books, "Field Equipment of the Infantry 14-18" by Fisch - lots of pictures here. Two French books "Le Fantassin (infantry) de la Grand Guerre" parts 1 and 2 are my favourites - copious photos of some of the best private collections in France. The Armourer magazine also published two books "The International Military Collectors Guide" (1 and 2) which can be useful. There is also a large range of books in the Osprey (Warrior or Men at Arms) series covering all the main combatant countries. Also look out for Europa Militaria No.3 - "WW1 Infantry in colour photographs"

For specifically weapons and Equipment the two essentials are A. Saunders "Weapons of the Trench War 14-18" and "Dominating the Enemy" For Great War battlefield relics a particularly interesting book is Laffin's "Battlefield Archaeology" - many would argue with the use of the word "Archaeology" however...(!)

Specifically with regard to Great War grenades (my main interest) there are a number of volumes you need to look out for.

Delhomme 'Grenades de la Grande Guerre' - really my bible, three volumes to cover French/British/German were originally produced in tiny runs and virtually impossible to find. A facsimile edition is sometimes available in France. The Grenade Recognition Manual - Volume 2 - British and commonwealth by Darryl Lynn. Available from Darryl's website.

An Introduction to British Grenades by Skennerton.

Grenades and their uses - AIF manual. A reprint of the original 1916 manual by R. Law.

Weapons of the trench war 1914 - 1918 by Anthony Saunders. See above.

Identification manual of British grenades by Rick Landers.

There is also the Treatise on Ammunition reprint by Naval and Military. More general ordnance and another bible but very expensive.

The other books to look out for with regard to ordnance are any by Ian Hogg - he has published a great deal on the subject.

Hope this helps.

[TonyJoe]

Tony, some suggestions.

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Hope this helps.

Cheers Max, extremely helpful! I shall get searching for some of those.

Tony

Edit: Found "Weapons of the trench war, 1914-1918" at library via web search - thanks for the tip.

[Max Poilu]

My pleasure Tony - the large majority of them are out of print but all the fun is in the searching.