The Advance From Mons

[P.B.]

Not sure if this has been mentioned before, but April sees the reprinting of one of the classic accounts of the Great War written by a German soldier.

Walter Bloem was a captain in Prussian Grenadier Regiment Nr 12 (2nd Brandenburg) during the early fighting on the Western Front. A pre-war novelist and reserve officer, his book chronicles the mobilisation, the march into Belgium and France, the battles of Mons, Le Cateau and the Aisne, and provides a graphic account of what it was like to be on the recieving end of the "mad minute".

Many of us who don't own a copy will still be familiar with some of it's more famous passages, and to me it's an essential purchase for anyone with an interest in the Imperial German Army.

"The Advance From Mons" is published in April by Helion Books, hardback, 144 pages. ISBN 1874622574 Price £21.95

Two further volumes -"Sturmsignal!" and "Das Ganze Halt!"- are being translated and prepared for publication in the future.

All the best

Paul.

[Robert Dunlop]

Excellent. Thanks for this heads-up, Paul.

[Charles Fair]

Paul - thanks for the news. Its one of my all time favourites. His account of Mons is superb.

I assume from your wording that this is a reprint of CG Wynnes 1929 translation which includes an excellent introduction from Edmonds the official historian.

I am looking forward to the sequels.

Charles

[andigger]

Not 10 seconds after seeing the ISBN I called the book store and my copy is on order. Doesn't come out in the US until the end of the month, but I have the Old Front Line and Goodbye to All That to keep me busy until then. Andy

[P.B.]

Hello all

Thanks for the replies on this one, Helion have obviously chosen well, as it's one of those titles which is often quoted on TV (anyone remember Richard Holmes following Bloem's footsteps in the Mons episode of "War Walks"?) or in other books, but which few people have read in it's entirety.

Charles, the blurb in the Helion catalogue includes a quote from Edmonds, so I'm fairly sure that you're exactly right in terms of it being a straight reprint of the 1929 translation.

On a more trivial note, the front cover of the new edition -WWI period German war art of German infantryman advancing under fire- is particularly nice.

Cheers

Paul.

[Patrick]

Hello ,

Have just finished reading (in German) the first part of this great book

The one which you describe here “vormarsch” and can only confirm this is a superb read. .

I can hardly put the book aside, and wind up reading late into the night .

So go for its translation , I can only recommend it , one of the better books of the many many, I have read .It is quite an accurate account with the names of the villages and area’s his unit passed through on their way to Paris , it also makes you understand the hardship the right wing of von Klucks army had to go through , so far ahead of the rest of the invading army , and so close to Paris , as well as the for them incomprehensible turn to the left, just in front of Paris .(marne battle)

Bloem also describes several passages of franctirreurs events (Belgian civilians shooting at the Germans , with the result of having the village or houses burned) something I’m not completely out of it , as the franctireur events in 1914 , are often denied by the Belgians , so I do not know yet if Bloem puts this in his account for propaganda reasons (to justify or clear the Germans war furry- Atrocities) the book is written in 1916 .

Anyhow his description makes it very believable .

Now I’m in to the second part sturmsignal , and again its as good as the first part .

Wishing you good reading .

I stumbled on this thread , by researching, looking for the link I remembered seeing here

On the forum

Of the account of the first bloody encounter Bloems battalion had with the heroic defending English at Tertre by the canal at Mons , and I found the link .

For that also this Forum is superb a great database .

Tertre

@+

Patrick

[Robert Dunlop]

I have just completed reading the recently released English version. Fabulous. Bloem's attention to detail makes for fascinating accounts of the Battles of Mons, Marne, and Aisne. The deteriorating supply lines and the exhaustion of the German troops comes through very clearly. The German losses are vividly bought home when two companies are amalgamated together to form Company 'Bloem', which can still only muster 160 rifles. When Bloem is wounded, he returns via the same bridge over the Rhine. The enthusiasm of the outward journey contrasts with the fact he is the only one of 4 that can return over the bridge.

