1542 replies to this topic

[gilbo139]

Reference Neil Hansons' Unknown Soldier, I thought it was a brilliant read, a small reference was made to an area near Sandpits camp  Meaulte which moved me so much due to the fact that my GGrandad had died of wounds there that I felt i wanted to contact the author....I found an e mail address and off it went not really expecting a reply, the next day I did get a reply explaining why he felt he had to write the book and thanking me for my comments...what a gentleman! Whilst I don't believe everything I read I do believe Neil Hanson did some great research and would recommend the book to anyone . I'm now reading Famous 1914 1918 thats quite interesting as well, although like Hazel I don't feel sufficiently expert to comment too much......Colin

[hazel clark]

gilbo139, on 01 July 2012 - 02:46 PM, said:

Reference Neil Hansons' Unknown Soldier, I thought it was a brilliant read, a small reference was made to an area near Sandpits camp  Meaulte which moved me so much due to the fact that my GGrandad had died of wounds there that I felt i wanted to contact the author....I found an e mail address and off it went not really expecting a reply, the next day I did get a reply explaining why he felt he had to write the book and thanking me for my comments...what a gentleman! Whilst I don't believe everything I read I do believe Neil Hanson did some great research and would recommend the book to anyone . I'm now reading Famous 1914 1918 thats quite interesting as well, although like Hazel I don't feel sufficiently expert to comment too much......Colin

That is great Colin.  As you say there is some doubt about some of the info. but I still felt it was a book I wanted to own and not just get from the library.
H.

[hazel clark]

Well, having read Hanson's "Unknown Soldiers" I have now also almost finished Adam Hochschild's "To End  All Wars", which is more or less a social history of the war years.  It is very readable and gives a synopsis of the lives of some of the social activists of whom I know very little,  such as the Pankhursts, Keir Hardie, Bertrand Russell  and Charlotte Despard (Field Marshall French's sister) to name a few.  He also gives a bit of background to some of the activists, soldiers, and poiticians from their South African days and the Boer War.  I am enjoying it very much.
Hazel C

[MartinBennitt]

Hi Hazel, I haven't read Hochschild's book but do a Forum search on him. He seems to be a bit polemical

I've just begun 'Six Weeks, the short and gallant life of the British Officer in the First World War' by John Lewis-Stempel, which has also raised some questions on the GWF. Am reserving judgement for the moment.

cheers Martin B

[Michelle Young]

Re reading Wilred Owen- A New Biography by Dominic Hibberd. A good read.

Michelle

[hazel clark]

MartinBennitt, on 08 July 2012 - 01:05 PM, said:

Hi Hazel, I haven't read Hochschild's book but do a Forum search on him. He seems to be a bit polemical

I've just begun 'Six Weeks, the short and gallant life of the British Officer in the First World War' by John Lewis-Stempel, which has also raised some questions on the GWF. Am reserving judgement for the moment.

cheers Martin B

The life of the officer sounds interesting - they had a very scary time.

Will research Hochchild.  I just started another book  last night about the lives of the survivors.  another social history called "The Great Silence" 1918 - 1920 Living in the shadow of the great war.  I am enjoying it, although it is written in a sort of journalistic fashion with snippits of info. sewn together.  Since I didn't know most of the stuff anyway I am finding it interesting.

As the next book on my list is "Bloody Victory", the contrast is going to be substantial!!!

Hazel C

[blackmaria]

Just finishing "Salute of Guns" by Donald Boyd,the memoir of a young R.F.A Subaltern from 1915 through the Somme battles and Messines/Third Ypres to the Spring offensive of 1918.A very interesting memoir which highlights the great stresses and strains that these young Artillery officers were put under.An interesting subject he also mentions is the groups of deserters who were hiding around High Wood and lived off what they could steal or take from the dead bodies that lay around. This is a very rare memoir but is being reprinted by Pen and Sword in the Autumn.

[dundeesown]

Just about to start " Steel And Tartan " about the 4th Cameron Highlanders in the Great War.
Gary.

[Tony Ring]

Just picked up a book on our local on line auction site  - The History of the 12th (Eastern) Division in the Great War 1914 - 1918.  Brumwell & Middleton.

It has information concerning the Battle of Epehy.    Now to wait for it to be posted from Australia.

Tony

[blackmaria]

Just started reading "Joffrey's war"after first hearing of the book on this thread(looking forward to Chris Baker's review)and then reading the review by David Tattersfield on the W.F.A website.I am just a few pages in, but already hooked.

[1st east yorks]

The next in a long line of waiting to be read books is 'The Marne' by Georges Blond.
Anthony.

[Phil Evans]

I've just read "Poor Bloody Infantry - A memoir of the First World War" by W.H.A. Groom. I don't normally read memoirs / autobiographies, whether WW1 or not and I would be interested to know how anyone else has got on with this book. To be blunt, I found it irritating.

Phil

[trenchtrotter]

Alferd Heins, "In the Hell Of Verdun". Second time in three years and still simply depressing!

I have a 1930 1st edition, a little worn but nice.

TT

[blackmaria]

Phil Evans, on 16 July 2012 - 09:43 PM, said:

I've just read "Poor Bloody Infantry - A memoir of the First World War" by W.H.A. Groom. I don't normally read memoirs / autobiographies, whether WW1 or not and I would be interested to know how anyone else has got on with this book. To be blunt, I found it irritating.

Phil

It's been quite a long time since i read it,as it was one of the first memoirs i collected and it was hard to find a copy before the days of the internet.Can't say iv'e found any of the many memoirs i have read to be irritating and as there are so few memoirs written by the "other ranks" i think Mr Groom's book is another valuable contribution to our understanding of what our soldiers went through.We can never know what it was like to have fought in that war and now that generation has passed the nearest we can get to a little understanding of what they went through, is by reading their testimonies that they have left us.

