Private Butler Posted 1 January , 2009 Share Posted 1 January , 2009 Just finished reading this book following a recommendation from someone on this forum. You will have to forgive me for forgetting the poster, you know who you are and many thanks. This is an amazing book that really spoke to me. It is, in my opinion, superbly written and its proximity to the everyday experiences of Tommy comes across at times like he's still there, such as the time he spends with the gun crew around the craters of the Hohenzollern Redoubt. At other times with the benefit of hindsight he manages to put across how some things as a soldier were just taken for granted as the way things were and with this looking back is able to illustrate the distinction between the way he, and other soldiers thought, there and then compared with home. I also love the way in which he describes the privileges of the officers with only a hint of bitterness, such as the constant references to Robert Graves who I think is a man he had some respect for. He does this by describing the actual differences with no unncessary embellishment but his lens is undoubtedly charged. As with all historical facts, which ones pose deeper questions and remain neutral whilst still remaining facts? The honesty is brutal and the description of the soldier collapsing, after being caught by a sniper made cold reading. His description of the duties of being in a gun team are invaluable and he manages to have you there again, ripping that belt off towards the not so distant and exposed enemy field gun which gave his men no more bother that night. George Coppard, in short, has left a masterpiece. It is undoubtedly one of the best books I have ever read on the subject of war. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Nixon Posted 1 January , 2009 Share Posted 1 January , 2009 I bought this book in 1981 at around the time I was actively interviewing veterans. I had just met and interviewed an officer - Arthur Slater - who had served with the MGC and who was severely wounded, losing his leg. I wrote to George Coppard, telling him that I had enjoyed reading his memoirs and that I had met the MGC officer. A few days later, I had a reply from George Coppard, who was living in Tenterden, Kent. This is what he wrote: "Thank you for your interesting letter and it is good to hear from a young enthusiast on such matters. . I am very glad that you enjoyed reading my book, which I know has an appeal to young people. I am very near to 84 years of life, yet when I think of my experiences I feel youn again. I'm sorry for those who lost their limbs, which loss is so constantly reminding them of it, but life must still be a blessing for them. It is for me although I don't suppose I have got much longer. If you meet Mr Slater again, please give him my best wishes. Tell him that I was recommended for a commission but my wound put me in Class B, so that I was put out of the running. Thank you, Paul, for writing to me, and I hope that you will never be compelled to go to war. All the very best wishes Yours sincerely George Coppard." Nice letter eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John(txic) Posted 1 January , 2009 Share Posted 1 January , 2009 One of the first books I ever read on the Great War. A classic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Reed Posted 1 January , 2009 Share Posted 1 January , 2009 George was a kindly gent who put with another enquiry from someone called Paul, for which I will always be grateful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staffsyeoman Posted 1 January , 2009 Share Posted 1 January , 2009 I'm biased from my interest in the MGC. But from my 'academically trained historian" position - long before my MGC interest - it is one of the most honest, level, and realistic memoirs of WW1 or any wars. Not one of the first IWM sanctioned memoirs for nothing. And in the nearly 40 years since original publication, it has NEVER been out of print. As Americans say "go figure". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thGordons Posted 1 January , 2009 Share Posted 1 January , 2009 One of the first books I ever read on the Great War. A classic. Me too, my dad brought it home for me when I expressed an interest. I was probably 12. I have reread it three or four times since and must have loaned my copy out to others at least this frequently too. I agree, a classic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCLI Posted 8 January , 2009 Share Posted 8 January , 2009 Me too, my dad brought it home for me when I expressed an interest. I was probably 12. I have reread it three or four times since and must have loaned my copy out to others at least this frequently too. I agree, a classic. I agree with all before. I had a copy years ago, lost it, bought another a couple of years ago - a truly great read about a truly awful time. My copy is a very small paper back, but it is a mighty big read. One of the best books of its type around. George Coppard seemed like a real gent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob1963 Posted 16 January , 2009 Share Posted 16 January , 2009 I bought this book back in 1986 for my dad's birthday who was and still is a great reader and enthusiast of The Great War. I was 23 at the time and remember borrowing the book to read myself and have to admit i found it hard going for at the time i was more interested in the second world war and had no real interest in Great War .I look back now and think how ignorant i was at the time as i am very much a great enthusiast on all things related to the conflict now. I have read George's book just recently again and would recommend it to anyone looking for a first hand account about life in the Machine Gun Corps and the trenches on the western front. As George says he kept 3 old battered notebooks about his time in The Great War and he was grateful to his dear aunt, Mrs Emily Chester, who pursuaded him to keep a diary of his time there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred van Woerkom Posted 17 January , 2009 Share Posted 17 January , 2009 May I add that the book is a great read also because of the style ? I read it very slowly, much to the amusement of my companions during an excursion, but I enjoyed his style so much that I wanted to savour it to the full. All the best, Fred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmf Posted 26 June , 2009 Share Posted 26 June , 2009 I was fascinated to come across this: http://sounds.bl.uk/View.aspx?item=025M-C1...80XX-0100V0.xml A sound recording of George Coppard being interviewed in 1983, in 14 parts. I remember first reading 'With a Machine Gun . . .' in 1987, when I was 11, and I recently purchased a mint copy of a 1970s edition. A moving and classic piece of writing. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Morgan Posted 26 June , 2009 Share Posted 26 June , 2009 Nice find, Chris. thanks for letting us know about it. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Garnett Posted 27 June , 2009 Share Posted 27 June , 2009 Hi, Chris, many thanks for putting this on here. I bought the book at a boot fair when I was about 12/13. I was instantly hooked and without doubt, this book is the reason for the hours I spend learning about the War. It is also one of my most treasured posessions. I remember one night spent in the High Atlas Mountains, on a school trip, reading for the countless time of the Hohenzollern Redoubt and seeing the landscape image included in the book. All very dramatic but I knew then that I had to find the same spot where that was taken. Well, I have been there very briefly whilst driving to Lille to pick up a group for the Somme. I've not located the photograph but there will be many trips to Loos in the future. This book should be made available to every secondary school library, particularly beacuse of Coppard's age as a soldier and the beautiful way in which it was written. One day I will follow his steps up into Authuille Wood and the 1st July. Two quotes struck me as a kid: 'The bulk of the company were men of Surrey and Kent, good solid stock. So far as I know there were no poets or writers among us. We were merely the raw material to inspire the lofty musings of others. And so, on we went, singing the bawdy songs we loved so well, towards one of the greatest, most terrible and frustrating battles in history.' 'Just recently I have discovered that an old 12th Division man lives close to me and my heart leaps when I spot him walking up the road. We never miss a natter, and his eyes shine as we go over the umpteenth episode of our war experiences. We catch vivid memories of the past and are glad that we were young in 1914. Today's my daughter's wedding day, Fifty thousand pounds I'll give away. Hooray! Hooray!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John(txic) Posted 2 July , 2009 Share Posted 2 July , 2009 Having read this book ages ago, I fail to understand the hoo-hah that surrounded "Somme Mud". OK, it was good - but "With a machine gun" was much better, IMHO. Tin hat on....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlenBanna Posted 2 July , 2009 Share Posted 2 July , 2009 What did happen to Snowy after the war? Does anyone Know? Glen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Garnett Posted 2 July , 2009 Share Posted 2 July , 2009 Glen I typed in 'Snowy' to the search engine and found a similar thread to this from a few years back but though someone posed the same question as you, it drew no responses. Maybe a possible reasearch area? Stephen Garnett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlenBanna Posted 2 July , 2009 Share Posted 2 July , 2009 Stephen His name was William Hankin from Hampshire.Thats all I know. Glen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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