What WW1 books are you reading?

[seaJane]

On 24/03/2022 at 21:53, TullochArd said:

gut wrenching, self serving ramble

No wonder Kipling wrote:

When the storm is ended shall we find

How softly but how swiftly they have sidled back to power

    By the favour and contrivance of their kind?

 

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57430/mesopotamia-56d23af3008a7

[rolt968]

On 04/04/2022 at 06:55, The Scorer said:

I'm catching up on the pile of books that I haven't read, and the latest one is "Deserters of the First World War - The Home Front" by Andrea Hetherington. 

I must admit that (although I hadn't really thought much about the subject before) I was surprised at the scale of the problem. The book gives a lot of examples of the practice, some quite amusing and some tragic, and certainly gave me pause for thought on several occasions. It seems to me a problem which didn't (and possibly still doesn't, if it still happens?) have an easy solution - or even one at all. It's a well recommended book. 

  

Having dipped into the book to read up on particular aspects I am now reading from beginning to end.

[The Scorer]

On 06/04/2022 at 06:43, The Scorer said:

I've now started reading "Missing" by Richard Van Emden ... a couple of chapters in, and it's very good so far. 

I have now finished this, and very good it is.

It's well up to his usual high standards, and is a very easy read. It covers the story of the search for their son Francis's grave by Angela and Alfred Mond (mostly, it has to be said, Angela) not on the basis that they believed that he wasn't dead, but just that they wanted to know where he was buried. It also covers the setting up of the IWGC and the other organisations associated with the work of commemoration and the arrangements for visiting graves, amongst other things.

I would recommend it to anyone who's interested in this topic. 

  

[maxi]

I am currently romping through 'Mud, Blood and Poppycock' by Gordon Corrigan.

Its a cracking good read.

Mr Corrigan is an entertaining public speaker and I would suggest having a look at his lecture on YouTube entitled 'The Frocks and the Brass Hats'. 

[ewanarm68]

Just finished 'The Roses of No Man's Land' by Lyn Macdonald.

Great read especially as my great grandfather was a RAMC Major who served throughout, first as a Regimental Medical Officer for the 9th Argylls and then in various CCS's and hospitals.

[Marilyne]

8 hours ago, ewanarm68 said:

Just finished 'The Roses of No Man's Land' by Lyn Macdonald.

Such a fantastic read !!! 

I'm finding the time between work, horse, boyfriend, band and marching team (DO NOT ask me about the order...) to read Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland's "Six Weeks at the War" (entertaining...) and Michael Harrirson's "On the road to Victory", about the evolution of motor transport in WWI logistics. 

Have a great week all !! 

M.

[Michelle Young]

Fire and Movement by Peter Hart. Reading as much Mons/Le Cateau and Sambre/Selle as I can. Most books on 1918 only dedicate a few pages to the last actions of the Great War. I ploughed through The Battle of the Selle (Peter Hodgkinson) and Decisive Victory (Derek Clayton) which I found extremely hard going. Basically their thesis published, for a non academic like me, I found them difficult.

[charlie962]

On 24/03/2022 at 22:53, TullochArd said:

My Campaign in Mesopotamia'  Charles V.F. Townsend.  .......... an absolutely gut wrenching, self serving ramble throughout. 

But a very good account of his thinking in that remarkably successful 1915 campaign. There will have been quite a demand from his men, I suspect, who where extraordinarily loyal. Whether that was part of his motivation or it was just pure vanity (I suspect the latter), who knows. 

Charlie

[TullochArd]

2 hours ago, charlie962 said:

But a very good account of his thinking in that remarkably successful 1915 campaign........ 

Agreed Charlie.  You are quite right.  I've just finished Sustainer's (NS Nash's) 'Chitral Charlie' which gives a more elongated version of his early career followed by a readable account of the Mesopotamia Campaign.  The Mesopotamia Campaign was covered in far more detail in the same author's 'Betrayal of an Army' which I'd read before that.  Sustainer appears to go to some lengths to introduce postives but I still found it hard to remain unbiased when confronted with such convincing research and Townsend's own words ......... which are many.  I do fear for my future impartiality as I now have Braddon's 'The Seige' sitting at an arms distance which I've yet to start. I'll bear your comment when I start it!

