What WW1 books are you reading?

[depaor01]

Not a book,  it covers both world wars and its focus is German so I hope  I get away with this 

Iron Cross magazine. Quarterly and eight quid, or available free if your local library has a subscription to Libby which gives access to all back issues as well as each new one.

Brilliantly researched and beautifully illustrated with some colourisation which might divide opinion,  but if forum pals who might be squeamish about the Third Reich put on their blinkers, there is a lot of good stuff here.

https://pocketmags.com/eu/iron-cross-magazine

Dave

[doyle3]

Two Ian Castle books on the go at the moment :

The First Blitz in 100 Objects

Zeppelin Inferno The Forgotten Blitz 1916

Enjoying both.

[Dust Jacket Collector]

Reading this account by a Belfast sapper in the Royal Engineers. He joined up as early as he could in 1915 and served through until the Armistice. He later emigrated to Texas where this was published in 1934. Very readable with much on Trench repairing, Bridge building and being attacked with Mustard gas. Sadly this original is rare and there doesn’t seem to be a digital version.

[GWF1967]

Just finished  “Out Since 14 - The History of the 1/2nd Battalion The Monmouthshire Regiment 1914-19”  by John Dixon,  which I picked up on a visit to the South Wales Borderers museum. 
   It covers the history of the Regiment from Volunteer movement  to Territorial Force, and follows the 1/2nd Battalion from mobilisation in 1914, overseas service in November.
 Later converted  to a pioneer battalion they earned a deserved reputation for getting the job done. After the Armistice the battalion marched to Cologne, to serve with the occupying forces as the only T.F battalion in Germany. 
 The author draws from the extensive Monmouthshire collection held by the S.W.B museum in Brecon including  the surviving notebooks of the C.O - Lt. Col. A.J.H. Bowen, a cracking set of photographs and the memoirs of Pte.Heare, a battalion runner (published separately as Charley’s War and previously posted).
 

 

[trajan]

On my way towards completing Sean McMeekin's Ottoman Endgame. 'Good in parts', but especially good on summarising Caucasian activities. He skates over the Armenian affair, omitting, for example, the 1919 Yozgat trial of Turkish officers involved in the deportations of 1915, an approach which may owe something to his former colleague, the late Norman Stone. I found his summary of Gallipoli an interesting read, but the details there contrasts with what is very little on the Galician campaign.  

Trajan

[The Scorer]

I've  just finished reading "The Last of the Ebb" by Sidney Rogerson.

It's the "sequel" to "Twelve Days on the Somme", which I read (and enjoyed) some years ago, and I enjoyed this one as well. He describes what must have been a totally chaotic period very well. The inclusion of the chapter by Major General A D Von Unruh is a useful counter view, although it's a little smug about their planning, good though it was.    

[The Scorer]

I've just started reading Nick Lloyd's "The Western Front" .. good so far, although I'm only at the end of the first chapter - just 23 to go! 

[tomisitt]

I’ve just finished this. It’s an excellent look at the fighting on the Carso during the 8th to 12th Isonzo battles. Well researched, properly referenced, and with some excellent photos and maps, it adds a bit more depth to existing books (Schindler, etc). Also available in the original Slovenian.

[Paul Alan Bardell]

 

Picked up yesterday for a very reasonable £2.00 -

 

Destination Western Front - London's Omnibuses Go to War

By - Roy Larkin

 

Published by Historic Roadways Ltd in 2016

 

Its way off my usual area of interest (Aviation/Somme/Naval) but looks to be very detailed and with many photos.

 

Has any member already come across this title?

B R

[Resurgam13]

I'm halfway through "They Also Served : The Experiences of a Private Soldier as Prisoner of War in German Camp and Coal Mine 1916-18" by Cecil Thomas but with a nagging feeling that his recall is just a little too good at times.

[keithmroberts]

I'm about to start reading "Friends and Enemies" The 7th Battalion, Princess of Wales' (Royal Berkshire) Regiment in The Great War, by John Chapman. This volume has been sitting unread in a bookcase for too long, and it is time for me to make an effort before my most recent order from Tom Donovan arrives. It will surprise few to discover that after about 11 pages on the battalion's Western Front experience the remaining 160+ relate to its service in the Salonika campaign.