Sadly, Bloem's company was only on the periphery of the Battle of Le Cateau so there is very little information about this.

Another nice feature of the English version is that someone has taken the time to identify the British units that were involved at various points in Bloem's account.

A great book. Thoroughly recommended.

Robert

[Ste]

Good reviews above - I agree. Here's my effort:

Bloem, Walter, The Advance from Mons 1914 (Solihull 2004, first published Leipzig 1916 under the title Vormarsch; translated by Capt G C Wynne).

Walter Bloem served as a Captain in the 12th Brandenburg Grenadiers during the 1914 campaign, having been mobilised from the reserve upon the outbreak of war. In civilian life he had written three novels set in the Franco-Prussian war. This is reflected in his smooth style and vivid descriptive prose, which is more polished than that of many other memoirists.

Bloem’s short account of his experiences is one of the few German memoirs to be translated into English, and therefore sections have been quoted by a great many English authors. Reading the full work provides an illuminating insight into three months of frantic activity as the invading German armies pounded along the roads and fields of Belgium and northern France, expending as much sweat on marching as blood in fighting.

Bloems’s view of Belgian civilian resistance and the German response is particularly interesting. En route to the front he:

…bought the morning papers at a wayside station and read, amazed, of the experiences of those troops already across the Belgian frontier – of priests, armed, at the head of marauding bands of Belgian civilians, committing every kind of atrocity, and putting the deeds of 1870 into the shade; of treacherous ambushes on patrols, and sentries found later with eyes pierced and tongues cut off, of poisoned wells and other horrors.

[1]

These grossly exaggerated stories clearly made an impression on Bloem, as his account of the march through Belgium is littered with nervous rumours of ‘francs-tireur’ activity. He thought German counter measures, such as hostage taking, were entirely justified, and seems to have been very surprised that Belgian civilians were genuinely fearful that German troops would commit atrocities. He saw all acts of resistance and ‘treacherous’ or ‘pathetic’ and seems to have been unable to empathise with the locals; for all his evident human qualities, Bloem, with his keen sense of history, perhaps relished the role of German conqueror, and laid the blame for reprisals squarely with the Belgians and their newspapers.

His view of British soldiers underwent a transformation with events. Bloem’s first face to face encounter came with a patrol of A Squadron, 19th Hussars.

A man appeared not five paces away from behind the horses – a man in a grey-brown uniform, no, a grey-brown golfing suit with a flat-topped cloth cap.  Could this be a soldier?  Certainly not a French soldier, nor a Belgian, then he must be an English one.  So that’s how they dress now!

[2]

This faint amusement is soon tempered by harsh experience. After his unit had been badly cut up in its first proper encounter with the BEF’s formidable musketry he wrote: ‘a bad defeat, there could be no gainsaying it; in our first battle we had been badly beaten, and by the English – by the English we had so laughed at a few hours before.’[3]

Convinced the British were lavishly equipped with machine guns Bloem developed a healthy respect for his new adversary. At the Battle of the Aisne this turned into outright admiration.

…looking through glasses one saw that these dots were infantry advancing, widely extended: English infantry too, unmistakably…Soon a second line of dots emerged from the willows along the river bank, at least ten paces apart, and began to advance.  More of our batteries came into action; but it was noticed that a shell, however well aimed, seldom killed more than one man, the lines being so well and widely extended…a third and fourth line now appeared from the river bank, each keeping about two hundred yards distant from the line in front.  Our guns now fired like mad, but it did not stop the movement: a fifth and sixth line came on, all with the same wide intervals between men and the same distance apart.  It was magnificently done…We had watched the tactical excellence of this attack with such interest that we had forgotten we were standing in the open…

[4]

These views of the Old Contemptibles in action support the traditional British view and make gratifying reading for me.

Bloem is also clear on the conflict of emotions he underwent as the hitherto victorious advance ceased at the Marne. He writes of his unease and uncertainty as the tactical manoeuvrings south and east of Paris resulted in his unit being ordered to retrace its steps, despite not actually having been defeated. Wearied by weeks of forced marches, much of which took place in contact with the enemy, the experience seems to have come as rather a shock.