Edited 12 April , 2022 by TullochArd

[charlie962]

2 hours ago, TullochArd said:

now have Braddon's 'The Seige' sitting at an arms distance which I've yet to start. I'll bear your comment when I start it!

As you probably know, Braddon was himself a guest of another belligerent in WW2 and will have had a definite starting point. To say that he despised Townshend would be an understatement. But his book is important particularly for his account of the fate of PoWs- he gathered many first hand accounts, which sadly I believe he subsequently destroyed. 

I found his namesake's(Townshend) book "When God Made Hell" a more objective explanation in the context of the creation of Iraq, if slightly heavier going. 

An easier read on the campaign is Patrick Crowley's "Kut 1916, Courage and failure in Iraq" with an interesting, damning, afterword. 

I have yet to read AJ Smithers account. That might be a bit dated but I've enjoyed some of his other books?

One has to distinguish between Townshend's military capabilities which benefited from his supreme self confidence and his personal/political ambitions that did not.

 Charlie

 

Edited 12 April , 2022 by charlie962

[TullochArd]

20 minutes ago, charlie962 said:

I found his namesake's(Townshend) book "When God Made Hell" a more objective explanation in the context of the creation of Iraq, if slightly heavier going. 

An easier read on the campaign is Patrick Crowley's "Kut 1916, Courage and failure in Iraq" with an interesting, damning, afterword. 

I have yet to read AJ Smithers account. That might be a bit dated but I've enjoyed some of his other books?

Charlie,  Appreciated.  Many thanks.

[Jim Hastings]

I'm storming through Hell On Earth by F. Hardening Hornsey of 11th Suffolks both because he was a Wellingborough man like a lot of my dad's GW serving relatives, but also because one of those rellies was captured with the 11th Suffolks the day Hornsey joins the battalion in April 1918, so sets the turmoil of his capture in stark focus. A great read! Know has been reviewed on Forum before, but can highly recommend.

Cheers

Jim

[Marilyne]

Just some light reading for the evening: Charles Douie "The Weary Road" ... Brilliant!!! 

will be followed by "A very unimportant Officer" by Cameron Stewart. 

M.

[squirrel]

Both excellent reads.

[phil andrade]

Pandora’s Box, by Jorn Leonhard : anyone attempted this one ?

 

Right now I’ve managed to read about one quarter of it.  The sheer effort of trying to understand the words is demoralising me.

Lost in translation , I suspect.

 

To be fair, it’s eminently scholarly and must be acknowledged as a tour de force.  Just damned hard work.

 

If this book has already been covered on the forum, forgive me for resurrecting it.

 

Phil

 

[Len Trim]

Reading Setting The East Ablaze by the late Peter Hopkirk. Like most of his books it deals with episodes of ‘The Great Game’ between Russia and Britain over control of the approaches to India. There are many WW1 connections such as the collapse of our ally Russia, the British involvement in the Russian Civil War in the hope of aiding the anti German White Russian forces and fear of Communist led uprisings in India weakening our Empire at a time of crisis ie. summer of 1918.
Many of the stories read like ‘boys own’ stories. 
Excellent read.

[Len Trim]

1 hour ago, ALAN MCMAHON said:

   I knew Peter slightly many years ago.  As a Times foreign correspondent, he applied all his forensic skills as a journalist to the Great Game.  And it is addictive-Once you have read one of his books, then you want to read the lot of them.  There was an unexpected element once he had written most of it up- the unmasking of Teague-Jones -involved in the killing of the Red Commissars-who had been living quietly in Plymouth-which again showed Peter's grasp of his subject.  If Peter had a hero in all of this stuff, it was Colonel F.M.Bailey, one of that seemingly inexhaustible supply of solid British army colonels that rendered such good service in two world wars and our age of Empire.  May I recommend Bailey's book "Mission to Tashkent", now done by the Folio Society so can be picked up cheaply?   (Peter himself had served as a National Service subaltern in the King's African Rifles-with one Idi Amin as his platoon sergeant)

