MaureenE Posted 1 April , 2016 Share Posted 1 April , 2016 One of the books mentioned in previous posts in this topic ( http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=189986&p=1940289 ) is The Middle Parts of Fortune also published as Her Privates We by Frederic Manning It is available as a transcription pdf to download from the University of Sydney Digital Collection http://purl.library.usyd.edu.au/setis/id/manmidd I will also post this under Virtual Library. Article about the book http://insidestory.org.au/an-outsider-at-war Cheers Maureen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yperman Posted 1 April , 2016 Share Posted 1 April , 2016 Some rather different diaries you may want to look at ( when you have read the above!) are "Tommy's War" Thomas Livingstone - a diary of a Glaswegian book keeper who did not go to war but gives a vivid account of life in Great War in Glasgow and civilian attitudes to it. Also "A Nurse at the Front" Sister Edith Appleton - which gives some non-sugar coated insights into a nurse's attitudes to the war and the Germans. My personal favourite " Poilu" The notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, barrelmaker who served for 3 odd years as a section commander on the Western Front including Verdun, the Somme, Chemin des Dames and all the other big battles. Finally "Ypres Diary 1914-15" Sir Morgan Crofton ( 2nd Life Guards) which includes pictures of Horse Guards officers looking untidy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Filsell Posted 1 April , 2016 Share Posted 1 April , 2016 (edited) Couple of points - Charles book on Crozier is well worth reading. 2 If anyone is interested, I can add a number of German works - aside from Remarque and Junger - which were translated into English. Copies are relatively rare and also somewhat pricey, unless you are lucky. Having advised by a dealer to spend time looking on shelves other than military history I once found a copy of Copse 125 (Ernst Junger) in an area where the gardening books were stored. David Edited 14 May , 2017 by David Filsell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Maria Posted 1 April , 2016 Share Posted 1 April , 2016 Having advised by a dealer to spend time looking on shelves other than military history I once found a copy of Copes 125 (Ernst Junger) in an area where the gardening books were stored. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Filsell Posted 1 April , 2016 Share Posted 1 April , 2016 So, no interest in the Huns then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Maria Posted 1 April , 2016 Share Posted 1 April , 2016 I have a few German memoirs ( the usual suspects) and although my main interest is in the B.E.F, I'm sure your list would enhance this thread greatly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilliamRev Posted 1 April , 2016 Author Share Posted 1 April , 2016 I have a few German memoirs ( the usual suspects) and although my main interest is in the B.E.F, I'm sure your list would enhance this thread greatly. Hi Blackmaria and David F.. Yes indeed, lists and reviews of German memoirs would be most welcome on this thread. William Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nthornton1979 Posted 1 April , 2016 Share Posted 1 April , 2016 A couple of others that I haven't seen mentioned: Fire-Eater, The Memoirs of a V.C., Captain A O Pollard, V.C., M.C*, D.C.M. Fix Bayonets, J W Thomason. Neil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Filsell Posted 2 April , 2016 Share Posted 2 April , 2016 I will put up,a few tomorrow if I can make time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Filsell Posted 3 April , 2016 Share Posted 3 April , 2016 A starter for 5 - all early books – although there are earlier ones published in the War, in the UK British inspired forgeries of soldiers accounts were also issued between 1914 and 18 (showing the beastly Hun in a beastly light!) Strangely too Manfred von Rs self dictated account of his career, gussied-up by his publisher, to both his and his mother’s dismay, was also translated during the War and published controversially in Britain during the war 1 Edward Latzko first published in 1917 as Men in War published in English as Men in Battle in 1930. 2 Rudolf Binding, (Aus dem Krieg), published in English as A Fatalist at War 1929, 3 Georg Grabenhorst (Fahnenjunker Volkenborn) published in English as Zero Hour 4 Franz Schawecker Der feirig Weg published in English as The Fiery Way 5 Dr Philip Witkop Kriegesbriefe detscher Studenten), first published in English in 1929 – with a number of subsequent reprints. Five worthwhile books to be getting on with. Binding is much quoted from in English accounts of the early stages of the war. 3 and 4 are very self experienced based novels. 5 is a book letters of students who volunteered for war. There are also naval and aviation accounts translated into English. I can add more and am thinking – just thinking – of creating website when I have time. These are all taken from Frontkämpfer my ‘in work’ commentary and bibliography of German Great War books translated into English. I now estimate the total number of translations of German Great Warbooks into English since 1914 – novels, personal accounts – of men of private solder to major to be in excess of 180 of which I located about 150 or so. (Accounts by the ‘great and the good’ and the ‘movers and shakers’ are not included the above. That’s an altogether different ball game. Regards David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dust Jacket Collector Posted 3 April , 2016 Share Posted 3 April , 2016 Excellent David - keep 'em coming (I have those 5). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Filsell Posted 3 April , 2016 Share Posted 3 April , 2016 Give me a while and I'll put some up from the 30s. Is everyone happy about novelisations of experiences or am I off thread? