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Remembered Today:

What WW1 books are you reading?


andigger

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On ‎05‎/‎06‎/‎2017 at 02:52, IlluminatiRex said:

I'm also looking to pick up a copy of Castles of Steel by Robert K. Massie, as Dreadnought was fantastic.

 

 

I've got a copy of both of these if you want either or both of them ... PM me with some details, and we'll sort something out.

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20 hours ago, Canadian J said:

Next up will be (as soon as it is released) The Road to Passchendaele: The Heroic Year in Soldiers' own Words and Photographs By Richard Van Emden. Who isn't looking forward to reading this one over the centennial?!

 

 

 

Couldn't they have thought of a different title. Already used by John Terraine 40 years ago.

 

Cheers Martin B

 

 

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I've just read an interesting book : 'After Victory' by 'An Amateur Officer', published by Melrose in 1917. Who the author is I haven't been able to ascertain, other than his being Irish, and he doesn't mention which unit he's with either. The first third of the book concerns an attack on the Somme between Guillemont and Ginchy around the 8th of September 1916 (with map). Those of you with access to detailed records may well be able to identify the officer as he gives the surname initials of a couple of his COs who were killed.

What gives the book interest is the graphic nature of his description of trench warfare and its aftermath. Although fairly routine in later accounts, the portrayal of death and serious injury in a book of 1917 is uncommon to say the least.

He's wounded at the end of the battle and the final two thirds of the book are taken up with his musings on War, the Irish question, religion etc. and can be safely skipped! It's not an uncommon book, there are several on ABE for around £20, and there may even be a free download somewhere if I understood such things.

Well worth searching out though for its first 100 pages.

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As I have a current interest in Arras I've just finished Jonathan Nicholls' 'Cheerful Sacrifice'. It came highly recommended by people whose opinion I trust and it is as good as they say. It is up there with any book I've read on WW1; absolutely superb. I'm now on to 'I Wish They'd Killed You In A Decent Show' by Colin Taylor (of this parish) which looks at the battles for the Hindenburg line between Croisilles and Fontaine and which is proving really good too. As those who have read his posts on the forum I doubt if there is a blade of grass in that area which Colin isn't familiar with.

 

Pete.

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Just started on Bringing Uncle Albert Home: a soldier's tale, by David P. Whitehorn, and its proving quite interesting and readable! Basically a study using a wide range of materials into the life and death story of one Ptr. Albert Turley, who died on the Somme with the 3rd Worcestershire.

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I acquired this book for my birthday.

 

I am slowly working my way through the first chapters and it is exactly what I hoped it would be. I am following with Google Earth and checking against the verlustlisten too.

This is probably the only German regimental history available in English. 

 

from the official blurb.

 

 German Infantry Regiment 66 fought in most of the great battles on the Western Front in the First World War: Le Cateau, First Marne, Arras 1915, the Somme, Chemin des Dames 1917, the German March 1918 offensive, Chemin des Dames 1918, Second Marne and the Siegfried Line. This is the official regimental history, written in 1930 by Major Dr Otto Korfes, an officer in the regiment for most of the war and a Reichsarchiv historian.

 

593f9f1959328_66thRegiment..jpg.e54e3ec1084883d15d7e56fafbfd05b3.jpg

 

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=19598558943&searchurl=tn%3Dthe%2Bgerman%2B66th%26sortby%3D17

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/?afn_sr=CJ&cm_ven=aff&cm_ite=cj

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search?ie=UTF8&keywords=war&tag=thgrwafo-21&index=books&linkCode=ur2&camp=1634&creative=6738

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Dear Martin,

I can well believe that the 66th Regt saga is the only German regtl history to have been translated and published in English.

My German wife's maternal grandfather was an Officer with the Res. Art. Regt. Nr. 66, which produced a regtl history.

However, despite the fact that I can read and speak German (I am an Australian), I have never made the effort to read through that partular history, which I have - along with his medals, documents and photo albums.

The Fraktur type-face is the main problem.

The translator of 'The German 66th Regiment', Terence Zuber, no doubt had similar problems!

Kindest regards,

Kim.

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Martin - Looks interesting! And what is even more interesting in its way is a photograph of some of the unit's members on a MG course in August 1918, with several of them wearing pickelhauben! See: http://humanbonb.free.fr/Phototheque/images/phototheque/normal/491033858370.jpg

Edited by trajan
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2 hours ago, Kimberley John Lindsay said:

Dear Martin,

I can well believe that the 66th Regt saga is the only German regtl history to have been translated and published in English.

My German wife's maternal grandfather was an Officer with the Res. Art. Regt. Nr. 66, which produced a regtl history.