Wonderful to have known Peter. I have read all his books including the Kim one. Great research and very well written. Strangely enough I looked up eBay yesterday for Bailey and as you say the Folio edition can be picked up for under ten pounds so will be added to my bookcase. 
As you say we had a ‘seemingly inexhaustible supply of solid British army colonels’. I suspect that men like that still exist amongst us but are perhaps not so media friendly in this day and age.

[MaureenE]

Bailey's book  and Hopkirk's books are available online and linked from the FIBIS Fibiwiki page Norperforce

https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Norperforce#Intelligence_and_diplomatic_missions

In this link are also included some books either by Bailey, or about Bailey,  available on the website Pahar.

Maureen

[Len Trim]

12 minutes ago, MaureenE said:

Bailey's book  and Hopkirk's books are available online and linked from the FIBIS Fibiwiki page Norperforce

https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Norperforce#Intelligence_and_diplomatic_missions

In this link are also included some books either by Bailey, or about Bailey,  available on the website Pahar.

Maureen

Thanks for the link.

[stiletto_33853]

Just started "At All Costs" The British Army on the Western Front. The next book in my ever growing pile of books that I have not read so far.

 

Andy

[Richmond]

Just finished  'Flying Fury: Five Years in the Royal Flying Corps' by James McCudden, really good read. I have read so many books on the land war but nothing on the air war. It is the first book I have read of the RFC / RAF and have now picked  up Sagitarius Rising by Cecil Lewis. Hoping it's as good.

[Paul Alan Bardell]

Richmond

 

Re Flying Fury -  100% agree with you, this is a classic, as is Sagittarius Rising .

 

Both recommended.

 

IF you are in the mood for RFC/RAF books you could try any or all of the following:

 

Sopwith Scout 7309 by Sir Gordon Taylor       puiblisher      Cassell

No Parachute by Arther Gould Lee                                        Jarrolds

Open Cockpit           "        "        "                                              "

Into The Blue by  W/Cmd Norman Macmillan                             "

Recollections of an Airman by L.A. Strange                             Vintage Aviation Library (paper back)

Air Command by A.V.M Raymond Collishaw                           William Kimber

Fighter Pilot on the Western Front  by  W.cmd E.D. Crundall        "          "

Combat Report    by   Bill Lambert                                                 "          "

Brief Glory  by Alex Revell                                                              "          "

The Vivid Air by Alex Revell                                                           "          "

 

Baptism of Fire by Alex Revell

[Paul Alan Bardell]

Richmond

 

Sorry message sent before I had intended too!

 

The last book listed is a detailed look at the RFC at war in the first year of the war, very detailed and very good.

The Happy Warrior by Alex Revell              publisher Aeronaut Books

 

To be honest this is but a small selection of what's out there, by the way I can recommend any book by Alex Revell (who is a member of this site).

 

The last one is a novel, but written by a pilot, and is thinly disguised Autobiography - Winged Victory    by V.M. Yeates.  Again this is regarded as a classic. If you go for this then you should also read:

 

Winged Victor by Gordon F. Atkin   a biography of Victor Yeates , and this fills in many details in Winged Vistory.

 

I hope that some of the above books prove to be of interest.

 

B R

 

 

Paul

Edited 3 May , 2022 by Paul Alan Bardell
My poor typing!

[Black Maria]

I've also been reading ( re-reading ) my R.F.C memoirs and if i had to choose my top 5 of those I've read so far they would be ( in no particular order ) .. Sagittarius Rising , Sopwith Scout 7309 , No Parachute , Air of Battle ( W.Fry ) and Combat Report . I didn't find 'Winged Victory' to be that brilliant to be honest , but everyone has their own opinion when it comes to rating books they've read .

[Richmond]

Thanks very much for providing a great list, I will certainly work my way through a couple more.