Guest lynsey1 Posted 1 July , 2003 Share Posted 1 July , 2003 Has anyone read this book, i,m thinking it might be my next and wondered whether you think its a worthy read,also i saw a book on ebay, letters from loos, i think by david pole,maybe some kind of diary,anyone know anything about this one. lynsey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 1 July , 2003 Share Posted 1 July , 2003 I have no hesitation in saying that it is one of the best books that you could possibly read, to get a detailed view of the life of a battalion of the regular army. It is a master work. I do not know the 'Letters from Loos' book. Very little published on Loos. I see ebay also has a copy of Philip Warner's book on the subject, which I found rather disappointing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hone Posted 2 July , 2003 Share Posted 2 July , 2003 'War The Infantry Knew' is of course only one of several books connected with 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh (as it was then) Fusiliers. It was compiled, as you probably know, by the battalion's Medical Officer, Dr Dunn, from the recollections of fellow officers. It should be read in connection with 'Old Soldiers Never Die' by Frank Richards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muerrisch Posted 2 July , 2003 Share Posted 2 July , 2003 Be very careful with 'The War the Infantry Knew'. It could change your life. I have worn out three copies so far. It drove me to 10 years research, more or less living on the Western Front every weekend, and ultimately writing a book of sorts ........ and the next one is on the boil. Simply stunning and compulsive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Saunders Posted 2 July , 2003 Share Posted 2 July , 2003 Just following on from Mark's point that you should read Dunn inconnection with Frank Richards, I was explaining to Tim Birch and Ian Whitlock on the way back from the Somme yesterday the value of these two books for dove-tailing stories and getting a slightly different perspective. The example I gave was of a Chaplain who according to Richards saw his duty as going out with the first wave in a late 1918 attack and helping with/administering to the wounded. He couldnt be talked out of it and was killed 100 yards from their starting off line. According to Dunn he was not so much brave as bloody stupid and if he hadnt taken any notice of the letter he received from some sweetheart in Liverpool I think, who admonished him for not receiving a bravery award and urged him to rectify this, then he would have lived a full and happy life! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lynsey1 Posted 2 July , 2003 Share Posted 2 July , 2003 Thanks for that,i will be reading "old soldiers never die "after" the war the infantry knew" lynsey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul guthrie Posted 2 July , 2003 Share Posted 2 July , 2003 Well I have read Dunn's book four times and if I live will read it more. There are classics of this war which justify multiple reads. You can forget a lot fo detail in a couple of years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hone Posted 2 July , 2003 Share Posted 2 July , 2003 Following on from Signals posting,on a battlefields tour some years ago I was able to use a combination of Dunn and Richards to explain to an elderly lady the exact circumstances of her father's death. He was one of three men who were killed by the explosion of a shell as they got up to let Richards pass down the trench after he returned from a raid. Sadly, I'm not sure she realised how fortunate it was that those two sources could pinpoint the exact incident in which her father died. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard_Lewis Posted 3 July , 2003 Share Posted 3 July , 2003 TWTIK is an absolute must. I recall a para in 1918 I think with the Germans retreating and the RWF exhausted - and slipping into a part damaged building for a good sleep. Then to find a British artillery unit has set up outside and is about to shell some far flung cross roads that the Germans are pouring through. The first salvo of shells almost causes the collapse of the entire building and certainly results in several sleepy RWF men waking up wounded! If you wrote it as a novel you probaly wouldn't believe it! Buy it! Bernard Lewis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Steve Seaman Posted 4 July , 2003 Share Posted 4 July , 2003 Just ordered a used copy from Amazon for £4.99.They have a few other copies similarly priced. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenwoodman Posted 4 July , 2003 Share Posted 4 July , 2003 Recently bought it new in paperback from Naval & Military Press for £4-99 (I think). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Birch Posted 4 July , 2003 Share Posted 4 July , 2003 I've read it twice now, and my copy is a well thumbed reference book. I agree with all that has been said about it. The Abacus publication has an introduction by Keith Simpson which gives an interesting overview of the background to the book. It also covers the later row between Sassoon and Robert Graves concerning Graves's publication of "Goodby to all That". Along with Blunden, Dunn is highly critical of the accuracy of GTAT. Enjoy! Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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