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulgranger Posted 3 April , 2016 Share Posted 3 April , 2016 Goodbye to all that was, apparently, semi-ficticious, so novelisation is fine by me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dust Jacket Collector Posted 4 April , 2016 Share Posted 4 April , 2016 Fine by me. I suspect most accounts are fictionalised to some extent unless the authors have photographic memories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Filsell Posted 4 April , 2016 Share Posted 4 April , 2016 How true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilliamRev Posted 14 May , 2017 Author Share Posted 14 May , 2017 (edited) I started this thread just over four years ago (at one point I hoped that it was going to turn into a 'classic thread' - remember them?), and once again I am back for help on memoirs and autobiographies. I am looking for autobiographies/memoirs which include substancial personal accounts from Third Battle of Ypres/Passchendaele. I have over 40 First World War memoirs, but looking through them only Charles Carrington's 'Soldier from the War Returning' and Frank Richard's 'Old Soldiers Never Die' seem to contain decent descriptions of the battle. Can anyone think of others? German memoirs (in English) are welcome, and Battles of Menin Road, Polygon Wood and Broodseinde are of particular interest to me, Thanks, William Edited 14 May , 2017 by WilliamRev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 14 May , 2017 Share Posted 14 May , 2017 Not Passchendaele, nor even Western front, but Charles Barry's 'Unsought Adventure' (1939) is a rarely mentioned (and, it seems, hardly known) Great War autobiography. It tells of the author's service with the Imperial Russian Horse Artillery, and with the British secret service in Murmansk. It's a odd book in some ways. Barry's real name was Charles Bryson. He wrote a number of detective novels featuring Inspector Gilmartin of Scotland Yard - I have a couple, but, alas, they're not that good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilliamRev Posted 14 May , 2017 Author Share Posted 14 May , 2017 Uncle George - thanks for adding that to the fascinating list of books in this thread. I have realised that Edmund Blunden's Undertones of War (on my sizeable "to read" pile) has several chapters on the battle, but I am still keen to hear of other memoirs with substantial personal accounts of 3rd Ypres. William Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 14 May , 2017 Share Posted 14 May , 2017 (edited) You have said on this thread that you didn't take to Edwin Campion Vaughan ('Some Desperate Glory'); but as you will remember, a month or so of this diary, July/August 1917, covers his time in the Salient. Edited 14 May , 2017 by Uncle George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilliamRev Posted 15 May , 2017 Author Share Posted 15 May , 2017 16 hours ago, Uncle George said: You have said on this thread that you didn't take to Edwin Campion Vaughan ('Some Desperate Glory'); but as you will remember, a month or so of this diary, July/August 1917, covers his time in the Salient. Spookily, just an hour ago (before I saw your post) I took this very book down from the shelf after a friend told me in an e-mail last night that it is his favourite WW1 memoir! So I was already going to give it another go. Yes, as I mentioned in post 27, I didn't like Vaughan at all at first, but came to find him a totally honest and sympathetic chap by the end of the book. Part of his honesty lies in mentioning the amount of alcohol that the young officers got through. I have a vague memory of my grandfather (in avatar) saying that alcohol played a bigger part in the war than anyone ever put in their memoirs! William Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Black Posted 15 May , 2017 Share Posted 15 May , 2017 33 minutes ago, WilliamRev said: Part of his honesty lies in mentioning the amount of alcohol that the young officers got through. I have a vague memory of my grandfather (in avatar) saying that alcohol played a bigger part in the war than anyone ever put in their memoirs! I've read this too, regarding both world wars. Derek. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 15 May , 2017 Share Posted 15 May , 2017 21 minutes ago, Derek Black said: I've read this too, regarding both world wars. Derek. Yes. Graves claims that he kept himself "awake and alive by drinking about a bottle of whisky a day". (GtAT). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickPS Posted 21 August , 2018 Share Posted 21 August , 2018 Having just completed Vaughan’s memoirs, I think his honesty is best exemplified by the way he reports and acknowledges his significant shortcomings, before leading his shattered Company in an exemplary manner in the Battle for Langemarck. On 15/05/2017 at 10:44, WilliamRev said: Spookily, just an hour ago (before I saw your post) I took this very book down from the shelf after a friend told me in an e-mail last night that it is his favourite WW1 memoir! So I was already going to give it another go. Yes, as I mentioned in post 27, I didn't like Vaughan at all at first, but came to find him a totally honest and sympathetic chap by the end of the book. Part of his honesty lies in mentioning the amount of alcohol that the young officers got through. I have a vague memory of my grandfather (in avatar) saying that alcohol played a bigger part in the war than anyone ever put in their memoirs! William Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johntaylor Posted 22 August , 2018 Share Posted 22 August , 2018 One of the best descriptions of Third Ypres (and in my opinion one of the best war memoirs in general) is "War is War" by "Ex-Private X". The author was Alfred Burrage, better known as a writer of ghost stories, and he gives an incredibly vivid account of his service with the Artist's Rifles. Not everyone relishes his brand of cynicism, but I think what he went through was enough to make anyone cynical. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marilyne Posted 12 September , 2018 Share Posted 12 September , 2018 As I've chosen Alan Seeger's "I have a rendez vous with Death" as the first page poem for this year's 4 Days of the Yzer historical guide, I had to research a bit about the man and luckily found his diaries and letters home on Kindle for 86 eurocents... bargain. It makes for a very good read. It is truly unbelievable how this man sees only the beautiful and good around him in the midst of war chaos. But this fatality that made him write the poem ios everywhere. From one of the first letters to him Mom, saying that after all, nobody's waiting for him so of course he'd do his bit, one feels that he does not at all care if he gets or dodges the bullet the very next minute. Very enjoyable!! Marilyne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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