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Remembered Today:

What WW1 books are you reading?


andigger

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I'm reading a novel by Derek Robinson called 'Hornet's Sting' set amidst an RFC squadron in 1917. A rollicking read

I enjoyed his trios of WW1 and WW2 books with some great laugh out loud moments (and others of a more sobering nature). Sadly, I believe 5 of the 6 are out of print and, according to his web site, not likely to be back in print as he owns the rights to them all and seems not inclined to re-publish.

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Just finished: John Ellis's 'Eye-deep in Hell' -- some good writing, pictures and graphic first-hand quotes and poetry that I hadn't come across before.

Just started: Ian Ousby's 'The Road to Verdun'

cheers Martin B

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At present "The Killing Ground" by Tim Travers, not light bedtime reading but very interesting.

Andy

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"The War The Infantry Knew" by Captain JC Dunn.

Just finished "Aces Falling" by (our very own member) Peter Hart, and have just finished Gary Sheffield's "The Somme". It was short and easy to read so I annotated it, in order to try to fix info about the Somme in my addled mind.

About to start "Band of Brigands" by Christy Campbell. After that, some hard copy of on-line resources, such as the War Diary for the GOC, RA II Corps July 1916. Riveting stuff!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm now about a third of the way through Peter Hart's 'The Somme', one of the clearest depictions of the course of the battle I have yet found, with decent maps and some really evocative first-hand accounts. One I can fully recommend.

cheers Martin B

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Just finished GHQ by " GSO ". Fine example of immediate post war reminiscences in full propaganda mode. Ghosted by the editor of John Bull, is my guess.

I am enjoying Iron Kingdom by Christopher Clark. A history of Prussia. I haven't got to the Great War period yet but a fascinating glimpse of what helped to make the Kaiser and Germans what they were.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just started to read Vimy by Pierre Berton. I've about 50 pages done and whilst I don't know enough to pass judgement on facts etc, I must say that I do like the style of writing. It is very easy to read. Picked it up at the Navel & Military press a few weeks ago for around £2

Kind regards.

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  • 1 month later...
Guest beda venerabilis

I thought this would be a rather good topic to make my first post on. I'm currently reading Ian Beckett's The Great War and will move on to his book on the first battle of Ypres. I am also reading Isabel Hull's Absolute Destruction: Military Culture and the Practice of War in Imperial Germany. I can't recommend Hull highly enough.

Oh, Derek Robinson is great, especially Piece of Cake.

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I'm currently reading "A Distant Grief" by Bart Ziino. Very interesting. Just finished Somme Mud, another cracking book.

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I have just finished reading Paddy Griffiths book 'Battle Tactics of the Western Front: British Army's Art of Attack, 1916-18' again which paints a good picture of the development of the British army during the war.

I am now reading 'The Tigers: 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th (Service) Battalions of the Leicestershire Regiment by Matthew Richardson. A pictorial and written history of the 110th brigade. A good solid read, taking the men from civilian life, through the trenches to the end of the war. Very amply illustrated through out which brings the men and places to life.

regards

Arm

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I'm just reading 'Three personal accounts of the war' by Mottram, Easton and Partridge. I'm reading the section by Mottram at the moment and thoroughly enjoying it. Mottram really makes the war seem totally mad from his perspective.

I also just finished reading 'A short history of WW1' by Norman Stone which was quite a good read, but I felt that the focus was a bit Eastern-front heavy. It made a bit of a change for me to read about it, but if you were new to the subject you might come away with the impression that the Eastern front was the really decisive theatre in the war.

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I have recently been looking at the run up to the war from the political and military point of view. I trudged through Lloyd George's Memoirs, an uphill task and some biographical works on him, including Grigg's biography. That is very good. A couple of books by Annika Mombauer, " The Origins of the First World War" and " Helmut von Moltke and the Origins of the First World War". Absolutely first class. " Origins of the First World War " by James Joll and Gordon Martel. Very good. That inspired me to reread Herwig's " The first World War". well worth reading and re-reading. As a bit of light relief, I read The Rev. Duncan's " Douglas Haig as I Knew Him". Rev. Duncan was a C,o S. minister who acted as chaplain to Haig and his staff. To my surprise, the book was not published until the 60's. I had thought of it as a '20s book. He states it was published as a direct result of the unwarranted attacks being made on Haig. A unique picture of Haig who's birthday it is today. Another I can recommend is Sgt, Secrett's book. He was Haig's servant from the Boer War right through to the day Haig retired and then went to work for him at Bemersyde. Again, a fly on the wall picture which must be unique among all the great commanders.

