What WW1 books are you reading?

[CarylW]

Caryl,

Kevin has expressed a wish to see it before I post it on to you. I'm seeing him at the South Staffs Pals meet on Tuesday 5th Jan. so it'll be in the post after that.

Cheers,

John

That's fine John, absolutely no rush since I am only part way through a large book (and expecting more for Christmas) that does have Great War content so I'll post about it here:

Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell, Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia

by Janet Wallach

What a woman! Daughter of a wealthy industrialist born 1868, a brilliant scholar (studied at Oxford and was the first woman to achieve a first in History), archaeologist, mountaineer, linguist, writer

She travelled extensively at seemingly breathtaking speed from one continent to another (albeit with a couple of servants at hand) to countries such as Iran,

Mesopotamia, Jerusalem, Switzerland (where she became one of the best women climbers - of course), America and Canada.

She developed a passion for archaeology and Arabic culture, mixing freely with rival tribes winning the trust of Arab sheiks and Chieftains

When WW1 broke out, due to her extensive knowledge of the Middle East she was asked by the British government for a full report on what she had learned in Syria. Iraq and Arabia and in September 1914 she sent her assessment to the chief of Military Operations in Cairo. She asked for permission to be in the East but for over a year was refused so she joined the Red Cross in France tracing soldiers who were lost or wounded in battle. She worked long hours and corresponded with families of the missing. She lost one of the loves of her life, a married man Dick Doughty-Wylie at Gallipoli

In November 1915, she was summoned to Cairo and because of her knowledge and personal dealings with the Arab tribes Gertrude was able to offer

a wealth of information that was used by T.E.Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) and others in the successful Arab revolt.

In 1916 she arrived in Basra and was able to draw maps helping the British army reach Baghdad.

.

After the war, she played a major role in creating the modern Middle East, and was generally considered the most powerful woman in the British Empire

In 1920, she became Oriental Secretary to the British High Commission in Iraq and was influential in establishing the Hashimite Dynasty

when Faisal I became the first king of Iraq in 1921. Between 1923 and 1926, as Honorary Director of Antiquities in Iraq, she established the Iraq Museum in Baghdad.

Gertrude Bell died on 12 July 1926 in Baghdad of an overdose, and was buried there

Caryl

[Robert Dunlop]

Foch's book entitled 'The Principles of War'. It is a compilation of the lectures that he gave when heading up the French Ecole de Guerre.

Robert

[jake]

No Ordinary Determination

Percy Black and Harry Murray of the First AIF

by Jeff Hatwell

[John(txic)]

I'm now half-way through "Machine Guns & The Great War" by Paul Cornish - an interesting read. Gives a technical background when reading memoirs such as Coppard's (which is frequently referred to, btw). I commend it to you all.

Also, I now know why all german machine guns were referred to as "spandaus" in the Commando comics I read when young!

[27thBN]

The Great War by Les Carylon ..The History of the First AIF from 1916 onwards great read very well written

MC

[Martin Bennitt]

Got 'World War I in Cartoons' by Mark Bryant for Christmas, which I read before the day was out and enjoyed muchly.

Now returned to Bryn Hammond's 'Cambrai 1917: The Myth of the First Great Tank Battle', which I have found hard to put down. Will read the lengthy

forum thread this book prompted once I've finished it.

cheers Martin B

.

[nigatt]

Just finished Gary Sheffield's Forgotten Victory, which is excellent. Easy to read, well researched, articulate and well reasoned. Explodes the military myths of WW1. Sheffield reminds us that, "in 1918 it was the turn of the BEF. Between them the French, Americans and Belgians took 196,700 prisoners and 3,775 guns between 18 July and the end of the war. With a smaller army than the French, Haig's forces captured 188,700 prisoners and 2,840 guns in the same period. This was, by far, the greatest military victory in British history.

[per ardua per mare per terram]

I have been reading Jan Ruger The Great Naval Game : Britain and Germany in the Age of Empire Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007; paperback 2009). He assesses the naval arms race from the angle of social and cultural history, regarding the Naval theatre that the 2 nations were producing as a way of nation building as much as fleet building.

[carol@kettle.org.uk]

I am reading Through German Eyes. The British & The Somme 1916 by Christopher Duffy. Finding it very interesting and easy to read. Was trying to read Band of Brigands (forgot who thats by ) but found it hard going and lost interest. Must try again. Have also just finished The Soldiers War by Richard Van Emden which is based on various letters and accounts by soldiers. I liked that one. I wasn't so sure about the one about Harry Patch though.

[Martin Bennitt]

Just finished Peter Hart's '1918: A Very British Victory'. Excellent from beginning to end, but that's what one expects of PH

cheers Martin B

[truthergw]

Foch's book entitled 'The Principles of War'. It is a compilation of the lectures that he gave when heading up the French Ecole de Guerre.

Robert

That sounds very interesting, Robert. Is this a recent publication? In somewhat the same area, I read recently " The Ideology of the Offensive: Military decision making and the disasters of 1914", Jack Snyder.

[trenchtrotter]

I'm now half-way through "Machine Guns & The Great War" by Paul Cornish

SNAP...me too.

Very good.

