The Devil's Carnival

[timsanders]

Just finished reading 'The Devil's Carnival' by John Mason Sneddon

For anyone with an interest in the operations during the opening few month's of the Great War or the 1st Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers (or both as I do) this is a must read and provides a fascinating insight into the tactics and methods employed by the BEF and the challenges facing it's infantry in 1914.

The book covers brilliantly the final skirmishes of 'The War Of Movement' into (the relatively quiet phase of) 'trench warfare' - where the hastily constructed trenches didn't appear to be considered, by the infantry occupying them, as anything other than a short term measure.

It was staggering to read from first accounts* the great number of miles covered on foot in extreme heat whilst being pursued by the enemy and the massive losses imposed on each battalion by an adversary that so outnumbered them. On a personal level, it gave me a new appreciation of the my great-grandfather, a reservist re-called to 1st NF just days before embarkation going into battle with Germany's finest.

A great read of an under documented part of the war.

Extract here

Amazon link

* Chronological commentary based on the written accounts of Captain E B Gordon, Commander of "Z" Company, Captain Beauchamp Tudor St John and Lieutenant F E Watkins

[lostinspace]

Tim,

Thanks for posting this, looks like Mr. Sneddon has done a nice job stitching the diaries together - there are some details on the engineering side (in the excerpt) that I've never seen before, ditto with the photographs. Seems the author is donating the proceeds from the book to the Fusiliers' Museum of Northumbria, http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/news/newsflash/2702-the-devils-carnival-by-john-mason-sneddon.html

[Muerrisch]

I have read the book. I intend to write a proper review in due course, but a few thoughts in advance.

The diary excerpts are superb and very revealing, and add substantially to my knowledge of the early days.

There is a very interesting account by Sneddon of the battalion's mobilisation, which sheds new light on the process, often skated over.

BUT the book could have done with a good proof-reader/ typesetter/ editor/ critic. The man who never made a mistake never made anything, but authors have a duty of care to their readership. Yes it is tedious, time-consuming and boring, but there are spell-checkers, there are friends, and there is not usually any urgency to publish.

Buy the book, but turn off the critical faculties.

[Muerrisch]

an example

[Stoppage Drill]

BUT the book could have done with a good proof-reader/ typesetter/ editor/ critic. The man who never made a mistake never made anything, but authors have a duty of care to their readership. Yes it is tedious, time-consuming and boring, but there are spell-checkers, there are friends, and there is not usually any urgency to publish.

Grumpy, can I invite you to let authors off the hook here, and acknowledge that the duty of care here lies with the publisher ?

I've just been reading how disappointed Winston Churchill was when he returned to England and saw a copy of Malakand Field Force for the first time.

Getting friends to edit/proof read/ pre-publication criticise is a good way to lose them ! Get your worst enemy to do it, more like.

Set your friends on to the job once the book is published.

[ianjonesncl]

Tim

Many thanks for highlighting the book. I am organising a battlefield tour to Mons next year and all of us are from Northumberland, so we were looking to follow the actions of the 1st Battalion NF.

Ian

[mhurst]

I have also just finished reading “The Devil’s Carnival”, and was equally impressed. It covers my particular period of interest in the war, one which is described in few first-hand accounts.

John Mason Sneddon gives much fascinating information regarding the 1^st battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers which went to France in August 1914, one of the oldest infantry regiments in the British army (it was still referred to at the time as the 5^th Fusiliers by officers in other regiments). He sets its deployment in the context of the wider war, although there is sometimes confusion in the descriptions of troop movements between east and west which is puzzling.

The descriptions of the actions at Mons, both of the NF, of 9^th Brigade as a whole, and of the work of the REs in destroying the canal bridges, are about the best I have read of that momentous battle. Although the Aisne is well described in histories of the war, the fighting around La Bassée, and especially Neuve Chapelle, in October 1914 are rarely dealt with (indeed Lyn MacDonald in her book “1914” goes straight from the Aisne to Ypres), so coverage here is welcome.

The diaries on which the book is based are interesting in their own right, but these alone can only give part of the picture. By their very nature they are limited in scope but, as Mr. Sneddon points out, a soldier’s view of battle may be narrow but it is very sharp. He has augmented these sharp observations with more general descriptions of the action, which combine to make a very readable whole.