Keith

 

[BFBSM]

I am currently reading Stephen Pope’s  The Tank Corps in the Great War:Conception, Birth and Baptism of Fire, November 1914-November 1916. It is an excellent read, well researched with extensive notes. It is written in a style which is easy to read. The only disappointment is poor editing, I am only in Chapter 3 but nearly every page has either a grammatical, spelling error or a tautology. Regardless, the book is worth a read.

[Marilyne]

On 20/04/2022 at 22:16, phil andrade said:

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.

 

I got that book for Christmas ... original version !!! 

I'm off for a couple weeks intensive reading once I start. 

M.

[Marilyne]

On 03/05/2022 at 13:57, Richmond said:

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.

That's on the list for a very near future... it's on the Kindl and I'm waiting for a nice and quiet spell here at work to start it. Summer might be good

On 25/05/2022 at 08:09, The Scorer said:

I've just started reading Nick Lloyd's "The Western Front" .. good so far, although I'm only at the end of the first chapter - just 23 to go! 

Have been hesitating a coupkle of times at Waterstones Brussels. 

But now found out that the Defence library has it, so I will just rent it there. 

I'm currently browsing through "Get Tough - Stay Tough: shaping the canadian Corps" by Kenneth Radley. I thought is was about the formation of the Canadian Corps on the strategic and tactical front, but it is first and foremost about discipline and morale of the Canadian corps. 

Not a bad book, far from it, but not really useful for me right now. But I'll finish it nonetheless. 

Next up then are two I found at the library: John Leonard's "The Fighting Padre: Pat Leonard's letters from the trenches" and Rachel Bilton's "Great Escapes of the First World War". Found them on the shelves in the "newly acquired" section and thought they looked interesting. 

Happy readings everybody ! 

M.

[bootneck]

I've not long finished John Leonhard's Pandora's Box which I enjoyed although the writing style at times was difficult and the translation felt at times clunky. It engaged with topics which made me think more about them. I'm now reading Alexander Wilson's Ring of Steel which is very good and I would recommend. Timothy Snyder's Bloodlands (although outside the period) is next on my list while Robert Gerwarth's, The Vanquished: Why the First World War Failed to End, 1917-1923 was an interesting read. Finally, Cathal J. Nolan's The Allure of Battle: A History of How Wars Have Been Won and Lost can be read with profit as it looks at the German way of warfare over time from Frederick The Great to the end of WW2.    

[The Scorer]

On 25/05/2022 at 07:09, The Scorer said:

I've just started reading Nick Lloyd's "The Western Front" .. good so far, although I'm only at the end of the first chapter - just 23 to go! 

I've just finished reading it, and a very good book it is as well.

Nick Lloyd writes in a very easy to follow manner, which I like; I don't like authors who make things too complicated for the reader to follow. There's going to be two more books - on the Eastern Front (including Italy & the Balkans), scheduled for 2024 and on The Wider War (Africa & the Middle East), scheduled for 2027, and if they're as good as this one, they'll be very good. 

[phil andrade]

On 31/05/2022 at 08:14, bootneck said:

I've not long finished John Leonhard's Pandora's Box which I enjoyed although the writing style at times was difficult and the translation felt at times clunky. It engaged with topics which made me think more about them. I'm now reading Alexander Wilson's Ring of Steel which is very good and I would recommend. Timothy Snyder's Bloodlands (although outside the period) is next on my list while Robert Gerwarth's, The Vanquished: Why the First World War Failed to End, 1917-1923 was an interesting read. Finally, Cathal J. Nolan's The Allure of Battle: A History of How Wars Have Been Won and Lost can be read with profit as it looks at the German way of warfare over time from Frederick The Great to the end of WW2.    

Half way through, now, about 650 pages in.

You’re so right : “clunky translation” has made the task a bit of an ordeal ; but, to be fair, it does make you think about things , as you say.

Thoroughly in agreement with you about Ring of Steel : again, quite a challenging book, but informative, meticulous and rewarding.

 

I also read Robert Gewarth’s book, and it really woke me up to how vicious the conflicts were in the aftermath of the Great War - for some reason, the depiction of the civil warfare in Finland is little known, and I found his description of it quite a revelation, especially in so far as it allowed a cohort of Germans who had been just too young for the Great War to redeem themselves and establish their warrior credentials.  