[WorldWarOne234]

Where can I get a copy of the book.

[blackmaria]

WorldWarOne234, on 22 July 2012 - 06:31 PM, said:

Where can I get a copy of the book.

Abe or Amazon have copies of the original 1970's hardback or later paperback reprint.

[Jim Hastings]

Morning All,

Currently performing my usual reading - juggling - act :

Re-reading Lyn MacDonald's '1914 The Days of Hope' combined with Malcolm Brown's IWM '1914 The Men who went to War'

and Richard Holmes' 'Tommy'

and for memoir/diary - 'A Sergeant-Major's War - from Hill 60 to the Somme' by Ernest Shepard (ed. Bruce Rosser) (and one of Richard Holmes' favourites!)

All highly recommended

Enjoy your reading!

Jim

[RFC/QWR grand-daughter]

Dazzled & Deceived by Peter Forbes
It's only partly WWI related but there is loads about the development of military camouflage and is a really good read.


http://yalepress.yal...n=9780300125399

[connaughtranger]

In Flanders Flooded Fields which looks at Belgium's fight to hold onto their territory before the French and British got there

[nthornton19179]

'Raiding on the Western Front' by Anthony Saunders.

It ain't arf bad.

Neil

[seaforths]

Read Neil Hanson's 'Unknown Soldier' followed after by 'The Thin Yellow Line' by William Moore.

First of all I loved 'Unknown Soldier' and learned so much from it - thanks Hazel. Firstly though, I am not sure that the Unknown Soldier at Westminster was the only body returned for burial on British soil see: http://www.ambaile.o...sp?item_id=1015
It is well written and moving too - as Gilbo posted. Interesting, the 3 different men chosen German, English & American and followed up by the 'Unknown Warrior' being returned with such fantastic ceremony.

Also when 'Unknown Soldier' was reviewed quite a few posts back a comment was placed about Lieut. Col. Graham Seton Hutchison having 38 men shot for surrendering - the post received a response of - Tosh. I was intrigued enough to follow the author's source, hence 'The Thin Yellow Line' in which Moore discusses the matter more thoroughly over two pages. I'm not convinced it is 'Tosh' Moore cites two sources for this information: Seton Hutchison History and Memoir of the 33rd Battalion, Machine Gun Corps. and see also 33rd Division in France and Flanders. I wonder if any Forum members have these books?

There are instances of on the spot executions in the heat of the battle and although Moore covers it more thoroughly than Hanson, there are some unknown factors - such as how far away were they when they opened fire on these men? And what happened to the other two men? Did the German's take them? All unanswered unless the other sources cited expand even further. The book was published in 1974 and the author seems to have based some of his sources on interviews and correspondence from eye witnesses regarding Court Martials, executions and details surrounding firing squads etc. I enjoyed the book and though WW1 and cowardice is the mainstay of the book, the author takes the reader back (to just about when Adam was a lad) in terms of military discipline to take the reader forward again and he follows it through with the eventual abolishion of executions.

So I enjoyed and would recommend both.
Marjorie

[Chris_Baker]

Majorie - 'twas I who wrote "tosh". 'twas Seton Hutchinson that wrote the two books you cite. His is the only evidence. There is no corroborating evidence that I can find (and trust me I looked in depth when writing by book on the battle that was going on).

[seaforths]

Hi Chris I had hoped you would respond on this one - forgive my lazyness not scrolling through the pages to see who 'toshed'. Moore seemed to think Hutchison might have been suffering from shock & hysteria. He allegedly claims to have stunned an obstructive transport officer with the butt of his revolver, taken some men and a couple of machine guns and headed off to where he thought the line was giving ground. He apparently believed that if the Germans broke through then that would be 'it' and that things were so desperate that some of the line was being held by civilians under an area commander. Moore conjectured that if he had indeed committed this act then perhaps he had not intended to kill so many but the gunner gave a longer burst than intended.

I had thought that Moore's two sources might have offered attempts at justification or corroboration of such an event - however if you have researched it to the nth degree that would not seem to be the case. Although the Argylls seem to have other instances of shooting at their own side http://www.firstworl...iaries/rlm4.htm (I think Hutchison was or had been an Argyll) and unofficial executions were more common than documented (for obvious reasons)

It might be interesting for me as a follow-up to read 'Brass Hat in No Man's Land' as Crozier (according to Moore) subscribed to the thought that executions should be carried out with a machine gun anyway - it being more humane to the condemned man than having a shaky firing squad. Moore also alludes that some of these officers came from a background whereby atrocities had been committed before WW1 (India, Africa etc) so meting out their own form of justice rather than using official channels was acceptable - to them anyway? So Hutchison: bravado/bragging on something that didn't happen or extreme hyperbole - these 38 men would have had to appear on a casualty list - 2 survivors allegedly - but would they have come forward? I suspect not. There would have been so many witnesses but much of what happened on the battlefield tended to be left on the battlefield and little said afterwards. The French seemed to have a more open attitude afterwards and some were sued & names cleared regarding alleged cowardice & executions. Still Hanson's and Moore's books well worth a read, if only to open up discussions on the subjects contained therein.


Cheers - Marjorie

[THE SHINY SEVENTH]

Just finished Terraine's Western Front 1914-1918 and I must say, as a relative newbie, that his essay's seemed to make everything that I have previously read a lot clearer! Can anyone suggest unbiased reading material on Haig and also 'the soldiers soldier' Plumer? Regards Sean

[Jim Hastings]

Hi Sean

Noticed you're a Shiny Seventh man, just wondered if you've come across Len Smith's 'Drawing Fire'? Brilliant read IMHO

Best wishes

Jim