Directing Operations: British Corps Command on the Western Front 1914-

[armourersergeant]

Has anyone got a copy of this book yet and is it worth a gander. This is an area so lacking in coverage and I was debating spending my Amazon voucher that I have and am gaurding jelously until the right book comes along.

regards

Arm

[Steven Broomfield]

No, but at 34% off (strange amount), I'd say it's got to be worth a spin

[Jonathan Saunders]

Never heard of the author - which, being a pessimist, I always take as an unpromising sign.

[Charles Fair]

I think this book is based on his PhD thesis in which case there should be a lot of primary research from Corps level war diaries.

He wrote 'Hot Blood and Cold Steel' - similar in scope to John Ellis' 'Eye Deep in Hell'- and another book on the BEF operational command on the W Front (name escapes me completely) both of which were published by Tom Donovan in the 1990s.

Charles

[Greenwoodman]

The Evolution of Victory: British Battles on the Western Front 1914-1918. Andy Simpson. Pub. Tom Donovan 1995

Author takes each main battle or phase of operations in France 1914-18 & explains why they came about and how they were planned & executed

[armourersergeant]

Never heard of the author - which, being a pessimist, I always take as an unpromising sign.

I wonder who said that about Middlebrook, Terraine and others!!

[Kate Wills]

Arm,

It is highly recommended by Peter Simpkins, which was reason enough for Martin to buy a copy at the weekend.

We'll bring it along to the next meeting, unless you succumb in the meantime. We have his previous book too, which also seems very scholarly.

[armourersergeant]

thanks Kate

regards

Arm

[Robert Dunlop]

The book is well referenced. It is based on a thesis. I am not too convinced by the first chapter. Early days though. If you have not already bought it, Arm, then I will update once I have read it all.

Robert

[armourersergeant]

thanks Robert

Arm

[Justin Moretti]

I have ordered this book, and I hope it arrives before I go on holidays.

[Jonathan Saunders]

I wonder who said that about Middlebrook, Terraine and others!!

But if you do a goggle on "Andy Simpson WW1 author", as I did, then you see that his publicatiuons go back to mid-90s, therefore surprised I havent heard of him. Of course if this was his first book, then that is altogether different.

Please send some dark KWAK to the normal address.

[Robert Dunlop]

Jon, it is not his first book. I haven't read the others but did read the chapter he submitted to Sheffield and Todman's book about C&C on the Western Front. It was ok. Like the book (so far), I wasn't very impressed. Nevertheless, the perspective on corps is unusual, and therefore makes this book stand out. For me, the most helpful aspect is the detailed references at the end of each chapter, particularly to documentation in the National Archive.

Robert

[armourersergeant]

Robert,

It also stands out as being the only, or atleast one of a few, covering a study of Corps command in WW1. Does it cover anything on the relationships of the commanders and their staff?

As for Jon, he knows he has written others, its just his sideways swipe at me, and a pathetic attempt to get free bottle of Kwak, which if he thought hard about it is not going to happen!

regards

Arm

[Jonathan Saunders]

As for Jon, he knows he has written others, its just his sideways swipe at me

Tubs - I always give way to buses

[Robert Dunlop]

This current trip has given me a chance to finish reading the book. At first, the book didn't look too promising. The author has focused on the Field Service Regulations (FSR), which were a general set of principles for waging war that were published before the war. In the first two chapters, Simpson examined the roles of some corps, including Haig's I Corps in 1914, up till the Battle of the Somme. He mentioned several documents, such as Operations Orders, but rarely quoted any of the details. Based on these documents, Simpson drew conclusions about how the corps commanders performed according to the FSR. It was hard to assess the validity of the author's conclusions from the material in the book. From what I know of the operations orders, and from other sources, I had some concerns that the conclusions were too cursory. The author was quick to point out mistaken biases in other authors but appeared to fall into the same trap at times. When this happens, and when the author does not quote the full text upon which he is basing his conclusions, then I find it hard to have confidence in the book. My confidence was further undermined when examining the author's comments on other areas that I am familiar with, such as the various operations and battles that I have studied.

The chapters on the Somme and Arras have more detail, but mostly rely on the author's interpretations for content. The most detail is contained in the chapter on Third Ypres, almost as if this had been the primary focus of the author's efforts. There is less detail on the Battle of Cambrai, as well as the Spring offensives. The latter is not surprising as there is a paucity of any documentation for this period. The final section on the last hundred days was very interesting.

