What WW1 books are you reading?

[Donny Anderson]

130 pages into Robert K. Massie's Dreadnought and finding it a compelling read. Have Castles of Steel by the same author next on the pile

 

Donny

[Steven Broomfield]

On 8/21/2017 at 18:09, 6th Border said:

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. 

 

Let us know what you think of the latter: I posted about it separately and would be interested to know what your opinion..

[Donny Anderson]

On Monday, August 21, 2017 at 18:09, 6th Border said:

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. 

I would also be interested in your thoughts on the later, the 51st and the Gordon Highlanders being of great interest to me.

 

Donny

[Black Maria]

I have just finished reading ' From Eton to Ypres -the letters and diaries of Lt Col Wilfred Abel Smith Grenadier Guards 1914-15 ' . Over the

centenary years of the Great War there have, and will be , many books published of memoirs, letters and diaries and of course there will be

some very good ones and some that are less so. This is one of the very good ones , a very well put together and absorbing book which I

thoroughly enjoyed reading . I'm just surprised no one has mentioned it before on the forum .

Edited 3 September , 2017 by Black Maria

[Dust Jacket Collector]

1 hour ago, Black Maria said:

I have just finished reading ' From Eton to Ypres -the letters and diaries of Lt Col Wilfred Abel Smith Grenadier Guards 1914-15

Not familiar with that one, John. Is it a new book? I was going to check on ABE but they have been offline for the last couple of days.

 

[Guest]

36 minutes ago, Dust Jacket Collector said:

Not familiar with that one, John. Is it a new book? I was going to check on ABE but they have been offline for the last couple of days.

 

 

       History Press,2017. Perhaps a little too vulgarly modern then?

[trajan]

Just checked out from our uni library R.Westlake, British Regiments at Gallipoli (P&S 1996) as Suvla Bay is a side interest of mine having some medals for chaps who were there. I had hoped it would help me understand exactly which regiments were involved on which day of the landings. However, I discovered upon opening the book that it lists the units involved at Gallipoli in "order of precedence" with "Titles used ... as appearing in the Army List for 1915". Fair enough, you might say, but no Index and no list of contents nor breakdown by areas makes it wearisome to use from my point of view. On the other hand, the short descriptions of each units' activities are of interest. 

 

But, as indicated, my interest is in the day-by-day events at Suvla Bay. So, short of ploughing through Westlake, and the Official History aside, does anyone know of such a resource?

 

TIA!

 

Trajan

[Black Maria]

37 minutes ago, Dust Jacket Collector said:

Not familiar with that one, John. Is it a new book? I was going to check on ABE but they have been offline for the last couple of days.

 

The title does sound like an older book Alan , the original letters and diary entries were bound into a book in 1917 for family use but have only

now been published for a wider readership.

[paulgranger]

2 hours ago, trajan said:

Just checked out from our uni library R.Westlake, British Regiments at Gallipoli (P&S 1996) as Suvla Bay is a side interest of mine having some medals for chaps who were there. I had hoped it would help me understand exactly which regiments were involved on which day of the landings. However, I discovered upon opening the book that it lists the units involved at Gallipoli in "order of precedence" with "Titles used ... as appearing in the Army List for 1915". Fair enough, you might say, but no Index and no list of contents nor breakdown by areas makes it wearisome to use from my point of view. On the other hand, the short descriptions of each units' activities are of interest. 

 

But, as indicated, my interest is in the day-by-day events at Suvla Bay. So, short of ploughing through Westlake, and the Official History aside, does anyone know of such a resource?

 

TIA!

 

Trajan

The Kindle version of Westlake is searchable, which helps greatly in the absence of an index.

[paulgranger]

On 22/08/2017 at 21:40, Steven Broomfield said:

 

Let us know what you think of the latter: I posted about it separately and would be interested to know what your opinion..

I am making my way through 'Friends'. It's a bit of a dry read so far, though informative. It's not a straight-forward narrative of the Division's battles, rather an in-depth analysis of what made the Division tick. More comment when I've finished it.

[Martin Feledziak]

Just Finished "The German 66th Regiment In The First World War" by Otto KORFES- ( Translated by Terence ZUBER )

Well worth a read if you need to see the war from the opposite direction.

 

I understand it is the only regimental history available in English.

The 66th were from Magdeberg and served in most of the main battle areas.

I checked most of the names against the Verlustlisten ( Their Casualty reports ) and found a great degree of accuracy.

The regiments first loss was Hornist WIEBLITZ killed on the Geete early august 1914.

 

http://des.genealogy.net/search/show/67195

 

[stiletto_33853]

Desmond Young "Try Anything Twice"

 

Remarkable Character, in Command of a Company in the 9th K.R.R.C. when he was wounded near Ypres, returned to France to Command a Battalion. Won a top Scholarship to Oxford but loved ship salvage. His father was Commodore Young, a famous expert in the salvage of wrecked ships. Desmond helped his father with the salvage of the Vindictive and many other ships in Zeebrugge/Ostend then formed his own salvage company going on to salvage ships in north Russia, Brittany Coast and the Azores.

When the shipping slump effected him, he took up Journalism becoming an editor in South Africa and India, resuscitating Kipling's old paper "The Pioneer."

During WW2 he was appointed Chief Press Advisor to the Government of India but, insisting on becoming a soldier again he joined the Indian Army and saw service in the Western Desert and Syria, being captured as a POW by Rommel's tanks only to escape 16 months later.

After the war started two newspapers in Pakistan then retired to Italy. The result was his biography on Rommel which became a worlds best seller, when it was made into a movie "The Desert Fox" he also acted in the movie.

