Dikke Bertha Posted 15 July , 2004 Share Posted 15 July , 2004 Hello Does anybody know the title of the offical German history of WWI and if it was ever translated into English??? Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckman Posted 16 July , 2004 Share Posted 16 July , 2004 hi Dikke B, Cited in Keegan's recent survey as: Reichsarchiv, Der Weltkrieg, Berlin 1925-39. It runs to 16 volumes, and I infer from Keegans remarks in the bibliography that it probably hasn't been published in English. I pulled this citation as well, which has some more details: Der Weltkrieg 1914 bis 1918. Die militärischen Operationen zu Lande. Bd. l — 9, bearb. im Reichsarchiv. Berlin, 1925 — 1933; Bd. 10-11, im Auftrage des Reichskriegsministeriums bearb. und hrsg. von der Forschungsanstalt für Kriegs- und Heeresgeschichte. Berlin, 1936 — 1938; Bd. 12-14, im Auftrage des Oberkommandos des Heeres bearb. und hrsg. von der Kriegsgeschichtlichen Forschungsanstalt des Heeres. Berlin, 1939 — 1944. (Neuaufl. von Bd. 13-14, hrsg. vom Bundesarchiv Koblenz, Bonn, 1956). But in googling around I found references to it having anywhere from 12 to 16 volumes and a wide variety of publishes and publishing dates - I can only guess that it has been reprinted several times, or that different publishers handled different volumes - especially the last two ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dikke Bertha Posted 16 July , 2004 Author Share Posted 16 July , 2004 Dear Duckman Thank you very much for your speedy response. I am afraid that my German is not good enough to cope with all of that. I read somewhere where the German General Staff account of First Ypres was available in English and this made me think that the official history was also available in English. I am really only interested in 1914 but cannot find any references from the German side (in English). I have Von Kluck's account and that is all. If anybody has any suggestions to help this monoglot they would be appreciated. Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmac Posted 16 July , 2004 Share Posted 16 July , 2004 I read somewhere where the German General Staff account of First Ypres was available in English and this made me think that the official history was also available in English. You can get YPRES 1914: An Official Account Published By Order Of The German General Staff from Naval & Military Press for £30 (www.naval-military-press.co.uk I think). Sadly, none of the Official German history has been translated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dikke Bertha Posted 16 July , 2004 Author Share Posted 16 July , 2004 Dear bmac Thank you very much. This is obviously the book I am thinking of. I will contact them immediately. I agree that it is a pity that the German official history was not translated as I think it would make great reading. I am wading through Volume 2 of the Official History by Brig Edmonds and I have to ay that I find it to be quite interesting and fair so far. Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dikke Bertha Posted 16 July , 2004 Author Share Posted 16 July , 2004 Thanks again bmac. Ypres 1914 is now on order from Naval and Military Press. Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frie Posted 16 July , 2004 Share Posted 16 July , 2004 Speaking of Edmonds... Edmonds forgets to mention what the French did - 1 november and later in the area of Wytschaete, and Ypres.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul guthrie Posted 16 July , 2004 Share Posted 16 July , 2004 Thanks again bmac. Ypres 1914 is now on order from Naval and Military Press. Regards This is an amazing read, Germans thought they were under machine gun fire at times when it was only rifle fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 16 July , 2004 Share Posted 16 July , 2004 I own a number of volumes of the German official history. They are most interesting. Much shorter than the British volumes, many more sketches and maps...but printed in a very difficult script, which makes for hard going even for even a good non-native german speaker. Good for dipping into rather than trying to read right through. The various volumes came with a set a maps, folded in the rear of the book. An example of one that I have used to illustrate one of the pages from the Long, Long Trail can be seen here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul guthrie Posted 16 July , 2004 Share Posted 16 July , 2004 American Armies And Battlefields In Europe, 1938, American Battlefield Monuments Commission, has beautiful fold out color maps, three of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frie Posted 16 July , 2004 Share Posted 16 July , 2004 To make a history of the war, you should compare Edmonds with the French and German history of the first world war. You should read French and German regimental books and compare... And when you can't read German and French regimental history you only have a British view the facts... There was a heavy fighting from 1 november 1914 until 22 november in Wytschaete (Look what you can find about this in 'Edmonds)... There are often mistakes of places. I read a history of an English officer walking at Christmas (1914) in the Red Chateau..... (history in a book about the Wytschaete - Messines ridge.) Impossible history because the Red Chateau was a 300 meters behind the German trenches.... , Wulverghem trenches are not in Wulverghem but in Wytschaete, sometimes Wytschaete trenches are in fact in Kemmel. What the British call "The Messines Ridge" is 90 % in Wytschate, London Scottish in Messines? their battlefield was in Wytschaete, The burning Mill at Messines was in Wytschaete .... In some books I found Petit Bois in Messines, its in Kemmel. Gapaard in Warneton must be Wytschaete. 7 june 1917 - no one mine exploded in Messines. 12 mines exploded in Wytschaete , some in Warneton, St-Elooi(Voormezele) en Hill 60 (Zillebeke). ...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmac Posted 16 July , 2004 Share Posted 16 July , 2004 The trouble is they are all prone to errors - though it would certainly be good to be able to read about the same actions from everyone's point of view in order, perhaps, to distil some sort of truth. In my particular research I have got several translations of German official and regimental histories which are invaluable. Stylistically though, I have to say they are rather too prone to the 'glorious history of the regiment' type statement for my liking. Unsurprsingly, their interpretation of what the British did in the one action in which I have a special interest does not coincide in significant elements with the British version. Personally, I must trust more that version as it is a composite of primary official and personal reports, personal anecdote, letters home, etc., which are consistent in the key features. I am sure the reverse is true when it comes to British interpretations of German actions. What strikes me is that, even after the event, neither side really understood the tactics and decisions of the other side and, sadly, none of the 'official' histories have ever sought to do so. Certainly, though, the German material I have seen casts much needed new light on the events of interest to me and explain a lot of things in ways the British documents do not or cannot. Intepretations of key battles using official and personal source material from both (all) sides seems to me to be the main absentees from our current available World War One 'library'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dikke Bertha Posted 17 July , 2004 Author Share Posted 17 July , 2004 Thanks to everybody for their input into this topic. It is indeed a pity that both the French and German Official Histories were not translated into English. This would be a good project for some publishing house but I don't know if the sales would justify the cost. However we can dream............. Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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