The photographs in the book, although not particularly well reproduced, are full of interest, especially those of the preparations before the action at Mons. In particular there is one photo of the 4^th Royal Fusiliers resting in the Grande Place which has a most interesting commentary by the author. This photo is reproduced in many books on the period (indeed I have started a thread on it in the Forum myself), and captions usually state that the men are of A Company, just before they deployed around the bridge at Nimy. However, the author considers that the photo was taken after their fight at the bridge, when they rested briefly on their way south. He cites the tired look on the men’s faces, and the fact that their rifles are lying on the ground instead of being stacked in threes, as evidence for his view. Also, according to the battalion’s war diary, this company was held in reserve during the action and would therefore have covered the withdrawal afterwards. He may well be right, but if so, and the Germans did appear around the corner of the square very soon afterwards, it is indeed remarkable that the men should have looked so relaxed in the face of imminent mortal danger.

There is one moving feature of the diary extracts that brings home the scale of the cost of the 1914 campaign – a list of the names and numbers of those killed, wounded or missing for every day featured.

I agree with previous posts - it is a pity that such a well-researched and generally well written book should have been so poorly proof-read before publication. There are frequent errors in the text, both typographical and grammatical (‘Belgium’ for ‘Belgian’, for instance), and many appear in the diary entries themselves, which leaves the reader to wonder whether they are down to the publisher or the diarist – if the latter then perhaps they should have been edited out, on the generous assumption that they were written under trying circumstances. As for who is responsible for editing and proof-reading, I believe that both author and publisher should share this.

I only have two real disappointments with the book. The first is that the accounts on which it is based were all written by officers; one longs to hear the voice of a John Lucy, in “There’s a Devil in the Drum”, giving the viewpoint of the other ranks.

The second is that nowhere in the book is an explanation given for the title. I presume it comes from a description of battle, although whether it is from another source (Richard Dawkins explains the derivation of the similar title of his book of essays on evolution “A Devil’s Chaplain” - it’s a quote from Darwin - and the origin of the title of Lucy’s book, above, is easy to imagine) or from one of the diarists featured in the book is unclear.

None of the above criticisms should be allowed to detract from the overall impact of the book, however. It is a fascinating glimpse into a neglected, but vitally important period of the war, and a tribute to the men who had to endure it.

[Bernard_Lewis]

If Grumpy's extract is typical I'm amazed! It is down to the author, in my opinion, to first deliver a manuscript that is almost error free. The editor can then make any minor corrections. A simple read through of the proofs should have picked up those errors as they are obvious.

Bernard

[Black Maria]

I too am interested in the Mons to First Ypres period of the Great War, I don't think that the problem is that there are few first hand accounts of this period ( I have counted around

twenty memoirs in my collection that cover this period in detail), the problem is that nearly all of them have never been reprinted so are virtually unknown to a lot of Great War

enthusiasts.

[seaJane]

In defence of authors I can only share the experience of having delivered an error-free typescript to publishers on several occasions, only to have the typesetters b----r the thing up!

[SilverFox100]

I too am interested in the Mons to First Ypres period of the Great War, I don't think that the problem is that there are few first hand accounts of this period ( I have counted around

twenty memoirs in my collection that cover this period in detail), the problem is that nearly all of them have never been reprinted so are virtually unknown to a lot of Great War

enthusiasts.

How about giving the rest of us newer members of the forum an idea of the titles in your collection that refer to this time as personally I would really like to know both what books there are of this period available to read and what you would recommend?? I would appreciate I don't know about others. Thanks. Mike

[Muerrisch]

If Grumpy's extract is typical I'm amazed! It is down to the author, in my opinion, to first deliver a manuscript that is almost error free. The editor can then make any minor corrections. A simple read through of the proofs should have picked up those errors as they are obvious.

Bernard

No, it is not typical.

This is an interesting subject.

On the one hand there are people who buy books, on the other, those who write them and buy them.

Then there are those who are happy to live in a txtspk era where meaning is all, and the opposing camp who were taught, beaten, coerced, educated to write joined-up English and who enjoy both the writing and the reading.

I happen to believe that an author and a publisher have a duty of care, in that the prospective purchaser, once parted from his/her cash, should receive a nearly perfect work of English, even if the content, argument, subject, treatment turns out to be disappointing.

Let me say firmly that this book is good, it fills a gap, and I do not regret buying it. It is not riddled with errors and typos, but there are enough to produce the equivalent of fingernails dragged across a blackboard in my mind's ear.

Now for the bit where I attract abuse. As author / editor and private publisher of half a dozen well-received books, another half dozen booklets, and far too many magazine articles, I dread the day after publication. There are ALWAYS going to be some typos, and some errors, and there are always going to be folk delighted to draw attention to them. Knowing this, everyone in the process of getting the written word to a punter has a responsibility, and everyone who parts with money is entitled to express an opinion.

