Busternyc10014 Posted 27 July , 2007 Share Posted 27 July , 2007 Currently I am reading David Ascoli's The Mons Star. Next on the list is the Battleground Europe Mons 1914. I am indebted to the members of the forum for the many excellent lists of book recommendations. I am attempting a more systematic approach to my reading, trying to follow the BEF through each year and major engagement. I only need another job to buy all the books I want - something I think familiar to many members of this forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roxy Posted 27 July , 2007 Share Posted 27 July , 2007 No electricity in Gloucester on Monday (so no GWF!) so I read 'Private 12768' and 'Not Forgotten'. I enjoyed both but concur with some of the criticisms posted by our erudite members. I'm having a break from the Great War and reading 'Vulcan 607' - it's going down well. Roxy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Hartley Posted 27 July , 2007 Share Posted 27 July , 2007 Currently reading, "I remain, your son Jack". A published collection of letters home from Jack Morten, from Stockport, who served with 1/7th Manchesters as an OR and officer. IMO, it gives a pretty good "feel for the times", with questions about home, interspersed with details of his life and, of course, regular requests for smokes and cake. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenwoodman Posted 27 July , 2007 Share Posted 27 July , 2007 Recently finished "Haig-Architect of victory" by Walter Reid. Reviewed here Architect of Victory Now reading "Field Guns in France" by Lt Col Neil Fraser-Tytler. Often derided for its vocabulary of "successful shoots" and body-counts. But an excellent account of a howitzer battery. Dipping into "Durham Forces in the Field 1914-1918" by Capt Wilfrid Miles, "10th Sherwood Foresters" both the one by Housley and the one by Hoyte, and "The Men from the High Peak: a History of the 1/6th Battalion Sherwood Foresters" by Jamieson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Featherbed Posted 27 July , 2007 Share Posted 27 July , 2007 The Final Betrayal...really tells it all in so far as the Great War is concerned to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mastermindmichel Posted 1 August , 2007 Share Posted 1 August , 2007 Back to the Front. An Accidental Historian Walks the Trenches of World War I, by Stephen O'Shea. What on earth is an Accidental Historian? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommie Posted 1 August , 2007 Share Posted 1 August , 2007 Just Starting "Scottish Voices from the Great War" Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 1 August , 2007 Share Posted 1 August , 2007 "Questions and answers on cavalry outposts" by Major Morrison and Major van Cortlandt. Published just before the war for 'catechising young Officers or Men upon this all important branch of the Cavalry Soldier's duty'. Q. 29 How far distant should the vedette posts be from the picquet by day? [50:50, Phone a Friend, Ask the Audience] Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tarasimkins@btinternet.com Posted 1 August , 2007 Share Posted 1 August , 2007 'Brothers In War' by Micheal Walsh. Eight brothers went to fight and only 3 would return. Story of the Beechey brothers, 2 of whom emigrated to Australia prior to the war. Kept in a small brown case handed down by the brothers youngest sister Edie, were hundreds of letter sent home from the front, from heartfelt messages written from deathbed to exasperated correspondences detailing the absurdities of life in the trench. Tragic and moving Brothers in War reveals first hand the catastrophe that was the Great War. Only 70 pages in but a good read so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Bennitt Posted 1 August , 2007 Share Posted 1 August , 2007 Having taken advantage of the forum being down to whip through the last Harry Potter I am now back to more serious business with Les Carlyon's 'Gallipoli'. My first impression is of a wonderful style of writing. I think I am going to enjoy this one. cheers Martin B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 2 August , 2007 Share Posted 2 August , 2007 Q. 29 How far distant should the vedette posts be from the picquet by day? Robert You hum it Robert, and we'll come in on the chorus. Seriously, I've just acquired Jack Sheldon's book on the German Army at Passchendaele: I was given £20 of book tokens as a birthday gift from colleagues at work, and acquired a 20% off Borders Voucher. As 20% of £25 is a fiver....result!!!! Afraid it looks as if it's going to knock everyhting else off the reading pile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 2 August , 2007 Share Posted 2 August , 2007 [Clears throat and then wisely decides to...] "Pass" Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirrel Posted 2 August , 2007 Share Posted 2 August , 2007 Someone's got to have a stab at this and look silly so I'll say one to one and a half miles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Curragh Posted 2 August , 2007 Share Posted 2 August , 2007 Lyn Macdonald's "They Called It Passchendaele" for the second or third time - as a prelude before moving on to Peter Barton's opus. Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 2 August , 2007 Share Posted 2 August , 2007 Squirrel, I hadn't expected an attempt on the answer FWIIW, here goes: "A. This varies according to the weather, whether clear or hazy; also according to the country, for it may be necessary sometimes to put a vedette post rather far away in order to occupy the place commanding the best view [emphasis in the original]. Generally speaking, by day, the vedettes should be 300 to 600 yards from the picquet." So, given that there is a place commanding the best view approximately one mile away, I vote that you are the winner! Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirrel Posted 3 August , 2007 Share Posted 3 August , 2007 Thank you sir! I t was a wild guess. Currently reading First Day On The Somme Martin Middlebrook (used American First Edition) and have just received War On The Western Front edited by Gary Sheffield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Bennitt Posted 3 August , 2007 Share Posted 3 August , 2007 Having taken advantage of the forum being down to whip through the last Harry Potter I am now back to more serious business with Les Carlyon's 'Gallipoli'. My first impression is of a wonderful style of writing. I think I am going to enjoy this one. cheers Martin B Having launched into it, I don't think enjoy is quite the right word. A very well-written, well-researched and informative book, but I have just finished the description of the 2nd battle of Krithia, and my blood is boiling with rage at the incompetence and waste of it all. cheers Martin B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busternyc10014 Posted 8 August , 2007 Share Posted 8 August , 2007 Thanks to the many recommendations from forum members, I am up to my elbows in books. I finished Ascoli's The Mons Star and found it very useful and wonderfully written. Following other recommendations, I am reading Liasion 1914 by Spears. Beautifully written. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mastermindmichel Posted 8 August , 2007 Share Posted 8 August , 2007 Kluivenduikers Doedeldans by Willem van Iependaal (Amsterdam 1937) For details see http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/i...c=80141&hl= Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShirlD Posted 9 August , 2007 Share Posted 9 August , 2007 Finished Les Carlyon's "Great War", just started Lyn Macdonalds' "They called it Passchendaele", and found a great bargain down the local market last sunday "Illustrated History of WW1" by Andy West which will serve as a great time line for me It cost 6 oz dollars! Cheers Shirley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 9 August , 2007 Share Posted 9 August , 2007 I am reading Liasion 1914 by Spears.It is superb. His other book 'Prelude to Victory' is not so easy to get hold of. If anything, it is even better. Currently reading the War Diaries of Brigadier General Alexander Johnston by a Pal, Edwin Astill. Very interesting, particularly when he was involved in Signals. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busternyc10014 Posted 10 August , 2007 Share Posted 10 August , 2007 Thank you for the recommendation. I've enjoyed reading through various threads and wonder at the knowledge contained therein and the willingness to share it. Yours is a name I recognize as a regular participant. Thanks for helping make the forums such interesting and engaging reading. You’re right about the Spears being difficult to find. I’ve so many other books to get through first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Bennitt Posted 10 August , 2007 Share Posted 10 August , 2007 I'm now into Nigel Steel and Peter Hart's 'Passchendaele -- the Sacrificial Ground'. Highly recommendable. It really brings home to you the conditions in which those men fought, although for us they will no doubt always be very difficult to imagine. cheers Martin B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthergw Posted 10 August , 2007 Share Posted 10 August , 2007 Thank you for the recommendation. I've enjoyed reading through various threads and wonder at the knowledge contained therein and the willingness to share it. Yours is a name I recognize as a regular participant. Thanks for helping make the forums such interesting and engaging reading. You’re right about the Spears being difficult to find. I’ve so many other books to get through first. If you keep an eye on ABE books who seem to be Amazon partners, you may find Edmonds and other rarer books at a reasonable price. If you read French or German, The French and German ' branches' can be very reasonable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyrene Posted 10 August , 2007 Share Posted 10 August , 2007 I'm currently reading Showalter's book on Tannenberg; it's definitely not for an amateur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now