What WW1 books are you reading?

[Marilyne]

I also picked up Niall Ferguson's Pity of War - which looks to be an interesting change of view.

I hope you did not pay too much for it...

[Martin Bennitt]

I'm reading 'Erziehung vor Verdun ' by Arnold Zwieg, in a new translation called 'Outside Verdun' by Fiona Rintoul. An excellent novel drawing on the author's own experiences. Very readable.

Cheers Martin B

[The Ibis]

I hope you did not pay too much for it...

Ouch! But I have to agree. Chris Clark, author of the The Sleepwalkers and the IMO far superior Iron Kingdom, had a great line in a presentation that is up on YouTube somewhere - Ferguson's work is always "good for a laugh" or something like that.

[Phil Wood]

I hope you did not pay too much for it...

£2.49 - I'm hoping it will be worth it!

[Phil Wood]

Ouch! But I have to agree. Chris Clark, author of the The Sleepwalkers and the IMO far superior Iron Kingdom, had a great line in a presentation that is up on YouTube somewhere - Ferguson's work is always "good for a laugh" or something like that.

I have a copy of Sleepwalkers I haven't got round to reading yet - one of these days I'll get round to it. If not I guess my £3 will have been wasted.

[Marilyne]

Well, as it seems I will have more than time enough on my hands in the coming weeks... it appeared that the guy whom I went on three dates with and whom I thought was not only single but also quite interested in me ... is currently separating from his girlfriend (who was on a mission in the last two months... that's why) ... and so I have time enough now to dig into Peter Hart's Fire and Movement, Katie Adie's Fighting the home front (working on gender... must read!!) and of course start working on my own book!!

And no, the pals do not have to mount an punitive expedition to kick the guy's ass... I'll take care of that in due time!

See ya,

MM.

[other ranker]

I have just read 'Ninety-Nine Lives' by Charles Veil as told to by Howard Marsh. This is the man who flew under the Arc De Triomphe on November 17th 1918! If you think that was amazing you should read the rest of his story. He could have been James Bond. I couldn't put the book down!

[The Ibis]

[Black Maria]

Just finished ' 'Massacre of the innocents- the Crofton diaries Ypres 1914-15 ' publishes by Sutton Publishing 2004. It is the diary of Sir Morgan Crofton of the 2nd Life Guards

from late October 1914 till June 18th 1915. The writer of the diaries was thirty five when the war began and had been wounded in the Boer War , he had retired in 1914 with

the rank of Captain following his divorce. He re-joined his regiment in October 1914 and arrived in France on November 7th and found himself in the trenches on the 17th of

that month during the tail end of the First battle of Ypres. After the battle his regiment found itself back behind the lines in reserve and due to the different jobs he found himself

doing within the regiment he was destined not to find himself in the trenches again before he returned home as an instructor in June 1915.

Crofton is very interested in how the war is progressing on other fronts , particularly the Eastern front and is very critical of Sir John French for not abandoning Ypres thus causing

the thousands of daily casualties in the salient. It is good quality book with some excellent photographs taken at the time by the author and although the title is very misleading

as the author only arrived at the last knockings of the battle it does give a good picture of a Cavalry Regiment having to kick it's heels behind the lines whilst waiting to be used

and then, because of the shortage of infantry, having to fight as dismounted cavalry in the trenches, under the awful conditions that prevailed at that time.

[Petroc]

Just received, as an Xmas present, Prof. Simkins; 'Kitchener's Army'....at least twenty-five years worth of b****ering around libraries now ends as I have my very own copy of a true Great War bible!!!

[Canadian J]

Just picked up (with xmas gift cards)

Bayonets and Blobsticks - The Canadian experience of close combat 1915-1918

By Aaron Taylor Miedema

Ghosts Have Warm Hands

By Will R Bird

Voices from the Front

By Peter Hart

I am VERY excited about all 3, will let you know during the year how they are!

- Jordan

[MikeyH]

Good old Santa brought me a mint Folio Society edition (1996) of 'Goodbye to All That' by Robert Graves, also a very nice reprint (Spellmount 1997) of Rudyard Kipling's 'The Irish Guards in the Great War - the First Battalion'. Have joined the ever increasing pile of 'to be reads'.