[Bernard_Lewis]

Spot on.

Bernard

[Black Maria]

How about giving the rest of us newer members of the forum an idea of the titles in your collection that refer to this time as personally I would really like to know both what books there are of this period available to read and what you would recommend?? I would appreciate I don't know about others. Thanks. Mike

Here is my list, =

1.There's a devil in the drum J. Lucy Faber & Faber 1938 (reprinted it is widely available)( R. Irish Rif)

2.The Land-Locked Lake A. Hanbury-Sparrow Barker 1932 (Berkshire's)

3.The First Three Months E.J Needham Gale & Polden 1936 (Northamptonshire Regt)

4.The Phantom Brigade A.P.G Vivian Benn 1930 (Middlesex Regt)

5.The Breaking of the storm C.A.L Brownlow Methuen 1918 (R.F.A)

6.Contemptible "Casualty" Heinemann 1916 (reprinted it's a great book , the authors real name was Arnold Gyde) ( South Staffs)

7.Unwilling Passenger A. Osburn Faber & Faber 1932 (4/ Dragoon Gd's)

8.From Mons to the First Battle of Ypres J.G.W Hyndson Wynman & Sons 1932 (Loyal N. Lancs)

9.With a Reservist in France F.A Bolwell Routledge & Sons 1918 (Loyal N. Lancs)

10.A Surgeon in Khaki A.A. Martin Edward Arnold 1917 (R.A.M.C)

11.The Immortal First F. Gaunt Erskine MacDonald 1917 (Royal Fusiliers) (reprinted by Ray Westlake books)

12.Adventures on the Western Front A. Rawlinson Melrose 1925 ( owner-driver attached G.H.Q / 4th Corps)

13.A Galloper at Ypres P. Butler Fisher & Unwin 1920 (7th Div Staff )

14.With My Regiment from the Aisne to La Bassee "Platoon Commander" Heinemann 1915 (D.C.L.I)

15.Adventures of a Despatch Rider W.H.L Watson Blackwood 1915 (5th Div Sig Co)

16.A Regimental Surgeon in War and Prison R.V Dolbey John Murray 1917 (K.O.S.B )

17.Letters Written from the English Front in France Sept 1914- Mar 1915 E.H.W Hulse Private Printing 1916 (Scots Gds)

18.The Church in the Firing Line D.P Winnifrith H&S 1915 (Att 14 field ambulance)

19.With French in France and Flanders O.S Watkins C.H Kelly 1915 (14 field ambulance)

20.On the Road from Mons with a A.S.C Train "It's Commander" Hurst & Blacklett 1916 (A.S.C)

21.From Mons to Loos the diary of a supply officer A.H Stewart William Blackwood 1916 (A.S.C)

22.From Mons to Ypres with French F. Coleman Sampson Low 1916 (Vol Driver 2nd Cav Brig/ 1st Cav Div)

23.Wounded and a P.O.W " An Exchanged Officer" William Blackwood & Sons 1917 (Gordon High)

24.With the Immortal Seventh Division E.J Kennedy H & S 1916 (Chaplain )

25.Through the German Lines N.P Clarke Blackwood Magazine 1915 (R. Dublin Fus)

I would recommend all of these , especially the top ten (If you can find any of them !)

[SilverFox100]

Here is my list, =

1.There's a devil in the drum J. Lucy Faber & Faber 1938 (reprinted it is widely available)( R. Irish Rif)

2.The Land-Locked Lake A. Hanbury-Sparrow Barker 1932 (Berkshire's)

3.The First Three Months E.J Needham Gale & Polden 1936 (Northamptonshire Regt)

4.The Phantom Brigade A.P.G Vivian Benn 1930 (Middlesex Regt)

5.The Breaking of the Storm C.A.L Brownlow 1918 (R.F.A)

6.Contemptible "Casualty" Heinemann 1916 (reprinted it's a great book , the authors real name was Arnold Gyde) ( South Staffs)

7.Unwilling Passenger A. Osburn Faber & Faber 1932 (4/ Dragoon Gd's)

8.From Mons to the First Battle of Ypres J.G.W Hyndson Wynman & Sons 1932 (Loyal N. Lancs)

9.With a Reservist in France F.A Bolwell Routledge & Sons 1918 (Loyal N. Lancs)

10.A Surgeon in Khaki A.A. Martin Edward Arnold 1917 (R.A.M.C)

11.The Immortal First F. Gaunt Erskine MacDonald 1917 (Royal Fusiliers) (reprinted by Ray Westlake books)

