Help on Finding Good Titles

[dewey]

I was wondeirng if anyone could recommend some good books on the following various WW1 battles and people.

-the Kaiserschlacht

-Italian Front

-Salonika

-Douglas Haig

Living in the USA it's hard meeting people with interest in the Great War, so any advice on what titles to read would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, William

[J Banning]

I am sure that many more will post but as a starter....

For Kaiserslacht I would recommend Martin Middlebrook’s ‘The Kaiser’s Battle’ and also Lyn Macdonald’s ‘To the Last Man: Spring 1918’. It depends on what sort of book you want but both give many detailed accounts from those who were there.

As for Haig books you could always start with John Terraine’s ‘Douglas Haig: The Educated Soldier’.

Happy hunting!

[DrB]

"The Gardeners of Salonika" Alan Palmer, Simon and Schuster, 1965. An account of the most controversial and least known campaign of WWI.

I bought it in the States years ago, but you may find one in a used book store or perhaps Amazon will have a copy.

Good hunting!

DrB

[Bruce Dennis]

Under The Devil's Eye (ISBN:0750935375) by Alan Wakefield&Simon Moody. An authoritave description of the environment in the Salonika front. The writers have used official documents and many unpublished oral accounts to produce an overall picture of officers, men, nurses and all who served in this theatre. Without a doubt the best recent work on the subject.

Bruce

[Bruce Dennis]

William,

I should also have pointed out some of the old standards:

The Story of the Salonika Army, by G Ward Price, originally published in I think 1920 and now available online;

A Popular History of the Great War, edited by Sir Ian Hammerton, in six volumes published in the mid 1930's, contains much useful detail of the Salonika campaign.

Best of all, if you haven't alreadty done so, contact the Salonika Campaign Society (see their thread on this years AGM)

Regards,

Bruce

[dewey]

Thanks for the information. Salonika is one of the campaigns of the war that I am not as familiar with, but I look forward to reading the books you guys recommended, I put in an order for Under the Devil's Eye and will start looking for the other titles as well. Alas though, being in the states the selection of second hand WW1 titles is not in as great an abundance, so a small bit of envy I feel when those of you in Great Britain mention books you picked up in the area. However I am in the process of applying to study abroad in England through my college and then I'll have all the time in the world to search for titles. Thank you again.

[Chris_Baker]

On Haig, try "Douglas Haig - the educated soldier" by John Terraine and perhaps after that the bio by Gerard de Groot.

[robbie]

hi all

i've found this book on amazon this morning - a diary written by a nurse in a field hospital:

A War Nurse's Diary: Sketches From A Belgian Field Hospital.

i searched the GWF for an earlier thread re this book but didin't find anything.

Has anybody read this, and if so, do we get to know who the nurse is?

Robbie

[Take on me]

I was wondeirng if anyone could recommend some good books on the following various WW1 battles and people.

-the Kaiserschlacht

...

-Douglas Haig

For me The Imperial War Museum Book of 1918 The Year Of Victory by Malcolm Brown is very good. it focuses upon he experiences of participants, although it is very much from the British, and partly American perspective. Although if you are going to go for that one beware of other books by the name of 1918 The Year of Victories etc which are not so good.

For Haig I would recomend either Forgotten Victory by Gary Sheffield or the Douglas Haig Diaries which were recently republished. The former is a revisionist history of the First World War with the experiences of the British Expeditionary Force at the centre of the narrative, the role of Haig is covered in some detail, although it is not a very long work it is well written and informative. The Haig Diaries are interesting and the recently republished edition has a very good introduction by historians John Bourne and Gary Sheffield, although reading through Haig's entire war (even an edited version) can become a little dull.

John Terraine's Douglas Haig The Educated Soldier is a remarkable work. Despite the fact that it is quite clearly biased in favour of its subject it is nevertheless very interesting.

Hope you find what you are looking for.

Jon

[Sue Light]

i've found this book on amazon this morning - a diary written by a nurse in a field hospital:

A War Nurse's Diary: Sketches From A Belgian Field Hospital.

i searched the GWF for an earlier thread re this book but didin't find anything.

Has anybody read this, and if so, do we get to know who the nurse is?

Robbie

There are some extracts here:

A War Nurse's Diary

Sue

[robbie]

i look forward to getting the book. thanks sue.

Robbie

[MartinWills]

As regards the Italian Front you may want to consider:

Two Battleground Europe volumes by Francis Mackay

Two Pen & Sword books by the "Wilks" one on caporetto and one more general - the latter a little dry but beggars can't be choosers as regards Italy

An Infant in Arms by Graham Greenwell is a good read and there is also "Across the Piave" by Norman Gladden both good personal accounts and the latter one volume I really could not put down.

There is also the British Official History volume covering Italy (Battery Press in the USA)

That should get you started!

As regards Salonika, there is a select bibliography on the Salonika Campaign Society website, though the excellent volume by Moody and Wakefield is not mentioned as the authors are closely involved in the society. See Salonika Campaign Society