 

Andy

Edited 4 September , 2017 by stiletto_33853

[MikeyH]

Just received from N and M.Press, and an absolute bargain, 'Liaison 1914' by Edward Spears, the 2014 Pen and Sword edition.  This book is a frequently quoted source in any account of the 1914 Retreat.   588 pages with all original maps.

 

Mike.

[Steven Broomfield]

4 hours ago, stiletto_33853 said:

Desmond Young

 

 insisting on becoming a soldier again he joined the Indian Army and saw service in the Western Desert and Syria, being captured as a POW by Rommel's tanks only to escape 16 months later.

 

 

Andy

 

Out of interest, what was he in? (I mean regiment ... not POW Camp)

23 hours ago, paulgranger said:

I am making my way through 'Friends'. It's a bit of a dry read so far, though informative. It's not a straight-forward narrative of the Division's battles, rather an in-depth analysis of what made the Division tick. More comment when I've finished it.

 

Thanks.

[stiletto_33853]

Brigadier-General 10th Brigade HQ, 5th Indian Division.

 

Andy

[Steven Broomfield]

Ta

[Stoppage Drill]

He was captured as a Lieutenant Colonel IIRC, Indian Army Service Corps on staff of 10th Ind Inf Bde. Don't really know where I get that from. Just in the back of my mind.

 

When he collected his OBE in 1947 he was listed as Lt Col (Temp Brig) Director Public Relations GHQ India.

LG 12 Jun 1947

 

 

Edited 4 September , 2017 by Stoppage Drill

[Steven Broomfield]

Again, ta.

[Waddell]

Recently finished H.E.L Mellersh’s ‘Schoolboy Into War’. I had started this book a while ago and came back to it. Written by Mellersh in 1978 it is very much a memoir from a later perspective. In the latter part of the book Mellersh gives his views as to why many men felt disillusioned after the war but also makes it very clear that he (and his generation) believed in what they were fighting for and that they had a lot of faith in the ability of their commanders- in particular he defends Haig.

 

He served with the 2nd East Lancashire’s and was wounded three times, the last time a shell exploding above him causing shell shock. It is interesting to note that he was medically certified as fit for duty but felt that he was still suffering so asked for a medical board, who said that he had done his bit and kept him in convalescence. I am not sure how often that happened, although we are talking in the latter half of 1918.

 

‘Schoolboy Into War’ is an appropriate title as he appears very young when he was commissioned. The two aspects I liked most about the book are his interest in motorcycles, which are often mentioned, and his relationships with the other officers. In particular he was influenced by an Australian serving in the regiment by the name of John Gordon Stanley Collier. Collier had enlisted with 7th Battalion AIF and managed to obtain a commission with the East Lancashire’s whilst in Egypt.

 

He served in Mesopotamia, where he was wounded, before being sent to the Western Front. Mellersh wrote of Collier “I do not want to make too much of this: but he did make me realize that there was another world outside war, and a lot to learn about it too, and that it would be interesting, very interesting, to do so when at last the war was over”. A nice tribute.

 

Mellersh wrote a Great War novel titled ‘Ill Wind’ in 1930, which I would like to read at some stage later on.

 

Scott

[The Prussian]

I read a book, written by Hans Speidel: "Aus unserer Zeit. Erinnerungen".

It´s about his life. He served in both world wars and was from 57-63 commander of the "Allied Land Forces Central Europe"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Speidel

[GRANVILLE]

Just come across 'The Backwash of War' by Ellen N La Motte. Ellen was an American nurse who took herself over to France in 1915 and worked for the French in field hospitals behind the front lines. Her writing was thought to be so damaging to moral it was banned in Britain and then once the Americans became involved it was also banned in the US and it would be some time before it resurfaced. Her writings were so damaging because quite simply she told it how it was and the book still manages to make sobering reading. The new copy I got was on the shelf for just £2.99 and I nearly passed it over for being too cheap. It is and it's a book everyone with an interest could do with reading.

David   

[MikeMeech]

Hi

Recently I have read 'Communications and British Operations on the Western Front, 1914-1918' by Brian N Hall, CUP 2017.  Overall it was a good book covering many aspects of the communication systems in use by the BEF and their effectiveness.  The only real downside was a rather meagre coverage of visual signalling systems and only very limited coverage of ground to air communication in getting information back to the rear from forward infantry HQs.

 

Mike

[Kimberley John Lindsay]

Dear All,

I am reading "Martin-Leake: Double VC" who was a typical Victorian - entertaining life-long opinions which would not be tolerated today.

Obviously a very brave man among brave men, and a bachelor like his brothers, he surprised everyone by marrying the recently-widowed Winifred Carroll.

The Carrolls had been neighbours in India, and got along well with the difficult Martin-Leake, who was somewhat of a "loner". Martin-Leake had a reputation as something of a mysoginist (he wanted nothing to do with nurses, when operating), and sadly, Winifred - who looked quite a fun-loving person in the photos -  committed suicide after a couple of years of marriage.

As it happens, I hold the Indian Volunteer Officers' Decoration named to Major Carroll (Martin-Leake was awarded a similar decoration), which was quite possibly his sole award: he rode out the Great War in Calcutta. Martin-Leake, by contrast, volunteered immediately, despite having been badly wounded in the Boer War, when earning his first VC.

Kindest regards,

Kim.

[bif]

Not very "hard core" literature, but surprisingly informative & entertaining, Osprey's Command 19, Lawrence of Arabia and The Complete Idiot's Guide to World War 1, (no comments about appropriateness of this title, please).

[Kimberley John Lindsay]

Dear bif,

I had to laugh at that title!

Apropos laughing:

I was most amused to read that the anti-Establishment-minded Martin-Leake, VC, insisted on referring to the RAMC as 'The Medical Department'.

Kindest regards,

Kim.