 

Phil

[Jim Hastings]

On 31/01/2015 at 23:43, David Ridgus said:

As long as it doesn't put you off your new career path Mr H

David

Finally got a copy and reading it right now, Chapter 5 already...

... and I'm still teaching David!! 

Gurner mentions the 80th (Foot) - South Staffs -  and a unit called Bols? Who were apparently fusiliers ... unless Bols was their CO 

Good read and would recommend

Gurner was head of Whitgift School, where my poor primary school was allowed to go swimming once in a blue moon in the 1970s. Sad end, Gurner poisoning himself in 1939

All the best

Jim

Edited 10 July , 2022 by Jim Hastings

[maxi]

I'm in the middle of reading 'The Vertigo Years: Europe 1900 - 1914' by Philip Blom which. as the title suggests, covers the changing world in the run up to the Great War.

Although there have been many books covering this period, this one does contain some eye-openers such as the cruelty in the Congo and Leopold II of Belgium.

Worth a look.

[joerookery]

Maxi is there any social history in the air how about day-to-day life in Europe? Or is it all political ?

[David Ridgus]

4 hours ago, Jim Hastings said:

Finally got a copy and reading it right now, Chapter 5 already...

... and I'm still teaching David!! 

Gurner mentions the 80th (Foot) - South Staffs -  and a unit called Bols? Who were apparently fusiliers ... unless Bols was their CO 

Good read and would recommend

Gurner was head of Whitgift School, where my poor primary school was allowed to go swimming once in a blue moon in the 1970s. Sad end, Gurner poisoning himself in 1939

All the best

Jim

Hello Jim

I'm still teaching too, but only for the next 9 days!

Finally packing in at 66. Probably kept going a couple of years too long but there always seemed to be a class I didn't want to leave halfway through a course. 

Glad to hear you are still battling away.

Oh, better not fall foul of the Mods: The Great War book I am currently reading is "The British way of war" by Andrew Lambert. A fascinating book on British strategy revolving around Julian Corbett's attempts to keep our national strategy based on maritime power and not to be lured into a European land war. I love Lambert's books and this is one of his very best. 

David

[maxi]

2 hours ago, joerookery said:

Maxi is there any social history in the air how about day-to-day life in Europe? Or is it all political ?

Joe.

There is a very good depiction of the rural life in Tsarist Russia on or around 1906 and the life (and fate) of the Congolese people as recorded by Roger Casement.

The book covers many bases, the Paris Exhibition of 1900, the changing Art scene etc and obviously some political aspects.

I have the attention span of a gnat but I am still in there!

[joerookery]

Thank you!

[Ron Clifton]

I have just finished reading "The Paris Gun" by Henry W Miller, originally published in 1930 and reprinted in paperback by Naval & Military Press in 2003. It has been mentioned before in this thread, I believe.

The author is an American who served in the US Army's Ordnance Corps.

Because of the geography, there is very little mention of the British Army, though he does cover the actions in late May 1918 affecting British divisions on the Chemin des Dames.

The earlier chapters of the book give details of virtually every shot fired from the three guns emplaced at Crepy, 75 miles north-east of Paris. The effect on Parisians' morale seems to have been considerable although the number of casualties caused was quite low, apart from one shell on Good Friday (29 March) which hit the church of Saint Gervais, not far from Notre Dame. It brought down the roof, killing 88 people who were at the special Good Friday service.

The later chapters of the book give fewer details of the re-bored guns (from 21cm to 23.2 cm) in new emplacements closer to Paris, but does give much more information on the associated fighting from May to July, as the Kaiserschlacht gradually wore itself out. Perhaps understandably, there is much more concentration on the effective resistance put up by the Americans, which were quite costly to them in the numbers of casualties.

All in all, I found it an enjoyable read, although the pictures, and especially the maps, are quite difficult to read.

Ron

Edited 17 July , 2022 by Ron Clifton

[r.singha]

Having often benefitted from this forum I thought members might be interested in the  translation of a Gujarati travel memoir written by Nariman Karkaria a Parsi ( Zoroastrian ) who enlisted in the 24th Middlesex regiment in 1915 and served in France, Palestine, Salonica and in the Caucasus. I have reviewed this translation in an online journal titled The Wire.

The Travel Writer as Soldier: The First World War Adventures of Nariman Karkaria : A Memoir, translated by Murali Ranganathan, Harper Collins,

regards