Bernard Newman

[J Banning]

Does anyone know which unit Bernard Newman (co-author of ‘Tunnellers’ with Captain W. Grant Grieve) served with? I would guess he was an officer and am pretty sure he served in the infantry. A quick search of the medal roll shows only one officer called Bernard Newman who was with the Middlesex Regiment. Does anyone know if this is ‘the’ Bernard Newman and if so, what battalion he served with?

Many thanks for any responses.

[Simon Jones]

Jeremy

He was an ASC Staff Sergeant with the 21st Divisional Train and received a MiD. His memoirs ‘Speaking From Memory’ contain some details about this and reveal just how much of a charlatan, sorry I’ve just got in after having a few beers, imaginative writer he was as he later posed as an expert on espionage. In his memoirs he describes how some conversations with a French counter-espionage officer attached to the division gave him the material for several of his future spy novels. He was amazingly prolific and widely travelled. One of his last assignments was an interview with Nelson Mandela in jail. He made his reputation with the novel ‘The Cavalry Went Through’ which imagined what would have happened if the war had been fought the ‘right’ way, that is, if Haig had been replaced by a more imaginative commander. Liddell-Hart admired it immensely and thought at first that it had been written by J E B Seely! To my mind, all of the more egregious parts of ‘Tunnellers,’ such as the wild claims for the unrealised potential of Russian saps, were added by Newman and I would have liked to have seen Grieve’s manuscript before Newman was brought in to jazz it up. I will be including a brief assessment of ‘Tunnellers’ (which is in many ways so valuable) as a historical source in the introduction to my forthcoming Underground Warfare book which I have been attempting to plug on the forum.

S

[robgoodfellow]

It is interesting that the front page and introduction to Tunnellers (in my first edition) mentions authorship of 'Captain' W. Grant Grieve'/ 'and Bernard Newman' (no rank mentioned). Newman is acknowledged by Grieve as as a 'writer' 'with 'knowledge of the War' but not in any special military capacity. Why is this I wonder? Can thisd Newman be a different person to the Staff Sergeant Newman' mentioned in our discussion? The book does not conact biographical details. Rgs. Rob.

[Simon Hipkin]

Bernard Newman was my grandfather.

Simon Jones wrote:-

His memoirs 'Speaking From Memory' contain some details about this and reveal just how much of a charlatan, sorry I've just got in after having a few beers, imaginative writer he was as he later posed as an expert on espionage

Thats a bit harsh, even after a few beers ! He served his country in two world wars.

He has an unusual distinction of dying from Great War wounds...in 1968. He had shrapnel injury in the roof of his mouth, several operations, but it developed into a tumour and he had a heart attack during an operation in 1968.

He was a prolific author, writing fictional novels to bring home the bacon, and many factual travel books. One of his publishers, Victor Gollancz, was ahead of his time in marketing technique, and some of his fictional novels were 'sold' as true accounts. I think this genre is called 'faction'. With the dawn of the internet, this has backfired on his legacy, with many online references to his 'espionage activities'.

He was 17 at the outbreak of the Great War, his service was routine, unremarkable by standards of the day. He finished as a Staff Sgt and was mentioned in the Haig despatches.

Bernard Newman's family are carrying out a research & archive into his life & works.

I'd be delighted to discuss this more on this thread to see what info is thrown up

This is my first post, I think my signature should include the Bernard Newman website, here it is again

Bernard Newman Research & Archive

[Simon Jones]

Yes a bit harsh, I apologise.

Simon

[Simon Hipkin]

Simon, no problem.

'Charlatan' is not so far from the truth.

His 1930 novel 'The Cavalry Went Through' made his name, with a fictional account of how WW1 could have been fought and was praised by Sir Basil Liddell Hart. But it was the Germans who took more notice. We can possibly thank my grandfather for the earliest theories of Special Ops, and unfortunately...the Blitzkrieg.

A few years later came the 1935 novel 'Spy' which was a bestseller. It was well known that Ludendorff had a mental breakdown, and BN wrote a novel putting a spy in the General's staff (to cause the mental breakdown)

BN wrote this in the first person with himself as the lead character. It caused a sensation in the press, and his publisher, Victor Gollancz, asked him to 'dissappear' for a couple of weeks to milk the free publicity. I have a full scrapbook of newspaper articles from the period falling for the deceit.

Eventually Bernard Newman revealed:-

I am not a spy, I have never been a spy and I don't suppose I shall ever become one. I have never met the King, the Kaiser, Ludendorff, Hindenberg or Lloyd George. I did not win the DSO nor was I as much as half an inch behind the German lines during the war. I am trying to devise a new kind of thriller. I believe I have succeeded. I quite agree that there are plenty of people who might believe it, but I believe the intelligent reader will treat the book exactly as he would a good detective story

This statement was widely reported in the press worldwide. But the seeds of conspiracy had been sown. Even his 1968 New York Times obituary repeated the fiction. To this day, internet articles can be found stating his 'espionage activities' as fact.

At the request of his widow, Sir Basil Liddell Hart wrote to the New York Times and they printed a correction. These documents can be found in the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Studies at King's College London

Other allegations of espionage activity relate to his extensive travels in Europe between the wars, including reports that he was the agent who first reported Hitler's V-1 rockets. It is highly probable that Newman reported back to the British government after his travels. But again, these allegations may stem from the fictional novels written by Newman at the same time.

he later posed as an expert on espionage

He most definately was an expert on espionage, he published many books on the subject and had privelidged access to some top secret sources. In my research, I have exchanged e mails with current authors, and they hold him in high regard as 'The father of espionage writing'

At present, I have no information about the circumstances that led to his co-authorship of the book "Tunnelers" with Captain W Grant Grieve. I am happy with the assumption that he was brought in as a proffessional author to tart it up, as Simon Jones states.

Bernard Newman

Wikipedia Article recently edited by myself