TT

[SFayers]

Have three on the go at the moment (phew!):

The story of the 55th (West Lancashire) Division by J. O. Coop

Ireland's unknown soldiers: The 16th (Irish) Division in the Great War by Terence Denman

The German 1918 Offensives: A case study in the operational level of war by David T. Zabecki

cheers

Steve

[Hans Molier]

As a great admirer of the Somme and the Victoria Cross, I'm reading the following book at this moment :

Delville Wood Nigel Cave

Found in: World War I Books

Series: Battleground: WWI

Paperback

ISBN: 9780850525847

[kenf48]

Haig's Command Denis Winter 1991 bought for a £1 from the library can't put it down

I can't remember is this one of the Haig books we like or is it more revisionist rubbish?

Ken

[charlesmessenger]

Ken

It is virulently anti-Haig. You may therefore like it, but it is seriously flawed by misquotation, especially of primary sources in Australia and Canada. Therewfore don't believe everything that you read. Put Haig's Command into the search engine and you will see what I mean.

Charles M

[truthergw]

If I remember correctly, this is the book that accused Earl and Lady Haig, the National Library of Scotland and the massed ranks of military historians worldwide of a conspiracy. Luckily for us, Mr. Winter was on hand to thwart the evil plan. About the only thing I think worth saying about this book is that it was not written by Jay Winter.

[kenf48]

Ken

It is virulently anti-Haig.

Charles M

Thank you gentlemen, being an ex library book some helpful soul has underscored the more virulent passages in pencil just in case anyone should miss them! I agree with one reviewer it is the anger that makes it an entertaining read, although the same anger distorts objectivity.

Ken

[Robert Dunlop]

That sounds very interesting... Is this a recent publication?

Tom, it is the original publication. Fascinating. Totally different perspective than is normally painted! Currently I am reading Dimitry Queloz's book De la "manoeuvre napoléonienne" à l' "offensive à outrance": la tactique générale dans la pensée et la doctrine de l'armée française. Even more interesting. We must get these perspectives more widely understood in the English literature.

Robert

[steenie]

THE CAVALRY HORSE AND HIS PACK

Sub titled: Being the World’s Most Comprehensive Military Study of Equestrian Travel.

By: Lieutenant Jonathan Boniface.

First published, for The School of Application for Cavalry and Field Artillery, Fort Riley, Kansas, 1903.

This re-print by the Long Riders Guild (an organisation I am proud to be associated with), of The Cavalry Horse and His Pack by Boniface, is one of the great works of cavalry that has ever been written.

In this work Boniface covers EVERYTHING to do with Cavalry, for that matter to do with the Horse. From horse’s history, through conformation, teeth, types, strengths, weakness purchase, transport, mules, tactics, information on other countries cavalries, stables, etc. This book has the dimensions of a sliced loaf and Boniface does not waste a page packing it with information written with an easy hand.

Besides the indepth information such a rates of March, cavalry history drops out of every page. There is even a full break down on how the German Cavalry use their lances to make boats to cross rivers: ‘These boats were put together and launched by 5 men, working leisurely, and they could have been launched in about 25 minutes’ I am sure my group will have fun trying to make a lance boat and see if it floats.

According to Boniface, the is ‘At Aldershot in England, a large pond has been constructed , in which the British Cavalry are now regularly trained in swimming, both man and horse, separately and together, under various conditions’. This would be worth a hunt for the location of this ‘pond’.

On horsemanship, not only does he go into depth on the different cavalry styles and schools, including the forward seat, but he also gives bad seats a working over too; ‘The ‘’tongs across the wall’’ seat is used largely by inexperienced (uneducated), riders and rarely by good ones. Its chief characteristics consists in keeping knees stiff and straight and sticking the feet out the front. Whenever the trot is taken up, it is necessary to materially alter the position of the legs, and in fact the entire position of the seat changes, owing to the difficulty of clinching with the thighs while keeping the legs stuck out stiffly. Riders who use this seat generally manage to ride horses possessing easy gaits, especially at the trot. When using this seat there is a tendency to lean back, thus boring the cantle of the saddle into the horses back (horse runs hollow backed with head up). . . Among even good riders this seat is occasionally seen on parade and at reviews, it being especially a ‘’pose seat’’ Some men in a troop learn this seat and hold to it persistently, despite constant efforts to teach them its inadaptability for cavalry riding’.

This book is all that the British Army manuals on Animal Management and Horsemastership have to offer in one book. A work that would be one of the rocks that the American Cavalry of the Great War would have stood on.

For all people interested in the cavalry at the start of the C20th, this book is a must.

[razu]

This one:

Romanian Campaign 1916-1919

[razu]

..and this one "Daily notes of Marshal Alexandru Averescu"-Commander of the Romanian Army

[HVD5677]

Rhymes of a Red Cross Man by Robert Service

The Marne, 1914 by Holger H. Herwig

[mandy hall]

Just started reading Women in the War Zone Hospital Service in the First World War by Anne Powell

Mandy

[nigatt]

Dear Pals

I have just finished, Martin Gilbert's Somme The Heroism and Horror of war. It is one of my favourite books. Gilbert being an Oxford Don it is beautifully written, but carefully researched, reasoned and articulate. I don't mind saying that the quote from Captain Charles May 22nd Bn Manchester regt made me cry. Buried at Danzig Alley British Cemetary. Gilbert also remembers Reginald Giles killed on the Somme at the tender age of 14 and Henry Webber still fighting until KIA at the age of 68.

I would highly recommend this book.