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I am now reading 'The Tigers: 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th (Service) Battalions of the Leicestershire Regiment by Matthew Richardson. A pictorial and written history of the 110th brigade. A good solid read, taking the men from civilian life, through the trenches to the end of the war. Very amply illustrated through out which brings the men and places to life.

regards

Arm

Great book, i'm constantly re-reading bits of it, it was that book which 'inspired' me to put together the uniform of a private of the 7th Leicesters, and undertake research into the 6th, 7th 8th and 9th Leicesters, the 7th in particular.

I'm currently reading 'Mud, blood and poppycock', as well as 'Machine gunner 1914-1918', 'Battle of Britain 1917', 'British Tanks 1915-19', 'Aces Falling', and numerous Osprey books which i've picked up over the last year, currently 'British Mark I Tank 1916' and 'German Panzers 1914-18'

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At present "Writing the Great War" Sir James Edmonds and the Official Histories, by Andrew Green.

Andy

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Me too - excellent read and most enlightening.

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Squirrel,

Certainly an interesting read, you can see where the tag of 'Official but Not Official' comes from.

Andy

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Just finished one of the best I have read in a long time "At the Sharp End - Canadians Fighting the Great War 1914-1916" written by Tim Cook who is the Chief WW1 Military Historian and the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. What I really liked about the book was that in some chapters he broke away from the step-by-step battle synopsis to deal with specific issues such as life in the trenches, raids and sniping. This is Volume 1 of a 2 Volume series, the later volume scheduled for release in the fall of 2008.

http://www.penguin.ca/nf/Book/BookDisplay/...0067343,00.html

http://www.amazon.ca/At-Sharp-End-Tim-Cook/dp/0670067342

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I recently finished 'To Conquer Hell' by Edward G. Lengel on the 1918 Meuse-Argonne offensive. A very good book, discussed in another thread.

I then went on to a book in French called 'Ultimes Sentinelles' by Jean-Noel Grandhomme, interviews with the last survivors of the soldiers from Alsace-Lorraine who fought on both sides in the war, which answered a few questions raised in a different thread.

I am now reading 'Tip and Run' on the Great War in Africa, which has also been highly praised on the forum.

I am going back to the library tomorrow, with my eye on 'Castles of Steel' by Robert K. Massie among other things

cheers Martin B

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Squirrel,

Certainly an interesting read, you can see where the tag of 'Official but Not Official' comes from.

Andy

That is one I have my eye on. It sounds very interesting.

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Im re-reading Peter Pederson's 'The Anzac's at the moment....but best book I have read this year was Somme Mud by EPF Lynch.....couldn't put it down! Fantastic read and really good account of the common Aussie digger. Loved it.

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I'm now reading 'Dear Old Blighty' by E.S. Turner, a fascinating collection of essays on life on the home front during the Great War. Not normally my cup of tea, but I can't put it down so far. It goes into great detail about aspects such as the reaction to telegrams sent home, the internment of enemy aliens, air raids, spies etc.

Highly recommended.

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Just acquired "The Home Front in the Great War" by David Bilton. Fascinating overview and well illustrated

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just about finishing "Passchendaele, The Sacificial Ground" by Nigel Steel & Peter Hart.

Next on my list to read is "The Last Fighting Tommy" by Harry Patch with Richard Van Emden

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I found 'Castles of Steel' in the library but I also found a relatively new book called 'Dynamic of Destruction, Culture and Killing in the First World War' by Alan Kramer, which I'm about half way through. Very interesting indeed, though pretty intellectual. It brings home the fact that the Great War could rival World War II insofar as 'ethnic cleansing', twisted ideology and destruction of the enemy's culture were concerned. The British and French seem to be quite gentlemanly compared with the Germans, Italians, Russians, Austro-Hungarians, Serbs and Turks.

cheers Martin B

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