Overall, I think the book makes an important contribution. It is clear that corps played an increasingly vital role in planning the major battles, particularly the artillery barrages. Divisions had some input but only in the context set by corps. Until the end of 1916, corps tended to be very prescriptive. Then, as all staff became

more competent, fewer details were needed. In the periods of open warfare, corps had little role to play, apart from supervising the divisions and ensuring they pushed on.

Arm, there are glimpses of the relationships between corps and divisional commanders but not a lot. Mostly, this relates to the author's summaries of minutes from corps meetings. There is even less information about the relationships between corps commanders and their staff. There is a lot of detail about the day-to-day activities of corps commanders. I think you will appreciate this book. Whether it is worth the book token??? But I would be interested in your feedback if you get a chance to read it. Leaving aside Simpson's analyses, the factual content is of interest, particularly about the latter half of the war, and his overall conclusions are very useful.

Robert

[armourersergeant]

Robert,

Thanks for that review, I shall be getting a look see in a few days as someone is letting me have a gander at a copy.

regards

Arm

[Justin Moretti]

Got it. Read it.

Overall, positive, and I'm glad I've got it, even if it becomes an 'occasionally perused reference book'.

While I agree with some of the comments Rob has made, I'm perhaps not as au fait with the battles as he is, and do not perceive the weaknesses so much. Certainly it wasn't a riveting page turner, but it is towards the 'dry academic' end of the scale. One to be read slowly and carefully. Some of the text was vaguely familiar, as if I'd read it all somewhere before, but then I realized that he contributed that chapter to "Command and Control..." so it's not surprising that I've seen the same words written elsewhere.

Certainly I learned things I had not known before about exactly how Corps worked (and how that changed). I suppose what I was expecting more of was exactly what sort of paperwork they did during an attack, sort of a 'look over the corps staff officer's shoulder' sort of thing.

Perhaps the most frustrating thing with the continual referring to FSR and SS135 was the unavailability of these documents. It's probably a bit much to include the whole of FSR as an appendix, but I wonder if it might not have been worth quoting relevant parts of it 'en bloc' rather than just summarizing its principles, and maybe even including SS135 as an appendix, seeing as it formed the central part of his argument. I accept that this might not be possible for copyright reasons, and I can also accept that it is possible to overlook the fact that not everyone who reads the book will have access to SS135.

The overall picture I got of the corps commanders, though, was of men who really were trying to do the best job they could, and not hopeless aristocratic ******* who viewed the map through the brown haze of the gin decanter.

The striking thing that came through was that Simpson has no love whatsoever for Tim Travers, and large portions of the book were a refutation of Travers' two main books (How the War was Won and The Killing Ground). While he possibly goes too far in the other direction, I found this element useful - I repeatedly found Travers' conclusions inconsistent with what I had read elsewhere, not to mention downright annoying vis a vis his "Tankophilia", and was very pleased that someone with an academic reputation seemed to agree with me! (I am of course aware of the limitations of an academic reputation.)

Only time will tell whether this is worth the money I paid for it (import plus exchange rate did horrendous things), but as my ex always said, "You'll probably never see this book again, so buy it now".

[Steven Broomfield]

but as my ex always said, "You'll probably never see this book again, so buy it now".

I hope that's not why she's your ex...my wife has been known to say the same thing, but I have a horrible suspicion she's looking at the resale value when I've popped it

[Justin Moretti]

I don't think so. She knows she'll be well provided for if something happens to me, but she did well enough out of the breakup that she doesn't need to hasten my end in the meantime (her first words when the Australian military engagement in Iraq was announced were "Don't you dare try to enlist!", which was quite touching, and I had to explain to her - we were still together at the time BTW - that that wasn't the way things were done any more, even if the army would take me with all my medical problems - knock-kneed, long-sighted asthmatic cretins are not what HM's forces are after; such things are saved till the very end, when the enemy is on your door).

BTW does anyone know about "Evolution of Victory" by the same author? Particularly, is it just this book under another title in another country, or is it something completely different? Because I've known even big public libraries to be trapped by that problem

More to the point, where can I FIND copies of FSR (all three parts, I believe) and SS135?