However, despite the fact that I can read and speak German (I am an Australian), I have never made the effort to read through that partular history, which I have - along with his medals, documents and photo albums.

The Fraktur type-face is the main problem.

The translator of 'The German 66th Regiment', Terence Zuber, no doubt had similar problems!

Kindest regards,

Kim.

  

Kim.

 

I have the regimental histories for RIR 61 and Pionier Battalion No29. They are the electronic versions but they are full scans of the books themselves. My Polish family served in a number of units and I find it very difficult trying to make sense of the text and what they were up to.  Obviously pictures and maps are very good clues.

 

Now, with this book,  I can see how a full history appears in English and it is great to see how the various Armee Korps, Divisions and regiments formed up for attacks. I am sure that the format is much the same for all unit formations. I find it very useful to see the way that casualties are reported in the various locations in the early stages and how those reports appear in the verlustlisten. Even where the various named ended up in military cemeteries.

I have no medals or other documents but I do have pictures which provide scant clues to what my family endured.

Martin.

 

1 hour ago, trajan said:

Martin - Looks interesting! And what is even more interesting in its way is a photograph of some of the unit's members on a MG course in August 1918, with several of them wearing pickelhauben! See: http://humanbonb.free.fr/Phototheque/images/phototheque/normal/491033858370.jpg

 

Great photo, do you think they must have had job lots of those old helmets and dished them out for training etc.

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Before my copy of Richard Van Emden's the Road to Passchendaele arrives, I am going to fit in Capturing Hill 70 edited by Douglas E. Delaney and Serge Marc Durflinger. Will report back upon completion!

- J

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Not having read through this entire thread of course, I have not seen anyone's comments on "Lifeline" by Iain Gordon".  I enjoyed the first half but at least half the book seems to consist of lists of various things that certainly were not of much use to me.  IT even includes lists of CCSs amongst other information, but as there are no places or dates, not much use even for reference.  I did notice that it is on the "to read" lists of several people.  I ordered it rather than Wounded" as the latter didn't get the best review on the Forum.

 

Having been a voracious reader all my life, the current slow down (due to circumstances beyond my control) is annoying. Previously,I have been unable to understand those who read three pages and fall asleep!

H.C.

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Just coming to the end of Vera Brittain's 'Testament of Youth' which I first read many years ago. A moving tribute to those who served in every capacity.

 

Cheers Martin B

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On 18/06/2017 at 10:29, Martin Bennitt said:

Just coming to the end of Vera Brittain's 'Testament of Youth' which I first read many years ago. A moving tribute to those who served in every capacity.

 

Cheers Martin B

Now you have read that Martin try this one.  Some interesting revelations about Edward Brittain.

IMG_4900.JPG

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Just finished 'Law and War' by Jonathan Swan (review posted) and an now on 'Prisoners of the Kaiser' by Richard Van Emden.

 

Enjoying the POW book, was disappointed with RVE's 'The Last Tommies'. Seemed a bit 'thin' on detail.

 

Bernard

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Just over half way through  'Cavalry and Sporting Memories ' by Maj-Gen John Vaughan . The author was a keen polo player and huntsman and a lot

of the horsey jargon has gone over my head , although the descriptions of regimental life at the turn of the century and his part in the Boer War I have

found interesting . Not got to his service in WW1 yet ( 40pp ) but he certainly got to know a lot of the officers who were to play a bit part in the conflict.

 

My copy is signed by Vaughan in a very spidery hand  in 1955 , he died in a horse riding accident the following year , he was 84 .

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58 minutes ago, Black Maria said:

Just over half way through  'Cavalry and Sporting Memories ' by Maj-Gen John Vaughan . The author was a keen polo player and huntsman and a lot

of the horsey jargon has gone over my head , although the descriptions of regimental life at the turn of the century and his part in the Boer War I have

found interesting . Not got to his service in WW1 yet ( 40pp ) but he certainly got to know a lot of the officers who were to play a bit part in the conflict.

 

My copy is signed by Vaughan in a very spidery hand  in 1955 , he died in a horse riding accident the following year , he was 84 .

 

I am sure you will enjoy reading VAUGHAN's 'Cavalry and Sporting Memories' a copy of which I acquired back in 1992 when purchasing VAUGHAN's  group of miniature medals which came with  a letter of provenance confirming  his medals had been valued by a 'knocker'. "The full size medals being worthless were later thrown in the rubbish bin"- they  surfaced in the SPINK Auction 23 September 1993 minus his British South Africa Company Medal reverse Rhodesia.  VAUGHAN was G.O.C. 3rd Cavalry Division 1915-18.