[We were] an army retreating.  It must have been obvious now to the most dense what was happening.  We knew well what a victorious advance was like and the spirit that animated it; we had lived with it for a month; but this was very different…We had always had superiority of numbers in every fight; but now, over there, was something quite fresh, a new experience and a terrible one: a superior opponent.

[5]

Bloem was wounded during the fighting on the Aisne, and returned to Germany to convalesce. His brief, vivid and almost terse account of the opening months of the war is as informative as it is enjoyable and I firmly recommend it. He wrote two further volumes of his experiences taking his story up to the end of the war, and it is welcome news that publishers of this first volume plan to translate and publish these in the near future.

Vormarsch was translated by Captain GC Wynne, who worked on the British Official History with Brig-General Edmonds. [6]I hope the translations of the later volumes benefit from similar military expertise.

Notes:

1. P19

2. P40

3. P49

4. P11

5. P96/97

6. Wynne was the main author of the volume dealing with the Cambrai battle, which is recognised as one of the best of the British Official Histories.

[Robert Dunlop]

it is welcome news that publishers of this first volume plan to translate and publish these in the near future.

Ste

I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for this. Similar promises have been made on other books from the same publishers, with nothing in sight yet. I really hope I am proved wrong because it would be great to see his other material.

Robert

[Ste]

it is welcome news that publishers of this first volume plan to translate and publish these in the near future.

Ste

I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for this. Similar promises have been made on other books from the same publishers, with nothing in sight yet. I really hope I am proved wrong because it would be great to see his other material.

Robert

That's a shame Robert. Here's hoping!

S

[andigger]

I got this book (finally) for Christmas and am thoroughly enjoying it. As Robert mentioned, the footnotes including the BEF unit names Bloem's men are fighting is very interesting. I also find Bloem's amazment at the reaction of the local population surprizing myself.

"...and the few villages absolutely and utterly empty, not a sign of a living soul. What on Earth did these people imagine we were going to do to them? Heaven knows we had no wish to harm anyone who did none to us."

There are several quotes like this through out the book. Perhaps in retrospect it is not surprising that if you invade someone's country unprovoked that they might be afraid of what else you are going to do.

Another interesting quote which comes after Bloem reports a friendly fire incident to his regimental commander von Reuter- "The Japanese artillery very frequently fired on thier own infantry if they had advanced too rashly. They excused it by sayin git was better that the artillery fire shouldput out of action a few sections of thier own infantry than it should cease altogether for fear of doing so."

These instances and Bloem's way of capturing the emotion - either the patriotism of the people in Germany at the outbreak of war, the excitement and aprehension of the soldiers going off to war, and even the excitement and horror of battle, all are making for a good read.

Andy

[dewey]

I read and greatly enjoyed this book, I just thought others who did would be interested in knowing the following: I contacted the publisher of this book Helion, as it was noted that they would be translating and publishing Mr. Bloem's further two volumes on the war, however, they wrote back saying that lack of interest caused the cancellation of the project. This is disappointing as I was looking forward to reading them. -Dewey

[alanpat]

Excellent Book..

Walter Bloem was a Captain in the German 12th Grenadier Regiment (Royal Prussian Grenadier Regiment Prinz Carl von PreuBen, 2nd Brandenburg, Nr 12 to give his unit its full title).

His narrative gives a superb insight into the outbreak of the First World War and his regiment's mobilisation, followed by the advance through Belgium and France starting in August 1914, including the author's participation at the battles of Mons, Le Cateau, the Marne and the Aisne. His account of what it was like to face Britain's 'Old Contemptibles' at Mons is particularly valuable.

Bloems 2 i/c at Mons was a Lt Fritz Graser .. They were attacking the area my Grandfather

( www.flickr.com/photos/greenacre8/263739922/ ) was defending as a CSM in the 2nd Battalion Kings Own Scottish Borders, Graser was killed and and now they are all buried together in the same cemetary !

See picture at :-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/greenacre8/26...57609446201030/