Mike.

[berty199]

Felt quite spoilt with this lot for Xmas:

Battleground Europe - Verdun

Battleground Europe - Bazentin Ridge

Battleground Europe - Beaucourt

Underground War - Robinson/Cave

In Parenthesis

The Somme Day by day Account - McCarthy

When the Barrage Lifts - Gliddon

Walking the Salient - Reed

The Old Front Line - Masefield

FWW Atlas - Banks

Martin

[rolt968]

The friends who gave me Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning for my birthday have given me Empires of the Dead (David Crane) for Christmas. Both are excellent choices for me but I wonder if they got some odd looks in the bookshop in the run up to Christmas!

RM

[Black Maria]

Just finished reading ' My German Prisons' by Captain H.G Gilliland , Hodder and Stoughton 1918. The author was serving in the 1st North Lancs when he was captured

in November 1914, he had been wounded in the ankle and chest and as he was being escorted back witnessed the Germans finishing off other wounded tommies with

their bayonets. There were also three men who were also captured alongside the author who were also wounded , one of whom was also killed when he could not keep

up with his comrades. Eventually he found himself in Munden P.O.W camp , where conditions were quite bad and his wounds remained untreated, after the intervention

of the American Ambassador the British P.O.W's were removed from the camp in April 1915 and the author found himself at Bischofswerda , where the conditions were

much better. By September his ankle wound had healed but his chest wound was still causing problems , he was coughing up blood but the German Doctor said it was

only rheumatism , he was however sent to Clausthal for treatment ,although this was ineffective. Returning to Bischofswerda he was later sent for an x-ray which found

his rib was splintered and had lodged in his lung, he was sent to hospital in Dresden where he was operated on without anaesthetic

It was now October 1916 and though not fully recovered from his operation he was sent to the punishment camp at Ingolstadt ( a few months before he had been court-

Martialled for assisting in an escape attempt ), the conditions there were very bad but in March 1917 he was told he was to be sent to a better camp at Crefeld , this was

due to the fact that a Swiss delegation were about to visit the camp and the Germans wanted him out of the camp as he had been recommended for repatriation to

Switzerland many months before.

It was during the journey by train to Crefeld that the author and three other officers managed to escape by jumping off the train and having later split up into two groups

him and his companion made it to Holland after much blood, sweat and tears ( and luck ! ). He doesn't say whether the other group made it over the border but gives

the impression that they did not. As the book was published during the war the author could not give as much detail of the escape as he would have liked but it still is

very interesting read and you have to admire his determination and sheer will power that got him through his ordeal and back home to Blighty by April 1917.

[stiletto_33853]

The Lost Dictator - Field Marshall Sir Henry Wilson GCB, DSO.

Andy

[Marilyne]

Besides working on my own literature ... and now and then cursing "history" for leaving things to interpretation ... I've just started on some light reading: Frank Richard's "Old soldiers never die". Good read!!

M.

[Martin Bennitt]

Another classic, Charles Carrington's 'Soldier from the Wars Returning'. Discovered it when I switched on my Kobo after a long lay-off. Had forgotten I had downloaded it.

Cheers Martin B

[The Scorer]

I've just started on some light reading: Frank Richard's "Old soldiers never die". Good read!!

M.

The Western Mail (Cardiff) have a "Morning Serial" when they print part of a book each day.

Their current offering (it started on Monday) is "Old soldiers Never Die" and, yes, it's a good read!

A new version is to be published by Parthian Books on 29th January - see this link: http://www.parthianbooks.com/content/old-soldiers-never-die-western-mail

[Scotsmac]

I became interested in WW1 when doing some family history research after I discovered that one of my Great Uncles died a prisoner of war in Germany. He was Private William Collie and fought with the 75th (Mississauga) Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. On reading his service record, which I could download for free from Libraries and Archives Canada, (thanks Canada!) I discovered he was wounded and captured on a night raid on the 8th June 1917 at La Coulotte in the Souchez - Aviion Sector. I wanted to learn more, so after some Googling, I came across the book Fortune Favours the Brave :Tale of Courage and Tenacity in Canadian Military History edited by Colonel Bernd Horn. It is a collection of essays on various episodes of Canadian Military History, from, Roger's Rangers in 1758 to Afghanistan in 2007. Two of the essays concerned WW1, of which one was of the night raid in which my Great Uncle was wounded and captured. I got a second hand copy from Canada and enjoyed reading the book although I was a bit 'melancholy' after reading the essay on the action my Great Uncle was involved in. The other essays cover the War of 1812, WW2 the Korean War, Cold War Submarine Patrols, The Balkans in the 1993, and Afghanistan 2007. One I would recommend.