 

Philip

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2 hours ago, Philip Wilson said:

 

I am sure you will enjoy reading VAUGHAN's 'Cavalry and Sporting Memories' a copy of which I acquired back in 1992 when purchasing VAUGHAN's  group of miniature medals which came with  a letter of provenance confirming  his medals had been valued by a 'knocker'. "The full size medals being worthless were later thrown in the rubbish bin"- they  surfaced in the SPINK Auction 23 September 1993 minus his British South Africa Company Medal reverse Rhodesia.  VAUGHAN was G.O.C. 3rd Cavalry Division 1915-18.

 

Philip

Nice buy !  yes I am enjoying the military parts , just find the polo and horse jargon a bit tedious. They definitely don't make 'em like that anymore , I liked

the anecdote of when his friend took his damaged sword back to Wilkinson Sword in London after he bent it trying to kill a Dervish at Omdurman , I doubt

you would get away with putting the remark he made about it's effectiveness ( or lack of it ) in a book nowadays :D 

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4 minutes ago, Black Maria said:

Nice buy !  yes I am enjoying the military parts , just find the polo and horse jargon a bit tedious. They definitely don't make 'em like that anymore , I liked

the anecdote of when his friend took his damaged sword back to Wilkinson Sword in London after he bent it trying to kill a Dervish at Omdurman , I doubt

you would get away with putting the remark he made about it's effectiveness ( or lack of it ) in a book nowadays :D 

VAUGHAN's sword was sold at DNW (Lot 1522) on 7 December 2005 and was described as 'ordered by him in 1891, and probably re-hilted with the change to the universal 1821 Cavalry Officer's hilt in 1896, it is most likely this was the sword he used in the famous charge at Omdurman in 1898'. It was Lieutenant  F.W.WORMALD who came under attack from a mounted emir dressed in ringmail.  WORMALD's sword bent double on impact and he hit out desperately with the buckled blade luckily a private coming up behind aimed his lance well which went through both mail and emir.  Our understanding of history is sometimes clouded by those who choose to sanitise the past. Those who saw Campaign Service before the Great War whether it be in India, Africa or the Sudan often kept diaries and when they turn up in published works help us to understand what they and others experienced all those years ago. 

 

Philip

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Thanks for that additional information , yes i agree with you totally.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On ‎6‎/‎5‎/‎2017 at 02:52, IlluminatiRex said:

I'm also looking to pick up a copy of Castles of Steel by Robert K. Massie, as Dreadnought was fantastic.

 

On ‎6‎/‎6‎/‎2017 at 08:56, The Scorer said:

 

I've got a copy of both of these if you want either or both of them ... PM me with some details, and we'll sort something out.

 

Do you want either or both of these, please? I'm on the point of donating them to my local WFA branch, but if you want one or both of them, I won't do so. Please PM me and we can sort out the details.  

 

PM now received and details sorted!

Edited by The Scorer
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  • 2 weeks later...

More contemporary classics for me. After 'Testament of Youth' I re-read 'Goodbye to All That' and am currently on 'Ten Days that Shook the World' by John Reed. Next on the list is Maynard Keynes and 'The Economic Consequences of the Peace', which I fear I may find harder going.

 

Cheers Martin B

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Just finished reading the excellent 'Men and Tanks' by J.C Macintosh , published in 1921 as part of the 'On Active Service' series of books.

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Almost done with "Bloody Victory: Sacrifice on the Somme" by William Philpott. It's been a very excellent look at the Somme, and the lessons and aftermath of the battle.

 

After that I'll be reading "The Lost History of 1914: Reconsidering the Year the Great War Started" by Jack Beatty. Once I wrap that up, I'll be onto "Castles of Steel" by Robert K. Massie.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just finished 'Two Wheels to War', by Martin and Nick Shelley published by Helion this year.  An account of the Despatch Riders, who went to France with the B.E.F. in 1914. This incorporates the full text of 'Adventures of a Despatch Rider' by Captain W.H.L. Watson, originally published in book form in 1915, being the original uncensored version', a later edition attracting the attentions of the Censor.  Essentially it covers the tale of twelve young men who volunteered as D.R.s, using their own machines.  The Shelley's found 2 of the riders albums and medals in an auction and realised they were featured in the book.  Around 60 VPK photos are added to the text with many footnotes.  The original maps give a good idea of the ground covered during the advance and retreat of the B.E.F.  The book is well written and gives a graphic sense of the chaos of the retreat.  An additional section covers 'the cast' and their further activities including peacetime.  Appendices cover the story of the book, formations and equipment including a pictorial section on the motor cycles used and a full list of the  Despatch Riders who landed in France in 1914.

 

Mike. 

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Just finished Jack Sheldon's excellent "Fighting The Somme" and about to start on Craig French's "Friends Are Good On The Day Of Battle" a recently published history of the 51st (Highland) Division during the First World War. 

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