12.Adventures on the Western Front A. Rawlinson Melrose 1925 ( owner-driver attached G.H.Q / 4th Corps)

13.A Galloper at Ypres P. Butler Fisher & Unwin 1920 (7th Div Staff )

14.With My Regiment from the Aisne to La Bassee "Platoon Commander" Heinemann 1915 (D.C.L.I)

15.Adventures of a Despatch Rider W.H.L Watson Blackwood 1915 (5th Div Sig Co)

16.A Regimental Surgeon in War and Prison R.V Dolbey John Murray 1917 (K.O.S.B )

17.Letters Written from the English Front in France Sept 1914- Mar 1915 E.H.W Hulse Private Printing 1916 (Scots Gds)

18.The Church in the Firing Line D.P Winnifrith H&S 1915 (Att 14 field ambulance)

19.With French in France and Flanders O.S Watkins C.H Kelly 1915 (14 field ambulance)

20.On the Road from Mons with a A.S.C Train "It's Commander" Hurst & Blacklett 1916 (A.S.C)

21.From Mons to Loos the diary of a supply officer A.H Stewart William Blackwood 1916 (A.S.C)

22.From Mons to Ypres with French F. Coleman Sampson Low 1916 (Vol Driver 2nd Cav Brig/ 1st Cav Div)

23.Wounded and a P.O.W " An Exchanged Officer" 1917 (Gordon High)

24.With the Immortal Seventh Division E.J Kennedy H & S 1916 (Chaplain )

25.Through the German Lines N.P Clarke Blackwood Magazine 1915 (R. Dublin Fus)

I would recommend all of these , especially the top ten (If you can find any of them !)

Blackmaria many thanks I will attempt to find some of these. As I have already found out finding original old books are almost impossible. Thanks. Mike

[Black Maria]

Blackmaria many thanks I will attempt to find some of these. As I have already found out finding original old books are almost impossible. Thanks. Mike

You never know Mike, they may reprint some more of them next year, I noticed a copy of " From Mons to Loos " was sold on E-Bay recently(15 quid), so they do sometimes turn up,

and you did well finding an original copy of "Somme Harvest" ,so you never know.

Cheers,

John.

[Muerrisch]

amazed to see Old Soldiers Never Die F Richards not on list though.

[Black Maria]

amazed to see Old Soldiers Never Die F Richards not on list though.

Agreed it's a superb memoir, but only 70pp out of 324pp deals with the time period we are discussing so I left it out, I also left out "A Frenchman in Khaki" and

"A Trooper in the tins" for the same reason, I also left out "The Advance from Mons" which is a superb German memoir of that period. I included "Wounded and

a prisoner of War" because although it is mainly a P.O.W memoir it has a good account of the Battle of Mons where the author was wounded.

[Moonraker]

... I agree with previous posts - it is a pity that such a well-researched and generally well written book should have been so poorly proof-read before publication. There are frequent errors in the text, both typographical and grammatical (‘Belgium’ for ‘Belgian’, for instance), and many appear in the diary entries themselves, which leaves the reader to wonder whether they are down to the publisher or the diarist – if the latter then perhaps they should have been edited out, on the generous assumption that they were written under trying circumstances. As for who is responsible for editing and proof-reading, I believe that both author and publisher should share this...

The book is published by Reveille Press, which is closely linked to the Western Front Association and claims to offer a quality service to industry standards. From its website:

Options for projects beyond the scope of the standard service, which, depending on individual requirements, may include:

initial critique/overview of work to guide authors

copy-typing

editing/copy-editing

proofreading

indexing

I suspect that the author might have not taken up some of these options, which is a pity.

Admittedly I have a hypercritical attitude to publication standards, having been a professional writer and editor, but looking at the sample chapter I was itching to give it a polish.

Footnote 44 in Grumpy's post 14 is simply terrible, and were I the author I would be disappointed with how it's been rendered. I don't know how Reveille produces its books, but one common method is for the author to supply the text on disk. It is then "best-fitted" to page format and paper proofs sent to the author for checking. In this case it looks as if Reveille accepted the text and then printed the book from it, with no one bothering to look at it.

Which is all a pity, because the content is good.

Moonraker

[SilverFox100]

You never know Mike, they may reprint some more of them next year, I noticed a copy of " From Mons to Loos " was sold on E-Bay recently(15 quid), so they do sometimes turn up,

and you did well finding an original copy of "Somme Harvest" ,so you never know.

Cheers,

John.