Since my Great Uncle was a POW, although only for a short time since he died of his wounds in captivity, I looked for more information on what life was like for WW1 POWs. I found his record in the ICRC Archives which showed he had died in the Reserve Lazarett Diakonenanstalt Duisburg but with no mention of where he was buried (my next project). This got me thinking about conditions for POWs and after some Googling I found Silent Battle: Canadian Prisoners of War in Germany 1914-1919 by Desmond Morton. I devoured this book. It was harrowing what some of these poor guys had to suffer at some of the camps and also how badly they were treated when they came home. Well worth a read.

[charlie962]

Trench Fever by Christopher Moore. I was given this book some 15 years ago but never got round to reading it; just found it again in a box in the attic. I've now read it.

An easy flowing narrative following Christopher Moore's pursuit of his grandfather's wartime exploits in the 1/5th Leicestershires from 1914-1918. Moore's nerdy (his word) obsession is amusingly recounted in his easy style but with enough detail to make this tale a very good and moving read.

I think my enjoyment was enhanced by parallels with simple research I have been doing myself, in part using this forum. Ordinary men living through an extraordinary experience and sometimes even surviving. How did they do it?

here is a previous thread about this book

[hazelclark]

Another classic, Charles Carrington's 'Soldier from the Wars Returning'. Discovered it when I switched on my Kobo after a long lay-off. Had forgotten I had downloaded it.

Cheers Martin B

I enjoyed that!

H.C.

[Ron da Valli]

I bought three books from an independent discount book shop in Llandudno. Reading " With A Smile & A Wave", the story of Captain Aidan Liddell VC, MC by Peter Daybell. £3.99

Also got Attrition by William Philpott and The Lost Legions Of Fromelles by Peter Barton. Both £3.99.

It's a good book shop and always as a good range of history and military books.

[Marilyne]

Another classic, Charles Carrington's 'Soldier from the Wars Returning'. Discovered it when I switched on my Kobo after a long lay-off. Had forgotten I had downloaded it.

Cheers Martin B

That's for next month on the plane to my parent's in Spain!!

[Black Maria]

I have just finished reading ' Three years on active service and eight months a prisoner of war ' by Henry Arthur Foley, printed for private circulation in 1920.

The author joined the 6th battalion S.L.I on August 31st 1914 and arrived in France during May 1915 as a Lance Sergeant in 11 platoon of C Coy, he spent

the rest of 1915 in the Ypres sector until he took a commission in November of that year and found himself an officer in the 7th S.L.I ( 5 platoon, B Coy ).

He spent the early part of 1916 back in the Ypres salient until July when he moved south to the Somme, and in September took part in the battle of Flers,

where he was wounded. He returned to his battalion in December 1916 and spent the winter on the Somme front. In 1917 he was involved in the British advance

after the Germans retreated to the Hindenburg Line, it was at this time that his brother , who had joined up with him in the same battalion and followed him as an

officer into the 7th , was killed shortly after joining the 1st S.L.I .Promoted to acting Captain in August he took part in 3rd Ypres when he was again wounded and

returned to his battalion in January 1918 and was captured during the March offensive, he spent the rest of the war as a P.O.W in Rastatt and Graudenz where

he learnt that his younger brother, who was in the R.F.C, had died in Netley from consumption.

The book is well produced and of robust construction, 185 pp with a frontispiece of the Author and twelve superb illustrations by Cecil Dunford, it also has three

sketch maps drawn by the author. Although I would not class the book as a classic it is an interesting read and a worthy tribute to Captain Foley who died in his

ninety fifth year at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.