Germany’s Western Front

[rumplestiltskin]

I am. They are taking this project very seriously!

Having read the first book released, I am looking forward to reading it.

But if it's due September that's fine, as I have paid for the book

[alougheed]

Just checked the Chapters/Indigo site and it is being offered for pre-order again with a release date of 19 September.

[kaiserknight]

I just received an e-mail from WLU - this will be available from next week (2nd week of October):

Germany’s Western Front

Translations from the German Official History of the Great War, 1914, Part 1

[alougheed]

My copy finally arrived today!

[lostinspace]

Good deal, let us know what you think, guess I can go ahead and re-order now.

Dave

[MartH]

Still no out on amazon.co.uk or bookdepository......

[alougheed]

Hi everyone, now that I have had some time to read through the 1914 volume I can give folks a first impression. I sat down with Part 1 and a German original for comparison. My own ability to read German is weak. It takes me a long time to get through a page so I'm grateful to have a good translation. The translators have made it very fluid and readable and I've only seen a few things that made me go hmm... Of course the original material was pretty dry so there is a limit to what they can do with paragraph after paragraph detailing the deployments of roman numerals. I really had to sit down with a map to follow the sections on mobilization and the maps could have been better.

The volume does not actually cover that much of 1914. It is really just the pre-war planning, July and August up to the beginning of the Marne. Unfortunately, everything from Marne to 1st Ypres is absent. For what they have done the quality is very good and it is certainly worth reading for the period it does cover.

What struck me the most was the fog of war. The book is arranged chronologically using archival sources, so the uncertainty about enemy locations, intentions and activity comes through brilliantly. The book was essentially a manual for Staff College training, so we get to see how the uncertainty influenced the decision making process, at least as far as the benefit of hindsight will allow. There is also a good deal of deflection of guilt. The narrative is very careful to portray Germany on the defensive against aggressive neighbors, which is to be expected.

[MartH]

Now out in UK. Bookdepository is £10 cheaper than Amazon.

[MartH]

My copy arrived today, looks good, but the usual criticism about maps small and in black and white for a book costing over 50 quid! More later in the weekend.

[MartH]

I have had a chance to look at this some more. It is an amazing work, however even though the original itself does not go into the detail of operations below divisions, and some sections of translations for 1914 on what would be come the Western front are left out (listed in the narratives), they believe there is just to much material in the original volumes for readers today. Readers are pointed where to get the raw narratives translated by the US Army not included, what does come across is just how many books the US Army did translate. Better to show the link.

This book is about mobilizations and the opening battles of the war

aloughreed is right the volumes are translated with the perspective of what was know to the upper levels of the German High Command, please find below my raw draft translation of part of the introduction of Volume 1 which explains the authors thinking .

or the same reasons 'smokescreen' over the happenings on the enemy side were not examined prematurely. The reader will at first not know any more than was know to the German leadership at that point in time. Only at the completion of certain operational feature will the enemy operations be dealt with.

And the section about the detail, another raw draft translation

The description of the operations has set as its aim to demonstrate, whilst avoiding all factual hypothesis's and opinions, the will and accomplishment of the higher leadership and the battle achievements of the troops. The extent of the material to be dealt and consideration of the main interrelationships do not generally permit examination of the operative and actual happenings below division level.

The maps are a disgrace for a book of this price and are next to worthless, you have to use the German originals or use the ones online. This is another annoyance why did they not give you the links to these volumes online where the maps can be seen and zoomed in on!

However it is momentous, for all its faults that this is in print, and if you are seriously interested in the Great War you need access to a copy, you get an insight of why the German acted the way they did. Jack Sheldon in his works is often praised for giving access to the German side using German sources, well this is the main German work translated in English at last in print! It is not cheap, but it will become a cornerstone of any Great War library and I think in years to come become a scarce and valuable book because so few will get sold.

As ever thanks to my own private translator of Der Weltkrieg, my 90 year old mum for giving additional insights

Edited after SiegeGunner alerted me to the source of my quotes appeared confusing - apologies

Edited 29 October , 2013 by MartH

[SiegeGunner]

I hope that the two sections you quote from the Introduction to Volume 1 are not representative of the standard of translation, Mart.

[MartH]

I hope that the two sections you quote from the Introduction to Volume 1 are not representative of the standard of translation, Mart.

No no they are just raw translations from my own notes on Official Histories , no tarting up, they are not from the book itself.