John I have looked on Amazon and quite a few of these are available generally as reprints but some originals as well, with some expensive prices as you would think, for example 'A Galloper at Ypres' at £225 and some at lesser prices. But also good some are available as downloads on Kindle e.g. With the Immortal Seventh at £0.00

I will be looking at buying some of these soon, just got to allow the others ones I have just bought to arrive first. Regards. Mike

[Black Maria]

John I have looked on Amazon and quite a few of these are available generally as reprints but some originals as well, with some expensive prices as you would think, for example 'A Galloper at Ypres' at £225 and some at lesser prices. But also good some are available as downloads on Kindle e.g. With the Immortal Seventh at £0.00

I will be looking at buying some of these soon, just got to allow the others ones I have just bought to arrive first. Regards. Mike

Good news about the downloads Mike, being a book collector I never really think about them, yes some of the originals are at really hefty prices, there are two copies

of "The First Three Months " on ABE both at over two hundred pounds each. Well, at least you won't be short of reading material for a while, and I am sure there

will be plenty of new and old books being printed and reprinted in the next few years.

Best Wishes,

John.

[timsanders]

Thanks for the list John, looking forward to working through the list...

After a quick initial search I came across a digitised version of The Immortal First F. Gaunt Erskine MacDonald 1917 (Royal Fusiliers)

I have this in PDF format, if anyone could find use for this PM me your email address and I'll send it across.

All the best

Tim

[Black Maria]

Here is my list, =

1.There's a devil in the drum J. Lucy Faber & Faber 1938 (reprinted it is widely available)( R. Irish Rif)

2.The Land-Locked Lake A. Hanbury-Sparrow Barker 1932 (Berkshire's)

3.The First Three Months E.J Needham Gale & Polden 1936 (Northamptonshire Regt)

4.The Phantom Brigade A.P.G Vivian Benn 1930 (Middlesex Regt)

5.The Breaking of the storm C.A.L Brownlow Methuen 1918 (R.F.A)

6.Contemptible "Casualty" Heinemann 1916 (reprinted it's a great book , the authors real name was Arnold Gyde) ( South Staffs)

7.Unwilling Passenger A. Osburn Faber & Faber 1932 (4/ Dragoon Gd's)

8.From Mons to the First Battle of Ypres J.G.W Hyndson Wynman & Sons 1932 (Loyal N. Lancs)

9.With a Reservist in France F.A Bolwell Routledge & Sons 1918 (Loyal N. Lancs)

10.A Surgeon in Khaki A.A. Martin Edward Arnold 1917 (R.A.M.C)

11.The Immortal First F. Gaunt Erskine MacDonald 1917 (Royal Fusiliers) (reprinted by Ray Westlake books)

12.Adventures on the Western Front A. Rawlinson Melrose 1925 ( owner-driver attached G.H.Q / 4th Corps)

13.A Galloper at Ypres P. Butler Fisher & Unwin 1920 (7th Div Staff )

14.With My Regiment from the Aisne to La Bassee "Platoon Commander" Heinemann 1915 (D.C.L.I)

15.Adventures of a Despatch Rider W.H.L Watson Blackwood 1915 (5th Div Sig Co)

16.A Regimental Surgeon in War and Prison R.V Dolbey John Murray 1917 (K.O.S.B )

17.Letters Written from the English Front in France Sept 1914- Mar 1915 E.H.W Hulse Private Printing 1916 (Scots Gds)

18.The Church in the Firing Line D.P Winnifrith H&S 1915 (Att 14 field ambulance)

19.With French in France and Flanders O.S Watkins C.H Kelly 1915 (14 field ambulance)

20.On the Road from Mons with a A.S.C Train "It's Commander" Hurst & Blacklett 1916 (A.S.C)

21.From Mons to Loos the diary of a supply officer A.H Stewart William Blackwood 1916 (A.S.C)

22.From Mons to Ypres with French F. Coleman Sampson Low 1916 (Vol Driver 2nd Cav Brig/ 1st Cav Div)

23.Wounded and a P.O.W " An Exchanged Officer" William Blackwood & Sons 1917 (Gordon High)

24.With the Immortal Seventh Division E.J Kennedy H & S 1916 (Chaplain )

25.Through the German Lines N.P Clarke Blackwood Magazine 1915 (R. Dublin Fus)

I would recommend all of these , especially the top ten (If you can find any of them !)

Just thought I would add another memoir for anyone interested in 1914 and the B.E.F = 'With the Black Watch: the story of the Marne' Scout Joe Cassells Melrose c. 1917

(reprinted recently under the titles 'The Black Watch : a record in action' and 'Stand & Fall : a soldiers recollections of the contemptible little army and the retreat from the Mons to the Marne'